Oklahoma State University Athletics
Monday Football Press Conference
October 18, 1999 | Cowboy Football
Oct. 18, 1999
Head Coach Bob Simmons
On last week
"It was very quiet. I had a chance to sit around and do nothing but watch television. It was very similar to what I did the week before. I just watched football. Any time you win, it's a lot nicer attitude-wise and so is the preparation during the whole week. Winning just does that. I think we still have to make corrections, which we did, but for the most part when you go into an off week, it leaves a good taste in your mouth."
On stopping Kansas State's defense
"You're going to have to be able to move. The one thing they will do is bring pressure. They are a very talented defensive football team. Their linebackers are excellent and I can put superlatives on the defensive line. Just the way they've played the last couple of weeks, the defense is probably a credit to their football team and they have some offensive weapons."
On Tony Lindsay being probably for this week's game
"Tony is still going through rehab. The position that we're in with him is that he will continue rehab and go through the reconstructing of that knee and we'll see what happens toward the middle and end of the week."
On the team improving
"I thought coming off our win against Texas Tech for the most part, our offensive line played very well. As a matter of fact, it was probably their best ball game. They did what we asked them to do and hopefully they will continue to do those kinds of things that we did during the Texas Tech game. That will allow our offensive line to be more of a factor. I think it's because we were playing better because of the people that we had in there.
Bryan Phillips is making progress. Jeff Machado is a young guard that did a good job, and our other guys continued to play, but they played much better."
On the offense
"I expect execution no matter what offense we're in."
On J.B. Flowers
"He's coming along. He's had a week to heal up and we are hoping that he'll practice this week."
On Kansas State's offense
"He (Jonathan Beasley) is a good quarterback. He's a good athlete. He has not scrambled and has not done the things that Michael Bishop did athletically, but we think he has the potential. What they are doing with running the ball with their big fullback (Joe Hall)?that's going to be a challenge. We need to keep them from throwing the football. They have pretty good receivers and that's going to be a challenge for us. From a secondary and defensive line standpoint, we need to try to get some pressure on them should they choose to pass. They have chosen to run the ball, but Coach (Bill) Snyder is still going to throw the football if somebody is wide open."
On playing Kansas State for homecoming
"I would like to think it is a top team, they are coming in for homecoming and we have a lot of things going for us. Obviously, we want to continue our winning ways and to do that, we have to go through Kansas State."
On playing top-ranked teams in the next three weeks
"The way I look at it, there's nobody on our schedule we can't beat. We have K-State, then we go down to Texas A&M. My position right now is that if we do what we do best on both sides of the ball, we will have a chance to win all those ball games. If we don't turn the ball over and we execute, we'll have the chance to win. They have good football teams, every last one of them. Whether they are top-ranked or not, we're going to have to play our best football."
Junior DT Zac Akin
On having an open week after the win against Texas Tech
"It was nice. I got to go home and watch a little high school football, play a little golf, and relax. My body feels a lot better.
I think two weeks to prep for Kansas State is a bit of an advantage. We need to get ready for them because they're such a good team and they give a lot of sets and different things. We have another game of film on them now from the Utah State game so we have another opportunity to watch them on film and see more of their tendencies. It will probably help us."
On the Kansas State offense having a different look than what he is used to
"It will be a different look. I don't know what the coaches will say, but I don't expect them to go to a lot of different things as far as changing to a power running team because they first go with the pass and they like to throw it deep and then they come back to their running game. Their running game is kind of secondary to their passing game, but this kid (Joe Hall) evidently boosts them pretty well. He's a big boy and supposedly he can run pretty well. We'll see."
On whether the defense is changing their style because of Hall
"We will make sure that we stay low so that we don't pay the price and get run over by him. Basically, it won't change a whole lot as far as schemes or things like that.
It's completely different (to guard a back that big). The thing about it is that when a guy like me makes a tackle, it's not like a linebacker where it's one-on-one meet and hit. With me, I have to fight off a block and a lot of times I have a guy hanging on me or a guy pushing on me while I'm trying to make a play. So getting into his legs and staying low and taking his legs out if definitely primary."
On the momentum-changing impacts of good tackles
"I think it does sometimes. I think most times when I see it change momentum, it's on a punt return or something. When Terance Richardson breaks a long run or catches somebody napping, I think that it gets everyone excited. On the defensive side of the ball and a receiver goes up for the ball and Alvin (Porter) or Adam (Edwards) just drills them, it definitely sets the tone and lets them know that if you're going to go up for the ball, you better protect yourself because you're going to get lit."
On having a whole week of practice after the win over Texas Tech
"(The win) was pretty nice, but we need to concentrate on keeping the momentum going and keep getting better and keep the thing going and not let this thing die down. We've got to keep the bus rolling and keep it going."
On differences between last week and the off week after the Mississippi State game
"It was pretty much the same thing. He (Coach Simmons) has got a pretty standard set thing he does for off weeks. We go pretty hard. I would say that we go harder than most people do on their off weeks. We hit quite a bit and we went after each other really good just to keep the momentum up and the morale and everything going."
On playing this game with the same emotion as the Texas Tech game
"I think so. I think the team kind of realizes that our backs are to the wall. We can't really lose another game. Every game, one every week, has to be taken as an individual game and taken seriously. We just really have to concentrate and get after that particular team because our team goal, our personal goal, and everyone's goal is really riding on every single game from here on out."
On the defensive line's performance
"I think that we've played really great. Obviously, our job is a very humble one. Our job is to keep the linebackers clean so that those all-american linebackers back there can run around and make plays. We take a lot of pride in that and gain the respect from the other teams. You have to double-team us, and you have to make two of our linebackers miss to get a big play. We take a lot of pride and Coach (Calvin) Miller and Coach (Art) Walker really drill us on taking on blocks and fighting hard and doing everything that we need to do to make this defense as a team better. To comment on our pass rush, our pass rush is a hundred and ten percent better than what it has been. I don't know if you've noticed, but on third and long when we really get to pin our ears back and come after people, we get there a good amount of the time, whether its Kevin (Williams) or Juqua (Thomas) or Eric Stevenson or Courtney (Mallory). We've been getting there and we've been putting licks on the quarterback. We've put a couple of quarterbacks out and we've been making them hurt."
