Community Projections: Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

It’s insane but maybe, just maybe, Fournette is the best player in college football and has done more than enough to win the Heisman.

LSU’s team rushing total of 54 yards was its lowest since it netted 36 in a 17-0 last season to Arkansas (5-4, 3-2 Southeastern Conference), which plays at No. 9 LSU (7-1, 4-1 SEC) at 6:15 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Stadium. Now it’s a beaten up team that played its most physical game of the season, while Mississippi State has had an extra few days off to chill out after beating Missouri last Thursday night. Henry certainly took advantage of the platform as he ran for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns against a stout LSU run defense.

So where do we stand now?

Auburn’s Peyton Barber is the only running back to go for more than 100 yards against the Razorbacks this season, and needed four overtimes to make it happen.

Who will be in NY next month when the Heisman Trophy is given out?

As far as my pick for Alabama-Mississippi State, I learned not to bet against the Crimson Tide a long time ago. He was held to 1 or negative yards on 12 of his 19 carries and had a 1.6-yard per carry average after coming in averaging 7.7 yards a pop. It was his second 200-yard game of the season and his third with three touchdowns.

Case against: Not a lot of flaws. Will there be any hint of voter apathy given the running back lineage that has come from coach Nick Saban’s Alabama program (Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, T.J. Yeldon, etc.)? Henry should be in NY for the Heisman Trophy presentation at the least. If he has a big game against Mississippi State next week, he could jump to No. 1 on this list.

Fournette remains No. 1 in the nation in rushing, but he fell behind Monday in USA Today’s poll of Heisman voters. He’s also a good off-the-field story.

Fournette said he was still in a learning phase at that stage of his freshman year, although he rebounded for a season-best 146 yards in his next game at Texas A&M.

No one said this process is supposed to be fair.

This is a huge SEC college football game in Week 11 of the season that has big time national college football championship implications. So how much does one game mean? He finished with 95 yards on 27 carries. He added a 75-yard TD run against Clemson last week.

For most of Saban’s tenure at Alabama, that consistency has been there. Even after being shut down against Alabama, LSU’s running game still averages 277.2 yards per game.

Case against: The spread offense produces big numbers. The matchup has an estimated Over/Under (O/U) of 60 points.

Quaterback Dak Prescott is the flawless player to run that offense.

Also, his chances will take a hit if Baylor loses and the Bears’ next three games are against Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State and at TCU.

This represents a switch from the Alabama vs. LSU game, in which the Tide focused on stopping LSU RB Leonard Fournette.

Defense has been among the reasons that the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide have remained front-of-mind in the College Football Playoff conversation. Watson then led the Tigers to an impressive victory against Florida State. The sophomore has thrown for 2,233 yards (69.7 percent completion rate) and 21 TDs against seven INTs, in addition to rushing for 493 yards and four scores.

Arkansas got revenge last season by snapping a 17-game conference losing streak in a shutout win over the Tigers.