Jeff Lebby disappointed in Mississippi State football's defensive effort vs Arkansas

Mississippi State football suffered it's seventh-straight loss on Saturday, getting blown out at home at the hands of the Arkansas Razorbacks, 58-25. The Bulldogs, who had been playing better football in recent weeks despite taking losses, had their worst defensive showing of the season.

While much of State's improvements in recent weeks had been on the offensive side of the ball, the defense had made occasional flashes. In recapping Saturday's performance in his postgame press conference, head coach Jeff Lebby said that defensive showing was particularly disappointing after the progress that had been made.

"Disappointed today. I thought we had made real progress, gotten better...We did some things on third down, but we couldn't get them in enough third downs."

- Miss State HC Jeff Lebby

The Razorbacks racked up 673 yards of offense on 10.2 yards per play. As Lebby noted, the Bulldogs got stops on third downs, as Arkansas was 0-7 on those plays. The problem is the Hogs only faced seven third downs. They were nearly unstoppable on first and second down plays.

A big reason for that was the Arkansas rushing attack. Without their starting RB and leading rusher, the Hogs piled up 359 yards. Backup RB Braylen Russell went for 175. Fellow backup Rashod Dubinion had 98. And QB Taylen Green, who had -9 rushing yards total over the previous three games, finished with 79.

Lebby called out the run defense and lack of tackling as the first issue that must be addressed.

"We have to play better against the run. That's first and foremost. And we have to find ways to get the back on the ground when we make contact. That's where it starts."

- Jeff Lebby

Following this game, defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler fell under (more) fire from Mississippi State fans. For many, this performance was the final straw, and they're calling for a change to be made. And while Lebby obviously did not comment on his coordinator directly, he did say that the coaching staff as a whole has to do a better job of getting this unit to play to the level they're expected to.

"We've got to find ways to get our guys to play at a better speed, a better physicality, at a better level. We've got to get every ounce out of them we can. We have to."

- Jeff Lebby

Now the concern is whether or not this team just hit its breaking point. After playing solid ball for three games against good teams, the showing State had against Arkansas halted the little momentum the Bulldogs had. And there's a real concern that they may not recapture it.