Everything Jeff Lebby said less than 48 hours after loss to Texas

Mississippi State is still recovering a fourth-straight loss and second in a row the Bulldogs could've easily won.

Now, the Bulldogs are on to Arkansas, who is coming off a 33-24 loss to Auburn and still searching for its first SEC win this season under interim head coach Bobby Petrino.

On Monday, Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby held his weekly press conference. Here's everything he said:

On helping QB Blake Shapen handle criticism...

I talk about this all the time in leadership. It's lonely, it's part of this profession, it's part of playing that position inside this conference. And man, there's a responsibility for each and every one of us to make sure that we do a great job of just focusing on our job and making sure we play with great emotion and great energy. And at the same time, handling that emotion and energy at the right time. And that's, again, for us, man, you step inside that arena, you're gonna get criticized. That's part of this game. And that's what every single one of us signed up for. And there's so much good that comes with it. I don't want him to feel any type of way about that part of it. It's about going and playing the best of our ability, me coaching the best of my ability to give our guys a chance to go win.

On evaluation of Saturday's game against Texas...

Yeah, I mean, I talked to the team a ton this morning. Sunday's a huge reflection day for me, obviously, in a lot of different areas, from whether it's game planning, calling the game, situational football. The thing that I don't like is not taking the time out after second down in two minute at the end of the game, just incredibly conservative, not wanting to give the football back to them. It's not who I am, and that's the one that I'm going to hang on to and learn from more than anything. We had the ability, probably should have taken the time out, bring him over, talk, I love our third down call. You go back and you watch the tape, it's frustrating. Blake's going to throw the check down in the flat, the bond, and the tip of the ball hits his thigh pad, and the ball comes out, and he's going to complete a ball from me to you. And we're going to gain 20, 25 yards, call a timeout, and go kick a field goal. That's this game, and those moments are crushing, but I want that back in a big way. So that one for me, again, really frustrating. Hated just the fact that, man, we do what we do inside the first three quarters, and then we're up 17 to start the fourth. They make a huge chunk play on third down where we got a chance to get off the field. They go score, we answer with a three-play touchdown. Von makes a great play, Blake makes a really good play. And we go back up 17, and then we never got the ball back up 17. And defensively, we have this great drive the next drive for the first four plays, and we get off the field. We're going to be first and ten, plus 34, and up 17 points. With just under ten minutes left, and we extend the drive because of a personal foul, and they can go the length of the field and go score a touchdown. Now we're up ten, so there's so many moments in the entire football game that give us a chance to have a different outcome. Those that I'm pointing to right now are the ones that weigh heavily on you, because they are chances to win the game and leave no doubt. And it is, that's something that we're going to continue to talk about, leaving no doubt, and find ways to continue to strain and fight like hell to be plus one at the end of the day.

On handling play-calling and head coaching duties...

I think where people see things a little differently is, guys that have been coordinators and calling plays, you've always had to deal with the situations because you have the ball, so you're in control. So whether you're calling a timeout, whether you're trying to gain six to eight yards from a field position standpoint, going back now two weeks ago, whatever it is, you've been in control of the football. You've had to deal with the situation. So from a situational standpoint, I think we've been really clean. I hate that I didn't take a timeout after second down, because again, it's just way, way, way too conservative in being worried about them getting the football back because they had all the momentum. Us having the ability to call timeout, and again, go talk to our guys. If we end up not converting on the third down, they're going to call timeout immediately. We're going to have to pump the ball away. There's going to be probably 25 seconds left. And I should trust us to be able to go get a stop and not let them get in field goal range. So situationally, again, I do, I feel like we've been in a pretty good place. I think we've done a great job handling the two minute warning in both sides of the halves, not putting our defense in a bad spot at the end of halves. And again, for me, always taking from it, man, always being incredibly critical of myself as I'm in control of the game. And things that will continue to come up that we can always find ways to maybe make it better and give us a better chance.

On state of the team...

Guys inside the building yesterday, which I expected, and just, man, disappointment, frustration, shocked, this really happened. And it did, and our guys this morning through leadership council meetings, our team meeting, position meetings, unit meetings, kids are resilient, man. And they'll, to me, they'll fit off the leader and fit off of the people coaching them every single day. I think we've got a pissed off football team, a team that, man, isn't hanging their head, is not feeling sorry for themselves. A football team that is ready to go prove that we're a good football team. And that's my charge, because we have a good football team. We got a tough football team. I hate the fact that we're not having the ability to feel that and the success. I hate our fan base doesn't have the ability to feel that. The way they showed up in Davis Wade, our student section, the energy, the passion, as good a game day experience as you can have. And I hate that our fan base and our people that are so invested don't get to feel good about winning a big game. So, and it's everybody involved, but again, our guys are going to be ready to go play on Saturday. And they're not going to be any feeling sorry for ourselves. We fully understand what's ahead of us. And I think that's what's most important.

On if Arkansas is the best remaining chance at winning an SEC game...

No, not in the least bit. We played a football team a couple weeks ago that was the best two and four team in the country. We're playing the best two and six football team in the country this week. They've got a quarterback that is, again, elite at everything that he does. They have played really well offensively. Auburn did a really good job defensively the other day, creating some turnovers. Arkansas struggled in the red zone a little bit. But again, their ability to score and play great offensively is very well documented. And then defensively, they've played better. And they haven't been great against the run, but they were better this past week. Auburn did a great job of committing to the run game and finding ways to play some 11 on 11, which gave them a chance at the end of the day to go win the game.

On WR Ayden Williams...

Ayden, again, he's just gotten better and better. I think when he gets opportunities, he's going to take advantage of them. He did that Saturday, I do, I've got great trust in that guy to make plays. The normal eye never sees it, but there's a couple opportunities inside that game if the ball gets up and down. We're just a little bit better in the RPO world up front. Man, we got a chance for him to have a couple of chunks on some big drives. So again, proud of what he's doing, where he's at, got to continue to get better.

On RB Fluff Bothwell's status...

He wasn't ready, and I wish he was. It was, for me, going through warmups, and him being out there and doing everything, you could tell he felt good, he didn't feel great. And he just was not quite ready to be able to go do it. I think if it's, at the end of the day, if it's an opponent where maybe he can get five or six carries and we feel safe about him playing, that's not the case in this league, and for us, we're hopeful, but it is, it's going to be day to day.

On Brenen Thompson...

Guy does everything right. I mean, he does everything right. He throws his body around as a blocker better than anybody in that entire room. It's not even close, and it's because he chooses to. And he doesn't win all the time when he's blocking the perimeter or when he's asked to go block a safety. But he does enough to be able to give us a chance to get the ball where it needs to go situation, and so, again, the guy's all about the team, and he's what I love.

On how Bulldogs matchup better vs. Arkansas this year than last year...

This team in comparison to last year's team is, we're talking about night and day. We're talking about coaching them, the people that are playing in between the white lines every single day. And we don't talk about last year, but one thing that I mentioned last year was about, man, hey, let's go play as hard as we possibly can. Let's just do everything we can this week to just go play as hard as we possibly can, and maybe that ball will bounce the right way and somehow we'll be able to win a football game. That was the reality of it. I didn't talk like that during the season because I never will. It's a completely different situation. We got a good football team. We did not a year ago. We've got a good enough football team to win. And so for us, continue to make the adjustments and be able to go attack victory, and when you have opportunities inside this conference to go win a game, then you got to go win the game. We got to go get the guy on the ground and not let him have an 80 yard punt return for a touchdown. And make them earn the fact of going and tying the game at the end of regulation. The examples are all over the place of finishing the game, all right? And again, every bit of it's going to fall back on me. That's the reality of it. That is stepping in the arena. Everybody's going to be criticized on the outcome of the game and the result. And man, that's part of it. But last year's team and this year's team is the furthest thing from being similar.

On differences in Arkansas team after coaching change...

Offensively, no. Defensively, they're completely different. So again, he made a change at defensive coordinator, made a change at linebacker, made a change at defensive line. So we've got three games that we've watched that can kind of give you the information of what we're going to get this weekend. So it's very, very limited tape, but feel like we've got a good grasp of what it's going to look like and what we're going to get.

On what's holding the Bulldogs back...

It's truly like each position and that's what we talked about in the team meeting. It's not one guy and one situation and one thing happening that's keeping us from knocking the door down and getting the victory. It is, man, it's every position on the field. It's giving these guys something that's a little better to go execute. It's having the ability to not go three and out and back to back drives in the fourth quarter so that you win the game. There's all kinds of things on the tape that give us the ability to be plus one this past Saturday. And so everybody have an incredible responsibility and ownership and accountability and man fixing these things to be able to go be plus one. And in the moment, not letting the pressure of the moment Trap you from going and playing free and fast. And trusting yourself to go make the play that you made in the second quarter. And that's the thing that we talked about and showed today. Exact same call, exact same play, second quarter executed perfectly. We're off the field, exact same call, exact same play, fourth quarter, plus 22. And our alignment by two guys defensively creates the chunk play. Just do exactly what you've done. Trust yourself and go make it. Don't make it more than what it is.

On his message to the fans...

One, thank you for the support, the atmosphere and the energy. And Saturday was as good as it gets. And again, there's like all this disappointment, being pissed off, frustrated that they're not getting to enjoy it. The people inside these walls aren't getting to enjoy it. That's a real thing. You've all heard me talk about how much I appreciate our community and our connection and the passion, the love that people have for Mississippi State. I love that. That's one of the greatest things about our university. And I hate that they're not getting to enjoy it. My hope is that we have the ability to go take care of business and go get a tough, hard win on the road on Saturday. And then come back home to another great crowd. Again, I've talked a little bit about it. We got a good football team. We got a tough football team. Our guys are fighting their butt off every single day to get the outcome we want. We've got to go find a way to get it done.

On Mississippi State allowing the most fourth quarter points of all Power 4 Conference teams...

We've talked a ton about sustaining. Some of the things I've talked a little bit about earlier, just if it's the exact same call against the exact same play, being able to execute it the exact same way. We get five three and outs of turnover, give up two explosive plays. I think we're off the field on maybe six or seven of ten in the first three quarters, give up 14 points. And then in the fourth quarter, we give up 17 points, we give up three explosives. We're two for seven on third and fourth down. It's like the tell of two completely different teams. And being able to sustain in those moments, very similar in the Tennessee game, and get off the field, gives us the ability to go win the game. I take great responsibility on offense too. We have the ball two times and have the ability to me go ice the game. And instead of going and getting just a couple of first downs, we go three and out in back to back drives. And some really, really discouraging moments inside those two drives. So it's a very, very team thing. It's playing complimentary football inside the fourth quarter. But again, our guys, man, focused and small and going and taking victory and having the ability to trust yourself to go make the play.

On Derion Gullette's performance against Texas...

He's doing some great things. And I do, I think a guy that's got a big time ceiling, he's gotten better and better, his role has been more and more involved. And look for him to continue to make these huge strides and play the way we need him to play as we go down this last stretch.