Davon Booth

Davon Booth's Biography

The 2024 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team has been representing Mississippi State University as a part of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) throughout the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Steered by first-year head coach Jeff Lebby, the Bulldogs have shown a commendable performance so far, playing their home games at the celebrated Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville.

On December 13, 2023, the Mississippi State along with the SEC collectively announced the Bulldogs’ football agenda for 2024, comprising a balance of 7 home and 5 away games for the regular season. In this season, Mississippi State was set to welcome SEC conference opponents Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, and Texas A&M. Simultaneously, the Bulldogs were scheduled to visit the home turfs of four other SEC contenders, namely Georgia, Ole Miss (Egg Bowl), Tennessee, and Texas, thereby concluding the SEC regular season on the road. Furthermore, two bye weeks were given to the team in the 6th and 12th weeks of the season falling on October 5 and November 16 respectively.

Texas, one of the two newest additions to the SEC that joined in July 2024, drew the attention of the Bulldog fans as this marks the first time the Mississippi State Bulldogs would be locking horns with the Longhorns since their face-off at the 1999 Cotton Bowl Classic following the 1998 season. Notably, Mississippi State was also slated to revisit Austin, Texas, where the Bulldogs last secured a score of 28-10 in the 1992 season.

This season was further marked by an extraordinary shift in the SEC’s scheduling format which led to the conference disbanding divisions and accepting two new member teams – Oklahoma and Texas. This also meant that some of Mississippi State’s long-standing SEC rivals like Alabama (last played in 1947), Auburn (1954), Kentucky (1989), and LSU (1943) were off their schedule for the 2024 season.

Then again, the Bulldogs’ out-of-conference competitors come from the Big 12, MAC, and the United Athletic (UAC) conferences, along with an FBS independent team. In the 2024 season, the Bulldogs hosted three out of their four non-conference games encountering Eastern Kentucky from the UAC, Toledo from the MAC, and UMass, an FBS independent program.

In an unprecedented move, the Bulldogs also paid their first-ever visit to Arizona State on September 7, 2024. Additionally, the other three non-conference teams that Mississippi State came up against in 2024 also marked the first ever meetings in program history.

Significant matches took place both at their home ground at Davis Wade Stadium and away, including locations like Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, and Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Besides, noteworthy fixtures were also scheduled at Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as Vaught–Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, Mississippi.

The journey so far, punctuated by remarkable performances, intense competitions, and a few first-time experiences, marked a promising start to coach Jeff Lebby’s tenure and a fascinating chapter in Bulldogs football history. With a season of challenges and learning, the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team pushed the boundaries, demonstrating their true bulldog spirit.