SEC: Mississippi State

I'll start by going team by team in a quick overview and then I may or may not give my overall thoughts. We'll see how I feel.

Mississippi State - I've already broken my first rule by talking about a team I don't really care about, but maybe that's not true. If nothing else, I do feel bad for Sylvester Croom. He loses Jerious Norwood and now he truly has nothing. The offense cannot possibly be better after losing Norwood, and the defense, though slightly above average, will ultimately give out every game. Simply put, they aren't there yet, and they don't appear to be getting any closer. I was thinking about Mississippi State the other day and if they will ever be good again. As cyclical as college football is, I want to say yes, but when you add "and run a clean program," I have to think not. Jackie Sherrill had some winners in there, but I certainly wouldn't call his program clean. Of course, you'd have to offer me a lot to voluntarily commit to four years in Starkville.

So here's a look at their schedule. They open with a loss to South Carolina and it is followed closely by a loss to Auburn. No shame in that. Tulane and UAB are both winnable games, but after the Maine fiasco, I make no promises. LSU and West Virginia are definitely losses. What sucks most about that is how many people will simply note that West Virginia beat down another SEC team. Don't even get me started on how wrong that statement is. They should beat Jacksonville State, but a win at Georgia is out of the question. I don't care who's playing QB for Georgia, it's gonna be a long day for Mississippi State. Kentucky is up next, and in all honesty, State's best chance at winning an SEC game. Unfortunately, I don't think it's gonna happen. Kentucky shows signs of life every once in a while and has a quality back in Raphael Little, but Mississippi State is completely flat-lining. Again, this is incredibly early, so we'll see. Alabama, Arkansas, and Ole Miss are all losses. State honestly may have the best chance against Bama, since Bama has an unproven quarterback and relies heavily on the run game. State's run defense is usually pretty decent, so if Darby can be contained, the predominance of the running game will eat clock and keep it close. I still think Bama eats them for dinner, but we'll see. State and Ole Miss are usually pretty close, but Ole Miss' defense is better than State's, and Ogeron has made an effort on offense. That will be the difference. So, my rough, preseason prediction: 3-9.

Ha, so I broke another rule. Don't hold me to it.