The Mississippi State Bulldogs opened the Joe Moorhead era with a dismantling of Stephen F. Austin, coming away with a decisive 63-6 win on Saturday night.

So, how did the Bulldogs look exactly? Let’s take a look, position by position.

Quarterback

With Nick Fitzgerald serving a one-game suspension, sophomore Keytaon Thompson got the nod under center and produced insane numbers, accounting for 473 yards of offense and 7 TDs. He threw for 364 yards with 5 TDs and no picks and ran for another 109 while adding 2 scores on the ground. Obviously, the staff should feel pretty good about what it has in case it loses Fitzgerald at some point this year. If there was one gripe about Thompson’s play, it was inconsistent accuracy, as he completed just 13 of 31 passes (41 percent), including a stretch in the third quarter of 8 straight incompletions. Still, the good vastly outweighs the bad here. Grade: A

Running backs

The Bulldogs certainly spread the love among ballcarriers, which is a good thing in a game like this. There’s absolutely no need for either Aeris Williams or Kylin Hill to rack up 25 or more carries against an overmatched opponent like this. As a whole, the Bulldogs ran the ball 37 times for 220 yards (5.9 yards per carry) and 4 TDs, and they also contributed in the passing game as two of Thompson’s TD passes were to RBs. Overall, they were balanced, decisive and brutally effective. Grade: B+

Wide Receivers

Give Thompson credit: He knows how to spread the love, as he got a lot of guys involved in the passing game. Ultimately, 12 players caught a pass on Saturday night, with the leading pass catcher hauling in just 2 (three players accomplished that). Osirus Mitchell was obviously the star of the bunch, as he led the team with 114 receiving yards on just 2 receptions (both TDs), the highlight being an 84-yard bomb to put the Dawgs up 21-0. Grade: A-

Offensive Line

Hard to be disappointed with the results here. They gave up no sacks and very few pressures, and no running plays were stopped behind the line of scrimmage. Overall the unit looked very solid and rumbled like a well-oiled machine. Greg Eiland looked good replacing Martinas Rankin at LT, and the interior of the line, which is one of the best in the SEC, just mauled a very overmatched Lumberjack defensive line. Grade: A

Defensive Line

Good grief. We knew the defensive line was good, and it certainly looked the part in this game. DEs Montez Sweat (2 sacks) and Gerri Green (1 sack) were constantly harassing the QB, and Jeffery Simmons was disrupting the pocket and rushing lanes practically every play. Those three also combined for 8.5 TFLs, which gives you an idea of the kind of chaos they were creating behind the line of scrimmage. I know this was all against an FCS offensive line, but these guys really played well Saturday night. Grade: A

Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

Linebackers

If you absolutely had to pick a question mark of the defense entering 2018, it would be the linebacking corps, and it was relatively a non-factor in this game. Kind of a quiet night for everyone, as no one really stood out, either against the run or the pass. Leo Lewis, Willie Gay and Erroll Thompson finished with a combined 8 tackles and 1 TFL, which isn’t necessarily concerning considering how dominant the defensive line was, but next week against Kansas State you’d like to see someone emerge as a playmaker of the unit. Grade: C

Defensive Backs

Hoo boy, the secondary looked, big physical and athletic Saturday night. Safety Johnathan Abram was a heat-seeking missile all over the field, showing his instincts in coverage as well as an ability to come up and play the run. Mark McLaurin similarly excelled in both facets of the game. CB Jamal Peters used his length and strength very well in man coverage, and Cam Dantzler was a wet blanket, sticking to the inside hip of his man at all times. All the attention heading into 2018 has been on the defensive line, but you certainly can’t sleep on the secondary. Grade: A

Overall

Hard to argue with the results here. I know it was only an FCS team that the Bulldogs dismantled, but you really couldn’t ask for a more promising start to the Joe Moorhead era. The offense looked explosive and dynamic, with the ability to both grind out yards and score in a flash. There appears to be no shortage of playmakers, either. 618 total yards of offense sort of speaks for itself. Defensively, they looked very fast, with the line especially just flat-out dominating. We have to take into context the opponent, but you can’t help but walk away from this game believing that this team could really make some noise in the SEC West this year.

Next week they’ll take on Kansas State, which barely hung on to beat the Coyotes of South Dakota, in Manhattan, Kan., and they’ll also get Fitzgerald back under center. How his passing mechanics look under this new coaching staff will be very interesting to see. It’ll certainly be a big step up from Stephen F. Austin, but they should still be heavy favorites.