This is a game Mullen needs to win...

[57stratdawg]

It's not a "must-win", but I think we have all the tools to beat these guys.

They have a new defensive scheme.
Arguably their best player on D is out.
They have an inexperienced QB.
They haven't played a live game yet.
We match up well with their downhill running style.
We have a veteran QB which has played in some big games.
The crowd should be rocking.

I think there are more than enough factors in our favor for MSU fans to expect a win.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

It's not a "must-win", but I think we have all the tools to beat these guys.

They have a new defensive scheme.
Arguably their best player on D is out.
They have an inexperienced QB.
They haven't played a live game yet.
We match up well with their downhill running style.
We have a veteran QB which has played in some big games.
The crowd should be rocking.

I think there are more than enough factors in our favor for MSU fans to expect a win.

They are also breaking in 6 new starters on D and playing a lot of freshman. You mentioned the QB. We have to make him beat us. I expect them to have a good D and get their stops, but also expect us to get our yards too. We must get TDs in the red zone and we could put it out of reach for them. Our secondary is obviously an issue, but it's mainly over the middle of the field which is on the LBs and Safeties. We have to make some sort of adjustment there schematically. LSU will be attacking the center of the field no doubt. Maybe if we can confuse Harris and make him think there's a hole in the middle we could force some turn overs.

Bottom Line: I would play a lot of guy in the box, let Taveze, Redmond and Cleveland man up all night and force Harris to beat us. I feel pretty good about our top 2 corners in man to man, we just need to fix that hole in the zone over the middle. As someone said previously, two of their "big" (10-15yds) over the middle came from Gerri Green and Ward not picking up their men or even bumping them off the route. Going back and looking at the game, almost everything we did was from a mental mistake. Clean it up, which we have the advantage of watching on film, and we'll be fine. I think Gerri Green is good enough to clean up his mistakes. Dunno about Ward though. He shouldn't see the field Sat night. We might could even play Peters this game as a husky type to match him up on a TE or a bigger WR if they have one.

 

[Palos verdes]

It's not a "must-win", but I think we have all the tools to beat these guys.

They have a new defensive scheme.
Arguably their best player on D is out.
They have an inexperienced QB.
They haven't played a live game yet.
We match up well with their downhill running style.
We have a veteran QB which has played in some big games.
The crowd should be rocking.

I think there are more than enough factors in our favor for MSU fans to expect a win.

This is a must win, if we want better than 6-6.

 

[ShrubDog]

I think we are going to come out wide open. Establishing the pass first then the run will open up.

 

[Crazy Cotton]

Knoxville Radio handicapper picked up straight up, thinks this is the lock of the day with the points.

 

[maroonmania]

This is a must win, if we want better than 6-6.

^^^This. Its a must win unless your goal is the Birmingham Bowl.

 

[Bane.sixpack]

This is one of those games that we SHOULD win, but WILL we?? It all depends on if this team is truly more talented than previous MSU teams! The Dead Indian Senior Quarterback Curse also depends on this consistent as gravity FACT!!

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I hope we start out running not passing. Need to be balanced and establish the run. That'll open up Dak to be more dangerous with play action, QB runs, Zone reads and of course when things break down he can run or scramble around and find the open man when the defense breaks down.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

This mindset is gone or at least should be. The curse is no more.

 

[Bane.sixpack]

Let's discuss after the season. You have no evidence until then!

 

[BertleTheTurtle]

I loved the TE slip into the flat play we opened up on offense with last year. Got Dak a huge 20 yard gainer to open the game with, and we were rolling from there. I'm not sure I want to see our first play as a 2 yard gainer from Shump and get their defense all hype. We need to put pressure on their defense with play action and allow Dak to dictate the offense with his arms or legs early. This will open it up for our RBs. I'm really hoping we go on defense to start the game. Crowd loud as hell for the defense to feed off of.

 

[Dawg1976]

I told a buddy the same thing last night over a beer. Lose this game and we will be scrambling for 6-7 wins.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I'm not saying we should run up the middle 1st play (like LSU will)

I loved the TE slip into the flat play we opened up on offense with last year. Got Dak a huge 20 yard gainer to open the game with, and we were rolling from there. I'm not sure I want to see our first play as a 2 yard gainer from Shump and get their defense all hype. We need to put pressure on their defense with play action and allow Dak to dictate the offense with his arms or legs early. This will open it up for our RBs. I'm really hoping we go on defense to start the game. Crowd loud as hell for the defense to feed off of.

but I think it's important we do run the ball early and establish it. The offense works best when we're doing play action a lot and it's effective when the ball is being run with consistency in reps and quality runs.

 

[Drebin]

Bottom Line: I would play a lot of guy in the box, let Taveze, Redmond and Cleveland man up all night and force Harris to beat us. I feel pretty good about our top 2 corners in man to man, we just need to fix that hole in the zone over the middle. As someone said previously, two of their "big" (10-15yds) over the middle came from Gerri Green and Ward not picking up their men or even bumping them off the route. Going back and looking at the game, almost everything we did was from a mental mistake. Clean it up, which we have the advantage of watching on film, and we'll be fine. I think Gerri Green is good enough to clean up his mistakes. Dunno about Ward though. He shouldn't see the field Sat night. We might could even play Peters this game as a husky type to match him up on a TE or a bigger WR if they have one.

You're not going to fix that hole in the deep zone and load up the box at the same time. Everything you do defensively is a risk. If you go zone, you risk giving up big passing plays if you can't get pressure on the QB. If you go man, you run the risk of getting beat on deep balls. You gotta mix things up to keep their offense off balance. We will probably do a little bit of everything. I expect the defense to be better this week because we won't be as vanilla as we were against Southern. We will give up yards and big plays because Diaz's aggressive style will give that up sometimes. We will also make some big plays. It's not as simple as fixing what we didn't do well against USM. If LSU comes into this game thinking they know our defense based on the USM game, State is in for a cakewalk.

 

[Palos verdes]

Dak will have to use his feet, just like last year. LSU cannot contain Dak and cover at the same time. There's a threshold between containment and coverage where one or the other breaks down. The OL has to allow Dak to find the fulcrum. LSU won't be able to defend us if we can split the defense. If Dak is in design pass plays firing from the pocket, we'll get beat.

 

[DancingRabbit]

Dak has Native American heritage. That, plus

This is one of those games that we SHOULD win, but WILL we?? It all depends on if this team is truly more talented than previous MSU teams! The Dead Indian Senior Quarterback Curse also depends on this consistent as gravity FACT!!

Jack has made peace with those offended.

credit to derhntr

 

[KeyserSoze1999]

USM OL 6+ yards down field on PASS plays?!

Ok, just went back and watched some of the USM game and I am giving our LBs some slack. On Richie Brown's interception in the 3rd quarter, USM is lined up on their 33 and when the ball is thrown one of their lineman is on the 41 yard line! And another of their lineman is actually BLOCKING Richie Brown! Another is trying to dive at the feet of Beniquez Brown!

 

[121Josey]

This is a "must-win". The SEC slate doesn't get much easier. We don't want to put ourselves in a hole out of the gate. It is LSU-MSU 2009 Part Deux.

 

[Bulldogg31]

It happened all night. Hard to cover a TE when the right tackle is blocking you.

Conversely, when we hit the shovel pass to Gus Walley later in the game, Rufus Warren was the furthest man downfield at 3 yards.

Makes me wonder if this will be less of an issue in SEC games.

 

[Seinfeld]

I agree with you, but not for quite the same reason

I think that we're going to need Dak's feet because I don't have much faith in anyone else in our backfield. Shumpert is a step too slow to get outside against a team like LSU, but at the same time, he goes down way too easily when running inside. Holloway is what he is which is really not a lot more than a situational back, and then I just don't see Mullen giving very many carries to Lee or Aeris.

Here's hoping that Shump proves me to be completely wrong about him on Saturday night, but I think we're going to see just how much we miss JRob fairly quickly. We're going to really need Dak to loosen things up for us

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Dak will have to use his feet, just like last year. LSU cannot contain Dak and cover at the same time. There's a threshold between containment and coverage where one or the other breaks down. The OL has to allow Dak to find the fulcrum. LSU won't be able to defend us if we can split the defense. If Dak is in design pass plays firing from the pocket, we'll get beat.

I agree, but we have to use Dak wisely so that he can have the opportunities for those big runs like he had last year.

 

[HunterDawg]

We keep it close and wait for Les to screw up the clock management. He may let the last 4 1/2 minutes run off without ever running a play.

 

[Palos verdes]

I think that we're going to need Dak's feet because I don't have much faith in anyone else in our backfield. Shumpert is a step too slow to get outside against a team like LSU, but at the same time, he goes down way too easily when running inside. Holloway is what he is which is really not a lot more than a situational back, and then I just don't see Mullen giving very many carries to Lee or Aeris.

Here's hoping that Shump proves me to be completely wrong about him on Saturday night, but I think we're going to see just how much we miss JRob fairly quickly. We're going to really need Dak to loosen things up for us

I think Lee and Williams go in quickly if we struggle moving north and south, if not, I'll seriously question Mullen's intelligence. Lee is likely already better than Shumpert, and Aeris has more quickness. Poor personnel selection better not foul this game up.

 

[boatsandhoes]

bama was able to stop his run

that's probably since they got pressure with the front 4. I hope LSU forgot to watch that defensive game plan. I don't know much about Steele so who knows how we he does x's and o's. glad chavis is gone. That worries me. Moreso that if ppl are able to stop the dak run mullen seems to be out of answers. Bama/ole miss both stopped the dak run/qb draw.