LSU football is set to open the 2020 college football season against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and both teams look quite different this year.
The Tigers lost 14 players to the draft alone, along with a slew of coaches and assistants.
Last season, the Tigers had some small struggles early on against the Bulldogs in Davis-Wade Stadium, but ultimately found little issue in putting them away in a 36-13 victory.
But the Bulldogs take on a totally new look, with Mike Leach at head coach and K.J. Costello the likely name to take the reins at quarterback.
Here’s an overview of the team Ed Orgeron’s Tigers will be up against as they kick off the season on Sept. 26 in Tiger Stadium.
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Who is Costello, and what can he accomplish in Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense?
Costello earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors for Stanford in 2018, starting all 13 games and passing for 3,540 yards — good for the second-highest single-season total in team history.
He completed 65.1% of his passes with 29 touchdowns, and led the conference in both pass efficiency (155) and yards per attempt (8.57).
Costello’s production was hindered by injuries in 2019, though, when he appeared in just five games.
Over those contests, Costello passed for 1,038 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions. The expectations are high for him in his new offense, and ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. already has him as the country’s No. 7 draft-eligible quarterback.
The graduate transfer should reasonably be expected to beat out Garrett Shrader, who began his true freshman campaign when Tommy Stevens was benched ahead of last year’s contest against LSU.
The dual-threat Shrader played in 10 games and started four last year, completing 57.5% of his passes for 1,170 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions.
So it is expected to be Costello at the helm at least for this year, and he should be able to put up some gaudy numbers in Leach’s scheme, which players like Anthony Gordon and Gardner Minshew have so benefited from in the past.
But as far as the signal-caller’s supporting cast is concerned, the wide receiver position has some question marks surrounding it.
It will be interesting to see who steps up within the group, with a lot of attention turned to Alabama graduate transfer Tyrell Shavers, who will compete for a starting role.
The Bulldogs haven’t had a receiver rack up more than 600 yards since 2016 — something that’s going to need to change for the passing game to be as effective as Leach hopes for it to be.
The offensive line in front of Costello is expected adequate, given the depth of the unit, despite losing a couple of last year’s starters. The Bulldogs had a solid group last year, and should be able to put together another this year.
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What about the ground game and Kylin Hill?
The Bulldogs return the star rusher for his senior season, and he’ll be guided by running backs coach Eric Mele.
Hill led the SEC in rushing yardage last year, racking up 1,350 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.
He contributed some in the passing game — something we may see him do more of this season — reeling in 18 receptions for 180 yards and one touchdown in 2019.
He’s poised to further expand upon that success heading into this season, and will be a crucial weapon once more for the offense. Hill will be a prospect to watch in April as one of the strongest rushers up for grabs in the 2021 NFL Draft.
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This is Zach Arnett’s defense now…
It was only back in 2018 that Mississippi State ranked first in total defense in the SEC, but the group dropped to No. 11 overall last year.
The new offense Leach brings to Starkville is going to be something to watch, but so is first-year defensive coordinator Zach Arnett’s 3-3-5 defensive scheme.
In his final two seasons with the San Diego State Aztecs, Arnett’s defense was among the top 15 in a host of categories, including rushing yards allowed per game, rushing yards allowed per carry, and yards allowed per play.
If he’s able to carry over this success to Starkville, the Bulldogs stand a good chance of returning to their former glory in the near future.
In terms of personnel, the Bulldogs lose some key pieces in players like defensive backs Cameron Dantzler and Jaquarius Landrews, defensive linemen Lee Autry and Kendell Jones, as well as linebackers Leo Lewis and Tim Washington.
But Arnett has considerable talent on the roster, with defensive backs C.J. Morgan and Marcus Murphy, linebackers Erroll Thompson and Aaron Brule to go with defensive linemen Kobe Jones and Nathan Pickering — just to name handful.
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About special teams…
Jace Christmann has been the man for the Bulldogs at placekicker for the past three seasons, nailing 32-of-40 career field-goal attempts.
This season, he’ll have to fight to secure his spot over Arizona State graduate transfer Brandon Ruiz, who made 37-of-49 field goals over two seasons with the program.
The Bulldogs return punter Tucker Day, who averaged 42.6 yards per punt last year. The primary place where Mississippi State will seek answers this year on special teams is with the return game, considering the team lost the majority of last year’s talent there.
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