Dave Bartoo's preview of the 2024 Ms State Bulldog Football team

e oh man crazy man Diamond day bar two handicapping some college football for us I think we've done Oklahoma Texas Texas A&M and Old Miss so now we're going to do Mississippi State uh you may need to pour a glass of bourbon for this next 15 minutes or so we welcome in Diamond day bar two on the Farm Bureau Insurance guest Line This is ESPN 1059 The Zone brought to you by the super cool sports book at the Golden Moon Casino sports book and Lounge Pearl River Resort all right Diamond Dave you ready dude I am totally ready man I uh just coming in off the river uh from fly fishing this morning uh down here in southern Oregon and uh it's just just another beautiful day uh of uh of chilling out uh in in August before things really rev up in September dude this guy has already called his lunch could have dinner and probably already fine tuned his bow for El hunting in 3 weeks and now he's about to drop some knowledge uh we may get two teams in but we're definitely going to go Mississippi State and then who knows we may go Alburn or something like that maybe LSU all right um bar two let's start let's I don't know three games at a time um Mississippi State opens with Eastern Kentucky at home they go to tempy Arizona to play Arizona State and then they host Toledo now this is a rebuild for Jeff lebby so you have the floor how do you see it well it it is a rebuild because what what are we what are we not up to uh three years down what's the what's the roller coaster three or four years since Dan um Dan's last year was 17 and then Morehead took over an 18 so we're six years removed from Dan oh years down with your fourth coach which is not a recipe for Success now well it's yeah so it's been six years so it's just it's just a roller coaster so I mean and then trying to rebuild uh with this kind of offense um I think it's going to be you know it's going to be an extra year or two just trying to figure it out because traditionally Mississippi state is a defensive football program you know you look at you look at the program over the last 10 years uh they have the fifth most defensive starts in the NFL over the last 10 years this is a defensive school it's not an offensive school you don't put anybody in the offense really from the NFL I know everybody's screaming down okay you got one guy but outside of that when you look at the numbers offense is om miss defense is State I bet you got some monster guys on your defense this year you know you just that's what the school produces so um but yeah this is what what what what are you feeling on this you you feeling like a three and 0 start or you feeling more two and one because you got to get the W right out of the gate against Eastern Kentucky right I mean there's no if hands or butts about the whole season with that then you go to the road to Mississippi State or Arizon Arizona state that wor that worries me Arizon why because of the rebuild lebby uh I I I know but it's I mean if that game worries you we should stop talking about the rest of this schedule dude because because Arizona state has no Staffing right I mean you you have a better staff than Arizona State you have far better players than Arizona state they're on your team two you're on year one I mean the only thing they really got going for them it's early and it's at Arizona State I still believe you guys should win that football game okay you have a better staff you have better Talent two and I always STI yeah I got two out of three right I got better staff I got better Talent I'm taking Mississippi State starting two and 0 and then you get home against Toledo now this one this is a good Trap game because look Toledo doesn't recruit at the SEC level you and I both know that right but this is one of the best coach staffs in all of college football um candle is a good offensive coordinator and look at week four this the Toledo is a great Trap game for your for your guys to not pay attention and look forward to Florida coming into Starkville the following week so don't get caught up one game at a time should be three and 0 really should be three and 0 uh because you got a big Talent Edge across the board in all three games so uh um I think that I think actually the toughest game I'd be more afraid of Toledo at home being overlooked than going on the road at Arizona State oh all right so three and 0 they have to be three and0 to even try to get to to five um Florida at home so I know Florida has more talent but we don't really know what they are either and it's been a struggle down there in Gainesville post Urban Meyer for everybody other than Dan was phenomenal for two years so um you know when you say on this game when you say hey Florida has an edge it's inst startable how much of an edge do they have bar two uh talent wise not a huge one coaching wise uh I think it depends on who's calling plays uh because you know Armstrong has been a DC for three years now uh at at Southern Miss and at Florida in two of the three years he has a bottom 10 defense in uh of 133 teams in college football so um if he's calling the place then who knows uh because his defenses just simply don't perform um that being said you're getting Florida early uh if they're going to fall apart uh and if the wheels come off it's going to be late that's just uh that that's a tough game I'm just like I'm doing with Toledo and Arizona State I'm just sticking with the talent in this one um sure a lot of people I'm sure a lot of State fans be like oh no we got it we're going to get that game Florida ain't no good look Florida may not be what Florida used to be but they're still really really Talent talented and this is year one of the rebuild um you know for all games for all games not just this game you know what I see is I I think you are going to get massive scoring on both sides of the football okay I think that's that's one of the things before you know kind of a little side sidebar on this uh while I was thinking about it before before you called is I think I think Mississippi State football games this year as a whole the totals are going to be huge because lebby is top three in the last 15 years all offensive coordinators FBS F FCS top three in Pace of play so you are going to be I mean you're gonna be snapping the ball as faster than anything you've seen in the SEC he's just going to it's going to go go go go go but that's going to force probably 85 to 95 plays on your DC who's never called plays before so you know if if if you as as you always said if we're goingon to lose at least lose entertaining right uh so I I think you're gonna get a lot of high scoring football games but I'm I'm I I think what you're saying is you feel that Florida is more 5050 because of the Florida situation um than maybe in past years so you know if you want to go three and a half at a half that's cool I'll go three and one uh through the first four games okay yeah no I I think I think it's at Le at least 55 45 um 55% chance they win you know um maybe a little bit maybe closer to 60 it maybe 6040 but I don't know something crazy could happen maybe they have a chance to win late um all right the next game uh that's a that's a loss they they have to go to Austin Texas to play Texas part two dude the next three is horrible dude then the next three physically and mentally is just are you kidding me at Texas at Georgia A&M right so you got top top 10 recruiter number one recruiter top 15 recruiter right a and you know this is even if you don't win all of those games even if you just get one out of two would be phenomenal I don't think you're going to win any of them and but now you have the physicality part of it your guys are GNA be just beat to hell I mean just that that is just so much big boy football in a row um you know the the the game after those three now comes into question because physically and mentally you know where where is the team at so yeah you go to Texas I think you and I would agree that's a loss you go to Georgia that's a loss you host A&M that's a loss right so now if we started three and0 and are we on a four game losing streak or we four and three that that Florida game when you start looking back at it that's a pretty big football game uh in the scope of this schedule especially with those three teams in a row um you know you do get A&M with with new coaching staff you get Elco so it's a new coaching staff staff versus new coaching staff but I just think the talent profile at A&M is just too much to be betting on Mississippi State in that football game even in starkell okay so you've got them on a four-game losing streak three and four they host Arkansas you feel like they can win that game yes I do I do I I'll take state to win that game but again here's the difficulty uh of the schedule in that if Arkansas if this was a week two a week three a week four game if they were playing Arkansas before Texas Georgia A&M you know I I think I think the health of of Mississippi State um is is big in this football game now I don't I want to look at Arkansas real quick let me see what Arkansas has coming into okay so Arkansas this's a little quid pro quo here boss little quid pro quo so we're laughing about Mississippi State having Texas and um Georgia and A&M before hosting Arkansas but before Arkansas goes to Mississippi State they get LSU Tennessee A&M and [Music] Auburn so so every everybody's body and brains are going to be messed up for that game so I feel I feel good about we'll go with Mississippi State getting the win at home against Arkansas because both teams uh that might be your lowest scoring game of the season I don't know who is going to be up uh for that after the previous month for both of these squads I'll make sure to pack more bourbon uh day bar two on the Farm Bureau Insurance guest line he's handicapping uh the Mississippi State schedule UMass in startable Du then they go to Knoxville bar two yeah they go to Knoxville and that's that's going to be another loss right there top 10 our top 15 recruiter top 15 coaching staff on the road Tennessee has the three boxes check so I think that's as easy one to call as Texas and Georgia as well so what are we sitting at we're sitting at three and0 three wins four wins five so maybe five yeah five five and a half again that Florida one so we're sitting at five and a half and that Florida one's that that Florida game may or may not be bold eligibility right because look I know Missouri is ranked really high everywhere okay and I get it um you know they they upgraded their defensive staff uh they kept coaching continuity on the offensive side they got a ton of guys back they were gifted a schedule you know I mean that that was a it was a great schedule for for Missouri um but it's at it's at Starkville so I I think this is your other coin flip game right here is and I know a lot of people think I'm crazy but um you know I like what drink has done but from a talent perspective Ive Missouri is Mississippi State right they they just have they just have more continuity with roster they got more continuity with coaching but it's on the road um you know now the nice thing for Missouri is they they don't have anything around this game that screams Trap game right because right before Mississippi State Missouri's at South Carolina um and then right after Mississippi state Missouri hosts Arkansas and and so Missouri has a great final three gam so I don't think they're going to lose their focus and I don't think they're gonna be too beat up for that football game so the timing on that one uh is a bit rough I I personally just think it's more of a coin flip than people are giving credit for that game today um but again end of November long ways to go health and a lot of things go into what's going to play out in that game uh November 23rd okay so Missouri um they pull A&M alurn and B and Oklahoma I mean those are their toughest games and then bar mentioned their three- game stretch of South Carolina Mississippi State and Arkansas who are three of the I mean outside of Vanderbilt uh three of the lowest ranked teams in in the conference just kind of depends on pick your poison um yeah and people believe that Arkansas and South Carolina along with Vanderbilt uh could lose their coaches at the at the end of the year so I think that's where bar2 is going but I don't know if Missouri's going have that much success against A&L Auburn Alabama and Oklahoma I don't know I don't I think they're good but I don't think they're that good part two no but but again the schedule set you know you you you you get you're rolling out four and0 right I mean Buffalo Murray State Boston College Vanderbilt right cupcake cupcake cupcake gets all it's all over right um I wonder what the Fin's going to be this year for losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC that'll be interesting um you know and then game three you're on the road at A&M but again all new coaching staff bam that's a great opportunity and then you host you then you go to then you play UMass uh you know so you should be six and ho uh and it's not because they're really good it's just that their recruited Talent is far outweighs the schedule uh and then you got a little bit of meat right you host Auburn and you host Oklahoma so again you have you have location advantages the only really game that they got stung with is at Alabama um and then you finish up with on the road at South Carolina you got you got better Talent than South Carolina you're on the road at Mississippi State uh you got even better or better Talent than Mississippi State and then you host Arkansas you know and Arkansas may not you know win a whole lot of games either so yeah it's it's set up for Missouri I mean got you got to be looking what top three schedules in the SEC so uh we got off a little bit off the rails there so we just previewed Missouri all right let's go to LSU uh so real real quick you know Mississippi well let's let's Mississippi State we still have egg bow right it's that Old Miss so we're taking Old Miss there so you know we we we got four we got four wins non-conference right they should went all four non-conference games and your coin flips are going to be Florida Arkansas Missouri and all of those all of those are at home all of those are at home so so you know if you go two and one there's there's there's bull eligibility which would be awesome it would be awesome but I think they think the whole season is going to boil down to not blowing it in non-conference games which you can totally do and those three coin flip games at home that's the season right there for me Dave bar two The Matrix Man Diamond Dave on the out of bound show brought to you by Pearl River Resort and the Golden Moon Casino Sports book and lounge do you want to rip through LSU real quick or do you want to call it here we we can we can let me let me let me try to find let me get LSU's schedule here I've got it pull that up real quick I got it right here here we go here we go what are we gonna do coach Kelly about that offensive coordinator that ain't called plays too well in his career you know struggle um L LSU is just kind of a quandry to me just because you had all the defensive turnover now they're defensive staff by our grading system um they upgraded the defensive staff by just over 24% in terms of career grades it's the second biggest jump uh in all of FBS football so they they really flipped the defensive side but offensively they went X-Man up which we'll see if Sloan can do it you know you and I both know LSU is Uber talented um you know second most NFL STS from a college program over the last 10 years so LSU just just drips with NFL Talent uh right out of the gate though uh USC now that's gotta be is that a neutral game yesal Las Vegas or is it in Baton Rouge oh it's in Vegas all right so you got you got two totally retooled defenses here USC and LSU um what you know but I think you got to go with the talent LSU is a top five high school recruiter USC is not even a top 25 high school recruiter you know USC lost their way uh in in terms of that so and they got a guy defensive coordinator yeah he's calling us 13th game ever so I I like LSU uh in that neutral field game I think the Staffing is better I think the players are better um early in that one then you go Nicholls right two and0 and then at South Carolina three and 0 oh and then punching bag let's just go with the first four this is a four this is a 4-0 schedule it's a really good schedule because UCLA isn't going to win two or three games right UCLA is going to be the Colorado of the Big 10 they'll they'll win two one or two three games uh they'll all be non-conference games uh but UCLA is going to get absolutely boat raced uh this year so I I like LSU coming out of the gate uh 4-0 actually five and0 look at that South Alabama game five right so I mean this is a wonderful schedule for LSU to stay healthy to start 5 and0 and really get this thing revved up before they get into the media schedule all right bar two talking LSU Tigers handicapp in their schedule and then they host Old Miss after a week off in Baton Rouge Bar two Talent home field I mean Old Miss has a better staff you know top 10 in the country uh in our book uh but I'm taking the I'm taking the home field with better Talent I'm going LSU at 6 and0 through six games and then they go on the road to Arkansas and that's not a trap game right so you and I are both taking LSU over Arkansas where what are we at seven and0 yeah you know um then October 28th I don't think there is there a A or 26 I need glasses man uh they play Texas A&M in College Station right in College Station now here's your trap game right this this is this is your trap game um I'm taking A&M in this one uh but I see this really is a more of a coin flip game and part of it I just don't believe LSU can run the table uh but they certainly have the talent to do it and but I don't believe they have the full coaching to do it and the reason this is a trap game is because the very next week who they hosting well they take a week off and then they host Bama right but I I just think me the me the mentality of it is if if there was a trap game that would be it right because there's no other trap games on the rest of their schedule uh and and honestly I'm trying to find losses here um because it just can't be that smooth in in in in in an SEC schedule so uh but I I don't see outside of Old Miss no reason not to go into that undefeated against A&M uh then they host Alabama and again that one's at home I mean what what what whoever made the schedule for LSU I mean they they tipped somebody good for that one um right uh and so and this is without saving at LSU God I I mean I I hate to say it but you know the the numbers say LSU should win that football game as well and the same thing next week right I mean it's just every time you I every game I'm looking forward on this schedule it's it's like gift gift you get Old Miss at home then you then your next game is not tough it's at Arkansas then you get ANM with a new coaching staff then you get a week off then you get Bama at home and Bama has a new coaching staff so that should be a win and then you're going on the road the next week to Florida and who knows what Florida's going to be by November right right you know will Napier still be there who knows yeah yeah we do know phys physically they're they're going to be just just hammered me at that point right so you got to really like LSU and that one uh and then better than a buy Vanderbilt comes into town and you finish up with Oklahoma at home gosh man I had looked schedule in depth until just now and it's like son of a man it it's just lined up it's absolutely lined up should be a should be a 10 and two playoff team really is what it should be um and if it's not then this is a window of opportunity missed you you you don't get schedule and when when you get when youall go into nine games 26 yeah yeah you know the the Missouri Miss LSU they've been gifted schedules right you start going through these things and some some teams have good ones some teams have have bad ones and for a top five top top 10 recruiter like LSU to be gifted this kind of schedule to go nine and three and finish in the top 25 and miss a 12 team playoff that's uh that's that's that's tough that's tough and so we we'll see if if they can if they can handle it but man this schedule just sets them up we're going 10 and two um and I know we've talked about it you want to be 10 and if you're going to be 10 and two you do not want the SEC title game right you do not want the SEC title game you want 10 and two and no risk if you're 10 and two going to the title game as the underdog you got to win 10 and three teams are outside the top 12 more than 10 and two teams you don't want that 13th game folks that is Diamond da baru on hail State and LSU handicapping two more teams the guy is already been fly fishing and tuned his bow today and uh and then he just dropped some college football knowledge on us bar two thanks buddy see you dude see you brother brought to you by Wilderness Trail bourbon the weeded and the r and the r scored 97 points and it's amazing with the steak or a cigar from Spring Street cigars in staro [Applause] [Music]