Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Football Postgame Quotes
November 10, 2001 | Cowboy Football
Nov. 10, 2001
Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes
OSU Coach Les Miles
On the game "I think as a team, we were short in this instance. If you watched us, at times we made great plays on defense, and at times we didn't make those plays. On offense, we moved the football and then turned it over. We can't make those mistakes. We can't afford to have penalties on a regular basis. What has to happen is that we have to find ways to make those plays and not have turnovers or make mistakes so that we can come out on the winning side of the game. I think you'll find that there were some outstanding performances on our side today. Obviously everybody is going to point to Chris Massey. He had phenomenal return yardage. I think our punter (Scott Elder) came in again in his senior year and just knocked the snot out of the ball. I just think when you review the film, they got a return and an easy touchdown before the half which put us behind the eight ball. It's hard at times. You try to figure out what the missing ingredient is. One thing that I do see in the team is grit, fight and effort. I watched, and I promise you there was effort. Those guys were flying around on defense especially. I think they improved on making tackles. We were short in this one, and we've got to find a way to make the ends meet, make those plays and do some positive things."
On Texas Tech's Offense "Their offense is one where they're really patient. They're going to play underneath. The thing that was impressive to me was that they finally got their running game going. They started going off the tackle and running a little sweep. I think their offense is really good."
On Kliff Kingsbury "I thought Kingsbury was an awfully talented quarterback coming in, and I see him no differently leaving."
Rashaun Woods
On being comparable to Hart Lee Dykes "I know he is probably the greatest receiver to come through here. He is probably the greatest receiver of his time. To even be mentioned in the same breath as Hart Lee Dykes is a blessing."
On playing hard "We're going to play until the whistle blows. We have to keep playing and fighting. That is what we are going to do."
Chris Massey
On kickoffs being kicked out of bounds "They were prepared for me. You don't kick to a person who will run it back 40 yards."
On breaking Barry Sanders' record for kickoff returns "That is a big goal. It is something we have been working on all year, to be number one in special teams."
On changing to a ball carrier position "That is something we?re going to have to see about in the spring. Right now I am just making the most of every opportunity."
On setting up field position "We try to give the offense the ball in the best position possible. When we take it to the forty or fifty, that gives us an advantage because they have fifty yards to work."
Elbert Craig
On quarterback Kliff Kingsbury "He did a great job. He hit some great passes."
On winning next week "We need a win badly. Hopefully we can pull an win off at Baylor and then get ready for OU."
On defensive effort "All year long, we never gave up. I know that we fought hard. They just found the open man and hit the spot in the zone."
Marcus Jones
On defending tech offense "Our defense was in line to stop the pass. They just found open spots. We made adjustments at half time and played a little more man. We tried to get it where we could blitz a little bit. They just made plays."
On rewards of the season "There have been personal rewards. I came off the bench and played. I earned myself a starting position. Due to some of the injuries in secondary, I had a chance to come in and play. I am just happy to be a part of the special teams. I am happy to block for the returners, and be one of the best return teams in the nation."
OSU Locker Room
Dwayne Levels
On ending his college career "Most things are like that. You do your time, and it's time to move on. These young players will come up through the system and develop with the coach into better players. For the older players like myself, we just move on from here."
Bryan Phillips
On finishing the season "I just went out there today planning to do my best. It was almost like this was another phase of the season. I didn't really think of it as an end. Everybody on this team played with a lot of heart. I'd play with these guys any day because we give it our all out there."
Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach
On the victory "I thought we did a real good job offensively. I think there are some things we need to shore up on special teams. Our defense did real well at times, but at times we let them off the hook a little bit."
On the game following the Texas A&M game "We had a real good week of practice. We executed well throughout the day, but did get sloppy at times. They have a great kickoff returner (Chris Massey), he does a great job. We struggled trying to keep a lid on him. We did some things well defensively too, and they converted on our mistakes and if we eliminate those we are in pretty good shape."
On quarterback Kliff Kingsbury "I thought he played real well. This was one of his better days."
On sustaining long drives "Our offense played well today. We over came some penalties, which was good but getting them was not."
On taking control of the game "I felt like we were headed that way when we scored on the first drive in the third quarter. We played well today and that moved us in that direction."
OPPOSING PLAYERS
Kliff Kingsbury
On the Win "This win is definitely icing on the cake, and put us bowl eligible as well. The next two weeks are going to be fun, we're going to play relaxed and hopefully go out and upset some people."
On Second Half "That is something we try and pride ourselves on and to go out there in the second half and put the game away, and I think both sides of the ball did that."
On Oklahoma Next Week "That's a big game, they've got one of the best defenses in the nation and it is going to be a challenge. We are going to go in relaxed, no one expects us to win so we don't have anything to lose."
Anton Paige
On Oklahoma State "No team is just going to lay down and let you beat them. Even though we put up a lot of points, they kept fighting and fighting, unfortunately time ran out for them, which was good for us."
On Oklahoma Next Week "OU is supposed to be the dominate team in the Big XII, but it is Big XII action and anyone can be beat. They have some good stuff and so do we, but either team can be beaten."
Ricky WIlliams
On Looking Ahead "No, we weren't looking ahead, we had to win this game. They came out and played us, and they were not playing around. We had to stay focused and stick to the situation at hand, but now that it is over we can look forward to Oklahoma."
