We take a look at an offensive and defensive player from the 2016 Mississippi State Football opponents who will likely play a key part in the season, plus the opposing head coach.
The Mississippi State football team will hit the road for the first of six road games in 2016 during Week 3 of the season. And the first road game will be quite the challenge for the Bulldogs because they have to travel to Baton Rouge to take on the Tigers in a game that will be played mostly at night.
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This game will likely provide the Bulldogs defense their most difficult challenge from an individual player standpoint. The defensive coaches for the Mississippi State football team have to find a way to slow down Leonard Fournette.
Fournette was the the run away favorite for the Heisman Trophy until the Tigers lost to Alabama. After that loss, he fell off the radar for a lot of people, but he still had one of the most impressive seasons ever by an SEC running back.
The likely first round draft pick in 2017 ran for 1,953 yards a game last season and 22 touchdowns. And if the Tigers first game against McNeese State had not been rained out, he probably rushes for over 2,000 yards easily, and would have eclipsed 2,100 yards had he just his average of 163 yards a game.
Last season against he Mississippi State football team, Fournette rushed for 159 yards and averaged 5.7 yards per carry. And both of those were below his season average. Fournette scored all three touchdowns in the Tigers’ 21-19 win over the Bulldogs.
Making all of this more impressive was the fact that every team LSU played last year knew the Tigers were going to ram it down their throats with Fournette because Brandon Harris wasn’t a threat to do much at quarterback. Harris only completed 54% of his passes for 180 yards a game. It was all on the broad shoulders of Leonard Fournette.
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The Mississippi State football team has struggled to beat the Tigers. They’ve only done it three times since the early 1990’s. If they want to make it a fourth in 2016, they have to find a way to contain Leonard Fournette.