Is LSU Walking into a Trap at Home vs. Mississippi State?

Saturday night in Death Valley is typically a scary place for any opponent. This week, though, it could be scary for the homestanding LSU Tigers.

Head coach Les Miles' crew will host a dangerous Mississippi State squad in Baton Rouge on Saturday night, after two weeks of relative snooze-fests against Sam Houston State and ULM.

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Are the Tigers ready?

The truth is, we don't know.

Quarterback Anthony Jennings has taken control of the battle with Brandon Harris but is last in the SEC among qualifying quarterbacks in completion percentage (51.9 percent). The reason he's become "the man" in Baton Rouge is a knack for the big play. The sophomore from Marietta, Georgia is averaging 10.9 yards per attempt on the season and tossed five touchdown passes—four of which went to Travin Dural.

Stat	Value	SEC Rank
Comp. %	51.9%	12*
Yds. Per Att.	10.9	T1
TDs	5	T8
Passer Rating	171.23	6
YPG	188.7	10

He's going to have to be "the man" against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs will force him to be.

Head coach Dan Mullen's crew is giving up 392 yards per game—11th in the SEC. But that stat is skewed due to some shaky and surprising play in the secondary. The Bulldogs are giving up 311.7 yards per game through the air and just 80.33 on the ground.

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Miles knows that he has his work cut out for him on the ground against the stout Bulldogs front seven.

"They're mobile, big and the scheme is very quality," Miles said on Wednesday's coaches teleconference. "They look like a quality defensive unit. When you get in conference, you see these kinds of defenses and that's Mississippi State."

Led by Preston Smith, the first person in conference history to win SEC defensive lineman of the week for three straight weeks, the Bulldogs front four—which averages 293 pounds in its two-deep—is loaded with talent and deep enough to stay fresh for a full four quarters.

"I think we have an opportunity to match up pretty well with them within the front seven," Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen said on the coaches teleconference. "They're just enormous, so you have to try to have some size out there on the field, and we have some size in our front seven."

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This won't be the breakout game for running back Leonard Fournette or any of the LSU running backs. 

Mississippi State will force Jennings to beat it through the air, and so far, Dural has become Jennings' most reliable target. Eleven of Jennings' 27 completions have gone to Dural, and LSU's second-leading receiver (Diarse) has only six catches on the season.

"He's making better decisions, he's hitting the open receiver now and really then," Miles said in quotes emailed by the university. "It was only a couple of times where the choice could easily [have been to go] to the other side, and he just chose to go to Dural, which in hindsight, there are some reasons for that as well."

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Don't be fooled by the pass defense, though. Mississippi State's secondary is loaded with potential with budding stars like Jamerson Love and Taveze Calhoun, as well as veteran safeties Jay Hughes, Kendrick Market and Justin Cox.

"They have the leading receiver in the SEC in big plays," Mullen said in quotes emailed by Mississippi State. "They are a top 10 team in the country and playing on the road on a Saturday night is a big challenge for us. We are going to have to play at a very, very high level to find a way to win."

They have the pieces to play at a very high level defensively, and don't be surprised if it all comes together against the Tigers.

Mississippi State's defense will come to play, and put Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott in position to spring the upset late. Against LSU's defense, that's a tall order—but not impossible.

Expect a four-quarter slug fest on Saturday night in Death Valley.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report and co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.