The No. 17 ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs travel to Tuscaloosa to face the No. 12 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in a game matching two teams with the same record but completely different outlooks on it. Alabama came into the season ranked No. 1 and were expected to battle for another national championship, so the Tide players and faithful have been publicly frustrated with the results of their season thus far. Contrarily, Mississippi State was picked to finish at best 6-6 and fifth or sixth in the SEC West.
Because of the presumed overachievement at this point in the season, the Bulldogs have faced plenty of controversy to keep them grounded. Mullen noted earlier in the week the Bulldogs will be playing with “heavy hearts” over the loss of their friend and teammate Nick Bell. Mississippi State will wear patches on the jerseys honoring Bell, and each week a player will wear Bell’s No. 36 uniform to honor him, with this week’s player being his great friend Charles Mitchell.
As if the loss of a teammate is not enough to think about, the Bulldogs must face off against the defending national champions who rank fifth overall in scoring defense and possess a two-headed rushing attack in Ingram and Richardson that would make Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen proud. Not to mention, Mississippi State has a handful of players from Alabama, and the close proximity of the two schools helps to make this one a bit of a rivalry game.
Derek Sherrod, a veteran offensive lineman, knows what to expect out of the Tide.
“Yeah, whenever Mississippi State and Alabama line up against each other, it’s going to be a hard-fought game,” Sherrod said. “Throughout the years, we’ve had a lot of tough games, and we both want it pretty bad.”
While MSU has had some success against Alabama in this decade, the last two years were not pretty; however, both schools seem to have a different product on the field this year. Alabama head coach Nick Saban has proclaimed in the media “we are not the team we were last year,” and Mississippi State seems to be entering this game with some confidence and rightfully so.
Alabama native and emotional leader Chris Relf who was recruited to Alabama only as a wide receiver told scout.comhe was going to have a surprise for his home state.
“When I went back home this past weekend, they said what you going to do against Alabama? I told them just watch and see, watch and see,” Relf said.
MSU faithful have to be thrilled with Relf’s performance thus far this season, but the Dawgs could stand to see some improvement out of his passing game. It will be hard to be one-dimensional and defeat the Elephants, ala the Florida game.
Mullen believes the passing game should be back on track this week.
“We threw the ball a lot last week. It’s better. Throwing the football is a skill, and anytime you have a skill, you are going to continually improve,” Mullen said. “[Relf] concentrates on it, and we’ve improved some things and he did a nice job. We got a lot of reps to where we were worried about just us and concentrate on us instead of your opponent. So that is where we got to clean some things up last week.”
Vick Ballard believes Alabama is “pretty good, but nothing too big for us.” This type of mentality is a must for the Bulldogs, as they really have to stay focused and not get intimidated by the raucous atmosphere in Bryant-Denny stadium. Ballard also has some more specific plans for the game this weekend.
“Somebody was saying they haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in a few years, so I would like to help stop that streak,” Ballard said.
The true number is four 100 yard rushers since 2007, but Ballard got his point across. That streak will need stopping, or at least the Dawgs will need a good day out of a few rushers, if the Dawgs are to continue their winning formula. MSU has eclipsed the 200-yard mark in rushing in the past five games and rank No. 14 nationally in rushing offense, just one of seven statistical categories the Bulldogs rank in the top 25.
Another one of those categories, turnover margin where the Bulldogs come in at No. 15 nationally has been another critical part of the Bulldogs success. Defensive leader and linebacker K.J. Wright believes persistence has been a key in this area.
“At the beginning of the season, we weren’t getting as many turnovers as we wanted to,” Wright said. “But it’s a slow process; it’s something we’re picking up now. Coach told us it’s a step we had to take in order to be good. Now we’re starting to pick that up a whole lot.”
His boss, Manny Diaz, believes in the persistence factor as well, but also that pressuring the quarterback (the Bulldogs rank No. 24 nationally in sacks) is the start for the Bulldogs in creating turnovers.
“It’s just something we hoped if we kept chipping away and chipping away they’d start to come. And just because we’ve gotten a few doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed a few this week. But the more you can harass quarterbacks, he holds the ball every play so he has the best chance of turning it over,” Diaz said.
With Alabama’s quarterback coming off a frustrating game, getting to him early could prove beneficial. One thing is certain, MSU will need to keep coming at him and the rest of the Alabama team for four quarters, because they have proven they compete for all four quarters.
Mullen believes Alabama one of the most talented teams MSU will play. However, he believes State has the game plan in order to be successful.
“We will have our hands full. [Alabama] is a very talented team on both sides of the ball and in every single phase, one of the most talented teams in the country we have to play,” Mullen said. “They have experience, depth and talent at every single position on the field.We’re gonna have to follow our game plan — play great on defense, take care of the football, make plays when we have the opportunity to make them. If we do that, we have a great chance to win.”