Bulldogs Set For Saturday Night Showdown With Top-Ranked Florida

STARKVILLE, Miss. - For the first time in school history, Mississippi State will host the nation's top-ranked team in Starkville when they welcome Florida to Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday evening. The game will be carried live by ESPN and will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Mississippi State (3-4, 1-2 SEC), will be playing its first conference game since Sept. 26 after a three-game non-conference stretch the past three weeks. The Bulldogs are coming off a 27-6 victory last Saturday against Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro. In the winning effort, Bulldog running back Anthony Dixon rushed for his fifth consecutive 100-yard game and became Mississippi State's all time leading rusher with 3299 career rushing yards. The Mississippi State defense also did not yield a touchdown for the second time this season as MTSU could only muster 45 yards rushing.

Through seven games this season, the Bulldogs rank 53rd in total offense and rank 13th nationally in rushing. Dixon leads that attack with 696 rushing yards on 134 attempts. On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker K.J. Wright leads the way with 47 total tackles including 3.5 tackles for loss.

The defending national champion Florida Gators (6-0, 4-0 SEC), come to Starkville riding a nation's-best 16-game winning streak dating back to last season. Led by Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at quarterback, the Gators have won eight straight Southeastern Conference games. Led by head coach Urban Meyer who is 50-9 in his fifth season in Gainesville, the Gators rank as the nation's sixth best total offensive team and rank second nationally in total defense, yielding just 228.3 yards a game.

Dating back to 1923, Florida leads MSU in the overall series 32-18-2. However, the Bulldogs have had recent success against the Gators in Starkville, having won the last four meetings at home. UF's last win in Starkville came in 1985.

 Mstateathletics.com will once again provide coverage of the game with live audio, live statistics, an in-game blog, twitter updates along with facebook updates.