For win-hungry Mississippi State, Tulane might just be the rivalry to renew.
The Tulane Green Wave and Mississippi State Bulldogs played every year before Tulane left the Southeastern Conference in 1965.
Now, Tulane (1-1) and MSU (0-1) will meet for the 54th time in the Louisiana Superdome Saturday. The Bulldogs lead the series 27-24-2.
State has won the last five meetings including a 66-22 bashing nine years ago. The last time Tulane knocked off an SEC foe was in 1989 when it downed Vanderbilt. Since then the Green Wave has lost 24 games to SEC opponents.
Tulane, under fifth year head coach Chris Scelfo, will display a spread offense frequently from the shotgun. They also like to run the “no huddle offense” to catch opposing defenses off guard. So far the Green Wave has 656 passing and 149 rushing yards.
Senior quarterback J.P. Losman has 33 touchdowns and 4,400 career yards. He has completed 57 percent of his passes.
MSU head coach Jackie Sherrill said the Bulldogs will need to pressure the QB to prevent big plays.
“Losman is a quarterback that is very talented, very accurate, has a lot of speed and is able to get himself out of trouble,” Sherrill said. “He’s a very tough player.”
Senior running back Mewelde Moore is 46 rushing yards shy of breaking the Conference USA career rushing record of 3,636 yards.
Moore is not only a vital part of Tulane’s ground game, but is just as much a part on the receiving end. Moore recorded a “double-triple” for the third time with 100 rushing and 116 receiving yards in Tulane’s overtime win against Northwestern State.
Moore entered the year with more career rushing and all-purpose yards than any other player in the nation.
While Tulane’s offense can surge, the defense could use a lot of sandbags. They are young and only have six starters back from last year’s squad. Tulane plays a 4-3 defense that usually only rushes the four down linemen.
The MSU offense that totaled 409 yards against Oregon should be able to throw a number of things at the Wave and score a number of points.
Expect a flood of points inside the Superdome Saturday night when these two rivals meet again.