Last week we asked our SDS staffers which team they thought would improve its win total the most from 2014 to 2015.

That debate inspired this week’s debate topic:

WHICH SEC TEAM’S WIN TOTAL WILL DROP THE FURTHEST FROM 2014 TO 2015?

Our staff debates:

Jon Cooper (@JonSDS): Mississippi State

This doesn’t reflect how good or bad Dan Mullen is, and it doesn’t reflect how good or bad Dak Prescott is. But Mississippi State returns the fewest starters of any SEC team in 2015. It’s under 10, which doesn’t bode well for another 10-win season. Looking at all the teams that won 10 games or more — Missouri, Georgia, Alabama and MSU — the Bulldogs stand the best chance to see that number fall the furthest.

Brad Crawford (@BCrawfordSDS): Missouri

I don’t envision Missouri hitting double-digit wins for a third consecutive season after losing Shane Ray, Markus Golden and its top four receiving threats including all-purpose threat Marcus Murphy. At some point, the two-time defending Eastern Division champs will fall off the pedestal and that could happen in 2015. I’ve picked the Tigers to finish third in the division behind Tennessee and Georgia.

Ethan Levine (@Ethan Levine): Mississippi State

Even with Dak Prescott officially returning to Starkville for his senior season in 2015, Mississippi State still stands to regress the most of any SEC team entering the 2015 season. The same MSU program that returned the most starters in the SEC in 2014 will return the fewest in 2015, and Prescott alone will not be able to carry the Bulldogs anywhere close to this year’s 10-win mark with such a limited supporting cast. Mississippi State put itself on the map this season, but it is very realistic to think the Bulldogs will only win 5-7 games next season.

Christopher Smith (@CSmithSDS): Mississippi State

I think Alabama and Missouri are the other two candidates, but even with the news that QB Dak Prescott will return in 2015, I can see the Bulldogs going 7-5 next season and then losing a bowl game or 6-6 and winning a bowl game. That would put the team at minus-three in terms of win total. As I wrote earlier this week, the Bulldogs return just seven of 22 starters. The defense will be decimated by personnel losses, and the offense returns Prescott, WR De’Runnya Wilson and not much else. There isn’t a single easy SEC West win, and Mississippi State plays two of the easiest, Arkansas and Texas A&M, on the road. A crossover game at Missouri won’t be fun, either.

Brett Weisband (@WeisbandSDS): Mississippi State

The Bulldogs’ schedule gets slightly tougher, swapping out Vanderbilt for a road game at back-to-back East champ Missouri, but that’s only a part of the reason Mississippi State will regress. The bigger factor: the talent loss on both sides of the ball. Three of the five members of the offensive line were seniors and Josh Robinson is turning pro, while seven defensive starters will be gone, including the two best players on that side of the ball. Yes, Dak Prescott will be back, and Dan Mullen’s offense all but guarantees he’ll have another 1,000-yard rusher beside him, but the Bulldogs just aren’t deep enough to replace all the talent they’re losing and maintain the level of success they had in 2014.