Mississippi Schools Could Give The Tide Headaches This Year
By Matt Blake
It is one of the most storied programs in all of college football and once again in 2014 the Alabama Crimson Tide will enter the season as one of the favorites to win another national title. The Tide has won three national championships in the past five seasons under head coach Nick Saban. Since 2008, Alabama has won an amazing 72 games and is clearly the cream of the crop among FBS schools. Like last year, though, there are some stumbling blocks in the schedule. Here’s a look at where the Crimson Tide may be knocked off their pedestal in 2014.
Oct. 4 – Ole Miss
The Tide will likely be 4-0 after roughing up rival Florida in week four. Saban and company will then face their biggest test of the young season in Ole Miss. The Rebels are excited about the direction of their program after head coach Hugh Freeze led Ole Miss to a respectable 8-5 record, including a victory over Georgia Tech in the Music City Bowl, in his second season a year ago.
Freeze’s squad will likely be 4-0 as well, if they can get past Boise State in their season opener and after tune ups Louisiana and Memphis will anxiously be awaiting that program victory…the one that pushes a program over the edge and leads it to the next level. Freeze’s offenses are always imaginative and he returns an experienced quarterback in Bo Wallace.
The difference this season will be the Ole Miss defense. Injuries destroyed the unit in midseason, but the upside is that many of the Rebels’ younger players received significant playing time. Where Alabama could fall into the trap is in thinking that they have a nice lull in their schedule with the Rebels and Arkansas in successive weeks. Freeze and Ole Miss could easily catch the Tide napping in the fifth week of the season.
Nov. 15 – Mississippi State
The state of Mississippi could be rough on the Tide this year as Dan Mullen’s Bulldogs return eight starters on offense and eight starters on defense. Mississippi State won three straight, including the Liberty Bowl, to close the season in 2013. Dak Prescott returns at QB to lead an offense that, when it’s on, is as good as any in the conference. Prescott passed for 1,940 yards and led the team in rushing with 829 more.
Like their in-state rival, the Bulldogs should be very good on defense. They return eight defensive lineman who played in at least 10 games last season. Chris Jones, a five-star DE coming out of high school, was moved to DT because of his size (6-5, 310) and leading tackler Bernard McKinney, a 6-4, 245-pound LB, return to the lineup.
The schedule gods were looking out for Mullen and the Bulldogs this year. In the three weeks prior to the game with Alabama, Mississippi State will face Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee-Martin. Those three games should be great primers for the showdown in Tuscaloosa. It’s an opportunity for a signature win as the Bulldogs could catch Alabama in a late season lull.
Alabama takes on West Virginia in one of the season’s kickoff games and then faces one of the more favorable schedules in all of the SEC. The Tide does not crossover to play South Carolina or Georgia and hosts FCS Western Carolina before the end-of-the-season Iron Bowl rivalry with Auburn. Both Florida and Tennessee are coming off horrible seasons and Alabama gets Texas A&M at home. If the Tide falters this season, it may very well be against a nemesis from Mississippi.