We're at the halfway point of the SEC season, and the Bulldogs have their work cut out for them the rest of the way.

Chris Lemonis' club currently sits at 22-16 overall and 6-9 in the SEC, putting them at sixth place in the SEC West. The Bulldogs just took a series from the 2nd place Auburn Tigers, a team that had been red hot coming off series wins over LSU and Vanderbilt, and they'll hope that will give them some momentum in the coming weeks.

With five SEC series remaining, the benchmark the Bulldogs would like to shoot for is 8-7, which would put them at 14-16 in the conference. The Bulldogs currently rank 82nd in the RPI, and each of their remaining conference foes ranks higher than them; Ole Miss (58), Missouri (28), Florida (9), Texas A&M (34), Tennessee (1), so an above .500 record should give the Bulldogs a substantial boost in the rankings. Since 2008, only one SEC team has missed the tournament with 14 SEC wins and an RPI of 45 or better

One thing the Bulldogs can't do is drop a game to a team they should beat. With three midweek games remaining against Ole Miss, Samford, and North Alabama, it's imperative that Mississippi State goes 2-0 in the non-Ole Miss games.

The upcoming seven-game road trip for the Bulldogs will be huge for getting back on track. It all starts with their rival to the north tomorrow as they'll travel up to Oxford for a three-game set with Ole Miss. Mississippi State has dominated the rivalry in recent years with a 16-3 record against the Rebs since 2016. State will then take on the Rebels in the Governor's Cup in Pearl next Tuesday, and while it won't count against their SEC record, it will still be substantial from an RPI standpoint. Finally, they'll close out the road trip with a 3-game series with the Missouri Tigers up in Columbia.

Both the Rebels and the Tigers enter the mid-point of the SEC season with a 5-10 record, and both rank in the bottom four of the conference in batting average and earned run average in conference games this season. These two upcoming series are very winnable for a Bulldog club that ranks middle of the pack in those categories. State needs to aim for at least a 5-2 record over the next two weeks; anything less, and they'll be walking on thin ice the rest of the way.