Mississippi State football: Southeastern Louisiana film preview

Mississippi State football kicks off the 2023 season this Saturday. With the Bulldogs welcoming Southeastern Louisiana to Starkville, what can we expect out of the Lions schematically?

It’s now time to officially kick off a new era of Mississippi State football. The first true game of the Zach Arnett era takes place this Saturday as the Bulldogs host FCS Southeastern Louisiana. And while we all expect State to easily handle business in their season opener, SLU is one of the nation’s best FCS programs.

HC Frank Scelfo has done a great job in Hammond. His Lions have finished ranked in the FCS Top 25 four-straight seasons, making the playoffs in three of those years. They’ve won nine games the last two seasons, winning the Southland Conference title last year. They fell in overtime in the 2nd round of the FCS playoffs last season to Samford (shoutout to the Hatch Attack) 48-42.

The Lions have particularly been strong on the offensive side of the ball. They’ve posted at least 35 points per game each of the last four years. In 2021, they had the Walter Payton Award winner (FCS Heisman) in QB Cole Kelley. The former Arkansas Razorback put up over 4000 yards of offense with 43 TDs.

Despite not having Kelley in 2022, they were still plenty productive on offense, and they have a few interesting weapons back on that side of the ball. This has been a fun offense to watch recently. Let’s breakdown some of what to expect out of SLU’s offense.