Mississippi State’s ‘D’ vs. ’Bama’s offense
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State versus Alabama presents a college football scenario you don’t see every Saturday.
It’s not often the team at the top of the SEC West standings gets together with a team toward the bottom and two of the conference’s best units are pitted against each other, but that’s the case Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.
No. 2 Alabama (5-0) has the SEC’S best offense. Mississippi State (1-3) has the league’s best defense. Something has to give. Odds makers at BETMGM are banking on the Bulldog defense caving in as the Crimson Tide is favored to win by over 30 points.
But Alabama coach Nick Saban said it isn’t going to be that easy. Preparing for MSU coach Mike Leach’s offense is always unique given Leach’s distinctive style of play, but Saban said gearing up to go against Mississippi State’s defense is going to be just as unusual.
“Defensively, they’ve really played well this year,” Saban said. “They’re one of the top defensive teams in the league. Play hard. Very physical. Got a little different kind of scheme. This is really going to kind of be a little bit different kind of preparation for us on both sides of the ball relative to what we normally see. So it’ll be very challenging for the players, and we definitely need to do a great job of getting them prepared for what they’re going to see in this week’s game.”
Preparing for Alabama will be different for Leach and his staff too.
Mississippi State’s No. 1-ranked passing defense allows nearly 30 less yards per game (192.3) than the next closest SEC team (Auburn with 220.4), but the Bulldogs have not faced a quarterback like Alabama junior Mac Jones.
“Everything I’ve seen on the tape impresses me,” Leach said of Jones.
“He’s incredibly accurate with the football,” MSU defensive coordinator Zach Arnett added. “He puts it right on the money to those guys. And then he does a good job of getting it out on time. If teams are dropping back and playing zone, rushing three or four guys, he knows when to hold onto it and let routes get into the windows. If teams are trying to play pressure and play man, he gets it out and beats the pressure.”
Jones leads the SEC in several key statistical categories including passing yards per game (381.0), completion percentage (78.8), passer rating (212.8) and yards per attempt (13.0).
While Mississippi State’s defense is ranked No. 1 overall in the SEC, the Bulldogs aren’t the best in the league at combating some of those statistics. MSU ranks third in yards per attempt allowed (6.5) and fourth in quarterback rating against (129.7).
Sophomore corner Martin Emerson Jr. knows Jones and Alabama will be unlike any other team Mississippi State has gone against. He said it is an opportunity for the Bulldogs to come together as a team and show that they are more than their 1-3 record.
“Coming off the bye week, we’ve got our bodies back right, and we’re just ready to go to war,” Emerson said. “We’ve got to turn our season around right now, and it starts Saturday.”
Emerson will have his hands full with wide receivers Devonta Smith and John Metchie III, who Arnett called the two of the best wideouts in the country, but the matchup between Alabama’s topranked offense and Mississippi State’s top-ranked offense starts in the trenches. Leach said the difference with Alabama is the players don’t sacrifice speed for size. Mississippi State ranks third in the conference with 12 sacks, but getting around the Alabama offensive line is a big-time challenge. Arnett said it’s as good of an offensive line as he’s ever seen.
Stopping Alabama senior running back Najee Harris is no easy task either. Harris leads the SEC with 595 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. The Bulldogs bumped down to No. 3 in the SEC in rushing defense after Texas A&M’S Isaiah Spiller ran for 114 yards on 18 carries on them two weeks ago.
Arnett, who was coaching at San Diego State when Harris was coming out of a northern California high school, remembers Harris as a “phenomenal recruit.”
“He’s only lived up to the billing and more,” Arnett said. “He’s a big, physical back who has home run capability and fights for the extra yard.”
Alabama has the top quarterback, top running back and two of the top five wide receivers in the conference – and it would be three of the top five if Jaylen Waddle wasn’t lost for the season with an ankle injury last week. Mississippi State has a well-rounded defense, but it has not faced an offense like Alabama’s.
Saturday is a chance to prove just how good the MSU defense really is.
“They got so many strengths,” Arnett said. “If you sell out to take away one thing, they’ve got three other ways they can hurt you. They’re so explosive on offense.”
Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler’s work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!