THE Mississippi State vs. Auburn Game Preview
Round 89 in Mississippi State vs. Auburn. Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Ag, Cows and Football. This round is on the Plains – 6:30 Central time and televised by ESPN2.
Stats Match-ups
MSU rushing offense: 174 YPG (77th) vs. Auburn rushing defense: 270 YPG (124th)
MSU passing offense: 315 YPG (21st) vs. Auburn passing defense: 173 YPG (32nd)
Auburn rushing offense: 172 YPG (78th) vs. MSU rushing defense: 171 YPG (81st)
Auburn passing offense: 158 YPG (113th) vs. MSU passing defense: 164 YPG (26th)
MANNY DIAZ VS. GUS MALZAHN
This game will feature one huge variable: Auburn is starting a quarterback who has never taken a snap in his college career. Redshirt freshman Sean White is by all accounts a good player, but he has no experience. Veteran college football journalist Bruce Feldman thinks pretty highly of him, but nobody knows for sure what to expect.
Gus Malzahn is the kind of offensive wizard who can make any quarterback look good…..except Jeremy Johnson apparently. Could he come up with a scheme to totally tip the scales of Auburn’s fortune this year with his new QB?
How will Manny Diaz play it? Will he bring pressure on the young QB to try to force mistakes? He has the horses on the D-Line to do so but that strategy could end up hurting if Auburn’s talented backfield gets in space on underneath routes.
MR. CLUTCH: BEAR WILSON
Have you noticed how D’Runnya Wilson seems absent against teams like Southern Miss and Northwestern State, but everywhere against teams like LSU? That’s how he’s been this year: one catch against both USM and NWST and eight plus one TD vs. the #8 Tigers. But he’s been that way his whole career.
- vs. LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, A&M and GA Tech: 847 Yards (77 YPG) and 10 touchdowns in 11 games.
- vs. all other teams: 329 Yards (27 YPG) and three touchdowns in 12 games.
Well, here’s another big game so hopefully he’ll show up big. He ought to have the chance against Auburn’s defensive backs. Jacksonville State’s two top receivers, Josh Barge and Ruben Gonzalez, seemingly got whatever they wanted against the Tigers two weeks ago. They combined for 22 catches and 232 yards, with each going over 100 yards for the day.
That was against a FCS quarterback and receivers. What can Dak Prescott, Bear Wilson and Fred Ross do? Granted, Bobby Petrino’s passing attack only generated 167 yards and a 51% completion percentage, Louisville isn’t very good this year. LSU, as usual, barely tried to throw it.
I know State fans really want to solve the running game, but the match-up answer here may be throwing to set up the run – despite those national statistics at the top – especially since Auburn still won’t have talented DE Carl Lawson in the pass rush. Get Wilson, Ross and the boys working and that should allow Shumpert and his crew to get some yards on the ground.
GET AN EARLY LEAD
I remember the 2011 game so well. Mississippi State was nearly a touchdown favorite and Auburn fans were still basking in the glow of their national championship, but realistically looking at all the players lost from that team and suggesting that indeed MSU appeared to have the better team. After all, they nearly lost to Utah State the week prior and the Bulldogs were ranked in the top 20.
It was an 11:00 AM kick so you’d thing Jordan Hare would be relatively calm. Well, due to some MSU mistakes early the Tigers got off to a quick 14-0 lead and the crowd got in it. Like Davis Wade vs. Texas A&M in 2014 11:00 AM loud. And they stayed loud for the duration. Even though State made a comeback the fans were still behind the team, willing them to victory – they knew they needed the push.
Auburn fans are a funny bunch. They LOVE Auburn, but they will also turn on the team quick. If you give them an opening like we did with the early lead in 2011 their 87,000 fans will make your life miserable as an opposing player. But if MSU can get out to an early lead and have their fans questioning this team as they are this week, they’ll stay pretty quiet.
FINAL TAKE
Auburn has re-invented themselves this week. They are going with a new quarterback. Will Muschamp knows his defense is without its best player and he’s had a couple of weeks to figure out how to deal with it. They are going back to the drawing board to change their fortunes.
That means one of two things: Auburn will be much improved on Saturday or they will keep imploding. With their high profile coaching staff, however, I wouldn’t bet on the latter. This game will be a fight, the Tigers will not go quietly.
It’s only September but this game is critical for both teams. They each had their sights on the SEC West all offseason, and this game is an eliminator. The season isn’t lost with a loss, but the division is, so it’ll be a big time match-up for two desperate teams.