A Record-Breaking Start, But Dawgs Want More
September 06, 2026 | Football, Joel Coleman
STARKVILLE – If Mississippi State fans got to write the script for the season opener, It'd have likely looked a lot like Saturday's actual game played out.
The Bulldogs throttled ULM 62-13 on 2026's First Saturday in StarkVegas at Davis Wade Stadium. MSU racked up a school record 762 yards of total offense in the contest. Quarterback Kamario Taylor looked like the budding superstar he is, passing for 354 yards and four touchdowns and running for 59 yards and another score. Four different Bulldogs rushed for at least 50 yards and four different State receivers caught touchdown passes.
The Dawg defense allowed just one touchdown, plus had a couple of sacks and half a dozen tackles for loss.
The cowbells clanged all night long, just like those who bleed Maroon would've drawn it up.
There might've only been one thing more exciting than State's dominant performance. Head coach Jeff Lebby nor his players are satisfied. They want more, as illustrated just seconds into Lebby's postgame comments.
"You know, I think there was a lot of good," Lebby said of State's showing, before adding this:
"There was still plenty to clean up."
A coach refusing to be satisfied isn't a new development. No leader worth his or her salt ever rests on past laurels, even if those past laurels just happened moments before.
But this declaration from Lebby sounded different. It didn't sound so much like hope as it did expectation.
Everyone hopes to be better. This coach seems to truly believe his roster has the talent and drive to do it.
How could he not? The tip of the State spear is Taylor – a Mississippi guy living his dream by being QB1 for his beloved Maroon and White. If he could have the kind of night he did and not be totally pleased, how could anyone?
"I had some plays I want back, of course," Taylor said. "I'm not too satisfied with my performance. I missed a lot of throws, ones I shouldn't be missing. I could have made better reads. Just trying to continue to stack goals, go back to the drawing baord, learn from what I did and continue to be consistent with it."
That mindset permeates the Bulldog locker room. It's on both sides of the football, too.
"Obviously there can be improvement," linebacker Jalen Smith said after leading State in tackles on Saturday. "First game, it was decent, but there's things we can get better at and corrections to be made."
It'd have been easy for Taylor or Smith or Lebby or anyone to take a moment and celebrate Saturday night's success. After all, this was a victory months in the works.
A lot of teams live by the rule of enjoying wins for a night but waking up the next day ready to get back to work. Seems like this group isn't giving itself time to kick any feet up. Its head coach certainly isn't.
"Again…There's a ton to clean up," Lebby said. "And that's going to start here in about 10 minutes."
So, by the time you read these words, the correction process is already well underway. State has its sights set on a huge road game at Minnesota but knows for as good as the team was against ULM, it has to be better.
Lebby is confident his squad can be. His team is skilled. His team has an urgency about it. Winning the opener in convincing fashion was great. But it won't be remembered without appropriate follow-up.
"I felt good about the group this morning," Lebby said of his team. "I felt good about the group two weeks ago. These guys have worked in a great way [and had] a great opportunity to go play really well [against ULM]. But we are gonna want a ton of things cleaned up as we go and get on that plane to go to Minnesota. And so, that was the message in the locker room [postgame]. It's going to be a quick turn. [Starting Sunday] we've got to use every minute of every single day to get ready to go north."
