Transcript: Everything Mississippi State Head Coach Zach Arnett Said Ahead Of Week 3 Matchup Against LSU
Mississippi State (2-0) remains undefeated at the beginning of the Zach Arnett era after recording home victories over both the Southeastern Louisiana Lions and the Arizona Wildcats to open the 2023 college football season.
Now, the team moves into SEC play for the first time this year against the No. 14-ranked LSU Tigers.
Arnett met with the media Monday with the contest less than a week away:
Opening Statement: "We’re excited to get conference play here. Reviewed the tape, a lot of good things and things we will continue to coach off of. We need to improve and get better. I thought we had every opportunity to break that game open early and some lack of execution, plays in critical moments, prevented us from really enjoying the success with the intensity they deserved with a larger margin of victory. And that’s nothing against Arizona and the great job they did. That’s on us as coaches for either not having the right play called or not having coached it well enough. We improved in a lot of ways and there are areas where we can still improve. If we can improve in those areas we highlight, we can line up and play versus anybody. I could not have been more proud of the effort our guys played with, their grit and determination. And we had a heck of an environment. Proud of our fan base. That was a rocking environment. It was awesome and we need the same thing this week with LSU coming in. Defending SEC Western Division champions, as talented as any team in the country. It’s quite a challenge. Our guys are excited to get to work."
Question: "How much do you think the young guys can take from that win (over the Arizona Wildcats)?"
Zach Arnett: "You’re 100 percent right. If you’re a freshman out there, and you have to play 60 minutes and then some more, you grow from that. You learn from the highs and lows. We should be a more mature, experienced football team because of that, which is good for us in the long run."
Q: "What did you think of Shawn Preston’s game?"
ZA: "He’s made a bunch of really good plays over his career. That was the best game Shawn has played in his career. We needed all of them. On that 18-play drive, he forces a fumble inside the 5-yard line. That was a big-time play. The interception was a great one too. That was textbook, how you want your free safety to play when they’re playing man-free coverage. He melts with the vision of the quarterback, all of a sudden he’s picking the ball off at the numbers. That’s the kind of range you want from your free safety."
Q: "No Kalvin Dinkins or Ja’Kobi Albert?"
ZA: "Kobi is probably done for the year. A knee injury in camp, where we gave a couple of weeks to heal and play, unfortunately he wasn’t able to. He was willing to try and do that. He wanted to so badly. He’ll have a season-ending knee operation. Dink was just not available for the game. We’ll be getting him back sooner rather than later."
Q: "What was the biggest thing you learned from that game?"
ZA: "A lot of situational stuff that came up. A lot of 3rd and 3, fringe areas like is it a punt or a go for it, attempt a long field goal. I’ve tried to go for it twice in the games, and we haven’t gotten either one. Hindsight, you kick a field goal. You also like the odds of your defense defending a long field. That’s six points I prevented from being on the scoreboard. Those situations will continue to come up. That’s the responsibility of the head coach. I referenced that 18-play drive they had. I instructed the offense let’s play this a little conservative. Let’s try to eat some clock up. We had a defense that needed to catch their wind. If you go super aggressive, couple of incomplete passes, you potentially have to punt and send your defense right back out there. On the flip side, I would have told them to be super aggressive with a chance to firmly take momentum in that game. Would have made it 21-0. Yeah, your defense has to go out really tired, but it’s worth the trade-off of the momentum and the three scores. I very poorly managed that situation. I’ll own it up to the team. My mistake. I kind of sucked the air out of our sails right there. I’ve got to be accountable for that as a head coach."
Q: "What does this weekend’s game mean to you guys?"
ZA: "I leave that for you guys. For us, it’s 3-0 and 1-0 in the conference."
Q: "What makes (LSU quarterback) Jayden Daniels so effective?"
ZA: "They have tremendous personnel. Their offensive line is big and pretty, physical and athletic. They have a tight end room that looks the part. They have tremendous speed and athleticism in their skill positions. Running backs are hard to tackle. They’re big and thick and physical. To top it off, you have a quarterback is equally adept throwing it as running it. Last week’s game with Arizona felt like last year’s game with LSU. It’s modern football. An accomplished passer who can hurt you just as much with his legs is not fun to defend. You have to constantly shift the stress around on defense. You hope you can manage that throughout the game. You’ve got to keep the quarterback in the pocket. But you still have to generate a pass rush. (much discussion on coverages). You have to be able to do all of them. Teams are too good to line up and do just one."
Q: "What did you think of the atmosphere and do you expect it this week?"
ZA: "I thought it was a great atmosphere. That IS this atmosphere. It’s what makes Davis Wade so special, Starkville so special. Our fan base comes out no matter what, fired up and rocking. I have every expectation will we just as good come 11 am Saturday. And that makes a difference. Can’t thank our fan base enough for what they’ve done."
Q: "How big is to have veteran linebackers who have seen LSU before?"
ZA: "Those guys have seen a lot of football. There are times we put harder assignments for them to execute because they can handle that. I don’t know if Jett came off the field for one play last week. And if Bookie did, it was just a couple. We need to do some things to freshen those guys up. It’s good to have guys who have played that much football. When you want to win big games, your best players have to play well."
Q: "What does (Mississippi State linebacker) Jett (Johnson) mean to you?
ZA: "Jett’s a football player. Our defensive philosophy is know what to do, and how to do it. That is Jett to a T. There is not a call that we make that he does not know exactly what to do and how to do it. If you’re a good football player, and you do those things, you’re going to have a lot of production. Led the league in tackles last year. Two interceptions and whatever his stat line was Saturday. He made some big-time plays in that game. That’s how you define a good football player. He made the most of his opportunities over the course of his career."
Q: "Creed (Whittemore) did not play much?"
ZA: "It was just the way the rotation worked out. He’s healthy."
Q: "How much of a revelation has Malik Ellis been?"
ZA: "We talked with Zac Taylor of the Bengals. What is a football player? Whatever is in the best interests of the team. Whatever is asked of me, I’m willing to do whatever for the betterment of the team and give us the best chance of victory. Malik, a true freshman, going to be a very good offensive lineman. But due to certain circumstances, we had a need for a point of attack tight end who can create some movement in the run game. We’re not the first to do this. But he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win. In reality, it might not be the best thing for his offensive lineman development because he’s not able to lift and put on weight. But getting on the field early and getting exposed to this level of football is certainly going to benefit him greatly. It would have been easy for him to say I was recruited as an offensive lineman. Fortunately, we’ve got a lot of football players: whatever is needed, whatever is asked of me. It’s fun to coach guys like that."
