Auburn football opponent preview: Mississippi State Bulldogs

Another day, another opponent on  the 2023 Auburn football schedule. Today, we will be looking at a program in one of the strangest transitions ever: the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Coached by Zach Arnett, the Bulldogs enter 2023 with a new offense and a new outlook on their program.

None of this was expected by the university or the program, as Mike Leach’s unexpected death after the end of the regular season led to Arnett’s promotion to head coach. While we all miss the Pirate dearly for his antics, his interviews, and his offense that changed football forever, Arnett is the man now for the Bulldogs.

Let’s talk about it.

Coaching staff

As mentioned earlier, no one expected for the 2023 edition of Mississippi State football to be coached by someone not named Mike Leach. But his untimely death saw Zach Arnett promoted to the head man position. Zach Arnett is one of the more well-known defensive minds in college football. Prior to Leach’s death, he was considered a strong candidate for Auburn football’s defensive coordinator position. Alas, he is now the man in charge for the Bulldogs and, at 1-0, holds the only perfect record among all FBS head coaches.

With Arnett’s promotion, a new offensive playcaller would be needed. In steps Kevin Barbay from Appalachian State. Kevin Barbay, of course, was the chief architect of Appalachian State’s explosive 2022 offense that featured shootouts against North Carolina and Troy, as well as a shocker win over Texas A&M in College Station. Chase Brice had career numbers under Barbay after transferring from Duke. Barbay will look to turn Will Rogers into more than just an Air Raid stat padder (not my opinion but everyone seems to think it).

Matt Brock, for bookkeeping purposes, was promoted to defensive coordinator by Zach Arnett. Brock has been the outside linebackers coach and linebackers coach under Mike Leach ever since he arrived in Starkville. He will likely not call plays, and I imagine that Arnett will have a big influence if he does. Still, Brock is a first time coordinator so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the added responsibilities.

Mississippi State on offense

While sad, the air raid is no more in Starkville. Many expected Arnett to hire an air raid coordinator to maintain continuity in the offense. Instead, he went for a more balanced approach and hired Kevin Barbay out of App State.

Barbay arrives to the SEC with a fun offensive system in tow. He operates out of a multiple spread attack that uses both shotgun and pistol sets. More often than not he will be in 11 and 12 personnel. And he likes to run the football. A lot. App State ran the ball 57% of the time in 2022, and a lot of it was your classic smashmouth concepts: inside zone, outside zone, counter, and power. This offense is going to look to establish the line of scrimmage from the very first snap.

The passing game is a lot of RPO concepts built into the aforementioned running game. While this offense does have a lot of dropback schemes, they are far more pro-style in nature than Leach’s air raid.

Will Rogers is back at QB. That’s all you need to know. If he is under center, Mississippi State has a chance to win a lot of games. That’s all. He is the SEC’s leading active passer in both yards and touchdowns. He is a three-year starter. Only Spencer Rattler can rival that experience.

Mississippi State on defense

Wash, rinse, repeat. Zach Arnett leads an aggressive defense that is going to attack you. That much won’t change this year. They want to create turnovers left and right.

Knowing what we know about modern college football, there are a lot of opportunities for turnovers. RPOs, intermediate passing concepts, and running QBs have given defenses more opportunities to attack the ball.

Auburn football vs. Mississippi State Conclusion

State has been a steady presence in the SEC ever since Dan Mullen got the job. They haven’t won the West, but they’ve given teams fits and won their fair share of games against the LSU, Ole Miss, and Auburn football teams.

I expect them to fight tooth and nail under Arnett in year one without Coach Leach.

We miss you Coach. You changed the game. And you made the game fun.

Swing Your Sword and War Eagle.