2024 Bulldog Football Early Opponent Preview, Game 1

The final day of August will be a day of many firsts for Mississippi State on the gridiron. It’s the first game of the 2024 season, but also the first game for new coach Jeff Lebby and it will be the first time the Bulldogs face FCS foe Eastern Kentucky.

Lebby, who has spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, inherits a Mississippi State team that finished 5-7 and just one win SEC play a year ago. He’ll also be debuting a new starting quarterback for the Bulldogs. MSU lost its two most-used quarterbacks last season, Will Rogers and Mike Wright, and only Chris Parson has experience under center for MSU.

Toss in the normal offseason changes every college football program faces and Aug. 31 will truly be a new day dawning. And it starts with Eastern Kentucky.

Here’s an early look at Eastern Kentucky as we begin to preview Mississippi State’s opponents for the upcoming season.

Offense

Eastern Kentucky will be debuting a new starting quarterback, too. Last season’s starer Parker McKinney graduated, leaving the door open for one of the six quarterbacks on the roster to take over.

The team’s leading rusher from a year ago, Braeden Sloan, transferred to Ball State this offseason. But senior Joshua Carter returns after running for 714 yards and four touchdowns while catching 21 passes for 147 yards.

Eastern Kentucky must also replace the loss of its top two pass catchers from a year ago. Tight end Hunter Brown returns with the most experience after catching 33 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns last season.

Defense

Like its offensive counterpart, Easter Kentucky’s defense will have undergone plenty of changes itself by Aug. 31. The Colonials do return two players who had career seasons in 2023.

Defensive lineman Darrian Baker had a career-high 22 tackles, one forced fumble and led the team with four sacks in 11 starts last season. Defensive back Mike Smith had two interceptions in his first season for Eastern Kentucky, while also registering 56 tackles and 11 pass breakups.

Schedule

The first game of the season can be unpredictable, but Eastern Kentucky didn’t have much success against Power 5 teams last year. The Colonials ended 2023 with a 5-6 overall record that includes a pair of losses to Cincinnati and Kentucky.

Outlook

The first weekend of college football is full of Power 5 programs paying FCS opponents to come to them for what is basically a preseason game.

MSU is paying Eastern Kentucky $550,000 to travel to Starkville for Lebby’s first game. The Bulldogs will be expected to win, but as Michigan and Texas A&M fans know, these kinds of games don’t always end joyfully for the home team. MSU, though, has plenty of reasons why it needs to have a strong performance to start the season.

The Bulldogs have only three games before they start SEC play against Florida on Sept. 21. That’s not a lot of time for a new coach and starting quarterback to get in synch with each other and the rest of the team. Fans should expect for their Bulldogs to play hard and start 1-0 before heading to Tempe, Ariz. the following week.

The Game

When is the game?

Saturday, August 31

What time is the game?

5 p.m. CT

What channel is the game televised on?

SEC Network+

Where is the game played?

Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville, Miss.

What is the series history between MSU and Eastern Kentucky?

This will be the first ever meeting between the two teams.

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