We’re another week into the 2023 Mississippi State football season. Let’s take a look at the first SEC matchup for the Bulldogs: The LSU Tigers.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself by saying I’m nailing these expectation pieces, but I have told you exactly what you should expect each of the last two weeks.
If you’ve been a Mississippi State football fan for long enough, you’ve surely got friends who are overly optimistic about State’s teams and other friends who are doom and gloom about every matchup. I’m here to be as realistic as possible, but there is a spectrum to how games can play out, which is why I mention the highs and lows every week.
THE OPPONENT
The Mississippi State Bulldogs begin SEC play against the Louisiana State Tigers in week 3.
From now on, I’m just going to refer to them as “LSU” or the “Tigers” because anyone who calls them Louisiana State is clearly a psycho. “Tigers” isn’t even that great because it’s possibly the least original name in college athletics (I’d make fun of that more if we weren’t called the Bulldogs, which is basically tied for most used nicknames by athletic programs).
One anecdote I will include is that one of my neighbors has an LSU flag with the old school tiger logo on it — the same one used by LSU, Auburn and Mizzou in their varying colors — and I’ve been tempted on several occasions to swap it out with the other schools’ flags in the middle of the night as a prank.
Anyway, thank you for following me here, now let me get back on track.
Before LSU demolished Grambling, they started the year with a marquis non-conference matchup against Florida State. It was a good game for 2 quarters before FSU took off to lead by 28 late in the 4th quarter.
A useless 75-yard touchdown with 1:15 made the final score 24-45.
This early in the season, it makes it hard to judge: Is LSU bad? Is Florida State a National Championship contender? Who knows? The expectations for the game this week hinges on what you think about the Tigers.