Look, I get it: When you think of the football powerhouse that is the Southeastern Conference, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are far from the first squad that comes to mind. However, I don’t give a rat’s behind how vanilla of an image they have—them going 2-10 last season (with the wins being over Eastern Kentucky and UMass, no less) was nothing short of unacceptable.
But hey, it’s the SEC, where only the strongest survive, and it’s not like 2-10 is some staple at MSU to begin with. I mean heck, the last time the Bulldogs finished with only two wins was 2003, and the last time they finished with less than that was 1988. Therefore, history implies that they will likely see at least a slight rise this upcoming season, right? Wrong.
Simply put, if you thought the Bulldogs were dealt a bad hand with their 2024 stretch, you’d feel no different looking at their 2025 one. This is first evident with their non-conference bunch, as they have the great misfortune of meeting Arizona State and Northern Illinois when they’re coming off of the most memorable seasons they’ve had in a long time. In other words, a bit above UMass on the FBS’s “beatability” scale.
As for their Southeastern play, I wouldn’t stop at calling it “tough,” or even “tough by SEC standards.” Rather, I’d say it’s about as tough of an assortment as any conference could realistically produce: Tennessee, Texas A&M, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, and Ole Miss.
Just to put into perspective how unforgiving of a lineup that is, the weakest link in it (at least by 2024 finish) is Arkansas, but even it finished positive in a campaign that saw a blowout win over the Bulldogs in Starkville. So yeah, I don’t think MSU could lock up a league win even if it sold its soul for one.
That leaves Southern Mississippi (a Sun Belt team coming off its worst season in over a decade) and Alcorn State (an FCS team that just barely squeaked in at .500) as the only names on Mississippi State’s 2025 schedule that seem like clear shots at victory. Slap them next to those 10 probable-if-not-promised losses and…sorry, I’m not too good at math—what record would the Bulldogs end up with? Does it ring a bell?