“If you turn on a game film, watch a team, all 11 players on the field on any given snap, play with a relentless effort, play with a passion for the game of football for 60 minutes of that game, we’ll have a successful season.” – Mississippi State Head Football Coach Dan Mullen (July 22, 2009)

Bulldog Football!  Catch the excitement!

It looks to be a long year in Starkville as Dan Mullen takes the helm of a program that has sunk to the bottom of the SEC West over the past 10 years.  Ever since their surprise 1998 SEC Western Division crown, the Bulldogs have struggled to maintain any level of success.  In steps Dan Mullen, architect of the Florida Gator offense that won 2 national championships in 3 years, to replace the historic yet ultimately mediocre Sylvester Croom.  Coach Mullen has grand plans.  “There will be a lot of similarities between our programs and the programs that (Urban Meyer) has done at Bowling Green, Florida, and Utah.”  That may fire up the booster clubs across Mississippi, but the fact is the Bulldogs are a few years away from making a statement in the SEC.

What Mullen has going for him, though, is that success is not unprecedented at Mississippi State.  Working against him is the recent emergence of Ole Miss as a power in the West.  If he can find a way to horde some offensive talent with his player-friendly system, Carl Torbush – the newly hired defensive coordinator – can build on the tradition of solid defensive teams at State.

The immediate challenge for this crew is the offensive transformation.  A West Coast offense under Croom, the Bulldogs have begun the transition to the spread offense.  Unfortunately for Mullen, Tim Tebow stayed in Gainesville.  The future at quarterback is much heralded freshman Tyler Russell, but MSU will likely turn to Tyson Lee to start the season.  The senior ran the Bulldog offense last year and has spring practice under his belt.  Mullen expects “the competition at (quarterback) to be pretty stiff” when fall camp opens.  Don’t be surprised to see more than one quarterback get significant playing time.

Anthony Dixon will be the star of the show while the quarterback position sorts itself out.  Dixon enters his senior season just 609 yards short of being the team’s all-time rushing leader.  He will have to wait one game to get started on his chase, though, after being suspended for the opener following a DUI arrest in July.  Christian Ducre will again spend time backing up Dixon.  Expect to see Mullen get Ducre on the field as a pass-catcher, as the wide receiver group needs a lot of time to mature.

Kendrick Cook, a DJ Williams-type player, will lead the receivers this season.  At SEC Media Days Mullen said, “We’re going to use Kendrick in a lot of different ways, whether he’s attached, a motion fullback, or flexed out” wide.  Redshirt freshman O’Neal Wilder could see significant playing time, too.  True freshman Chad Bumphis has created a lot of hope for the future at wide out.

The mammoth Derek Sherrod (6’ 7”, 310 lbs) is back to anchor the offensive line.  With some experience under his (larg) belt, Sherrod hopes to lead this group as it makes the transition form West Coast to the spread.  Pass protection has been a point of emphasis since Mullen’s arrival, and Sherrod & Co. will have to get better.  (Sound familiar, Hog fans?) 

With only five returning starters, the Bulldogs need to retool their defense.  Coach Mullen realized that early and got one of the best defensive minds in the business in Carl Torbush.  He and his coaching staff will look to linebacker K.J. Wright to lead this inexperienced but talented crew.  Senior Jamar Chaney joins Wright as a defensive leader.  If his ankle has healed completely, Chaney will help bolster the middle of the defense.  According to Torbush Chaney looks to be back to full strength.

Newcomer Pernell McPhee will anchor the Bulldog defensive front.  Sophmore Sean Ferguson is back to provide some stability to the front.  The defensive line will definitely need to create pressure on opposing quarterbacks while the secondary rebuilds this season.

To the delight of Hog fans, safety Derek Pegues is finally gone, as is Keith Fitzhugh.  Marcus Washington is the only returning starter.  Newcomers Jonathan Banks and Dennis Thames will be given a chance to earn playing time as true freshman – although Thames still faces a long road back after his arrest for public intoxication this summer.

Look for a new kicker and punter to lead the Bulldog special teams.  JUCO transfer Sean Brauchle is the projected starting placekicker, while Heath Hutchins should supplant Blake McAdams as the team’s punter.

OUTLOOK

There is no way to sugar-coat this:  Mississippi State is going to struggle.  That said, they should be much more fun to watch this year.  September starts with in-state SWAC program Jackson State coming to Starkville to begin the Mullen Era.  The Dogs head on the road the next two weeks, though, with trips to Auburn and Vanderbilt.  If MSU hopes to find its way to a bowl this season, getting off to a fast start is imperative.  If things come together in fall camp, those are both winnable games.  September ends with LSU invading Starkville.

The Bulldogs have an interesting matchup with Georgia Tech (who plays two other SEC teams – Vandy and Georgia – this season) to start October, followed by Homecoming against the Houston Cougars.  Mississippi State makes a rare trip to a Sun Belt Conference foe, traveling to Middle Tennessee State in the middle of the month before the “Teacher v. Student” game with Florida in Starkville.  Kentucky hosts MSU on Halloween in what will be a must-win game if the Dogs harbor hopes of the post-season.

The open weeks comes right before Alabama comes to Starkville, so if you’re looking for upset look here.  The Dogs travel to Little Rock to take on the Razorbacks on November 21 before heading back home for the Egg Bowl the following week.  Needless to say, this is a tough schedule for a team on the re-build.

Most likely:  4-8 with wins over Jackson State, Middle Tennessee State, and Houston.  Vanderbilt early and Kentucky on Halloween look like the most likely SEC wins, and it’s hard to imagine them winning both.  A late-season upset is not out of the question.  This is a tough schedule aside from JSU.  MTSU is expected to contend for the SBC title, and Houston can score points.

With a lucky break:  It all depends on how quickly the passing game comes together.  Thinking positively, 6-6 is within reach if MSU can knock off all their non-conference opponents, split with Vandy and Kentucky, and pick up one big upset.

Best Case Scenario:  I just don’t see any way for this team to win more than 8 games, and they should build a statue of Dan Mullen if it happens.  The trip to Starkville is dangerous for the Tide.  It’s hard to win in Little Rock, but the Dogs may catch Arkansas sleeping like the Hogs did LSU last year.  And you just never know what may happen in the Egg Bowl.  Winning two of those three – while almost incomprehensibly unlikely – would set the stage for a major upswing in Starkville.

Bold Prediction:  The Bulldogs knock off Florida, Alabama or Ole Miss this season.

Final Thought:  I’m a Dan Mullen believer.  This team is young and reminds me some of last season’s Arkansas team.  If MSU goes where I think they can get, the SEC West will be the best conference in the country on its own.

                        The University of Georgia spent the run-up to 2008 as the nationally presumed lead Dawgs in the hunt for the SEC Championship. Now, after a solid, but ultimately unfulfilling 10-3 campaign in 2008 in which its bark was a little worse than its bite, the Bulldogs are again sniffing for a trip to their backyard in Atlanta for the SEC championship game.

Senior quarterback Joe Cox (6’1 198) has patiently bided his time behind Stafford for most of the last three seasons, and his teammates and head coach, Mark Richt think he is up to the challenge.

Richt lauded Cox during SEC Media Days last week, noting that all but four of the 110 Bulldogs polled after spring practice tabbed Cox as the team’s leader.

“I think that was significant,“ Richt said. “He was the number one vote getter, if you want to call them votes…for a guy that hasn’t started but one game his entire career–that was about two or three years ago–I think that says a lot about what the guys think about Joe and what Joe has done in preparation for this moment.”

To be sure, Cox won’t be expected to replicate Stafford’s stats, which included a whopping 25 TDs and 3,459 passing yards in 2008. He will, however, be charged with spreading the ball around to the Bulldogs’ playmakers.

UGA’s biggest threat is 2008 1^st Team AP All-SEC WR A.J. Green (6-4 207), who has the look of an eventual NFL star. As a freshman last year, he nabbed 56 catches for 963 yards and eight TDs.

Defenses will focus on Green, though, so Cox will need to be able to count on other targets like Senior Michael Moore (6-1 207) and redshirt freshman Tavarres King (6-1 178). Aron White (6-4 227) is tabbed as the starter at tight end. Two of his three career receptions have been TDs.

Richt expects a talented group of backs to hit the ground running and collectively replace Moreno, who piled up 2,736 career rushing yards and 30 TDs at Georgia.

The returning group of running backs includes sophomore Caleb King (5-11 210), Richard Samuel (6-2 216), Carlton Thomas (5-7 178) and Dontavious Jackson (5-10 200).

An All-American and number one player in the state of Georgia coming out of high school in Norcross in 2007, King has battled back from a leg injury (broken tibia) sustained during his senior year at Greater Atlanta Christian.

King has paid his dues and should get the first shot to tote the note, but he will have to produce or lose carries to the other UGA running backs. In addition to the veterans, that group will also include much-heralded true freshman Washaun Ealey from Twin City, GA, who picked the home state Bulldogs early in the recruiting process  and will be looking to make an early impact.

Scholar athlete and fullback Shawn Chapas takes over for Brannen Southerland, who was one of the best in the country at the position a year ago. Chapas has greatly improved over his time at Georgia and has the skill set to lead the way for the game breakers and provide an outlet for Cox out of the backfield.

While outsiders see the loss of UGA’s go-to back, Moreno, as an issue, Richt thinks he has plenty of viable options in the backfield.

“I think I could probably blindly grab two or three of them, pick them up, and I would have confidence in whatever three I picked out, Richt said. “We will have success with them. Sometimes when you say no one has separated themselves from the pack, that’s bad if your pack isn’t very good. But if you have a pack of good ones, it’s hard to separate also because you have some pretty good guys around you…I think it’s more a situation of that than not having anybody outstanding. I think they’re all pretty outstanding.”

Junior Clint Boling (6-5 297) has played up and down the line in his career, but he is slated to start the season as the left tackle. He is a steady, talented lineman that provides versatility and experience. Trinton Sturdivant started 13 games at left tackle in 2007, but missed all of 2008 and spring drills in 2009 after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his left knee.

Sturdivant is said to be ready for action in the fall, and if he is, Boling could slide over to right tackle, reopening the left tackle position for Sturdivant and giving the Bulldogs a formidable pair of bookends.

Massive Sophomore Cordy Glenn (6-5 330) was named Freshman All-SEC last year by the coaches, and he will vie for starting spot at right tackle, too, putting pressure on Sturdivant to quickly knock off any rust from his long layoff or risk losing snaps.

Sophomore Ben Jones (6-3 294) returns at center after making 10 starts earning Freshman All-SEC honors in 2008. Sophomore Tanner Strickland (6-5 328) and Junior Chris Davis (6-4 290) were set to battle for the left guard position, but Strickland sustained a shoulder injury during offseason workouts, and will miss the ’09 season. Sophomore Justin Anderson (6-5 328) is listed as the 1^st-team right guard.

Senior defensive tackles Geno Atkins (6-1 290) and Jeff Owens (6-3 300) will start and rotate with Kade Weston (6-5 320) DeAngelo Tyson (6-2 294).

Junior Rennie Curran is not the prototypical linebacker, but his size, 5-11 222, belies his production (115 tackles in 2008 while earning 1^st-Team All SEC Honors from the coaches). Akeem Dent (6-2 226) gets the nod at MLB and Darryl Gamble (6-2 250) brings some size to the strongside. Reshad Jones (6-2 214) is a beast at strong safety, and Richt trusts senior free safety Bryan Evans (5-11 190).

Junior strong safety Quintin Banks (6-2 213) is coming off of a knee injury and could provide depth, if healthy, while redshirt freshman Bacarri Rambo (6-0 208) looks like he will be a contributor even if he probably won’t have the opportunity to draw “First Blood’.

If the Bulldogs are susceptible to a repeat of last year‘s up-and-down performance, though, it is on the edges of both the line, and the secondary. Historically a glamour position on the UGA defense, defensive end is a spot at which the Bulldogs need a wrecker of havoc to emerge.

The potential candidates–Senior Roderick Battle (6-4 259), Junior Demarcus Dobbs (6-2 274), Sophomore Justin Houston (6-3 259) and Junior Junior Kiante Tripp (6-6 270) all have potential that has, as of yet, not been fully maximized.

Battle and Houston arguably have the most athleticism of the DEs, but both are anything but bankable producers because of nagging issues (Battle has frequently been injured and Houston is suspended for the first two games of the season).

If UGA can’t find any playmakers off the edge their smallish cornerbacks, Senior Prince Miller (5-8 198) and Sophomore Brandon Boykin (5-10 182) could pay the price. Sanders Commings (6-2 214) and Makiri Pugh (6-0 196) are bigger, but not necessarily better…yet.

The biggest concern of all, though, for the Bulldogs has to be their unforgiving schedule. They open the season on September 5^th at Oklahoma State. The high-powered Cowboys will re-dedicate Boone-Pickens Stadium that night, and legions of orange-clad Okies will be lubed up and ready to make UGA’s opener a very difficult one.

Add out-of conference tilts with Arizona State (Sept. 26) and Georgia Tech (Nov. 28) to SEC clashes versus Florida (in Jacksonville), LSU (in Athens) and Tennessee (in Knoxville) and it’s easy to see why Richt thinks that, with their schedule and inexperience in the offensive backfield, the Bulldogs might have bitten off more than they can chew.

However, Cox and company welcome the challenge, and their newfound role as relative underDawgs. “I think (the offseason) really brought our team together,” Cox said. “With people telling you, ‘You won’t be as good’, you turn it around and use it on the field and in the lockerroom. When someone tells you that you can’t do something, it motivates you and you better yourself. We preached about that a lot this off season.”

Georgia Offense:

Returning starters: 7

Georgia Defense:

Returning Starters: 7

9/5 at Oklahoma St L
9/12 South Carolina W
9/19 at Arkansas W
9/26 Arizona State W
10/3 LSU L
10/10 at Tennessee W
10/17 at Vanderbilt W
10/24 OPEN DATE
10/31 Florida (Jack.) L
11/7 Tennessee Tech W
11/14 Auburn W
11/21 Kentucky W
11/28 at Georgia Tech W