Mississippi State Preview

Sloppy. Ugly. Those were some of the adjectives used to describe ASU’s season-opening win over NAU. And even as a touchdown favorite on the road versus Mississippi State, some questions need answering by the Sun Devils this weekend. Will the Bulldogs prove to be a formidable opponent?

Mississippi State Offense

At quarterback, Mississippi State returns a familiar face in Blake Shapen, who started against ASU for MSU last fall in Tempe but also has additional ties to Arizona State.

As Sun Devil fans may remember, Shapen was verbally committed to ASU from June through December of 2019 before ultimately signing with Baylor, where he was also on the Bears’ baseball roster. Last season was supposed to be Shapen’s final year of college eligibility, but injury issues limited him to four early season games, allowing him to redshirt.

In total – including last week’s game – Shapen has 6,818 career passing yards with 45 touchdowns to 15 interceptions, along with 225 career rushing yards with eight scores.

Against Southern Miss in the 2025 opener, Shapen completed 26-of-34 passes (76.5%) for 270 yards with a touchdown and an interception, with five net yards on six carries.

Former Florida State quarterback Luke Kromenhoek, the No. 4 quarterback prospect in the 2024 class who transferred to MSU this offseason, saw action in week one as well, completing one of his three pass attempts for seven yards and rushing for 21 yards on three carries.

At running back, Davon Booth and Fluff Bothwell can both be expected to be frequently featured on Saturday.

Booth, a Third-Team All-SEC pick last season as an all-purpose performer, had 1,231 all-purpose yards in 2024 to rank fifth in the conference.

Last season with South Alabama before transferring to Mississippi State, Bothwell had 832 rushing yards on an outstanding 7.5 yards per carry with 13 touchdowns, along with 13 catches for 92 yards. As a freshman last year, the 230-pound Bothwell had four 100-yard rushing games and five games with two touchdown runs.

In game one, Booth was the team leader with 79 yards on 16 carries, including a touchdown, along with a 12-yard reception. Meanwhile, Bothwell added 43 yards on 10 carries, scoring two touchdowns. Johnnie Daniels also totaled 28 rushing yards on four carries while catching three passes for 19 yards.

The wide receivers group figures to feature Brenen Thompson, Jordan Mosely, and Anthony Evans III as the starters.

Thompson, who began his career at Texas before spending 2023-24 at Oklahoma prior to transferring to Mississippi State this offseason, posted team-highs of seven receptions for 92 yards against Southern Miss last week, while Evans, a transfer from Georgia, tallied four catches for 36 yards.

At Oklahoma, Thompson had 26 combined receptions for 471 yards with four touchdowns across the 2023-24 seasons, while Evans had 13 combined receptions for Georgia across the 2023-24 seasons.

Mosley and Ayden Williams each added two receptions in week one. Mosley began his career at Northwestern but has been with the Bulldog program since 2022, while Williams transferred in this offseason from rival Ole Miss. Mosley is MSU’s leading returning receiver from 2024 as he had 23 catches for 405 yards with three scores last fall.

At tight end, Seydou Traore is listed as the starter, who, with his performance last week, reached an even 100 career receptions.

Traore had an excellent 2025 debut with five catches for 77 yards and the only touchdown reception scored by the Bulldogs last week. He had 34 receptions for 361 yards and a touchdown last year for MSU, and from 2021 to 2022, he had 61 total receptions, including 50 catches and four touchdowns in 2022.

Along the offensive line, Albert Reese IV and Blake Steen are tagged as the starters at left and right tackle, respectively, but there is a bit of uncertainty regarding the projected starters along the interior line positions.

At left guard, Jacoby Jackson or Luke Work might start, with either Zack Owens or Trevor Mayberry at right guard. At center, Canon Boone or Brennan Smith is expected to start against Arizona State.

Last weekend versus Southern Miss, the starting offensive line featured Reese at left tackle, Jackson at left guard, Boone at center, Owens at right guard, and Steen at right tackle.

Reese started all 12 games last year for MSU and has 14 career starts entering this weekend, while Steen also started all 12 games of the 2024 season for the Bulldogs, and he brings 18 career starts into Saturday’s game. Reese’s 14 starts with Mississippi State are the most by any current offensive player on the roster in terms of career starts, specifically with the Bulldogs.

Jackson, who spent the 2021-23 seasons at Texas Tech before transferring to MSU, started 11 games in 2024 and has 26 career starts. Boone, who has been with the Bulldog program since 2021, made his first career collegiate start last week.

Smith spent 2021-23 at Austin Peay, where he played with former Sun Devils Dee Ford and Shamari Simmons, and then transferred to UTEP in 2024 before relocating to Mississippi State this offseason. With 31 career collegiate starts, Smith has the most career starts among all Bulldog offensive linemen.

Mayberry played at Penn from 2021-22 and at Stanford in 2023-24 and has collected 26 career starts, with 17 of them at the FCS level with Pennsylvania. Work started seven games as a true freshman last year, while Owens, who spent the 2023 season with Clemson and 2024 with Colorado, earned his first collegiate start last week. 

Mississippi State Offense Summary

Behind an efficient and experienced quarterback and a talented group of running backs, Mississippi State will look to attack the Sun Devil defense on the ground and use its athletic, speedy receivers, along with its talented tight end.

Against a veteran quarterback like Shapen, ASU will need to boost its pass rush effectiveness – a matter that plagued Arizona State last season and was not a strength of last week’s win – while the Sun Devil defense also must look to press Shapen into uncharacteristic turnover situations.

Mississippi State Defense

Along the MSU defensive line, Kedrick Bingley-Jones is slated to start at defensive tackle with Jaray Bledsoe at nose tackle, with either Branden Jennings or Malick Sylla at the “Jack” position and either Deonte Anderson or Will Whitson at defensive end.

The week one starters up front consisted of Bingley-Jones and Bledsoe, along with Anderson and Jennings.

Whitson was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against Southern Miss in the opener, as he had four tackles, including 2.5 for loss, with a sack and four quarterback hurries.

Also in MSU’s 2025 season opener, Sylla had six tackles, including a pass breakup; Bledsoe registered four tackles, including half a tackle for loss; Jennings collected three tackles; Anderson had two tackles; and Bingley-Jones tallied one tackle.

In 2024, Jennings posted 56 tackles including 5.0 for loss with 1.5 sacks, while Anderson had 18 tackles including 2.5 for loss with 0.5 sacks and Bingley-Jones had seven tackles in four games before a season-ending injury. Bledsoe transferred in this offseason from Texas, Sylla from Texas A&M and Whitson from Coastal Carolina.

Nic Mitchell and Isaac Smith are listed as starters at linebacker, with either Zakari Tillman or Derion Gullette at the Dime position. Last week, Mitchell and Smith started along with Tillman.

Smith, a Second-Team All-SEC selection in 2024 and a third-team preseason pick for 2025. To nobody’s surprise, Smith tied for the team lead with seven tackles last week.

Mitchell had five tackles in week one, while Gullette had four and Tillman had three.

In 2024, Smith was the SEC leader with 127 total tackles, while Mitchell had 80 tackles, including 3.0 for loss, and Tillman posted 30 tackles, including 3.5 sacks, last season. Gullette joined the program this offseason as a transfer from Texas.

In the secondary, Jett Jefferson or DeAgo Brumfield, along with either Kelly Jones or Jayven Williams, will start at cornerback. At one safety spot, either Hunter Washington or Jahron Manning will be positioned, with either Brylan Lanier or Manning at the other safety position.

In week one, the starting Bulldog secondary consisted of Brumfield and Jones at cornerback with Washington and Lanier at safety.

Washington enters Saturday with the most starts in the MSU program by anyone on the roster, having accumulated 17 career starts with the Bulldogs.

Last season for the Bulldogs, Washington posted 55 tackles with an interception, Lanier had 53 tackles with an interception, Jones had 28 tackles, and Brumfield had 14 tackles.

Jefferson came to MSU this offseason from the JUCO level, while Manning transferred in from Old Dominion and Williams transferred from Kennesaw State.

Mississippi State Defense Summary

Last week against Southern Miss, the Bulldogs held USM to 102 net rushing yards on 35 carries (2.9 yards per carry) without allowing a touchdown run, while also holding the Golden Eagles to under 200 passing yards (199).

That week one performance likely was a breath of fresh air for the Mississippi State fan base, as they surely remember the 262-yard rushing explosion by Cam Skattebo last year in Tempe. That said, eyes are on the Bulldog defense to improve dramatically this season, and Saturday’s game figures to test the capabilities of MSU’s 2025 defense.

Mississippi State Special Teams

MSU boasts a talented kicker in Kyle Ferrie, who started the 2025 season with an unprecedented achievement as the 55-yard field goal he made against Southern Miss is the longest in Mississippi State history, breaking the previous record of 54 yards set in 1985.

Last season, Ferrie connected on 10-of-12 field goal attempts with a long of 47 yards.

Elsewhere on special teams, Ethan Pulliam or Nathan Tiyce will man the punting duties for the Bulldogs on Saturday. Pulliam is a redshirt freshman, while Tiyce is a true freshman rugby-style kicker.

In the opener, both players punted twice, with Pulliam averaging 41.0 yards and Tiyce averaging 39.0 yards per punt.

In the return game, receiver Brenen Thompson could be featured on both punt and kickoff returns, with Anthony Evans III as another option in both roles and Davon Booth as a viable option on kickoff returns as well.

Mississippi State did not notch any punt or kickoff return yardage in the opener against Southern Miss.

Overall Summary

In what will be just the second all-time meeting between Arizona State and Mississippi State and just the third true road game ASU has ever played against an active member of the SEC, the Sun Devils are looking to rebound from a tremendously sloppy performance against Northern Arizona, while the Bulldogs look to claim their first victory over a power conference team since a 7-3 win over Arkansas on October 21, 2023.

Year one for head coach Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State was a forgettable one, to say the least, as the Bulldogs finished with a 2-10 overall record and were winless in eight SEC games in 2024. Last season was the first time since 2002 that MSU was winless in conference play, and the 2-10 overall record ties 2003 for the program’s worst record since a 1-10 finish in 1988.

Additionally, Mississippi State was picked to finish dead last in the SEC in the conference’s preseason poll, though Sun Devil fans are well aware of how such a poor ranking can quickly become irrelevant.

It isn’t much of a ‘hot take’ to say that ASU’s opening win performance against Northern Arizona was lackluster to say the least, so Sun Devil fans are wondering if last Saturday’s display was just a little early season rust or if there are more significant concerns that will impact the quality of the 2025 season for ASU.

If ASU is able to greatly reduce the penalties, get greater flow on offense and attack the quarterback, the Sun Devils should be able to claim their first true road win at an SEC venue, but any continued lethargy and disorganization can result in a disastrous defeat that would place a major cloud over what is expected to be yet another special football season for Arizona State.