Mississippi State’s defense had been flirting with disaster for a month. Against Alabama, the Bulldogs finally paid for it.
Through its first four games, MSU had already put itself in an uncomfortable spot by allowing the most passing yards per game in the SEC. Even so, the Bulldogs had managed to make the right plays at the right moments and keep the damage from turning into something worse. Alabama changed that in a hurry.
The Crimson Tide ripped through Mississippi State for 357 passing yards and three touchdowns, then added three third-and-long conversions that turned into first downs. The result was a 63-point performance that underlined the problem in stark terms.
“I feel like just going back to the drawing board, learning from the mistakes, seeing what you did wrong on the field, and applying it,” Kendall Dolby said at Monday’s press conference. “I mean, we e.”
Mississippi State’s defense has built its identity around playing fast, but Dolby said there’s a line between speed and recklessness.
“Miss State loves to play fast on defense, but the other side to that is the propensity to allow big plays,” he said. “For Dolby, balancing the two goes back to one of the team’s core beliefs and being ready when bullets fly.”
“You practice your rules all throughout the week, but when it’s really time to go, you’ve just got to apply those things,” he said. “Sometimes football’s gonna football and things are going to happen, but you got to have that mentality, next-play mentality, erase the film and get back to it.”
The numbers have made the issue hard to ignore. The SEC average for high-octane offenses goes 26.0 seconds per play, according to a ranking at teamrankings.com, but that is nothing new to Mississippi State’s defense, which faces an offense that goes 31.2 seconds per play in practice each week, sixth fewest in the country, in practice.
“We’re in shape for it, but in the game time, you can’t press too much,” Dolby said. “You see it in practice, but at the same time, it’s a different team. So you’ve just got to stick to what you’ve got to do.”
In Other News...
Anthony Evans III Has Mississippi State Watching One Big Record Chase
Anthony Evans III has put Mississippi State in position to watch a record chase unfold over the rest of the season. The sophomore receiver has openly targeted the Bulldogs single-season receiving yards mark, and his start has given that goal real weight. Through five games, Evans has become one of the most productive targets on the roster, piling up catches, yards and touchdowns while giving Jeff Lebbys offense a dependable downfield threat.
What has stood out around the program is how Evans has gotten there. Lebby has pointed to his work ethic, while teammate Sanfrisco Magee has praised the consistency that has made Evans such a steady presence week after week. With seven regular-season games still to play, Mississippi State has a receiver who is not just chasing history but doing it in a way that keeps the conversation alive every time he lines up. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Just Got A Harsh LSU Warning Before Kickoff
The line for LSUs matchup with Mississippi State has moved sharply as kickoff approaches, a sign that the market has grown more skeptical about the Bulldogs chances. LSU opened as roughly a 10.5-point favorite, but that number has climbed to 14.5, with Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylors status hanging over the game and shaping how oddsmakers and bettors view the matchup.
For Mississippi State, the concern is obvious: if Taylor cannot go, the Bulldogs offense becomes much harder to project against an LSU defense that already has a strong edge in the matchup. LSU is also coming off an upset loss, which only adds to the urgency around how it responds, but the bigger question for the Bulldogs is whether they can keep the game competitive if their quarterback situation remains unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Needs Recruiting Momentum Back For Chris Jans
Mississippi States recruiting picture for the 2027 class remains thin as the program keeps working to reset the conversation around Chris Jans and the Bulldogs future. With the staff already looking ahead to the 2026-27 campaign, the push on the trail matters even more after a challenging 2025-26 season, because momentum there can change how the next phase of the roster takes shape.
For now, the class is anchored by combo guard Jacques Mitchell, while the Bulldogs continue to chase top-end talent to build around him. Among the names on the board are five-star prospects A.J. Williams and Lewis Uvwo, and landing either would go a long way toward giving Mississippi State the kind of recruiting boost it needs as Jans tries to get the program back on firmer footing. [Read more 🡒]