Mississippi State vs. South Carolina Preview
So after our 3rd win in as many weeks, the Bulldogs are traveling to Columbia to take on the Old Ball Coach. South Carolina is coming off a loss to LSU and is having some problems of its own. Their starting QB Blake Mitchell has been sent to the bench in favor of Chris Smelley, a sophmore from Tuscaloosa.
South Carolina hasn’t been able to get its passing game in gear, which is what Spurrier’s offense thrives on - the ability to make big plays on long passes. Instead, they have relied on short dump passes and the running tandem of Cory Boyd and Mike Davis.
The Gamecock defense is settling in to life without their star linebacker Jasper Brinkley who will have season-ending surgery on a knee that was injured against LSU. While USC is #2 in the SEC in scoring defense and #1 in pass defense, they rank #104 nationally in run defense, allowing 216.5 yards per game on the ground. This should be an advantage to Mississippi State with our backfield doing well over the past few games.
It looks like Croom will stick with the two quarterback system for the time being. With both QBs playing fair against Garnder-Webb, I would expect to see a lot of running from the Dixon-Ducre tandem this weekend against the poor USC run defense. Establishing the run game early on will be vital to State’s success in this game.
The game will be televised by Lincoln Financial Sports with kick-off scheduled for 12:30pm ET (11:30am CT). There are still Mississippi State vs. South Carolina tickets available from various ticket outlets.
Related Articles
- Anthony Dixon and Christian Ducre: Double Dose
- Mississippi State vs. Auburn Game Notes
- Wes Carroll Selected as SEC Freshman of the Week
- Bulldogs Thump Rebels 35-14
- LSU Recap
Tickets
Mississippi State Football Tickets | at LaTech (TV) | at Southeastern Lousiana
vs Auburn (TV) | at Georgia Tech | at LSU | vs. Vanderbilt | at Tennessee
vs. Middle Tennessee | vs Kentucky | at Alabama | vs Arkansas | at Ole Miss
