Mississippi State just stunned many in college football by beating Texas A&M, so something wacky is bound to happen this week at Bryant-Denny Stadium against Alabama, right? Not likely, but here are five bold predictions to prepare you for the game.

  1. Mississippi State beats — ha, these are bold, but not that bold — the point spread. The Bulldogs opened as a 29-point underdog earlier this week. The team lost 31-6 last season, a 25-point spread. Alabama has defeated two SEC foes by 19 points, so somewhere between 19 points and 25 points doesn’t seem unreasonable. By more than four touchdowns? That seems a bit lofty. Take Alabama but not against the spread.
  2. Nick Fitzgerald accounts for two touchdowns for Mississippi State but also gets sacked multiple times. Alabama has been applying pressure to pretty much every quarterback the team faces. The only reason Fitzgerald might be different is if he’s able to elude pressure. As Alabama head coach Nick Saban stated, Fitzgerald is tough to prepare for because he is a natural runner who can also throw the ball. He should see mild success against the Crimson Tide.
  3. On the down side, Fitzgerald helps Alabama return to the trend of scoring points on defense by throwing an interception to Minkah Fitzpatrick returned for a touchdown. Fitzpatrick’s ballhawking ability and instincts spell trouble for opposing teams. Fitzpatrick began his first week at safety against LSU with an interception. In fact, Alabama may have a good problem by season’s end: With Fitzpatrick thriving at safety along with Ronnie Harrison, and Marlon Humphrey and Anthony Averett at corner, plus Tony Brown begins to show the fullness of his high ceiling at the position. All five are likely to return next season, too.
  4. Tim Williams leads the team with 1.5 sacks. While Jonathan Allen earned all of the Heisman talk against Texas A&M, Williams’ athleticism is a good bet to be the defensive leader this week against Hail State. While Allen and Ryan Anderson will both have strong games, the team will rely more heavily on Williams to make Nick Fitzgerald’s life a nightmare on Saturday.
  5. Alabama will have its greatest success in the passing game. Calvin Ridley is just itching to get more involved in the team’s offense. Heck, for that matter, Saban and Lane Kiffin are just itching for Ridley to be more involved in the offense. Ridley’s been working harder at setting blocks and trying to work on timing with Jalen Hurts after practice in recent weeks. While the team had limited success passing the ball against LSU’s suffocating defense, expect Alabama to exploit Mississippi State’s less-than-stellar secondary. Hurts will complete a long reception to Ridley, and Ridley will finish the game with a receiving touchdown. Ridley may finish with more yards, but ArDarius Stewart will catch a fade for a touchdown as well.