The Auburn Tigers have a seemingly easy matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs this weekend with the Bulldogs coming into this week owning a dismal 2-6 record. Despite this record the Bulldogs cannot be counted out so quickly this Saturday. While two of their losses were fumbled away very convincingly, those being the 41 to nothing routing by Alabama and the 24-2 heartbreaker against Kentucky. The rest of their losses have been games decided by one score, with only one being a two score game, that being the 28-14 loss against Texas A&M.
The biggest factor for those losses comes down to turnovers, the Bulldogs are averaging 2.5 turnovers a game with a lot of those being interceptions. Former starting quarterback K.J. Costello threw 10 interceptions before week five, where he was replaced at starting quarterback by Will Rogers. Rogers has done better, throwing six touchdowns and four interceptions while also leading the Bulldogs to their only two games without turnovers.
The quarterback change was vital to Mississippi State’s pass first offense, with the Bulldogs having only one game under 200 passing yards while also having four games where they broke 300+ yards. The best being the 623 yards thrown by Costello in their opening week win against defending National Champions LSU. Overall, the Bulldogs are averaging about 325 passing yards per game while only getting about 24 yards on the ground per game.
The biggest weakness beside the turnovers is the rushing game. The Bulldogs have only gotten above 30 rushing yards as a team three times, with the best of those being the 87 yards they got in their week two loss to Arkansas. The worst being an abysmal -22 against Vanderbilt, a game they won. This is in part to the loss of yards taken by the quarterback and running backs in the backfield.
As a whole the Bulldogs have been able to rack up their yards even in losses, only averaging 41 yards less than their opponents in their eight games played thus far and averaging about 348 total yards per game while also dominating the time of possession. Mississippi State only had three games where they were behind in T.O.P. The Bulldogs are averaging close to 32 minutes with the ball in their hands during every game, three minutes more than their opponents. While this stat is not the end all be all of game winning statistics it is still interesting to see that the Bulldogs are consistently and methodically getting time on the field, only to be denied by turnovers or lack of offensive ability at times.
Overall, this Bulldogs team, while not amazing, has consistently stayed in games with teams well above their pay grade. This could spell trouble for Auburn who is notorious for playing down to opponents and being upset in potential trap games such as this one. The Auburn Tigers will have to keep their guard up in Starkville this Saturday as they take on the sneaky Mississippi State Bulldogs and their (limited) Dawg Pound.
