Tag: Mississippi State

WATCH: Jameson Williams 75-yard touchdown opens second half

Alabama makes a statement to open the second half against Mississippi State.

Even with a 21-6 lead at halftime, there felt like there was something missing from the Alabama offense. A huge response was needed after the loss to Texas A&M last week. Some kind of long touchdown Crimson Tide fans had grown accustomed to seemed due.

Struggles seemed to follow the Crimson Tide to Starkville, not being able to push secure the chunk plays. But thankfully, Jameson Williams is still on the roster.

He opened the second half with a touchdown, giving Alabama much-needed momentum to get the offense rolling.

Quarterback Bryce Young stepped into the pocket, firing a strike to Williams on the first play of the second half. The Ohio State transfer did the rest from there, taking it into the end zone. It sure felt like watching Jerry Jeudy in a Crimson Tide uniform again.

You can watch the touchdown here:

Since DeVonta Smith left for the NFL, Alabama has been looking for their next star receiver. John Metchie was thought to be the guy, with Slade Bolden having a ton of experience as well. Williams has turned out to be Young’s favorite target, coming in clutch over the past few games.

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Lady Vols outlast Mississippi State, 2-1

Lady Vols defeat Mississippi State to move into first place.

The Lady Vols are perched atop the Southeastern Conference Eastern division soccer standings.

No. 10 Tennessee notched its second consecutive victory Friday night.

The Lady Vols outlasted Mississippi State, 2-1, at Regal Soccer Stadium before a crowd of 2,379 fans.

UT (13-1-0, 6-1-0 SEC) scored early as Claire Rain tallied in the sixth minute to give the Lady Vols a 1-0 lead. The goal was Rain’s second of the season and it was unassisted.

The Lady Vols also scored early in the second half as Claudia Dipasupil tallied in the 47th minute. The goal, which was assisted by Jordan Fusco, was Dipasupil’s seventh of the 2021 campaign.

The Bulldogs (3-7-3, 1-5-1) pulled to within 2-1 in the 57th minute when Madison Cotta scored.

Mississippi State outshot Tennessee, 14-9, in the match. Six of the Bulldogs’ shots landed on goal. The Lady Vols had four scoring chances land on frame.

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Alabama’s offense should have zero issues with Miss. State’s defense, here’s why

Alabama shouldn’t have any difficulties gaining yardage in one area against the Bulldogs defense.

Alabama travels to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs this evening, hoping to rebound after a devastating loss to Texas A&M.

There’s some good news for the Crimson Tide, and that’s that the Bulldogs’ pass defense isn’t that great.

Ranking at 59th in the country in total passing yards, the Bulldogs’ defense will have its hands full against Bryce Young and Alabama.

Young put up big numbers in the first half of the season, with 1,734 yards and 20 TDs through the air. With a pass defense that hasn’t met expectations, he should have a field day against the Bulldogs.

If there’s anything that Mississippi State does well defensively, it would certainly be containing and stopping the run. At just 89 yards per game, opponents haven’t been able to rush effectively against the Bulldogs’ defense.

If there’s anybody that’s capable, however, it would be Brian Robinson Jr. While he hasn’t gotten the carries he deserves throughout all six games this year, he has still been a difference-maker when given the chance.

Expect a lot more run-game from the Crimson Tide tonight. Also expect Young to throw for heaps of yards and at least a couple of touchdowns.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for continued coverage of the Alabama Crimson Tide!

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5 reasons why Alabama will have no issues with Mississippi State

Here are five reasons why Alabama will earn a W against Mississippi State in Starkville.

Alabama must win-out if they want to compete for an SEC Championship, as well as get a spot in the CFP.

First, however, they must get past Mississippi State in Starkville on Saturday.

With just two days to go until gameday, here are five good reasons the Crimson Tide will earn a W against the Bulldogs.

Who will be Alabama’s X-Factor player for the Mississippi State showdown?

This player will make the biggest difference in the Mississippi State game!

Alabama will take on Mississippi State, in what many Crimson Tide faithful will hope to be a rebound game. Alabama generally performs very well in games following a loss, and as long as they perform as well as we think they can, it shouldn’t be much of a problem getting past the Bulldogs with a win.

While Mississippi State has a defense that isn’t statistically off-the-charts, they are underrated to a certain degree. Their LB play has been pretty decent, led by junior Jett Johnson, who leads the team in tackles with 29 in total.

The Bulldogs’ defense, as a collective unit, has allowed 89 rushing yards per game and just three yards per carry,

This will lead us to my pick for Alabama’s X-Factor heading into the Mississippi State game on Saturday.

Brian Robinson Jr

Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports

My X-Factor for Alabama against Mississippi State is Brian Robinson Jr. Robinson has picked up 526 yards on 97 carries on the year, which adds up to a very impressive 5.4/ypc. If those numbers aren’t an indication of the need to give him more touches, I’m not sure what would be. He’s made it into the end-zone six times on the campaign, but the number would likely be higher had he been utilized properly at certain points during the season.

Getting Robinson the ball is one of my keys for the game if Alabama wants to leave Starkville with a win. Robinson should get 25 touches, at minimum. If he’s averaging just over five yards per carry, you can’t go wrong with this seemingly obvious strategy. Running it between the tackles is vital in this Bill O’Brien offense to open up the passing lanes, and Robinson’s build and balanced mix of speed and power makes him the perfect candidate. When DBs and LBs cheat down because they fear the run-game, an over the top pass is high-percentage. Pound through the trenches enough and the passing game will light up the scoreboard.

Giving Robinson the ball in the red-zone is another key. Last week, we saw pass plays inside the five yard line, which I’m not used to seeing by a Nick Saban-led football team. I never question the leadership of Saban, who will go down as the greatest football coach of all-time, but something has to give with the red-zone play-calling.

The Crimson Tide should be able to get back to the basics in this game against the Bulldogs, and the basics start in the running-game.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for continued coverage of the Alabama Crimson Tide!

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Alabama vs Mississippi State Prediction, Game Preview

Alabama vs Mississippi State prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, October 16

Alabama vs Mississippi State prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, October 16

Alabama vs Mississippi State How To Watch

Date: Saturday, October 16
Game Time: 7:00 ET
Venue: Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville, MS
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Alabama (5-1), Mississippi State (3-2)
– Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+

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– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions

Alabama vs Mississippi State Game Preview

Why Alabama Will Win

The offense still works.

It didn’t run the ball like it needed to late against Texas A&M, and the 153 yards overall on the ground weren’t enough, but Bryce Young and the passing game were enough to hang up 522 yards of overall total offense.

That should’ve been enough to win.

Against Mississippi State the job is simple. Be Alabama.

The Bulldogs have been inconsistent on pass defense. Oddly enough, the two losses came on two of the team’s best games of the season on third downs – on both sides of the ball – but LSU was able to hit the big play in its 28-25 win, and Memphis got the one weird punt return for a score ad was able to throw just well enough when it had to.

The Alabama passing attack is averaging over nine yards per throw with 21 touchdowns and three picks. Young wasn’t as sharp as he needed to be against A&M, but as long as he’s hitting close to 65% of his throws, he should be okay.

There’s zero Mississippi State running game to worry about, so it’s just about stopping the short-to-midrange throws and getting the D off the field. However …

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Why Mississippi State Will Win

This isn’t your 2020 Mississippi State.

Last year’s offense gave the ball away for the asking. QB Will Rogers and the O have had their moments, but for the most part they’ve been able to keep the mistakes to a minimum. The biggest key, though, has been the offense’s consistency.

The Bulldogs under Mike Leach are going to throw it a bazillion times, and Rogers has been great with three touchdown passes in every game but the win over NC State – he threw two.

Even in the losses he hit more than 75% of his passes and bombed away up and down the field. He’ll get his yards, and he has to be excellent when the offense gets its chances. For all of the good things the Alabama defense has done – and it has done good things – it’s got a problem in the red zone.

Over the last four games, it’s allowed ten touchdowns in 13 trips inside the 20.

– Week 7 College Football Schedule, Predictions, Game Previews

What’s Going To Happen

The 2019 Alabama team lost to Joe Burrow and the epic LSU squad. A week later it won at Mississippi State 38-7.

In 2018, the Tide lost to Auburn, but went on to its next game to thump Clemson in the College Football Playoff on the way to the national title.

In 2015 – it’s hard to find Tide regular season losses – the team followed up a loss to Ole Miss with a 34-0 win over ULM, and it rocked Mississippi State 24-7 a week after losing to LSU 9-6 in 2011.

The blowout outlier was a 14-13 win over Arkansas in 2014 a week after losing to Ole Miss, but in general, the Tide fix the glitch whenever there is one.

2013 was the last time Bama lost back-to-back games, and that came on the Kick Six against Auburn followed up by a totally heartbroken loss to a jacked Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.

Same thing in 2008 – a brutal SEC Championship loss to Tim Tebow and Florida led to a lifeless Sugar Bowl loss to Utah in the Sugar Bowl.

The last time the University of Alabama lost back-to-back regular season games was all the way back in 2007. That was the last time the school lost to Mississippi State, too.

The Bulldogs will get a few passing yards to keep this interesting, and the better-than-you-think defense will keep this from getting out of hand, but you’re messing with history here if you think Nick Saban is about to lose two straight regular season games.

– CFN Week 6 NFL Expert Picks

Alabama vs Mississippi State Prediction, Line

Alabama 38, Mississippi State 20
Line: Alabama -17, o/u: 57.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3

Must See Rating: 4

5: Caramel apple anything
1: Pumpkin spice anything

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SEC football power rankings after Week 6

SEC power rankings after a wild Week 6…

Woah, what a weekend of college football.

It was just as good in the SEC as it was everywhere else.

We had two thrillers:

Texas A&M knocked off Alabama, ending Alabama’s 19 game winning streak.

Arkansas went for a two point conversion to beat Ole Miss after scoring on the last play of the game. The Razorbacks came up short and the Rebels won 52-51.

Aside from that, it was business as usual in the SEC. Georgia won big over a top-20 Auburn team, Florida destroyed Vandy, Kentucky looked really solid against LSU.

Here are our SEC power rankings after Week 6.

Notre Dame tumbles out of Top-10 in USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll

Another tumble for the Irish

The loss to Cincinnati is going to be looked back upon as a potential turning point for the Irish as it dropped them down to No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. Many of us, myself included, wondered why Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees didn’t turn to Drew Pyne earlier, as they opted not to play him at all in the first half.

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It was a true tale of two halves, as the Irish were blanked in first two quarters and took a 17-0 deficit against the Bearcats into halftime. They would win the second half, 13-7, but it wasn’t enough as the first half hole was too deep to dig out of.

As Nick Shepkowski said last night, it’s time to turn the reigns over to Pyne, after both Jack Coan and Tyler Buchner were ineffective in the first half.

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The first loss of the season will sting for a while, as the Irish seemed like the better team, but mistakes, mainly turnovers in their own territory, ultimately doomed them.

It does help that multiple other Top-25 teams lost, including No. 2 Georgia blanking No. 11 Arkansas, No. 3 Oregon getting upset against Stanford in overtime, No. 9 Florida falling to Kentucky, No. 13 Texas A&M losing at home to Mississippi State and No. 21 Fresno State lost to host Hawaii.

That means there was plenty of movement in this weeks newest Coaches Poll. Below are the updated rankings along with last weeks in parenthesis.

1 – Alabama (1)

2 – Georgia (2)

3 – Iowa (5)

4 – Penn State (6)

5 – Oklahoma (4)

6 – Cincinnati (8)

7 – Ohio State (10)

8 – Michigan (14)

9 – Oregon (3)

10 – BYU (15)

11 – Michigan State (16)

12 – Oklahoma State (18)

13 – Notre Dame (7)

14 – Kentucky (23)

15 – Coastal Carolina (16)

16 – Arkansas (11)

17 – Ole Miss (17)

18 – Florida (9)

19 – Auburn (22)

20 – Wake Forest (25)

21 – Clemson (19)

22 – North Carolina State (NR)

23 – Texas (NR)

24 – Southern Miss (NR)

25 – Arizona State (NR)

Film room: How Tennessee’s fourth down mesh play was not properly executed at Florida

A look at how Tennessee’s fourth down mesh play was not properly executed in its loss against Florida.

First-year Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is continuing to implement his veer and shoot principle-base offense.

Part of Heupel implementing his offense is continuing to evolve it based on current player personnel.

Heupel played quarterback at Oklahoma for offensive coordinator Mike Leach. Leach is one of the original architects of the Air Raid offense, alongside Hal Mumme.

A main part of the Air Raid offense is mesh. Mesh is when two wide receivers run crossing routes. A good indication of when mesh routes are executed near perfection is having receivers slap hands as they reach the mesh point.

Below is Leach’s offense executing mesh against LSU on Sept. 25. Receivers are seen slapping hands at the mesh point.

Mississippi State executes mesh versus LSU.

Mesh is something Heupel has steered away from since implementing Baylor’s veer and shoot scheme as Missouri’s offensive coordinator from 2016-17.

Tennessee’s offense under Heupel has operated efficiently at times this season, but also has been stagnant.

Tennessee’s offense has produced five 40-plus yard plays from scrimmage this season under Heupel.

The Vols recorded three offensive plays of 40-plus yards during its 10-game, SEC only 2020 season. Tennessee produced 10 offensive plays of 40-plus yards in 13 games during the 2019 campaign.

Tennessee executes mesh at Florida.

In Week 4, Tennessee unexpectedly featured mesh in a fourth-and-five situation on Florida’s 30-yard line, down 24-14 with 6 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The mesh point between receivers Jimmy Calloway and Cedric Tillman was not closed or tight enough, something that can be perfected with more reps in practice. The Vols’ mesh play against Florida can be viewed above.

By not closing the mesh point tight enough, it allowed for a defender to escape and cause a distraction with footsteps behind Calloway. The result was not being able to complete Hendon Hooker’s passing attempt.

On Wednesday’s Southeastern Conference teleconference, Leach discussed how often Mississippi State practices and executes mesh during game week.

“We practice it a lot,” Leach said of mesh. “You just work on it every day, it’s a part of your package, and you do it every day.”

Tennessee wide receiver Jimmy Calloway (9) misses a pass resulting in a turnover on downs during an NCAA football game against Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. © Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Heupel also discussed running mesh at Florida and if it will be something he implements more of in catering to player personnel during the remainder of the season.

“You’ll see a combination of stuff as we continue to grow offensively,” Heupel said on Wednesday’s SEC teleconference. “In year one, you try to get your kids the base understanding of base concepts, of what you are doing, and continue to integrate things into your repertoire, into your game plan that are needed to attack certain things that you see defensively.

“Those things become a natural part of what you are doing, as you continue to grow, just kind of an evolution of who you are and where you’re going as an offense.”

‘Josh Heupel’s Offense’ e-book now available

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CBS Sports analyst gives LSU a “B-” for their win over Mississippi State

LSU receives a positive grade for their performance against Mississippi State.

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We’re putting the final touches on the Mississippi State victory for the LSU Tigers. The Bayou Bengals were able to leave Starkville with a win over Mike Leach and look to make it 2-0 when they host Auburn in Death Valley.

Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports released his report card for week four with LSU getting a somewhat positive grade.

The Tigers were without cornerback Derek Stingley Jr . against Mississippi State on Saturday but found a way to take the 28-25 win. Don’t let that score deceive you, though. The Tigers were in control for the majority of the afternoon.

Grade: B-

Head coach Ed Orgeron met with the media on Monday and was very complimentary of Dwight McGlothern, who replaced Stingley on Saturday. He praised his instincts and footwork. The Bulldogs targeted McGlothern a total of seven times on Saturday with just two receptions for five yards.

Orgeron also stated that Stingley would see a doctor this week to get an update on a possible return in the coming games. It is fair to presume that he won’t be available against Auburn on Saturday night.

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