Ohhhhhhhh my gooooooodness. Can. You. FEEEEEEEL. IT? Are you ready for SEC Holiday Home Weekend 2 of 4 in Starkvegas? I am.
LSU was LSU. That's over. So now the Wildcats must be sacrificed. Sorry Kentucky.
Some Saturday Games of Interest for KL in The Junction:
11am SECN - Auburn at Arkansas
2:30pm CBS - Tennessee at Alabama
6pm ESPN - Texas A&M at University of Mississippi d.b.a. "Ole Miss"
6:30pm SECN - FEEDING TIME IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER
Based on this I'd say a Junction arrival of around 1:30pm - 2:30pm would be prudent.
There will I repeat will be Holiday Poultry at the tailgate in the form of 3 trays of Chicken-Fil-A chicken nuggets. A HUGE salute to Adam for #firing in this catering order this week all the way from France. TEETH, Adam. TEETH. As always, please feel free to bring any supplemental SEC Home Holiday tailgate treat that you would like to share.
And not that I have to remind you, but: this game is a BLACKOUT. For the rookies, this means wear black.
Now, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
1. Cornerback Will Redmond a.k.a. "World War Deuce" tore his ACL this week and is out for the season:
http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/10/22/will-redmond-tears-acl-mississippi-state-cornerback-injury-out-season
Bulldog hearts everywhere broke this week. This isn't just regional news either, as our talented senior was projected by professional league experts as a 1st round pick. Redmond has had such a tragic college career, but he's made the best of it. I have confidence he will battle with the same grit and TEETH that he's shown throughout his career in rehab, and will reemerge as strong as ever. I just hate he will lose some money in the process. He deserved every bit of that 1st round payout. Very much looking forward to The Battle for the Golden Egg now in the Torture Chamber so we can salute this TEETH soldier. GL BOL Will. Some shrewd NFL GM is going to scoop you up and get an incredible, unbelievable value. Can't wait to see you play again on Sundays.
2. Game week depth charts released: you might not want to look at these, because our CB depth is a little depressing right now: http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1158174
3. PRED WED by our very own Austin Golding (I say this all the time and I mean it every time: keep up this great work, Austin. Always a great read):
*Prediction Wednesday*
For three and half quarters last Saturday the Bulldogs played their most complete game this season. The passing game had tempo, we blocked a punt, the defense played lights out and the running game even seemed to show some progress. The first half of the first quarter was the opposite. Even though the offense didn't move the ball the defense looked lackadaisical and out of place. This has been Manny Diaz's trademark. Life with Manny means giving up points and drives early only to adjust and hopefully shut the other team down. Against La Tech it is easy to adjust and catch back up but when we fell behind against LSU and A&M the team got on its heels and didn't play as free as they normally do. When a team presses like that they make mistakes. I wish we could have the game plan in place before the second quarter some games. It's almost as if our defensive staff learns more in one quarter of live action than they do watching a week worth of film.
The good news is we have a QB who threw for 347 yards with only 13 incompletions out of 40 attempts with 3 TD's. Slowly but surely we are seeing the running game come around. I still think we need to see more Aeris Williams and Dontavian Lee. Malik Dear looks like he will be a future centerpiece of the Mississippi State offense and that's something all Bulldog fans should be excited about. Dear is a powerful runner with great hands and a SEC ready frame. De' Runnya Wilson had 7 catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Dak having a great day throwing the ball and "Uno Beezy" having a big day as well go hand in hand. Having a passing game that produces big plays helps move defenders out of the box and thus opens things up for the MSU rushing attack.
This weekend Miss State gets back into the SEC schedule with a strong Kentucky team coming to town. The Wildcats come to Starkvegas 4-2 having dropped games to Florida and Auburn at home. Kentucky runs their offense through Patrick Towles who was a highly touted QB out of high school. The 6-5 240 pound Towles had a big game against Mississippi State last year but hasn't had a day as big since. Towles is a great athlete but does his damage primarily through the air. He comes into this game having thrown for 300+ yards each of the past two weeks, 359 yards last week against Auburn. Kentucky runs the ball pretty effectively also with Stanley Williams. The gameplan needs to focus on making life miserable for Towles and forcing him to turn the ball over.
Mississippi State - 34 Kentucky - 24
If you like watching teams pass the ball this is your game. Dak has attempted 225 passes already and Towles has thrown 200 himself. While Towles is a challenge, trying to stop Dak is more of a challenge. Dak has thrown for at least 210 yards in every game this season except for Troy when he played only a couple drives. The only time the Bulldogs need to force the running game is if we have a lead. We are a passing team with more weapons on the outside than most people give us credit for. Forcing the running game early in the contest has gotten our offense out of rhythm and made the Bulldog defense play to many early snaps in SEC games. I think Dak has another big game Saturday and the Bulldogs pull away in the second half.
The young talent on this team is starting to come into its own. In addition to Dear, Williams and Lee on offense, Brandon Bryant and Gerri Green have stepped up on defense. As impressed as I have been with the young guys we are going to have to have some of the familiar names step up down this final stretch. Chris Jones has to become more of a force. He has freed up guys like AJ Jefferson to make plays in the backfield but it's going to take him being in the backfield if MSU hopes to finish the year with a winning SEC record. In addition to the defense not giving up points early I think they need to limit opponents drives between the 20's. The Bulldog offense is routinely backed up on their own side of the field to start drives. That is easy to overcome against lesser opponents but now that the schedule is about to get a lot tougher it makes field position that much more important. Hopefully some of that starts this week.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the "Blackout" in the stadium turns out. After a couple sleepy games I think this one will be a great atmosphere. Safe travels to everyone headed to the game, the weather is supposed to be great if the rain holds out.
#HailState
GO DAWGS
HAIL STATE
TEETH,
KHH
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