Game To Watch: #12 Mississippi vs #1 Alabama: October 2, 2021

Mississippi will travel to Tuscaloosa to take their shot at Alabama on Saturday at 3:30 EST. The Rebels have jumped out to a 3 – 0 start with blowout wins over Louisville, Austin Peay and Tulane. The Crimson Tide are 4 – 0, including wins over Miami and Florida. These are two of the top teams in the SEC West and the winner will have a leg up in the conference standings.

Recent History

Alabama has dominated the series against Mississippi, going 52 – 10 – 2 all time . The Tide have won five straight against the Rebels and 12 of the last 13 that were not vacated, including a 63 – 48 shootout win in Oxford last year. Mississippi’s last win against the Crimson Tide came in 2015 in Tuscaloosa, by a score of 43 – 37.

Top 25 Players

What To Watch For…

Matt Corral vs Bryce Young?

Matt Corral and Bryce Young are two of the early favorites to win the Heisman trophy and will square off against one another in this game. Corral has been lights out to start the year, completing over 68 percent of his passes, averaging 10.5 yards per pass attempt and throwing 9 touchdowns without an interception. He has also run for 158 yards and 5 touchdowns, doing a little bit of everything for the Rebels. He has been nearly flawless leading an offense that averages 52.7 points per game and has scored at least 43 points in every game this year. Young has been prolific for Alabama, as well. The first year starter has completed over 72 percent of his passes, averaged 9.2 yards per attempt and has thrown 15 touchdowns against just 1 interception. Young does an excellent job of spreading the ball around to the talented weapons on the Alabama offense, making it difficult for the defense to game-plan who to stop. Both quarterbacks will lead their respective offense and should play very well on Saturday, the winner will not only have a leg up in the conference standings, but also in the Heisman race.

How Much Has the Rebels’ Defense Actually Improved?

Mississippi could have beaten Alabama a year ago, the offense played great and went toe to toe with Alabama, but the defense could not get a stop. The Rebels are hoping their defense is significantly improved and it has looked better so far in 2021. They have improved from allowing 38.3 points per game in 2020 to giving up just 20.7 points per game this year. They held a Louisville team that averages 32.9 points per game to 24 points in their season opening win. The Rebels have been better by creating more negative plays for the opposing offense, they averaged 1.6 sacks per game and 4.7 tackles for loss per game a year ago and are averaging 3 sacks per game and 7.3 tackles for loss per game so far this season. The defense appears to have made significant strides from 2020, but their biggest test of the year awaits on Saturday. Alabama’s offense is diverse, talented and can exploit just about any weakness a defense has. The Crimson Tide are second in the SEC, averaging 46.5 points per game. They have a talented quarterback, a good offensive line, speed on the perimeter and depth at running back. The Rebels will find out just how much their defense has improved this Saturday, and that could determine the outcome of the game.

Can Alabama’s Defense Handle Lane Kiffin’s Offense?

Despite the loss last year, Lane Kiffin and the Mississippi offense gave the Alabama defense a lot of trouble. The 48 points the Rebels scored is the most Alabama has allowed since the start of the 2020 season. Kiffin was able to scheme favorable match-ups for his play-makers and put the Alabama defenders in conflict. Creating uncertainty and hesitation from the defense, which led to big plays for the Rebels offense. Alabama’s defense has the talent to match-up with just about anyone, but they will need to be sure of their assignments and be able to attack the Rebels offense if they want to slow Mississippi down. Will Anderson and the defensive front have to get pressure on Corral to force the QB into mistakes. As much as Mississippi’s defense needs to play better than they did in last year’s game the same could be said for Alabama’s defense, as well.

Prediction

This will be a game that is dictated by the offenses. Corral and Young are going to make big plays for their offense and both teams will move the ball effectively. The defenses are not going to get a lot of stops the traditional way, but will force a turnover or two that steals a possession. Alabama’s defense makes more big plays and as a result the Tide will pull out the win. Alabama 45 – Mississippi 35.

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