Folks. College football. It’s back. It’s officially here. Really, truly. It’s back. We’re not in the offseason anymore. We don’t have to focus on nonsensical doom-and-gloom stories like the unceasing college football playoff shenanigans all the time.

Right now, we can talk about college football. The stuff that’ll happen on the field. And that’s what we’re going to do.

Because the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks are set to face off in Starkville, Mississippi. It’s early September and football is getting set to take place in Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field.

For now, all is right with the world.

And as long as Jeff Lebby and the Bulldogs ensure that they take care of business against the Warhawks, then all will stay right with the world. For at least a little while longer.

Jeff Lebby enters the 2026 Mississippi State football season facing some pressure

In year three of the Jeff Lebby Era of Mississippi State football, the Bulldogs are in need of getting some wins. Right now, as a program, Mississippi State is riding a four-game losing streak dating back to the 41-21 loss to Georgia in the early part of November 2025.

I was at that game. It was awful. I’m working on writing about the trip because I’m way behind on everything that I’ve been aiming to write over the past *checks notes* decade or so and I’d like to get caught up on stuff one of these days.

Anyway.

Mississippi State needs wins. That’s it. Just some wins. They’re a lot better than losses. That’s not too much to ask for, right?

The Bulldogs finished the 2025 season at 5-8 after starting out 4-0. They let two games against ranked teams totally slip away from them as they dropped overtime mach ups against the Tennessee Volunteers and the Texas Longhorns.

The Bulldogs also lost by two points to an abysmal Florida team that fired its head coach and decided to change directions as a program.

Now, in 2026, what can the Bulldogs be expected to accomplish?

If you take a moment right now to ask ESPN’s Football Power Index how this season will go, you’ll see that it believes Mississippi State will end the season with 4.6 wins and 7.4 losses. That’s not exactly a fun sort of record to have at the end of the year and it’s certainly not something that would make Mississippi State football fans thrilled about the direction of the program under Lebby.

But, theoretically speaking, Lebby should have all the pieces in play to run his offense. Mississippi State made a huge change on the defensive side of things by swapping out Coleman Hutzler for Zach Arnett at defensive coordinator.

I’m not expecting the Bulldogs to be great, but I’m also not expecting them to end up with fewer than 5 wins this season.

This team could be chaotic and fun. Not perfect, but hopefully considerably better than what it was a season ago. Even with a dreadful and difficult schedule, considerable improvements should show up in the win column for this team. And I’d be happy with that.

Here’s to hoping that’s the case. And here’s what you need to know to watch the Bulldogs get this season started:

How to watch ULM at Mississippi State: time, TV channel and streaming

• Who: Mississippi State Bulldogs (0-0 overall, 0-0 SEC) vs. ULM Warhawks (0-0 overall, 0-0 Sun Belt)
• What: Week 1 of 2026 Mississippi State football season
• When: Saturday, September 5, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Starkville, Mississippi
• Venue: Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field
• TV Channel: ESPNU
• Live stream: ESPN.com/watch

Mississippi State vs. ULM broadcast info, radio info

• ESPNU broadcast crew:
  • Doug Sherman (play-by-play)
  • Tom Luginbill (analyst)
  • Lauren Sisler (reporter)
• Mississippi State football radio broadcast options:
  • MSU Sports Network
  • HailState.com/watch
• ULM radio broadcast options:
  • KLIP 105.3 FM
  • https://www.la105.com/
• Other audio broadcast options:
  • SiriusXM (channels 179 or 229)
  • SiriusXM App