Breakdown and prediction for Mississippi State football vs. Georgia

The Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-4) travel east to take on the #5 Georgia Bulldogs (4-1) this Saturday in Athens. Let’s take a look at the matchup and make a final prediction before the game.

Georgia has superstars in its defensive front-7. They always do that because Kirby Smart built them that way, and as always, they have a big advantage up front compared to Mississippi State’s offensive line. That’s truer this year than most, considering the issues MSU has had with the lockdown. In order for MSU to have success offensively, they must try to avoid the UGA front as much as possible. Quick runs to the edge and to the perimeter screens must be among the plays of choice. Michael Van Buren needs to be involved in the running game at QB. This will be their best chance to put points on the board.

Georgia has one of the best QBs in the country in Carson Beck, and given State’s defensive woes, he will likely pick apart MSU’s defense on Saturday. But we saw that the defense gave Beck some problems. If you can create confusion with coverage, he tends to put the ball in the danger zone. This also applies to him under pressure. UGA is injured along the OL, so the defense has been able to do a lot against Beck in recent weeks. If MSU can pressure Beck and obscure the coverage, it has a chance to slow UGA.

I would like to see Mississippi State continue the crazy college football season with a huge upset in Athens, but I don’t see that happening. It will be difficult for an MSU offense led by a freshman QB with a struggling OL to get much going against the UGA defense, and MSU’s own defense is easily picked apart by even poor offenses. Maybe they can hold out for a half, but Georgia wins by a big margin.

Mississippi State loses 41-17