Mississippi State

Ms State was the first of the two SEC schools from Mississippi to arrive at Hoover, so I will start this with them. What I gathered from Dan Mullen at SEC Media Days? Nothing. He says exactly what he is supposed to say. Can Ms State actually contend for a National Championship? No, but what else is he supposed to say? No coach will ever say we have no chance to beat team x or team y. 

Predictions are not where I am going today, but instead I am going to give a few really early things to think about. Can MS State replace Vic Ballard? I feel like losing Vic Ballard is going to hurt Ms State. I was a big fan of everything he brought to the table, and I feel like he was not used appropriately last year. I expect the Bulldogs to throw much more this year which will help fill the void of Ballard. MS State does have 2 talented backs (Perkins & Griffin), but until they are proven I question this position.

Will the veteran wide receivers and Tyler Russell finally step up and give Ms State a feared passing game? If the answer to this question is yes the running backs will benefit. Ms State has never had a very good passing game, and the single season passing records are a joke. I like what Tyler Russell brings to this football team. He seems like he has been around forever, but he has 2 years of eligibility left. The potential for these two groups is high.

Can Mississippi State get some depth on the offensive line??? This is the biggest unit question I have for this football team. Football games, especially SEC football games, are won at the line of scrimmage. Every team has talent on the outside, but what separates the boys from the men are the big guys. The starting 5 for MSU is just as good as any other line in the conference, but you have to have 10 guys to compete on a weekly basis. The team benefits this year from some injuries last year, but I still don't know what this group has. If this group gets depth and over performs then watch out for the Bulldogs. If they do not get some depth the ship could sink fast.

My final question for this team is can they make that extra play to take them from being good to great?  I believe this is the most talented football team Ms State has had since they went to the SEC Championship game in 1998.   The Bulldogs will at the very least be a good football team.  Being good in the SEC gets you to 6 to 8 wins.  Ms State will be in contention in every game they play this year.  The step they need to make to get to great is for someone to make the big play.   It is much easier to go from ok to good than it is to go from good to great.  The Bulldogs learned how hard the next step is last year. 

Every question I have had so far has been about the offense because I feel like the Ms State defense will be really good. This defense has a chance to be one of the top defenses in the SEC. If the offense sputters then this unit will carry the Bulldogs to some wins.