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FACTS & STATS: Site: Davis Wade Stadium (45,256) -- Starkville, Mississippi Television: ESPN U. Home Record: LaTech 1-1, MSU 0-1. Away Record: LaTech 0-1, MSU 1-1. Neutral Record: LaTech 0-0, MSU 0-0. Conference Record: LaTech 0-0, MSU 0-2. Series Record: Mississippi State leads, 7-3.

GAME NOTES: Bounced out of the national rankings, the Mississippi State Bulldogs now try to snap a two-game slide as they entertain the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in non-conference action at Davis Wade Stadium.

Mississippi State began the 2011 campaign ranked 20th in the nation and in fact looked like a top performer in the season opener when it crushed Memphis on the road (59-14), but after that the squad allowed Auburn off the hook in a 34-31 setback and then had an offensive power failure in a 19-6 loss to LSU last week.

Not only are the MSU Bulldogs out of the AP rankings after three weeks of play, the team is also the only SEC program with two defeats already, pushing them to last place in the league's West Division standings as a result.

As for the LaTech version of the canines, each of their first three games of the season have been decided by six points or less and in only one of those cases have them come out on top (defeating Central Arkansas, 48-42 in overtime). Last weekend, Tech appeared to be well on the way to back-to-back victories and the first of the year over a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision, but what they failed to take into account was the never-say-time attitude of Houston's Case Keenum who led the Cougars to their largest come- from-behind win in history, a 35-34 triumph in Ruston last Saturday. LaTech led by a score of 34-7 in the third quarter and then failed to hold off a furious attack by one of the NCAA's all-time leading passers.

Mississippi State leads the all-time series, one that dates back to 1904, by a count of 7-3. The most recent of those matchups took place in 2008 with LaTech claiming a 22-14 triumph at home.

Ray Holley tallied a pair of rushing touchdowns for Louisiana Tech against Houston, while Lennon Creer chipped in with one of his own and a game-high 99 yards rushing on 25 attempts in an effort to keep the ball out of the hands of the Cougars and Keenum. Quarterback Nick Isham connected on 20-of-31 passes for 199 yards and a score, but he was also sacked twice and intercepted two times as the Bulldogs failed to hold off Houston. LaTech generated 444 yards of total offense, just five yards less than the Cougars, but the Bulldogs actually ran 23 more plays. Creer has proven himself to be one of the better ball carriers in the WAC, averaging 109.7 ypg to place fourth in the league and 22nd in the nation at the moment, but he can't do it all alone. Holley has less than half the carrier of Creer in the early going, yet the latter has scored four times on the ground and Creer five times to pace the offense. Even though Isham has completed close to 60 percent of his pass attempts, having as many TDs (three) and INTs right now isn't the best news for the offense.

Through the first half of play last Saturday the Bulldogs appeared to know just exactly what they needed to do to hold down Keenum and the Houston passing attack. Unfortunately, in the third quarter that all went out the window once Keenum began dissecting the LaTech secondary. Quinn Giles and Dave Clark did manage to record interceptions for the Bulldogs, while Adrien Cole and Christian Lacey both logged a couple of tackles behind the line of scrimmage to no avail. In the last two games, the Bulldogs have come up with 15 TFLs to boost their average to more than six per outing overall, certainly a step in the right direction for the program after it placed sixth in the WAC and 83rd nationally with 5.25 TFLs a year ago, but still the unit has to get even more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. After being carved up by Keenum in the second half last week, the pass defense for LaTech now finds itself ranked last in the conference and 113th nationally with 316.3 ypg allowed.

The Mississippi State offense reached a new low last week as the team managed just a pair of field goals in the loss to mighty LSU in Starkville. In a series that dates back to 1913, the defeat for the Bulldogs was their 12th in a row versus the Tigers, although the outcome was still in question right up until the final period. Quarterbacks Chris Relf and Tyler Russell tried to keep the ball moving, converting 15-of-25 passes for 141 yards, but they were picked off twice and sacked a collective five times. Because of those sacks the Bulldogs were credited with just 52 net rushing yards. Despite coming up with a lackluster effort on the ground against LSU, the Bulldogs are one of the better running teams in the SEC right now, ranked third with 231.3 ypg. Some of that might stem from the fact that when it comes to kick returns the Bulldogs are far from perfect, averaging just 14.9 yards per attempt (119th in the nation), which leaves plenty of room for ball carriers to carve out some space.

Considering the Bulldogs held LSU to just a series of field goals through the first three quarters, the defense still had something to be proud of even though the team eventually suffered the double-digit loss. However, MSU didn't get much pressure at the line of scrimmage and into the LSU backfield, posting just three total tackles for loss. Two of those TFLs came from Kaleb Eulls who also had the only sack of the game for the Bulldogs. As far as quarterback takedowns are concerned, Mississippi State has a total of just four through the first three games of the season and that has the team tied for 76th nationally with an average of 1.3 per game. Several players have multiple TFLs, with Cameron Lawrence at the top of that list with 3.5 and that has helped the group rank third in the SEC and 38th in the country with 6.67 TFLs per contest thus far.

Mississippi State may have scored just six points last week, but those Bulldogs are still head and shoulders above the once from Ruston and really you have to wonder how LaTech will respond after such a devastating defeat over the weekend versus Houston.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Mississippi State 38, Louisiana Tech 21