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Getting Ready For 2023 College Football
By: Andy Baeuerle
While I was covering the 2022 football season, many things happened. Some good, some bad. Teams rose and fell; we gained players and lost legends. But all three of Mississippi’s FBS teams are holding their heads up and looking to what the 2023 season holds. Below, we will look at the strengths of each team and what each team can achieve in 2023. Quick note: I will talk about ESPN’s FPI System. The Football Power Index (FPI) considers a team’s previous season, coaching changes, and lineup changes to predict how that team will do. This changes after every game in the season. I will also include my prediction for each team.
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Following the death of Coach Mike Leach in December, defensive coordinator Zach Arnett was promoted to interim head coach for the Bulldogs’ ReliaQuest Bowl appearance. The Bulldogs beat the Illinois Fighting Illini 19-10, and Arnett was promoted to head coach. Following his promotion, Arnett kept much of Leach’s staff while also bringing in some new blood. The Bulldogs are also returning many of their 2022 players, including record-setting quarterback Will Rogers. Rogers is viewed by many to be one of the top players in the country for the 2023 season.
Mississippi State is faced with relatively tough season for a new head coach. The Bulldogs have an out-of-conference schedule that includes matchups against Southeast Louisiana, Arizona, Western Michigan, and Southern Miss. However, the simplicity stops in the SEC. The Bulldogs must travel to play in electric stadiums against teams like Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn, and Texas A&M, while they take on LSU, Alabama, Kentucky, and Ole Miss at home.
ESPN’s FPI currently has Mississippi State finishing 2023 with a 5-7 overall record and a 1-7 SEC record. However, after looking at the schedule and knowing State’s past with upsetting powerful teams, I look for Mississippi State to finish with an overall record of 8-4, going 4-4 in the SEC.
Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin has proven he is no stranger to coaching football. Making stops in the NFL as well as college ranks, Kiffin has become one of the most recognizable names in the game. With Kiffin entering his fourth season at the helm of the Rebels’ team, Ole Miss fans’ hopes for a big season grow bigger with each new passing day. The Rebels have an all-star offense returning in running back Quinshon Judkins and quarterback Jaxson Dart, who could guide the Rebels to a great season yet again.
With on-the-road matchups against defending Cotton Bowl and Sugar Bowl Champions Tulane and Alabama (respectively,) the Rebels face a difficult schedule. Ole Miss is also forced to travel to Athens to take on the 2x defending CFP National Champion Georgia Bulldogs. The Rebels do get to take it easy in Oxford, taking on Mercer, Georgia Tech, and Arkansas, among other teams.
The ESPN FPI predicts the Ole Miss Rebels finishing 2023 with an overall record of 9-3, and finishing 5-3 in the SEC. This is a fair prediction, as the Rebels’ losses only come from the SEC against LSU, Alabama, and Georgia. While this is fair, I see the Rebels finishing 8-4 with the same 5-3 SEC record. The only extra loss would come from Tulane, as Ole Miss has to travel to New Orleans for this classic rivalry.
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles
Following Will Hall’s second year as head coach in Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles, and their fanbase are looking to another exciting season at Southern Miss. Returning running back Frank Gore, Jr. and a long list of quarterbacks give the Golden Eagles plenty of breathing room to get into the groove and win games. The Golden Eagles are also breaking in a new defensive coordinator following Austin Armstrong leaving to take the same job for Billy Napier’s Florida Gators.
Southern Miss’s 2023 season is considered one of the most difficult in the country. The Golden Eagles open up at M.M. Roberts Stadium against Alcorn State before traveling to Florida State. Other matchups that cause a riff for the Golden Eagles include matchups against Tulane, Mississippi State, Appalachian State, Troy, and South Alabama.
Despite winning their first bowl game since 2016 in 2022, ESPN’s FPI predicts the Golden Eagles underperforming in 2023, finishing with a 4-8 record and going 2-6 in the Sun Belt. However, Southern Miss is returning a bunch of players and entering the season with a great staff and many great new players. To this writer, Southern Miss could potentially finish the season 7-5, and going 5-3 in the Sun Belt Conference.
The 2023 season seems to be promising with hundreds of different outcomes all over the league. Many wonder if Georgia could win the national championship for the third time in a row. Could Tulane become a national power? Does TCU fall horribly following 2022? We will just have to see how this next season turns out. Keep an eye out for my weekly review on Mississippi football during the next season.
Any opinions above are strictly mine, Andy Baeuerle’s, and do not come from MageeNews.com.
MageeNews.com is an online news source serving Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.
