What to watch for when Mississippi State football travels to Georgia

After a much-needed bye week, Mississippi State football travels to Sanford Stadium in Athens to take on the title-contending Georgia Bulldogs. While State's chances are incredibly low in this game of even keeping it close, there are still some key things we should watch for as the Bulldogs face the other Bulldogs.

Has a youth movement started coming out of the bye week?

With Mississippi State off to a poor start to the season and many of the veterans on the roster struggling, it's coming close to the time that a youth movement begins for the Bulldogs. At this point, getting valuable reps and experience for younger players who will likely be the faces of the team in the future is what's most important. Coming out of a bye week, I'm curious to see if that shift has begun. Obviously throwing inexperienced guys out there against Georgia isn't ideal, but with the extra week to prepare it's as good a time to do it as there is. And, frankly, State might be better off with the younger players anyways.

Does the Mississippi State running game continue to improve?

After struggling through the first two weeks, MSU has had back-to-back good rushing performances. One of those came against a bad Florida defense, but the other was a respectable showing at Texas. Now heading to Athens against another big-time defense, does State continue to run the ball effectively? It's going to be hard, and perhaps unwise, to try running straight at the Bulldog defensive front. But perimeter runs have been successful for other offenses against UGA. We'll see if State can stay steady on the ground.

Has anything changed defensively since the break?

State's defense has been disastrously bad to this point of the season. They have poor talent, poor execution, and poor coaching. I doubt the bye week changed any of that. However, we at least can hope things have improved after the break, right? To the earlier point, are young guys more involved? Does the scheme look any different? Can they simply tackle better? We'll have a close eye on the defense Saturday.