Jeff Lebby not singling blame for Bulldog defensive woes

As bad as Mississippi State’s defense has been this season, last Saturday was a new low for the Bulldogs and defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler.

State surrendered 58 points and nearly 700 yards of offense to a Razorback team that was just a game above .500 coming into the contest. Arkansas averaged a first down every play of the game and the Bulldogs couldn’t put together enough stops to take pressure off of the offense to perform.

After the dust settled on the game, Hutzler’s group continued its trend towards being the worst defense in the history of the program statistically. The Bulldogs sit last in the country in sacks (5) as they remain the only SEC school that hasn’t hit double digit sacks.

MSU is also second to last nationally in completion percentage by the opposition while the total defense and scoring defense are in the 120s out of 134 teams. The massive issues on that side of the ball caused a strong reaction from the fanbase towards Hutzler, but Jeff Lebby said it doesn’t solely fall on his first-year coordinator’s shoulders.

“I think it’s a group thing. At no point and time will it ever be one person. Collectively, individually, I’ve talked about that a ton. Individually, being the best we can possibly be so that collectively, we have the opportunity to go play the way we need to play,” Lebby said of the defense. “We had shown great improvements the three weeks before Saturday. Saturday we did not play the way we needed to play on the defensive side of the ball. Getting back to playing with really clean eyes and having incredible communication will get us back to the way we played three weeks prior and that is something we have to do.”

Defense not making life easier for State offense

Through five conference games, the Bulldogs have given up 500 yards or more four times with two games of over 600 yards. There has yet to be a game where State has held a team under 30 points in conference play and the team has had seven-straight games with 30 or more points surrendered, all resulting in losses.

The defensive ineptitude has also put more pressure on State’s offense to perform. For the most part, that unit has been good for the Bulldogs as freshman Michael Van Buren has led the team to 24 or more points scored in each of the last three games.

Since taking over as the starter, Van Buren has completed 57% of his passes for 1,101 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions. Van Buren has drawn rave reviews from around the country and was one of the top rated freshmen in the country last week according to Pro Football Focus. Lebby has seen good things, but he also knows that his QB has to be even better.

“He’s handled it in a good way,” Lebby said of Van Buren. “I think people outside the building have been very quick to talk about how incredible he is while he’s gotten challenged inside the building every single day. That will continue to happen. I’m coaching that position every single day and we have to make sure we take out the plays that are really bad and create productive plays when a picture isn’t perfect.”

In what is perhaps the last game that the Bulldogs will be favored all season, State (1-7, 0-4 SEC) hosts UMass (2-6) this Saturday at 3:15 p.m. inside Davis Wade Stadium.

UMass has played one common opponent already in the Toledo Rockets who knocked off the Minutemen 38-23 before beating State earlier this year. Future State opponent Missouri also played UMass and win 45-3 on the road in Amherst, Mass.

“These guys have played in some close ball games. They’re a group when you look at them when they’ve played good opponents, they’ve played better,” Lebby said. “They’ve been a group that is getting coached by a guy that’s had a ton of success as a coordinator and a guy that has coached and seen a lot of football. I would expect them to be at their very best on Saturday when they come down here and we’re gonna need to be at ours. For us, it will continue to be about us, how we go about our business day to day, week to week, and getting better.”