Everything Jeff Lebby said Monday ahead of road trip to Missouri

Here's everything Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said at his Monday morning press conference:

On impressions after reviewing Georgia game film...

The middle eight is where the game got away from us. I think that's something you look back game 17-7 there's two and a half minutes left. We go for it on the fourth down and talked about being aggressive in those situations, don't end up converting. And then they've got to go the length of the field but do. We have three penalties inside that defensive drive, where they go get seven points, they have the huge chunk play coming out at half for the big touchdown. Again, to make it 31-7, and so that's where the game got away from us.

Just so frustrating that that's how things played out. Again, inside our early drives offensively, we have the first one, which is exactly what we want. The second drive, we start with a false start. We end up not converting on third and five, shouldn't be in that situation. As you look at it, we get the turnover on third, down there on our own three. We get two first downs, we have the ability really on the second play of that drive, we've got Ant and Brennan, man running wide open. We're not able to protect just quite long enough. They end up getting there, we get the interference call. We have a huge negative on first and ten on the third drive there. And then we fumble the football on third down and give them incredible field position.

Again, things like that, when you're playing as good of a football team as we were playing, we're not good enough to overcome those things. We didn't tackle the way we needed to tackle. We had a ton of missed assignments. Again, for us being able to get back in here and clean that up and take that out of our game, defensively, that's not been who we've been. So getting that corrected and ready to go on the road.

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On importance of senior leaders...

We're gonna need it this week. We're gonna need it as we go on the road and play a really, really good football team. We need our leaders to lead in a great, great way. Man challenged him this morning, they've answered to that. Our energy as we got on the field today was workman-like, which I love. And our guys know that we got so much out in front of us. We need to go find a way to play the best ball that we've played all year, not perfect, and go 1-0 on Saturday. And we're gonna need great leadership for that to happen.

On if QB Blake Shapen practiced Monday...

No, he did not do anything today, so it will. It'll be evaluating him as we move through the week.

On confidence in Kamario Taylor...

I've got great confidence in Kamario. We've gotta make all the layups and just, man, play inside the scheme, play inside the system. One made some great plays for us. He wants a lot of things back, which I knew that he would. And as he watched the tape, there's gonna be great growth for him through playing. That's the reality of it over these last couple of weeks, and being able to watch the tape, and being able to learn from things. But again, from a confidence standpoint, I've got great confidence in him.

On ways to make sure team ready to play...

It's getting back to the basics of playing clean football. Again, the two penalties for us offensively are absolutely critical, and we're drive killers for us. I think I said it on Saturday, but we end up third and five, and fourth and five, and don't convert, and we should never, ever be in those situations. And we are because of pre-snap penalties. And to me, those are a choice. That has to be taken out of our game. And then again, along the same lines defensively, we're off the field on fourth and three, they sub, we call timeout, we get them over, we talk about it, staying on sides. We're about to get the exact same thing, and then we jump off sides. And so doing those things inside of a game where you're playing that kind of opponent, you're going to get beat, and we can't operate that way. We're not good enough to do those things and be able to overcome them. So that's obviously a huge point for us as we get going this week.

On if Shapen is healthy, will he be the starter...

If he's healthy and truly healthy, he'll start. It's all about him being healthy. So again, as we evaluate this thing and move through it, we'll see exactly where we're at.

On rehab process of Will Whitson, Blake Steen, Kai McClendon...

All three of those guys are in a really good place. It's a work in progress to get them back going, obviously. And since their surgeries, they've done a really good job from a rehab standpoint. And we understand what kind of impact those guys are going to make for us moving forward.

On Whitson gaining another year of eligibility...

No, we've began that process and feel good about that.

On Missouri's quarterback situation...

It's such a fine line because they're still gonna try to do everything they can to put their guys in positions of success, while at the same time finding ways to protect him. They're gonna be able to protect him by how they do what they do with running the football, we have to do a great job in a run game. And that to me, there's no more, nothing more critical for us as a football team than us doing a great job defending the run on Saturday and creating enough stress for him at QB to where we're changing the picture just enough, man, to be able to create some turnovers.

On Kamario Taylor...

It's just about playing, and it's continuing to get those reps, trust what you did Monday through Friday, don't make it something that it's not. All of our quick game, our easy stuff, our tags, man, again, just making the layups with ball placement, he's been really accurate. He's got to continue that trend, that for us, that was very uncharacteristic on a couple of those things Saturday that he has not done in practice. I expect those to be layups for us, and he does too. So again, it's just, man, him being able to go play, and again, take exactly what the defense gives us, and just go do what your coach should do. And then you got an opportunity to make the play, go make the play, which he did that on Saturday a couple times.

On stopping the run and pass rush...

We've got to find ways to get the ball up and down offensively. I mean, we can't sit back there and pat the football all day. We've got to get the ball up and down. That piece will be critical. We've got to be really, really clean fundamentally to give ourselves a chance. And then in the run game, we've got to align and assign with great technique and great eyes and having the ability to strike blocks and get off blocks and create some knockbacks. So those two things, without a doubt, like you look at the game on paper, two huge keys to victory right there, finding ways to keep Blake or Kamario clean, and then having the ability to stop the run.

On status of Isaac Smith...

I don't. Isaac, again, did not go today, but we'll let the Wednesday report speak to it.

On Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy...

Both these guys are really, really good. Ahmad, the first guy never tackles him. And that's what shows up on tape over and over and over. You try to arm tackle this guy, it's going to be a long day. We've got to do a great job of getting hats to the football. We got to game tackle. And again, that's the thing that sticks out more than anything, is the first one never tackles him.

On team's attitude at Monday's practice...

There was great frustration, disappointment for us to play the way we played. And again, understanding, man, that middle eight of the game, how it got away from us. Those guys, as they watch the tape, again, there's great ownership from myself, from the entire staff, to every single guy that played on Saturday. Man, we've all got a hand in it, all got a part of it, and now it is. It's about having the ability to reset, making sure that one does not beat us twice, we get back to being exactly who we're supposed to be and need to be to be able to go in on the road.