Back to the task at hand, who has actually watched our opponent play this year?

[archdog]

What are your take pregame reads on this O and D we are about to play? What do they do well, where can we exploit their weaknesses? Here is an opportunity for everyone to look like football gurus.

I haven't watched them so I cannot comment, but I do know the following about MSU.

MSU keys for the win :
1. Must get ahead of the sticks. I would like to see some quick hitting WR screens and RB screens to get them moving.
2. QB play: We need yet another solid week of protecting the ball and changes at the line to exploit their D when they get set.
3. OL: Time to get your asses in gear and run block. We need all of them to find a nasty streak. To take a line from Unneccesary Roughness, I want them to throw sand in their face, tell them a story, spit in their ear, and everything else, because we need lanes and we need them on time.
4. CB: Get physical. Time to wrap up and limit YAC. Time to jump some routes.
5. Safeties: Need to be head hunters.

Now those keys are well and good, but the real issue right now is identity both O and D. We MSU fans are used to a hard hitting RB that falls forward and is always a threat to hit a big one. That is just not who we are based on the field experience so far. Hell, we have Dak Prescott. Dude is playing really well at this point. Our play calling has been suspect when we get in the 3rd quarter all year. WR screens, RB screens, run pass options, and our just general creativity on running play blocking just disappears when you get to the 4th and 5th possession of the game. Maybe we need to huddle more so Dak can give the OLine a pep talk about what needs to happen on running plays. I have no idea. The only way our running game is going to get better is to look at the Relf offense and revert some of our blocking schemes and play execution to those plays, because Relf gained tons of yards running off of those plays and he really couldn't air it out like Dak.

Now who's to say we do not abandon the running game altogether. Go 65-35 run pass from here on out. Dak could do it. Especially if you let him work the middle of the field consistently, spread it out wide to get the defense running side to side, and run it when they start spying him. Just design the plays to mix it up. Far too many times in the aTM game, I called the play from my couch prior to the snap.

It's great when Dak has time to get to his 4th read, but I would rather him look for green grass in front of him after his 3rd. I would much rather him gain his yards off of scrambles rather than designed 3 yard runs on 3rd and 7.

What the heck happened to our TE?

The architect has spoken.
Go Dawgs. Dak, bring it home.

[I seen it dawg]

We will have much success versus their offense.....I seen it

[maroonmania]

I don't know a whole lot other than I do not believe we will be able to run on them very well at all. They have a fairly highly ranked rush defense and after seeing our pathetic attempt to run block Troy we will almost assuredly need to pass and pass often.

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

Their RB looks pretty legit with a 6.1 avg and a long of 65, Taylor leads their WR group in receptions by a wide margin (his closest teammate is 32 catches behind him), and Driskel looks to be playing much better in this system. If we don't come out and play aggressive defense, I'm afraid they'll dink and dunk their way to a close game. With our inability to run the ball and their good run defense, we better be on our A passing game.

[BulldogBear]

vulnerable to TE over middle

[Dawg61]

I watched about five minutes of them earlier this year. Jeff Driskel former Florida QB is their entire offense. He's good. I thought he was good at Florida though too. He can sling the ball with the best in the country. He's imo a top 10 QB in college right now. Our DBs will have to be careful not to get burned deep.

[archdog]

Well 1 thing I could say is that teams haven't been burning us deep this year. I believe we will hold our own against Driskal. I am worried more about our guys coming out with the "right attitude" on defense. I believe our entire team is ready to play for pride at this point. We have not been completely eliminated from everything. We still have to play Alabama, Ole Miss, and Arkansas on our side. If we beat Alabama and UM we have the tie breaker. LSU could very well lose atleast 2 of their remaining games. Bama is our best friend right now. We need bama to win against LSU and aTm. We need UM to win against LSU and aTm. It would be awesome if Ark could beat LSU. atm losing a third and LSU losing a 3rd is going to be tough. Either way, we need to play like their is no tomorrow, cause there isn't in the SEC.

[cbrunt29]

It seems like Driskel played 8 years at Florida before going to LA Tech. Dude's been around forever.

[PMDawg]

I've watched 1 full game (WKU), half of FIU, and a little of KSU (play a lot of CFB daily fantasy). They have a good run defense, but can be beaten by the pass. They will give up some big plays to our passing attack. They will stuff our run (big surprise) but Dak give them trouble if he runs like he can. They have a really good RB who will give us some trouble on the outside runs. I think we can stuff the up the middle runs. They will play up tempo and give us fits with their passing attack. They will set us up with a lot of short and medium range stuff, but they will challenge us deep quite a few times. I could see them keeping up with us for most of the game. I think we win by 7 to 14.

[I seen it dawg]

Their offense won't be as good as usual.....I seen it

[Schultzy]

I watched about five minutes of them earlier this year. Jeff Driskel former Florida QB is their entire offense. He's good. I thought he was good at Florida though too. He can sling the ball with the best in the country. He's imo a top 10 QB in college right now. Our DBs will have to be careful not to get burned deep.

You're a trip. They don't even have a full roster.

[Todd4State]

I have seen La Tech play some. I would say that they are comparable but a little bit better than USM to give people an idea of what I think their talent level is. I agree with most of the assessments here about them, but the only thing I would add is the fact that Manny coached there last year and he probably has a pretty good idea of what they want to do on offense. That should be an advantage for us.

I think they will be a good test for us. Can the defense come out just as intense as they did against Troy? Will Dan play Dontavian Lee more and who will start at RB? Holloway was named the starter for Troy, I would not be surprised if it is someone else this week.

I think it will be and I am expecting a competitive game and I agree with the 10-14 point win for MSU prognostication. But I will say that if we do blow them out, we should be pretty excited going forward.

[I seen it dawg]

Their offense won't be as good as usual.....I seen it

Just in case people missed it

[Dawg61]

You're a trip. They don't even have a full roster.

What's a full roster got to do with their QB? I think we beat La. Tech by 17 btw.

[Bully13]

it seems like every time we play la tech, they go balls out and we don't bring our A game...we will pull it out but the game thread will be a bunch of bitching

[BB30]

nothing new

[dawgswinagain]

What's a full roster got to do with their QB? I think we beat La. Tech by 17 btw.

Hello MSU fans. I've watched every minute of every Tech game and I can tell you not to give the 13-1/2 pts or there is a 90% chance you will lose your $. Probably better off staying away from taking that line. So, I'll try to sum up what you can expect as best I can:

TECH OFFENSE:
- strength of the team
- led by Driskel at QB who is a great leader and doesn't seem to fold under pressure (2 picks he threw last week were not on him by the way - first was a pass interference on UTSA, then the ref picked up the flag - bad call and (2) was a ball that bounced off the receivers hands into the defenders). So take away those 2 int's and he has thrown 223 times with 1 INT. impressive....now that he has a real coach his true colors are shining. Oh, and he can run as well.....

Driskel has passed for more yards through six games at Tech than he did in any full season at Florida ? he has been added to the Manning Award Watch List.

Driskel ranks 11th in the nation with 1,812 passing yards this season in six games played while his average of 302.0 passing yards per game ranks 16th in the nation. His 11 passing touchdowns this season not only ranks 21st in the nation but is one shy of tying the most he ever threw in a single season while at Florida.

- Kenneth Dixon is the stud RB. He has a chance to break the all time NCAA TD record. Has a nose for the endzone and is as good a receiving RB you'll see. I expect that is what he'll be doing on Sundays - 3rd down back in NFL. Projected 3rd rd pick.

- Trent Taylor - WR. Another stud. Driskel has said he is the best receiver he has ever played with - that says a lot coming from Florida. He isn't flashy or big but knows how to get open and catch. He plays the slot. Reminds me of Wes Welker. He is also the punt returner.
- Carlos Henderson - WR. Big play WR that has been hurt all year but seems to be finally getting healthy. He is the deep threat and kick returner.
-O line is nothing to brag about. I think they are the weakness of the team.

Offensively I expect Tech will go to the quick passing game and feed Dixon the ball early and often.

DEFENSE:
-Defensive line is without a doubt the strength of this group. Very good at stopping the run. Dora and Butler (Def end and tackle) will both be drafted this year and should play on Sundays.
-Linebackers were expected to be the weakness of the team but have done surprisingly well this year against the run. I would be shocked if MSU can run consisitently against our front 7. We are prone to the sweep though so your scat back scares me.
-Secondary - was thought to be the strength of the team and our corners have stepped up recently, but safety play has been poor at best. Our 2 safeties have been very good in the past but not this year. We are susceptible to the short pass over the middle and to the TE's. I think this is where you will have most success if we don't make some serious adjustments....boy I sure do miss Manny....

You will see that our offense is more explosive than you expected and you'll probably move the ball better than expected as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see lots of yards in this one, but lots of red zone stalls and field goals so I think this one may very well come down to the kicker. both of us have good ones so it's a coin toss

Prediction: La Tech beats Miss St once again: Tech 30 Miss St 27

[Tripp McNeely]

Just in case people missed it

I heard that their starting RB, who was rumored to be out, is healthy...I hope that's not your "late info"

[Tripp McNeely]

Hello MSU fans. I've watched every minute of every Tech game and I can tell you not to give the 13-1/2 pts or there is a 90% chance you will lose your $. Probably better off staying away from taking that line. So, I'll try to sum up what you can expect as best I can:

TECH OFFENSE:
- strength of the team
- led by Driskel at QB who is a great leader and doesn't seem to fold under pressure (2 picks he threw last week were not on him by the way - first was a pass interference on UTSA, then the ref picked up the flag - bad call and (2) was a ball that bounced off the receivers hands into the defenders). So take away those 2 int's and he has thrown 223 times with 1 INT. impressive....now that he has a real coach his true colors are shining. Oh, and he can run as well.....

Driskel has passed for more yards through six games at Tech than he did in any full season at Florida ? he has been added to the Manning Award Watch List.

Driskel ranks 11th in the nation with 1,812 passing yards this season in six games played while his average of 302.0 passing yards per game ranks 16th in the nation. His 11 passing touchdowns this season not only ranks 21st in the nation but is one shy of tying the most he ever threw in a single season while at Florida.

- Kenneth Dixon is the stud RB. He has a chance to break the all time NCAA TD record. Has a nose for the endzone and is as good a receiving RB you'll see. I expect that is what he'll be doing on Sundays - 3rd down back in NFL. Projected 3rd rd pick.

- Trent Taylor - WR. Another stud. Driskel has said he is the best receiver he has ever played with - that says a lot coming from Florida. He isn't flashy or big but knows how to get open and catch. He plays the slot. Reminds me of Wes Welker. He is also the punt returner.
- Carlos Henderson - WR. Big play WR that has been hurt all year but seems to be finally getting healthy. He is the deep threat and kick returner.
-O line is nothing to brag about. I think they are the weakness of the team.

Offensively I expect Tech will go to the quick passing game and feed Dixon the ball early and often.

DEFENSE:
-Defensive line is without a doubt the strength of this group. Very good at stopping the run. Dora and Butler (Def end and tackle) will both be drafted this year and should play on Sundays.
-Linebackers were expected to be the weakness of the team but have done surprisingly well this year against the run. I would be shocked if MSU can run consisitently against our front 7. We are prone to the sweep though so your scat back scares me.
-Secondary - was thought to be the strength of the team and our corners have stepped up recently, but safety play has been poor at best. Our 2 safeties have been very good in the past but not this year. We are susceptible to the short pass over the middle and to the TE's. I think this is where you will have most success if we don't make some serious adjustments....boy I sure do miss Manny....

You will see that our offense is more explosive than you expected and you'll probably move the ball better than expected as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see lots of yards in this one, but lots of red zone stalls and field goals so I think this one may very well come down to the kicker. both of us have good ones so it's a coin toss

Prediction: La Tech beats Miss St once again: Tech 30 Miss St 27

4 posts mods...and read them all...just sayin

[Jarius]

You're not going to beat us. Get real dumbass

Hello MSU fans. I've watched every minute of every Tech game and I can tell you not to give the 13-1/2 pts or there is a 90% chance you will lose your $. Probably better off staying away from taking that line. So, I'll try to sum up what you can expect as best I can:

TECH OFFENSE:
- strength of the team
- led by Driskel at QB who is a great leader and doesn't seem to fold under pressure (2 picks he threw last week were not on him by the way - first was a pass interference on UTSA, then the ref picked up the flag - bad call and (2) was a ball that bounced off the receivers hands into the defenders). So take away those 2 int's and he has thrown 223 times with 1 INT. impressive....now that he has a real coach his true colors are shining. Oh, and he can run as well.....

Driskel has passed for more yards through six games at Tech than he did in any full season at Florida ? he has been added to the Manning Award Watch List.

Driskel ranks 11th in the nation with 1,812 passing yards this season in six games played while his average of 302.0 passing yards per game ranks 16th in the nation. His 11 passing touchdowns this season not only ranks 21st in the nation but is one shy of tying the most he ever threw in a single season while at Florida.

- Kenneth Dixon is the stud RB. He has a chance to break the all time NCAA TD record. Has a nose for the endzone and is as good a receiving RB you'll see. I expect that is what he'll be doing on Sundays - 3rd down back in NFL. Projected 3rd rd pick.

- Trent Taylor - WR. Another stud. Driskel has said he is the best receiver he has ever played with - that says a lot coming from Florida. He isn't flashy or big but knows how to get open and catch. He plays the slot. Reminds me of Wes Welker. He is also the punt returner.
- Carlos Henderson - WR. Big play WR that has been hurt all year but seems to be finally getting healthy. He is the deep threat and kick returner.
-O line is nothing to brag about. I think they are the weakness of the team.

Offensively I expect Tech will go to the quick passing game and feed Dixon the ball early and often.

DEFENSE:
-Defensive line is without a doubt the strength of this group. Very good at stopping the run. Dora and Butler (Def end and tackle) will both be drafted this year and should play on Sundays.
-Linebackers were expected to be the weakness of the team but have done surprisingly well this year against the run. I would be shocked if MSU can run consisitently against our front 7. We are prone to the sweep though so your scat back scares me.
-Secondary - was thought to be the strength of the team and our corners have stepped up recently, but safety play has been poor at best. Our 2 safeties have been very good in the past but not this year. We are susceptible to the short pass over the middle and to the TE's. I think this is where you will have most success if we don't make some serious adjustments....boy I sure do miss Manny....

You will see that our offense is more explosive than you expected and you'll probably move the ball better than expected as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see lots of yards in this one, but lots of red zone stalls and field goals so I think this one may very well come down to the kicker. both of us have good ones so it's a coin toss

Prediction: La Tech beats Miss St once again: Tech 30 Miss St 27