"*Prediction Wednesday*
Last Saturday/Sunday in Hattiesburg Mississippi State ran into a much improved opponent. USM came out ready to play and the Bulldogs came out like they expected USM to lay down in front of them. It felt a lot like we were watching the same team that showed up to Alabama, Oxford and the Orange Bowl. Dak looked rusty but eventually he proved to be the difference in the game like he has been in most of his starts. This week MSU needs Dak to put on a performance similar to the one he broke into the national spotlight with last year.
LSU got to play a few minutes of football last week but not enough to get any kinks out as their game was canceled with just over 10 minutes left in the first quarter. LSU's newly crowned quarterback Brandon Harris did get to throw two passes but only completed one and it was for a loss of 4 yards. All in all it is nearly impossible to take anything away from the few minutes of football that got played. While this doesn't provide MSU with any game film on LSU it also didn't allow the Tigers to work out any flaws or jitters before they match up with the team that embarrassed them in death valley last season. The Bulldogs don't need to watch any film to know what LSU wants to do. Their game plan is to run the ball and use short passes to set up the deep strike to its two stud receivers Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural. Stopping Leonard Fournette running the football for four quarters is going to be tough for everyone this season. This week I am more concerned with MSU being able to keep Dupre and Dural out of the endzone than I am our ability to slow Fournette down.
Mississippi State - 33 LSU - 31
I have honestly gone back and forth on this all week. Leaving Hattiesburg I was firmly convinced LSU was going to roll this week. The more the USM game got broken down the more it became clear we held back and overcame our mistakes as the game went on. Dak was obviously being protected and told not to run to start the game. Once he was allowed to play his game he looked like a different player.
The two biggest things that concerned me and still do are our pass defense and the guys who seemingly went missing we had heard all about this spring/summer.
First on defense we gave up a lot of intermediate passing yards. This puts an incredible amount of pressure on guys to tackle in the open field. I get that Manny Diaz is willing to give up some yards in the middle of the field as long as we get stout in the redzone but guys like Dupre and Dural will make a fool out of most DB's in college football if they get free in open space. Our pass rush was impressive and I think that continues this week. Not only do we have the talent but this is a hallmark of a Diaz defense. I hope we play Braxton Hoyett and Cory Thomas this week instead of Torrey Dale. Being that USM was in catch up mode I am hoping that he was only in there to provide pass rush. It's going to take more than Chris Jones, Nick James and Nelson Adams to stop #7 for LSU this week.
Secondly I want to see Dontavian Lee and Aries Williams more this game. Brandon Holloway had a great game but we need to pound the football between the tackles this week and that's not what Holloway is best suited for. He had 51 yards on 7 carries but 35 of those came on one play. The 16 yards he gained on his other 6 carries showed some of his limitations. We need to see Donald Gray this week and get De'Runnya Wilson the ball more. Gray could be a wrinkle LSU hasn't paid any attention to and Wilson is our best WR no doubt about it. I think we open the playbook up more this week and get those guys the ball. At least I hope we do.
I see this game coming down to the wire. The difference in QB is so great I think it's going to be to much for LSU to overcome. Brandon Harris will make mistakes. In his only other SEC start he was flat out horrible. He went 3 of 14 passing for only 58 yards and LSU lost 41-7. I expect him to play better than that this week but he is still the same guy playing for the same bad offensive coach in Les Miles. Dak will be the difference this week in a classic.
2. Episode 2 of 'Relentless' has DROPPED: http://www.hailstate.com//mediaPortal/player.dbml?&&DB_OEM_ID=16800&DB_OEM_ID=16800
3. Weather Forecast for the weekend: sublime with winds of awesome out of the SSW
TEETH
HAIL STATE
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