Missouri’s trip to Starkville comes with a few pressure points for Mississippi State, and Jeff Lebby made sure to spotlight them Monday.
The Bulldogs are trying to stack SEC wins for the first time since Lebby arrived in 2024, and they also have a chance to break through at home in league play for the first time since the 2022 season. Standing in the way is a Mizzou team that has already handled Lebby twice, winning by 22 points and 19 points over the last two seasons.
This one, though, feels different. The winner stays unbeaten.
Mississippi State met with the media Monday to break down the Tigers, and the conversation quickly turned to Mizzou quarterback Austin Simmons. Senior safety Isaac Smith knows the matchup has a little extra edge, especially with some familiar faces on the other sideline. Mizzou right tackle Luke Work played for Mississippi State last year, and Smith said he texted his “good buddy” and said he’s going to “troll him all week” leading up to the game.
As for Simmons, Smith had a bit of Starkville shorthand ready.
“He's a really good quarterback. Came from that other school up north,” Smith said.
“And then they’ve got a receiver, Cayden Lee, that came from there, too. We've had our run-ins in the past, but I think it'll be fun.”
Lebby, meanwhile, kept circling back to what Missouri does best. Even while talking about Simmons, he emphasized the Tigers’ ground game and the way it opens everything else up.
“(Simmons is) a guy that can make every single throw. He is completing like 70 percent of his throws right now, has played really well,” Lebby said.
“The run game has still been really good. Their starting tailback is averaging over five yards a carry, has played really well.
They've got these two big tight ends, they've got great physicality, that play really well for them.
“They're going to line up, I would imagine, and try to run the football, have play-pass and give his QB time to be able to go make the throws that they want him to make.”
That balance has been a problem for opponents, and it starts with how clean Simmons has stayed. Missouri has allowed just one sack in three games, and he has faced eight pressures - fewer than any other quarterback in the country with at least 70 dropbacks this season, according to PFF.
The Tigers also bring heat on defense. Daeden Hopkins is tied for the SEC lead with 14 pressures through three games, which is part of why Lebby kept stressing the battle up front.
“We've got to do a great job against their run game, fighting to make them one dimensional,” Lebby said. “And then for us up front, we've got to win on the edges.
They've got really, really good edges on their defensive line. Their interior - big, big people.
They're really hard to move. So, there will be a ton of emphasis on us being able to win up front on both sides of the ball to give us a chance to go win.”
Mississippi State also announced Monday that two defensive linemen, including defensive tackle Trevion Williams, are done for the season because of injury.
Even with those setbacks, defensive end Amaree Williams said the Bulldogs may not have shown everything yet. He earned SEC Defensive Linemen of the Week honors after the Week 3 win over South Carolina, and he hinted that more is waiting.
“Not to spill too much information, but we’ve always got stuff that we're holding back in the tank,” Williams said. “We’ll have it ready by game time. We're gonna get after it.”
One of Missouri’s biggest concerns in Starkville will be limiting explosive plays, because Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor has been striking from distance early in the year. On throws traveling at least 20 yards downfield, Taylor is 5-for-15 with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
He also has a familiar target in former Tiger Marquis Johnson, who spent three years at Mizzou before joining Mississippi State. Through three games, Johnson has seven catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
“The big thing with (Johnson) is just his top-end speed. A guy that fits us really, really well offensively because of what we do, and a guy that is going to have a ton of opportunities just like he already has for us this year,” Lebby said.
“He had a couple others the other night that had a chance to be big that we didn't connect on. … A guy that we were excited about adding to the roster.”
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