Starkville is a place where cowbells ring louder than logic sometimes. If you spent any time tracking mississippi state football scores over the last few months, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It wasn't just a season; it was a cardiac event spread over thirteen Saturdays and one very cold Friday in Charlotte.
Jeff Lebby’s second year at the helm was supposed to be the "climb." Instead, it felt more like a frantic scramble up a muddy hill. The Bulldogs finished 5-8. On paper, that looks like a failure. In reality? It’s a lot more complicated than a simple win-loss column.
The 2025 Schedule: A Tale of Two Bulldogs
The year started with a spark. Honestly, after a 2-10 disaster in 2024, seeing State go 4-0 in the non-conference slate felt like winning the lottery. They handled Southern Miss 34-17 to open things up, and then came the shocker: a 24-20 gritty win over No. 12 Arizona State.
People were starting to believe.
"Lebby’s got the Veer-and-Shoot humming," they said.
Then the SEC schedule arrived like a ton of bricks. The "conference of champions" doesn't care about your early-season momentum. State dropped a heartbreaker to Tennessee (34-41) in overtime and another OT thriller to Texas (38-45). You could feel the air leaking out of Davis Wade Stadium.
By the time the Egg Bowl rolled around on November 28, the Bulldogs were limping. A 19-38 loss to No. 7 Ole Miss wasn't just a defeat; it was a reminder of the gap between the top and the middle of the pack.
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Why the Arkansas Win Was the Turning Point
If you want to understand the 2025 team, look at the November 1st trip to Fayetteville.
State won 38-35.
It wasn't pretty.
It was a dogfight in the truest sense.
Blake Shapen, the quarterback who basically carried the offense on his back all year, put up 199 passing yards and two rushing touchdowns against Missouri later in the month, but it was the Arkansas game where he proved he had the "it" factor. That win eventually secured them a spot in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, even with a losing record, thanks to their APR scores and a weird bowl-eligibility cycle.
Breaking Down the 2025 Game Results
Looking back at the mississippi state football scores, the patterns are pretty glaring. They could score. They just couldn't stop anybody when it mattered most.
- Aug 30: at Southern Miss (W, 34-17)
- Sep 6: vs #12 Arizona State (W, 24-20)
- Sep 13: vs Alcorn State (W, 63-0)
- Sep 20: vs Northern Illinois (W, 38-10)
- Sep 27: vs #15 Tennessee (L, 34-41 OT)
- Oct 4: at #6 Texas A&M (L, 9-31)
- Oct 18: at Florida (L, 21-23)
- Oct 25: vs #22 Texas (L, 38-45 OT)
- Nov 1: at Arkansas (W, 38-35)
- Nov 8: vs #5 Georgia (L, 21-41)
- Nov 15: at Missouri (L, 27-49)
- Nov 28: vs #7 Ole Miss (L, 19-38)
- Jan 2: vs Wake Forest (L, 29-43) - Duke's Mayo Bowl
The bowl game against Wake Forest was... well, it was a mess. Losing 29-43 in Charlotte was a sour note to end on. Coleman Hutzler’s defense got shredded for over 400 yards of total offense, and it ultimately cost him his job.
The "Arnett Reunion" and the 2026 Overhaul
Here is where things get wild. If you told a State fan in 2023 that Zach Arnett would be back in Starkville by 2026, they’d have called you crazy. But college football is a flat circle.
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Jeff Lebby fired Hutzler and immediately brought Arnett back as the Defensive Coordinator.
Wait, what?
Yep.
It’s a "back to basics" move. Arnett’s 3-3-5 defense was legendary under Mike Leach, and Lebby is betting that reuniting Arnett with Matt Brock (who is also returning from UConn) will fix the defensive sieve. They also added Ty Warren, a two-time Super Bowl winner, to coach the defensive line.
They aren't messing around anymore.
What the Stats Actually Tell Us
The Bulldogs averaged 30.4 points per game in 2025. That’s actually top-50 in the country. The offense isn't the problem. The problem is giving up 30.2 points per game on the other side. You can't win in the SEC when you're essentially playing "last team with the ball wins."
Blake Shapen was the heartbeat. He finished the season with a solid completion percentage and proved that the "Veer-and-Shoot" can work in Starkville. But the run game needs more than just flashes from guys like Davon Booth. They need a bell cow.
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The Recruiting Impact
Despite the mississippi state football scores not being what fans wanted, the 2026 recruiting class is actually looking decent. Landing guys like Marquis Johnson from Missouri and Zion Ragins from Oklahoma through the portal/recruiting trail shows that Lebby's "Showtime" brand still has some pull.
People forget how hard it is to rebuild a program after a coaching transition and the loss of a legend like Leach. 2025 was a bridge year. A shaky, swaying bridge, but a bridge nonetheless.
Looking Ahead: Actionable Insights for Fans
If you're tracking the Bulldogs as we move into the 2026 cycle, keep your eyes on the following three areas. This isn't just "coach speak"—these are the actual levers that will determine if those mississippi state football scores start trending toward the "W" column.
- Watch the Arnett-Brock Synergy: The defense is switching back to the scheme that made them "D-Line U." If they don't show improvement in the first three games of 2026, the Arnett experiment might be a short-lived sequel.
- The Quarterback Room: With Shapen having carried the load, keep an eye on the transfer portal. Lebby needs a dual-threat guy who can survive the SEC gauntlet without getting banged up by mid-October.
- Third-Down Conversions: In 2025, State struggled to stay on the field in the second half of games. This led to defensive fatigue, which explains why they gave up so many late scores to teams like Missouri and Georgia.
The 2025 season is in the books. It was a year of "almosts" and "what-ifs." But in the SEC, "almost" gets you fired. For Jeff Lebby, the grace period is over. The bells are ringing for a better 2026.
Next Steps for Bulldog Fans:
- Check the official 2026 spring practice schedule to see the new defensive staff in action.
- Monitor the NCAA Transfer Portal window (opening mid-January) for defensive line depth.
- Review the finalized 2026 SEC schedule to plan your road trips—the home slate at Davis Wade is shaping up to be a gauntlet.