Game Week-Miss. State

One question. Is MSU the best team with brown as a primary color in Division I? Fresh off a bye week and back into the top 10 in both polls the West Virginia Mountaineers step back out of conference this week to face Mississippi State. The last game WVU played was a 55-14 destruction of Syracuse which featured Owen Schmitt carrying the ball 8 times, catching it once, scoring twice, and a punt. WVU ran up 486 total yards including 251 yards rushing and held the Orange to 202 yards. Pat White ran for 89 yards and threw for 148 yards before being injured in the third quarter. White should be ready for Saturday's 3:30 kickoff. Steve Slaton was held under 100 yards for the second straight game, but more because of a lack of need rather than an ability to stop him. Slaton rushed for 69 yards and caught 4 passes for 51 more versus Syracuse. Slaton also needs one touchdown to break the school record for career scores.

Meanwhile Miss. State is 4-3 coming off of a 33-21 loss to Tennessee. The bulldogs have lost to three ranked teams (LSU, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and beaten one ranked team (Auburn). WVU will be the 5th ranked team in 8 games for MSU. For those that have only seen MSU in the opening game loss to LSU some changes have been made. Interception machine Michael Henig (6 in that game and 9 overall) has been replaced by Freshman Wesley Carroll at quarterback. Carroll is completing only 54 percent of his passes, but 0% to the other team which is a huge improvement. The Bulldogs are led on the ground by Sophomore Anthony Dixon. Dixon has accumulated 694 yards and 10 touchdowns including 100 yard games against Tennessee, UAB, Auburn, and Tulane.

On the season MSU is 110th in total offense averaging only 301 yards per game. The passing game has been the main culprit and ranks 115th in the nation with only 143 yards per game through the air. Defensively the Bulldogs are 42nd giving up 344 yards per game. MSU has also struggled in both the punt and kickoff return games. WVU is currently 9th in total offense (504 yards per game) in the country and second in rushing at 311 yards per game (passing is 91st). WVU is averaging 42.8 points per game which is 6th in the country. Defensively the Mountaineers are now fifth overall giving up 261.5 yards per game and 6th in scoring. WVU is 9th against the pass giving up 164.6 yards per game.

Some keys to this game. MSU is averaging 22.9 points per game. MSU must keep this game low scoring to have any chance as they are unable to move the ball for quick scores. Turnovers have been important for both teams as MSU is 76th in the country and WVU is 28th. The only loss for WVU included 6 turnovers and MSU has struggled to win the turnover battle (7 versus LSU and only forcing 2 combined in the three loses). MSU must slow the game down, force some turnovers, hold onto the ball, and keep the crowd out of the game. Answer to the above. It has to be either them or Minnesota right?