SDS Crystal Ball: Predicting every Mississippi State game for 2016
In terms of how tough he will be to replace, there might not be a bigger loss in the SEC than Dak Prescott.
Now a member of the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite team growing up in Louisiana, Prescott took Mississippi State to unprecedented heights in his two-plus years as the starting quarterback. He’s a Bulldogs legend.
On offense, Nick Fitzgerald seems to be the leader in the clubhouse of a four-arm race to succeed Prescott. Do-everything running back Brandon Holloway probably gets more chances as a featured ball carrier in 2016. Defensively, Richie Brown is the heart and soul at linebacker.
For coach Dan Mullen, who inherited a perennial cellar dweller from Sylvester Croom in 2009, this might be his hardest coaching job yet. This program never really had expectations before he got there. Now it does.
MSU was picked to finish last in the West at Media Days in July. Naturally, there’s nowhere to go but up.
MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS
SDS 2015 projection: 6-6 (2-6)
Actual record: 8-4* (4-4)
* doesn’t include postseason
Predicting every Mississippi State game:
Sept. 3 vs. South Alabama (W): There are a lot of big-time matchups in the SEC for Week 1. This, however, is not one of them. The Bulldogs should cruise to 1-0.
Sept. 10 vs. South Carolina (W): Like Mississippi State in the West, the Gamecocks are expected to bring up the rear this season in the East. But the West is still the best.
Sept. 17 at LSU (L): Even with Prescott, the Bulldogs lost a heartbreaker to the Tigers last season 21-19 in Starkville. Without him, their chances this season in Baton Rouge are quite slim.
Sept. 24 at Massachusetts (W): The first of two interesting road trips MSU takes this year outside of conference play, the Minutemen don’t feature a lot of SEC-level talent.
Oct. 8 vs. Auburn (L): While the Tigers are also unsettled at QB, at least they have a lot of blue-chip recruits at most of the other positions. The Bulldogs aren’t nearly as deep.
Oct. 14 at BYU (L): Not only is Provo more than 1,700 miles from Starkville, but having to play the Cougars on a Friday night means even less time to prepare for an unconventional opponent.
Oct. 22 at Kentucky (L): Considering the challenges he faces in basketball-centric Lexington, Mark Stoops has recruited well. With the talent about even, the ‘Cats win at home.
Oct. 29 vs. Samford (W): Following a three-game losing streak, Mississippi State is happy to see the arrival of a cupcake. Parents of second- and third-teamers rejoice in victory.
Nov. 5 vs. Texas A&M (L): If there is an under-the-radar team in the West that can make some noise this season, it’s the Aggies. Their D-line will dominate the Bulldogs up front.
Nov. 12 at Alabama (L): Prescott took his best shot at the Crimson Tide on multiple occasions and couldn’t get it done. MSU is on blowout alert in Tuscaloosa as ‘Bama makes it nine straight in the series.
Nov. 19 vs. Arkansas (L): Both the Bulldogs and Razorbacks are fighting to stay out of last place in the division at this point. The Hogs survive their defections a little better.
Nov. 26 at Ole Miss (L): This will be Chad Kelly’s final home game. The Egg Bowl always ratchets up the excitement in the Magnolia State. Expect him to have a big day.
SDS 2016 projection: 4-8 (1-7)
SEC Race: 7th in the West
The Skinny: This is why many wonder if Mullen is long for Mississippi State. He deserves a ton of credit for molding Prescott into Tim Tebow 2.0, despite having two fewer stars next to his name in high school. But if he can win big without him, he’s an even better coach. We’ll have to wait and see.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
They beat byu and finish 5-7, last in the west. They have a lot of young talent, but the rest of the west is just too good this year. They’ll be back in the mix 2017 though.
Eventually people will start to give Mullen credit for being an outstanding coach and evaluator of talent. Dawgs beat Arky and Auburn because those games are at home. And will also beat BYU and Kentucky. Will be a much better team than people think. 8-4 at worst. Will be heading into the Bama game at 7-1 Book it.
7-2
I give Mullen a lot of credit he’s an outstanding coach and a good man but it’s hard to win much at state, especially with the west as stacked as it is. I’ll go with 5-7 for y’all this year (better than the article) but I see a bright future for the program assuming Mullen stays.
BINGO! SDS will be WRONG AGAIN! They’re always down on Miss State, smh…
Auburn at home, Kentucky, & BYU will be wins. Book it. Arkansas is a toss up, and the Egg Bowl is one of those rivalries where you can throw out the records, any team can win.
Miss State: 6-6 at worst, 8-4 at best.
On Auburns prediction you had MSU winning by a field goal. And here you have them losing? How can both happen? Do you not look at previous predictions to make sure they’re consistent with each other?
Check the byline, as it was probably another story. I have Auburn beating Mississippi State both places. You’re confusing predictions. And, yes, all my predictions are consistent from team to team. Check for yourself.
I figured you wrote both. Just realized the titles were different and that it wasn’t part of your predictions. My mistake.
There are a couple of rules I live by…
1. Always pick Michigan State to go 1 game further than you think when picking the NCAA bracket.
2. Don’t eat the first few skewers at a Brazilian steakhouse. The good stuff comes around later.
3. Don’t believe any preseason predictions about Mississippi State football since Dan Mullen has been the coach.
Amen!!
Words to live by my friend.
Until last week, I would’ve agreed with you on this list, but now that Auburn’s RB depth chart has been hollowed out, I think Mississippi State will be able to pull off the W.
This guy needs to wipe his mouth with toilet paper , cause he’s dribbling sh*@ out of it.
HAHAHAHAHA
This guy must be smoking crack or just a TSUN fan or something I mean a loss to Kentucky?? Auburn?? At home??? …. Give us a little credit…… Again the most disrespected team because of opinions such as this!!!
I think part of the reason SDS writers could care less about MSU is all you see is their fans whining. So what? Someone has an opinion. Upsets don’t happen? UK isn’t respectable? They nearly beat your team when you were #1 who’s to say they can’t now? It’s funny how easily MSU forgets life before Dak. It isn’t a respect thing, you guys just have the least talented team in the West. Facts suck don’t they?
Facts sometimes suck, but facts are irrelevant to anything you’re posting.
Better than living in denial in anticipation of the NCAA lpunishment
Life before Dak? Well, Mullen had a pretty damned good track record for MSU before Dak. Several straight winning seasons and bowl games. Blowout of Michigan. Beat Florida and Georgia. Was doing quite well against Ole Miss.
Because Dak was so phenomenal, people have become lazy and just assumed that before him state was horrible. Under Mullen, that simply wasn’t the case. Mullen got good offensive production from Chris Relf for crying out loud. He has four quarterbacks now that are all easily more talented and capable. He broke school passing records with Tyler Russell.
It really hinges on the o line this year. They were worse than I thought was possible this year. And even with Dak, it cost us dearly. If improved even modestly, the offense will be fine and we will continue to put up points.
There was an article before the beginning of LAST season on SDS talking about how Mullen had positioned the bulldogs well for the future, solid recruiting, good going talent, but the team had lost too many key players. Even with Dak, 2015 was going to be rough, but 2016 we would be back in the thick of things. How short everyone’s memories are. Now the narrative is “dak is gone, back to terrible.” Next year, after any one of the contenders has proven themselves to be quite the capable offensive leader, the narrative will be “with the loss of Fred Ross and the seniors along the o line, back to building this year.”
Same story year after year. And Mullen keeps winning and going to bowl games.
And Crist has shown just how unbiased he really is. Lol. Sad thing is, when proven wrong about this year, he will sweep it under the rug and repeat the same drivel again next year. If he isn’t gone that is.
Couldn’t agree more Stategrad. Our fate is with the o-line this season. We’ll go as far as they allow us. I’d say that three if not all four of the QBs that are battling it out right now to be our starter have much more upside and raw talent than Tyler Russell and Chris Relf (even though I do appreciate what they did for the team).
And Crist is low on us every year. No surprise there. Just ignore him and know that we’ll do about 2-3 games better than he predicts if not more. It’s tradition at this point.
Well, now I know we won’t finish 4-8. You guys don’t have the best track record of predicting us. My guess is 8-4 or 7-5. Don’t see us losing to Kentucky (they seem to be regressing instead of progressing) I think we knock Auburn off (not sold on them at all just like I wasn’t sold on them last season) and the BYU game is a little hard to call but from what I know right now I think we take it. I also think we’ll beat Arkansas and have a shot at A&M. I’ll give my opinion about the Eggbowl once the season has started.
Wow 4-8 is a dim outlook indeed. I think Dawg fans can take comfort in knowing Vegas has their over/under at 9.5 gms. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I got the Dawgs at 6-6. They’re gonna get somebody they’re not expected to get.
LMAO Except that opening paragraph. That was just condescending. Unlike the fans of a few schools in the conference, including one in the West, I’ve actually sat in the GAdome and watched my team play for the conference. Should,ve been undefeated in 99. Freakin sparky woods offense, got all the parts for a decent wishbone so it must be time to install a spread.
And once again, bite me. Hail State.
MSU beats UK….
Mullen has done an amazing job at MSU. Kentucky should study the MSU football program and take notes.
But Prescott is gone and Kentucky is much improved. MSU will go down in Lexington this season.
I don’t see how Kentucky has improved. If anything, they might be going backwards.
I don’t see anywhere you can look at UK and say “things are looking up”.
Exactly, I see no improvement at all. I’m honestly expecting them to be worse this year.
Ah Yes, the dreaded BYU Cougars. Who lost to Missouri and got blanked by Michigan last year. MSU-35 BYU-21 but we did lose to them last time we played, 15 years ago
I feel better now….
Based on your track record…….
SDS 2015 projection: 6-6 (2-6)
Actual record: 8-4* (4-4)
State might win the west now………
Yep. I hope nobody uses this site as a source of information for betting on games. That’d be a fantastic way to end up in some crazy debt.
Just want to give my prediction for our season nice and early so I can’t go back on anything later.
1. State wins easy.
2. State wins by around 10.
3. LSU wins but it’s not a blow out.
4. Easy State win.
5. It’s a home game and Auburn has many questions as well. State wins a close one.
6. State wins but not without giving the Bulldog faithful a heart attack first.
7. State wins but not by as much as last year. The Bulldogs are bowl eligible.
8. State wins easy.
9. Texas A&M wins by airing it out against the State secondary.
10. Bama wins.
11. State wins and breaks the Hog’s hearts again for the 5th time in a row.
12. You never know what’ll happen with rivalry games, but I’ll give this one to Ole Miss so you don’t call me a homer.
That’s a regular season of 8-4. Can’t call a bowl game since I don’t know who it will be against, but Mullen is 4-2 in bowl games so the odds are in our favor.