Transcript: Everything Mississippi State Head Coach Zach Arnett Said Ahead Of Matchup With No. 12-Ranked Alabama

Mississippi State (2-2) is still hunting for its first SEC win of the season after falling 37-30 to South Carolina on Saturday, one week after the Bulldogs lost to the visiting LSU Tigers in Starkville.

Up next, head coach Zach Arnett's team will come face to face with Nick Saban and No. 12 Alabama in what is sure to be a tough matchup.

Here's what Arnett had to say this week:

Opening statement: "Watched the film early Sunday morning. Quite a few good things on there, hopefully things we can build off and highlight. Still, quite a few things we have to improve upon and get better at if we’re gonna win football games. It was a heckuva football game, both teams going back and forth making plays. They made one or two more there in the fourth quarter to tip the balance. We have to look at things we can do to set ourselves up to execute better in situational football to make those game-changing plays. That’s how you come out on top."

"We find ourselves coming off back-to-back losses against a team most don’t want to be facing in that scenario. Alabama is playing very well right now. They are as talented a program, roster, as any team in the country. Defensively, they’re playing as good as anyone in the country, lights out. They are fun to watch except the week you have to play them. On offense, it seems they are identifying exactly what their identity is and what they do really well, their strengths. They are extremely talented. Big and physical up front , quarterback as athletic as anyone in the country, a stable of runningbacks who have tremendous lateral quickness and strength at the point of attack. Receivers who can blow by you. They’re getting better every week, playing to the strength of their defense. It will be quite the challenge for us."

Question: "Mike Leach thought it was difficult keeping the team from playing the jersey. How do you accomplish that?"

Zach Arnett: "That’s not going to be my message to the team. We’ve got to focus on us and play. We’ve got to execute, that’s what football comes down to. We have to show up excited to play, with energy, and do your job. Doesn’t matter who it’s against."

Q: "Is there anything that can be done secondary-wise to eliminate pass completion percentage?"

ZA: "We need to figure it out. Two long touchdowns in man coverage. That’s the tightest coverage you can. But you can’t allow explosive plays for touchdowns. You’ve got to get them on the ground. Or you go into zone concepts, and we have those in the playbook as well. When the quarterback can scramble, you have to pull someone out of the rush, and spy a little bit. In zone, you have a lot of eyes on the quarterback, but you can get picked apart. Gotta do something, but it would not be in my best interest to tell you exactly what we’ll do."

Q: "Is there a concern with the lack of healthy bodies defensively up front?"

ZA: "Trevon was unfortunately not able to go last week, and Demonte got dinged up a little bit. We evaluate them week to week and if it is safe for them to be in there medically, and trainers are good to go with them, we’ll play them. If not, it’s next man up mentality."

Q: "How is Woody doing?

ZA: "Just the same, we’ll give him as much time in the week. If Woody feels good enough to go, and the training staff says he can go, Woody will play. If not, that’s why you have depth. We’ve got others guys in the room."

Q: "What makes Nick Saban a great coach? Any interactions with him?"

ZA: "I’ve not had any interactions with Coach Saban other than at coaches’ meetings. I have to get to work this afternoon, so I can’t give you all the ways he is a great coach. He knows the fundamentals, techniques, schematics of every position on the field on both sides of the ball. He’s a tremendous recruiter. He hires as good a staff as anywhere in the country. They’re good developers, good teachers of the game. And good recruiters. He’s as good as anyone at program management. He’s the best to ever do it at the college level. But I’m not qualified to speak on that, I’ve never worked for him. For a really good answer, with evidence, you’d have to speak with someone who has worked for him."

Q: "What went into the decision for Kevin Barbay to go upstairs last week?"

ZA: "He told me he thought he could go up there and change the dynamic. Every play caller likes doing it from there, love the view from the top. You get an all-22 view. You lose being on the sideline and getting the interactions with the players, the feel of energy. He was on the sidelines, he didn’t think we were getting good enough results, gotta do something different. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. He made a change, we moved the ball better, quite a few explosive plays, hopefully that will continue to be the case with him up there. I imagine he’ll go up this week. But if he wants to go to the sideline and call from there, he can do that too."

Q: "What are you looking for in the last minutes of a half, whether to kick the field goal or not?"

ZA: "In all those two minute offenses, the analytics will tell you the likelihood of getting points when you get under a minute and start a drive from the 25, is not a high percentage. For them to string together a drive, credit to our freshman kicker to knock that in. To give yourself a chance at points there, that’s huge."

Q: "What have you thought of the job Eric has done there?"

ZA: "Coach Mele has done a really good job. The way kickers are kicking it, the exception is to have a return. Every single kick was for a touchback on both sides. When you get those opportunities, you’ve got to make them count. We’ve done a good job with Tulu and Zavion. Special teams have performed up to our expectations and we need them to continue to find ways to make momentum shifting, game changing plays."

Q: "What do you think of the Sam linebacker spot right now?"

ZA: "Week to week evaluation of who is executing and doing their job at the highest level and who deserves to go out there and play the majority of the snaps. JP was out there quite a bit, John Lewis played, DeShawn has played snaps. DeShawn has been a swing guy for us, because he can also play inside linebacker. To wear that many hats is valuable."

Q: "What does the offensive performance do for Barbay, Will and the rest of the offense?"

ZA: "I hope we draw confidence from it. You gain confidence because you put in the work, you prepare, you do all the little things, and you go play the game and you see that in your results. We preach that that’s how you gain confidence. If we’ve done it once, we ought to be able to do it again. We’re facing an awfully talented defense this week. Those plays will be very challenging to come by but you have to find a way to generate them."

Q: "Do you have a preference on game times?"

ZA: "I don’t have a preference. We just have to make sure we show up prepared and ready to go. There’s nothing more enjoyable than an 11 am game when you win. You have the rest of the day to enjoy it. And there’s nothing more miserable than an 11 am kick when you lose because you have the rest of the day to be angry about it."

Q: "Have redshirt decisions been made yet?"

ZA: "It’s ongoing as the season develops. There’s no way now the way college football is structured. You have the option to play four games and still be redshirted. But with injuries, the transfer portal, availability, your whole roster has to be ready to help at any time."

Q: "What does Steve Campbell bring to your staff?"

ZA: "He handles some of the analytics, situational stuff. Whether it be timeout usage, fourth downs based on yard line, statistical advantage to go for it, as opposed to punt, or take a penalty for your punter, or go for a field goal. “The Book,” that everyone references, he has taken over that."

Q: "Is there anything you can do as a defensive coach that Will can do differently on tipped passes at the line of scrimmage?"

ZA: "Grow 6 inches (laughter). That’s bad. The route your running sometimes puts it in the lane of the defender, or not. You’d like to find a lane every time you can, but there are some things you can do protection-wise, too. Maybe you have to cut more guys at the line, so they have to get their hands down to protect themselves, or they get cut and can’t get their hands up to tip those balls. That’s something we constantly evaluate."