Can EA College Football 26 Predict the Mississippi State vs. Southern Miss Game?

We fired up EA College Football 26 to simulate Mississippi State vs. Southern Miss. Here’s how the Bulldogs handled the Golden Eagles.

Bully XXII, Dak, during the game between the UMass Minutemen and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

Mississippi State’s roster has roughly 60 new players on it and Southern Miss has even more new players, plus an entirely new coaching staff.

Good luck trying to figure out what’s going to happen at 11 a.m. Saturday when the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles kickoff the 2025 season.

Sure, plenty of people will try to predict what’s going to happen and you can look at the betting lines to get an idea, but none of us know.

Or do we?

In an effort to explore different ways of trying to predict Saturday’s game, we fired up the Xbox and loaded up EA College Football 26 and what follows below is a recap of that game. We also have the full game recorded on our YouTube channel.

As far as game settings, we set the difficulty to Heisman, five minute quarters, matched the start time and gave the game clear weather conditions. We did not adjust any rosters or move players around on the depth chart and neither team had a player controlling it.

Here’s a quick summary:

Mississippi State jumped out to a 21-0 lead behind a pair of passing touchdowns by Blake Shapen, including a 51-yard strike to Jordan Mosley for the game’s first points.

The Bulldogs’ defense kept the Golden Eagles’ offense at bay until late in the first half when Southern Miss drove to the Bulldogs’ 40-yard line.

Late in the first half, Southern Miss was able to drive down the field, but a quarterback fumble was picked up by Tyler Woodard and returned 50 yards for a touchdown with 12 seconds left to play in the first half.

In the second half, Southern Miss continued to move the ball on offense and the defense held Mississippi State to just three points in the second half. A pair of fourth quarter touchdowns by the Golden Eagles made things somewhat interesting, but Mississippi State’s lead was never truly in danger and the Bulldogs start the season 1-0.

Final Score: Mississippi State 24, Southern Miss 14

Real-life conclusions?

Honestly, this feels like a very realistic way this game plays out. Mississippi State comes out strong, builds a multi-possession lead, forces a turnover or two and Southern Miss cuts into late in the game.

There were some unrealistic things in the game, like Davon Booth not getting a single carry, but for the most part, I wouldn’t be surprised if by about 3 p.m. Saturday this proves to be way more accurate than we thought.