Sneak peek: Mississippi State
AUBURN | Year two of the Bryan Harsin era gets underway with a couple of warmup games before a Big Ten opponent kicks off three crucial home contests. Four of the final seven games are on the road including trips to Georgia and Alabama.
Today, we continue an early look at Auburn’s 2022 schedule with a an SEC West foe that gave the Tigers an embarrassing home loss last season.
WHO: Mississippi State (7-6 last season, 4-4 SEC)
WHEN: Nov. 5, TBD
WHERE: Davis Wade Stadium (61,337)
SERIES: Auburn leads 65-28-2
WHAT’S NEW: Mike Leach returns nearly his entire staff for a third season other than inside receiver coach Drew Hollingshead, who was promoted from an analyst position. MSU added a half dozen transfers in the offseason including Georgia wide receiver Justin Robinson and two cornerbacks in Alabama’s Marcus Banks and West Virginia’s Jackie Matthews. The Bulldogs signed the nation’s No. 16 class in 2022 including two highly-rated defensive ends, Trevion Williams and Jacarius Clayton.
WHO TO WATCH, OFFENSE: Quarterback Will Rogers returns with 19 career starts under his belt. He completed 505 of 683 passes for 4,739 yards, the third-most in SEC history, with 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He was sacked 34 times. He led MSU to a program-record, 25-point comeback win at Auburn last season completing 44 of 55 passes for 415 yards with six touchdowns.
WHO TO WATCH, DEFENSE: Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes is probably MSU’s top returning defender. He followed up an SEC All-Freshman season in 2020 with 60 tackles, 5.0 tackles-for-loss, one sack, eight pass defenses, three interceptions and one forced fumble last year.
OUTLOOK: Mississippi State has to replace some key pieces on offense in left tackle Charles Cross and wide receiver Makai Polk, but getting Rogers back for a third year as a starter should strike fear in a lot of defensive coordinators around the league. MSU does return three starters on the offensive line led by standout center LaQuinston Sharp and a couple of starting wide receivers along with the top two running backs. On defense, the line returns three players with starting experience and two of three starting linebackers. The secondary returns three of five starters including both safeties and brought in some talented transfers for depth. MSU returns its punter and brought in two transfers to compete for the kicking position.
This is an important game for the Tigers for many reasons, but especially for the way they lost at home last season surrendering 40 unanswered points in the 43-34 loss. The game will also go a long way in determining the finishing order in the West with anywhere from second to seventh place a possibility for either team.
MORE SNEAK PEEKS:
Sept. 3 Mercer
Sept. 10 San Jose State
Sept. 17 Penn State
Sept. 24 Missouri
Oct. 1 LSU
Oct. 8 at Georgia
Oct. 15 at Ole Miss
Oct. 29 Arkansas