STARKVILLE — Mississippi State faced a dual-threat quarterback named Jayden on Saturday night and barely escaped with a victory. Another awaits head coach Zach Arnett’s team this week at Davis Wade Stadium in the Southeastern Conference opener.
Jayden Daniels, in his fifth year as a starting quarterback and his second at LSU, hurt the Bulldogs with both his arm and legs in the Tigers’ 31-16, come-from-behind win over MSU a season ago. He is obviously the focal point of the Bulldogs’ defensive preparation this week.
“He is equally adept at throwing it as he is at running it,” Arnett said Monday. “Last week’s game against Arizona felt very much like last year’s game against LSU. It’s modern football. An accomplished passer who also can hurt you just as much with his legs is not fun to defend. You have to constantly shift the stress around on defense.”
The 14th-ranked Tigers (1-1) saw their season get off to a discouraging start with a 45-24 loss to a Florida State team that has since risen to No. 3 in the AP poll. LSU led by three at halftime in that showdown before allowing 31 unanswered points as the Seminoles won going away. Daniels still threw for 346 yards and ran for another 64, but Florida State sacked him four times and held the rest of the Tigers’ rushers in check.
LSU then rolled over Grambling State, 72-10, in a game that was close for a quarter before the Tigers found their footing as Daniels threw five touchdown passes. In an SEC West that suddenly looks wide open with LSU, Alabama and Texas A&M all slipping up last week in non-conference play, Saturday’s tilt (11 a.m., ESPN) could go a long way toward determining who gets to spend the first weekend of December in Atlanta.
Still, the Bulldogs are 10-point underdogs at home — the Tigers won the West last year and feature star running back Logan Diggs, who missed the Florida State game but rushed for 115 yards against Grambling. Receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas and tight end Mason Taylor give Daniels plenty of options in the passing game.
“You play the game to beat the great teams and to beat the great quarterbacks,” safety Marcus Banks said. “We’re going up against a great quarterback, and that’s going to be a great challenge for us, especially facing two scrambling quarterbacks back-to-back. So it’s good we had that challenge last week against Arizona; now we face another great scrambling quarterback and we have to be able to contain him.”
Injury updates
Safety Ja’Kobi Albert, a sophomore who spent last season at Kentucky, was removed from the depth chart this week, and Arnett said he will be out for the season with a knee injury that will require surgery.
Kalvin Dinkins, a redshirt freshman defensive lineman, was replaced on the two-deep at second-string nose guard by Eric Taylor, a transfer from Southwest Mississippi Community College who started his collegiate career at LSU but never saw any game action for the Tigers. Arnett said Dinkins was unavailable for the Arizona game but expects him to return soon.
Freshman receiver Creed Whittemore, coming off a breakout debut with a receiving touchdown and a rushing touchdown against Southeastern Louisiana, was on the field for just 10 snaps against the Wildcats and never touched the ball, which Arnett said was not injury-related and instead was “just the way the rotations worked out.”
Freshman Ellis steps up at tight end
With Geor’quarius Spivey ruled ineligible by the NCAA just two days before the Bulldogs’ season opener after he transferred from TCU in the offseason, MSU has slowly incorporated the tight end position back into the offense. Ryland Goede, a transfer from two-time defending national champion Georgia, is listed as the starter, but Antonio Harmon and true freshman Malik Ellis each saw the field significantly more than Goede against Arizona.
Ellis, an early enrollee, is a converted offensive lineman who started at left tackle in high school — he wears number 98, unusual for a tight end — but switched to tight end in light of the Spivey situation.
“He is going to be a very good offensive lineman for us,” Arnett said. “But he has some circumstances that I won’t continue to dwell on. We had a need for a point-of-attack tight end who can create some movement in the running game. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win.
“In reality, it may not be the best thing for his offensive line development because he’s not able to lift and put on weight, and he’s going to need to put on some weight when he makes his transition to the offensive line. But getting on the field early and being exposed to this level of football is certainly going to benefit him greatly.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.