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By: Billy Jones
Missouri will travel to “Stark Vegas” on the penultimate Saturday of the season set on a collision course with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Jeff Lebby, who takes over as Mississippi State head coach, will be the sixth and final rookie head coach the Tigers face this season.
As an offensive coordinator, Lebby has produced points and yards at his previous stints for both Ole Miss and more recently, Oklahoma.
His system combines wide splits for wide receivers and blistering tempo to create spacing and confusion. He will inherit a roster that returns just three starts from a team that finished 5-7 last year.
Offense
Since assuming play-calling duties at NAIA school Southeastern in 2017, Lebby soared through the college coaching ranks with his creative scheme and effective play-calling.
This year may be his toughest test as he will need to turn around an offense that returns no starters and scored a measly 21.8 points per game in 2023.
Blake Shapen transfers from Baylor to be the signal caller at Mississippi State. Shapen was a two-year starter for the Bears (although his most recent season was cut short after an MCL injury).
While limited as a runner, Shapen is a solid thrower. In his 21 games as a starter in ‘22 and ‘23, he threw for 4,978 yards with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions (only three of which came last season).
The offensive line in front of him will be a patchwork of transfers mixed with Albert Reese IV (who moves from tackle to guard). A JuCo transfer (Leon Bell) alongside new additions from LSU (Matin Martinez), North Texas (Ethan Miner), and Memphis (Makylan Pounders) will make up the rest of the frontline group.
Shapen will have limited options at receiver. Kelly Akharaiya arrives from UTEP after putting together a 21-catch season. Mirroring him will be either Jordan Mosely, who enters his fourth year in Starkville (with only six receptions to show for it), or New Mexico State transfer Trent Hudson, who had a 551-yard campaign in 2023.
The feature of the receiver group is slot target Kevin Coleman whose speed helped him to 33 catches for 510 yards last season at Lousiville. Seydou Traore may also be a viable option at tight end. While he was unable to play last season due to transfer rules, he had a prolific season in ‘22 racking up 655 receiving yards.
Three running backs should compete for the starting job and will likely all get opportunities. Keyvone Lee and Jeffrey Pittman both played sparingly last season and Davon Booth joins from Utah State where he ran for north of 800 yards last season.
Defense
While Zach Arnett’s tenure was short-lived, his defensive unit had some strong moments last season. However, they returned only three starters from that team.
Coleman Hutzler will have the opportunity to call his own defense for the first time at the age of 40 after most recently serving as the Special Teams Coordinator and Outside Linebackers Coach at Alabama.
Hutzler’s bread and butter is linebackers and he has some solid talent at that position. De’Monte Russell was an All-SEC EDGE player last season. He is buttressed by JP Purvis, who started last season; John Lewis, who played significant chunks of last year; and Stone Blanton, a standout linebacker at South Carolina last season.
Trevian Williams, whose season was hampered by injury, will play on the defensive line alongside Deonte Anderson and Kedrick Bingley-Jones, a 6’4″, 310-pound nose tackle from North Carolina.
Cornerback is a lingering question for Hutzler and his defense. Two transfers who have starting experience but missed last season with injury in Montre Miller (West Virginia) and Traveon Wright (Memphis) will compete with young corners Brice Polluck and Kelley Jones.
The most reliable piece of the defense will be their free safety Corey Ellington. His 66 tackles were key for the Bulldogs in 2023.
Prediction
Road games are never easy in the SEC. November road games are even tougher. Anyone who sees this game as a shoe-in for Missouri is sorely mistaken.
This Mississippi State team will struggle early on in the season and may even limp into late November. However, they have a bye week before this game against Missouri and I fully expect this team to look completely different when they take the field against Missouri compared to the team that runs out week one against Eastern Kentucky.
I think that the Bulldogs will throw some difficult things at Missouri offensively in the first half and should keep themselves in this ball game. The crowd should also be a factor on a Senior Night late-afternoon game.
Ultimately, the Tigers find their legs in the second half and rally against the cowbells to take this one.
Missouri 34, Mississippi State 23
