Everything head coach Jeff Lebby said in Monday's press conference

Mississippi State takes to the road on Saturday for the first time inside SEC play and the Bulldogs face the challenge of battling No. 1 Texas. It also marks the first-ever SEC football contest for Texas and kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. (SEC Network).

On Monday morning, head coach Jeff Lebby held his weekly press conference and discussed the Longhorns among other topics:

Q: With Blake Shapen out, what’s the situation at quarterback?
Lebby: Both of those guys (Michael Van Buren and Chris Parson) are going to be a big part of the competition. But Mike is going to run out first and we can go ahead and announce that. I was proud of how he was able to put a drive together there for us in the fourth quarter. A guy that has great confidence in himself and the guys around him.

Chris has been unbelievable in being a great teammate, working his butt off, doing some things that we need him to do to create a ton of confidence. But Mike will run out there first.

Q: What have you seen from Van Buren the last few weeks to have that confidence in him?
Lebby: Just predictability. Having some predictable outcomes, knowing what is going to happen with the ball, taking great care of the ball. He’s got to do that for us on Saturday afternoon. That will be a huge part of us having a chance.

Q: What are you seeing from the defense that you could help them to get more stops?
Lebby: I see guys that are playing incredibly hard. We’ve got to find ways to play cleaner. There were some things from an execution standpoint and there were so many plays during the game. The 3rd and 8 on their second drive, we had the ability to peel with the back and we don’t peel. We have the ability to tackle the back about eight yards short of the sticks and we’re not able to make it.

That’s got a chance to change the game. You never know what play it’s going to be. So finding ways to focus incredibly small and making sure we are doing a great job of coaching those things the right way. Then our guys continuing to have great ownership in making the play. But our guys are playing with toughness and playing incredibly hard every single snap. We have to play cleaner.

Q: What is the status of Donterry Russell?
Lebby: Really for us right now, wanting to create trust with everybody that is on the field for us. BJenn (Branden Jennings) has done some great things for us, Ty Cooper has done some really good things. J.P. (Purvis) played a little bit there (at jack linebacker) this past week and will continue to see him. So those will be the three guys that roll there.

Q: How are you preparing Van Buren to face the No. 1 team in the country?
Lebby: You get him to focus incredibly small. You find ways to put him in position for success. We got to find a way to build on the run game from last week to give him the opportunity to play inside some good situations. That will be key for us to get off to a fast start that way.

Q: Do you have an update on Isaac Smith?
Lebby: No update on Isaac. We will know more on him as we get closer.

Q: How different is Van Buren’s skills set compared to Blake Shapen and does it change what kind of offense you plan to run?
Lebby: I think the biggest change is just the experience piece of it. Mike can do a lot of similar things that Blake has the ability to do. He can keep things alive with his feet. He can go make the throws we need him to go make. But the experience piece of it is what matters, especially as we go on the road and playing the team we are playing. So for Mike, again, it’s about focusing really small, taking great care of the football, creating predictable outcomes and putting us in good situations.

Q: Any update on Keyvone Lee?
Lebby: We’re going to miss Keyvone for awhile. It’s not just a 1-2 week deal. It’s going to be something that lingers for awhile.

Q: How frustrating is it to watch the defense and see those plays not being made?
Lebby: When you go back and watch the tape, you never know what is going to be the play of the game. The game is 7-7, we go three-and-out, offensively. We end up not executing cleanly on a punt and it goes out of bounds. We got to hit the ball better. They go down, have incredible field position and they score to make it 14-7. We come right back, offensively, and we go three-and-out again. We punt the ball away, they have the big return on punt return.

Inside those four minutes of the game, instead of it being 7-7 we find ourselves down 21-7. Those 8-10 play right there in the middle of the second quarter is what truly changed the game and gave us the whole we were in. Continue to stress, you never know which one it is going to be. Our guys taking great accountability and us as a staff understanding exactly what that looks like to not create those holes that we we’re digging for ourselves there in the second quarter will be huge for us moving forward.

Q: How is Blake Shapen handling his situation?
Lebby: I’ve talked to him a ton. He’s special. He’s an elite young man. Pull into the office bright and early this morning and my man is in the building getting some rehab. He’s in the quarterback room. He’s coaching these guys up out there on the field in a sling. So for him, it’s just a reflection of who he is. Couldn’t be more proud that I get to coach him every single day as we walk through this thing. He gets it cleaned up and he will be a huge part of the rest of the season just because of his leadership and toughness and his edge. He’s got such great respect from his teammates and that’s a testament to who he is.

Q: With the offensive line and run game against Florida, what were they doing better in the run game?
Lebby: I thought we played better fundamentally. I think I’ve said this the past couple of weeks. We’ve have been targeting the right people fundamentally, playing cleaner with leverage, with hand placement. How we’re playing the game with our feet is something that had to get better. That got a lot better. We cleaned some of those things up, there was great improvement. I felt really good about going into the game and the kind of week we had up front fundamentally. We have to build on that and that is going to be huge for us.

Q: Your thoughts on this Texas team?
Lebby: They’ve been incredibly dominant in all three phases. Defensively, they’re as good as there is in America, giving up five points a game. Offensively, they’ve got this incredible amount of skill. They’re playing really good up front. Regardless of who the quarterback is going to be, both of those guys have the ability to run the offense Sark wants them to. And they are very aggressive from a team standpoint.

It’s a football team that’s playing as good as anyone in the country. It’s like what we talked about as a group today, what an unbelievable opportunity for us to see how we’re going to respond. Our guys had energy on the practice field today. Frustrated, disappointed without a doubt. But our energy, our toughness, our effort, our focus is about us. We’re going to continue to focus on those things and get ready to roll.

Q: Have you talked to Blake Shapen about a medical hardship for this season?
Lebby: Yes, since he just played in the four games, feel good about that working out for us. We’ve had conversations, me and him and his parents, as well. So feel good about that happening the way we want it to.

Q: Your thoughts on playing at DK Royal on Saturday?
Lebby: Obviously, my time in Norman, those games were always in Dallas. I have played in Austin a few times in the Big 12 when I was in Waco. They’ve got an incredible setting there. The place will be packed, over 100,000 there, and it will be our job to block out the noise. But that’s what this league is. It’s incredible road games and atmospheres. It’s exactly what you want as a player and as a coach. This weekend will be the exact same.

Q: You mention the Texas quarterbacks. Your thoughts on facing Arch Manning?
Lebby: Yeah, Arch did some really good things the last two weeks. You listen to what Sark was saying after the game, he was talking about Arch and the experience part of it and learning from some of the mistakes he may have had inside the game. That’s what playing the position is all about. You want to be able to learn from really good experiences and not have to go through some of the hardships and some of the failure. But at the same time, it’s part of playing the quarterback position and no different than here. It’s all about taking care of the ball for Mike and for us as we get going.

Q: Penalties were a momentum killer against Florida. How do you get your team to rely on that needed momentum in those opportunities?
Lebby: Again, it’s going back and telling the story of every single play, every single series the entire game. There’s a story to it. So being able to tell the story and understand where we have chances to win the game. We have chances to not be down 21-7 and got a chance to come out of it a totally different way. Understanding that could happen the second play of the game or could happen the 90th play of the game. Every single play dependent of itself are all huge situational plays that give us a chance to be on the right side of it.