2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs
Written June 21, 2008 by Jason Lowry
Its that time of year to start getting excited about the upcoming NCAA football season, and Jason Lowry is here today to bring you his 2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs football predictions. The Bulldogs are coming off a pretty successful season as they finished up 8-5 overall and 4-4 in the SEC West. With 14 returning starters head coach Sylvester Croom will try and send the Bulldogs to consecutive bowl games for the first time since 1999 and 2000. The Bulldogs finished off the season on a good not with win over UCF in the Liberty bowl. Before we make our predictions on the upcoming season, lets take a look at what this team is sending out on both sides of the field in 2008.
Offense:
The team returns 6 starters on offense, and are hoping that sophomore quarterback Wesley Carroll can improve off his freshman numbers where he threw for 1,392 yards and 9 touchdowns. The team also returns one of the better running backs in the SEC in junior Anthony Dixon who had 1,066 yards and 14 touchdowns a year ago. While the receiving numbers weren’t great a year ago they do bring back their leading receiver in senior Jamayel Smith, but his 510 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns aren’t much to brag about. If Carroll can improve his throwing we think senior receiver Co-Eric Riley and sophomore tight end Brandon Henderson can put up some good numbers. Where this unit might fall apart is the offensive line, as they only return 2 starters from a year ago. The team took a big hit when 2nd team SEC LT Mike Brown was dismissed in the spring. As it looks now sophomore Derek Sherrod will take over at left tackle, junior johnny Carpenter will be the starter center, and junior Phillip Freeman will take over at right tackle.
Defense:
If this team is going to win games it will most likely be because of this unit, as they return 8 starters from a year ago. They return 2 starters on the defensive line, both coming at the tackle spots. IT looks like seniors Cortez McCraney and Tim Bailey will take over the end spots. The team will bring back 2 starters at linebacker, and you can expect another big season out of senior MLB Jamar Chaney. The team gets all 4 starters back in their secondary, and we think you can expect pretty good years out of junior corner Anthony Johnson and senior strong safety Jasper O’ Quinn. Senior free safety Derek Pegues is the real deal and is one of the best you will find in the SEC at his position.
Prediction: 6th in the SEC West
While we expect that many are going to question why we have the Bulldogs so low in our predictions, but the thing is we just don’t see this team having the offensive numbers to win in the SEC. We see this team returning to its losing ways, and possibly winning 5 games thanks to an easy non-conference schedule.
If you are looking to get going on the upcoming football season, head over to Sportsbook.com and get an account up and going today. Also be sure to check back often as we will continue to bring you team preview and predictions as they season gets closer. As always feel free to leave any comments in our comment box.
