MSU Preview
October 17, 2007 08:50 PM | General
October 17, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez pops in the Mississippi State tape the first thing that jumps out at him is the Bulldogs’ pair of defensive ends Titus Brown and Avery Hannibal.
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| Wide receiver Darius Reynaud leads West Virginia with six receiving touchdowns in 2007.
George Goynovich photo |
Brown is one of the top playmakers in the SEC, accumulating 33 career tackles for losses and 16 ½ sacks. Brown had eight tackles and 1 ½ tackles for losses in last week’s loss to Tennessee. The senior shows 149 career tackles.
Hannibal has 17 tackles, two sacks and eight quarterback hurries in seven games this year.
“Defensively they look a lot like USF as far as their speed goes,” said Rodriguez. “The Tennessee coaches have said before and after the game that the two defensive ends are as fast as anyone they have played all year. We knew that last year and it’s the same this year.”
The Bulldogs rank sixth in the SEC giving up 142 yards per game. Take away a pair of 200-yard performances by Auburn (216) and Tennessee (211) and Mississippi State is giving up just 106.6 yards per game on the ground.
“You can see it on film that they are very athletic, and I think that is where they have made their mark defensively by getting a lot of fast guys,” said Rodriguez. “A lot of people talk about SEC speed and they have made an emphasis on that.
“Their form is to get a lot of fast, athletic guys on defense, play tough, hard-nosed football, pound the ball offensively and not make any mistakes,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez says Mississippi State plays multiple defensive front though their base defense is a 4-3 alignment.
“They will get into odd fronts like everyone does on occasion,” he said. “They cover everyone up and will play man coverage, and they aren’t afraid to play press-man coverage on the two yard line coming in or coming out. They will challenge the wide receivers.”
Mississippi State presents unique problems for West Virginia’s defense, too. Six-foot-one-inch, 240-pound sophomore tailback Anthony Dixon is one of the biggest tailbacks West Virginia will face this year.
Dixon is ranked 33rd in the country in rushing averaging 99.1 yards per game. Dixon is coming off a 26-carry, 108-yard performance last weekend against Tennessee and he has surpassed the century mark six times for his career. Dixon is fifth in the SEC in rushing and leads the league with 10 rushing touchdowns.
True freshman Wesley Carroll threw his first career touchdown pass against Tennessee in just his third stat, and established career highs in completions and attempts. For the year Carroll is 40 of 70 for 381 yards and two touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception in 74 pass attempts.
“They aren’t making mistakes to beat themselves,” Rodriguez said. “Other than the their first game against LSU where they had turnovers, they haven’t make a whole lot of mistakes to hurt themselves offensively and put their defense in a bad situation.”
Rodriguez expects Mississippi State to try and pound the football with Dixon to set up some play action passes to receivers Tony Burks and Jaymeel Smith.
“They have gotten to the point where their offense has been able to control some of the games and they were able to control a lot of the drives,” Rodriguez said. “Mississippi State is very physical and it will be a very physical game.”
Burks and Smith have combined for 32 catches for 474 yards and three touchdowns. Last year WVU had a tough time handling Burks in Starkville. The senior caught four passes for 118 yards.
West Virginia used a 21-point fourth quarter to pull away from the Bulldgos 42-14 last year. Steve Slaton ran 26 times for 185 yards and a touchdown while quarterback Patrick White had 11 rushes for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom said after last year’s game his defense had a tough time adjusting to West Virginia’s speed. Rodriguez believes that won’t be as much of an issue this year.
“You play someone the second time and you have adjusted to their speed,” Rodriguez said. "Having seen Steve and pt and our system before, it’s not going to be something new. I think it is always an advantage offensively when you play someone for the first time.
“The second time you can adjust to the system,” Rodriguez said. “How they played us last year won’t be the same way they play us this year. Offensively we have to be prepared for a little bit more.”
West Virginia may also have to be prepared to use its backup quarterback Jarrett Brown. Starter Patrick White landed hard on his shoulder against Syracuse and left the game in the third quarter. The junior has had an extra week to rest the injury and has been limited so far in practice.
“Pat is doing better,” Rodriguez said. “He’s going to throw and there aren’t any issues with him running. We’ll probably limit his throwing a little bit just so it doesn’t get too sore. If he’s not fine and is not 100 percent on Saturday then we’ll put Jarrett Brown in there. He’s been good in practice this week.”
Brown has appeared in all six games this year, completing 23 of 34 passes for 289 yards and a touchdown. He has also run 31 times for 200 yards and a pair of scores.
Junior Steve Slaton has run 112 times for 625 yards and nine touchdowns although he has failed to reach the end zone in his last two games and he has only carried the football 28 times against South Florida and Syracuse. It is the first time since he became a starter his freshman year that he has failed to reach 100 yards rushing in back-to-back games.
White is second on the team in rushing with 411 yards and seven touchdowns while true freshman Noel Devine has carried 32 times for 316 yards and three scores.
White has completed 73 of 102 passes for 865 yards and seven touchdowns.
Junior Darius Reynaud has caught 34 passes for 430 yards and six touchdowns. Junior Dorrell Jalloh shows 14 catches for 173 yards and a touchdown.
Slaton is third on the team with 12 catches for 179 yards and a touchdown.
West Virginia’s improving defense is ranked fifth in the country in total defense giving up 261.5 yards per game. The Mountaineers are ranked ninth nationally against the pass and 17th against the run. Teams are averaging just 17.2 yards per game against the Mountaineers.
Junior linebacker Reed Williams leads the defense with 48 tackles, while junior linebacker Mortty Ivy has had an outstanding all-around year with 38 tackles, 4 ½ tackles for losses and four sacks.
Defensive end Johnny Dingle shows 8 ½ tackles for losses and five sacks. The Mountaineers have 19 sacks in six games this year.
Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be televised by ESPN Regional. Fans outside the local market can purchase the broadcast on Game Plan or watch it on the Internet on ESPN 360.
“They’ve already won four games and they played very well against Tennessee and are coming into this game with a lot of confidence,” Rodriguez said of Mississippi State. “This will be a challenge and our guys know it.”
Saturday’s game is homecoming for West Virginia.
