Mississippi State will head to the desert for its Week 2 matchup.
The Bulldogs (1-0) will take on Arizona (1-0) at 10 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on FS1.
To get the scoop on the Wildcats, The Dispatch spoke with Michael Lev, who covers Arizona football and baseball for the Arizona Daily Star. Lev is in his seventh season covering Wildcats football.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What were the preseason expectations for Arizona, and how did Saturday’s win at San Diego State maybe change those expectations?
Lev: I would say that the expectations were somewhere between low and medium but higher than a year ago for sure. Arizona brought in a lot of exciting and promising new players both through the NCAA transfer portal and in their 2022 recruiting class, which was ranked in the top 25 nationally, which is very unusual for this school and this program. New quarterback. New go-to receiver. They were underdogs in the San Diego State game by 6, 6 1/2, depending on where you looked, and I’d say that they exceeded those expectations by a wide margin in the game. They had maybe the most impressive performance by any Pac-12 school in Week 1, and it potentially changes the trajectory of the season, at least to a degree. The question going in was always, ‘How can Arizona navigate a difficult nonconference schedule: at San Diego State, home against Mississippi State, home against North Dakota State?’ If they can somehow go 2-1 out of those three, then you can maybe envision a bowl berth down the road. But there were also scenarios where you could see them going 0-3. Now, they’ve at least eliminated that possibility. They played really well in all facets in that game, and they take a lot of confidence into the home opener against Mississippi State.
Jayden de Laura looked impressive against SDSU; in fact, he once committed to Mike Leach at Washington State. What are de Laura’s strengths and weaknesses, and how well can he fare against this Mississippi State defense?
Lev: He has a really good feel for the game, an innate sense of where the pressure’s coming from, how to avoid it, what to do with the ball. The pass protection did break down at times against a very good San Diego State front, and Jayden handled it fairly calmly and really smartly. He got the ball out of his hands. He showed a really quick release. He’s a very aggressive player, but he was smart against the Aztecs. He didn’t force the issue — only one interception in that game and four touchdown passes, which tied his career-high, which was set against Arizona with Washington State last year. He’s a good athlete. He doesn’t have great size, but good enough, to be sure. He displayed really good leadership traits, from all accounts, on the sideline during that game. He needed to have a short memory after that interception, and he did. Arizona got the ball back, and he led them down the field for a critical touchdown right after that. He just looked a lot more competent at the position than anyone that they had a year ago. It was a lot of injuries, a lot of uncertainty, just a lot of struggles at the most critical position in 2021 and one of many reasons that Arizona struggled on offense last year.
How well prepared is the Arizona defense to stop Mississippi State from putting up the high yardage and high point totals the Bulldogs usually do?
Lev: It’s a completely different look than what Arizona faced against San Diego State. San Diego State is a running team. That’s their M.O. They haven’t had a great quarterback in a while. If they fall behind by double digits in a game, they’re kind of in trouble, and that’s the way things played out. Despite the fact that they were down almost the entire game, they ended up with only 62 yards passing. They were only 7 of 16. That’s a quarter for a Mike Leach team, and the efficiency will undoubtedly be higher than that. It’s a huge adjustment, and it’s going to require a change in mindset. I think the biggest key for me is, ‘Is Arizona going to be able to tackle Mississippi State’s pass-catchers in space?’ It’s almost a given that a lot of those balls are going to be completed. That’s just the design of the system, right? So can you keep the YAC (yards after catch) to a minimum? That’s a tall task. It’s really difficult to do. I’m looking at PFF’s updated numbers right now. They had it at 260 out of 450 yards; over half the yards were after the catch. That is the kind of thing that Arizona can’t allow to happen in this game, or they’re going to get involved in a shootout, which is I think exactly what Mike Leach would want.
If you’re comfortable making a prediction, how do you see Saturday’s game playing out?
Lev: I think it’s going to be a close game. I think it’s going to be a shootout type of game. I’m a little concerned about the pass protection for Arizona, and we don’t really know how they’re going to fare against a team that has the type of athletes on the perimeter that Mississippi State is going to bring to Tucson. I do think it’s going to be difficult for the Bulldogs to travel all the way across the country and play a game at the equivalent of 10 p.m. for their body clocks, but I also think that they have the talent and the experience to overcome that and win by a field goal or a touchdown. If that happens and Arizona plays really well against an SEC team, obviously no one here is going to be happy about that, but I don’t think they’ll be discouraged, either. There were a lot of discouraging losses a year ago, and I think a really good, close, competitive game against an SEC team would actually have people feeling pretty good about the program heading into next week. If I’m Mississippi State and I can come all the way out West and pull that off, I think that’s a good sign as well.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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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 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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