When Mississippi State hosts Alabama this weekend, it will be the umpteenth time in recent years that ranked SEC West teams face off. With teams in the same division, familiarity grows over the years. And with teams ranked so highly, the margins between victory and defeat grow slimmer by the game.
Any advantage a team has, however minimal, can decide who runs off the field in triumph and who waddles off in disappointment. Games like these often come down to individual matchups, battles between one star and another, the winner of that fight often claiming victory for his own team.