Best quotes from Mississippi State's post-game press conferences after win

Mississippi State is 4-0 for the first time in more than a decade, but there wasn’t much celebrating Saturday.

The Bulldogs defeated Northern Illinois 38-10, which hides how close the game was in the first half when the Bulldogs led 14-10 at halftime.

Penalties, incompletions on deep passes and allowing the Huskies’ offense to run the ball kept the game close in the first half. While most of those issues continued to show up in the second half, Mississippi State played much better to get a 28-point win.

Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby, quarterback Blake Shapen, running backs Davon Booth and Fluff Bothwell, and linebacker Nic Mitchell all spoke to reporters after the game.

Here are the highlights of what they said:

Lebby on starting 4-0…

“It means a lot. For us being Year 2, all that has gone on for us to be at this point right now and be able to go accomplish our second goal is a big deal. That is exactly what I got through telling the football team. Today was about going 1-0 and having the ability be undefeated in non-conference. It was our second goal from a team-goal standpoint. Now we’re going to settle back in and get ready for next Saturday.”

Booth on starting 4-0…

“It feels good. You know, last season wasn't the year we wanted, but like I said earlier, you can't get on a high horse. A lot of teams can get humbled easily. Hopefully, that's not us and we just keep doing what we’re doing.”

Mitchell on starting 4-0…

“It feels great. That was one of our goals, go undefeated in non-conference. We checked that off but mature groups like to keep winning. You got to move on, flush it, reset and get ready for a SEC opener this upcoming week. So, it's always great to win. It's always the great to achieve one of your goals, but that's not our final goal. We're going to keep going forward and keep pushing.”

Bothwell on halftime message…

“We've been here before. Obviously, first week against Southern Miss, it was familiar, same situation kind of and just knowing that in the second half we’re going to come out swinging and just let them know that we not we don't have our heads down. We're going to keep playing.”

Davon Booth on Blake Shapen taking hits…

"I don't like that. We need Blake. Blake got to stay away from all contact, you know. I think he did it last week as well. He lowered his shoulder and I told him, "Blake, don't do that ever again. He's scaring me."

Shapen on taking hits…

“I can't take unnecessary hits like that. You know, one of the first pulls I had, I think we were on like the 30 yard line going in; I just got to get out of bounds in that situation. I felt like I could have made a cut and got inside of them, but instead I ended up lowering my shoulder for some dumb reason. Just can't do that. Got to be able to get out of bounds. Took some unnecessary hits other than that one.”

Shapen on missing receivers downfield in the first half…

“We thought they were going to be more four-down. Whether it was quarters or cover three, single high, stuff like that. They came out and they were three down, three-safety defense, obviously trying to protect the pass. We had to adjust. Right after the first drive, we came off and we stuck to some plays, RPOS's that could get us into runs that were really good in a light box because they didn't want the ball to get thrown over their head early. And we were able to take advantage of that, but we had to adjust in the game. That was the biggest thing.”