A New Chapter Set To Begin
August 31, 2023 | Football, Joel Coleman
Opportunity awaits across the board as the Bulldogs start the 2023 season.
STARKVILLE – New beginnings bring intrigue. It's only natural. It'll be no different for Mississippi State when the Bulldogs kick off the 2023 season this weekend against Southeastern Louisiana.
What, exactly, will State look like under first-year head coach Zach Arnett? How quickly will offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay's system click? Will the Dawg defense change at all under the leadership of Matt Brock?
All that and more will start to be answered when toe hits leather around 3 p.m. Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.
The key word there is 'start', for this is only the opening stanza of a 12 (or more) verse song that'll carry on through, hopefully, somewhere around New Year's Day.
"It'll be exciting to see how our team performs," Arnett said. "We work year-round for only 12 guaranteed opportunities, and here's our first one."
Opportunity awaits indeed, across the board.
Opportunity is there for senior quarterback Will Rogers to start showing that, while he's rewritten the MSU record book and excelled over his entire career in an Air Raid offense, he's far from a system quarterback.
"I think this is definitely the most confident I've ever been in my game," Rogers said. "I know who I am, I know how I work and I know how I prepare. I know there'll be some people that have some doubts about that and whether I can carry over [the success] into a new system or whatever it may be, but I have no doubts about myself in any system whatsoever."
Opportunity exists for running back Jo'Quavious Marks to begin shining brighter than ever thanks to a Barbay attack that's likely to put more emphasis on the ground game than what MSU's had over the previous three years.
Linebackers Jett Johnson and Nathaniel Watson will have the opportunity to commence their quests to again be the Southeastern Conference's tackling kings.
The list goes on and on.
Optimism for State's potential to take advantage of its opportunities and put together a special season has been built over the previous weeks. However, all that comes with an asterisk.
This team hasn't measured itself up against a squad wearing different colors yet. Finally, that's about to change.
"Obviously, we're excited to see what we've got this year," Arnett said. "We had spring, an offseason and fall camp. Now it's time to see if we actually go out there and execute and play quality football."
The group looking to put an early-season speedbump in MSU's way is a Southeastern Louisiana team that knows a thing or two about success. The Lions are fresh off a nine-win season that saw them earn the Southland Conference championship in 2022. They bring back 17 players from last year's squad that have been chosen as preseason All-Southland Conference performers.
It's an FCS foe for the Bulldogs, but it's an FCS foe with quite the resume. The Lions will certainly have State's full attention.
"They're extremely dynamic on offense [and can] put up a lot of points on everyone," Arnett said of his Saturday opposition. "They're fundamentally sound and schematically sound on defense. They make you earn everything you get…We've got our hands full this week."
Of course, with the slate ahead, it's a good thing the Dawgs will be facing a hungry, talented challenger right out of the gate. For as the year goes along, the tests will only get tougher.
Considering that, maybe this is the biggest Saturday opportunity of all: the opportunity to improve and sharpen the skills for the long road that awaits.
"If we play our best game [of the year] Saturday, we're not doing something right," Rogers said. "We want to play well Saturday but [then] get better every week. Saturday does not need to be the finish line for us."
