#2 Alabama Crimson Tide (8-1, 5-1 SEC) vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-4, 1-4 SEC)
After a gut-wrenching battle for the ages last week in Tuscaloosa, the Alabama Crimson Tide must be frustrated about all the opportunities they squandered, as they came up on the shy end of a 9-6 OT result.
Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville MS
Saturday, Nov. 12, 7:45 pm EST
NCAA Odds from Sportsbook.com:
MoneyLine: Alabama -875, Miss. St. +635
Spread: Alabama -18, Miss. St. +18
Over/Under: 43
The Tide missed four field goals in total (three misses and one blocked by the LSU special teams). Much of the betting world anticipates ’Bama taking out its frustration on Mississippi State this Saturday night in Starkville.
The Crimson Tide is, after all, the only team to have a better statistical defense than #1 LSU. It seems that in college football especially, the nation’s truly elite teams have an elite defense. In addition, Alabama has the lethal running game to buttress it. Starting RB Trent Richardson alone is probably the best at his position in the nation, the unit is bolstered further by talented back-up Eddie Lacy.
With just a 1-4 conference record, Mississippi State has been a disappointment this season. Some pegged MSU to have an eight or nine-win season in 2011, but the stars really haven’t aligned for the Bulldogs after a strong 2010 campaign. The Bulldogs have a strong defense and running game themselves (ranked 16th and 37th in the nation, respectively) but in the suffocating SEC West, it just isn’t enough. State’s most convincing wins have been against the likes of Memphis, UAB and FCS opponent Tennessee-Martin. Needless to say, Alabama is an entirely different animal.
After the final whistle, the bottom line speaks loudest, but it won’t be just Alabama fans that will argue that the Tide should have won last week’s game. The Tide often have looked overall like the best team in the country and head coach Nick Saban and his troupe of NFL-ready players must be tortured that they didn’t execute on special teams in a game that was both important and razor-close. The Tide aren’t flawless; QB A.J. McCarron and the wide receivers are good only in a custodial sense. In other words, it’s the running game and defense that carries this team. But both are superb enough to make the aerial attack superfluous more often than not. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Alabama’s players should have redemption on their minds going into this week’s road game, with a following game against Georgia Southern, the aim should be to finish with two exclamation points leading up to the vengeful Iron Bowl rivalry game versus loathed in-state foe Auburn.
Mississippi State is structurally not a bad football team, but it is unlikely that MSU has enough firepower to slow down the seemingly inevitable Tide onslaught; in addition to Richardson and Lacy smashing through to the second level, the ’Bama defense should swarm the home team’s ballcarriers and the talented secondary will make it tricky for QBs Chris Relf or Tyler Russell to throw the pigskin.
The Bulldogs aren’t out of the woods after Alabama, either. They must face Arkansas next week, followed by a likely win against in-state Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl.
Alabama should still be eager to prove to the nation that though it isn’t ranked #1, it is the most talented team in America, with last week being an aberration. Clearly, the best way to do that is to put a stomping on MSU on their turf this Saturday night.
With the – dare I say likely? – scenario of Alabama winning the balance of its games in 2011, and LSU hanging on in a tough upcoming game against Arkansas, we could see a re-match of last week’s classic in the national title game. In terms of pitting the two best teams against each other, we really should see a re-match.
It starts this Saturday with a decisive win against Mississippi State.
Score Prediction: Alabama 31, Mississippi State 9
Over/Under Prediction: 40
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