Mississippi State football: Bulldogs should have big day vs Eastern Kentucky defense
Mississippi State football opens up the 2024 college football season against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, and if the EKU defense looks anything like it did a year ago, the Bulldogs should have a huge day offensively.
Eastern Kentucky's defense was awful in 2023
Eastern Kentucky fielded a good offense in 2023, yet the Colonels finished the season just 5-6. As you can imagine, it was defensive struggles that did them in. EKU allowed over 33 points per game and an abysmal 476 yards per game. Opposing offenses lit them up through the air to the tune of 312 pass yards per game, though they were still plenty terrible at stopping the run, allowing 164 rush yards per game.
It's hard to see why the Colonel defense would be improved this season
You would think EKU would have made some big changes in the offseason to try and improve defensively, but that doesn't seem to be the case. They didn't make a change at defensive coordinator, and they didn't add any notable portal additions to shore up that side of the ball.
Despite the overall concerns, there are some bright spots. DL Ryan Jackson posted 36 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks last season. Frank Lee and Kyle Kelly are a solid duo at LB. And safety Mike Smith returns as the best player in the secondary after 56 tackles and 13 passes defended in 2023.
This is a good group to build around, but EKU will need several other players to step up if they're going to present any sort of challenge to Mississippi State.
Mississippi State's offense should easily take advantage of the EKU defense
There's no reason for the Bulldog offense to not have a big day against EKU. The simple physicality advantage up front should allow State to find plenty of success in the run game, and the matchup of the Bulldog WRs against the Colonel DBs significantly favors State. We should see some explosive plays through the air on the way to a strong performance from the offense.