Position-by-position edge: Ole Miss at Mississippi State
Taking a position-by-position look at Ole Miss at Mississippi State, here’s who has the edge in Saturday’s showdown between the No. 18 Rebels and No. 21 Bulldogs:
QUARTERBACK — Mississippi State: The margin here is razor thin with the way Chad Kelly has been playing lately for the Rebels. We’re siding with Dak Prescott, based on the depth of the track record. The Mississippi State senior has commandeered the school record book and is having his best season yet this fall, leading the SEC in completion percentage, while ranking second in passing yards and throwing just three interceptions in 393 pass attempts. Kelly had a spell in late October in which he threw multiple interceptions in three straight games, but hasn’t thrown any while accounting for 10 total touchdowns in his past two games.
RUNNING BACKS — Ole Miss: Not a position of strength for either team, but the Rebels get a little more production. Prescott leads the Bulldogs in rushing by more than 150 yards, and no Mississippi State running back has more than two rushing touchdowns. Brandon Holloway is the team’s biggest threat out of the backfield and is more of a weapon in the passing game.
Kelly has been the Rebels’ most effective ballcarrier in the past two games, rushing for nearly 200 yards and five totals touchdowns against Arkansas and LSU. He leads the team with nine rushing touchdowns, while senior Jaylen Walton has rushed for nearly 600 yards.
WIDE RECEIVERS, TIGHT END — Push: With all due respect to Arkansas’ emergent group and the cast of all-star recruits at Texas A&M, these are arguably the best receiving corps in the conference. Ole Miss is led by Laquon Treadwell, the SEC leader in receptions and receiving yards, while five other Rebels have at least 29 receptions and 325 yards on the season.
The Bulldogs don’t go quite as deep, but will spread it around liberally. Junior Fred Ross has ascended to the upper echelon of receivers in the conference with at least eight receptions and 100 yards in three straight games. He’s caught at least 10 passes three times this season, and leads the team with 69 receptions for 816 yards on the season. De’Runnya Wilson remains the team’s go-to touchdown target, with nine TDs among his 50 receptions on the year.
OFFENSIVE LINE — Ole Miss: The overall body of work between the two teams is similar, but the Rebels have become significantly better since the return of All-America left tackle Laremy Tunsil. The Rebels have a slight edge in the advanced metrics for run blocking, and have allowed seven fewer sacks on the season. Mississippi State got whipped up front by Alabama, giving up nine sacks in the loss, but only let Arkansas get to the quarterback once last week.
DEFENSIVE LINE — Push: Led by athletic groups up front that excel at making plays in the backfield, Ole Miss and Mississippi State rank just behind the conference leaders in tackles for loss with 84 and 85 on the season, respectively. As a team, the Bulldogs are more effective at getting to opposing quarterbacks, while the Rebels have been better against the run.
Manny Diaz’s group showed it can also stuff stout running games as they shut down Arkansas’ Alex Collins last week. Defensive end A.J. Jefferson leads the team with 13.5 tackles for loss, while Chris Jones and Nick James give the Bulldogs an athletic pair in the middle.
Ole Miss junior Robert Nkemdiche is the kind of talent that every opposing team game-plans around, while sophomore end Marquis Haynes leads the Rebels with 8.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss.
LINEBACKERS — Mississippi State: Richie Brown and Beniquez Brown might be the happiest people in Starkville about Diaz’s return to the Bulldogs. The defensive coordinator’s aggressive schemes suit the pair well and have resulted in more than 170 tackles and 18 tackles for loss split more or less evenly between the two.
The status of Ole Miss senior Denzel Nkemdiche was still up in the air on Monday. The Rebels’ leading tackler prior to missing last week’s game, Nkemdiche was hospitalized for an undisclosed personal matter and remained under medical care earlier this week. DeMarquis Gates played well in his stead against LSU, earning SEC Defensive Player of the Week honor after posting 14 tackles.
SECONDARY — Push: The Rebels rank next-to-last in the SEC in passing yards allowed, but that’s partially due to the fact that Ole Miss opponents have attempted so many passes. In terms of completion percentage, passing efficiency and passing yards per attempt, Ole Miss actually ranks marginally higher than the Bulldogs. Neither unit is devoid of individual talent, but ideally, both teams would prefer to cover their relative deficiencies on the back end with overwhelming pressure up front.
Really D-Line, Secondary, and WO/TE is a push? That’s laughable honestly, it’s Ole Miss clearly and there’s really no debate on that.
How so? Yall have one of the most porous defenses in the league, but the real problem is depth at the positions. You’ve supposedly got all this talent, but where is the production. Nkemdiche and Haynes might have a good day, but that’s about it. A slightly above average ability to stop the run won’t help much, either, when underneath passes shred your nonexistent LB coverage. Yeah, Yall got some of the best wideouts in the country, and one of the best tightends, but no one else catching the ball. State has more people overall catching the ball, and both tightends, that’s the push there. State has more depth at DL, I don’t understand why they don’t give them the edge here, though Haynes and Nkemdiche are exceptional, so I get it. Ole Miss has a couple of standout DBs but obviously not enough, State has more balance and depth at the positions, but two of our best aren’t playing so we also depend on a couple of young players.
What world are you living in? OM has way more depth and talent that MSU at WR and on the DL. MSU doesn’t even have a WR that would start for OM and Jones might start on the DL for OM, but that’s all ya’ll got.
I don’t think you understand ‘depth’, as in beyond the starters. And I’ll take Ryan Brown over Marquis Haynes. AJ Jefferson is one of the league’s leader’s in getting in backfield. Did you not see them take it to that monster line of Arkansas. Beyond your top 5 receivers you don’t have hardly anyone catching the ball. “MSU doesn’t even have a WR that would start for OM”, well, that’s a lie and you know it.
Ole miss D is gonna destroy States o line… I’m ready to see them stop Dak Prescott in his tracks
People have been destroying our oline all year long, that’s not the same as stopping Dak.
Let’s go Bulldogs!
Is this some kind of joke? I can see where someone would say Dak is the better QB, but not by much, if any. But the rest is is a complete joke.
MSU’s WR/TEs aren’t really in the same ball park with OM’s and the same goes for the DL. These two position groups should be a no brainer for anyone. But I guess Brent is an idiot or MSU fan.
OM’s secondary has had a disappointing season but are still better than State’s secondary. And actually, the OL’s aren’t that close. Since the return of Tunsil, OM has has a pretty good OL. MSU’s OL gives up sacks left and right, plus they have absolutely no run game.
Actually, they gave up nine against Alabama, other than that not so much. Before that game, we were third, I believe, in sacks allowed and that’s after games against aTm and Mizzou. Other than tunsil, your line is crap, more so even than ours, but at least you have a left tackle. And your running game isn’t much better than ours. Judging by the amount you let team’s pass on you, I would say the secondary has issues. They are generally faster than our upperclassmen. I don’t understand why OM fans think they are all that and a bag a chips. You have some great players on defense, but don’t really stop anyone. You have some of the best receivers in the league, and one of the best qbs you’ve seen in a while. But you have an idiot for a coach, and the team is inconsistent. You beat Bama, ok, You also lost to Memphis. And that offense that is doing so good this year, toasted in Gainesville. Basically Yall lost one game to what should have been an inferior opponent, you got your a$$ handed to you by a division champion, and you lost a close one to a decent team playing hot, which almost exactly matches our losses. Yes, Yall beat bama, but at least our most headscratching loss was to an SEC opponent.
Ole Miss has beat Bama, LSU, A&M, Auburn and Vandy.
MSU has beat Ark, Mizzou, Auburn and Kentucky.
You must have not watched OM play lately. OM averages almost 5 yards per carry on the season. You are right, we have the best tackle in the country, but RT Fahn Cooper is pretty dang good. He would be MSU’s best lineman. Former 5-star guards Rod Taylor and Javon Patterson are going to be studs, but freshman guard Jordan Sims might be even better. He is now a starter.
You are crazy if you actually think Ryan Brown is better than Haynes. Brown is a solid player, but no All-SEC like Haynes. And yes, OM has more depth than MSU, and that’s with Issac Gross out.
I’ve seen them play, the look great at times, and have some of the best receivers in the league. But they have major issues in other areas. Yall still lost to Memphis. Memphis is pretty good this year, but are you serious? I’m just saying, there are some remarkable similarities, especially when it comes to the problem areas. Except our secondary, outside the Ark. game has played pretty well. Our DL gets better every week. As good as RN and MH are, they look gassed when offenses get uptempo particularly late in the game. That is because they are not being relieved enough due to a lack of depth at the positions. As I stated about our Oline, we have backups that are better than our own starters. I imagine to see a complete turnover on the line between seasons, even with three coming back. You might be right about your right tackle, Senior is often as disappointing as Warren. The real differences between the defenses are that the secondary and lineman for OM are faster, generally, and overall the OM linebacker corps does lack depth compared to state, especially if DN does not play. You need consistent heads-up play from your linebackers in this game. So do we, but I think we get it. I hope we get to Kelly, though, I don’t see us covering those receivers for an entire route, especially early. When you look at the strengths and weaknesses of the teams, I think this looks like an interesting match even were it not the egg bowl.