Mississippi State's defense and lines of scrimmage will be watched closely vs Toledo

Mississippi State football takes on Toledo in Starkville tonight at 6:30 PM CT. Here are three things to watch for as the Bulldogs play their third game of the season...

Has Mississippi State's defensive approach changed?

DC Coleman Hutzler's scheme and style was a complete unknown going into the season. Through two games, he's shown a commitment to playing pretty conservatively on defense, using 3-high safety sets and light defensive boxes to limit passing attacks. The issue has been defending the run from those looks. Some teams do it successfully, but the Bulldogs have not, especially last week. Does Hutzler change his approach this week against Toledo to try do a better job of limiting the run game? Or will he stay committed to the defense we've seen so far?

Can the Bulldogs control both lines of scrimmage?

State has traditionally been a program that's strong in the trenches. That's not been the case this season. Defensively, they've been run all over, and they aren't generating much pass rush. Offensively, they've gotten almost no push in the run game and have been iffy in pass protection. There's no reason that the Bulldogs shouldn't have had an edge up front in either of their first two games, but they didn't. The same idea is true this week. State should always be able to physically dominate a team like Toledo, but it's hard to assume they will now. State controlling the lines of scrimmage tonight would be a positive sign.

How does the State secondary perform?

For all the concerns on defense, the thing we were most worried about defensively entering the season - the Bulldog secondary - hasn't been much of a talking point so far. The simple reason for that is that they haven't been tested so far. EKU didn't have the pieces to challenge them consistently, and ASU simply didn't have to throw the football to have success. They should be tested against Toledo, however. The Rockets' best players on offense are their pass-catchers, and it's a dynamic group. Unless Toledo is able to do what ASU did and just run all over MSU (let's hope not), they'll have to throw it around some. We should get an idea of how good State's secondary is tonight.