Mississippi State football bowl projections after Bulldogs crushed by LSU

STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI - SEPTEMBER 16: Will Rogers #2 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs walks onto the field before the game against the LSU Tigers at Davis Wade Stadium on September 16, 2023 in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)
STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI - SEPTEMBER 16: Will Rogers #2 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs walks onto the field before the game against the LSU Tigers at Davis Wade Stadium on September 16, 2023 in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

Three weeks of the 2023 Mississippi State football season are complete. Here’s where college football bowl projects have the MSU Bulldogs.

Week three wasn’t much fun for Mississippi State football fans. To be fair, it wasn’t fun for MSU football coaches or players either. The Bulldogs were beaten, badly, by the LSU Tigers. A dysfunctional offense and ineffective defense was taken advantage of and LSU effortlessly beat State 41-14.

And now the Bulldogs are tasked with moving forward after that mess of a weekend. That’s not easy. Especially in the SEC.

MSU has one of the longest bowl streaks in the country, but it’s looking like some might doubt Zach Arnett’s ability to guide MSU to a bowl this season. Here are the latest college football bowl projections from some CFB experts.

College football bowl projections, week 3: Where is Mississippi State football?

ESPN college football bowl predictions week 3: Mississippi State Bulldogs bowl predictions

Last week’s ESPN bowl projections had the Miss. State Bulldogs playing against the Clemson Tigers and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Following week 2, Kyle Bonagura projected MSU to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to face Clemson while Mark Schlabach had State facing the Cowboys in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

Things have changed a little bit this week. Here are the updated ESPN college football bowl projections after week 3:

  • Bonagura: Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Clemson
  • Schlabach: Birmingham Bowl – Mississippi State vs. North Texas

Okay, so maybe things didn’t change all that much for Bonagura. Maybe he forgot to update his projection? Meanwhile, Schlabach has Miss. State in the Birmingham Bowl with the Bulldogs playing the North Texas Mean Green. That seems plausible.

CBS college football bowl projection after week 3

Let’s take a look at where Jerry Palm over at CBS is predicting the Bulldogs. A week ago, Palm put MSU in the Birmingham Bowl with the Kansas Jayhawks.

Take a look at the updated CBS bowl predictions:

  • Palm: Gator Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Miami

This week he has State in the Gator Bowl? Against the Miami Hurricanes? I’m confused! Very confused.

USA Today bowl prediction after week 2 of the Mississippi State football season

And what about USA Today? Where does Erick Smith have MSU this week? Last week, Smith put the Bulldogs in the Music City Bowl with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This week… Drumroll please…

Here’s the updated USA Today Mississippi State bowl prediction:

  • Smith: No bowl for the Bulldogs

NOWHERE!

That’s not great! After Mississippi State was steamrolled by Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers, Erick Smith doesn’t have State in a bowl game. Unless I’ve somehow missed MSU in his projections. Which is possible.

So there you have it. The bowl projections are all over the place. At this point, here’s to hoping that MSU gets to six wins.