Staff Picks: Bulldogs win a tight one, Rebels win in Atlanta

Sep. 15—Week 3 of college football is here.

The locals are both on the road, and for Mississippi State it just means more. It's the SEC opener at LSU. Ole Miss is in Atlanta for the second-straight season this time to face Georgia Tech.

Mississippi State at LSU

The Bulldogs' last trip to Baton Rouge was Mike Leach's debut as head coach, and it was quite memorable.

That MSU would be pass-heavy on offense was not a surprise, but that the Bulldogs would rack up 623 passing yards and 44 points, well, that might have been.

KJ Costello — remember him? — threw for every one of those yards, setting an SEC record in the 44-34 win. It was the 11th most single-game passing yards in NCAA Division I history.

By mid-season, Will Rogers, a true freshman, had taken over for Costello.

Last year, Rogers was the entrenched starter when the Tigers beat the Bulldogs 28-25 in Starkville. The game got away from State when LSU hit a couple of big pass plays in the third quarter to stretch out to a 21-3 lead.

One of those big plays was to junior wide receiver Kayshon Boutte. A preseason All-American, Boutte didn't really stand out in the Tigers' season-opening loss to Florida State, finishing with just two catches for 20 yards. He had five catches for 42 yards last week against Southern. Boutte may be playing with a chip on his shoulder and looking to make a statement in an SEC game.

So far, State hasn't given up those big plays this season. Bhe Bulldogs have given up a few explosive runs over the first two weeks. That could prove troublesome against LSU's new quarterback, Arizona State transfer, Jayden Daniels.

A running QB, he got off to a slow passing start against Florida State but played better down the stretch and was instrumental in the 99-yard drive to get within an extra point kick away on the last play of the game.

Those extra points are important.

This hasn't been an MSU defense that has made a lot of plays in the opponent's backfield, but they've mostly done a good job of keeping the ball in front. They'll need to do that with Daniels who can really hurt the Bulldogs if they give him open running lanes.

Also different about the last trip to Baton Rouge was the attendance: just 21,124 in Tiger Stadium in the COVID season of restrictions. Texas A&M and Auburn were comparable atmospheres last year, and Rogers handled those well.

Leach doesn't have much use for "defining" games, but I suspect this one will tell us a lot about the Bulldogs. In two weeks, State has played with the efficiency and confidence you would expect from an experienced team.

The Bulldogs are indeed improved in their third season under Leach, but the rest of the SEC hasn't been standing still. Kentucky and Arkansas, like State teams that are perennially chasing the SEC division leaders, are now top-10 teams, and they appear on the schedule in October along with A&M and Alabama.

This MSU season has great potential. It will be harder to reach that potential if the Bulldogs can't get past rebuilding LSU.

Prediction: MSU 29, LSU 28

The Beat Guys: De'Rosa, MSU; Katz, LSU

Ole Miss at Georgia Tech

It's kind of hard to think about Georgia Tech football without thinking about the option.

The last time these two played, Ole Miss had a month to prepare for the option as it faced Tech in the Music City Bowl. Dave Wommack's defense shut it down, and the Rebels won 25-17, holding the Yellow Jackets to 151 rushing yards and 3.1 yards per attempt.

Well, that's not Tech's game any more.

Tech is on its second offensive coordinator, Chip Long, under head coach Geoff Collins. The first was Dave Patenaude, who Tech's website said faced the "monumental task" of taking Tech from an option-based team to a pro-style spread attack.

Not much has changed under Long. The Yellow Jackets threw the ball 54 percent of the time in their 41-10 season-opening loss to Clemson. They ran it more in Week 2 in a 35-17 win over Western Carolina in which they scored 13 points off four forced turnovers.

Presumably, Ole Miss would receive a game plan similar to that of Tech's other Power Five opponent.

Tech won just three games in each of Collins' first three seasons and can present little evidence to show it's ready to win this game.

It does have evidence to show it can compete. Tech was within a touchdown of Clemson until less than 2 minutes remained in the third quarter, when the Tigers capped a 74-yard drive to go ahead 24-10.

Clemson held Tech to 237 total yards. Tech QB Jeff Sims was 23 for 36 passing, but his longest gain was 21 yards, and he had just 164 passing yards on the day.

Tech had just 73 total rushing yards and 2.4 yards per carry in its only other Power Five game to date.

Ole Miss will be playing its first Power Five game, its first road game too, so there will be a different environment for the Rebels' 2 1/2 dozen transfers.

Lane Kiffin is hoping to pull off this road trip with no drama and that his transfers continue to show the growth they did from Week 1 — when the Rebels sputtered in the second half against Troy — to Week 2 when they maintained focus in the third quarter against overmatched Central Arkansas.

The disappointment from Week 1 had mostly to do with turnovers and execution on offense.

The defense has played well for most of two games.

The offense took a step for the Rebels in Week 2. Both quarterbacks played well, which did nothing to settle the ongoing quarterback competition. The guess here is that Jaxson Dart starts, plays well and is QB1 come Monday taking first-team reps and gaining chemistry with other starters to get ready for Tulsa, but more importantly for a top-10 Kentucky team coming to Oxford the week after.

That Kentucky game will have less luster if the Rebels stumble against Tech or Tulsa.

Prediction: Ole Miss 35, Georgia Tech 17

The Beat Guys: DeRosa, Ole Miss; Katz, Ole Miss.

Elsewhere in College Football

Last Week: Theo 8-0, PA 7-1, Michael 6-2.

Overall: Theo 14-2, Michael 13-3, PA 12-4.

Texas Tech at North Carolina State

Alford: NC State

DeRosa: NC State

Katz: NC State

Miami at Texas A&M

Alford: Texas A&M

DeRosa: Texas A&M

Katz: Miami

BYU at Oregon

Alford: Oregon

DeRosa: Oregon

Katz: Oregon

Penn State at Auburn

Alford: Penn State

DeRosa: Penn State

Katz: Auburn

Liberty at Wake Forest

Alford: Wake Forest

DeRosa: Wake Forest

Katz: Wake Forest

Oklahoma at Nebraska

Alford: Oklahoma

DeRosa: Oklahoma

Katz: Oklahoma

Georgia at South Carolina

Alford: Georgia

DeRosa: Georgia

Katz: Georgia

Recipe of the Week

Pimento Cheese

We enjoy things at our house that we can make quickly with whatever's in the kitchen.

We keep a small jar of diced pimentos on hand and usually have a block of cheddar cheese.

Laurie's family has made this from memory for years. When I started making it, I wrote some notes.

Please forgive these less-than-exact instructions. Seems like we shunned the measuring spoons and reached straight to the utensil drawer for this.

The contents: 1 full grater of cheese (about a pound), 2 full serving spoons of sugar, 1 small jar of diced pimentos (drained), 3 regular spoons of Miracle Whip.

The process: Grate the block of cheese. Mix contents in air-tight container. You might want to give it a taste test after two spoons of Miracle Whip. Cover and refrigerate.

This is something our family has enjoyed, and it travels easily with crackers or for sandwiches.

PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@journalinc.com.