EA Sports NCAA Football '14 Simulation: Mississippi State vs. Bowling Green

After last week's dismal results -- both in the game and in the simulation -- the Bulldogs will return to the field this weekend hoping for better results before heading into the bye week. This week's opponent are the Bowling Green Falcons, a foe that head coach Dan Mullen is quite familiar with. A young Mullen was the QBs coach for Urban Meyer's Bowling Green offense in 2001 and 2002 before heading to Utah -- and eventually Florida -- with Meyer. Can he take down his old school as the Bulldogs look to release some of the frustrations from last week? State fans certainly hope so. Now let's take a look at how things would shake up in this week's simulation.

Wow. From the looks of it, MSU came out and exercised some demons after that LSU loss at the expense of Bowling Green. State scored early but mostly often en route to a 52-14 win over the Falcons. Can't ask for much more than that from a simulated homecoming game. Now that you've seen how they scored, let's take a look at some stats from this week's sim:

Team Stats

• 25 first downs
• 474 yards total offense
• 251 yards rushing
• 223 yards passing
• 10-14 (71%) 3rd down conversions
• 2 turnovers (1 fumble, 1 INT)
• Bowling Green held to 237 yards total
  
• Defense holds Bowling Green to just 30 rushing yards on 19 attempts
  

Passing Stats

• Tyler Russell | 13 of 23, 223 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 56% completion, long of 40
  

Rushing Stats

• Josh Robinson | 38(!) rushes, 221(!) yards, 3 TD, long of 15
  

Receiving Stats

• Robert Johnson | 4 receptions, 89 yards
• Malcolm Johnson | 4 receptions, 52 yards, 1 TD
  
• Jeremey Chappelle | 2 receptions, 46 yards, 1 TD
• Jameon Lewis | 2 receoptions, 11 yards, 2 TD (1 TD - 103 KO return)

Defensive Stats

• Matthew Wells | 7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
  
• Bernardrick McKinney | 7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks
  
• Jamerson Love | 1 tackle, 1 INT

It looks like with Perkins still out hurt in the game, they have turned Josh Robinson into an absolute workhorse. I'm not sure Ashton Shumpert is even in the game, and I have no clue why they didn't give any carries to Milton or Griffin, but nevertheless, Josh Robinson has made himself a star in this simmed season. Robinson, through six games and seven weeks of the season, is 4th in the NCAA in rushing in this simulated season with 775 yards. He just edges out Jeff Scott, who has 774. Not making this up people.

So what can we take away from this simulated game towards Saturday's real game? As always, you can take away absolutely nothing. However, I do expect MSU to come out fired up and ready to work out some issues, namely finishing the game stronger. With a bye week coming up, State should come out and, like in the simulated game, take care of business on what should hopefully be a festive homecoming night both on and off the field.