In advance of South Carolina's Saturday matchup with Dan Mullen and Mississippi State, we spoke with Logan Lowery, who covers the Bulldogs for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

GAMECOCKCENTRAL.COM: State dropped the first contest of the season at home to South Alabama. The Bulldogs led 17-0 at halftime and lost by one; what were the primary reasons for the loss, in your mind?

LOWERY: "I think the overall thing, if you had to pick one, was just the fact that they got overconfident and took their foot off the gas. They came out, thought they had the game won. The stadium’s half empty by halftime. They got into a lull and tried to pick things back up and couldn’t do it. The biggest problem that they had was in their secondary.

Both their starting cornerbacks (Tolando Cleveland and Cedric Jiles) got hurt by fall. One is out for the year and the other one’s out until halfway through the season. They lost both corners from last year, then lost both their corners coming into this year. They’re young in the secondary, couldn’t get anything going at quarterback."