ith nine strikeouts in 12 playoff games this year, continuing his struggles from the regular season. He hit .230 with a career-low seven homers in 142 games.For right now pretty much just g

OXFORD, Miss. -- Mississippi coach Hugh Freezes pregame analysis of this weekends Egg Bowl is pretty straightforward.Both teams are good on offense. Both have been pretty bad on defense.So when Mississippi State (4-7, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) travels to face Ole Miss (5-6, 2-5) on Saturday for their annual rivalry game, Freeze feels that no lead will be safe.Theyve given up yards and points, as have we, and weve got to be sure that were scoring touchdowns in the red zone when we get those opportunities, because it seems, as you watch them and you watch us, that it could easily be who scores the most touchdowns, Freeze said.The statistics certainly back Freezes assessment.Mississippi State has given up a combined 109 points over the past two weeks in back-to-back losses to Alabama and Arkansas . The Bulldogs are giving up more than 34 points per game, which is the worst mark in the SEC.Mississippi State defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said the problems are simple to see, but so far have been hard to fix.It is execution and tackling, Sirmon said. Thats really the roots of playing defensive football. There are no magic calls. Its about execution. We need the defense to behave the way the defense is designed to behave.Ole Miss isnt much better on defense. The Rebels are coming off a game where they gave up 38 points in a loss to Vanderbilt and have surrendered a little more than 32 points per game, which ranks 12th in the 14-team SEC.Ole Miss can earn bowl eligibility for a fifth straight season if it wins on Saturday. That would be the schools longest streak since 15 straight appearances from 1957-71.-----Here are a few things to watch in this years Egg Bowl:PATTERSONS TIME: Ole Miss freshman quarterback Shea Patterson will be making his third career start on Saturday. Patterson was expected to redshirt this season, but was pushed into action when senior Chad Kelly went down with a season-ending knee injury against Georgia Southern on Nov. 5. Patterson has had mixed success in two games, throwing for 560 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.ENGRAMS HEALTH: Ole Miss tight end Evan Engram has been one of the leagues most productive receivers all season, catching 65 passes for 926 yards and eight touchdowns. But the senior is dealing with a hamstring injury and might not be able to play in the Egg Bowl. Freeze said Engram would play if theres any way possible.NO GATES FOR 1ST HALF: Ole Miss will be without junior linebacker DeMarquis Gates in the first half of the Egg Bowl because he was ejected for targeting during the second half of the Vanderbilt game. Its a big loss for the Rebels considering Gates has been one of the teams few consistent options at linebacker this season. He leads the team with 75 tackles.HOME SWEET HOME: The home team has won 10 out of the past 12 meetings in the Egg Bowl dating back to 2004. The only exceptions in the trend were in 2010 when Mississippi State won 31-23 in Oxford and last year when Ole Miss pulled off a 38-27 win in Starkville.FITZGERALD THE GREAT: Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald has quietly produced one of the SECs most productive seasons this fall. The sophomore is third in the league in total offense with 2,178 yards passing and 985 yards rushing. Fitzgerald is the first player in the SEC with three games of at least 300 yards passing and 100 yards rushing since Texas A&Ms Johnny Manziel did it during his 2012 Heisman Trophy season.-----More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 .Russell Martin Womens Jersey .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Hyun-Jin Ryu Jersey . Capitals head coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury. http://www.ladodgersprostore.us/Kenta-Maeda-dodgers-jersey/ . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Mike Piazza Youth Jersey . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. Sandy Koufax Womens Jersey . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak.CHICAGO -- With the Chicago Cubs in desperate need of a win, manager Joe Maddon put Jason Heyward in right field for Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night.Its the first start for the slumping Heyward since he went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series at Los Angeles. The 27-year-old Heyward, who signed a $184 million, eight-year contract with Chicago last winter, did not play in the World Series opener at Cleveland and entered each of the last two games as a pinch runner before staying in to play right.The Cubs trailed 2-1 in the best-of-seven series heading into Saturday nights game at Wrigley Field.The Indians also made a couple of intriguing changes with ace Corey Kluber on the mound, putting Rajai Davis in left and moving Carlos Santana to first base. That meant Mike Napoli was out of the starting lineup for the first time in the postseason after playing a key role in Clevelands run to the AL pennant.With Kluber pitching, Id like us to have a good defense out there, manager Terry Francona said. I labored back and forth on our first baseman. I hated like crazy not playing Napoli. I physically hate it. But Naps going to play tomorrow against the lefty, and we may put Santana back in the outfield tomorrow again. Well see. I just thought tonight it would serve us better, even havving Nap out of the lineup, to have a defense in there and with Rajai playing.ddddddddddddHeyward is 2 for 31 with nine strikeouts in 12 playoff games this year, continuing his struggles from the regular season. He hit .230 with a career-low seven homers in 142 games.For right now pretty much just go play without overthinking it right now, Maddon said. Just go play and just contribute to us winning somehow. But absolutely its something that needs to be addressed and he will address it in the offseason. I have a lot of faith in him going into next year.Maddon also moved second baseman Javier Baez down one spot in the order to eighth. The 23-year-old Baez, the co-MVP of the NLCS with pitcher Jon Lester, went 0 for 4 in Chicagos 1-0 loss on Friday night, striking out with runners on second and third to end the game.The last couple nights maybe shows that he is 22 or 23 years of age, Maddon said. Maybe finally he demonstrates that. Again, what that requires more than anything is just talking to him. Having him getting back to the approach that made him so successful for the last two series in the latter part of the season. Thats it.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '