Following its fifth loss of the season at the hands of Texas A&M Saturday, the Mississippi State University football team turns its eyes to the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide.
In its first visit to Kyle Field in 100 years, MSU dropped a shootout to the Western division foe Aggies 51-41. 
MSU (4-5, 1-4) outgained the Aggies (8-2, 4-2) with 556 total yards to 537. The Dogs held Texas A&M to just 91 yards rushing, but key special teams miscues proved to be costly in the loss. Although the end result did not favor the Bulldogs, head coach Dan Mullen said multiple positive notes can be taken away from Saturday.
“I’m proud of our kids. They fought and they battled for four quarters and made stops when we needed to make stops — not enough of them, but a bunch of them,” he said. “Kind of the story of the season. There are a lot of good things that we can take away. We got a lot of young players on that team. You look to the future and say, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of good things that can happen for us in the future.’ The future’s next week for us.”
Freshman De’Runnya Wilson emerged as one of those young players who contributed significantly to the offensive production. Wilson led the Bulldogs with 75 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Aggies and said mutual trust from his teammates and learning more of the offense will help him transition moving forward in the season.
“Coach has been telling us all year to have accountability and trust. The team trusted in me, and I trust the team. Coach told us that big time players make big time plays, and I knew that we needed to go out there and make big plays,” Wilson said. “Every day I learn something new. I try to do the little things, and the little things take care of the big things.”
Mullen said defensively the Bulldogs were able to stop the  Aggies but were unable to stop quarterback Johnny Manziel’s creativity and improvisation. In Saturday’s match up against top-ranked Alabama, Mullen said the Bulldogs need to change the mindset to stopping a complete team and apply their schemes to fit the Crimson Tide’s style of play.
“It’s very different. We have to make sure every one takes a lot of ice baths this week. Where last week we had to stretch out an awful lot and hydrate because you’re going to be running around all over the place, this week you better get in that ice bath and get your body healthy. They’re going to pound away at you,” he said. “Within their style it’s going to be a much more physical game.”
Defensively, MSU enters the game ranked fifth in the conference in run defense, averaging 141 yards per game. The Tide rely heavily on its running game with running back tandem T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake averaging a combined 165 yards per game. 
Alabama head coach Nick Saban complimented the Bulldogs’ defense and said attention to detail will be imperative to keep control of the ball.
“I think that Mississippi State has a very, very good team to have five losses to teams that are all rated in the top 20, and playing very competitively in every one of those games and being in every one of those games, so you have to look past the record,” Saban said. “This is a very good team offensively. They can run the ball. They keep the ball. Their time of possession is good. Defensively, they are in the top tier of the SEC.”
Alabama boasts a top-10 defense statistically, which surrenders only 281 yards per game. The Crimson Tide average a 30-point winning margin, and Mullen said the Bulldogs have a tall task in preparing to host the nation’s best.
“Any time you get the opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country, that’s huge. It’s unique. You don’t always get this (opportunity). They’re a team that leads the nation in just about everything. I don’t know if they have any weak spots,” he said. “We’re going to have out hands full. We’re going to enjoy that opportunity and go out there and play with great effort for 60 minutes and see what we can do.”

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Leon Carrubba

Aggie sophomore Sam Moeller blocks Devon Bell's punt, which resulted in a safety in the first quarter of the game.