Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2022: Season Prediction, Breakdown, Key Games, Players
Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Mississippi State season with what you need to know and keys to the season.
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Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview
Head Coach: Mike Leach, 3rd year at Mississippi State, 11-13
21st year overall, 150-103, 2021 Preview
2021 Record: Overall: 7-6, Conference: 4-4
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Mississippi State Top 10 Players
Mississippi State Schedule & Analysis
Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2022
Eventually this is going to work and lead to more wins.
Oh no, Mississippi State isn’t going to win anything big like an outright division title or SEC Championship – Mike Leach-coached teams don’t do that – but the team and the system and the style showed enough last year to knock off a strong NC State team, get by Auburn and Kentucky, and in one of the biggest moments of the season, push past Texas A&M.
Now the offense has to go to another level and be even more dangerous. The 400-yard passing days have to be the accepted norm – there were six last year – but there was just one 500-yard total offense day against the FCS teams, and that was against Vanderbilt.
The offense controlled the clock all season, not having a running game didn’t matter, and there weren’t any really bad losses considering the Bulldogs got a bad beat against Memphis – the official sure as shoot looked like he signaled that punt was down – and the offensive line was a shadow of its former self in the bowl loss to Texas Tech – and the Red Raiders were fantastic.
No, the key last year, and going forward, is a defense that continues to have more talent than any team Leach has ever coached to go along with the offense that took a giant step forward after a rough 2020.
Leach has a loaded D that should be better than the one that finished 30th in the nation last year, and the O has a rising star veteran in QB Will Rogers running it. Throw in a schedule that gets Texas A&M at home and is very, very manageable considering there’s a trip to Alabama and the bad break of playing Georgia – it’s in Starkville – and this is when it all could turn way, way up.
And if that day when the offense becomes unstoppable just so happens to be October 22nd in Tuscaloosa, this will be one fun year.
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Mississippi State Top 10 Players
Mississippi State Schedule & Analysis
Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2022: Offense, Defense NEXT
Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2022: Offense
You know what you’re going to get. The offense is going to throw the ball a bazillion times with short-to-midrange passes, there won’t be any real running game, and the attack will control the clock for what seems like the entire game.
The Bulldogs led the SEC in time of possession, the passing game was fourth in the nation in total yards, it was dead last in college football in yards per completion, and the offense was dead last in college football in rushing.
With eight starters expected to be back and the parts built up over the last few seasons, look out.
Will Rogers took the offense up a few notches in his second year at quarterback, and now he has the upside to be even more efficient. Yes he threw for a record 4,739 yards with 36 touchdowns, yes he carried the offense, and yes he connected on 74% of his throws.
Now he has to push the ball down the field more and the quick passes have to lead to more big plays. He’s going to be terrific, and he has enough good targets back to keep it all going.
104-catch Makai Polk is off to the Baltimore Ravens, and Malik Heath left for Ole Miss, but Jaden Walley is an NFL-caliber receiver who finished second on the team with 628 yards on 55 catches with six scores. Austin Williams is a big 6-3, 200-pound target, and there are more than enough veterans returning to get a nice rotation rolling.
No, Mississippi State doesn’t run the ball, but the backs are effective. Leading rusher Dillon Johnson Is back after rushing for just 485 yards and four scores, and Jo’quavious Marks ran for 416 yards and six touchdowns. However, Marks caught 83 passes and three scores, and Johnson caught 65 passes.
The offensive line loses star OT Charles Cross and also loses right tackle Scott Lashley. However, the interior is good, LaQuinston Sharp is a solid veteran center, and the rest of the parts are good enough to give Rogers and company time to work. Landing JUCO star Percy Lewis to battle at one tackle spot helps, too.
Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview 2022: Defense
The offense gets all of the headlines and attention, but the defense is strong enough to be even better after allowing just 345 yards per game.
There wasn’t enough of a pass rush, and the pass D was just okay, but the defensive front was good, there’s a whole lot of potential NFL talent across the board, and the transfer portal has helped build things up in the secondary.
The defensive front might need to do more to get behind the line, but there’s a whole lot of talent and the run D should be every bit as good as the one that held up against everyone but Alabama and Arkansas – at least before that weird bowl loss to Texas Tech.
Nathan Pickering is a strong all-around veteran on the nose, and now it’s up to Randy Charlton and the end rotation to be more disruptive.
It was a big loss when veteran playmaker Aaron Brule took off for Michigan State, but the linebacking corps gets back the team’s top two tacklers, Jett Johnson on the outside and Nathaniel Watson inside.
Emmanuel Forbes hasn’t been always perfect, but he made a slew of huge plays over the last two years at one corner spot. On the way are Marcus Banks from Alabama and DeCarlos Nicholson from the JUCO ranks to push for time on the outside.
West Virginia transfer Marcus Banks is coming in at safety, but he’ll have to fight for time. Jalen Green and Collin Duncan will once again make a whole lot of tackles in the middle of the secondary.
Miss State 2022 Preview | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Mississippi State Top 10 Players
Mississippi State Schedule & Analysis
Mississippi State Bulldogs: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats NEXT
Mississippi State Bulldogs: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
Mississippi State Bulldogs: Key To The 2022 Offense
A few more yards per catch would be nice.
When you’re wining the ball around 54 times per game, the idea isn’t to take deep shots as much as it is to maintain control and run the attack as efficiently as possible.
However, Mississippi State averaged a nation-low 9.49 yards per catch – only Temple, Rutgers, New Mexico, and UConn were under the 10-yard mark.
As a frame of reference, around 12.5 is average, 13 is great, and the top 20 teams in yards per catch will push past 14 – even though it’s a bit misleading considering the service academies lead the stat with their one or two big pass plays a game.
It’s not that Mississippi State wouldn’t like a really big play now and then – it averaged 17 yards per catch in the Mike Leach opener against LSU and rolled Missouri in 2020 for 51 points thanks to all of the big plays – but that’s just not the style. However, only hitting the 10-yard-per-catch mark three times isn’t okay.
As long as it’s within the normal rhythm of the offense, more yards after the catch would crank up the pressure.
Mississippi State Bulldogs: Key To The 2022 Defense
The pass rush has to show up.
It’s hard to argue with the style of a defense that played as well as Mississippi State’s did last season, but it needs to generate more pressure from a variety of spots.
It came up with just 27 sacks and averaged a low 5.5 tackles for loss per game. Considering the secondary was hit for 232 yards per game, the more quarterback hits, the better.
That goes hand-in-hand with the defense’s problems on third downs. The D came up with sacks in wins over NC State, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee State, In all four games the Bulldog D allowed under 38% on third down tries.
Mississippi State was 2-5 when it allowed over 38% on third downs, and those were mostly games when there wasn’t enough of a pass rush.
Mississippi State Bulldogs: Key Player To The 2022 Season
OT Kwatrivous Johnson, Sr.
Charles Cross was one of the quietest blockers in the NFL Draft. There isn’t anything crazy about his style or game, he just blocks his man, does it well, and then everyone goes on to the next play. And now, after being selected with the ninth overall pick, he gets to be a key part of the Seattle Seahawk line.
There’s going to be a whole lot to shuffling and working on getting the right combination in place this fall camp, and when it’s all figured out, 6-7, 315-pound Kwatrivous Johnson might just take over for Cross at left tackle. He can play guard, but if he works on the outside, everything else will fall into place.
Mississippi State Bulldogs: Key Transfer
PK Massimo Biscardi, Sr.
Now that’s how you use the transfer portal.
Mississippi State had placekicking problems last year – Brandon Ruiz and Nolan McCord combined to hit 14-of-25 field goals.
The three misses against Arkansas mattered in the 31-28 loss. That might have been the only game the Bulldogs lost on a field goal kicking problems, but they needed an upgrade.
Unter All-Sun Belt star Massimo Biscardi, who in four years hit 46-of-57 field goals for Coastal Carolina with 18-of-21 over the last two seasons.
Mississippi State Key Game To The 2022 Season
at LSU, Sept. 17
Mississippi State lost 28-25 last year over LSU, blew up in a wild opener in 2020, and before that dropped four of the previous five games in the series.
The opener against Memphis isn’t a given after last year’s weird loss, and going to Arizona might be tougher than it seems, but realistically, beat LSU in Baton Rouge for the second time in three seasons, and it’ll be a 4-0 before dealing with home games against Texas A&M and Arkansas.
Mississippi State Bulldogs: 2021 Fun Stats
– Time of Possession: Mississippi State 33:12 – Opponents 26:48
– Fumbles: Opponents 14 (lost 5) – Mississippi State 11 (lost 9)
– Punt Return Average: Opponents 18.1 – Mississippi State 6.6
Mississippi State 2022 Preview
Offense, Defense Breakdown
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Mississippi State Top 10 Players
Mississippi State Schedule & Analysis
Mississippi State Bulldogs Season Prediction, What Will Happen NEXT
Mississippi State Bulldogs Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Really, can a team that’s this experienced on both sides of the ball, fixed the glitch at kicker, and has this much talent and time in the system start to play consistently enough to make a huge splash in the best division in college football?
It starts by winning all the close games and not giving anything away.
Yeah, Memphis won on a weird play, but it shouldn’t have come down to that punt return mattering so much. Mississippi State was 1-3 in games decided by three points or fewer. Flip that around, and last year would’ve been a whole lot different.
Set The Mississippi State Bulldogs Regular Season Win Total At … 7
And that’s the problem with trying to figure out just how good Mississippi State can be. Can all the positives be enough to be on the right side of more close games?
East Tennessee State and Bowling Green should be layups, and be mad if the Memphis rematch at home to start the season isn’t a victory. Other than that, it’s all 50/50 games or lean-loss the rest of the way.
Going to Arizona has to be a win, but that’s a better Wildcat team in a funky road trip. Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia are all at home, but that’s Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia. Going 1-2 against those three this year would be strong.
The Bulldogs will get by an Auburn here and maybe Arkansas at home or Kentucky on the road, but it’s going to be a fight each week.
On the flip side, every SEC team will have to gear it up for this year’s Mississippi State team, too.
Mississippi State 2022 Preview
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Mississippi State Top 10 Players
Mississippi State Schedule & Analysis
