Everything head coach Jeff Lebby said following State's 39-20 loss to Missouri

Mississippi State (2-9 overall) remained winless in the SEC on Saturday after the Bulldogs dropped a 39-20 decision to No. 23 Missouri at Davis Wade Stadium. After the game, head coach Jeff Lebby met with the media to discuss the loss:

Q: The Missouri scoop and score in the first quarter seemed to change the game. How did you think your team responded to that?
Lebby: We didn’t respond the way we needed to, especially offensively. We really struggled after that with what happened over the next couple of drives. We needed to be able to get something going. Again, from a complimentary football standpoint, we’ve talked about it a ton. I have not fixed that. When we play well defensively we’ve struggled offensively. When we play well offensively it’s just the opposite. The most frustrating moments to me is we haven’t found ways to keep momentum when we have it. When you don’t do that then it leaves it to chance when you’re playing good football teams.

Q: Your thoughts on going for it in the third quarter down 11 instead of kicking the field goal?
Lebby: It’s been different in every single moment. We’re down 11 and we got a chance on 4th and 3 to be able to go. We’re being aggressive going all the way and I’m going for it. For us, we got to make that layup. That is truly a layup where we have the ability to go pitch and catch a little bit on the route, a little bit on the ball. To me, you’re able to get momentum and things have a chance to be a bit different. But scoring touchdowns in the red zone, the scoop and score touchdown for Missouri, defensively, that to me is where the game got away from us.

Q: You talked earlier this week about Missouri’s third-down success. What went on there today?
Lebby: For us offensively, we did not do a great job making the layups. I thought we had opportunities at times to play pitch and catch and make things incredibly easy and we weren’t able to execute. This game will punish you for lack of execution. We’ve saw that today. I thought early in the game, defensively, on third down we had a couple of opportunities to get off the field. They end up scoring after a 3rd and 5 where we have a guy dead to right, got a sack and don’t end up getting him on the ground and they make the throw and the catch on the scramble in the back of the end zone to score their second touchdown. To me, that was a game-changing moment for us because I thought we had the chance to keep some momentum there. That’s the plays we have to make to change the outcome.

Q: What’s it going to take to get a good four quarters against a good team?
Lebby: We’re gonna need to find ways to execute in big situations and we need to make the layups. When we have a guy dead to right on the ground on 3rd and 6, you get him on the ground and get off the field. When you have the ability to play pitch and catch on an intermediate in-breakers on an eight-yard throw, you do that. When you have the ability on third down to score a touchdown, you score now. You stay on your progression and you pitch and catch. You score touchdowns instead of kick field goals. There’s a lot of different examples that give us the opportunity to play cleaner the entire game. To me it starts with the easy stuff staying easy and making the layups non-stop.

Q: What’s the thought process on the offensive line rotations?
Lebby: We were just rotating. Obviously, Jimothy (Lewis) getting some work there with Luke Work. We had moved Albert (Reese) inside and we were rolling Jacoby (Jackson) and Albert at left guard. Just the ability to keep them fresh and they played a lot of snaps for us over the year. They need to have the ability to stay fresh and be able to go play as hard as they possible can over the course of the game. That’s what we will continue to do.

Q: How can you fix the defense this offseason and what’s your confidence level in your defensive staff?
Lebby: The first part of that is we have to find a way to get the guys in here from a defensive line standpoint, a second-level players standpoint, to give us any chance. It is fair and easy to see today from a run-defense standpoint, we got run down in a huge way. They were able to find ways to make three, four, five yards and hold the ball. They held the ball for nine minutes in the third quarter on that first drive. We have to have the ability to get the bodies in here that we need to give us a chance to create a rotation where you can play multiple guys and find ways to be a hell of a lot better up front. That’s going to be the first part of it.

From a staffing standpoint, I do have confidence. I see those guys every single day. I see their fight. I see their energy. I see their toughness. I see how consistent they’ve been so I’ve got a lot of faith in those guys.

Q: Davon Booth continues to build momentum here lately. Your thoughts?
Lebby: Davon has gotten better every single week. I think he’s done a really nice job with his opportunities. I wish we had him back because he’s really hit his stride at a really good time for him. Frustrated because he’s played really well and he’s not able to enjoy it. But proud of the way he’s gone about it. He’s taken advantage of every single opportunity he’s had.

Q: Is the suspension to Mario Craver a one-game deal?
Lebby: We will see how this week goes for (Craver). There’s expectations we’re going to operate with every single day inside our building. My hope is that (Craver) has a great week, comes back and shows that he is ready to be a great teammate. Had a couple of bad moments but the hope is that he’s ready to roll on Friday.

Q: What do you need to do to make those plays in high-leverage situations?
Lebby: For us it’s the detail in what we can do and having the ability to where if I have a chance to make a first down on 2nd and 8 and catch a ball in the flat and go up and over and it ends up being 3rd and 1. Then we don’t execute it on 3rd and 1. You got a chance to make the first down on second down, make it now. The game will punish you if you don’t take advantage of situations just like that. If you have to constantly to snap the ball in third-down situations, it’s going to be really hard. Today we didn’t execute well enough. I didn’t coach well enough to give us a chance to go do that on third down.

Q: Stonka Burnside has been good on special teams. Have there been conversations about his expanded role or helping on defense?
Lebby: I think we will get to that point as we finish this thing up after next week. Stonka has done a really good job on (special) teams and he’s made an impact. You can tell the kid’s got naturally instinct. He’s got natural strike and physicality to him. What I love about him is he’s stayed the course. As we get closer to that we will have a conversation. Right now we need him in the receiver room from a role standpoint to be able to roll with these guys and take some plays off these other guys.

Q: What did you think about the fan support this year?
Lebby: Again, we will never take it for granted. For me coming here and this being Year 1, I had great awareness of the support and that was a huge deal for me and my excitement for Mississippi State. That hasn’t budged because our people love State. They love football. When we get this thing rolling and we will, their excitement will be through the roof. I’m ready for that to happen.

Q: What’s the schedule for this coming week?
Lebby: Tomorrow they will be back in the building with us. We will get a flex and a shake-out and obviously meetings to be able to clean this up and then go straight into prep. Monday will obviously be our Tuesday and so on and so forth. Talked about it in the locker room afterwards. This game is important. It matters to our fanbase, matters to our state, matters to our great university. We’re going to stress the heck out of that. We have the ability to finish out the way we want to finish. That’s a choice and we’re going to continue to talk about that. Every single person inside our building every single day needs to have the best day as we move forward and get ready to go to Oxford.