They were better than a 7-8 win team last year when they won 9 games.
They had two very close losses to Auburn and Arkansas.
The two losses that weren't close were played in Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge.
They do return a lot of guys that contributed last season including their quarterback and a few athletes on offense along with a very talented defensive line.
But in my opinion, no, they won't repeat what they did last year.
They go to Auburn and despite what every says about Auburn, I think we have much more talent albeit young talent than Miss State.
They go to Georgia.
They still have to face two vastly more talented teams in LSU and Alabama, and South Carolina will be no slouch.
They also had the benefit last season of facing a Michigan team in crisis.
AND they go to Arkansas.
They scare me enough to worry about our game against them, but I think 7 wins is more realistic for Miss State.
I'm not suggesting they'll suck. I think Mullen is good. That 9th win last year came against a Mich. team that had given up, and knew they were about to lose their coach. Other of those 9 wins were vs Memphis, Alcorn State, and UAB.
Fact is, the only thing about the landscape of the SECW that's changed for them is Auburn won't be as good, and frankly, when we played them last year, we were an avg football team.
Memphis, La Tech, UAB, and UT Martin assure them of 4 wins. Not another game on their schedule can be considered a for sure W. Even without any injuries, or bad bounces of the ball, they could be a 4-8, 5-7 team. I don't think they will, but they could.
It just seems I hear this "dark horse favorite" talk every few years about State. And every time, they seem to manage to be an avg team, or worse.