Game Time:  7:00 pm ET, Saturday, September 11th,  2021

Venue:  Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville Mississippi

Where to Watch:  Watch ESPN 

DraftKings:  Spread: NC State -2.5; Over/Under: 55.5 points

BetMGM:  Spread: NC State -2.5; Over/Under:  55.5 points

PointsBet:  Spread:  NC State 2.5; Over/Under:  55.5 points

 

NC State: 1-0 (ACC)

Miss State: 1-0 (SEC)

 

Larry delivered an 8-2, +$5,036 ($100/unit) 'beatdown' to the oddsmakers the 1st week of CFB 2021… Get Larry Ness’s pick  It's available right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers.

 

Recent Form

 

  Wolfpack:  finished the 2020 regular season 8-3 and wound up tied for 4th in the conference.  They got invited to the Taxslayer Gator Bowl where they lost to Kentucky 23-21.  The losses last season were to Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Miami.

 

 Bulldogs:  finished the 2020 regular season 4-7.  They lost to Arkansas (who were terrible in 2020 themselves), Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama (everyone lost to Alabama), Georgia, Ole Miss, and Auburn.  They beat Missouri, Vanderbilt, and that great upset win over LSU.  They were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl where they beat Tulsa 28-26.

 

The North Carolina State Wolfpack beat the South Florida Bulls in their opener 45-0. Smooth sailing their way into winning the first of the schedule.  QB Devin Leary went 17-26 for 232 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT in his first start since returning from a leg injury.  RB Zonovan Knight turned in 163 yards and 1 touchdown rushing.

Mississippi State just barely got the win over Louisiana Tech in their season opener 35-34.  Now that is a high scoring affair.  QB Will Rogers went 39-47 for 370 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.  This is a passing offense for sure as the rushing game only pulled in 65 yards… of course those rushes added 2 more TD’s.  So they throw the ball downfield and then punch it in. The extra fun of this game was that MSU Bulldogs were down 20 points with 12 minutes left to play.  They scored the final three touchdowns in three fourth quarter drives. Insane!  If Mississippi wants to keep winning games they are in immediate need of cleaning up the mistakes MSU had 4 turnovers and gave up 95 yards to penalties.

 

NC State’s defense was inconsistent in 2020.  Star defender LB Patrick Wilson was in and out with health and injury issues.  Wilson (108 tackles) is back and healthy and will lead NC State along with a lot of returning starters and some transfers.  They ranked high last season in sacks and interceptions.  If they can keep Patrick Wilson healthy and break everyone in they should be tough as metal this season,  Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson will try and improve the run stopping ability of a squad that was pretty great against the pass last year.

 

Mike Leach has always been an offensive coach.  Coaching teams into shootouts that the other teams aren’t prepared to go at that speed and distance the whole game.  The result also is his teams have given up a lot of points.  This wasn’t a good defense last year and they lost the few strong starters they had.  Marquiss Spencer, Kobe Jones, Erroll Thompson, and Marcus Murphy are all gone.  Who will replace them?  Hopefully not the same guys who gave up 34 points to Louisiana Tech.

Our prediction for Saturday, September 11th is... NC State 35 - Mississippi State 31

 

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The all-time series between NC State and Mississippi State is tied 3-3.

The total has hit Over in each of NC State's last seven away games.

Mississippi State is 1-5 ATS in its last six home games.

 

NC State:  none reported as of yet

Mississippi State: no new injuries reported

 

NC State:  QB Devin Leary.  He had a big passing game in his opener and is walking into a shootout with a known gunfighter.

Mississippi State:  QB Will Rogers.  He had a big passing game to open the season also… and he is running the game plan of a mad genius.  He will be throwing for a team that fields 4 wide outs instead of 3 with a tight end.  

 

"There's a lot of positivity here right now,"  -NC State coach Dave Doeren.

“We’re aware of the situation,....We’re gathering more information and have no further comment at this time.” -Mike Leach about an offensive lineman’s recent arrest. 

 

NC State: QB Devin Leary, RB Zonovan Knight, WR Emeka Emezie, WR Devin Carter, WR Thayer Thomas, TE Dylan Parham,  

 

Mississippi State: QB Will Rogers, RB Jo’quavious Marks, WR Malik Heath, WR Makai Polk, WR Austin Williams, WR Jamire Calvin

 

 

Coaches:

NC State is where head coach Dave Doeren has been plying his trade since 2012.  If you include his 2 seasons at Northern Illinois Coach Doeren is 79-50 for his college football head coaching career.  He is 4-3 in 7 bowl games.  He doesn’t make Mike Leach money but is a solid respectable guy.

 

Mississippi State is where coach Mike Leach now coaches.  He was an absolute offensive genius with his “air raid” offense. He set records for coaching at Texas Tech, his quarterbacks set total passing yardage record year after year.  He coached Kliff Kingsbury who now coaches the Arizona Cardinals.  He was known also as a stubborn person.  Texas Tech fired coach Mike Leach after coach Mike Leach refused to apologize to his player Adam James, whom he may have punished for being injured.  He went on to 8 seasons coaching Washington State and wound up signing with Mississippi State on January 9th 2020.  He started off great with a shocking win over #6  in the nation LSU (who had won the CFP national championship the year before) and has been rebuilding Mississippi State ever since.  I bring this all up because I wonder if he is still punishing players in today’s youth driven political climate?

 

Sunny.  Hot.  High of 88* with 58% humidity.  Wind- hardly any.