Mississippi State football already passed two tough tests on the road, including a comeback victory at South Carolina this past week.
The SEC schedule only gets tougher for coach Jeff Lebby’s team, which also started hot in 2025 — until conference play began.
The No. 24 Bulldogs host No. 19 Missouri on Saturday night in Starkville, Miss., in the Tigers’ SEC opener and Mississippi State’s conference home opener.
Mississippi State (3-0) entered the AP Top 25 this week after a start that includes a 62-13 rout of Louisiana-Monroe, a 25-point road win at Minnesota and Saturday’s comeback at South Carolina.
Not that Lebby wants anyone on his squad to care about rankings right now.
“The ranking piece of it has absolutely zero bearing — none at all,” Lebby said. “We’ve got a huge road ahead. We’ve got an unbelievable test Saturday.”
The Bulldogs started 4-0 in nonconference play last season before losing their first four SEC games. They snapped the skid with a 38-35 win at Arkansas, then dropped their final three conference games.
The Bulldogs went a combined 1-15 in SEC play over Lebby’s first two seasons. Saturday’s win improved him to 10-18 overall and 2-15 in conference play at Mississippi State.
“We’re not even close to being where we’ve got a chance to be,” Lebby said.
Missouri (3-0) beat Troy 27-17 at home this past week, following a 17-point road win at Kansas and a blowout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in their season opener. “The Border War” rivalry aside, playing at Mississippi State appears to be the Tigers’ toughest assignment yet.
Mizzou coach Eliah Drinkwitz sounds impressed with what Mississippi State is doing under Lebby. He praised Mississippi State’s offense, led by mobile quarterback Kamario Taylor, who threw for four touchdowns against South Carolina, as well as the defense’s physical play under coordinator Zach Arnett.
“You can tell,” Drinkwitz said of Lebby’s impact. “The foundations of his culture, and the foundation of his schemes, are in place.”
The SEC named Mississippi State’s Amaree Williams the conference’s Defensive Lineman of the Week after he recorded 10 tackles, including a sack. Overall, the Bulldogs held South Carolina to negative-15 yards on 10 plays during the first four drives of the second half.
Lebby said he liked how Taylor and his teammates responded to early adversity against South Carolina by making explosive plays.
“That’s where you see real growth,” Lebby said.
And yet, Lebby said the Bulldogs can’t win consistently by relying only on big plays to cover up early mistakes.
“The explosives got us out of a lot of really bad situations. You have to play cleaner,” Lebby said.
Mizzou’s Austin Simmons has completed 69.1% of his passes and thrown eight touchdowns without an interception through three games. Simmons completed 10 of 19 passes for 91 yards against Troy, after throwing for 544 yards and seven touchdowns over the first two games.
Mizzou’s running game has been productive behind Jamal Roberts, who has 300 rushing yards and three touchdowns through three games.
“They’re a lot bigger and a lot more physical than what we’ve dealt with the past couple weeks,” left tackle Cayden Green said of MSU’s defense. “So obviously, that’s SEC play in a nutshell. The competition is just going to get ramped up this week.”
