3 key storylines for Mississippi State football vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
By Ethan Lee
Saturday evening, the Mississippi State Bulldogs host the Alabama Crimson Tide for week 5 of the 2023 Mississippi State football season.
The past couple weeks haven’t been all that fun for Mississippi State football fans and they certainly haven’t been any fun for the Mississippi State Bulldogs or Zach Arnett. And now, MSU gets to take on yet another tough test.
On Saturday, Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide come to town to meet up with the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, Mississippi. This isn’t exactly a pivotal SEC West matchup that impacts the conference at large, but it is something that could potentially have a significant impact on the 2023 Mississippi State football season.
The Bulldogs need to make some sort of statement. Win, lose, whatever. But this game has to be a statement for Arnett and the Bulldogs. Miss. State fans absolutely need something to get excited about because things have been frustrating over the past few weeks.
Mississippi State football vs. Alabama preview: 3 storylines to watch for MSU Bulldogs vs. Crimson Tide
And it’s clear that the MSU football team needs some momentum after some deflating losses.
As Alabama enters into Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday to meet up with the Bulldogs, keep an eye on these three storylines for this game.
Can Mississippi State contain dynamic QB Jalen Milroe?
One of the biggest things to watch this week is how Zach Arnett, Matt Brock, and this Mississippi State defense account for Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe. While Milroe isn’t exactly the best passer in the world, he’s effective, is surrounded by a ton of talent, and is ridiculously fast as a runner.
Milroe is completing 66.7 percent of his passes and has thrown for 674 yards and six touchdowns against three interceptions. To go with that, Milroe has 120 rushing yards for a couple scores.
For the past three weeks, Mississippi State football fans have seen how dynamic quarterbacks have punished the Bulldogs’ defense. There’s a great chance that this could very easily happen again this weekend.
MSU can’t afford to have Milroe break containment and scramble for huge chunks of yardage. And of course, the Bulldogs have shown that they’re vulnerable to accurate passers tossing the ball to quick receivers.
Mississippi State’s defensive backs and linebackers will be tested this week.