Mississippi State football is last in the SEC West preseason poll. Will media be wrong again?

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football took the stage at SEC Media Days on July 18 – three days before the preseason media poll was scheduled to be released. However, the Bulldogs knew what was coming.
MSU, behind first-year coach Zach Arnett, was picked to finished last in the SEC West.
For the players representing Mississippi State in Nashville – seniors Will Rogers and Jo’quavious Marks along with sixth-year defensive lineman Jaden Crumedy – it’s nothing new. It’s the ninth time in the last 12 years the Bulldogs have been picked to finish at the bottom of college football’s most difficult division.
“We do use that as motivation,” Crumedy said.
However, Mississippi State has more than exceeded expectations determined in July for the past decade.
Since 2010, the Bulldogs have finished last in the SEC once (2020 in which coach Mike Leach was forced to implement a new offense in a pandemic-ridden offseason). That tally doesn’t include 2018 in which Mississippi State technically finished last due to vacated wins, but the Bulldogs were 4-4 and finished fourth in the SEC West before the punishment.
In that timespan, without taking vacated wins into account, every team in the division besides Alabama has finished at the bottom. Arkansas has done it on five occasions. Ole Miss has done it three times. Auburn has done it twice. LSU did it in 2021. Texas A&M did it last year.
Mississippi State has won 48 conference games since 2010. Ole Miss and Arkansas have won 40 and 35, respectively, in that span. Numbers such as those are why Arnett fired back when it was suggested MSU is a "smaller program" compared to other teams in the West.
“I don’t know where you’re getting that line from,” Arnett said.
The doubt surrounding Mississippi State extends to individual players. Among the noteworthy snubs from the three preseason All-SEC teams was linebacker Jett Johnson.
Johnson led the SEC in tackles last year and had 203 tackles the past two seasons. Nine linebackers were given preseason honors ahead of him.
Wide receiver Lideatrick Griffin, who has made a name for himself on special teams, was selected to the third team as a return specialist. Griffin not only led the SEC in average yards per return last year, he led the nation. He has been in the top five nationally in average yards per return in back-to-back seasons and has returned two touchdowns.
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Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry, who was the first team selection, led the SEC with 15.86 yards per punt return last year and has returned one kickoff for four yards in the last two seasons. Ainias Smith, the second team selection out of Texas A&M, hasn’t returned a kickoff since 2019. Last year, he returned eight punts for 27 yards after averaging 11.3 yards per punt return in 2021.
Arnett has been one to point to statistics in proving his argument about Mississippi State being underrated. If the Bulldogs again exceed expectations, he’ll have plenty of receipts to site in November.