COLUMN: Mississippi State fanbase at a breaking point with Jeff Lebby, Bulldog football

As the fourth quarter turned, Mississippi State fans could taste it.

It’s been almost three full years since Bulldog fans last enjoyed an SEC win, but those fans were in their seats ready to enjoy a top 25 triumph over Texas. An early score in the fourth quarter didn’t look like it was going to spoil the fun, either, as Davon Booth answered that swiftly with a 62-yard touchdown catch and run that had Davis Wade Stadium and the Bulldogs ablaze with a 38-21 win.

Then, Mississippi State happened again.

Over the course of the final 12 minutes or so, the Bulldogs played the hits on how to lose a game in spectacular fashion.

• A 4^th down roughing the passer penalty on Deonte Anderson that kept a drive alive and led to a touchdown.
• Back-to-back offensive three and outs that took almost no time off the clock.
• A 79-yard punt return touchdown to tie the game in the final 2 minutes.
• A sack with the Bulldogs driving that knocked them out of field goal range in regulation.
• Arch Manning’s backup throwing a touchdown in overtime.
• False start penalties and sacks giving State no chance to tie.

Those are a lot of moments in a game that was there for the taking and all of them came after the Bulldogs had built a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter. As much good will as Jeff Lebby had built in the first four games of the season, he’s beginning to lose it all with a fanbase that is just simply sick and tired of losing.

Close doesn’t count for Bulldogs, results matter

There’s no doubt that this Bulldog team is close, and you can see the hurt and frustration on the players and coaches’ faces. Often times I believe a lot of people think that these people don’t care if they win or lose. There’s no one involved with State athletics that want to win as bad as those that wear the maroon and white and spend their days working to fix it.

Unfortunately for Lebby and his team, the end result is all that matters right now. The Bulldog defense put together another incredible night of effort and they again were giving this team every chance to get a win. They also surrendered 31 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to an offense that has been inept in SEC play.

State’s offense put together, quite possibly, the best offensive performance of any team against the No. 3 Texas scoring defense this season. Blake Shapen had a career-high 381 yards and four touchdowns and State became the first team to score 30-plus points against the Longhorns. But in the final four possessions, the offense completely disappeared and it came at the worst time possible.

The issue that Lebby is now facing is his fanbase has done what it was supposed to do and he hasn’t delivered. State fans opened up the checkbook and gave the football program more money in a single calendar year than it has ever had. During the first five home games, Bulldog fans have done everything within their power to will State to five wins.

Now, many of them are done.

There’s only so many of these games that a fanbase can endure. This particular fanbase has been downright fractured since Dan Mullen left for Florida in 2017. Joe Moorhead underperformed, Mike Leach had some up and down moments and then tragically passed away in the midst of a nine-win season, Zach Arnett was an utter disaster of a hire and now Lebby is having trouble getting the Bulldogs over the hump.

While State is lightyears better as a team than it was a year ago, they’re not winning like it. Until that happens, finding bye-in from the fanbase is going to get harder and harder for Lebby. And without buy-in in this era of college football, sustainability and success will be hard to come by for Lebby.

Keeping the team together is the most important thing for Lebby to try and breakthrough but you have to wonder when that breaking point will come as well. Until that happens, State continues to wander through the football wilderness with no signs of water.