Once again, Mississippi State football found itself with a chance to win an SEC game late in the fourth quarter. And once again, Mississippi State football fell short.
Falling short is putting it lightly for the Bulldogs, as they blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead over the Texas Longhorns on Saturday to lose 45-38 in overtime. It was the most agonizing defeat in a line of several agonizing defeats, and in his postgame press conference, HC Jeff Lebby expressed the need for his team to learn how to break through in these games.
"Having the ability to win the game in the fourth quarter, we've gotta find a way to knock that door down. Incredibly disappointing, frustrating to say the least."
State played about as well as they have in multiple years through the first 50 minutes or so of the game. There was a bit of a slow start, but once they got rolling, they looked dominant. But the games don't last just 50 minutes. They needed to finish, and it didn't happen.
"Our guys played incredibly hard. We were ready to play, didn't play great early and then found ways to respond, but we gotta finish the game and go win. Our guys understand that."
So how can Mississippi State manage to finish? Lebby is preaching "togetherness."
"It takes us being together. That's the only way this happens. Everybody having great ownership, taking great responsibility...The only way we get done what we want to get done is being together, putting our head down, and fixing it."
The Bulldogs are going to need total alignment and unity, everyone working as best as they can throughout the week in preparation and everyone executing at the highest level for a full game. But does Jeff Lebby feel MSU is lacking that needed unity?
Lebby made it known he does not. But he understands that when frustrations begin to mount, the locker room can suffer, and he wants to assure that doesn't happen with his team.
"I want to make sure I'm driving that home. Because you get inside moments like these with the way things have gone at the end of football games, for us to be on the wrong side of it, and people can start pointing the finger in a hurry...We've got one way to fix this, and that's being together."
That togetherness needs to show quickly. There is no time to dwell on a loss when playing in the SEC. The Bulldogs now have to go on the road against an Arkansas team that, despite their record, is more than capable of creating problems for their opponents. Lebby sees the next game as an important test for his program.
"We're gonna wake up tomorrow morning, tee it up next Saturday in Fayetteville...We'll find out what kind of foundation we have as we get ready to go on the road to play another good football team."
Mississippi State has been great about responding, at least in terms of effort, under Jeff Lebby so far. His team never quit in the midst of a 2-10 season, and they haven't quit this season despite multiple painful losses. Responding from this loss to Texas will be a tougher task, but it'll be a necessity if the Bulldogs are going to end their losing streak next Saturday.