Dak is capable of beating Bama...

[AlmostPositive]

..partly through will and talent and partly through leadership.

Alabama has induced enough high level players to sign that they will have us out-manned at all but three or four of the starting 22.

But Prescott negates most of that disparity, as the Vegas line shows. If he plays his best and inspires the team to do that too, we have a better than 50-50 chance of winning. If he rises above himself and Mullen coaches his best, we will win and it won't look anything like the Ole Miss fluke.

[Jack Lambert]

..partly through will and talent and partly through leadership.

Alabama has induced enough high level players to sign that they will have us out-manned at all but three or four of the starting 22.

But Prescott negates most of that disparity, as the Vegas line shows. If he plays his best and inspires the team to do that too, we have a better than 50-50 chance of winning. If he rises above himself and Mullen coaches his best, we will win and it won't look anything like the Ole Miss fluke.


I don't think it's just Dak our WR's are better than their DB's. If our O-Line can give him some time they will shred them, they out class us at every other position so everyone is going to have to play way over their heads and the 12th man is going to have to be loud all game.

I can't wait to see how Dear does in the open against Bama.

[AlmostPositive]

Agreed. Bama is better than us. But unlike most years, we will beat them if we play our best and they, for whatever reason, don't

Mullen needs to rise above his tendencies and earn his salary. We have home field advantage, a once in a generation quarterback and near-elite receivers. Plus a prep time advantage and a likely letdown for Bama after LSU.

[blacklistedbully]

As usual, it will come down to the trenches. While we don't need to be better than Bama, and we don't need to give Dak as much time to pass as Bama needs to give Coker, we do need to give him enough time.

Conversely, our D-line doesn't necessarily need to win in the trenches, we need to win enough to get decent pressure on Coker, and we need to tackle.

I like our skill players versus their skill players. I do worry a ton about the trenches vs Bama.

[Maroon Blood]

Also, Dak's Heisman hopes went into flames last year after the Bama game. With all that happened with a lot of the other Heisman hopefuls this past weekend, should we win and Dak plays well, he will be in the thick of the Heisman race. Lots of "if's" but we know Dak is quite aware of this.

[BrunswickDawg]

As usual, it will come down to the trenches. While we don't need to be better than Bama, and we don't need to give Dak as much time to pass as Bama needs to give Coker, we do need to give him enough time.

Conversely, our D-line doesn't necessarily need to win in the trenches, we need to win enough to get decent pressure on Coker, and we need to tackle.

I like our skill players versus their skill players. I do worry a ton about the trenches vs Bama.

My only real worry is our OL vs. their DL. I trust our DL, and D in general. The only reason our D gave up so much against A&M is we were on the field for forever due to turnovers. I think we shut them down on O and get pressure on Coker. It is all about the OL and can we produce on O.

[SDDawg]

But Prescott negates most of that disparity, as the Vegas line shows. If he plays his best and inspires the team to do that too, we have a better than 50-50 chance of winning. If he rises above himself and Mullen coaches his best, we will win and it won't look anything like the Ole Miss fluke.

+1 sir, excellent post.

[DancingRabbit]

Also, Dak's Heisman hopes went into flames last year after the Bama game. With all that happened with a lot of the other Heisman hopefuls this past weekend, should we win and Dak plays well, he will be in the thick of the Heisman race. Lots of "if's" but we know Dak is quite aware of this.

I doubt the Heisman is on Dak's mind this week. I believe he is thinking "if I play the best I'm capable of, and inspire my teammates to play their best then we can beat these guys". I'm sure he's got a chip on his shoulder from last year. I really believe Dak wants to win for his teammates and fans more than for personal awards.

1980 happened. So can 2015.

[AlmostPositive]

Mullen and the offensive staff's biggest job will be trying to counter an NFL front 7 with a barely mid-tier O-line. He will have earned his salary if he can do it.

Elsewhere all we need is solid play to hang with the pachyderms and give Dak a chance to work some magic. The defense is capable of making Derrick Henry earn his yardage and pressuring Coker early and often.

It will be uphill all day, but they're not the '85 Bears. (Actually, they're a lot closer to the 85 Bears than I would like, but they're who we have to play, so let's play.)

[mparkerfd20]

Some of you guys act like this is 1980 all over again. I've got news for you, it isn't! This Bama team is very good, yes, but so are we. This Bama team is somewhat flawed when compared to past teams, so are we. We can play with anybody in the country. I'm as much a realist as the next guy, but our strengths actually match up pretty well with Bama's weaknesses. I refuse to take the "Woah is us, we are MSU" bullshit attitude this week. We're gonna beat these SOBs.

[AlmostPositive]

1980 would be so bad, would it? #6-3

[Thompson92]

Compared to Mizzou, Alabama has a better rushing defense (76 vs. 121 yards/game), but a poorer passing defense (177 vs. 189 yards/game).
Defensive FPIs, which consider SOS and garbage time:
Mizzou-20
Bama-1
MSU-19 (for the Manny haters)

Just thought it might be interesting to compare two of the better defenses we'll play this year. I think the key offensively is to do what OM did well against them, which was short passes to diminish the effect of their very strong D-line. I don't see us running on them. Maybe we'll get some of the acts of God that OM had as well.

What makes me optimistic about this game (and the Egg Bowl), is how Dan and especially Dak responded to those losses last year. Those two games have been on their minds since they happened, and the Bama loss is the reason Dak stayed for this season. He also played in the 2013 Bama game, which was another close loss. I trust Dak to leave it all out on the field. Hopefully Dan will make him look good.

Our defense has overachieved this year, in my opinion. By the second half, they've shut down every team they've played, including LSU/Fournette. Their only bad game was TAMU, and the offensive mistakes didn't help.

[KentuckyDawg13]

Specifically LT.


My only real worry is our OL vs. their DL. I trust our DL, and D in general. The only reason our D gave up so much against A&M is we were on the field for forever due to turnovers. I think we shut them down on O and get pressure on Coker. It is all about the OL and can we produce on O.

[mparkerfd20]

1980 would be so bad, would it? #6-3

I'd take it.

[ScoobaDawg]

It's Bama Week. It's Daks last shot. All throughout MSU history when you look at good things happening in history...
It usually was ended by Bama.

I felt a lot better about the game before I watched the LSU game...
i'm not ruling it out but we are going to have to play our best game ever under Mullen with limited running ability. No INTerceptions. Manny has to lock down the big plays and not allow them to strike quick or or we will be down 17-0 and down for the count.


It's monday. I'll get more positive and let the hope build up by thursday.

[Dental Dawg33]

I don't think it's just Dak our WR's are better than their DB's. If our O-Line can give him some time they will shred them, they out class us at every other position so everyone is going to have to play way over their heads and the 12th man is going to have to be loud all game.

I can't wait to see how Dear does in the open against Bama.

Is Dear healthy?? Sure hope so cause he will be HUGE in this game

[blacklistedbully]

I was there in 1980. In 1980 we were the better team, period. We may not have expected to win, but rest assured, the guys we had on that team were better than the guys on the other side. One of the few times in our history that was true.

[Bama_Dawg]

Also, Dak's Heisman hopes went into flames last year after the Bama game. With all that happened with a lot of the other Heisman hopefuls this past weekend, should we win and Dak plays well, he will be in the thick of the Heisman race. Lots of "if's" but we know Dak is quite aware of this.

In all fairness, I think the approach this year has been much better than last. In 2014, we were ranked #1 for 5 weeks, and Dak was the reason for that. He was beat up by the Bama game, and while he gave it his best, he was not 100% or even close to it in November.

He's not 100% now, but he's closer this year than last to that mark. The reason is that he's been more of a pocket passer and only when an obvious sea of green opens in front of him, will he run. This week, the chains come off and the pre-November 2014 Dak will return with his new 2015 tools.

Yeah, Dak wants to take TSUN to the woodshed during his final game at DWS, but you can dang well believe he wants this one just as bad, if not more.

If Dak and Chris Jones show up like they should. We CAN win this thing!

[BrunswickDawg]

In all fairness, I think the approach this year has been much better than last. In 2014, we were ranked #1 for 5 weeks, and Dak was the reason for that. He was beat up by the Bama game, and while he gave it his best, he was not 100% or even close to it in November.

He's not 100% now, but he's closer this year than last to that mark. The reason is that he's been more of a pocket passer and only when an obvious sea of green opens in front of him, will he run. This week, the chains come off and the pre-November 2014 Dak will return with his new 2015 tools.

Yeah, Dak wants to take TSUN to the woodshed during his final game at DWS, but you can dang well believe he wants this one just as bad, if not more.

If Dak and Chris Jones show up like they should. We CAN win this thing!

You know, that is an interesting point. I think we all know that Dan had the LSU/A&M/AU stretch circled on the calendar for last year with the whole "nobody known what's about to take this field". He knew those games were where we could make our statement and kill a lot ghosts of our croomtastic past. If it worked, we could possibly have big MO carry us through the rest. It almost worked. With those ghosts exorcised, this year he gambled that the last 3 games of 2015 - especially with our schedule and the way November weeds out the pretenders - would be where we make our mark. It was mistakes and not the old ghosts of our croomtastic past that cost us LSU & A&M. So we go into the big 3 of this season ready for the emotion, the grind, the strain, with all we can ask for - a shot. A shot is all we want. We have that. The ghosts of our croomtastic past keep telling me to fear it, but I don't. We CAN win this thing!