MWN Mailbag: Rolling the Tide Edition

Oct 11, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs fan celebrates after the final seconds of the game between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers at Davis Wade Stadium. Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated the Auburn Tigers 38-23. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

I’m swamped this week, so I didn’t have my usual amount of time to devote to the MWN Mailbag. Some bloggers would simply say forget it and move on. Not me.

It’s a big game so people have questions. I still have answers. And though I don’t promise the quality of those answers, people keep coming with those questions, so I assume they are getting what they want.

To the questions!

As is the case with most things, it’s probably a little bit of both. Missouri does have a really good defense that benefited greatly from the fact they had yet to play a really good team. But their defense is no fluke. Here is where Missouri ranked nationally in terms of defense after Mississippi State ran roughshod over them.

• 10th in yards per game
• 14th in passing yards per game
• 21st in rushing yards per game
• Tied for 4th in points per game

Even if Missouri’s defense wasn’t that great, there is no way they could rank as high as they do across the board in all of these categories. And if the rankings don’t win you over, there were times when Missouri’s defense was giving Mississippi State all they could handle. The defensive line for Missouri was in Prescott’s face on more than one occasion and forced him to make decisions sooner than he wanted to make them. It’s a credit to his development as a passer that he didn’t make bad decisions in those situations.

As for carryover, sure there is some room for carryover, but Missouri is the Fat Free Version of Alabama’s defense. I still see Mississippi State fans say we’ll need a running back step up and have a big game. Unless they are talking about a running back catching passes out of the backfield or pass protecting for Prescott, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Alabama shut the best running back in all of college football down. Mississippi State ran for 3.5 yards per carry against a good run defense, but nothing as close to as good as Alabama’s. The only rushing yards we get on Saturday will come from broken plays Dak Prescott scrambles on and makes something out of nothing. That will carry over.

Look, there are plenty of things to hate about Verne and Gary’s broadcast. I’m completely on board with this. But instead, how about we just enjoy the silliness that takes place every Saturday in the CBS booth.

More from Maroon and White Nation

• College football schedule week 4: 3 must-watch under-the-radar games
• Meeting the Opponent: Week 4 – South Carolina Gamecocks
• Mississippi State football vs LSU: The good, bad, and ugly
• M&WN Staff – Week 3 SEC Picks and Best Bets
• Mississippi State football film study: Why did MSU’s defense fail vs. LSU?

If you know you are going to consume massive amounts of alcohol during the game, turn this into a drinking game. Every time he says something along the lines of how Nick Saban is the best coach ever, take a drink.

If you are a degenerate gambler, set an over under with your friends. Make it 5.5 and see if they take the over or under. I think 5.5 is pretty reasonable on the over or under on this.

Mississippi State’s Women’s team won their exhibition game 128-34, if you aren’t sure what Jared is talking about. The game was against Mississippi College, which is a Division II school. Is it impressive? Absolutely. How impressive? I really don’t know.

Basketball in general is getting ready to go through a major renaissance at Mississippi State. The Women’s team got things started a last year, and the Men’s team is on the verge of something special. But trying to draw too many conclusions against an opponent that was so mismatched is unwise. The ladies will be good, and have a chance to compete for the SEC Championship. But I really can’t draw too many conclusions based on this game.

I didn’t catch it at first because I was at the Peanuts movie with my kids when the Ole Miss game was going on this past weekend. But this is a direct shot at Hugh Freeze and his decision to go for a first down at the end of the game with the score tied on 4th down instead of punt it away. And it almost cost Ole Miss the game before the insane 4th and 25 play.

One of the things I think that is keeping Ole Miss from being the great team they are supposed to be according to all of the experts is Freeze himself. For all that he has done in recruiting, his in game decisions are sometimes mind boggling. This one was no different.

Arkansas got the stop and ended up putting themselves in filed goal position as a result of Freeze’s decision. Freeze continues to go for 4th downs in the oddest of circumstances. Or he takes Kelly out of the game for a few plays to have Kincade come in and have a running quarterback. I don’t get it.

So to answer the question, in that situation, I send out my max protect punt unit, and I kick that ball away.

I’m probably the wrong person to ask this because it is pretty hard to truly annoy me. I teach 8th graders for my real job, so my tolerance level is pretty high. But people can say a lot of things to me and it never annoy me.

A lot of these guys rarely come across my timeline, so I don’t have a ton of experience with a lot of them. Acey is a trash talker who will never admit he’s wrong, even when he knows he’s wrong. Which according to him is never.

I honestly don’t know much about Chisolm. He rarely comes across my timeline.

Rebel Jacob I am pretty certain is Ole Rebel Jacob. Think it was a typo. He is blinded by extreme homerism. I have no issue with that. There are plenty of Mississippi State fans who do the same thing.

The only one who ever annoys me is Josh Lee. And there is only one thing that bothers me about Josh.

I am by no means a perfect individual, but I am a Born Again Christian and try to live according to the principles set forth in the Bible every single day. Like I said, I’m not perfect, and I mess up. I mess up a lot.

Next: How to beat Bama Without a Running Game

But Josh Lee will way too often quote Bible verses and say things about living a Godly life, and then completely run a Mississippi State fan into the ground. Some of the times he is goaded into it, other times he isn’t. Regardless, I don’t know where there are any instances in the Bible that God condones such behavior.

So that annoys me. It’s one thing if you are just critiquing someone else’s opinion. It’s another thing if you start running them into the ground. Once again, I’m not perfect. I make mistakes as well. But I have a hard time wrapping my mind around those types of things.