Mississippi State football fans see promise after Bulldogs battle late with Georgia

Mississippi State football lost for the fifth-straight time this season on Saturday, falling 41-31 to #5 Georgia on the road. Though the loss and overall losing streak are disappointing, Bulldog fans were able to take away more positives than negatives from the performance. Because even in a losing effort, it's clear this team is improving under its first-year head coach.

Despite the loss, Mississippi State football fans can see the potential under Jeff Lebby

Mississippi State may have lost, but considering the circumstances, their perfromance on Saturday was as good as we could have asked for. As SixPackSpeak put it, State got a "MVP: Moral Victory Performance."

Celebrating moral victories is always somewhat controversial. There are naturally going to be many who say that anything less than a win isn't worth being celebrating. Jeff Lebby himself has said so. But we have to be realistic about where this program is at and who they were playing. State's not in position to beat a Georgia right now, especially not on the road. Playing a competitive game is a moral victory worth praising, and they've now done it in consecutive games.

Robbie Faulk's point that the outcome is irrelevant right now is a good one. With this team being in the midst of a complete rebuild, focusing on wins and losses isn't productive. You have to look for improvement and judge performances on a curve. Taking that into account, they're playing really well.

One of the biggest things to takeaway is that Michael Van Buren is emerging as "that guy" at quarterback. The true freshman has been thrown right into the fire as the starter in the last two games, and he's proving to everyone that he is the right guy to lead this offense.

The offense is beginning to look like what we envisioned under Jeff Lebby. Finally, we're seeing "Showtime" in action. And defensively, State has at least managed to come up with some big plays in key moments to give themselves a chance.

You can see the foundation of the program being laid and the makings of a good program in the works under Jeff Lebby. It's been a tough season, and I'm sure the growing pains will continue. But things are starting to trend well, and there's reason to be excited for the future. Former Bulldog great Nick Fitzgerald certainly sees the vision.

Now will that future end up being as bright as Barstool Sports' Brandon Walker suggests, we'll have to wait and see.

But for now, Mississippi State fans should be pleased with what they saw from their team in Athens on Saturday, even in a losing effort.