Does Mississippi State have the best defensive line we've played this year?

Kerrigan

No.

Hey, that was easy!

Ask Bret Bielema who might possibly be better than a second-rate SEC team. Hint: it's one that outscores opponents like 4-1 even with 4th string scrubs in play.

...Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Iowa, maybe Michigan State are better than Mississippi State.

I'm guessing this guy is one of the "SEC is better than Big Ten at everything!!!!1!!!" types...

Read his thread with an exaggerated southern drawl while chewing gum and youll get a real sense of how idiotic this moron sounds in person

I'd take Ohio State's defense over Mississippi State's defense any day.  Sorry SEC.

like that? I mean we all know the SEC is way better than the slow fat big ten! If they truly believe that then how do they explain the 2008 Capital One Bowl! When Michigan men went into Florida and schooled there beloved Timmy Tebow!

F**k the SEC!

Ryan Kerrigan is probably better than their D-line.

This got me a bit:

Get over yourself and your team.

Penis envy?

it's ok, once Mullen takes the job at Florida they will fall to the bottom of the S-EZ

"You put up ~150 yards rushing against defensive lines that simply are not as good as ours, I'm sorry. Get over yourself and your team."

Alcorn St and UAB both put up about 120 on them... I have a hunch we might be able to top that.

If they "got screwed"...

I'd say some of that was probably because their two most impressive games were losses and they squeaked out several wins against mediocre (giving credit to Florida and Georgia) and outright terrible (Ole Miss and UAB) teams. Although, I'm sure Florida being Florida didn't help.

Nice to hear they have some confidence in their front 7.  (How about that back 4?) 

I'm looking forward to playing an SEC team.  They usually take our speed & grit for granted. 

A healthy Denard will be on the field with a platoon of "hungry" players pumped up about playing on New Year's Day.  Should be a pretty good "dog" fight.

LOL, Miss state has the best D line we have seen?  What is this kid smoking?   I think 3 out of the 5 losses to top 8 teams and their D lines say otherwise.. 

Have fun pushing Lewan around

From what I saw in the Arkansas - MIss St. game that I was lucky to stumble into earlier in the season, the Miss St. defense skews aggressive. They did a good job of getting to Mallett, which they needed to, but they were leaving themselves open to being burned and, frankly, Denard has more weapons with which to burn them.

Best? I doubt it. But they will be getting pretty effective penetration if they play it as aggressive as they did against Arkansas. Though, seeing enough video of Roy Roundtree streaking through the secondary wide open may give them some cause to reconsider.

lolwut?

I am probably the only person on the board to have lived in both Ann Arbor (5th and Packard) and Starkville.   I watched most of both teams games this year.  As a Mississippi State season ticket holder, I saw all of their games except for the untelevised away games.  I watched all of Michigan'snationally  televised games.

Mississippi State has a good defensive front.  Their defensive tackles are big and strong.  They tend to push the pocket back on pass plays and to hold the line of scrimmage on run plays.  They play many defensive tackles (Pernell McPhee, Josh Boyd, Fletcher Cox, James Carmon, and Jeff Howie) and all are pretty good.  It will be hard for Michigan to run straight ahead.

Their defensive ends are a little undersized and can be pushed around some.  For all of the penetration of the defensive tackles, Mississippi State didn't seem to have many sacks this year.  The DE's didn't do a good job of getting to the QB.  They miss Nick Bell who died of cancer this year.  Michigan will have an easier time getting outside against this defense.

I'm pretty sure Iowa has a better D-line, OSU probably had the best front 7. I'm sure Mississippi State has a solid front 7, but no way there's is better than a top tier Big Ten team.

Define "better."  Based on the assessment's of our proprietor and other posters, MSU's defense seems very aggressive and a little blitz-happy.  Maybe pretty athletic, too.  Does that make them "better" than other defenses (or front 7s)?  Probably not.  As Brian stated, this is a high variance scheme - live by the sword, die by the sword, so to speak.  It's a big play defense - they make big plays and are more vulnerable to giving up big plays.  I don't know if that makes them better, just different.

As for rushing performances, Auburn (228), Alabama (196), Arkansas (196), Florida (182), LSU (182), and Alcorn St (173) all had pretty successful days running the ball on MSU(NTMSU).  

but this thread is not about the overall team.  This thread is about our front seven.  I don't know if it's the best front seven you've seen this year but it's up there at the top.  Our entire front seven is large and athletic.  People are arguing that we are just a middle of the pack team, and that is correct because we are.  Our front seven, however, is as good as anyone in the SEC.  It's as good as LSU, Alabama, etc.  Our defense was the second best in the SEC in conference play.  That was because of our front seven and our defensive coordinator, because our secondary is not that great.  The front seven also makes things easier on our secondary.  Fletcher Cox, Pernell mcphee, Chris White, and kJ Wright will all get a chance to play on Sunday's most likely. 

Based on the rushing defenses we have faced in 2010, 2 teams we have played have better rushing defense statistics than Mississippi State:

6. Ohio State: 373 rushing attempts against, 1132 total rushing yards gained by opponents, 3.03 average yards per play.

8. Iowa: 378 rushing attempts against, 1242 total rushing yards gained by opponents, 3.29 average yards per play.

19. Miss State: 410 rushing attempts against, 1460 total rushing yards gained by opponents, 3.56 average yards per play.

Here are some teams we have played who have similar stats as Miss. State:

20. Mich State: 407 rushing attempts against, 1463 total rushing yards gained by opponents, 3.59 average yards per play.

29. Wisconsin: 397 rushing attempts against, 1580 total rushing yards gained by opponents, 3.98 average yards per play.

42. Purdue: 459 rushing attempts against, 1655 total rushing yards gained by opponents, 3.61 average yards per play.

57. Notre Dame: 441 rushing attempts against, 1767 total rushing yards gained by opponents, 4.01 average yards per play.

Based on numbers alone, we have played similar D lines or better and have had mixed success over the course of the year. Make your conclusions.