SEC West Preview – Mississippi State Bulldogs

One of the biggest surprises last season was the rise of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They managed to be ranked #1 in the country for five straight weeks, but can the Bulldogs carry over that magic to the 2015 season?

Head coach Dan Mullen is entering his seventh season in Stark Vegas, and he was able to lead them to the school's second 10-win season last year. State had a solid squad last season, but they had the same bug that plagued almost every SEC team: horrible secondary play. If the boys in Starkville get that part of their game straightened out, this Bulldog team could make another great run in 2015.

Offense

When you talk about the Bulldogs' offense, the first name that always pops up is Dak Prescott. Prescott is thought by most to be the most talented returning quarterback in the SEC, and we all saw what he was able to do through the air and on the ground last season. Most pundits will have him as an early Heisman favorite, and if he produces like he did last year, watch for Prescott to travel to New York City for the Heisman Trophy presentation.

In the run game for 2015, Prescott will be an integral part of the system, especially with the absence of star running back Josh Robinson, who was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. They'll rely on a running-back-by-committee in Brandon Holloway and Ashton Shumpert, and both are more than capable of producing yards, as each averaged more than 5.8 yards per carry last year. Running the ball seems to be a dying art in college football, but it's still the best way of managing games, and the Bulldogs have the capability to do just that.

But if the run game isn't working, the other option is to throw the ball, and Prescott has some weapons to toss the ball to. De'Runnya Wilson is back for his third season, coming off a 47 reception and 9 touchdown season. The speedster will continue doing his thing, but Prescott will need more than Wilson to throw the pigskin to. Fred Ross was the second leading receiver last season for the Bulldogs, and is slightly quicker than Wilson. Having Ross outside with Wilson will free up the box to disallow teams to load up inside to stop the run, so expect them to fine tune their offensive system and be more productive than last year.

On the offensive line, the Bulldogs have lost three starters from last year, graduating left tackle Blaine Causell, center Dillon Day, and right guard Ben Beckwith. The only two starters who are returning are Jamal Clayborn and Justin Malone. It's going to be a learning curve trying to replace three seniors, but if Dan Mullen and his coaching staff can simplify the blocking schemes early on during the season, they'll pick up on it later on during the year and they'll surely gel come the brunt of SEC play.

Defense

This may have been the reason that the Bulldogs couldn't do more than they did last season. They ranked a measly 86th in the country in total defense and was literally one of the worst teams in the country in pass defense, giving up 272.8 passing yards per game. I'm no genius, but that isn't very good. They lost quite a bit of talent from last year's defense, so this may be yet another rough season for the guys in Starkville.

Last year, if Mississippi State had one bright spot, it was the play of defensive tackle Preston Smith. Smith graduated and then was selected by the Washington Redskins in the second round of the NFL Draft. Along with Smith, the Bulldogs also lost seniors P.J. Jones and Kaleb Eulls from the defensive line, so finding replacements will be difficult for the Bulldogs this year. Junior A.J. Jefferson will most likely fill in Smith's shoes at defensive end, and Chris Jones played behind P.J. Jones last season, so look for him to get the majority of playing time at defensive tackle.

Out of their three starting linebackers in 2015, the Bulldogs will only return one of them, in junior Beniquez Brown. Matt Wells has graduated and Benardrick McKinney was picked up by the Houston Texans in the second round of the draft. Senior Zach Johnson will fill in for Wells on the outside, and junior Richie Brown should hold the fort down in the middle. They'll lack for experience for the first few games, but they have the physical abilities to add strength to a struggling unit from the previous year.

Now we'll move to the real weakness of the defensive unit: the secondary. Along with their difficulties in pass coverage, this unit lost two of the four starters from last year's squad, too. Graduates Jamerson Love and Justin Cox leave open some big holes at cornerback and safety, respectively, so Mullen will be looking for some capable players to pick up the slack. Senior Will Redmond will hold down one of the corners, along with senior Taveze Calhoun on the other side. At free safety, junior Deontay Evans will look to replace Cox, and senior Kendrick Market will continue his role as strong safety. The Bulldogs will have plenty of seniority in the secondary, but will the level of play increase? Well, it's pretty difficult to get much worse than last season.

Special Teams

Evan Sobiesk will most likely retain his place kicking duties, as he knocked through 85.7 percent of his field goals last season. Devon Bell will be the punter yet again, but will need to bail out his defense a bit more this year if the team plans on improving this year. Bell averaged 43.2 yards per punt, but he'll need to consistently pin opposing teams inside their own redzone in order to take some pressure off a completely different defensive unit.

McMoney's Prediction

This is a tricky team to try and predict. I thought they wouldn't win six games last season, and they were the best team in college football for a few weeks, so I think I've learned my lesson to never count out Dak Prescott. Their defense is still going to be spotty, and with tough SEC games at Auburn, at Texas A&M, and at Arkansas (not to mention tough home games with LSU, Alabama, and Ole Miss), I still think they continue last year's momentum and win nine games this season, and possibly 10 should they get a preferable match-up in their bowl game.

I'm going to say 9-3 officially.