Good morning! SEC Media Days opened up with a touching, and unique, tribute to Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach. Coach Leach wouldn’t have had it any other way.

What else did we throw into the Brew today?

🎥 Music City Bound
🏈 New Look Dawgs
🐶 And much, much more!

🎥 HAIL STATE PLUS

Throwing It Back. In this episode of The Follow, we’re throwing it back to the 2022 football season where the Bulldogs came out on top against a team you may or may not see featuring in the upcoming ‘Opponent Preview’.

Go behind the scenes to see the Dawgs get ready for game day in practice, interviews from the SEC Media crew, and the best part, an on-field recap of the game against a divisional foe.

🎥  The Follow: Episode 10

With HailState+ you get to watch wherever you want to watch. Web, mobile, and (later this year) all major OTT streaming apps like AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, Roku, and Android. We got it all.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Music City Bound. The only way to arrive to SEC Media Days is in style. The Bulldogs were dressed to impress yesterday in Nashville for Mississippi State’s turn at the unofficially official beginning of the college football season with loads of interviews and questions about State’s 2023-24 outlook.

🎥 Who Will Rogers thinks is going to have a breakout season

🧢 Coach Arnett knows our guys are football guys

💪 These Bulldogs are going to be a physical football team

🏈 Quick recap of Mississippi State’s time in Nashville

🔼 New Look Dawgs. It’s a new season for Bulldog football which means it’s time for a fresh new look. State released their new uniforms and helmets that will serve as the new primary set for home games going forward, and might we say they are looking extra clean!

🔼 Preseason Pride. A pair of Bulldogs woke up and found themselves on the 2023 SIS Preseason All-SEC Team. Linebacker Nathaniel Watson and return specialist Lideatrick (Tulu) Griffin were named to the preseason team as they prepare for big seasons at their respective positions.

🏈 Watson is returning for his final year in Starkville after a year that saw him finish with 113 total tackles and six sacks.

🏈 Griffin is coming off of a All-American selection last season after racking up 613 return yards and one return touchdown.

🔼 Moving On Up. Diamond Dawg Aaron Nixon signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees. As a sophomore in 2023, Nixon earned two saves and posted a 2.66 ERA through 20.1 innings of work.

🔼 Opponent Preview. Today, we’ll be previewing an opponent that the Dawgs are quite familiar with: the Arkansas Razorbacks!

Quick Hits

• Finished fifth in the SEC - West division at 7-6.

• Beat Kansas in the Liberty Bowl 55-53 in three overtimes

• Notable wins: vs. #14 Ole Miss at home, vs. #23 Cincinnati at home

• State has beaten the Razorbacks in three of the last five contests with two wins coming on the road.

• Expect a two-player show; Arkansas’ two best players are returning from last year and they just so happen to be the quarterback and starting running back. Look for the run game early and play-action to follow

Arkansas Players To Watch

🏈 QB KJ Jefferson: the Razorbacks will lean heavily on the eighth highest-graded returning player in all of college football (according to PFF). Last season he threw for 2,648 yards with 24 touchdowns and five picks. On the ground he went for another 640 yards and nine more touchdowns. Keep the eyes on Mr. Jefferson.

🏈 RB Raheim Sanders: the speedster opted to return to Fayetteville for likely his last season after putting up 1,443 rushing yards and 12 total touchdowns.

🏈 DB Dwight McGlothern: the 13 game starter steps into a big role on defense after leading the team last season in interceptions with four on the year.

What Happened Last Year?

In a top-25 matchup, the Bulldogs took care of business in Starkville in a not-so-close 40-17 thumping of the Arkansas Razorbacks to move to 5-1 on the season.

State finished the game with 568 total yards of offense with QB Will Rogers accounting for 406 through the air. It was never a close game with the Bulldogs holding at least a two touchdown lead for most of the game.

This season though, the Bulldogs will likely have to face KJ Jefferson who did not play in last year’s contest.

🤔 BULLDOG TRIVIA

In The Polls. Following State’s win against Arkansas, the Bulldogs reached their highest ranking in the AP Poll of the season.

Our question today — can you remember what that ranking was?

Think you know the answer? Scroll on down to the bottom to find out.

📬 STICK WITH US

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🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: 16th!

The Bulldogs moved all the way up to No. 16 in the AP Poll after defeating Arkansas by 20+ points. It was State’s highest ranking of the season.

Have a great Wednesday, y'all.