Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 08/30/25

We are keeping it in the Magnolia State for the Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Saturday. Both teams are looking to rebound from terrible seasons, but both are still projected to finish near the bottom of their respective conferences. For Mississippi State, the problems were myriad. The Bulldogs were the worst defense in the SEC by a landslide, they lost their QB to injury early in the campaign and their head coach is his own OC — doggedly insisting on airing the ball out when his team’s strength is running the ball. Blake Shapen is back at QB, but I am skeptical that any of those other problems will be fixed. Still, you have to think the Bulldogs can bully Southern Miss in the opener. As such, I am taking the Bulldogs -13.

For Southern Miss, this is a total retooling job. The Golden Eagles have a new head coach, Charles Huff, whom they poached from Marshall after he won the conference last season. Huff brings with him QB Braylon Braxton, who was probably the best QB in the Sun Belt last year. But this team is being totally rebuilt from the portal, and it is hard to tell where the Eagles are. Odds are high that they will be very green and mistake-prone in the opener, and most still expect them to finish near the bottom of the Sun Belt. It is hard for me to imagine they can step up in Week 1 and compete with an SEC opponent, even if it is the worst of the SEC teams.

Mississippi State vs Southern Miss prediction: Mississippi State -13 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to -13.5.

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