Which team shows up Saturday?

[bulldognation]

I get it that we are all expecting State to roll into Oxford and take care of business Saturday. The opinions here range from slight win to blowout triumph.
So who actually shows up? The focused MSU that obliterated Memphis or the sluggish MSU that survived a scare from UAB?

We expect to win - a change in mindset that isn't lost on me - but Ole Miss is a dangerous team right now. They are fighting for pride.
If the offense shows up and we control the clock like we did against Arkansas and keep our defense fresh to chase Masoli I think we come out of there with a W. But if we turn over the ball or our defense stays out there too long then momentum and the crowd will kill it for us.

 

[rugbdawg]

not we show up Saturday.

The more important question is which Ole Miss team shows up.

 

[FlabLoser]

Really, the LSU game is the only game where we played bad. Mostly due to a lot of turnovers.

State has been pretty consistent this year. Relf had is best passing game against Arkansas, but I think that is mostly because passing was in the game plan.

Ole Miss has the worst scoring defense in the league and is near the bottom in other defensive categories. I like our chances to dominate that defense and control the clock, not allowing Masoli to have much flash or rhythm. I wouldn't know, but I've read the bears are weak against defending the option. Hmmm...

If we were entering the game with a winning streak, I'd fear maybe we were too comfortable and ripe for an upset. Instead, we're on a losing streak and I think we are hungry to whip the bears.

The bears are on a losing streak obviously. But their losing streak is the demoralizing kind. Prior to LSU, it looked like they were about to quit. But they turned in an impressive effort against LSU, so I'm not quite sure what we'll get from them on Saturday.

 

[bulldognation]

Take a common opponent like LSU. Both Mississippi State and Ole Miss went into Tiger Stadium and both lost, but the effort from each team was vastly different. Ole Miss went in and nearly knocked them off. We went in and looked like crap.
Granted we looked great vs Arkansas... so that's what has me scratching my head wondering how we respond in Oxford.

 

[FlabLoser]

I swear I think our team is scared to play there. We played LSU good here, but its been almost 20 years since State played well @ Baton Rouge.

We've had good consistency every other week. I am unconcerned.

 

[KennyPowers2]

Mullen and company for the most part has our team prepared and ready to play football for every game. I think he will have the same gameplan in store for ole miss as he did for Arkansas. Defense wins football games and I stand by that forever. Our offense did all they could agaisnt Arkansas but say what you want our defense gave up big plays to lose. Ole miss has good offensive stats but they are NOT the offensive scoring machine Arkansas is. Diaz has been good for first year. He will be better than ever for this game as long as our corners can learn how to shed blocks. I promise you that in practice this week the defense is doing some heavy tackling drills and learning how to shed blocks. We will be fine I think.

 

[SyonaraStanz]

And you saw how that paid off.

I just don't see us pulling this one out. I think OM's offense will be too much for our defense.

 

[dawgnautique]

we lost to Arkansas (in double overtime) but with the exception of two long explosive plays, we played very well against them. I think I'll take our defense any day against UM. Arkansas' offense is light years ahead of them.

 

[1549 miles away]

the habitual low snaps?

 

[FlabLoser]

Ralph handles the snap.

BUT - if we could get good snaps, Ralph would have an extra half second in the pocket and he'd have a lot better read on what the defense is doing. We'd be more productive with better snaps.

To be a shotgun-running team, it is really surprising we can't snap worth a ****.

 

[klerushund]

<div>They have stretches where they are absolutely awful, and other times (few and far between) where they look dangerous.</div><div>
</div><div>I'm betting their defense is tired of hearing about how Relf and Dixon ran roughshod over them last year. Can they do anything about it? We'll see I guess.</div><div>
</div>If we can take advantage of their defense (or lack thereof), especially their terrible secondary, then we can win.<div>
</div><div>I hope Chris Smith can play. He looked good against Arkansas and seems to be a bigger more physical receiver than our other guys.
<div>
</div><div>But I'm not ready to say we'll definitely win.</div><div>
</div><div>Hell, we haven't won in Oxford since 1998 and the scars from the last time we visited aren't completely healed.</div></div>

 

[SyonaraStanz]

It could have been much worse. AR ran it down our throats; they didn't have to air it out so much.

Also, if not for a few explosive plays against Bama, that game may have been a different story. The fact is we consistently give up big plays. But you saw what OM's offense did to LSU in the Red Stick. I see them doing something similar to our D, unless Masoli plays terribly like he did against TN.

I hope I'm wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this game. It should be a shoot out, regardless.

 

[coach66]

big plays against our defense which has been giving up big plays lately. We will needa better defensive effort than we have been having lately to win this game in my opinion. The other key is whether Nix can figure out how to stop the option, if he does that will put us in a tough spot as well. Their big weaknesses on defense are defending the pass and the option.

 

[RebelBruiser]

That's what it boils down to.

Our defense may be tired of hearing about last year. They may be tired of hearing about how pathetic they've been this year, but it won't matter.

There are two ways to attack our defense this year. The first is to throw the ball up to decent receivers in the secondary. We don't cover anyone, because our secondary is a group of guys who are either experienced and not athletic or athletic but inexperienced. You won't do this, because 1) you won't have to, and 2) throwing the ball isn't a big part of your offense.

The other way to attack our defense is with an option that takes advantage of the fact that Nix's defenses overplay and attack the football rather than sitting back. I promise you, Nix won't understand that he has to make that adjustment for a read option team. You'll be able to run 4 or 5 plays at most and run it all over us, because our defense will overplay and open holes all over the place. You don't even have to block well. You just let our players go where they go, and we'll open the holes for you, just like we did last year. All you have to do is hope Relf can make simple reads, which he's shown he's capable of doing, and you'll have open space everywhere.

It doesn't even matter if we stack the box with 9 guys, we'll open holes for you, because Nix is that bad. LSU doesn't run a read option well at all, but we made them look great at it this past week. Come to think of it, they don't do much well offensively at all, but we let them go for 43 points in regulation. The only way we win the game Saturday is if Masoli outscores Tyrone Nix. It's the story of our season. It's been that way every week. If Diaz and his boys can keep Masoli and Co. under 40, you win.

 

[1549 miles away]

I actually cringe on every shotgun snap. It seems more often than not, Relf has to bend is lanky frame all the way to the ground and scoop it up and then use his legs to try to salvage the broken play. Seriously, it seems this would be a relatively easy thing to correct, since the snap is one of the few things that the defense has no control over.

 

[Hidog78]

In the Ark. game he had enough time to go to sleep. When you count to five or six before you throw that is enough time. True, in the overtime he got caught but we did not pick up the blitz.