The fifth ranked Georgia Bulldogs will be back in Athens this Saturday to take on the unranked Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Dawgs improved their season record to 4-1 following a solid 31-13 win over the Auburn Tigers this past Saturday. As for the Bulldogs of Mississippi State, they are coming off of their first win of the season over Eastern Kentucky. Prior to their win against EKU, State had lost eight of their last nine games as Jeff Lebby is having to rebuild the program from the ground up. Tomorrow’s game has a scheduled start time of 4:15 p.m. and can be viewed on SEC Network.
This has been one of my more challenging match-up articles to write so far this season as Mississippi State doesn’t match-up with the Dawgs in any phase of the game talent or production wise. Mississippi State’s defense has allowed 30 or more points in four of their five games this season as State ranks 121st in the country in terms of total defense. State’s secondary has been lit up by opposing SEC quarterbacks this season as Arch Manning, Graham Mertz, and D.J. Lagway totaled a combined 602 yards through the air with six total touchdowns and an average QBR of 85. With that being said, if there’s a game for Carson Beck to just let it rip and hit some big hitters downfield, this is the one. This would also be a great game for Georgia to establish a more explosive run game as State’s defense is ranked 120th in terms of rush defense as they have given up 1,065 yards on the ground so far this season. It would be great to see a heavier dose of Nate Frazier along with Trevor Etienne in this one as Georgia needs to get those guys and the O-line firing on all cylinders before hitting the toughest stretch of their schedule.
As far as State’s offense, it’s a little more productive than their defense as they put up 56 points against EKU last Saturday. State currently ranks 79th in total offense as they average 380 yards per game as Coach Lebby has dialed up solid play calls throughout the season. State did recently take a big hit in terms of their offensive production though, as starting quarterback Blake Shapen suffered a season ending shoulder injury against the Florida Gators. Shapen brought a ton of experience to the State offense when he transferred in from Baylor as he totaled 974 yards through the air with eight touchdowns and just one interception prior to his injury. With Shapen out for the season, Freshman Michael Van Buren Jr. has taken over at quarterback. Van Buren has totaled 225 total yards through his first two starts as he is still trying to figure things out in his young collegiate career. Expect to see Georgia’s defense get after Van Buren in order to make him uncomfortable as Coach Smart would love to see his defense force more turnovers.
Prediction UGA-38 MSST- 9
Like I said earlier, Georgia is superior on the gridiron in every way compared to Mississippi State. It will be interesting to see if the Dawgs’ decide to open up the playbook in this one (probably not) as it would be great to see the offense start fast and find more consistency along with explosive plays. With State playing a Freshman quarterback in Van Buren, I expect Kirby to have his defense ready to attack and be dominant in this one. If you have a prediction on this one, drop it in the comments section below. As always, Go Dawgs!