Auburn Football: Post-spring game-by-game predictions for 2019

Mississippi State manhandled Auburn on each line of scrimmage in last season’s meeting in Starkville, something that will be difficult for the Bulldogs to replicate in this season’s meeting on the Plains.

This could be a bit of a rebuilding year for Joe Moorhead as he enters his second season as the Bulldogs head coach. Mississippi State has about as much talent to replace as any team in the country, headlined by three first round pick defenders in Montez Sweat, Jeffery Simmons, and Johnathan Abram, a trio that are among the best to ever come through Starkville.

Moorhead will also be tasked with replacing record-setting quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, who wasn’t the cleanest of fits in his system, but was still very good in 2018. The race to replace Fitzgerald is far from over, and while rising junior Keytaon Thompson has long been thought as the favorite to win the gig, he has faced stiff competition from former blue-chip recruit Jalen Mayden, and the quarterback room might still add a graduate transfer. Penn State’s Tommy Stevens has been linked to Mississippi State to potentially join forces with his former offensive coordinator in Happy Valley.

It was hard to not look at last season as a disappointment for Mississippi State with the talent it had returning. It’s hard to not expect the team to take a step backward in year two under Moorhead with all it must replace.

The line-of-scrimmage in this contest might once again be a mismatch, but that mismatch might tilt in the opposite direction.

Pick: Auburn 26, Mississippi State 13 (4-1, 1-1)