Mississippi State football had an ugly 2024 season, and among the biggest reasons for that was their defense. The Bulldogs fielded one of the very worst defenses in the country. Their 34.1 points per game allowed ranks 118th. They're 127th in total defense at 456.4 yards per game allowed.
Those numbers are some of the very worst in program history. And when you start digging into the stats for a notable position group on the defense, it gets even uglier.
The Mississippi State defensive line was embarrassingly bad at getting pressure
There's very little debate about which position group was the worst for Mississippi State. Their defensive line was the worst that it's been in decades. They got bullied by nearly every opposing offensive line they faced, even the non-SEC ones. They'd get blown off the line of scrimmage against the run, and they could not generate pass rush at all.
Just how bad was their pass rush? The Clarion Ledger's Sam Sklar put out a stat that speaks volumes to how horrendous they were at pressuring opposing quarterbacks.
#MississippiState defensive linemen accounted for only four sacks this season. Kalvin Dinkins was the only one with more than 0.5, and he only played in one game.
— Sam Sklar (@sklarsam_) November 30, 2024
On the year, Mississippi State defensive lineman combined for 4.0 sacks total. FOUR. There are 13 defensive lineman on the roster. Now obviously not all of those guys played, and the defensive line did deal with considerable injuries throughout the year. But having just four sacks from that position group is absurd.
And it gets worse. Out of the six Bulldog defensive lineman to register at least 0.5 sack, you know who led the group? Kalvin Dinkins, who only played in one game the entire year! Dinkins recorded 1.0 sack in the season opener. He got injured in that game and missed the rest of the season. And yet that 1.0 sack was enough to lead the position group.
That is flat out embarrassing. Now it should be acknowledged that a few of the MSU linebackers play hybrid roles in which they're effectively acting as defensive ends. But even accounting for that, you only add 2.5 more sacks to the total. That doesn't make it any better.
As a team, Mississippi State managed just 10.0 total sacks. That was the second-worst total in the entire country. The Bulldogs were the only team in the SEC to not record at least 22.0 sacks this year. If you're curious how the in-state rivals did, Ole Miss led the country with 52.0 sacks. They were literally 5.2x better than State at getting quarterbacks on the ground. That's the difference between having legitimate NFL talent up front and trotting out whatever MSU did this season.
Mississippi State needs to completely overhaul its defensive line in 2025
It's the understatement of the century to say that Mississippi State can't afford another season being that bad along the defensive line. Their lack of talent in that room is far and away the biggest reason the defense was so bad in 2024.
They've got some pieces at linebacker. They've got some pieces in the secondary. But when your line is getting pushed back with no resistance on every run play and they give quarterbacks all day to throw, you have no chance at having success on defense.
It is a must that they land multiple high-level transfers along the defensive line. It is a must that they sign multiple defensive lineman in their 2025 class that can make immediate impacts next fall. They simply cannot run it back with the group from this season. If they don't improve the talent in the defensive line room, you won't see a noticeably better defense in 2025.