Johnson says Commodores won't dwell on tough loss

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - One team is finally going to get a much-needed conference win when Vanderbilt plays at Mississippi State on Saturday. <br> <br> The Southeastern Conference&#39;s worst teams the last three seasons are both mired in long conference losing streaks. Mississippi State (0-4, 0-1) has lost nine in a row, while Vanderbilt (1-4, 0-2) has dropped 19. <br> <br> Coach Bobby Johnson said his focus remains on improving his Commodores. <br> <br> ``We&#39;re trying to make ourselves better,&#39;&#39; Johnson said at his weekly news conference Monday. ``We can&#39;t sit here and hope they&#39;re down. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s a situation where a lot of people probably think both teams are uninterested, unmotivated. But I think that&#39;s the opposite.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Commodores saw another opportunity slip away against Georgia Tech. <br> <br> The Yellow Jackets, down 17-10 with 2:12 to play, drove 89 yards to tie the game with 32 seconds left and blocked a field goal attempt on the final play of regulation. <br> <br> In overtime, Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball scored on a 25-yard run on the first play to make it 24-17. Vanderbilt&#39;s Jay Cutler threw an interception on the next play to end the game. <br> <br> ``We&#39;re mad because we should have won that game,&#39;&#39; Johnson said. ``We had done enough, up to the two-minute mark, to win the game.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Johnson said the Commodores&#39; defense was strong and still trying to make things happen in the closing minutes when Ball scrambled 45 yards on one play and accounted for 86 of the 89 yards on the game-tying drive. <br> <br> ``We were trying to be aggressive,&#39;&#39; he said. ``He went outside of us, broke containment and had an open field.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Johnson said if his team didn&#39;t try to pressure Ball, then they would have been accused of trying to play a prevent defense to preserve the win. <br> <br> Defensive tackle Robert Dinwiddie said Vanderbilt&#39;s losses typically can be traced to one or two plays. <br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got to get it in our minds and our hearts that we can actually do this and it&#39;s not a surprise,&#39;&#39; he said. ``We&#39;ve definitely become more fundamentally sound, now it&#39;s about finishing. We&#39;ve got to finish the game.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Cutler said he&#39;s ready to get back on the field against Mississippi State, which is giving up 39 points per game and is 11th in total defense in the conference. <br> <br> ``We don&#39;t do moral victories any more,&#39;&#39; he said. ``It&#39;s either win or loss. We were the better team, I think we played good enough to win, we just didn&#39;t get the W.&#39;&#39;