The Mississippi State Bulldogs will try to win their fifth straight against the Auburn Tigers this Saturday when they travel to Jordan-Hare Stadium. State will also try to put last week’s embarrassment behind them and look for a win to turn the season around. The Tigers enter the game at 2-0 in the conference and 3-1 overall, while the Bulldogs are 0-2 in the conference and 1-2 overall. The Bulldogs took care of Auburn pretty easily last year with a 17-10 win in Starkville. The defense held the Tigers to just one first down in the first half. Two years ago saw a miraculous comeback when the Bulldogs scored 15 points in the final 2:30 to win the game 18-16. State has only won five times on the Plains.
The biggest key to this game will be the mindset of the players, according to MSU coach Jackie Sherrill.
“Our egos are bruised,” Sherrill said. “We still have to find our identity as a football team, and sometimes that doesn’t come until the third, fourth or fifth game.”
The MSU defense is in the bottom third of the league in nearly every category. They are currently giving up an average of 366.7 yards a game. Only Kentucky ranks worse in the league in scoring defense, as the Bulldogs are allowing 26 points per game. They will try to stop the Tigers, who are averaging 357 yards per game.
“Auburn’s quarterback (Jason Campbell) is more athletic than Grossman,” Sherrill said. “They have some good wide receivers, and they have more speed as a team than what they are given.”
Campbell will be the man to watch this week for the Tigers. The redshirt freshman has completed 64 percent of his passes on the year for 758 yards. He can hurt the State defense with his scrambling ability. Campbell has rushed 26 times on the year for 92 yards and two scores. He is similar in running ability to South Carolina’s quarterback Corey Jenkins, who rushed for 75 yards in one drive against the Bulldogs as a quarterback two weeks ago.
The Bulldog defense will be looking to make plays this weekend to keep Campbell and the rest of the offense in check.
“If we want to have any chance to win the West, we have to win this game. Right now we aren’t making plays,” defensive lineman Dannie Snyder said. “We came together with this loss. Nobody had anything to brag about after that game against Florida. We just need to play with more emotion out there.”
On the offensive side of the ball, State will hope to get Dicenzo Miller back. He missed the Florida game because of a high-ankle sprain and will probably be a game-time decision this week. Also, offensive tackles Kenric Fairchild and Derrick Thompson are nursing knee injuries. If they cannot start, Carl Hutchins and David Stewart will get the nod.
In order to be successful, State needs to find a way to move the ball down field in this game. Last week the team gained only 214 yards and was held scoreless for the first time since 1997. Only 44 of the 214 yards came on the ground. The offense is currently next to last in the league in scoring and is averaging just over two touchdowns per game.
“The receivers need to make the plays,” Sherrill said. “In practice, we just need to throw and catch more. Sometimes you put pressure on yourself when you think about making the catch instead of just going out and using your ability.”
Currently, State is only averaging 114 yards per game on the ground, next to last in the league.
“We need to be patient. Everybody needs to be on one page,” Miller said. “We are kind of lackadaisical right now, so we need to work hard this week in practice. We just need to focus and know our assignments. We want to try to keep the defense off the field so they can stay fresh.”
The job will not be easy against a tough and experienced Auburn defense, Sherrill said.
“They are good up front on defense,” Sherrill said. “They are big and physical on the defensive front, especially the nose guard. Tommy Watson will have his hands full with DeMarco (McNeil).”
Also on defense for the Tigers is linebacker Dontarrious Thomas, last week’s SEC Defensive Player of the Week after making 15 tackles against Vanderbilt. He currently leads the team with 54 tackles on the year, 46 of those have come in the last three games.
State is already off to its worst start since 1993, but a win will give them a chance to make it back to the SEC championship game.
Game time is set for 6 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN 2.