The school that brought us Eric Moulds opens the season in the shadow on NFL opening night – the Bulldogs will not disappoint.   

Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen is officially our boy.  Wait, he’s actually Urban Meyer’s boy.  Mullen was the QB coach at Bowling Green with Meyer and then held the same position at Utah.  He then became the OC at Florida before getting the chance to run his own shop in Starkville.  (How great would it be to throw some beers back with those dudes?)  Tim Tebow owes him his Heisman and after one season he’s already brought SEC level excitement to the Mississippi St program.

 This is a Thursday night primetime game.  If you caught any of the 2009 Ole Miss @ South Carolina Thursday night game, you know the 3 rules of SEC Thursday night games:

1.       Home underdogs are a great bet.

2.      In case your graduated college before 2002 – Thursday is the new Friday.  These kids are at least 37% more drunk than they would be on a Saturday afternoon.

3.      A team’s ranking means nothing.

 Miss State returns 80% of their O-line and 14 starters.  The D-line got nastier (and dumber) with the enrollment of JUCO transfer, 6’7, 350 DT James Carmon.  He’ll partner with former JUCO and current all-SEC DE Pernell McPhee.  How do you not bet on a home dog with a scary D-line, experienced O-line and 60,000 very drunk kids on their side?

Look, Auburn is no joke.  They’re an “on the comeback” program that has been labeled a dark horse by everyone from Herbie to Steele.  But chew on this shit that we’re about to jam down your throat:

In Auburn’s last true road games they are 1-8 against the spread.
(Stunned reader dialing his bookie)

Player to watch: Chad ‘mother-effing’ Bumphis.  You know you’re cool when your middle name gets replaced with a verb describing what you do to moms.  He’s 5’10 195 and has the kind of speed that can dominate a game when an offensive coach knows how to correctly utilize it. (See: Dan Mullen)  Expect Bumphis to continue a breakout sophomore season (100 yards, 2 TDs, 25 YPC last week) while the Bulldogs defend home turf on Thursday.

Take the underdog.