Mississippi State at Alabama

The Mississippi State Bulldogs are 7-0 coming into this game with Alabama. They are going to be in for more than they bargained for here against a Crimson Tide team that is the bona fide front-runner for another Championship. The Bulldogs may be unbeaten now, but that is more a product of a very easy schedule, and I would not be a bit surprised if they lose their next three games. They played a cupcake out-of-conference schedule, and their three in-conference wins came at the hands of three teams that are 0-14 in league play so far. All 7-0 teams are not created equal, and the oddsmakers are quick to point that out to the greatest extent they can, but not nearly enough. It has done enough to sway the public. How can a 7-0 team be over a three-TD dog? The public has taken the bait with over six out of ten bets coming in on the underdogs here. Mississippi State, averaging 36.7 poitns per game, may look like a good offensive team, but they are very average having outgained opposing defenses by a razor thin margin from what would be expected of an average team. Defensively they are average against a below average group of running offenses they have faced. Perhaps their biggest asset on either side of the ball is that they have defended the pass better than the teams’ offensive averages they have faced. Clearly they have not seen an offense that passes at 2.3 yards per attempt better than the defenses they face, nor a running game that is well over a yard better. A.J. McCarron has been perfect in throwing for 16 TD’s with zero INTs. He finds the open man with myriad of receivers (6) that have caught multiple TD passes. Bama has too much on both sides of the ball and they are on a mission this season. Tide rolls, so play on Alabama.