Mississippi

Unpacking Mississippi State football’s puzzling slow starts in Jeff Lebby’s offense

Published

2 months ago

November 10, 2024

Unpacking Mississippi State football’s puzzling slow starts in Jeff Lebby’s offense

KNOXVILLE — The second play of Saturday’s game is one that irks Mississippi State football coach Jeff Lebby.

MSU (2-8, 0-6 SEC) started with the ball for the 10th time this season, needing to make a splash on the road to silence Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium crowd. Tight end Seydou Traore broke loose 20 yards up the seam on second-and-11, but freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. threw an uncatchable pass high and wide of him. Another incompletion on the next play resulted in a three-and-out punt.

From there, Tennessee (8-1, 5-1) took the ball right down the field for a 7-0 lead on the way to a 33-14 victory.

Slow starts have been an issue, and don’t appear to be getting fixed.

“For us, there’s no explosive plays,” Lebby said. “Everything for us, as we’ve gotten started, we’ve had some negative plays and then it’s been very grind. We have to have the ability to throw and catch on a couple of these first- and second-down plays on the first two drives.”

What the numbers say of Mississippi State’s early-game offense

Mississippi State has scored first three times in 10 games this season. Two of those were opening-drive touchdowns. MSU has held two halftime leads this season, none of them in conference play.

In Mississippi State’s 10 opening drives, it has scored two touchdowns, had six three-and-out punts and two turnovers.

Mississippi State is averaging 2.7 points in first quarters against FBS opponents, 122nd in the country, according to teamrankings.com. Meanwhile, the defense is allowing 9.1 points in first quarters, 125th in the country, so MSU is essentially playing from behind early in every game.

“I’m not really too sure,” running back Davon Booth said after a season-high 125 rushing yards. “I think it’s just a lot of critical errors from (ourselves), a lot of simple mistakes, but we’re going to pick it up.”

Jeff Lebby didn’t have issues with slow starts at Oklahoma

At Oklahoma, where Lebby was the offensive coordinator in 2023 before being hired by the Bulldogs, the Sooners didn’t have an issue with slow starts. Oklahoma scored seven opening-drive touchdowns in 12 regular season games, punted four times and had one turnover. In those seven touchdowns, Oklahoma had five drives with a play of at least 30 yards.

Lebby is right about MSU missing explosive plays.

The Bulldogs only have three plays of at least 30 yards in first quarters this season. Two of them have been on opening drives, the two possessions when they’ve scored touchdowns.

What’s next for Mississippi State football

Mississippi State has an open week before its final home game of the season against Missouri (7-2, 3-2) on Nov. 23.

“Film, film, film,” Booth said. “Got to get going. We have Missouri this next week and they’re a good team, so I’m just going to watch a lot of film.”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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Mississippi

What channel is Tennessee basketball vs Mississippi State on today: Time, TV schedule, streaming

Published

27 minutes ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

What channel is Tennessee basketball vs Mississippi State on today: Time, TV schedule, streaming

Tennessee men’s basketball will face No. 14 Mississippi State in Knoxville on Tuesday, fresh off a one-point road loss against unranked Vanderbilt.

The No. 7 Vols’ record fell to 16-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC.

The Bulldogs (15-3, 3-2) are the only SEC team Tennessee did not defeat last season en route to the regular-season conference title.

The Vols’ schedule doesn’t get any easier after Tuesday, with games against top-ranked Auburn, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 5 Florida, which won the first matchup between the two teams this season by 30 points.

Here’s how to watch the Tennessee basketball vs. Mississippi State game today, including time, TV schedule and streaming information:

Watch Tennessee vs. Mississippi State live on Fubo (free trial)

Tennessee men’s basketball vs. Mississippi State can be watched via streaming on SEC Network+, which can be accessed by logging into your cable/streaming subscription that includes the SEC Network.

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 21
Start time: 7 p.m. ET

The Tennessee men’s basketball vs. Mississippi State game starts at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday from Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville

Tennessee men’s basketball vs Mississippi State predictions, picks, odds

Knox News reporter Mike Wilson’s prediction: Mississippi State 75, Tennessee 67

The Bulldogs gave Tennessee problems last season, and Tennessee is having problems lately. It’s the wrong time for a difficult matchup.

Tennessee Vols basketball schedule 2024-25

Nov. 4: Gardner-Webb, W 80-64
Nov. 9: at Louisville, W 77-55
Nov. 13: Montana, W 92-57
Nov. 17: Austin Peay, W 103-68
Nov. 21: vs. Virginia in Nassau, Bahamas, W 64-42
Nov. 22: vs. Baylor in Nassau, Bahamas, W 77-62
Nov. 27: UT Martin, W 78-35
Dec. 3: Syracuse, W 96-70
Dec. 10: vs. Miami (FL) in New York City, W 75-62
Dec. 14: at Illinois, W 66-64
Dec. 17: Western Carolina, W 84-36
Dec. 23: MTSU, W 82-64
Dec. 31: Norfolk State, W 67-52
Jan. 4: Arkansas, W 76-52
Jan. 7: at Florida, L 73-43
Jan. 11: at Texas, W 74-70
Jan. 15: Georgia, W 74-56
Jan. 18: at Vanderbilt, L 76-75
Jan. 21: Mississippi State, 7 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPNU
Jan. 25: at Auburn, 8:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Jan. 28: Kentucky, 7 p.m. on ESPN
Feb. 1: Florida, 12 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Feb. 5: Missouri, 7 p.m. on SEC Network
Feb. 8: at Oklahoma, 12 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPNU
Feb. 11: at Kentucky, 7 p.m. on ESPN
Feb. 15: Vanderbilt, 1 p.m. on SEC Network
Feb. 22: at Texas A&M, 12 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Feb. 25: at LSU, 9 p.m. on SEC Network
March 1: Alabama, 1 p.m. on ESPN/ABC
March 5: at Ole Miss, 9 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPNU
March 8: South Carolina, 2 p.m. on SEC Network
March 12-16: SEC Tournament in Nashville

Record: (16-2, 3-2 SEC)

Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

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Mississippi

Mississippi High School Boys Basketball Scores (1/17/2025)

Published

8 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

Mississippi High School Boys Basketball Scores (1/17/2025)

The Mississippi high school boys basketball season is in full swing, and High School On SI has scores for every team and classification.

Keep track of Mississippi high school boys basketball scores below.

Mississippi high school boys basketball scores

MISSISSIPPI HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL STATEWIDE SCORES

CLASS 7A

CLASS 6A

CLASS 5A

CLASS 4A

CLASS 3A

CLASS 2A

CLASS 1A

MIDSOUTH ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

CLASS 6A

CLASS 5A

CLASS 4A

CLASS 3A

CLASS 2A

2024-25 MISSISSIPPI BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULES: FIND YOUR TEAM

Follow High School On SI throughout the 2024 high school boys basketball season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!

Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school boys basketball news.

High School On SI will serve as the premier destination for high school sports fans, delivering unparalleled coverage of high school athletics nationwide through in-depth stories, recruiting coverage, rankings, highlights and much more. The launch of a dedicated high school experience expands Sports Illustrated’s reach to even more local communities as fans can now truly follow athletes from “preps to the pros” on a single platform, bringing them closer to the action than ever before. For more information, visit si.com/high-school.

Download the SBLive App

To get live updates on your phone – as well as follow your favorite teams and top games – you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App| Download Android App

— Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi

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Mississippi

Ole Miss Women’s Basketball’s Coach Yo Breaks Down Crucial Win at Mississippi State

Published

16 hours ago

January 20, 2025

Press Room

Ole Miss Women’s Basketball’s Coach Yo Breaks Down Crucial Win at Mississippi State

Ole Miss Rebels women’s basketball has found ways to overcome adversity this season.

The Rebels entered the year ranked No. 20 in the nation before losing a nail-biter to USC in Paris to open up the season and suffering close losses to NC State, UConn, Texas A&M and Alabama. But despite that, the Rebels have won two straight in SEC play, earning a 4-2 mark in the conference, good for fifth place.

Despite some close losses, that didn’t affect the Rebels on Sunday as Ole Miss took down rival Mississippi State 71-63 in Starkville.

“Incredible atmosphere today. It’s like a rivalry game should be,” head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said in an interview postgame. “We’re no stranger to it. I’m really happy for this group.”

Although the Rebels currently sit unranked, a solid month and a half remain in conference play. And a winning record in one of the toughest conferences in basketball is nothing to look down on.

“Every year, every season, there’s a turning point, something happens that defines your team and who they want to be for the rest of the season,” Coach Yo said. “If you’ve followed us, we’ve been in close game, lost some, been ahead, been behind. But this we we had to ‘gut out,’ and we knew that.”

The Rebels have been within eight points in all five of their losses, with the biggest losses (seven points) coming against then-No. 2 UConn and NC State, both nationally-ranked teams as of the most recent AP Poll. The Rebels are one of the most competitive teams in the SEC, and Sunday’s win showed that. There is still plenty of time for the 2024 Ole Miss women’s basketball team to write its story.

The next chapter comes next Sunday as the Rebels host No. 7 Texas in the SJB Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN.

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