It was a crazy week one for Mississippi State, who needed 21 points in the 4th quarter to escape with a one-point win over Louisiana Tech. This week, the Bulldogs face an even tougher test at Davis Wade Stadium—NC State.

This will be the seventh meeting all-time between the two State schools; the series is currently split down the middle at 3-3. The previous three meetings came in bowl games with MSU winning the last contest in the 2015 Belk Bowl, 51-28. This will be the first regular-season game between Mississippi State and NC State since 1940, when the Maroons took a 26-10 win en route to a 10-0-1 season.

A year ago, NCSU had a solid 8-4 season (7-3 in ACC play) with home wins over Wake Forest, Duke, Florida State, Liberty, and Georgia Tech; they added road wins at Pitt, Virginia, and Syracuse. Their four losses came at the hands of Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Miami, and Kentucky in the Gator Bowl.

The Wolfpack had a stress-free opening game, a 45-0 throttling over USF. They totally dominated the contest from start-to-finish, taking a 10-0 lead after the 1st quarter and adding on to the point total in every remaining stanza.

Starting with the offense, NC State was productive in 2020, ranking 48th nationally in Scoring Offense (30.3 points per game) and 71st in Total Offense (385.3 yards per game). Half of last season was without their starting quarterback, Devin Leary, who will be under center on Saturday in Starkville.

He played in both 2019 and 2020, improving significantly from his freshman to sophomore campaign. In 2019, he completed 101 of his 210 passes (48.1%) for 1,219 yards, eight touchdowns, and five picks. Appearing in just four games a year ago, Leary completed 66 passes out of 110 attempts (60.0%) for 890 yards, eight scores, and two interceptions.

In last week’s season-opener against USF, Leary went 17/26 for 232 yards, two scores, and an interception.

The Wolfpack’s offense is predicated by the run game, and they have a duo of experienced backs. First is Zonovan “Bam” Knight, who is in his third season in Raleigh. In 2019, he found 136 carries for 745 yards and five scores. Last season, he improved upon those numbers, compiling 788 yards and 10 touchdowns from 143 attempts.

Last Thursday, Knight had a big game, carrying the ball 16 times for 163 yards and a touchdown.

The other half of NC State’s dynamic duo at running back is Ricky Person, Jr., who is a COVID junior. He has found action from 2018-2020, carrying the ball for 471 yards and two touchdowns on 112 carries his freshman year. He sustained an injury mid-way through the 2019 campaign, finding 61 touches for 229 yards and three scores before going down. Last year, he carried the ball for 643 yards and four touchdowns on 147 attempts.

Against USF, Person equaled the number of carries as Knight with 16, totaling 105 yards and finding pay dirt twice.

The Wolfpack ran for 293 yards last week, 7.3 yards per rush, and it’s the backbone of their offense. Their ability to run the ball against a stout Bulldog front will be a key factor in this week’s contest.

NC State has a number of experienced receivers, led by Emeka Emezie. A fifth-year senior, Emezie compiled 161 catches for 1,430 yards and 13 touchdowns from 2017-2020. Last week against USF, he caught five passes for 71 yards.

Thayer Thomas is another veteran receiver for the red and black State team, catching 107 passes for 1,246 yards and 12 touchdowns from 2018-2020.

Tight end Christopher Toudle is a third-year freshman who caught a couple passes for 22 yards and a score last week versus South Florida.

Defensively, NC State was solid in 2020, ranking 61st nationally in Scoring Defense (29.2 points per game) and a nice 69th in Total Defense (415.0 yards per game). Like Mississippi State, they run a 3-3-5 defense, so both the Bulldogs and Wolfpack are familiar with each other’s schemes.

They have a host of returning production, starting with linebacker Drake Thomas. Thomas totaled 34 total tackles with an interception in 2019 and added 58 tackles a year ago, despite missing two games due to injury. Last Thursday, he led the team with eight total tackles and picked off a pass.

Isaiah Moore is another experienced member of the NCSU linebacker corps. In his previous three seasons, he compiled 147 total tackles, 94 of which came in 2020. Against USF, he notched six tackles.

Nickelback Tyler Baker-Williams is in his fourth season with NC State, putting together 101 total tackles in his pervious three years, 59 of which last season. He had four tackles last week.

Looking at the secondary, safety Jakeem Harris is a third-year player for the Wolfpack, who had 31 total tackles in 2019 and 76 in 2020. He added four more last week.

NC State also added a piece from the transfer portal at safety, former Florida State player Cyrus Fagan. He played in 30 games at FSU, including three games in 2020 before going down with an injury. He started off his career in Raleigh on a high note, making seven tackles with an interception in the USF game.

A year ago, NCSU gave up 241.7 passing yards per game, which ranked 76th nationally. They gave up just 167 passing yards last Saturday, on top of picking off three passes, so they seem to have improved with another year of experience. It will be interesting to see how Mississippi State, who was a tale of two offenses against Louisiana Tech, fares against this defense on Saturday.

The Bulldogs and Wolfpack kick off from Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville at 6:00 PM central time on ESPN2.