Mississippi State is still good. Good enough to finish above the SEC West cellar, though?

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Mississippi State has improved significantly for two consecutive seasons. It won 10 games for the first time in 15 years last fall.

The Bulldogs return the most proven quarterback in the SEC, experienced juniors at the skill positions, size in the trenches, and an experienced, physical secondary. Their returning starter total (12) is right around the national median.

Head coach Dan Mullen just hired one of the more aggressive, exciting defensive coordinators in the game.

The Bulldogs have quite a bit going for them, in other words. One thing they don’t: a preseason ranking. While every team and every fanbase enjoys crying DISRESPECT!!!, MSU’s claim is stronger than most.

Yeah, Mississippi State lost some players, but everybody does. The Bulldogs return plenty of last year’s core that ranked No. 1 in mid-November. So what’s up?

An anti-bowl bump, for starters. Just as certain teams find themselves ranking higher than they should because of an awesome bowl performance (this year’s biggest bump recipient: TCU), some end up with the opposite effect. Mississippi State fell victim to crusty Paul Johnson and his Georgia Tech spread option in the Orange Bowl, allowing approximately 800 rushing yards (okay, 452). The Bulldogs’ experience, along with that of the incredibly overrated and underachieving SEC West (we’ll come back to that), stuck in voters’ memories.

Of course, Ole Miss looked 15 times worse in its bowl and lost a starting quarterback but still landed at 15th in the preseason Coaches Poll. So that doesn’t tell the whole story.

The other part is this: MSU’s lack of a top 25 ranking is fair. In the Football Outsiders Almanac 2015 (the college portion of which is available via $6 PDF), the Bulldogs are projected to rank 29th.

It comes down to two things: track record and recruiting. MSU’s five-year F/+ ranking is 27th. The Bulldogs’ five-year recruiting ranking is 29th. After playing like an elite team for the first five games of 2014, they were a top-40 team thereafter. On paper, despite last season’s accomplishments, MSU feels far more like a top-30 team than a top-15 team. And it’s difficult to see the Bulldogs topping last season’s ratings.

One more thing: someone in the SEC West has to lose. This is still the best division in FBS. In the FOA 2015, MSU, still a top-30 team, is given a 47 percent chance of going 6-6 or worse.

After rubbing its success in the faces of foes, the SEC has earned the backlash and gleeful mockery following a disappointing bowl showing. You reap what you sow. But we still need context. Ole Miss looked horrendous in getting trounced by TCU. Mississippi State’s offense was fine, but its defense got run in circles by one of the two or three best offenses in the country. LSU and Auburn lost tossup games to teams ranked lower than them.

Alabama lost by a touchdown to Ohio State, the only team better than the Tide in 2014. Arkansas looked spectacular in destroying Texas. Texas A&M was fine in disposing of West Virginia. And the inferior SEC East went 5-0, with performances ranging from fine (Florida, South Carolina) to good (Missouri), to tremendous (Georgia, Tennessee).

The SEC went 7-5 in bowls. The Big Ten, which emerged from bowl season as a RISING!! conference that is ON ITS WAY BACK!!, went 6-5. Narratives are funny.

Still, the West did go 2-5. The division we were calling perhaps the best ever last October did not live up to the hype.

Win expectancy data suggested that, given the stats of each game, Alabama, LSU and Auburn should have gone 2-1 instead of 0-3. Arkansas and Texas A&M each did their part. But Ole Miss and Mississippi State, who ranked first and third in the country in October, looked miserable, the culmination of fades that had begun in that month.

Auburn and LSU faded, too, and it was a lot harder to make the Best Ever case for the West at the end of the year. Yep, the West had to settle for Best Division of 2014 instead. (And guess who’s going to be the best in 2015?)

Mississippi State was a speed horse.

The Bulldogs bolted out against a schedule that featured a trip to Baton Rouge and a visit from an undefeated Texas A&M. In their first five games, they averaged at least 7.1 yards per play four times (including 7.8 against a good LSU defense), and while the defense was glitchy against UAB, it held LSU in check while building a big early lead, and it held A&M to a far-below-average 5.7 yards per play.

MSU moved to No. 1 in the polls following a 15-point win over No. 2 Auburn, but even while they won three games at No. 1, the Bulldogs began to show cracks. After needing quite a few red zone stops to survive Auburn, they allowed 6.6 yards per play to Kentucky, then nearly tripped up against Arkansas by blowing scoring opportunities and getting dominated in field position.

More blown opportunities against Alabama ended MSU’s run. And after an easy win over Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs faded, as a speed horse does. The depth just wasn’t where it needed to be on defense, and the offense couldn’t make up the difference.

Note: players in bold below are 2015 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

In last year’s Mississippi State preview, I noted how exciting Dak Prescott was and how he had yet to actually do any real damage against a good defense. He was getting a lot of hype, primarily for his bowl performance against Rice, but that didn’t do much for me.

Needless to say, he swayed me against LSU. In Baton Rouge, Prescott completed 15 of 24 for 268 yards and two scores, and barring two sacks, he rushed 20 times for 117 yards. With major assists from running back Josh Robinson (16 carries, 197 yards) and receiver Jameon Lewis (five catches, 116 yards), Prescott dominated.

While he wasn’t always that good, Prescott’s full-season numbers were excellent. He averaged 8 yards per pass attempt (including sacks), rushed for 1,100 yards, and produced a combined 41 touchdowns. More importantly, MSU’s offense was balanced and productive overall -- ninth in Rushing S&P+, 12th in Passing S&P+, eighth on standard downs, 19th on passing downs.

Mullen made John Hevesy and Billy Gonzales offensive co-coordinators in 2014, and to say the least, the arrangement worked. They crafted a QB-friendly system, passing more frequently than average on standard downs and opening up run opportunities on passing downs, and with a deep set of skill options and a mean line, Prescott thrived. He still struggled against the best defenses he faced (against Alabama and Ole Miss: 6.1 yards per pass attempt, three interceptions, 3.7 yards per non-sack carry), but, well, almost everybody struggled against them.

The quarterback position is experiencing significant turnover in the SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, and South Carolina will field new starters, and Texas A&M, LSU, Florida, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky might. Only Prescott, Missouri’s Maty Mauk, and Arkansas’ Brandon Allen have started for full seasons. MSU’s projections might not be favorable compared to the rest of the SEC West, but if a game comes down to which quarterback is making plays, that’s a game MSU can win.

Skill depth was a strength. Robinson was by far the bell cow in the backfield, but when given the opportunity, Ashton Shumpert and Brandon Holloway shined. Nine players were targeted at least 22 times, and seven averaged at least 8.5 yards per target.

The depth takes a major hit, but thanks to last year’s variety, the Bulldogs still return proven pieces. De’Runnya Wilson, Fred Ross, Fred Brown, and Joe Morrow combined to catch 62 percent of their passes while averaging 16.2 yards per catch. Gabe Myles proved efficient for a freshman. And both Shumpert and Holloway averaged at least 5.8 yards per carry, 7.2 after November 1.

Prescott should have more than enough weapons, especially a young pool of freshmen and sophomores (receivers Donald Gray and Malik Dear, running backs Aeris Williams and Nick Gibson) provides an extra threat or two.

Granted, MSU’s line was a little too nasty at times -- center Dillon Day got suspended for some cheap shots against LSU -- but it did its job. The Bulldogs were lights-out in short-yardage situations and created plenty of open-field opportunities for their backs.

Prescott had quite a bit to do with that, because of his strength and run threat. Still, the numbers were strong. And now MSU must replace an all-SEC guard (Ben Beckwith) and two players who started for more than three seasons (Day, Blaine Clausell).

There’s still plenty of experience. Three players have combined for 32 starts, and there could be as many as six juniors and three seniors on the two-deep. And goodness knows the Bulldogs have all the size they need: the 10 returnees listed above average 6’6, 309. But turnover could result in regression, and with three huge games (LSU, at Auburn, at Texas A&M) among their first five, the Bulldogs cannot afford dropoff.

In five years, Diaz has gone from rising star to failure to rising star.

His stint at Texas did not end well (after a No. 7 ranking in Def. S&P+ in 2011, his Longhorns fell to 40th in 2012, and he was sent packing two games into 2013), but it didn’t take him long to rebound.

He took over Skip Holtz’s Louisiana Tech defense last year and engineered stunning improvement. Tech improved from 109th to 24th in Def. S&P+, three spots higher than Mississippi State’s defense. So when Geoff Collins left Starkville to take the Florida D.C. position, Mullen called up an old friend.

Diaz returns to Starkville after a successful season there in 2010. While he inherits a defense that might struggle from a depth perspective -- MSU was far worse in the second halves of games and must now replace four of its top eight linemen and three of five linebackers -- his D should have a strong backbone.

Tackles Chris Jones, Nelson Adams, and Nick James, linebackers Beniquez Brown and Richie Brown, and safeties Kendrick Market, Kivon Coleman, and Deontay Evans assure that MSU has experience, size, and potential up the middle. That could give Diaz some leeway if he cannot find excellent weapons on the edges.

Despite size, experience, and variety (six players with at least seven tackles for loss), MSU was mediocre against ground games. Granted, Georgia Tech did a lot of damage by itself, but other teams found success, too. Auburn’s Nick Marshall and Cameron Artis-Payne combined for 177 rushing yards, Arkansas’ Alex Colins rushed 16 times for 93, and Ole Miss’ Jaylen Walton had 14 carries for 148, including a 91-yarder that all but iced the game.

Walton’s run was the most telling. MSU’s run efficiency numbers were fine, but the Bulldogs gave up too many big plays. They allowed 64 rushes of 10-plus yards (59th in FBS) and six of 40-plus (83rd). Geoff Collins wanted MSU to be as aggressive as possible, and that had an occasional downside.

And now MSU has to do with lesser depth in the front seven. The 2015 signing class could throw the defense a lifeline -- JUCO transfers Jonathan Calvin (DE) and Traver Jung (LB) join the jewels of the 2015 class, Fletcher Adams (DE) and Leo Lewis (LB). But if the newcomers don’t click, then MSU could have a seasoned starting seven and complete unknowns on the second string.

Last year’s pass defense (13th in Passing S&P+) was negated by glitchy run defense (56th in Rushing S&P+). Unless Diaz and some newcomers can make a positive impact with the front seven, we could see a more extreme version.

The front seven may be thinner, but the secondary is loaded. The top three safeties return, and more importantly, so do three explosive corners.

Will Redmond, Taveze Calhoun, and Tolando Cleveland combined for 8.5 tackles for loss, six interceptions, and 21 break-ups, and all three return. Exciting sophomore Jamoral Graham makes the switch from receiver to cornerback, as well. Granted, quite a few backups are gone, meaning the second string could be just as young as it is in the front seven, but that only might be a problem. You never know how injuries are going to affect you, but if the defense stays reasonably healthy, Diaz will have some fun pieces to deploy.

MSU’s kicking, punting, and coverage were strengths in 2014, but the team’s overall special teams efficiency ratings were dinged a bit by shaky kicking (three missed PATs) and almost nonexistent returns. The Bulldogs ranked 85th in kick return average and 97th in punt return average, and while most of last year’s return men are back, they need to produce. Fred Ross showed promise late in the year as a punt returner, though, so maybe a turnaround is on the way.

Mississippi State has a good quarterback, good skill position guys, a good secondary, and potentially exciting answers in less proven units (offensive line, defensive line, linebacker). Mullen’s seventh squad should be tough.

But as I found myself saying in my Pac-12 previews, someone has to lose these games. Every team in the SEC West has top-15 potential and is likely to rank in the top-30 or top-40 at worst.

Texas A&M’s defense has big questions, and injuries could change the prognosis for any of these teams, but the bottom line is, MSU looks like a team destined for the No. 21-30 range. That could make the Bulldogs No. 6 or so in the West. Hosting Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU is a good thing, but trips to Auburn, Texas A&M, Missouri, and Arkansas loom.

This is a rugged conference slate, and while a weak non-conference (headlined by a visit from Diaz’s last team, Louisiana Tech) should ensure a bowl trip, matching last year’s 10-win prowess will be awfully difficult.