Jumbo Package: Bulldogs for breakfast

Happy Friday, everyone. The Tide will try to get right in Starkville tomorrow morning. Your previews:

Brett Hudson

Alabama 42,

Mississippi State 20

It’s not a popular opinion in Starkville at the moment, but I do believe Joe Moorhead to be an offensive genius, and one who will be able to find some of the same holes LSU found — especially with a runner as good as Kylin Hill is. Still, as has happened to everyone but LSU, there will come a time where the opposing offense can’t keep up with Alabama’s and that will be that.

Cecil Hurt

Alabama 34,

Mississippi State 16

Is this Mississippi State’s opportunity to ring the golden cowbell? With Tua Tagovailoa a “maybe” and Alabama feeling the ill effects on a loss to LSU, could this be the chance MSU has been waiting for? Not this time.

They’re bad at getting to the quarterback.

Tagovailoa isn’t exactly a sitting duck, but he can’t be allowed to get comfortable. The Bulldogs don’t have the ability to knock No. 13 off his game.

Expect this to be the Jerry Jeudy game. He had a disappointing day against LSU with a few key drops, and he hasn’t blown up lately, outside of a good day against Arkansas.

11 straight. 2007 was the last time Mississippi State was able to pull off the win over the Tide. It won’t happen this week – Bama rolls as if the LSU game never even happened.

We like Alabama to rebound big-time after their first loss regardless of whether Tagovailoa starts. Mac Jones is fully capable of putting on a show, and the Tide are the better team by far.

Final Prediction: Alabama 51, Mississippi State 17

Alabama and LSU are the cream of the crop in the SEC and probably the entire country too. Those two teams proved that in the Tigers’ 46-41 victory last week.

Mississippi State played LSU in its last home game on Oct. 19. State threw some exotic looks at Joe Burrow and the LSU offense. It worked for a while; LSU only led 9-7 with just over five minutes left in the first half.

One blown coverage and another quick Tiger touchdown later and it was 22-7 at halftime. Moorhead said the mistakes that led to those scores cannot happen against teams of that caliber.

Cecil usually has the pulse of things, and as you can see he isn’t quite as bullish this week as some. As the Clarion-Ledger notes, LSU only had nine points on this bunch very late in the half. Offenses have a bit of a tendency to be a little sluggish for early kicks to begin with, and the temperature at kickoff is going to be in the 40s. Add in the possible absence of Tua Tagovailoa, and this one might be a prime opportunity to get it done on the ground.

Not a good situation when you need style points.

The good news is that the Bulldogs can’t really throw the ball, so the young Alabama front seven can spend extra time on run fits. Kylin Hill will likely have some success, but hopefully they can limit the points this week.

I’m going to bank that the Tide comes out ready to prove itself rather than licking its wounds. Let’s call it 41-13, and hope tha’s good enough. Of course, that is just my opinion. Vote and leave us yours in the comments.

Moving on, it seems that the hype got to the Tide last week.

“Sitting in the locker room before the game, I was really nervous about the way our team looked because they didn’t look like they usually do,” Saban said. “They were kinda quiet and not how they usually are and it was concern. You never know how they’re going to respond when they go out there and start playing so I think there was a lot of nervous energy and I think there was a lot of anxiety and I think that’s really what I was trying to avoid.”

Internal leadership is huge in a game like that one, particularly with so many young guys who have never experienced it. Now they have, and hopefully they will get a chance to show if it paid dividends down the line. Saban also said that at unnamed player is suspended this week for not going to class.

Lovely.

Bill Belichick enjoyed last week’s game.

When asked by Zolak how many “pro guys” were in that game, Belichick didn’t even let him finish the question before answering.

“Forty,” the coach said. “Probably 20 on each team.”

And then Belichick delivered the money line.

“I’ll be watching that game for the next three years,” he said with a smile on his face.

Last, some details into Jahvon Quiner;y’s denial.

Quinerly wasn’t subject to hostile behavior at Villanova, nor was he run off. The family does believe, however, that Jahvon was subject to mental health issues brought as a result of the allegations that Caren took money from Richardson. One of the D-I Committee for Legislative Relief’s principles stresses “the involvement and the overall well-being of the student-athlete.” The Quinerlys believe Jahvon deserves such consideration.

“My son was stripped of the privilege of choosing the school he wanted to go to,” Mark said. “I feel like he should be allowed to play this year.”

“This one shouldn’t have to fit in a box,” Caren added. “Not after what he has had to go through the last two years.”

It’s a tough story, but the NCAA is standing by the fact that none of the issues were caused by Villanova. That has not been a popular stance.

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.