The Mississippi State football team will seek its first win of the season over a Division I FBS team when it faces the No. 5 LSU Tigers tomorrow.
The Bulldogs are currently 1-3 and are coming off a 38-7 loss to Georgia Tech. The slow start is not what many Bulldog fans and players were expecting coming into the season.
“It’s very frustrating. I’m trying to come up with ways every day to try to fight it off, keep positive, keep focused on the season,” junior running back Anthony Dixon said. “We’re ready. I’ve talked to my teammates. They’re ready. I’m just going to keep going. As long as they’re fighting, I’m fighting.”
The Bulldog offense is currently 11th in the SEC with 318 yards of offense per game, and last with 14.3 points per game so far this season. One bright spot has been junior wide receiver Brandon McRae, who has 249 receiving yards and two touchdowns on an SEC-leading 24 receptions. Another standout has been Dixon, who has rushed for 270 yards and two touchdowns.
“The Mississippi State team presents a very significant challenge,” LSU head coach Les Miles said. “[Dixon] is big, mobile, runs with finesse and can run with power. He’s a tremendous weapon for their offense.”
LSU is currently 3-0 this season after a 26-21 win at Auburn last week. They are coming off a 12-2 season in which they were SEC and National Champions.
The Tigers have not settled on a single quarterback to lead the offense, using both redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee and sophomore Andrew Hatch.
Hatch has started all three games at quarterback for LSU, and has completed 19 of 37 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown. In addition, he has rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown.
Lee has also played extensively in all three games this season. He has competed 27 of 50 passes for 382 yards and four touchdowns. Last week, he came off the bench after Hatch’s injury to lead the Tigers to come-from-behind victory over Auburn.
One player the Bulldog defense will have to try to contain is junior running back Charles Scott, whose 131.3 rushing yards per game this season rank first in the SEC.
Another Tiger threat is wide receiver Brandon LaFell, who is currently second in the SEC with 82.7 receiving yards per game and three touchdowns.
LSU’s offensive line is one of the best in the conference and includes All-SEC tackle Herman Johnson.
“I don’t know if anybody matches up with their offensive line. That’s my big concern going into this game. This is a massive offensive line, and we’re not near as big as those guys,” MSU head coach Sylvester Croom said. “They’ve got big bodies in the front wall at tight end and offensive line, which makes them a very physical offensive football team, and yet they’ve got enough speed where they can spread you out.”
Croom said his team looks forward to playing a great football team.
“LSU is a very outstanding football team. No loss in talent from their championship football team last year, no drop at all. It’s a great challenge for us, but we’re also looking at it as an opportunity to play one of the best teams in the country, and our guys are looking forward to it,” Croom said.
“I can’t wait. It’s one of the bigtime things in college football” Dixon said. “Me and the rest of my teammates, we’re amped up. We know the season isn’t over, and LSU knows that we pride on the upset, so why not these guys? It’s a good time to start right now.”
Miles said that State is a much better team than they’ve shown to date.
“If you watch [Mississippi State’s] film and you see how talented they are and you see what their abilities can be, once it’s put together, that’s the team we have to prepare to play, and if we do so, we should match up pretty well. I don’t think there will be a letdown,” Miles said.
The Bulldogs are 33-65-3 alltime against LSU. The most recent meeting was a 45-0 LSU victory in Starkville last season. The Bulldogs have not stayed within 30 points of the Tigers since Croom started in 2004.
“There always has to be a first time to change things,” Croom said. “When you’ve got some mental toughness, you can’t dwell on past activities. None of that has any effect on what happens on Saturday.”
The game is slated to begin at 6:30 Saturday night and will be televised by ESPN2.