Mississippi State Coach Says Players Do Not Need to be Coddled After Losing

Zach Arnett (Mississippi State Athletics Photo)

Kentucky hopes to bounce back from a three-game losing streak at Mississippi State Saturday night, something the Bulldogs had to do earlier this season when they lost three straight and then came back to win the next two games.

Mississippi State’s two-game win streak ended with a loss at Auburn last week while UK fell to Tennessee for its third straight loss.

“They were able to deal with the adversity of three losses and come back and string together two wins,” Mississippi State coach Zach Arnett said. “I guess coming off one loss is not going to be so traumatic to their psyches. These are big boys. They don’t need to be coddled.

“They know what it means to put in a week of work and go out and play. If you lose, you lose. And guess what? You’ve got to move on to the next one.”

Mississippi State has not had No. 1 quarterback Will Rogers the last two games because of an injury and his status for Saturday night is uncertain. Auburn also showed weaknesses in the Mississippi State defense last week when it threw for 230 yards — 70 yards more than its season average.

Kentucky quarterback Devin Leary is coming off his best game at Kentucky after throwing for almost 400 yards against Tennessee.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said this week he’s confident his team will bounce back. Arnett feels the same way about the Bulldogs.

“I believe we compete and play hard for the most part,” Arnett said. “I think we can play harder. I don’t shy away from that. Your job as a coach obviously is to teach them the proper fundamentals and techniques, (implement) the right scheme − X’s and O’s − and it’s also to push the right buttons so that you show up a football team that is emotionally ready to play and compete. That’s your responsibility.”

Arnett was State’s defensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach after the unexpected passing of then head coach Mike Leach in December. He’s made no excuses this season and puts any blame on him, not his players.

“There’s no greater critic of myself or our program than myself. We’ve got four more games in front of us,” he said. “If we show up every game ready to compete and play with maximum effort, and we make sure we have a good game plan ready for them, then we’ll give ourselves a chance to win every single one of those games.”