David Pollack issues challenge to Mississippi State offense in 2025

The first year of the Jeff Lebby experience at Mississippi State was forgettable, though perhaps that’s to be expected. He had a lot to transform to get the squad where he wanted it.

Will the Bulldogs be closer to that type of outfit in 2025? That remains to be seen.

But one college football analyst believes there’s a clear path to getting where Lebby wants to go. And it starts with getting the offense — Lebby’s calling card — back on track.

“I’d love to see just some excitement,” David Pollack said on the See Ball Get Ball podcast. “You hired Jeff Lebby because you wanted Jeff Lebby to bring an offensive philosophy and style that was really, really fun and unique.”

So far, Mississippi State fans haven’t seen that. The Bulldogs ranked very poorly offensively a year ago.

The best part of the offense was the passing game, which checked in at No. 50 nationally by averaging 239.3 yards per game. But the rushing offense was just 87th at 137.9 yards per game.

The team’s total offense finished ranked 78th, averaging 377.2 yards per game. And the Mississippi State scoring offense finished 85th, averaging just 25.8 points per game.

“I don’t have a lot to give you about optimism, but let’s see it do this,” Pollack said. “Let’s see the offense get their tempo the way they want to get their tempo. Let’s see the offense score some points, create some explosiveness and get some kind of fun. They just need some kind of identity. They can’t be bad on both sides.”

Mississippi State finished just 2-10 in Lebby’s first season in charge. Upping that number shouldn’t be terribly difficult, especially if the offense can start to click into gear.

That’s what Pollack is looking for in Year 2. He wants to see a jump.

“Jeff is a brilliant offensive mind and I want to see the offense improve and be dominant, like be good,” he said. “I know the defense is going to have holes in it and stuff like that, but you just want to see something positive going in that direction so you can build some kind of optimism and say, ‘We’re going to go do this.’ Like, ‘OK, I feel better about where we’re going to be next year.'”