Florida vs Mississippi State Implications

What Florida has at stake:

Head Coach Billy Napier’s seat is blazing hot, and he is fighting for his job here. Florida has the toughest schedule in the country, playing against 7 currently ranked teams this year. Already losing two of their first three games, including a rivalry loss to Miami. Florida needs to win this game to even have a chance of salvaging the season. Billy Napier is likely to be fired after this game, win or lose, so Florida must have a dominating win to even keep him around. This once storied program is now fighting for scraps in the SEC, and it is absolutely essential for the Gators to at least stay middling, so their program does not sink further. Florida is a program fighting for the survival of their legitimacy. 

What Mississippi State has at stake:

After the woeful season of Zach Arnett, the school hired Jeff Lebby as the head coach. A first-time head coach, Lebby took over a program in crisis, which had gone 5-7 the previous season and had lost 4 of their last 5 games. Lebby started the season with a drubbing of FCS Eastern Kentucky, then a brutal loss to Arizona State, then a 41-17 blowout by MAC team Toledo. Against Florida, Jeff Lebby must prove that he is a legitimate coach, lest he go the way of Zach Arnett the previous year. Mississippi State is doing everything they can not to become an SEC bottom feeder, but if this game is lost, then that will be their fate.