Tennessee football defended its home field by knocking off Mississippi State 33-14 on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.
With the win, the Vols are one of just two SEC teams still with one loss while the Bulldogs remain winless in conference play.
Following the game, Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby discussed his team’s slow start, the bad end to the first half and more. Here’s everything Lebby said.
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On what he attributes his team having slow starts in the last few games
“For us there’s no explosive plays. For us, as we’ve gotten started, we’ve had some negative plays, and it’s been very grindy. We have to have the ability to throw and catch on some of these first and second down plays on these first two drives. We have a player running wide open on it, and that’s where we don’t connect. That creates a huge chunk on the second play of the game to be where you have the chance to create some momentum. We weren’t able to do that. Credit to them with the way they played and their D-line.”
On what caused success on the interiors on the run plan
“I don’t think it was as much of a piece of it. Felt really good about being able to run the ball B gap to B gap regardless of right guard, left guard whatever that may be. Felt good about our plan going into it. I thought we executed at times in a really nice way, and there were times where we had to be better so that we are staying on the field. Being dumped second and seven on a run where we’ve got an opportunity for that first and ten to go to another first and ten, we don’t convert on third down and then we’re off the field. So, it’s played like that inside the game where we’ve got to continue to train to be more efficient.”
On how he wants his team to respond when things get heated
“I just want us to control what we can control and go play the next play. Again, you get in an environment like this and it’s incredibly hot, it’s heated and it’s a great edge on both sides of the football. So, you have to find ways to control that and make sure we are not hurting our football team with any penalties.”
On how important Isaac Smith is to the defensive line
“He’s a guy that’s been incredibly steady and that’s been incredibly active. You look up and he’s always around the football. For him today he continued that trend for him and for us. We’re going to need him in a great way for us to move on to finish this thing out.”
On whether he got informed during halftime about Nico getting hurt
“We talked about it as soon as the Tennessee offense came on the field there at the beginning of the third quarter.”
On Michael Van Buren Jr.’s progression being in a big environment
“He’s got to continue to get better. This kid has played incredibly tough. I couldn’t be more proud of how he’s gone about his business and how tough he has played. The guy loves playing the game. He allows me to coach him incredibly hard. He wants to be better every single day. There’s this great expectation for him to go play really well, not just from me but from himself. He understands that he’s fighting for that, he’s training for that, and the young man’s going to be a great player.”
On how he would assess the statement that the defense had a good game plan and performed well
“I think that’s spot on. Defensively, in the first half we did a great job outside of a couple of plays where we gave up a couple of explosives. We played with great toughness, played with great energy and found ways to create knock-back. We found ways to get off the field. For us offensively, not being able to make some plays in the throw-and-catch (game) and not being able to do some things in the first half to go and capitalize is what created the look of things at halftime. Not being able to get off the field at times in the second half doesn’t make the game at the end of it as close as we needed to be to have a chance to go win it.”
On if this game feels like a missed opportunity
“I think for us, it’s a missed opportunity because we end up on the wrong side of it, regardless of what was going on the other side. We had the ability to make some plays to give us the opportunity to go win a football game. Tennessee did an unbelievable job to continue to find ways to run the football there in the second half. That, for us, was where we could not find ways to create momentum and keep momentum on offense. That was the killer.”
On the team’s impressive rushing performance
“I felt really good about the run plan coming into it. Those guys [the running backs] made some really good plays. I thought we did a nice job of winning some one-on-ones in space. There was more to be had out there. We had the ability for a couple of runs where we had chances to pull the ball and throw it. I have to continue to coach Michael [Van Buren Jr.] to be able to see some of those things and create some explosives. Everything was so grinding for us today and it made it really hard.”
On not being able to find continuity throughout the game
“We were off. We did not do a great job of pitching and catching. I thought we had the ability with some guys in the first half to create some huge chunk plays where we had some missed opportunities. [It’s about] being able to connect at times and then from the decision standpoint having the ability to make really clean decisions. I have to continue to put him [Michael Van Buren Jr.] in better spots so that we have the chance to go create some explosives.”
On their game plan in the final minute of the first half
“For us, we have been good in two-minute situations at the end of the half. I’m frustrated because it’s two incompletions in a row and then the ball goes out of bounds on third down. That can’t happen. They end up saving a timeout and kicking a field goal with five seconds left. I felt good about them having to use a timeout, go punt it away and flip the field. I wanted to be aggressive because of having the ball and the ability to go find a way to get points. I think when you’re in a game like this you have to make a play. You have to make the play that gives you the spark and some momentum to give you the chance to win it. That was the thought at that moment.”
