Thanks to another poster I spent some time looking at our 2016 schedule.

Sept. 3 SOUTH ALABAMA -- Win (1-0)
Sept. 10 SOUTH CAROLINA * -- It's at home vs an inferior SEC opponent...we should win (2-0)
Sept. 17 at LSU * -- Not enough talent to win in Baton Rouge again. (2-1)
Sept. 24 at UMass -- Away game for MSU, but almost a home game for Mullen. (3-1)
Oct. 1 Open -- Bye week to prepare for AU
Oct. 8 AUBURN * -- Another home SEC game. Auburn could be better, but they will have 2 or 3 losses coming into this game (4-1).
Oct. 15 at BYU -- Tough road game. However, BYU's schedule is brutal (They could have 5 losses coming in). Oh, and they lost to Mizzou this year. (5-1).
Oct. 22 at Kentucky * -- Another tough road matchup, but haven't seen much out of Stoops so far. MSU is just better. (6-1)
Oct. 29 SAMFORD -- Cupcake heading into a brutal November (7-1)

I don't think I'm being unrealistic here thinking we can win 7 games before November.

Nov. 5 TEXAS A&M * -- Program is in disarray, but they got a pretty nice transfer QB. No clue on this one but at least we get at home them later in the season.
Nov. 12 at Alabama * -- Nope.
Nov. 19 ARKANSAS * -- Got the pigs at home without their veteran QB and their best RB. Toss-up game with advantage to MSU for being in Starkville.
Nov. 26 at Ole Miss * -- Records go out the window in the Egg Bowl, but Ole Miss will have the SEC's best QB assuming Kelly stays.

Now, we could go 0-4 in November, but if we can just win the home games, we'd finish 9-3. Honestly, 8-4 is a pretty reasonable prediction given the way our schedule sets up. Long way to go until September, but I not throwing 2016 in the dumpster like some people already are.