A First Glance At Mississippi State

South Carolina's Football team has a critical game approaching against Mississippi State who, in their own right, have a sense of urgency.

In a way, looking at South Carolina as a 1-2 football team right now doesn't give full context regarding the start of their season. Have the Gamecocks played perfect ball by any means? No, but at the same time, they played a Top 25 North Carolina squad on a neutral field, the No. 6 ranked team in the FCS in the Furman Paladins at home, and the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs on the road this past weekend. Needless to say, the road has been anything but easy for Shane Beamer's squad to begin the season.

When looking at Mississippi State's 2-1 start, one might assume the Bulldogs are in a more stable position right now than the Gamecocks, but a closer look tells a different story. Zach Arnett's squad dismantled Southeastern Louisiana University in week one 48-7 but narrowly defeated Arizona in an overtime victory the following week thanks to a +4 turnover margin and was annihilated by LSU 41-14 this past Saturday.

Arnett inherited a program that, for the previous three seasons, had been known for their Air Raid offense under the late great Mike Leach and decided to turn it into a pro-style offense with a heavy run emphasis under new play-caller Kevin Barbay. So far, the philosophical change has completely backfired, as the Bulldogs have converted only 25 percent of their 3rd down attempts over the past two weeks and have averaged only 134.5 passing yards per game in that same stretch despite possessing a proven quarterback in Will Rogers.

Defensively, Mississippi State hasn't faired much better, as while the Bulldogs are holding opponents to a modest 112.3 rushing yards per game this season, they've allowed 340 or more passing yards in each of their Power 5 contests to date.

Considering the fact that four out of the Bulldogs next six matchups are on the road, and one of their home games will see them take on the Alabama Crimson Tide, this is a team that, just like South Carolina, will likely come into Saturday night's game with a sense of urgency; feeling internally that this is a game they'll have to win if they want to accomplish the goals they set out for themselves at the start of the season.

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