Playing with a heavy heart is never easy, but Mississippi State survived that gut check Jan. 2 against Illinois in the Reliaquest Bowl by taking down the favored Illini in the first game after colorful head coach Mike Leach succumbed to a heart attack on the practice field a few weeks earlier. Leach's impact not only in Starkville, but on college football, was profound, and his unique personality will perhaps be missed most. Rather than conduct a protracted search for his successor, the Bulldogs moved quickly to promote defensive coordinator Zach Arnett to the top spot.

Though the thought in some SEC circles is that this might prove too big of a leap for Arnett, who probably wouldn't be getting his chance so soon at any other SEC school, he had shown up on the coaching radar screen and was likely due to get offers from elsewhere before Leach's death. Arnett's units were consistently solid the past three years for Leach, who wanted a Rocky Long-type coordinator for his defense and found the next best thing, as Arnett had tutored under Long at San Diego State. Using Long's pet 3-3-5 alignments caused many problems for SEC foes over the past few years, and there is a faction of SEC observers who suspect Arnett is not going to be over his head, even at a locale where it's historically been difficult to get over the hump...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Mississippi State's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the SEC season.

SEC preview: Conference winner | Alabama | Arkansas | Auburn | Florida | Georgia | Kentucky | LSU | Mississippi State | Missouri | Ole Miss | South Carolina | Tennessee | Texas A&M | Vanderbilt

2023 Mississippi State at a glance

• Last Year: 9-4 SU, 7-5-1 ATS, 7-6 O/U
  
• Returning Starters: Offense 7; Defense 5
• Win Total: 6.5 (Over +130, Under -150)
  

What do you need to know about Mississippi State before locking in your SEC futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see SEC futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!