Know Your Foe: Oklahoma Sooners at Mississippi State Bulldogs

The Oklahoma Sooners are back on the road in Week 8. OU sits at .500 after the first half of the season, and it's been a bit of a roller coaster through the first six games. The Sooners beat UTEP but fell to Michigan. Oklahoma beat New Mexico, then got blown out by Georgia. After the bye week, OU won a thriller over Texas, but then lost to Kentucky last week.

As a result, Oklahoma is 3-3 overall and 1-2 in SEC play. Head coach Brent Venables and his team are focused on this week's opponent, the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They went 5-8 last year, won just one conference game, and lost to Wake Forest in Duke's Mayo Bowl.

Head coach Jeff Lebby is in his third season in Starkville, after the Bulldogs hired him away from his post as OU's offensive coordinator at the end of the 2023 season. He served in that role for two seasons, becoming Venables' first offensive coordinator after taking the job in Norman. He had extensive experience as a position coach at Baylor and as a coordinator at UCF and Ole Miss before taking the Oklahoma job. In his first season, Lebby went 2-10, before taking a step forward over the last two seasons.

Lebby's team is 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the SEC. The Dawgs started hot, with wins over ULM (62-13), Minnesota (38-13), South Carolina (41-34), and Missouri (31-24). However, the last three weeks have seen MSU lose to Alabama (56-23), and then fall in shutout fashion after the bye week against LSU (31-0). They're looking to bounce back after two straight hard losses.

Lebby calls the offense, and Mississippi State doesn't list an offensive coordinator. Wide receivers coach Philip Montgomery is his top assistant on offense, but it is truly Lebby's show on that side of the ball. He'll be directly matched up with Venables calling the defense on the other sideline, and it's an interesting matchup between two of the SEC's head coaches with the most control over their sides of the ball. Lebby will match wits with his former boss and OU defensive tackles coach Todd Bates, Venables' top defensive assistant.

The quarterback position is a major thing to watch for State coming into Saturday afternoon, as starter Kamario Taylor is expected to return from injury to face the Sooners. He got banged up in the Missouri game, played through injury before departing against Alabama, and missed the LSU game. When he's on the field, he's one of the most dynamic signal-callers in the nation, and he's the engine that makes the Mississippi State offense go. If Taylor can't play for some reason, Parker Puckett will likely take his place again, but the expectation is that Taylor is back this week.

Offense is still MSU's biggest strength, and they'll get another major piece back on Saturday. Running back Fluff Bothwell leads the rushing attack, and he'll return from injury in this game after missing the LSU game as well. If he's on a pitch count, Kolin Wilson will likely get more carries in his stead. Mississippi State's passing attack is very strong, led by wide receivers Anthony Evans III and Sanfrisco Magee. Lebby's veer-and-shoot scheme features wide splits by receivers, a downhill running game, lots of RPOs, and a heavy dose of screens, deep choice routes, and downfield shots. It forces defenses to defend every blade of grass, creating space for the offense to operate. Also called the "wide choice" offense, one of the most important features is an extremely fast tempo.

On the other side of the ball, OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle will be matched up against Mississippi State co-defensive coordinators Zach Arnett and Matt Brock. Arnett is the play-caller, and he's in his first year back in Starkvegas after serving as the head coach in 2023. Arnett was originally the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, and Mike Leach hired him. However, Arnett took over the full-time job after Leach's death. After two years away, he's back as the DC. Brock worked under Arnett for that first stint at MSU, but he has spent the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator at UConn.

MSU's defense has been a weakness under Lebby, but it should look much improved this week. Their leading tackler is linebacker Tyler Lockhart, and he also has two sacks this year. Edge rusher Amaree Williams has 1.5 sacks, and cornerback Jett Jefferson leads the team in tackles. Though it isn't a very strong statistical unit, the Sooners, led by quarterback John Mateer, absolutely must focus on taking care of the ball this week. The Bulldogs have just five takeaways through six games.

The Sooners also need to get the running game going if they want a chance to win, and they need to be better and more consistent overall. With the way the Dawgs can score, Oklahoma has to be ready to put points on the board.

OU special teams coordinator Doug Deakin will face off against MSU special teams coordinator Cliff Odom this week. He's been in Starkville for the entire Lebby era, and the duo also worked together at UCF. Odom played at Baylor when Lebby coached there. Oklahoma's special teams have to continue to be solid, as this team doesn't have the margin for error to account for errors in that phase of the game. Luckily, Deakin's group is usually pretty sound.

The Sooners and the Bulldogs have never met on the gridiron. However, the programs have plenty of familiarity. Three MSU players, safety Kendel Dolby, wide receiver Zion Ragins, and offensive lineman Isaiah Dent, will be taking on their former team this weekend. Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon had a long career in Norman.

Beyond the obvious familiarity of himself working at OU and under Venables, Lebby has plenty of coaches with Oklahoma ties on his staff. Tight ends coach Jon Cooper, quarterbacks coach Kevin Johns, offensive line coach Phil Loadholt, senior offensive consultant Matt Wells, quarterback analyst Tanner Schafer, offensive line analyst Ben Tawwater, and offensive fellow Nate Klein were all at Oklahoma at one time or another.

Both of these teams are down after disappointing performances last week. Only one school can get the bounce-back they desperately need, while the other will fall deeper down the SEC standings as the end of October approaches.

Arbuckle, Mateer, and the rest of the OU offense have to find something, anything, that works this week. They need to give Venables and the defense at least some support. The Oklahoma offense currently ranks as the second-worst Power Four unit in the nation in total offense, ahead of only Michigan State. Everyone on that side of the ball is fighting to keep their jobs right now. Meanwhile, the OU defense is currently ranked as the fourth-best unit in the Power Four in total defense.

Oklahoma will have to lean heavily on that defense and special teams to win, and that's going to be the case for the rest of the season. Against a Mississippi State defense that has its own problems, perhaps the offense can help out a little, but its hard to envision that the Sooners can count on that right now.

With both Taylor and Bothwell now in line to play this week, the Sooners will face another four-quarter game against a very talented offense. Oklahoma has to execute offensively when the chips are down. They did it against Texas, but they failed to do so against Michigan and Kentucky. Which version of the OU offense shows up in crunch time this week could very well decide this pivotal game.

Kickoff for Oklahoma-Mississippi State is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in Starkville on Saturday on the SEC Network.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Know Your Foe: Oklahoma Sooners at Mississippi State Bulldogs