What Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby, players said about Missouri football before game
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Mizzou’s Mississippi native at running back is getting some attention in his home state.
While Missouri football’s offense has hit a bit of a speed bump in recent weeks, running back Ahmad Hardy was still the focus of most questions posed to Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby and his players ahead of the Bulldogs’ visit to face MU on Saturday, Nov. 15, in Columbia.
The Tigers (6-3, 2-3) have lost three of their past four games and have failed to score more than 17 points in regulation in their past three games. This weekend’s game on Faurot Field will be Mizzou’s home finale for the 2025 season.
Mississippi State (5-5, 1-5) lost 41-21 to Georgia this past Saturday. The Bulldogs’ lone SEC win this season came against Arkansas.
Here’s what Jeff Lebby and select Mississippi State players told reporters in Starkville this week about facing the Tigers:
Ahmad Hardy vs. Fluff Bothwell pits star G5 RB vs. star G5 RB
Two of the most intriguing transfer running backs from this past offseason will go head-to-head this upcoming Saturday.
Ahmad Hardy came to the Tigers from Louisiana-Monroe and now leads the SEC in rushing yards. Mississippi State added Fluff Bothwell from fellow Sun Belt Conference school South Alabama to its backfield, and he’s had a strong start to life in his new league despite a midseason injury.
“I played against (Hardy) last year,” Bothwell said. “They came to our place, and he was a tough running back, pretty hard to bring down. Hard runner. He’s doing it big up there, coming from the Sun Belt to the SEC, and the leading rusher in the SEC. I mean, it’s great seeing a fellow running back doing great.”
Hardy has rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown in Mizzou’s 38-17 loss to Texas A&M this past Saturday, which marked his sixth game with more than 100 rushing yards this season. He leads the SEC with 1,046 rushing yards this season.
Bothwell has split backfield duties with Davon Booth in Starkville, and both tailbacks have more than 500 rushing yards this season. Bothwell averages 5.1 yards per carry.
So, it could be an interesting battle between the former Group of Five tailbacks.
“It’s awesome just seeing him, especially hearing his story not too long ago,” Bothwell said. “I saw his story, and, I mean, it’s awesome seeing a guy working every day until he left for college, and then seeing where he’s at now to help his parents or his mom. It’s awesome.”
Getting to QB Matt Zollers starts with … defending the run
Lebby, an offensive coordinator on top of his head coach duties, was asked what he would do differently with the play-calling in Mizzou’s situation. The Tigers are down two quarterbacks to injury and have moved on to true freshman Matt Zollers to run the offense.
The answer: He expects Mizzou to lean on its run game to keep Zollers clean.
“It’s such a fine line, because they’re still going to try to do everything they can to put their guys in positions of success, while at the same time finding ways to protect him,” Lebby said. “They’re going to be able to protect him by how they do what they do with running the football. … There’s nothing more critical for us as a football team than us doing a great job defending the run on Saturday, and creating enough stress for him at QB to where we’re changing the picture just enough man to be able to create some turnovers.”
Zollers will be making his second start for Mizzou this upcoming Saturday, and it’s clear the Tigers have to find ways to make life easier on the rookie. Getting the run game going is certainly one way to help that cause.
The Bulldogs have allowed 176.2 rushing yards per game this season. That ranks No. 110 in the FBS, and only Arkansas has been worse on run defense in the SEC.
“Both these guys (Hardy and Jamal Roberts) are really, really good. Ahmad, the first guy, never tackles him,” Lebby said. “And that’s what shows up on tape over and over and over. You try to arm tackle this guy, and it’s going to be a long day.”
Who will play QB for Mississippi State?
Could it be freshman QB vs. freshman QB on Saturday?
Mississippi State has a question at quarterback heading to Columbia. Starter Blake Shapen has left both of the Bulldogs’ past two games with injuries. He missed Mississippi State’s practice Monday, per the Clarion Ledger.
If Shapen can’t go, then true freshman Kamario Taylor will lead the offense in the visit to Columbia.
Taylor is much more of a dual-threat than Shapen, running for three touchdowns against Georgia this past Saturday and more than 100 rushing yards in the past two games.
But the same thing that was true for Zollers is true for Mississippi State this weekend. Missouri has a mean pass rush, with Damon Wilson II and Zion Young among the SEC leaders in generating QB pressures. If it is Taylor at QB for Mississippi State, then the Tigers would do well to get him unsettled.
“Yeah, we’ve got to find ways to get the ball up and down offensively,” Lebby said. “I mean, we can’t sit back there and pat the football all day. We’ve got to get the ball up and down. That piece will be critical. We’ve got to be really, really clean fundamentally to give ourselves a chance.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: What Mississippi State coach Jeffy Lebby, players said about Missouri
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