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Five questions heading into No. 2 Alabama vs. Mississippi State

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Halfway through its SEC-only schedule, Alabama is a bit banged up and is probably looking forward to its open date next week. However, before the Crimson Tide gets some much-needed rest it will have to get past one of the most unique teams in the conference. Alabama (5-0) is currently a 31-point favorite over Mississippi State (1-3) heading into Saturday’s 6 p.m. CT kickoff inside of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The Bulldogs have lost their last three games, but first-year head coach Mike Leach has been known to pull off an upset. Here are five questions to consider leading up to the matchup.

How will Alabama slow down Mississippi State’s Air Raid?

After four straight games against former assistants, Nick Saban will face something much more foreign this weekend as he goes up against Leach’s Air Raid offense.

The Bulldogs’ pass-heavy attack ranks No. 5 in the nation averaging 357.5 yards per game through the air. Conversely, Mississippi State doesn’t do much damage on the ground, ranking last in the nation averaging 28.5 yards.

The pass-first approach worked for Mississippi State in its opener against LSU when it piled up 623 yards through the air in a 44-34 victory over the Tigers. However, the Bulldogs have managed just 30 combined points in their past three games.

Monday, Saban was asked his opinion on what is the best way to stop the unique offense.

“I don’t know the best word to describe it, it’s not really exotic but it’s really, really a good system in terms of how they spread you on the field, the pattern concepts they use,” Saban said. “And I think that they do a really good job of coaching the quarterback when it’s man-to-man and when it’s zone and how to take advantage of it. I think that people who have played really good zone against them break on the ball.

“I mean, you have to tackle well in space when you do that, you have to break on the ball and you got to force them to sort of take some of the shorter throws and not make explosive plays which they’ve shown the capability of doing when you’re playing man-to-man concepts. I can’t tell you exactly why that is. But when you’re that spread out on the field and they’ve got five guys going out for a pass all the time and you’re horizontally stretched like you are, when you play man-to-man, somebody gets beat and you have an issue. When you play zone, you have a better chance to play inside out and break on the ball.”

Will Alabama’s passing game pass big test against Bulldogs?

Mississippi State’s offense gets all the attention, but the Bulldogs have hung their hat on the other side of the ball this season. Mississippi State leads the SEC in total defense (295.5 yards allowed per game) and passing defense (192.3 yapg). That should provide an interesting matchup this week as it faces an Alabama attack that leads the conference in total offense (566.4 yards per game) and pass offense (397.8 ypg).

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Mississippi State Bulldogs wide receiver Osirus Mitchell (87) gets body slammed by Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Patrick Surtain II (2) and linebacker Mack Wilson (30) during the fourth quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Photo | Imagn
Mississippi State Bulldogs wide receiver Osirus Mitchell (87) gets body slammed by Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Patrick Surtain II (2) and linebacker Mack Wilson (30) during the fourth quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Photo | Imagn
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