Mississippi State @ Missouri preview
Faurot Field
After a weekend off to recover from the SEC grind, No. 25 Mississippi State and struggling Missouri are eager to get back to work when the Tigers host the Bulldogs on Thursday night. Mississippi State is seeking its fourth consecutive victory, while Missouri hopes to end a three-game skid – its longest since 2009.
Missouri’s SEC-best scoring defense (12.5 points) has kept the Tigers in games, but the unit will have its hands full against a Mississippi State attack that ranks third in the SEC in total offense (445.1 yards). The Bulldogs have put up at least 42 points in each contest during the three-game winning streak with dynamic quarterback Dak Prescott leading the way. Missouri’s quarterback situation cleared up Sunday when the team announced junior Maty Mauk was suspended for the remainder of the season for a second undisclosed violation of team rules. Mauk has not played since Sept. 26 at Kentucky but had been reinstated and cleared to practice with the team during the bye week and was expected to compete with freshman Drew Lock for playing time.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN. LINE: Mississippi State -7.5
ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE (6-2, 2-2 SEC): After a couple of sluggish outings, the Bulldogs’ offense has hit its stride in the past three games behind Prescott, who needs only 65 yards of total offense to become the 10th player in SEC history with 10,000. Prescott has done a terrific job of taking care of the ball, passing for 2,048 yards with 14 touchdowns and only one interception, and he’s coming off a dominant effort against Kentucky in which he passed for 348 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 117 yards and three scores. The defense has given up plenty of yards but has been tough in the red zone, allowing only nine touchdowns in opponents’ 27 trips inside the 20 and turning teams away with no points on six occasions.
ABOUT MISSOURI (4-4, 1-4): The Tigers have been dominant on defense, allowing 10 points or fewer in five of their eight contests, but the offense has not been able to take advantage. Missouri has scored a total of 12 points during its three-game skid and has not scored a touchdown since a third quarter of a 24-10 win over South Carolina on Oct. 3 – a span of 13 quarters. That drought has come with Lock at the helm, but the offense wasn’t much more explosive with Mauk under center as the Tigers rank 126th among 128 FBS teams in total offense (277.6 yards per game) and 122nd in rushing (100.5 yards per game).
EXTRA POINTS
1. Missouri ranks second in the SEC in tackles for loss and third in sacks, but Mississippi State allows the third-fewest tackles for loss and the fourth-fewest sacks in the league.
2. Mississippi State has outscored opponents 62-12 in the fourth quarter and has not allowed a fourth-quarter touchdown this season.
3. Missouri is 9-1 against teams from the state of Mississippi, including a 2-0 mark versus the Bulldogs.
PREDICTION: Mississippi State 17, Missouri 13