STARKVILLE — Mississippi State trailed at Tennessee by 13 points early in the third quarter on Nov. 9, but the Bulldogs were in good position to narrow that deficit, with a first down on the Volunteers’ 32-yard line.

Freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren took the snap and dropped back as Tennessee used a standard four-man rush. But in just three seconds after the play began, Volunteers defensive lineman Jayson Jenkins burst off the edge, blew past MSU left tackle Luke Work and had a clear path to Van Buren from the quarterback’s blind side.

Jenkins knocked the ball from Van Buren’s grasp as the freshman began winding up to throw, and linebacker Jeremiah Telander recovered the fumble amidst a mad scramble.

The Volunteers, who have one of the best defensive fronts in college football, sacked Van Buren four times — all in the second half — for 29 yards. The Bulldogs’ quarterbacks have been sacked on 9.81 percent of dropbacks through 10 games, which ranks 121st out of 134 FBS teams.

“It was both the offensive line at times, and it’s (Van Buren) moving when he doesn’t have to,” MSU head coach Jeff Lebby said after a game earlier this month against Massachusetts, when Van Buren was sacked three times. “To the fan’s eye, you watch and you get upset at the (offensive) line, and that’s natural, but at the end of the day, we have to do a great job in the pocket, manipulating the pocket, finding soft spots.”

The Bulldogs (2-8, 0-6 Southeastern Conference) needed to replace their top six offensive linemen from last season, and they added four starters in the transfer portal with Makylan Pounders, Jacoby Jackson, Ethan Miner and Marlon Martinez. Albert Reese IV, who had not started before this year but is in his fourth season at MSU, was working out at left guard in the spring but has mostly played right tackle this fall.

Reese has started all 10 games and was awarded the Kent Hull Trophy on Monday, an honor presented annually to the best college offensive lineman in the state of Mississippi. The award is named for former Bulldogs center Kent Hull, who played 11 years in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and reached four consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1990s.

“It’s an absolute honor. He was a great player here for us well before I was around,” Reese said. “It’s always a pleasant surprise. I’m not constantly thinking about things outside of doing whatever I can to help my team win.”

Pounders has given way to the freshman Work at the starting left tackle spot in recent weeks, though the two have split playing time. The offensive line has made significant progress in run blocking, helping MSU rush for more than six yards per carry (excluding sacks) against Tennessee’s stout run defense. But pass protection has been a lot tougher.

Not all sacks are on the offensive line, though. Sometimes all receivers are covered downfield and the quarterback has nowhere to go with the ball — called a “coverage sack” — and sometimes the quarterback simply holds onto the ball too long. Still, the numbers speak for themselves, and the numbers say the Bulldogs have allowed 3.4 sacks per game, tied for the most in the SEC with Arkansas.

This week’s opponent, Missouri (7-3, 3-3), is an impressive 28th in the country in sack rate at 7.66 percent, but that’s nothing compared to Ole Miss, which looms on the Bulldogs’ schedule on Nov. 29. The Rebels lead the country by far with a sack rate of nearly 12 percent.

“We definitely need to improve. I need to improve,” Miner said earlier in the year. “The really aggravating part is it’s stuff we’re coached on. It’s not guys just getting overpowered or out-talented. It’s really just locking in on your technique when the pressure kicks in, when you’re tired. It’s a little aggravating with (Van Buren) being back there. You can’t have that happening. He’s already got enough on him.”