A look at Mississippi State and what LSU needs to do to walk away with a win

Pray for rain

Score more points

That might hurt LSU just as much if not worse since we have 0 run game outside Daniels.

If you play two safeties, they will dink and donk down the field. That's what I saw in the first half vs. Zona. Gaye, BJ and Perkins need to dial up the pressure off the edge.

quote:

---

I do not want to see them dink and dunk us all the way down the field over and over

---

That may be inevitable although won’t win the game for them if we (obviously) keep them out of the end zone. Maybe like a rope-a-dope

Not getting any pressure if you playing soft zones like LSU has been playing. They'll just dunk it immediately neutralizing and wearing out the DL.

3 or 4 man pressure changes everything. Our men with 4 on the dirt have to bring it Saturday.

quote:

---

Keep the offense on the field and try not to let them get into a rhythm. On defense gonna have to mix-up the looks a ton. Seeing 8 back in coverage is probably going to be the main look with a few blitzes mixed in just to make the qb think.

---

Have to jam their WRs at the LOS too to throw off the timing.

We'll have to make them dink/dunk like vs Ole Miss last year and we'll need to be plus on takeaways.
Good Guys conditioning on defense will come into play but - even more than normal - this game will come down to line play.

quote:

---

If you play two safeties, they will dink and donk down the field

---

They’re gonna do that no matter what. That’s who they are. The lead the SEC in TOP and Rogers is something like 66-68% on 3rd down conversions. I’m not looking at the stats, but I’d bet they lead the SEC in shortest average 3rd down and distance too because they’re so efficient on 1st and 2nd down with those dinks and dunks. And runs—they run way more than the perception of their offense would lead you to believe.

quote:

---

Gaye, BJ and Perkins need to dial up the pressure off the edge.

---

Occasionally, sure. But Rogers has only been sacked 3 times in 2 games. Only been hit 5. He’s really good at seeing where the pressure is coming from and throwing it to the open spot. His WRs and backs are good at being on the same page as him, seeing that too, and knowing when and where to sit and turn around for a short conversions that keeps drives alive.

They’re gonna have 400+ total yards—it’s almost a given. The key is to make them earn it by running a lot of plays and House being really creative with showing them different looks and bringing guys from different places and making Rogers make plays from looks he head to seen much of. But with as fast as he gets the ball out, our guys are simply gonna have to step up and make a few big plays to get off the field on 3rd down.

Whether that’s actually getting home on a few sacks, getting our arms up to shut down throwing lanes and/or batting balls down, or our LBs stepping up in pass coverage and making some plays on the ball that they haven’t been great at so far this year. I think Baskerville playing most of the game will help. But none of that will matter if we don’t keep everything in front of us and make tackles. If they’re breaking tackles and scoring on long, busted plays instead of having to go 10-12 plays to get into the red zone, we have little chance.

Also, tightening up in the red zone and making them settle for FG attempts instead of touchdowns will be key. Same for us on offense—we’ve got to continue to keep scoring touchdowns instead of kicking FGs. With Daniels and our explosive WRs, it’s been easier to that on big plays. They have a good DL, and I don’t love our running game inside the 10. Hopefully the new line and Emery change that a little.