What to know/How to watch: Mizzou vs. Mississippi State
We’ve made it to senior night as the Tigers host their final game of the season on Saturday. Here are some basics to know about the game between Mizzou and Mississippi State.
Basic Game Info
- Where: Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium
- When: 6:45 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15
- TV: SECN
- Radio: Tiger Radio Network
Mississippi State (5-5, 1-5 SEC) Team Stats
- Schedule so far: Wins against Southern Miss (34-17), Arizona State (24-20), Alcorn State (63-0) and Northern Illinois (38-10). Losses to Tennessee (41-34), Texas A&M (31-9) Florida (23-21) and Texas (45-38). Win against Arkansas (38-35). Loss to Georgia (41-21).
- Points per game: 32.00 (48th in country)
- Points allowed per game: 26.30 (84th in country)
- Total yards per game: 399.6 (61st in country)
- Total yards allowed per game: 388.7 (90th in country)
- Passing yards per game: 242.6 (54th in country)
- Passing yards allowed per game: 212.5 (60th in country)
- Rushing yards per game: 157.0 (67thin country)
- Rushing yards allowed per game: 176.2 (110th in country)
Mizzou (6-3, 2-3) Team Stats
- Schedule so far: Wins against Central Arkansas (61-6), Kansas (42-31), Louisiana (52-10), South Carolina (29-20) and UMass (42-6). Loss to Alabama (27-24). Win against Auburn (23-17). Losses to Vanderbilt (17-10) and Texas A&M (38-17).
- Points per game: 33.33 (30th in country)
- Points allowed per game: 19.11 (21st in country)
- Total yards per game: 451.8 (21st in country)
- Total yards allowed per game: 270.0 (10th in country)
- Passing yards per game: 219.444 (79th in country)
- Passing yards allowed per game: 162.667 (9th in country)
- Rushing yards per game: 232.3 (8th in country)
- Rushing yards allowed per game: 107.3 (20th in country)
Players to know
Offense
Mississippi State has regularly used two quarterbacks this season. Shapen is a better passer, with a season stat line of 176-of-271 for 2,232 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Taylor is a better runner with 34 carries for 200 yards and five touchdowns. He isn’t an incompetent passer, completing 11-of-19 for 174 yards and three touchdowns as well.
Prepare to possibly see both Saturday. Shapen has exited each of the past two games with injuries and is his availability is uncertain for Saturday.
Once again, a split backfield.
Bothwell is a 5-foot-10, 230-pound sophomore who leads the team with 534 yards and has scored six touchdowns.
Booth is a 5-10, 205-pound graduate, who leads the team with 123 attempts for 512 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns.
The rushing attack is split pretty evenly between the pair, while Taylor adds an extra element while he’s on the field.
Did I intentionally make this six players to know just on offense? No.
But Mississippi State’s stats are pretty evenly split at wide receiver as well.
Thompson is a 5-9, 170-pound senior who leads the SEC with 808 receiving yards and is tied for third with three touchdowns.
Evans, a 5-11, 180-pound junior, is currently sixth in the SEC with 680 yards to go with four touchdowns.
The point to take away here is Mississippi State’s offense can move.
Defense
- Jahron Manning, Safety
Manning, a 5-10, 195-pound senior, leads the team with 70 tackles, which places him third in the SEC.
He also has three tackles for loss, one interception and four batted passes.
Manning lines up all over the field, but the majority of his snaps come in the box (in front of the line of scrimmage and within 10 yards), so expect him to play a similar hybrid role to Daylan Carnell.
- Brylan Lanier, Safety
Lanier, a 6-1, 190-pound safety, is tied for the SEC lead with three interceptions this season.
He also is fourth on the team with 50 total tackles to go with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 sack. He has two more batted passes to go with the interceptions.
Similar to Manning, Lanier lines up in the box for the majority of his snaps. Mississippi State keeps its safeties moving all around the field as both these two have more than 100 snaps at both free safety and as a slot defender and more than 200 in the box.
So expect both to move around regularly, but to more often than not line up in front of the line of the offensive line.
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