Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State: Maroon and White Nation's Andrew Miller talks Bulldogs ahead of the Egg Bowl

6. Mississippi State returned the lowest number of starters in the SEC for the 2024 season. How did you find Jeff Lebby's work in rebuilding the roster when he was hired?

Offensively, Lebby and his staff did about as well as you could've asked for attracting talent. He immediately landed some impact HS prospects, and the portal haul was solid. Now as mentioned, the OL, which is portal heavy, didn't pan out. But the guys they landed were thought to be good transfers. I think lack of continuity is playing a factor there. Defensively, it was a totally different story. The portal haul on that side was bad. They just couldn't get worthwhile guys interested. I don't think it was an NIL issue. I think defensive prospects had reservations about playing for this staff, and now I question how they're going to resolve that issue coming off a terrible year.

7. If you finish the season 2-10, what do you want to see in year 2 under Jeff Lebby, and what stops him from hitting the hot seat?

The offense has to be consistently good. The thought was Lebby would deliver that this year because it's what he had done at his previous stops. But obviously, the rebuild, particularly up front, made that too much to expect. In year two, his system needs to be performing well enough that it can win State games on its own.

The elephant in the room is the defense. Fans could not be making it more clear that they want a change at DC. I don't know if Lebby is going to make that change, and if he doesn't, he's going to lose support in the fanbase. That alone might put him on the hotseat, at least in the eyes of the fanbase. Whether they make that change or not, somehow and in some way, they have to get several impact transfers on that side of the ball. If they don't, I'm not sure State fans will enter a year with less excitement. As for results, he needs to have State back in bowl contention.