Mississippi State’s SEC opener didn’t go well.

The Bulldogs visited LSU 2 weeks ago and lost, 31-16.

But they have reason to believe that their next conference game might go better.

First of all, Davis Wade Stadium will be the site of the game against Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon.

Secondly, the No. 17 Aggies generally have brought out the best in the Bulldogs when ranked in recent seasons. In the last 4 games against State in which A&M was ranked, State has won 3 times.

Last season, A&M was ranked No. 15 when State went into Kyle Field and knocked off the home team 26-22.

In 2018, the Aggies were ranked No. 16 when the Bulldogs beat them 28-13 in Davis Wade Stadium, which was also the site in 2016 when State beat No. 7 Texas A&M 35-28.

(By the way, the No. 11 Aggies beat the Bulldogs 28-14 in 2020 in Davis Wade).

So State is not going to be overly impressed seeing a number preceding A&M’s name. It might just feel more comfortable.

Certainly, the Bulldogs are feeling more comfortable this week than they felt last week.

Will Rogers and the passing game bounced back from a poor game against the Tigers to dominate Bowling Green last Saturday.

Rogers tied his school record with 6 touchdown passes, and he threw for 406 yards.

If that yardage number sounds familiar, it’s not just because Rogers has had 6 other games with 400-plus passing yards. It’s also because it’s almost identical to the number of yards he had against the Aggies last season (408).

In that game, Rogers completed 46 of 59 passes and had a modest (for him) 3 touchdown passes to lead the upset.

“The calmer he played, the calmer our offensive unit played,” State head coach Mike Leach said of Rogers.

Rogers’ favorite target was Makai Polk, who set career highs with 13 catches, 126 yards and 2 touchdowns against A&M.

State entered this season unsure of who would step into Polk’s role as Rogers’ primary pitch-and-catch partner. Caleb Ducking has answered that question.

Just as Polk had 3 career highs against A&M last season, so, too, did Ducking have 3 career highs against Bowling Green. He matched his career high with 2 touchdowns (giving him 5 for the season) and receptions (7) as well as setting a new high with 96 yards.

But the Aggies have a really, really good defense, ranking 3rd in the SEC against the pass (153.3 yards per game). Rogers isn’t going to replicate his success against the Aggies last season unless he has a few productive partners on Saturday.

Fortunately for Rogers and the Bulldogs, Lideatrick Griffin stepped forward last week, looking like a prime candidate to become a valuable complement to Ducking.

Griffin had a career-high 6 catches, finished with 57 receiving yards (including a season-best 21-yard catch) and caught his 1st touchdown pass of the season. He was 1 of 13 Bulldogs to catch a pass in the game.

The Bulldogs made a concerted effort to involve Griffin — whom Leach described as “inordinately fast” — more in the passing game. Griffin already was a significant weapon on kickoff returns and ranks 5th nationally with an average of 33.5 yards per return. He is 1 of just 3 players in the country who has 4 or more returns of 30-plus yards.

In the win in College Station last season, the State defense contributed significantly as well. It allowed just 297 yards, and Fred Peters set the tone with an interception on the Bulldogs’ 1st defensive series.

Even the special teams enter A&M week feeling good about themselves.

Last week, they didn’t miss a kick, Ben Raybon’s 53-yard field goal was 1 yard shy of the school record and there were no major negative plays.

That led Leach to call the performance not only “maybe the brightest part of our play (against Bowling Green), but one of the better special teams games I think we’ve had.”

It will take one of State’s better overall performances to beat the Aggies on Saturday.

But that would be nothing new.