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

Mississippi State is nearing this season’s home opener as the Bulldogs welcome nationally-ranked Arizona State to Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday evening. On Monday morning, Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby held his weekly press conference and discussed the Sun Devils among other topics:

Q: How was the experience of having a happy locker room in the opener?
Lebby: Saturday after the win the locker room was great. Exactly how it should be, exactly what it needs to be. We talked a ton all fall camp, all summer about August 30th and being 1-0 when we were able to come back home for this stretch. Able to get that done but the locker room after the game was exactly how it should be. A ton of fun and now we’ve been able to put that game to bed and ready to move on to a great opponent coming here Saturday night.

Q: What did you see from the offensive line?
Lebby: Inconsistent is what we saw. We saw some really good moments, some really good things and then we had some things that we’ve got to completely take out of our game. That’s at every position. The stress today that we’ve continued to talk about is our best players have to continue to play better. It’s not just those guys that are 9, 10 or 11 on the unit. Our best players have got to continue to play better. Our guys have taken to that. We need great growth from week 1 to week 2. We understand that and look forward to the challenge.

Q: Did you like that collection of five offensive linemen in the second half?
Lebby: Yeah, I felt good about the way we executed, especially during the third quarter. We played cleaner. I thought the ball was distributed in a really good way from the QB position with Blake (Shapen). And we made some plays and that was good. Complementary football in the third quarter and thought it was huge for us to get away from them.

Q: Do you see some of the same tendencies from Arizona State this year?
Lebby: There’s going to be a ton of similarities from a schematic standpoint, without a doubt. You look at them defensively, ten back on defense. Offensively, a ton of returners, entire offensive line. Obviously, the quarterback and outside receiver in Jordan Tyson, and they’ve got two backs that are playing really good and are really good that we have great familiarity with. They are a unit that is really dangerous on the offensive side of the ball, create a bunch of explosive plays. A QB that people think is as good as there is in America. They put those guys in positions for success. We got a great challenge.

Q: Any younger guys or lesser-known guys that stood out to you on Saturday?
Lebby: I think some guys who played a bunch for us that maybe haven’t been talked about a ton. A guy like DJ Reed did some really good things, got a chance to increase his role with how he plays. Duke (Tanner) Johnson really flashed and got to play a lot of plays on the defensive side of the ball, which we’ll continue to need that. T Wood (Tyler Woodard) made some really good plays and can continue to play cleaner. But a guy who will step in for Isaac (Smith) when he needs a blow. We need all those guys to create depth and play well when they’re in there.

Q: With the Arizona State running well against your team last year, what is the message this year?
Lebby: I think we are all aware that they’re going to try to run the football. That’s a huge part of the game and a huge part of it. We have to do a great job being incredibly sound and fitting tight and fitting fast. And we have to get a bunch of guys to the ball carrier. These backs have the ability to win in 1 on 1s and we got to gang tackle these guys.

Q: What are some of the things this team needs to work on?
Lebby: On the offensive side of the ball it was penalties. We had one in nine plays and over 120 yards ate up form the penalty piece of it. The non-playing penalties have to come out of our game completely. Then the playing penalties, we got to play smarter and cleaner. So constantly talking and teaching the fundamentals of how we do what we do will give us a chance to do that. The non-playing penalties, is truly a matter of attention to detail pre-snap. We’ll continue to stress that in a great way and make sure our guys know how important that is.

Q: How do you use the knowledge of last year’s game against Arizona State to your advantage on defense?
Lebby: The motivation is the fact we are walking into Davis Wade, home opener. My expectation is we’ve got the greatest atmosphere in all of the country here at 6:30 Saturday night, our fan base showing up, being loud, being early. The expectation for our guys on defense is to go play at a level that gives us the opportunity to go win. That’s how we have to prepare every single day. That’s how we prepared today and this morning as we cleaned up the last game and moving on to Arizona State. Our guys understand the expectation. They understand the standard we’re creating on that side of the football, and ready for the challenge.

Q: You think Brenen Thompson was just scratching the surface on Saturday?
Lebby: I think he has a chance to have a ton of production. I think there are a few guys in that room that you saw show up and really have a chance. We have to go do it. We have a great opponent. The secondary we’re going to face, those guys played a ton of football. That will be a huge part of Saturday evening is being able to win on the perimeter.

Q: How encouraging was it to see your team dominate the second half of the opener?
Lebby: I think one of the things that was most encouraging thing is things were far from perfect. In the second quarter with our two 3 and outs, defensively, we were playing really well. We had a chance to get off the field on their long touchdown drive a couple of different times, it doesn’t happen. We put that drive together at the end of the half and end up having to settle for a field goal because of penalties that we should have cleaned up. But then you go into halftime and there is real leadership in that locker room. Everybody was saying the exact same thing, ‘get a stop and go score.’ Find a way and we were able to do that. Three straight drives defensively, the third one with a pick, and offensively, being able to score three straight touchdowns. I loved the answer, the response, and the maturity in the locker room as we were in there adjusting.

Q: What would it mean to you and these guys to walk out of the tunnel Saturday and see a packed stadium?
Lebby: It would mean the world. I think our people are incredibly excited about it. My whole expectation is we walk into the stadium and it’s as special as there is in all college football because we have that here. We need to have that Saturday night at 6:30, need it in a big way. For us incredibly excited to have this as our home opener in front of our fan base. My hope is we show up and show out and it is just an electric atmosphere as we go kick this thing off.

Q: You faced a running quarterback in the opener and face another one this week. Is there any carryover there with preparations?
Lebby: Just the awareness of all the QB run game and obviously the awareness of our rush lanes and the integrity we have to have to make sure we keep him bottled up. If I’m a contain rusher, I have to contain. There were a couple of times Saturday where if we just do that, the pocket is getting pushed and we’ll end up making a sack on the perimeter. We lose contain and they go ahead and get a first down. We find ways to get off the field later in the drive, but those are things we have to make sure we are cleaning up, learning those lessons right now. Then you’re off the field and have them in a bad situation. We’ve got to continue to stress that and get where we want to get.

Q: Have you named your own team’s MVPs yet for the opener?
Lebby: We have not. Talked to them about that a little bit this morning. We’re not going to go do that players of the game every week. We have to play better. We have to coach better. I think our guys actually like that. They like the fact it’s about everybody inside the walls. We all got to find ways to play better. Again, my stress to our football team is our best players have to play better. That is something we are going to continue to trend towards.

Q: Is there an update on Jamil Burroughs?
Lebby: I think we’ll really know on Jamil Tuesday, tomorrow, when we get off the field. Hope that he is back. I really don’t know until we go through this tough practice tomorrow to see if he’s really ready.

Q: What are your expectations for Burroughs?
Lebby: To be really involved, be really involved.

Q: When you look at the execution in the opener in the third quarter, was it just a matter of getting out of your own way?
Lebby: I feel like it was getting out of own way. When you look at some of the things that happened in the second quarter. Really some of the things that happened in the first quarter for us to not be able to be able to go finish drives. I mentioned it but the two 3 and outs inside the second quarter, it was like we lost our minds a couple of times doing some of the things we put on tape. Those moments are incredible teachable moments for us. Learn the lesson that you can go on the road and go win, again, that to me what we have to have to show the maturity, show the development and buy-in to getting better.

Q: Any update on Luke Work, Blake Steen and Jet Jefferson?
Lebby: I feel good about Luke, not great. To me it’s all about tomorrow’s practice. How are these guys functioning as we go into a really physical, long hard practice on Tuesday morning. That’s when we can create some understanding if these guys going to be ready. Same with Blake. With Jet, I’m not ready to say Jet is even going to be able to go tomorrow morning for us to really evaluate him. His evaluation will happen a little later in the week.

Q: How does the challenge against the Arizona State receivers give your corners a chance to grow?
Lebby: We got one of the best wide receivers in all of college football that’s going to be in Starkville on Saturday night. A guy who had a ton of production last year, made an unbelievable amount of plays. A guy that got targeted 15 or 16 times the other day, had 12 catches and is an incredibly productive player. For us, we’re going to see those guys Saturday night. We’re going to see them throughout our schedule. It’s going to be a great opportunity for our guys on the perimeter.

Q: How do you gameplan for a team that likes to run the ball that can also beat you over the top?
Lebby: They’re a chunk play football team. They’re an explosive team. They do want to run the football. Their backs are explosive players, but they are going to try to find ways to motion and shift and create some leverages and some opportunities in the shot game and throw it down the field. We’ve got to do a great job of knowing where he’s at. That’s the first piece of it because he moves all over the field. Then the next piece is when the ball is in the air, we got to go attack it and go make plays.

Q: How was it to see one of your defensive linemen – Will Whitson – get recognition this week by the SEC and see your defensive line play like that?
Lebby: I think for Will, he puts the tape on and he’s got a bunch that he wants back. And he did a lot of really good things. I kind of goes back to what I started with. He’s one of our best players on the defensive line and he’s gotta continue to play better. He had opportunities to have a couple more sacks, a couple other tackles for loss, did a good job of pushing the pocket. So just continue to develop him in a way where he can impact the game. Proud of how he played and looking forward to where he’s going.

Q: What did you see from your run defense in the opener?
Lebby: I thought at the point of attack, we did a pretty good job. We did a good job of tackling (Braylon Braxton) in the run game, both of those backs. We have to build on that. That is going to be critical moving forward, will be critical for us in Saturday night’s game. Fitting in a great way, fitting tight and playing fast and tackling will be something that is going to be critical.

Q: Was DJ Reed a surprise to you in the opener and do you expect Raishein Thomas to contribute this year?
Lebby: With DJ, for him, he had a great week of practice last week, and really put those last four days as we got into the mock game, he had put two weeks together that were really good. We need him to keep coming. That’s a really talented guy, a young guy that’s a lot of ball left ahead. But we need to continue to speed up his process and his development. Physically, he can really help us. With Ray (Thomas), it’s a long season and we’ll need every one of those guys in that room. That’s the reality of where we live. That is what it looks like for Ray.

Q: How do you feel like Blake Shapen handled knocking some rust off in the opener?
Lebby: I loved how he bounced back after the interception. He wanted that one back in a huge way. He obviously understood that immediately and in the moment moving forward. He did some really good things. We want him to take advantage of a couple of things when we gets some specific pictures that are presented to where he can really help us be in good situations first, and foremost, but then create some explosives as we continue to build this plan for this weekend.