Nothing is more fun than crunching some numbers and comparing two teams' stat sheets. Neither Mississippi State nor Ole Miss lead the SEC in many categories, but both are pretty fair at the plate, on the mound and in the field, which is why both are in the hunt for an SEC Tournament berth.

As I'm sure you know, they meet this week in Oxford, starting Thursday.

Listed below are several key categories, though certainly not all, just the ones I think interest people the most. After going through them, I see that MSU is ahead of Ole Miss in 16 of the 20 categories. I wouldn't say that's a predictor of what'll happen this weekend in Oxford, especially since they're so close in several areas.

They've got the same SEC record (11-13) and similar overall records (MSU 29-18, Ole Miss 27-21). They're fairly close in the RPI rankings, too: MSU is 26th, Ole Miss 37th.

Anyway, here's the breakdown. I hope my fellow statheads enjoy (and all you non-nerds, too).

BATTING

• Batting avg.: MSU .290, Ole Miss .281

• Slugging pct.: Ole Miss .408, MSU .397

• On-base pct.: MSU .392, Ole Miss .358

• Runs: MSU 296, Ole Miss 267

• Doubles: MSU 78, Ole Miss 77

• Triples: MSU 13, Ole Miss 7

• Home runs: Ole Miss 39*, MSU 22

• Total bases: Ole Miss 667, MSU 629

• Walks: MSU 207*, Ole Miss 165

• Hit by pitch: MSU 71, Ole Miss 40

• Stolen bases: MSU 66, Ole Miss 42

PITCHING

• ERA: MSU 4.02, Ole Miss 4.27

• Opp. batting avg.: MSU .262, Ole Miss .278

• Strikeouts: MSU 371, Ole Miss 346

• Walks: Ole Miss 153, MSU 159

• Runners picked off: MSU 17*, Ole Miss 10

• Runs allowed: MSU 213, Ole Miss 231

• Home runs allowed: MSU 19, Ole Miss 23

FIELDING

• Fielding pct.: MSU .972, Ole Miss .970

• Errors: MSU 50, Ole Miss 55

*–Leads SEC