BleedTechBlue.com caught up with Brett Hudson of The Commercial Dispatch to go Behind Enemy Lines in preparation for Louisiana Tech’s matchup at Mississippi State Saturday night.

Joe Moorhead is in his first season as head coach of the Bulldogs, with the team’s 5-3 record, what is the overall feeling around the program relative to the expectations entering this season?

I don't think it's unfair to say this season has already disappointed relative to preseason expectations -- there was a lot of hope the game against Alabama would decide the West, and that's clearly not happening -- but the Texas A&M win was a big one. MSU can still lose to Alabama but win every other one, go 8-4 and win a respectable bowl game. It'll be far from the 10-2 season that I predicted in the preseason, but it will also be far from the complete disaster it looked like it could have been after the LSU loss. You could say closing the season the way I described above would be having a good season when a great season was expected.

Nick Fitzgerald played extremely well in a win against Texas A&M last week, but he has certainly had his struggles this season. What has been the root of those issues?

The early struggles were a product of everything: bad protection at times, drops at inopportune moments and, to be fair, some issues that were Fitzgerald's and Fitzgerald's alone. The LSU game was a little different in that it was more a direct product of Fitzgerald, not as much a blend of the entire operation. They credit those struggles to a sort of paralysis by analysis, overthinking the offense; Fitzgerald was encouraged to play loose and delivered much better results against the Aggies.

Mississippi State is fourth in the country in points per game allowed at 13.5, outside of Jeffrey Simmons and Montez Sweat, what makes this unit so good?

The defensive line is Alabama levels of deep this year, so they have more than Simmons and Sweat, but really this defense is good because it's good at all three levels. Erroll Thompson was a SEC All-Freshman guy last year and he's been even better at linebacker this year. Mark McLaurin and Johnathan Abram could be the best safety duo in the SEC: Abram brings the pain in run support (and on unsuspecting wide receivers) and McLaurin made a name for himself by picking off Lamar Jackson three times in the TaxSlayer Bowl last year. Cameron Dantzler (Louisiana native, St. Thomas Aquinas) is having a good year at corner. This defense is good everywhere.

To follow up on that question, do Jeffrey Simmons and Montez Sweat make up the best duo of defensive linemen in college football?

I would probably take a pair from Clemson over them, but that would probably be it. Jeffery Simmons is the prototypical inside run-stopper of the modern era and Montez Sweat is the prototypical pass rusher of the modern era. Both are equipped to handle today's offenses and all the freaky physical tools it takes to do so.

What are the keys to victory for Mississippi State on Saturday night?

They need to get some points early before Jaylon Ferguson has a chance to impact the game. MSU's tackles have been a weakness this season, but at the same time this defense won't make the offense put up 50 to win this game. If this offense can put up a couple of scores in the first quarter and not allow Ferguson to settle in, that should be more than enough.