BYU according to the five factors

Explosiveness
Offense: #108
Defense #81

Efficiency
Offense #29
Defense #78

Field Position
Offense: #45
Defense: #3

Finishing Drives
Offense: #90
Defense: #96

Turnover Margin: #53

BYU's offense is doing a better job of staying on the field and staying ahead of downs to get into third and manageable.  BYU still struggles to finish drives and get teams off the field, but it's been good at forcing turnovers.  BYU is in elite territory with defensive field position (thanks Linehan and Lamb).  Field position made a huge difference against Michigan State.

Mississippi State according to the five factors

Explosiveness
Offense: #31
Defense #80

Efficiency
Offense #83
Defense #54

Field Position
Offense: #24
Defense: #4

Finishing Drives
Offense: #119
Defense: #112

Turnover Margin: #113

Mississippi State is more explosive on offense than BYU--but are about similar to BYU in terms of allowing explosive plays on defense.  Their offense isn't efficient (they get into 2nd and long and 3rd and long situations), but their defense is above average at forcing teams to get behind the down.  They're good at playing the field position game and force teams to drive the length of the field.  However, they're terrible at finishing when they're inside the 40 and they allow teams to score when they get the ball inside the 40.  They're also turnover prone.

Looking deeper at the numbers, Mississippi State is explosive at running the ball (#31 in efficiency and #2 in Rushing isoPPP) but not at staying ahead of the down (#97).  On defense, they're good at staying ahead of the down (#43), but they give up big plays (#70).

With respect to passing the ball, they're average at staying ahead of the down (#59), but poor at generating explosive plays (#115)--they're good overall (#48).  On defense, they're below average at staying ahead of the down (#68) and stopping explosive plays (#70), which means that they're bad overall (#103).

On offense, they're good in the 1st (#43) and 2nd (#47) quarters, average in the 3rd (#60), and great in the 4th (#18).
On defense, they're average in the 1st (#51), bad in the second (#95), good in the third (#42), and below average in the 4th (#66).

On offense, they're average on 1st down (#61), good on second (#35), and below average on third (#71).
On defense, they're average on 1st down (#62), good on second (#36), and bad on third (#100).

They have a good DL (#23 in havoc) and LBs (#42), but a poor secondary (#110).

Mississippi State is better than Michigan State at staying ahead of the down on defense, but Mississippi State gives up more big plays.  It also seems like BYU should have more success passing the ball and taking shots down the field (...if Taysom can find some touch...).  Overall, it seems like the strategy against Mississipi State should be similar to the Michigan State gameplan, but with more short-to-intermediate pass routes and definitely some shots down the field.  BYU needs to keep the defense off the field and get into manageable third downs (where Mississippi State's defense is poor).  On Defense, BYU needs to force Mississippi State to get behind the down and to press (where they're more likely to turn the ball over).