Houston-Mississippi State: First Look

Here you can find an MSU rewind that looks back at Mississippi State’s 42-31 loss to No. 25 Georgia Tech (now ranked 22nd). Now, we look forward, checking out a team that was ranked 12th until it was upset by UTEP on Saturday in its Conference USA opener.

• Game info: Davis Wade Stadium, 11:30 a.m., ESPNU/ESPN360.com

• Last meeting: Houston 28, Starkville 16 (Oct. 22, 2005, in Starkville)

• Series: Houston leads 8-6

• Last week: Houston lost 58-41 to UTEP; MSU lost 42-31 to No. 25 Georgia Tech

• Houston on the Web: uhcougars.com

• Houston blog to follow: Steve Campbell, Houston Chronicle

• Houston on Twitter: campbellcoogs

• Houston coach: Kevin Sumlin (second year, 11-6)

• Three Houston players to watch: QB Case Keenum, WR Tyron Carrier, RB Bryce Beall

Premature review

I tweeted this yesterday, but if you haven’t seen it, check out Houston’s NCAA stats page. It’s quite a sight.

The Cougars (3-1) rank first in the nation in total offense (573.3 ypg) and passing offense (446.0 ypg), third in scoring offense (42.5 ppg), and 17th in passing efficiency (154.04 rating).

As I noted in my Premature Preview over the summer, this team once again has a very high-powered offensive unit with many returning weapons.

It all starts with Keenum, the 6'2" junior QB from Abilene. He leads the country in total offense (436.8 ypg) and has completed 144-of-210 passes for 1,696 yards, 13 TDs and two interceptions.

Against UTEP, he completed 51-of-76 (both school records) for a career-high 536 yards, five TDs and no picks.

So Mississippi State will have quite the challenge on its hands. The Bulldogs gave up 266 passing yards to Georgia Tech, but there’s not a whole lot to be learned from that game that can be applied this week.

“We’ve got to do a good job of playing the full pass game,” MSU coach Dan Mullen said yesterday. “I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of carry-over, even though we gave up a bunch of big plays in the pass game (Saturday). There’s not a carry-over between the two games because it’s so different.”

So how exactly did UTEP manage to outscore Houston? Shoddy run defense, for one. UTEP’s Donald Buckram rushed for 262 yards, and the Miners had 581 total yards.

Anthony Dixon is drooling right about now. MSU’s senior tailback is 15th in the country with 106.8 yards per game, and he’s eclipsed 100 yards each of the last three weeks.

Houston ranks 113th in the nation in run defense (204.8 ypg) and 110th in total defense (440.5 ypg).

Question is, can MSU survive a shootout? Well, the Bulldogs seem better equipped this year than in previous years to do so, but we’ll get more into that as the week goes on.