Doing this for a living, we get to go a lot of places we enjoy.
One of those places is Starkville, Mississippi, the home of the Mississippi State University Bulldogs. It’s the home of a great baseball tradition, great barbecue, and now, it’s where Jeff Lebby calls home.
Lebby is, of course, the new coach of the Bulldogs’ football program.
The Football Beat crew is headed to Starkville on Saturday to watch Lebby and the Bulldogs (1-1) face Toledo in a non-conference game (Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Central on ESPNU), and we’re looking forward to seeing a young mad scientist at work in his new laboratory.
We chronicled it here as a part of our weekend roundup, and it was late Saturday night, for you early-birds. But State almost pulled off one heck of a comeback, down 30-3 at Arizona State. They did lose, 30-23.
But Lebby is on the cusp, we believe, of re-establishing State as a contender in the new-look Southeastern Conference. He’ll have to contend with friend and Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, of course, in the same state, and Alabama, which is just about an hour southwest, in recruiting battles, just like all MSU coaches have to do.
Lebby is equipped with a great alumni base and a hungry one. And they have a chance to make a huge impact on the Southeastern Conference race, both for themselves and to shake it up for everyone.
After hosting Toledo this week, they host Florida on Sept. 21. And then – forgive the pun – it’s a freakin’ dogfight for State.
They go to Austin to take on new SEC member Texas on Sept. 28; they travel to Athens, GA., to face Georgia on Oct. 12; and then host Texas A&M, which doesn’t look nearly as imposing now, on Oct. 19.
‘Bama and LSU are gone from the schedule this year. But they do, of course, face Kiffin and the Rebels the day after Thanksgiving on ABC.
So, we’re excited to bring the TFB show to Starkville this weekend. Come by, say hello, and we’ll see you there.
