Mississippi State Football: Looking into game one of the 2023 season

Sep 14, 2019; Oxford, MS, USA; Southeastern Louisiana Lions linebacker Hunter Gill (17) reacts during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 14, 2019; Oxford, MS, USA; Southeastern Louisiana Lions linebacker Hunter Gill (17) reacts during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

The Mississippi State Football team will take on another exciting season this fall.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs have a first-year head coach in Zach Arnett after the sudden passing of Mike Leach.

Many Bulldog fans believe Zach Arnett can continue Mike Leach’s momentum and get the job done for the Bulldogs in year one as the head coach.

How can Zach Arnett pick up where Mike Leach left off? Well, that all starts with game one of the 2023 Mississippi State Football season.

Let’s take a deeper look at game one as Mississippi State faces off against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions.

September 2: Southeastern Louisiana at Mississippi State Football – W

In my latest predictions piece, I predicted the Bulldogs to win big, 52-6.

One of the key pieces to continue the momentum the Mississippi State Bulldogs had last year was to make the right hires in the offseason.

Many fans believe that Zach Arnett did just that whenever he placed Kevin Barbay into the new offensive coordinator position.

Mike Leach was the main play-caller for the Mississippi State Football team last year, and Arnett knew he had to have a guy come in that he could trust to make the right offensive calls.

Kevin Barbay comes from Appalachian State University where he was calling the plays for the Mountaineers.

The Mountaineers had an exciting season last year beginning with pulling off the upset vs. the Texas A&M Aggies at the beginning of the season.

All that to say, I think that Kevin Barbay will have something to prove to the Mississippi State fanbase on September 2nd, 2023.

I expect the Bulldog offense to come out firing the ball downfield and breaking off some 20, 30, 40-yard pickups on the ground.

Last year, the Southern Louisiana Lions finished the season 9-4 overall with a 5-1 conference record.

The Lions’ biggest win of the 2022 season was probably in the first round of the FCS playoffs when they defeated the Idaho Vandals, 45-42.

Here’s a look at the Lions’ 2022 full season and record.