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    • Mississippi State football, Michael Van Buren Jr. improves against Georgia
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    Mississippi State football, Michael Van Buren Jr. improves against Georgia

    Idris Bevan Posted on

    ATHENS, Ga. – Mississippi State football’s losing streak extended to five games on Saturday after a 41-31 loss to No. 4 Georgia.

    It was MSU’s fourth straight loss by double digits, and MSU (1-5, 0-3) didn’t have a lead against an FBS opponent until it jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Georgia in the first quarter.

    The brutal 41-17 home loss to Toledo, followed by quarterback Blake Shapen’s season-ending injury the following week, felt like a low point. The reality sank in that Mississippi State might not win another game in 2024 and would require a much deeper rebuild than perhaps first imagined.

    The last two road games against Texas and Georgia were different. The product on the field is better. Mississippi State won’t be kicked out of the stadium. The Bulldogs are improving from week to week, even if the wins are still lacking.

    “I would say the biggest thing is, yeah, losing sucks, but at the end of the day it’s like you never lose a game,” Mississippi State defensive lineman Sulaiman Kpaka said. “Yes, the score says one thing, but when you watch the movie again you always think, ‘Okay, the game has been reduced to X number of plays.’ We know that if we just clean these things up in the future, we won’t make these mistakes.”

    Michael Van Buren Jr. caused a stir in the second half

    The way the game started with freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. and Mississippi State’s offense, it looked like MSU was headed for a massive loss.

    Van Buren, making his second career start, was 5 of 15 for 116 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the first half. Additionally, MSU had just 13 rushing yards on 14 attempts, four total first downs and trailed 27-10.

    Van Buren was a much different quarterback in the second half. You could feel his confidence growing as he completed nine consecutive throws after halftime – including a perfectly placed 42-yard pass down the right sideline to Kevin Coleman Jr., who pulled a foot inside for the finish.

    Van Buren threw a 2-yard touchdown later in that drive to cut Georgia’s lead to 10 points early in the fourth quarter.

    Van Buren finished the game 20 of 37 for 306 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

    “I do think as a young kid in an incredible environment we had the opportunity to do some things,” first-year coach Jeff Lebby said. “We don’t attack them. I need to continue to coach him to make him better and put him in a position to succeed. But I’m proud of him for getting out of that hole and then taking responsibility to be able to play the way we needed him to.”

    MORE: What Georgia football coach Kirby Smart said about a viral moment with the Mississippi State QB

    MSU’s defense responded in the second half

    Georgia’s offensive numbers don’t tell the whole story. Georgia scored 41 points with 605 yards, including 459 on the arm of quarterback Carson Beck. Beck also turned the ball over twice and MSU turned it into 10 points.

    The decisive turnover came in the third quarter when MSU cornerback DeAgo Brumfield, a Memphis transfer playing in his first game of the season, intercepted Beck in the end zone. A Georgia touchdown would have extended the lead to 41-17 at that point. Instead, Mississippi State marched down the field and scored a touchdown to make the score 34-24 – a 14-point swing.

    This was the first time Mississippi State’s defense truly created a game-changer in a game since holding Arizona State to three points in the second half in Week 2.

    “For us, it’s about being incredibly consistent with who we are,” Lebby said. “We don’t have to be anyone else. We don’t try to be someone else. We don’t compare ourselves with others. We want to be exactly what we are meant to be.

    “And for us, just every single day, our process of waking up with both feet on the ground and doing my best is going to pay off at some point, hopefully sooner than later.”

    Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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    Idris Bevan
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