Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Football Postgame Quotes
November 13, 1999 | Cowboy Football
Nov. 13, 1999
OSU Coach Bob Simmons
On the blocked kick being a turnaround point in the game
"It helped. We had talked about blocking kicks all year, and all they were
doing was running down the field. So it gave us a chance to score, and it's
something that we have been trying to get accomplished all year."
On Terance Richardson
"He had an outstanding day. He's been good the whole season. He's learned
to attack punt returns. He's a legitimate threat. In the second half, he
really gave us good field position. He can't do it by himself, he has some
good blocking, but he made some tremendous cuts and some tremendous runs.
When you talk about field position in the third quarter and where our points
came from, he was a big part of that."
On scoring in the third quarter
"We got on roll. We started making plays on offense. The defense started
making plays. We had great field position the whole second half. I can't
think of a long drive, but it's the short games I like."
On Kevin Brown and Jeremy Halferty
"Both of those guys did a great job. We had talked earlier in the week
about our tendencies in our offensive set not to give the fullback the
football. The type of front that they were running allowed us to get the
ball to the fullbacks."
On Richardson's punt returns sparking the team
"He was a big part of it. We talk about special teams having the edge, and
in this particular game when you talk about hidden points, we got about 30
hidden points off of special teams."
On the seniors' contribution to the game
"A lot. In this type of game, you really want to give all of your seniors a
chance to play. I think it was a team victory and a team effort."
On the defense
"Other than the one long touchdown that we gave up, I think they played very
well."
OSU Players
WR Terance Richardson
On his two long returns
"We went in the second half and knew we needed a spark. Luckily, I got the
chance to do it. That's part of my job ? to make big plays. I had big blocks
and made big plays.
On the second half
"Going into halftime, we knew that they weren't doing anything to stop us.
It was all on us. We knew we had to stop making mistakes, and sooner or
later we were going to make plays."
On his blocking unit "All I have to do is make one miss (block) and run. They're going to give me good blocks. It's been happening the whole year, and it's going to continue to happen."
LB Tarrell Knauls
On dominating the second half
"We went in at halftime and made some great adjustments. Our coach came in,
jumped on us and let us know that it was still a game. We came out and
worked as a team. The senior class stepped up and let everyone know it was
the last game. We had to leave it all out there on the field. We came out,
played hard and made big plays when it was needed."
On the number of sacks
"We play aggressive defense, and we expect to be back there on top of the
quarterback. I wish we could have been back there a lot more than we were
today, but we are satisfied with the win and the way everybody came out and
played. Even when the reserves came in, they played hard and laid it out.
This showed the seniors that there is a lot of faith behind us and everybody
is playing hard for us."
Kansas Coach Terry Allen
On The Kansas Turnovers
"It is really frustrating and disappointing. We let OSU get out on us with a
10-0 lead but we came back and took the lead going into the half. Obviously
special teams was the difference in the second half. We couldn't overcome it
and the the turnovers came after that putting the game out of reach. We just
didn't get it done."
On The Blocked Punt's Effect On The Game
"The blocked punt was pretty damaging in the first half. When you looked at
the mental makeup of Oklahoma State and where they were at, had we not
giving that up we could have been up 14-3 at halftime. They stumbled at the
two-yard line twice and had to settle for a field goal. We had our
opportunities there but the blocked punt and the returns killed us. When you
block one early that creates an opportunity for a return because you
concentrate on protecting and you can't do that with a guy like Richardson."
On The Feeling Of Letting A Six Win Season Slip Away
"It is really frustrating and I am disappointed for the kids. We had a lot
of kids that know and a lot of them that didn't know (bowl possibilities).
We obviously let it get away from us today, it is a mental thing that is a
coaching responsibility. We have to have them better prepared to play on the
road since we had a chance in the second half."
On The Importance Of A Nice Crowd For Next Week's Senior Day Game
"It would be nice to send them off the right way. We have to play through
the frustrations of losing a halftime lead to Oklahoma State but it would be
nice to bring them out one more time and send them off correctly."
Kansas Players
Kansas Quarterback Dylen Smith
On the Oklahoma State Defense
"I really don't think their defense made us turn it over. On one of the
plays, I just missed the snap. I shouldn't have fumbled it. Our turnovers,
especially my two fumbles, were the difference in the game."
"They blitzed a lot more in the second half. They got to us a few times and helped their offense out a lot. We just didn't get it done today."
On Special Teams Play
"We had bad field position all day. Their special teams helped them out a
lot. They didn't have to go 70 or 80 yards to get a touchdown. All of their
special teams were their offense too. The whole second half things just
weren't going our way."
Kansas Fullback Moran Norris
On the Oklahoma State Defense
"They were pretty good, but we just made some minor mistakes such as our
special teams. They made some big plays. We could get big plays against them
every now and then because they had nine in the box that opened things up a
little bit"
On the Change in Momentum
"Going into halftime we were doing a pretty good job. In the third quarter,
we couldn't produce offensive-wise or defensive-wise."
