Everything head coach Jeff Lebby said following Friday's Egg Bowl loss

Mississippi State’s woes in the second half of the season continued on Friday as the Bulldogs fell 38-19 to rival Ole Miss at Davis Wade Stadium to conclude the regular season. Afterwards, head coach Jeff Lebby met with the media to discuss the loss:

Q: The defense got settled somewhat in the second quarter but then Ole Miss started making more plays. What did you see there?
Lebby: Obviously, the first two drives and the way we started, not what we anticipated, not what we wanted. We did settle in the next four drives, played really well. Then they are able to go down the field in a two-minute situation, score a touchdown with 11 seconds left in the half, which was frustrating in that moment. I thought our guys did settle in and did some really good things. We had them in some situational issues, had them in some third-and-longs, weren’t able to get off the field.

The quarterback had the big scramble on the first drive where we had a chance to get off the field and then we settled in. The explosive plays, the way they were able to throw and catch on the perimeter, at the end of the day is what gave them the ability to go get away from us and us not having the ability to go score and finish drives.

Q: What needs to change this offseason for the defense to get up to Mississippi State standards?
Lebby: We’re going to be evaluating every single bit of it. We’ve got to make sure we’re making every single roster move that we need to continue to build the depth so we can sustain instead of just having good moments. I think that’s a critical piece of it. We’ve had some really good moments. We have not sustained and definitely not sustained the way we need to these last three weeks, defensively. As we get through it, it’s going to start with the evaluation of our roster and seeing exactly where we’re at and evaluating every single piece of it as we get ready to get in the offseason.

Q: What went into starting KaMario Taylor for the first time today?
Lebby: Really hard decision for me. As we got back from Missouri, thought about it non-stop on Sunday. For me, as hard as it was to make, the result hadn’t been to we needed. For us, I felt like things had not been great up front. Who’s the guy that had the ability to make a couple of plays when things aren’t perfect? (Taylor) had done some good things and I felt like it was the right time. For me, incredibly hard because of my love for Blake (Shapen), his toughness, how he has led and continued to be exactly who he is supposed to be. For me, really hard but at the beginning of last week I made that decision.

Q: What hope can you give fans going into next season?
Lebby: I think if you look at us from Year 1 to Year 2, there’s been great growth. I think anybody can see that. As we continue to build it the right way and build these pieces on the roster around (Taylor), that’s going to be really important. I think we’ve got somebody that catches the snap every single down that is going to be an elite player in this conference and in America. So building it the right way around (Taylor), creating stability for him will be huge. We’ve got to go get the pieces we need up front, offensively, and that will be a huge point of emphasis as we get ready for the portal piece of it.

Q: Does that evaluation piece include the defensive staff?
Lebby: Like I mentioned, we will be evaluating every single piece of it. I think I said roster, but all of it, top to bottom. That’s the reality when you sit here and you don’t finish the way you want to, at the end of the day it’s my job to make sure we’re putting our guys in position and that’s the evaluation of every single bit of it.

Q: Why did you feel like this game was the game for KaMario’s first start?
Lebby: I felt like he was ready. He had just gotten better and better. When you’re around him in the meeting room and around him every single day, the young man has great command and he has a great understanding of what we’re trying to do. That for me, there was comfort in that because of how he has worked himself into knowing what the expectation is. He’s going to want so many things back inside the game. He had the chance to throw it around a couple of times, make some layups and he will want those back. But the toughness he played with, he took great care of the ball. It’s really unfortunate on the batted ball, the interception there on first down. To me, that was a huge play in the game. But proud of how he went about it today.

Q: What did you tell your team after coming up short on the goals of bowl eligibility?
Lebby: There was great disappointment, disappointment top to bottom. The message in the locker room, I hate it for guys like Nic Mitchell. I hate it for guys like JMan (Jahron Manning) and Brylo (Brylan Lanier, and Albert Reese and so many of our guys like Brenen (Thompson) that don’t get to enjoy this and have a happy locker room and be able to extend our season by one. That’s what I hate more than anything. I also said that because those guys have been who they’ve been, led the way they have, had the toughness they’ve had, it’s going to bleed down through the program. There’s young people in the walls of the program who will reap the benefits and rewards of those leaders. We got a great young linebacker room that’s very talented and Nic Mitchell is going to be felt in that room for a long time. I can’t say that enough. He’s gonna come back and be incredibly proud of what he did as he continued to fight for Mississippi State every single day and he’s going to see it showing up.

Q: What do you think changed down the stretch for the defense?
Lebby: I think it was a little different today than what it’s been. Today we did not make any plays on the perimeter in the throw game. That back had over 120, 130 yards. We did not do a good enough job on him. We bled in the run game at times, but we had some much better moments than we have had in the past three weeks in the run game. The explosive plays on the perimeter, not being able to make the play on the edge, to me that was the difference today. We have been so much better against the throw game until some of these moments today, which was really frustrating.

Q: How do you feel this season has provided growth as a coach?
Lebby: For me, having great conviction in the process. Who I am and who I’m supposed to be, being very true to that and making sure that we’re doing everything we can as we move this thing forward to be in a much better spot Day 1 next fall. That’s my job. I think we have some great young players inside our locker room, and we have some guys that are extremely excited about being here and continuing to grow this thing the right way. For me, that’s important. As I looked around in that locker room, a ton of disappointment. Our young guys, our young leaders inside that room have to hold onto moments like this to understand that when it gets really hard in the offseason, that’s what you are doing it for. This is why we’re not leaving it to chance if you have the ability to change it.

Q: How have you seen this roster grow this year?
Lebby: I love how connected they’ve been. I love how our guys have stayed together and continued to show up. They’ve been an incredibly fun group to coach with great intent in the building. I hate the fact that there’s disappointment after not being on the right side of it. It’s like I told those seniors have so much to be proud of from Day 1 compared to where we are today. I hate that we can’t feel good about it. That’s the frustrating piece for me and the disappointment for those guys.

Q: Obviously you have to recruit your own roster these days, too. With guys like Kelley Jones, what is your message to them?
Lebby: Every single discussion is different depending upon their situation. A guy like Kelley is going to have to look at from a draft status standpoint, what he wants that to look like when we get all the information back. We’ll have a huge sit down with Kelley and present all of the information a week from Tuesday, and be able to go through that as we get his draft grade back. I think a guy like Kelley is really excited about where we’re going, a guy who understands his leadership and his growth has a chance to continue to propel us the right way. Every conversation with these guys will be different because their situations are all different. To a man and you ask those guys inside that locker room, there is belief and there’s excitement in the direction we’re going. There’s disappointment in the result today that we’re not able to go play another one, and we’re not able to get the Golden Egg here at home. But for our guys I think there’s great understanding about where we’re going and there’s no doubt about that.

Q: Where is your confidence in building a better roster?
Lebby: The way I view it is we got to take the step that we took from Year 1 to Year 2 from Year 2 to Year 3. The big picture, if we will do exactly that, we’ll be in a really good place. We have to have the ability to take this roster from where it was Day 1 to where it is today, and take this huge jump. There’s going to be pieces all over, whether it’s from the depth standpoint or to starters in the offensive line. It’s gonna look a lot different at every single position. The retention piece is incredibly important. That’s what December is built for, having those conversations and the ability to know exactly what that’s going to look like as we move through the month of December.

Q: How did Shapen take the decision of not starting today?
Lebby: Really hard, incredibly hard. Blake’s poured a lot into this. He’s been an unbelievably consistent person in the building for two years. He’s been through a lot. For him to not have the ability to go do it today was hard for him and hard for me because of who he has been, his toughness and how he has absolutely laid it on the line for me and this university. Really hard for him and hate that this was the end for him.

Q: Your thoughts on Fluff Bothwell‘s performance today?
Lebby: Fluff played incredibly tough. He had the ability to get healthy and feel as good as he’s felt. For him, he’s just getting started. I love where he is at and I love where he’s going. You look up and think about where our backfield is gonna look like Week 1 next year and that’s something to get excited about. As we continue to put the pieces around (Taylor) and Fluff, keeping that in mind and understanding we’ve got some real difference makers. That’s my job to make sure we’re doing a great job from a roster standpoint to be able to go take advantage of having players like those two.

Q: With some of the guys that redshirted this year, do you expect some to return or all go into the portal?
Lebby: Every single one of those scenarios are specific to the kid and maybe the position they play, or the uniqueness of their situation. December is all about making sure the retention pieces are exactly where we want them to be and what we need it to be. There’s going to be plenty of guys who move on that need to move on, and that’s part of the college world right now. For us, making sure, position by position, making sure we’re nailing this thing. It starts with retention. We’re signing a class on Wednesday from high school and junior college standpoint that will be important and then as we get ready for Jan. 2 to hit, we’re incredibly dialed in and focused on what we need to go take that next step.