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Teams / SEC / Mississippi State
Index · this season
76
▲ Above its 5-year level +6▲ Up 9 this season
Career69since 1936
Peak862018
Last 570seasons
#26 nationally · 4-1 (2-1 conf)
Résumé #9 · record ahead of its play
Schedule so far #7
Margin ±5 pts (tightens with games)
Why 76? →

Mississippi State Bulldogs

SEC · Starkville, MS · Davis Wade Stadium · Head coach Jeff Lebby
Rival
Bitter rivalry
47-67-5 all time (119 meetings since 1902)
Ole Miss leads
Last: lost 38-19 (2025) · Ole Miss has won 3 straight
Wants it back
program traits are earned from history
No recognized national titles since 1936. Counted: AP poll champion, a coaches-poll champion, or the BCS / playoff title-game winner; a split year counts for both.0national titles
Heisman Trophy winners0Heisman
Seasons finishing in the AP top 10 since 19362AP top-10
Consensus All-Americans since 19364All-Americans
NFL draft picks since 1967109NFL picks
Winning percentage since 193649.6%win pct
History since 1936 · football since 1902. Every season →
Chemistry
Chem 69: typical69
Chem 61: typical
61Foundation
Chem 79: strong
79Gel
gel counts 45% so far
▲ Above its norm +12Trending up
early · #15 of 138
HC year3
Ret. starters32%
QB yrs w/ OC—
View chemistry →
Team chemistryearly · #15 of 138 FBS teams
Chem 61: typicalFoundation61+Chem 79: strongGel79=Chem 69: typicalChem69Gel counts 45% so far (it grows as games are played, up to half)
Foundationwhat the program has built · moves over seasons
Foundation61Staff stability — Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnoverStaff stabilitysoonRoster continuity — Returning starters and the lineup's experienceRoster continuity58Unit cohesion — QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played togetherUnit cohesion64Administration — Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignmentAdministration61Investment — Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruitingInvestment54Fan base — How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matterFan base68
ContinuityClimate
Continuity · who has played and coached togetherlive

Who has played and coached together, and for how long, ranked against every FBS team at the same point of the season.

▸Staff stability
Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnover
soon
Staff cohesion—
▸Roster continuity
Returning starters and the lineup's experience
58
Returning core60
32% of last season's starters · FBS median 32%
Experience55
10 career starts per starter · FBS median 12
▸Unit cohesion
QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played together
64
QB & coordinator—
QB & receivers72
4.8 games started together on average · FBS median 3.9
Line cohesion60
5.0 games per linemen pair · FBS median 5.2
Defensive cohesion56
4.2 games per defensive pair · FBS median 4.5
Climate · around the programlive

The administration, money and fans around the team: athletic director continuity, willingness to invest, and crowds.

▸Administration
Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignment
61
AD continuity61
Zac Selmon · year 4 (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
▸Investment
Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruiting
54
Football's share34
24% of department spending goes to football
Investment trend62
+29% over three years
Football investment66
$37.6M on football (2024-25 federal report)
Recruiting spend71
$2.32M men's recruiting
Department resources71
$157M athletic department revenue
▸Fan base
How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matter
68
Sellouts67
sellout crowds (95%+ of capacity) at 14 of 49 home games (last 8 seasons)
Sells out anyway69
sellout crowds at 12 of 38 games that didn't matter: cupcakes, or a team expected to lose or having a losing season

Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures, as reported by each school. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Attendance: reported crowds vs stadium capacity.

Gelhow it is working right now · moves week to week
Gel79Playing above its parts — Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by gamePlaying above its parts87Settled & sharp — A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normalSettled & sharp72Alignment — Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one pageAlignmentsoonResilience — Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversityResiliencesoonFan & media mood — Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins laterFan & media mood89Coach security — The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new ADCoach security72
InternalOn-field fitExternal
Internal · how the program talkscoming

How the team talks in press conferences and interviews, each program against its own normal, so a naturally terse coach isn't read as upset. Being built program by program, Big Ten first.

▸Alignment
Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one page
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.
▸Resilience
Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversity
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.

Readings are team-level; we don't publish psychological readings of individual players.

On-field fit · how it is playing togetherlive

How the team is playing together this season: beating or missing its preseason expectation, a settled lineup, clean execution.

▸Playing above its parts
Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by game
87
This season87
+8.9 points a game vs its preseason projection (5 games)
▸Settled & sharp
A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normal
72
This season72
93% of starters kept game to game
External · pressure from outsidelive

Pressure from outside the building: the hard-facts hot seat now; this season's fan and media mood as it is measured.

▸Fan & media mood
Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins later
89
This season89
AP preseason unranked -> now #17 · lost to rival Alabama 56-23 (-10) · results 4-1 (+8, recent games count more) · bowl team out of nowhere (3.6 wins preseason -> 7.6) (+10)
▸Coach security
The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new AD
72
This season72
Jeff Lebby, year 3 · 80% wins so far · +8.9 pts a game vs preseason expectation · last two seasons -29% vs the program's norm

Dashed gold ring = typical (62). 20-50 is the warning zone; under 10 is a collapse. Spokes with no data yet are dashed and left out until they fill in. Chem blends the two halves, then places the blend among this season's teams.

Trend · Foundationeach program year runs Feb 1 to the title game
'1668'1757'1835'1959'2039'2174'2279'2358'2444'2558'262016 wk 1 vs South Alabama: 76 · L2016 wk 2 vs South Carolina: 85 · W2016 wk 3 vs LSU: 76 · L2016 wk 4 vs Massachusetts: 79 · W2016 wk 6 vs Auburn: 76 · L2016 wk 7 vs BYU: 76 · L2016 wk 8 vs Kentucky: 72 · L2016 wk 9 vs Samford: 70 · W2016 wk 10 vs Texas A&M: 71 · W2016 wk 11 vs Alabama: 72 · L2016 wk 12 vs Arkansas: 74 · L2016 wk 13 vs Ole Miss: 71 · W2016 wk 1 vs Miami (OH): 68 · W2017 wk 2 vs Louisiana Tech: 56 · W2017 wk 3 vs LSU: 58 · W2017 wk 4 vs Georgia: 59 · L2017 wk 5 vs Auburn: 59 · L2017 wk 7 vs BYU: 62 · W2017 wk 8 vs Kentucky: 58 · W2017 wk 9 vs Texas A&M: 60 · W2017 wk 10 vs Massachusetts: 61 · W2017 wk 11 vs Alabama: 56 · L2017 wk 12 vs Arkansas: 60 · W2017 wk 13 vs Ole Miss: 57 · L2017 wk 1 vs Louisville: 57 · W2018 wk 2 vs Kansas State: 26 · W2018 wk 3 vs Louisiana: 33 · W2018 wk 4 vs Kentucky: 35 · L2018 wk 5 vs Florida: 35 · L2018 wk 6 vs Auburn: 35 · W2018 wk 8 vs LSU: 34 · L2018 wk 9 vs Texas A&M: 34 · W2018 wk 10 vs Louisiana Tech: 36 · W2018 wk 11 vs Alabama: 37 · L2018 wk 12 vs Arkansas: 36 · W2018 wk 13 vs Ole Miss: 33 · W2018 wk 1 vs Iowa: 35 · L2019 wk 2 vs Southern Miss: 62 · W2019 wk 3 vs Kansas State: 64 · L2019 wk 4 vs Kentucky: 63 · W2019 wk 5 vs Auburn: 60 · L2019 wk 7 vs Tennessee: 65 · L2019 wk 8 vs LSU: 66 · L2019 wk 9 vs Texas A&M: 63 · L2019 wk 10 vs Arkansas: 56 · W2019 wk 12 vs Alabama: 60 · L2019 wk 13 vs Abilene Christian: 63 · W2019 wk 14 vs Ole Miss: 64 · W2019 wk 1 vs Louisville: 59 · L2020 wk 5 vs Arkansas: 45 · L2020 wk 6 vs Kentucky: 42 · L2020 wk 7 vs Texas A&M: 45 · L2020 wk 9 vs Alabama: 46 · L2020 wk 10 vs Vanderbilt: 41 · W2020 wk 12 vs Georgia: 35 · L2020 wk 13 vs Ole Miss: 37 · L2020 wk 15 vs Auburn: 43 · L2020 wk 16 vs Missouri: 41 · W2020 wk 1 vs Tulsa: 39 · W2021 wk 2 vs NC State: 69 · W2021 wk 3 vs Memphis: 70 · L2021 wk 4 vs LSU: 71 · L2021 wk 5 vs Texas A&M: 72 · W2021 wk 7 vs Alabama: 72 · L2021 wk 8 vs Vanderbilt: 71 · W2021 wk 9 vs Kentucky: 73 · W2021 wk 10 vs Arkansas: 72 · L2021 wk 11 vs Auburn: 72 · W2021 wk 12 vs Tennessee State: 72 · W2021 wk 13 vs Ole Miss: 73 · L2021 wk 1 vs Texas Tech: 74 · L2022 wk 2 vs Arizona: 74 · W2022 wk 3 vs LSU: 75 · L2022 wk 4 vs Bowling Green: 76 · W2022 wk 5 vs Texas A&M: 77 · W2022 wk 6 vs Arkansas: 76 · W2022 wk 7 vs Kentucky: 75 · L2022 wk 8 vs Alabama: 77 · L2022 wk 10 vs Auburn: 75 · W2022 wk 11 vs Georgia: 76 · L2022 wk 12 vs East Tennessee State: 78 · W2022 wk 13 vs Ole Miss: 78 · W2022 wk 1 vs Illinois: 79 · W2023 wk 2 vs Arizona: 59 · W2023 wk 3 vs LSU: 61 · L2023 wk 4 vs South Carolina: 60 · L2023 wk 5 vs Alabama: 59 · L2023 wk 6 vs Western Michigan: 60 · W2023 wk 8 vs Arkansas: 58 · W2023 wk 9 vs Auburn: 54 · L2023 wk 10 vs Kentucky: 54 · L2023 wk 11 vs Texas A&M: 55 · L2023 wk 12 vs Southern Miss: 48 · W2023 wk 13 vs Ole Miss: 58 · L2024 wk 2 vs Arizona State: 39 · L2024 wk 3 vs Toledo: 40 · L2024 wk 4 vs Florida: 43 · L2024 wk 5 vs Texas: 42 · L2024 wk 7 vs Georgia: 31 · L2024 wk 8 vs Texas A&M: 33 · L2024 wk 9 vs Arkansas: 42 · L2024 wk 10 vs Massachusetts: 41 · W2024 wk 11 vs Tennessee: 41 · L2024 wk 13 vs Missouri: 43 · L2024 wk 14 vs Ole Miss: 44 · L2025 wk 2 vs Arizona State: 66 · W2025 wk 3 vs Alcorn State: 65 · W2025 wk 4 vs Northern Illinois: 63 · W2025 wk 5 vs Tennessee: 66 · L2025 wk 6 vs Texas A&M: 66 · L2025 wk 8 vs Florida: 63 · L2025 wk 9 vs Texas: 65 · L2025 wk 10 vs Arkansas: 62 · W2025 wk 11 vs Georgia: 64 · L2025 wk 12 vs Missouri: 64 · L2025 wk 14 vs Ole Miss: 63 · L2025 wk 1 vs Wake Forest: 58 · L2026 wk 2 vs Minnesota: 59 · W2026 wk 3 vs South Carolina: 61 · W2026 wk 4 vs Missouri: 63 · W2026 wk 5 vs Alabama: 63 · L2026 wk 7 vs LSU: 62 · next gametypical 62

Every game since 2016, one continuous line; thin rules separate seasons and the chip is where each season finished. Navy dot = win, red = loss. Big drops usually mean a new staff, a new quarterback or a rebuilt line.

Trend · Gelthis season, after each game
typical 62wk 1 · on-field 74 · fan mood 80771wk 2 vs Minnesota · W · on-field 83 · fan mood 91862wk 3 vs South Carolina · W · on-field 76 · fan mood 96833wk 4 vs Missouri · W · on-field 78 · fan mood 99864wk 5 vs Alabama · L · on-field 75 · fan mood 92815

How the team is working right now, rebuilt after each game from only the games so far: on-field fit (results vs preseason expectation, lineup settling, execution) and that week's fan & media mood. Coach security is part of today's Gel number but isn't rebuilt week by week yet. Navy frame = win, red = loss.

Continuity facts
Head coach
Year 3
at this school
Offensive coordinator
Year —
at this school
Defensive coordinator
Year 4
at this school
HC & OC together
— seasons
working together
QB with his OC
— seasons
same play-caller
QB & receivers
4.8 games
started together, average
Offensive line pairs
5.0 games
started together, average
Returning starters
32%
from last season
Starter experience
10 starts
career average
Internal facts
Pressers read
soon
this season, coaches and players
Coach tone
soon
vs his own normal
"We" vs "I"
soon
share of team language
Owning mistakes
soon
vs pointing outward
Same story
soon
coaches and players agree
After losses
soon
how fast tone recovers
Leaders named
soon
players teammates point to
Newcomers
soon
transfers talked about as part of it
Openness
soon
forthcoming vs guarded
Measured from press conferences and interviews, program by program.
Climate facts
Athletic director
Zac Selmon
year 4
Football spending
$37.6M
2024-25 federal report
Spending trend
+29%
over three years
Department revenue
$157M
all sports
Recruiting spend
$2.32M
men's teams
Home crowds
—
of capacity
Staff turnover
—
on-field staff new this season
Fan mood
soon
fans and local media
Coach & AD
soon
on the same page
Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Offense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
Taylor
Bothwell
Evans
Johnson
Ragins
Magee
Boone
McVay
Chester
Prudhomme
Shumpert-Perkins
QBKamario Taylor77725575555
RBFluff Bothwell71010255105555
WRAnthony Evans III71018255185555
WRMarquis Johnson22222222222
WRZion Ragins55525555555
WRSanfrisco Magee55525555555
OLCanon Boone71018255185555
OLMiles McVay55525555555
OLDJ Chester55525555555
OLLJ Prudhomme55525555555
OLJakheem Shumpert-Perkins55525555555

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Defense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
Whitson
Bledsoe
Reed
Williams
Smith
Lockhart
James
Gilbert
Williams
Jones
Jefferson
DLWill Whitson66455515565
DLJaray Bledsoe69455515595
DLDJ Reed44444414444
DLAmaree Williams55455515555
LBJalen Smith55455515555
LBTyler Lockhart55455615565
LBLaKendrick James11111111111
DBJardin Gilbert55455515555
DBMarcus Williams55455515555
DBKelley Jones694556155225
DBJett Jefferson55455515555

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Chemistry is Scorebook's own rating of how well a program fits together, on the same all-time 0-99 scale as our other ratings (compared with every FBS team since 2016; 62 is typical, 20-50 signals something is wrong, and single digits are reserved for true collapses; each season is compared with its own era). This early version blends continuity (who has played and coached together, and for how long; it counts most) with the climate around the program; how the program talks joins as it is measured. Within continuity, quarterback-centered pairings count most because they held up when we tested them against results. How our ratings work →