For the first time since late November, Mississippi State Football is back and ready to tackle year two of the Coach Lebby era with a season opener deep in the heart of Mississippi as they travel south to take on the Southern Golden Eagles. It’s been two years since the instate foes played each other on the gridiron, the first under the leadership of Coach Lebby at Mississippi State and Coach Huff at Southern Miss.

For Southern Miss, the guys wearing the black and gold might be different than last season, but Coach Huff and his staff brought a large majority of his Sun Belt Championship-winning team from his previous stop at Marshall, including his star quarterback, Braylon Braxton, who provides not only stedy leadership but a dual-threat guy at quarterback that has the potential to dictate a game. There’s also a growing optimism that if Southern Miss can take what Marshall had last season under the leadership of Coach Huff, then the Golden Eagles have the potential to be a dark horse to compete for the G5 position in the College Football Playoff.

On the Mississippi State side of things, the Bulldogs take a group hungry for success, with 34 players from the state of Mississippi, to Southern Miss, in an attempt to earn back some of the respect lost over the last two years. For the Bulldogs, a matchup with Southern Miss in Hattiesburg has a few extra layers of motivation, for the 34 guys from Mississippi it’s one of two chances to represent their school on the state level with games agaisnt Southern Miss and Ole Miss this season, then adding to that is the chance for alll the returning guys from last season to open the season with mometum by sending a messge to the rest of the college football world by handling business agaisnt a Southern Miss program worthy of contenting for a Sun Belt Championship this season.

As far as what to expect from Mississippi State on Saturday? On the offensive side of the ball, it’ll be interesting and fun to watch a healthy Blake Shapen in year two of the Coach Jeff Lebby offensive scheme, combined with Jordan Mosley and Brenen Thompson at wide receiver, Davon Booth and Fluff Bothwell at running back. The offensive side of the ball for Mississippi State has some potential to score some points against Southern Miss on Saturday.

The oddsmakers in Vegas have Mississippi State as a 13.5-point favorite on Saturday. Reality might be a bit different as the game will likely be closer than that, but the Bulldogs should walk away from Hattiesburg with a season-opening win over Southern Miss. Southern Miss has the talent to pull the upset, but there’s been something about the confidence from the Mississippi State fall camp that makes picking against them on Saturday nearly impossible.

Photo Credits- Southern Miss and Mississippi State on X