Catch a Tiger by the tail...

Survivor - Eye of the Tiger (Rocky Balboa edition)

Risin' up, straight to the top,
Have the guts, got the glory.
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop,
Just a man and his will to survive...

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight.
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival...
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night,
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger...


Ok, ok, I know what you're thinking... "A little cliche on the musical selection, don't you think, Hooch?"  Well, two things: 1) That's "MISTER Hooch" to you, junior, and 2) when you play three different Tiger teams three weeks in a row, you'd be hard-pressed NOT to throw in at least a passing reference to this song, so why not embrace it?  Also, speaking of songs there is now a poll for you to vote on what you want next week's theme song to be, so make sure to cast your vote right over there =============>

Now that we've got that out of the way...

MSU faces an Auburn team that is vastly different from the National Championship team of last year.  Cam Newton is gone, as are upwards of 15 starters on both sides of the ball.  Meanwhile MSU returns nearly all their starters from last year, including the new and improved Chris Relf (now with authentic passing-action!) and a WR core that is as deep as it's ever been for the Bulldogs.

Still, Auburn has built a program which is a consistent SEC contender, so it would be a huge mistake to underestimate the Tigers, even though they looked less than stellar against Utah State in their opening game last week.  And when I say "less than stellar" I mean they had to score, recover an on-side kick, and score aGAIN with less than 3 minutes to go in the game to pull out the win.

With only one week's worth of footage and info it's hard to read too much into anything, but when you consider that Mississippi State laid 59 on opening patsy Memphis while Auburn struggled to come away with a 4 point win in the last 30 seconds, it's hard not to have some expectations.  As any good college football fan will tell you, though, the most improvement is typically seen from the first to second weeks. With that in mind, let's get to it!

KEYS TO THE GAME -

OFFENSE -
The Mississippi State offense apparently picked up right where they left off in January after drubbing Michigan to the tune of 52-14.  In fact, the Bulldogs scorched Memphis for 645 yards of total offense, setting a new school record.  Dan Mullen clearly has the offense firing on all cylinders, but will it be enough to get past Auburn?
In a word, yes.  Auburn looked largely porous against Utah State's running game, allowing them to net 227 yards on the ground.  Word out of Auburn is that the play calling for this weekend will be more simplified in an effort to give the new players a chance to acclimate themselves to the system.  While that might seem good on the surface, the underlying meaning is that the defense could not effectively read plays and adjust.  That will be a serious issue when dealing with a Dan Mullen coached offense and a senior quarterback who can just as easily tuck the ball and pick up a first down, or toss it out to one of the many WR's for a potential big play.

DEFENSE -
Gus Malzhan is certainly no slouch.  The man parlayed a talented high school QB into an assistant coaching gig at Arkansas, and rode the coaching rails from there, with his most recent stop as the OC for Auburn's National Championship team last season.  Against Utah State the Tigers posted 286 yards through the air, and just 78 yards rushing, though.  Malzhan will certainly having his offense clicking better this weekend, but it's hard to imagine the Tigers beating the Bulldogs on the ground.  Chris Wilson is likely to pull a few guys back into coverage often in order to hedge his bets that Barrett Trotter is going to try to beat them with the pass.
This, then, will be the true test of one of the most worrisome positions on the field for the MSU defense.  Will the Dawgs' DB's be up to the task of stopping a legit SEC team's passing game?  Or will Auburn "skull-fuck [MSU]" through the air as one Auburn poster so eloquently put it in a very entertaining thread on a random internet message board. (full quote from poster known as Where Eagles Dare - "Auburn would have skull fucked the shit out of MSU last year if we played later in the season. Your team is pure shit and Relf is a homeless version of some random dumb nig QB." Nice work, W.E.D. ... Glad you found time to throw in the racial epithet while you were exemplifying everything that is high-class about your school.**)

(** - These are known as sarcasterisks.  Any word, phrase, sentence or paragraph preceding sarcasterisks should be read with a sarcastic tone.  Pretty straight forward, really...)


BOTTOM LINE -

SCORING -
This game has all the makings of a shoot-out, and I would not be surprised to find the final box score strongly resembling that of the Auburn/Arkansas game of a year ago.  In the end, the team with the most points on the scoreboard when the clock strikes zero will win. (Thank you, John Madden...) Ultimately, the veteran Dawgs defense will come away more successful than Auburn's, and Mississippi State walks out of Jordan-Hare Stadium with a 2-0 record and 5 short days to game plan for a tough, tough LSU team on Thursday night.


FINAL SCORE -
 Last week I was moderately close with my realistic prediction of 47-10 (final score was 59-14), and I feel confident my predictions this week will be in the ballpark as well.  As I said above, though, this has all the makings of a shoot-out, so it's entirely possible that you could add 2-3 scores on both sides of the equation, however I feel the margin of victory will remain relatively constant.  So, that being said...

WILD AND WOOLLY PREDICTION -
MSU 47 Auburn 14

REALISTIC PREDICTION -
MSU 35 Auburn 24

What's that, War Eagle?  You think I'm crazy?  Well why not drop me a line and let me know at houseofhooch@gmail.com, or just scroll back to the top of the page and hit the link on the right?  If Auburn wins you can spam me until your heart's content with "Neener-neener's" and "Told ya so's", and let's be honest, you probably don't have a whole lot more to look forward to this season, soooo....