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Mississippi State Is One of the Most Underrated Teams In the Country in 2021, Here's Why

The Bulldogs haven't gotten proper recognition ahead of the season, or much ever over recent history.

Mississippi State hasn't garnered a great deal of national respect and attention ahead of the 2021 season after finishing out last year with a 4-7 overall record between the regular season and the postseason. 

With a full offseason and somewhat of a return to normalcy between last year and this year, the Bulldogs are in a much better position than where they were around this time last year.

In fact, they may actually be one of the most underrated teams in both the Southeastern Conference and in all of college football.

Here's why.

Mike Leach's track record.

Leach is second to just one SEC head football coach (Nick Saban) in career wins -- the Air Raid guru's track record speaks for itself.

Formerly serving as the head coach of Texas Tech and Washington State, Leach put two lesser-known programs on the match, and neither of them have been the same since his departure.

The Cougars went 3-9 overall, 1-8 in Pac-12 play during Leach's first season with the team. The second season showed much improvement, as Wazzu finished out the year with a 6-7 overall record (4-5 in the conference) and became bowl eligible for the first time in a decade.

Under Leach, the team had four winning seasons (all consecutive). Their best finish was in 2018 when they recorded an overall record of 11-2 with a 28-26 victory over the Iowa State Cyclones in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Over eight seasons under Leach, the team had six bowl appearances and a national ranking. In the eight years before he was with the team, the Cougars had a 29-66 overall record with zero bowl appearances and had never seen the national rankings.

In Leach's 10 years at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders reached a bowl game every season and were ranked in five of those seasons. There were two nine-win seasons and 11-win season. 2008 was the best year Leach had there, when his team cracked its way into top-10 and Leach was named National Coach of the Year.

Tech hasn't finished a season ranked since Leach's departure.

The best secondary in the nation and a respectable defense.

It's a close contest between LSU and Mississippi State for the title of best secondary in the nation, but there's a difference here. The Bulldogs' secondary was all but totally snubbed from the preseason watch list outside of cornerback Emmanuel Forbes making the Bednarik Award watch list, while the Tigers' players were much more widely recognized.

Forbes and the rest of the secondary have been immensely impressive and are poised for a huge season.

Forbes was named to the 2020 AP All-Bowl Team, made the 2020 Freshman All-SEC Team and was named a True Freshman All-America defensive back after last season.

He was just a freshman in 2020, and before the start of the 2021 season, leads all active FBS student-athletes in interception return touchdowns (3), tied for No. 2 in the country in defensive touchdowns (3), tied for No. 8 in non-offensive touchdowns (3) and interception return yards (183).

Fellow cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. was recently named a Preseason All-American by Athlon Sports after making a statement as a sophomore in 2021 with 72 total tackles (45 solo) and 11 pass breakups.

According to Pro Football Focus, Emerson led the conference in the latter category, which demands respect within such a tough conference.

Having safety Fred Peters, who was marred by injury, back in the lineup is also big for the Bulldogs.

The Jones County Junior College transfer who played his first game for MSU in 2019, earned his first career start against LSU in 2020, recording six tackles and one pass breakup in that game.

He graded out as the top rush defender (97.0) nationally and earned the fourth-highest defensive grade (91.3) among all defenders in the country according to PFF.

Between this, a pass rush that has looked strong all of fall camp and recorded 10 "sacks" in MSU's first scrimmage of the season and a strong linebacking corps with standouts like Aaron Brule within it, this could quickly become a dangerous group overall.

Versatile running backs who could be the best in the country.

Running back Jo'quavious Marks and Dillon Johnson were both just true freshmen last year. Ahead of this season, they were both nominated for the Doak Walker Award, presented annually to the best running back in the nation.

Mississippi State was the only team in the SEC to have multiple running backs placed on the watch list for the award, which speaks volumes not only about Marks and Johnson's abilities as players, but also the dividends that playing in the Air Raid offense pays in terms of developing great all-purpose backs.

In 2020, Marks led the Bulldogs in rushing yards and receptions, recording 325 yards on the ground, with 60 receptions for 268 yards.

Johnson finished out the season with 225 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns with 36 receptions for 157 yards. He had two rushing touchdowns against Georgia, making him the first MSU freshman running back since 2013 to score multiple rushing touchdowns in a single game.

Not enough appreciation for adversity and circumstances.

The coronavirus pandemic hit every college football team hard last year, but it affected some even more than others. What's meant by that? Mississippi State had one of the youngest teams in the Southeastern Conference and the nation with 26 first-time starters. This year, several of those players return and this is still very much a young team.

These players who were even lacked even less experience last year had to learn an entirely new scheme on either side of the ball over Zoom. In essence, getting better at anything involves repetition. When your offense is based on repetition and execution, the odds are pretty stacked against you with hardly a legitimate offseason to prepare.

The Bulldogs have had that this year, and between the promise the team has shown on defense and the potency of the passing attack that the Air Raid brings, 2021 could be something incredibly special. 

The end of last season

If you spend time watching the final stretch of the 2021 season, you'll notice that the team starts to get its feet under it, competing closely with tough competition like Georgia. The team appeared to have more cohesion as a whole and the offense found the closest semblance to a rhythm since the season opener when the Bulldogs shocked the LSU Tigers on the road.

The Bulldogs ended the 2020 season with two consecutive victories between a 51-32 win over Missouri in the season finale and a 28-26 win over Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl and will continue to build on that momentum. 

That starts with LA Tech on Saturday.