2021 Miss. State football projections on the HG

Jul 6

Jul 6 2021 Miss. State football projections on the HG

Jake Wimberly

What’s to like:

Young pups are a year older - Mississippi State went through a youth movement of sorts a year ago, having to play true freshman Will Rogers at quarterback and give way to Jo’quavious Marks and Dillon Johnson in the backfield.

Freshman Jaden Walley led all pass catchers and the Bulldogs got two other ball catchers this offseason via the transfer portal. To say this offense should be much improved is an understatement.

The Bulldogs also played some of the better defense in the SEC a year ago and return a lot of young talent on that side of the ball as well.

What’s not to like:

Offensive explosion - this team looked lost at times a year ago in year one of the Air Raid and took on a ton of criticism about how they looked. This team needed retooling along the offensive front and needed better pass catchers. The Bulldogs feel like they got that in the offseason and got better in spring practice.

This team will ultimately be judged on how the Air Raid performs over the long haul in the SEC. Mississippi State fans need to be patient as Mike Leach continues to build out the offense.

What does the Hourglass Say?

2021 Mississippi State 6-6; 3-5 - in the SEC

Four-year analytic percentage on Mississippi State = 91 percent

2021 Mississippi State Analytics –

Hour Glass National Recruiting Ranking (three-year metric): Mississippi State - 22nd – Inside our Realistic College Football Playoff bust line. Miss. State does have the talent to make the College Football Playoff at this time.

National Coaching Mike Leach on HG Scale: 23rd in the country (Mike Leach 2021 coaching value set at (7) – Average coaching value for 2021 set at 7.1. –Leach is trending at about average.

ODE Analytics – NOTE: ODE is our offensive and defensive scoring efficiency ranking for each team. We use a two-year evaluation of each program.

Miss. State ranks 27th in the country in our 2021 ODE evaluation. Offensively they have a ranking of 31st in the country and defensively 24th in the country.

Quarterback Play: Miss. State has the 42nd best quarterback situation in the country going into the season. Their value is set at (6.1). Our national average for average quarterback play is 9.10. Miss. State quarterback play is set at just below average on our national scale.

Impact Ball Catcher Metric: Ranking the teams wide receiver play - and do they have quality, impact wide receivers. Miss. State ranks 37th in the country.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Year two of Mike Leach, is typically much better than year one and year three is light years ahead of year one. Expect to see Miss. State still struggle at times to throw the ball, but be much more in the image of what Mike Leach wants to show.

Defensively this team will not intimidate you getting off the bus, but they will keep the Bulldogs in most games this year.

In a year where most of the SEC West is in flex, the Bulldogs could finish last, or as high as fourth in the division. They will find themselves in a number of close contests that will determine their fate in 2021.