Oklahoma State University Athletics
Monday Football Press Conference
October 25, 1999 | Cowboy Football
Oct. 25, 1999
Head Coach Bob Simmons
On whether OSU is playing Texas A&M at the best time or the worst time
"I don't know. I thought OU did a good job of putting it to them. Whether
it's the worst time or the best time, we're going to have to go down there
and play them. Regardless of whether or not they won the OU game, we're
still going to have to play well. Does that mean that they're going to be
more fired up to play us? I can't worry about that."
On the team's performance against Kansas State
"I'd like to be sitting up here talking about how we were 21-0 and
maintained the lead, but when you watch the film, the one thing that showed
up was that we didn't continue to maintain our momentum. We didn't continue
to execute. Again, the whole conversation was not to play against ourselves.
When you turn the ball over, and when you don't execute on defense, as well
as some of the things that we did on offense as far as adjustments, you have
to give them a little bit of credit. They hung in there until they got this
thing turned around, and they made a ball game of it. In the second half, we
still had an opportunity, even going into the third quarter, to get the
thing turned around. It didn't happen for us."
On what happens when the execution is perfect and then it's not there
anymore
"I wish I could tell you. We sat there and talked about the little things
that are important, just the basic quarterback to tailback handoff and how
those things have got to be perfected. You do those things during the course
of the week and when you have to do them in the ball game, it's not going to
be a problem. But when you come off the sidelines with the play and you
don't think that it's going to happen and it happens, I wish I could tell
you why those things happen. Number one, I always look at myself. I always
look at my coaching staff. My patented answer is that we have to be better
coaches. We have to adjust better. We have to get our kids in a better
position to make plays. Is that always true? Sometimes it is, sometimes it
isn't."
On the team's attitude
"The attitude probably should be that we didn't play well enough. But we
were at home, we had a great crowd backing us up and we wanted to come out
and play well. We started the way we wanted to start, but we didn't finish
the job. That's what the attitude should be. And now, the attitude should be
that I'm mad, and the next opponent that I play, I'm going to get it done.
That's what I would like the attitude to be, and that's how we're going to
address it."
On both OSU and Texas A&M being mad going into the game
"A&M is mad, and so are we. We have to take the attitude going into College
Station that they're at home. We realize that, but I have to be concerned
about how we play. If we can continue to play at the level that we played at
a couple of weeks ago, I think we can win. That's the bottom line."
On Texas A&M's game at Oklahoma
"I thought that OU executed well. I thought that A&M didn't adjust well at
that particular time and they kept on their heels. It was a good ball game."
On Tony Lindsay's performance
"I thought for the most part, that Tony was pretty good early. He got us on
the board. He got us in the right checks. I thought in the second half,
there were a couple of passes that probably should have been completed. In
all honesty, what he brought to the offense was more confidence in terms of
what was going to happen out there, a lot more confidence in terms of having
a more experienced guy who was going to make the right checks. For the most
part, he did those things. Was he rushing throwing the ball? You'd have to
ask him that. But other than a couple tipped balls that were interceptions
and one he underthrew, he wasn't bad at all."
On having difficulty running the ball
"You just have to continue to to forge ahead. You don't abandon the things
that you have been doing for the last four or five years. I'm not going
against what other people are doing, but when you look around the league,
it's been a struggle for some good football teams to run the ball. Our
offensive line needs to get better, and we have gotten better. What we need
to continue to do as coaches is be creative enough to find ways to either
run our fullback or run our tailback. You just don't say, let's start
running the ball and all of a sudden wing it because that's not our
philosophy."
On Nathan Simmons starting over Jamaal Fobbs
"Jamaal's stats have been good. We've used him in very different ways. We've
used him on sweeps. We've used Nathan a little bit differently. We've used
Nathan as a little bit more of an inside runner. Jamaal has been more of an
outside runner. From that standpoint, I've always considered both of those
guys to be very valuable to the football team."
On keeping the team's focus on the five remaining games
"I don't want to take the position that we've lost to three top football
teams. They've all been good football teams, but I've always said that we've
had opportunities if we had played like we were capable of playing in those
games. For us to be the kind of team that we want to be, we need to find a
way to win those games. You don't justify losses because the team is a
top-ranked football team."
On the importance of winning this week's game
"Three Big 12 Conference losses may be difficult to overcome, in terms of
how you look at it. I think that's probably what makes this game a very
important game for us if we want to continue to stay in the hunt for the Big
12 South Championship. At this point in time as far as that particular goal
is concerned, we control our own destiny. If we have the misfortune of
losing that game, then it's in the hands of somebody else. Right now, it's
in our hands because we have to play everybody that's in front of us. We've
already played Texas Tech, but we have to play the rest of the schedule
out."
LB Kenyatta Wright
On the attitude of the team
"On the defense, we knew coming into this season we were going to play
against tough teams. Everybody knows that passing is the way to win in
college football right now. We just have to find the mistakes we had in the
game and just regroup. We have the season still in front of us. We have a
couple more games left. We have a big game this weekend against Texas A&M at
Kyle Field. With a big loss last weekend, it doesn't mean anything. It
doesn't mean they're down and out because they're playing at home this
weekend."
On both Texas A&M and OSU coming off tough losses
"I don't think there will be two rather mad teams. I think it will be two
teams that are going to have to play with confidence. From a defensive
standpoint, I feel that everything is going to click this weekend, and we
just have to regroup and find out what's wrong. If it calls for
readjustment, then we just have to readjust."
On losing the 21-0 lead
"Personally, I haven't really met with the team yet. But from my standpoint,
I feel that we just have to regroup. There are defenses all over the country
giving up points, but we have to find out where the creases are in our
defense and get it plugged up."
On Texas A&M
"I watched some of the OU game, but I still think A&M is a tough team. They
have some real good running backs and some good receivers. They're going to
mass protect too to protect their quarterback. We just have to figure a way
to penetrate the mass protection and to just hold up on the back side with
the secondary."
On the defensive performance against Kansas State
"I felt we could get to the quarterback, but we weren't. He rolled out 10
yards from his line trying to buy time. He has a really good arm and he was
throwing the ball 60 yards down field all throughout the game. We just need
to find a way to get there faster."
On the Texas A&M game being a potential turning point in the season
"We have five more games left in our season. For us to do what we want to do
and meet our goals, we just have to win out. I think we can do that. We just
have to put everything that's happened to this point behind us. We have to
find out what's wrong offensively and defensively. We have to find out the
answers, but I think we'll be all right."
On Joe Hall as a warm up for Ja'Mar Toombs
"He's a really good back, but we didn't play the style of defense that we
love to play. I figure that we just gave him those yards, because I don't
think that's he's a better back than Ja'Mar Toombs or D'Andre Hardeman."
On Oklahoma State having to win the remaining football games
"That's my attitude and that's my teammates attitude. You're going to have
to win in this conference, and no one said that it was going to be easy. You
never know who's going to win. You just have to play with confidence and
play with poise on both sides of the ball."
TB Jamaal Fobbs
On the attitude of the team
"It was pretty tough last week. The attitude of the team is still good
knowing the situation in the conference. We've still got to go out and play
hard and try to get some more wins."
On whether it's do or die for Oklahoma State
"You want to win every game that you go out and play, but it's getting to a
point now where the games are getting crucial. We're just going to have to
go out and play hard. A&M had a tough loss last weekend, and they are going
to be ready to play, and so are we."
On the difficulty in establishing a running game
"There are a lot of things that could go south for the running game.
Everybody has to be hitting on all cylinders to be able to run the football
well. I feel that the last couple of weeks, we were able to move the ball on
the ground. You really have to work together as a team to be able to run the
football well."
On the difference in the execution of the Texas Tech and Kansas State games
"We played well in the first half of the K-State game. Coming back in the
next couple of series, we didn't have as much success as we did earlier. You
just have to buckle down and take care of business on the offensive end
which is something that we didn't do. I feel that we're still capable of
moving the ball when we're down the field."
On the offensive struggles in the second half of the KSU game
"It does get frustrating. Knowing the success we had earlier in the ball
game, coming back and not being able to do anything but go three and out, we
were still playing hard and trying to move the football, but we just
couldn't move it."
On having Tony Lindsay back
"It was a good feeling, having Tony back. He was excited to play in the game
and he felt good. He told me that going into the game, and I was happy for
him."
On coming off the bench as a tailback
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I don't want to start, because
I do. It's at the point now where we have to move the football and whatever
they ask me to do to move the football, I'm going to do it. If that's
running the football or if that's catching the ball, that's fine with me. I
try to make the best of the chances that I get running the football."
