Starkville – Throughout Nick Saban’s tenure as the head coach at Alabama, the Crimson Tide have dominated the Battle for Highway 82.
The Bulldogs haven’t won the matchup since 2007, which was Saban’s first season coaching the Tide. In the last five seasons, Mississippi State hasn’t even kept it competitive with Alabama, getting outscored 188-22 and losing each game by at least 24 points. The late Mike Leach, who coached the Bulldogs in three of those games, believed that his Bulldogs had a fear of playing the dynasty that is the Crimson Tide.
“We’ve got some guys that are afraid of the jersey that says Alabama,” Leach said after last season’s 30-6 loss. “We spend a lot of time frightened of their jerseys. You want to scare our guys, put an Alabama jersey on. Scares the hell out of them.”
Now leading the Mississippi State program is Zach Arnett, who doesn’t have that same mindset. The first-year head coach is more focused on his 2-2 Bulldogs, rather than the team on the opposing sideline.
“That’s not going to be my message to the team,” Arnett said. “We’ve got to focus on us and play. We’ve got to execute, that’s what football comes down to. We have to show up excited to play, with energy, and do your job. Doesn’t matter who it’s against.”
Mississippi State’s most recent chance to take down the Tide was in 2017 in a 31-24 loss at Davis Wade Stadium. The game was tied 24-24 before Jalen Hurts led a 68-yard drive with one minute left. A catch by Calvin Ridley on the sideline, which struck much controversy on whether he was out of bounds or not, got them into Mississippi State territory and Hurts found his future Eagles teammate DeVonta Smith for a 26-yard game-winning touchdown on the next play.
While there are no moral victories, this is the level of competition the Bulldogs would like to get back to against the mighty Crimson Tide, but it won’t be an easy task.
Alabama, despite an early season loss to Texas, is still one of the best defenses in the SEC. Last week, the Crimson Tide defense held an explosive Ole Miss offense to 10 points and 301 total yards. Edge rushers Chris Braswell and Dallas Turner, who have combined for eight sacks, present a challenge to a struggling Mississippi State offensive line, while Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold make up one of the best cornerback tandems in college football.
“Defensively, they’re playing as good as anyone in the country. Lights out,” Arnett said of Alabama. “They are fun to watch except the week you have to play them.”
The Crimson Tide offense has had some hiccups this season using three different quarterbacks, but Jalen Milroe has separated himself from the pack the last few weeks.
Milroe is as athletic as any quarterback the Bulldogs will face this season. He’s rushed for 196 yards when not accounting for sack yardage, which could be a bad matchup for a defense that allowed over 60 rushing yards to both Jayden Daniels and Spencer Rattler the past two weeks. Milroe’s dynamic rushing ability is complimented by a duo of running backs in Jace McLellan and Roydell Williams, who have combined for 461 yards on 5.2 yards per carry.
Milroe has been mediocre in the short and intermediate passing game, throwing two interceptions against Texas and one against Ole Miss, but his deep ball is a weapon that Alabama has gone to a lot. Jermaine Burton and Amari Niblack have been the benefactors of Milroe’s arm strength, as they’re each averaging over 19 yards per catch. This will be one of the key matchups to watch as neither Decamerion Richardson or DeCarlos Nicholson have locked down the #1 cornerback spot.
“They are extremely talented,” Arnett said.” Quarterback as athletic as anyone in the country. A stable of running backs who have tremendous lateral quickness and strength at the point of attack. Receivers who can blow by you. They’re getting better every week, playing to the strength of their defense. It will be quite the challenge for us.”
A weakness that Mississippi State may be able to exploit is the Alabama offensive line. The big men up front for the Tide have been dominant in the run game, but have struggled in pass protection, ranking 10th in the SEC according to PFF. Freshman Kadyn Proctor is still getting his feet wet over at left tackle and center Seth McLaughlin has struggled with opposing nose tackles.
The Mississippi State pass rush has been inconsistent, but Nathan Pickering and Jaden Crumedy are both more than capable of making some big plays. The Bulldogs could also send linebackers Bookie Watson and Jett Johnson on blitzes to create some problems for Milroe.
The lack of depth behind Pickering and Crumedy on the defensive line is concerning, however. Kalvin Dinkins is still out with a foot injury and Trevion Williams' status is still in question. Defensive end De'Monte Russell went down with an injury against South Carolina which saw the talented but inexperienced Deonte Anderson see a large snap count.
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