Mississippi State Football Pinned As Potential 'Dark Horse' Team Ahead of 2022 Season

Mississippi State football could be a team to watch in 2022.

Mississippi State football put together some impressive wins in 2021, including the largest comeback in school history with the 43-34 road win over Auburn and upset victories over ranked teams like Kentucky and Texas A&M. 

With some questionable officiating throughout the season and the fact MSU lost three games by within a margin of three points, the 7-6 final record it finished the season with isn't reflective of the actual talent and the progress made after the Bulldogs won just four games in 2020.

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports recently pinned the Bulldogs as a 'dark horse' team that could take a step forward in 2022, something that would be in accordance with what has happened with Mike Leach's teams in the past.

“If you look at Mike Leach teams traditionally, his teams tend to take a step forward in Year 3 or 4,” Fornelli said. “It happened at Texas Tech. It happened at Washington State. It could happen at Mississippi State. The only thing that gives me pause is if you look at their schedule They’re in the SEC, so it’s never going to be easy, but they’ve got to got to LSU, Kentucky, Alabama, and Ole Miss. They also draw Georgia from the East. That’s probably going to limit them record-wise, but this is a team that, if it finished third in the SEC West, I won’t be shocked.”

The Bulldogs have one of the best cornerbacks in the nation in Emmanuel Forbes heading into the season in addition to quarterback Will Rogers, who is set to be one of the best at the position in the SEC and a dark horse himself to be one of the best signal-callers in the country.

With an older and more experienced team than they've had in the Leach era, big things could be in store for the Bulldogs as they face arguably the toughest schedule in the nation this fall.