By the end of Week Six in College Station, Tex., Mississippi State looked to be in decent shape defensively despite back-to-back losses. The Aggies, and the Vols the week before, were both able to put up more than 30 points offensively, but the Bulldogs had continued a bend, not break style of defense that had helped them start 4-0 with a ranked win over Arizona State, and kept them in each of the opening SEC contests.
Again, the defense delivered on the road in a narrow loss to Florida, falling behind because of offensive mistakes and the inability to finish drives, but the cracks had begun to show, cracks which eventually broke the dam on a defense that has regressed to the struggles of a historically bad unit in 2024.
Gashed on the ground
The biggest problem for the Bulldogs continues to be defending the run.
The unit ranks 119th out of 136 FBS schools in first-down defense, with teams collectively gaining 230 first downs against the Bulldogs. Meanwhile, the defense ranks in the middle of third-down defense, which means that opponents are picking up first downs without always going the distance on a given set of downs, and most importantly, avoiding passing downs. MSU’s 6.53 average yards per play for opponents is the worst in the SEC, and it’s not just coming from chunk plays in the air.
The Bulldog defense ranks 49th in passing defense, allowing just over 200 yards per game and 11.41 yards per attempt. The Bulldogs also rank in the top 25 in turnovers gained, 12 of which were interceptions.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are 118th in rushing defense, allowing 186.4 yards per game and 4.96 yards per carry. MSU is one of nine teams to have allowed more than 2,000 rushing yards this season, with 868 rushing yards allowed in the last three games.
Some of that comes down to personnel. Mizzou running back Ahmad Hardy leads the nation in rushing, while Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr. and Georgia’s Nate Frazier both average more than five yards per carry, but Hardy and Frazier had by far their best performances against the Bulldogs.
“It’s horrible,” linebacker Nic Mitchell said after the loss to Mizzou. “We can’t stop the run. We need to find a way to stop the run, because Ole Miss can run the ball, too.”
Mitchell pointed to the explosive plays as an example of his frustration, remarking that it’s an area the team, himself included, simply isn’t handling at the moment.
“It’s simple,” he said. “If I could walk you through the film and see the stuff we’re messing up on, it’s just guys, including myself, not getting out of gaps. Not doing the stuff that takes no time, no athleticism, no skill… we’re just not doing it, and it’s hurting us in a bad way.”
For Frazier, it was his first game over the century mark all season, and he finished just shy of 200 yards. All three backs had plenty of carries where they reached the second level untouched, too, which points to the biggest recent problem: explosives.
Detonation
The Bulldogs have allowed explosive plays on the ground (gains of 20 or more yards) in seven games this season, and in each of the last three games, they’ve allowed explosive plays of 41, 59 and 72 yards, respectively.
Frazier’s 59-yard touchdown run in Starkville saw him break through the defensive line and linebackers untouched to race away from the secondary at full speed.
The Bulldogs did have two worrying defensive performances against the run in the first half of the season, with Arizona State rushing for 251 yards and Texas A&M for 299 yards, but both of those games saw the opponents bleed the clock with 51 and 54 rushing attempts, respectively. Arkansas, Georgia and Mizzou were all under 50 attempts, with the Tigers reaching 326 yards on just 39 total carries at an average of more than eight yards per carry.
The weakness has been identified, and nearly every SEC team has the capacity to exploit it.
Up next is Ole Miss and Kewan Lacy, who is third in FBS with 1,136 rushing yards and leads the nation with 19 rushing touchdowns. He also has a touchdown in all but one game this season, scoring six in his last two games. It’s another tough assignment for the Bulldogs, but one that stands in the team’s way of attaining bowl eligibility.
Lebby was asked on Wednesday to evaluate the work of defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler, who also serves as linebackers coach, and defended the unit’s progress in the passing game while noting the need for improvement in defending the run.
“We’ve still made great improvement,” Lebby said. “You look at what we’ve been able to do against the throw game, having the ability to create turnovers, to me is something that stands out in a great way. Against the run the last (few) weeks it’s been really frustrating, and for us finding ways to tackle better, get guys on the ground when we have an opportunity, it’s a huge piece of it. I do think there’s been real growth on that side of the football, and had given us a chance to win those games earlier, and for multiple reasons, didn’t find ways to do it. We’ve got to go play as good as we’ve played all year next Friday, and I’ve got confidence that our guys will be ready to go do that.”
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