Preview 2019: Previewing and looking ahead to the Mississippi State Bulldogs season with what you need to know.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
– Miss State Previews 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2018 Record: 8-5 overall, 4-4 in SEC
Head Coach: Joe Moorhead, 2nd year, 8-5
5. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MISSISSIPPI STATE OFFENSE
– It should’ve been better. Head coach Joe Moorhead has a terrific offensive mind, Nick Fitzgerald was a veteran presence at quarterback, and enough parts were there to average a whole lot more than 397 yard and 28.5 points per game. With seven starters returning and some interesting options to play around with, the O should start to hold up its end of the bargain a bit more.
– Well this just got interesting. Keytaon Thompson might have struggled with his accuracy in his little bit of time under center, but he threw six touchdown passes with a pick. The starting gig was assumed to be his, but Tommy Stevens transferred over from Penn State – hooking up with Moorhead, his old offensive coordinator – to push for the starting spot. It’ll be one of the SEC’s biggest quarterback battles this August, throwing redshirt freshman Jalen Mayden in the mix, too.
– It’s not a deep group of running backs, but the guys up top are strong. The quarterbacks – particularly Nick Fitzgerald – shouldered way too much of the rushing load over the last few years, but that’s about to change. Kylin Hill is a good 215-pound veteran who averaged over six yards per carry with 734 yards, and 215-pound senior Nick Gibson is coming off a strong offseason and should be a rock in the rotation.
– The running game finished second in the SEC behind an O line that did a great job of keeping defenses out of the backfield. There’s a good group of linemen returning, but it’ll take fall camp for the starting five to settle.
Three starters are back, 340-pound former JUCO transfer Tyre Phillips should move into a starting spot at one tackle job, and there’s enough versatility – to go along with a ton of bulk – to at least match last year’s production if Darryl Williams, or any of the other options, can step up and shine at center in place of Elgton Jenkins.
– It depends a bit on who gets the starting quarterback job, but the wide receivers should get far more involved with all of the key parts back. 6-4 senior Stephen Guidry led the team with a mere 440 yards – averaging 23 yards per catch – and 6-5 junior Osirus Mitchell returns after leading the team with just 26 catches. It’s one of the team’s deepest units.
NEXT: What You Need To Know About the Defense, Top Players, Keys to the Season, What Will Happen
4. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MISSISSIPPI STATE DEFENSE
– Who led the SEC in total defense, run defense, scoring defense, sacks, tackles for loss, pass defense, takeaways? The Bulldogs shared a few of those honors with a few other SECers, but they were amazing defensively and now have to find seven new starters to keep all the fun going. It starts with a rebuilding defensive front that loses all the starters including Jefferey Simmons and Montez Sweat. But …
– There’s still talent up front. There might not be another Simmons or Sweat – at least until star DT recruit Nathan Pickering is ready – but Lee Autry is a good-looking option to take over for Simmons on the inside, and the outside isn’t all that bad. Kobe Jones is back after doing a decent job in the rotation, and the combination of 265-pound Fletcher Adams and 275-pound Chauncey Rivers bring more bulk to the other side than Sweat did.
– There might be a ton of lost parts to the defensive puzzle, but they’re not at linebacker. Errol Thompson was second on the team with 87 tackles. He’s a thumper on the inside, and Leo Lewis and Willie Gay are good-sized veterans on the outside. There’s even a little bit of depth, too.
– Safety Jonathan Abram is the biggest missing piece in the secondary, and losing running mate Mark McLaurin hurts, too. If he’s healthy, 6-2, 210-pound senior Brian Cole can be one of the team’s leading tacklers at one spot – he missed most of last year hurt – and senior Jaquarius Landrews is back after making 21 stops. Cameron Dantzler is an All-SEC-caliber talent returning to one corner job after coming up with 43 tackles with two picks and nine broken up passes.
NEXT: Top Players, Keys To the Season, What Will Happen
3. TOP MISSISSIPPI STATE PLAYERS
Best Mississippi State Offensive Player
RB Kylin Hill, Jr.
Can we wait until the end of fall camp to figure out the top five Mississippi State offensive players? Most importantly, the quarterback situation has to be settled, and wait until the starting five on the offensive front is figured out.
Hill, though, should combine with Nick Gibson to crank up the rushing yards with the quarterback rushing workload likely lessened. The 5-11, 225-pound Hill led all running backs with 734 yards and four scores, and he caught 22 passes for 176 yards and four touchdowns. With his combination of toughness and quickness – and with more work – he’s a 1,000-yard back.
2. QB Keytaon Thompson, Jr.
3. RB Nick Gibson, Sr.
4. QB Tommy Stevens, Sr.
5. OT Charles Cross, Fr.
Best Mississippi State Defensive Player
CB Cameron Dantzler, Jr.
Name at least ten different Bulldog defensive players and any one of them could be here, or in the top five. Even after some massive talent losses, there’s still a whole lot to like.
The best part about Dantzler is how he might just be scratching the surface. The 6-2, 185-pounder had a good freshman season, and last year he took over a corner job finishing with 43 tackles with a sack, two picks and nine broken up passes. An elite athlete with NFL upside, he’ll be a lockdown star at one corner gig.
2. LB Leo Lewis, Sr.
3. LB Errol Thompson, Jr.
4. DE Chauncey Rivers, Sr.
5. LB Willie Gay, Jr.
NEXT: Keys to the Season, Prediction & What Will Happen
2. KEYS TO THE SEASON
Biggest Key To The Mississippi State Offense
Let’s get this whole passing thing going. The Bulldogs have the head coach in Joe Moorhead who knows how to crank up the pass. They have the veteran receivers with the talent and size to be far more effective, and they even have a slew of quarterback options to play around with. Yeah, MSU loses Nick Fitzgerald, but now the air show should start to crank up.
How rough was it? The Bulldogs failed to connected on more than half of their passes in six games, and lost four of them. They cranked up a total of 14 touchdown passes in the wins over Stephen F. Austin, Louisiana Tech and Arkansas, and just eight in the other ten games including an ugly early run of no scoring throws and six picks in the first four SEC games.
Biggest Key To The Mississippi State Defense
Don’t give up multiple touchdown runs. The Bulldogs were amazingly good against the run – finishing second in the nation behind Michigan State, allowing just 95 yards per game – and gave up touchdowns in just three games. They lost all three.
They gave up four to Kentucky and two to Alabama, pushing forward a crazy trend, going 1-9 over the last three seasons when they allowed two touchdown runs or more. It’s going to be another amazing defensive front even with a slew of key losses. It might not be quite as strong, but it’ll be terrific as long as …
Key Player To A Successful Season
DT Lee Autry, Sr.
The ends will quickly be replaced with a good rotation, but the tackles are a different story. Jeffery Simmons was the star of the amazing defensive interior, but it was the rotation of six 300ish pound tackles that anchored the amazing defensive season – and now most of them are done. The 6-2, 310-pound Autry is the one returning part of the puzzle as the new anchor, but he’s going to need help.
Key Game To The Mississippi State Season
LSU, Oct. 19
Mississippi State has lost three of the last four games against LSU, but this time around it should be a must win with what’s coming next. The Bulldogs have won four of their last five against Texas A&M, but they have to go to College Station, and then comes a trip to Arkansas, and then it’s Alabama.
It’s desperation time for LSU, too, going to Starkville right after playing Florida, and with Auburn and at Alabama to follow. It should be another defensive slugfest – LSU won 19-3 last season.
– Mississippi State Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2018 Mississippi State Fun Stats
– Penalties: Mississippi State 83 for 748 yards – Opponents 62 for 475 yards
– Rushing Yards Per Game: Mississippi State 223.6 – Opponents 95.1
– Fumbles: Opponents 14 (lost 7) – Mississippi State 9 (lost 3)
NEXT: What Will Happen
1. MISSISSIPPI STATE WIN TOTAL PREDICTION: WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN
Mississippi State was solid in Joe Moorhead’s first year at the helm.
The defense was a brick wall, but the offense was way, way, way too inconsistent, managing just seven points or fewer in four of the last ten games, and failed to hit 24 points six of the last ten.
But Moorhead is a great offensive mind who had time to create a stronger attack. He’s got the running backs, he’s got the big wide receivers, and he’s got the offensive linemen to put together what should be a strong group once the pieces are all put into place.
Is Penn State grad transfer Tommy Stevens that missing piece at quarterback to provide a real, live passing game, or is Keytaon Thompson going to rise up and take the job and make it his? Either way, MSU will generate a far better balance.
Even with the loss of Jeffery Simmons, Montez Sweat, Johnathan Abram, Gerri Green, Mark McLauren, from last year’s incredible D, it’s still going to be amazing. Even so, the defense will take a step back just as the offense gets a whole lot stronger.
Set The Regular Season Win Total At … 8
Even with the brutal SEC schedule, there are still more than enough good, winnable games to make a bowl appearance a foregone conclusion. But will this be a nine-or-ten win team like Dan Mullen started to put out on a regular basis, or is this going to be a tough out that will struggle to get to the eight-win mark?
With road trips to Auburn, Tennessee and Texas A&M, figure at least two losses among those three, and that doesn’t include the home dates with Alabama, LSU, Kentucky, Kansas State and Ole Miss.
Like last year, the Bulldogs will rise up and pull off a few excellent SEC wins, but there are way too many 50/50 battles to fight through to challenge for the West title. That’s not a rip – it’s life in Alabama’s SEC West.
This is a very, very strong team that will be able to beat anyone on the slate on the right day, and it should get off to a solid 4-0 start. But with this schedule, eight wins and another great bowl bid would be a strong showing.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
