Oklahoma State University Athletics
Monday Luncheon Quotes
August 27, 2001 | Cowboy Football
Aug. 27, 2001
Head Coach Les miles
On his thoughts about the Southern Miss game
"Playing on the road, making sure we have a fast start. That we are over our first game jitters. That we maintain poise and understand the task at hand is not necessarily one that is going to get done in the first quarter. That is what we need to do."
On what he has seen from the Southern Miss defense
"I have not seen a lot of starters. They have obviously lost a lot. The three guys that they return are three of their top players, and I feel like they made a number of tackles for their team a year ago. If they can structure their defense around what those three gentleman do well, running to the football and making tackles, it can still be a very imposing defensive front."
On the style of defense Southern Miss plays
"They are going to play a variety of fronts and coverages and call the play. Many of the college defenses adjust their calls with formations. It appears to me they are making the call and sticking with it, but they are going to make a variety of defensive calls."
On the final preparation in practice
"They need to be ready to play with emotion. If I had one wish it would be to make the final assignments and adjustments and just go play with great emotion. Make sure they put all the thinking behind them and let's go play."
On making plays and being able to take care of the ball
"We have to be free willing. You cannot be so tight that you are not ready to play. An example would be a kick return specialist so ready to take it out of the end zone that he does not realize how deep he is. Or a defensive back goes for an interception instead of making a tackle. He makes a bad play at the ball and yields a very long gain. Those are the types of things they have to realize that they do not have to win the game in the first quarter. They have to get out and play their style of football. If we can do that we feel that we will fare rather well."
On the mentality of Oklahoma state quarterback Aso Pogi
"He has always been a student of the game and is really a good leader. We want to make sure that in this game, we ask him to do things that he will be comfortable with and not try to stretch him too much, especially early in the game."
On the importance of Pogi's decision making with the Southern Miss defense
"The good news is that if we protect him, what he sees back there is what he gets. He should not be surprised, but we have to protect him. We have to make sure that the offensive line and those running backs attack the people that they are supposed to, and then let him throw."
On the importance of this game in relation to the rest of the season
"If your first game goes well, and your adjustments that have to be made are small in nature, then your coaching staff can see that it is going to go rather smoothly. The rougher the start the more correction that needs to be made, and the more pain involved. If you come away with a victory against a strong opponent on the road, it sets the tone for a great year."
On if Oklahoma State has an advantage by having a new coaching staff
"I am sure that they have looked at the Dallas Cowboy film, and I suggest that would be a nice place to start. We are a little bit different than we have been at Oklahoma State from when I was here before, and I am sure there are some similarities. When you have the style of defense that they do, you are trying to put the pressure on the offense. This is what we are going to do, and we do not care what you line up in. We are probably about even, they do not know what we are going to do, and we do not quite know what they are going to do."
On Oklahoma State's offensive line
"They are a talented group of guys that can come off the football. This is a great opener for an offensive line because they are seeing a variety of fronts. It will be a nice opener, and beyond this point I think this offensive line will have seen a lot, and will adjust nicely to who our opponent might be thereafter. It will be interesting to see how they finish the preparation on the week to know more fully how they will fare."
On the Southern Miss offense
"They are throwing it. We feel that they lost their best running back from a year ago, Derrick Nix, but the team that will start against us is their best team. They are going to throw it, and they are going to gain some yardage. They will count on quarterback Jeff Kelly to make some great decisions."
On Southern Miss quarterback Jeff Kelly
"He is not necessarily the most gifted quarterback in the country, but he is a tremendous competitor. He is very bright and makes excellent decisions with the ball. If you look at the games they lost a year ago, it was the days that he made poor decisions and turned the ball over that they lost. We would like to cause the same problem on Saturday."
On getting revenge on the loss last year
"I do not know that revenge is the motivation. I think the team wants to get off to a good fast start and play hard. I think they realize they did as much to lose the game as Southern Miss did to win it, and if we can avoid that it will give us a chance to have success."
On not using this game as trying to gain revenge
"I did not see that as where we needed to go. I think there will be plenty of motivation in preparation for this season, and the fact that this was a ranked opponent at the end of last year will be plenty of motivation to get them fired up for the game."
On coaching his first game at Oklahoma State
"It is going to be exciting. It is a humbling feeling as well. You really want to do a good job for the school and the players. It is a good position to be in to do a fine job for the people you represent. It is exciting and humbling at the same time."
On what he is trying to accomplish on defense
"I think the defensive front with LaWaylon Brown and Kevin Williams really gives us a push. We are more athletic on the corners. If you can get a defensive front that can create a problem in the interior and stretch it, then if you have linebackers and a secondary that can run to the football, that is the way we want to compete. We feel like the scheme provides comfort for the corners because they don't have to play man to man from goal line to goal line. We feel like the defense will fare pretty well against our opponent."
On the keys to winning
"The first thing is poise. If our team controls their emotions and plays their best football we will be successful. We have to contain the pass and get the quarterback out of his comfort zone and force him to make some poor decisions. We also need to win the turnover battle, and we can win this game."
On who has an advantage from last year
"I would like to say that the advantage is all ours, but I am not sure that it is. They probably know our defense pretty well. Our kids are learning our offense, and they will be trying to figure out where we will be. It is probably a push. Their defense does not care where the offense is. They will just line it up and go from there. It will be a push in the special teams. We will know them, but I think they will know us some. I do not think surprises will be a factor in this game."
Players
Terrence Robinson
On Southern Miss from last year
"I remember a good team. They were disciplined, and they came in here and beat us on our own turf. That brings a lot of memories back to me."
On the Southern Miss offense
"They run a lot of schemes, and they use one back in the backfield a lot.
They are very confident with what they do. That is one thing that makes
Southern Miss, Southern Miss. They have been to many bowl games recently and
are very good."
On the opportunity of playing a good team on national television
"We have been focusing on this game since spring ball. It is a good opportunity for us. It lets us know where we stand early in the season. They went 8-4 last season so this will be our test to see where we are with this new coaching staff and our new schemes."
On what a win can do for this season
"There is no doubt about it that a win can set the tone for this team. It would help for us because it is way to celebrate these hard practices."
On having fun
"One thing that has helped was watching games over the weekend. It is tough going to the workouts, but the chemistry on this team is different. All we can think about is playing football. Just going out and showing enthusiasm and having fun."
On the confidence they have now
"It is more like the self-confidence the different players have. If someone got beat they used to hang their head, but now they come back with their head high. Everybody here is like that. We are like a family."
On being with Coach Miles
"It has been wonderful. Coach Miles has been great to us all. On the field he is fired up. He brings a lot to this team, but also to the rest of the coaching staff. The chemistry for this whole team is different, and we feel that this will be a successful season."
On the changes in chemistry
"There has been a lot of hard work and discipline. The emphasis has been on having fun, and showing enthusiasm is one of the most important things that Coach Miles has brought to us all."
On actually playing a game
"Coach Clay has brought us a wonderful 4-2-5 defense to Oklahoma State. The entire defense is so ready to play. On Saturday we'll be so fired up on the first play that we may make a mistake or two, but there is so much eagerness in this defense that nothing will come through us."
On the importance of a win this weekend
"It's extremely important. The thing is we've learned to overcome anxiety. That's one thing about this team, because we've learned to overcome anxiety, even with a loss, we'll still be a team. Our heads will still be held high, and there will be nothing that will come between us."
Dwayne Levels
On keeping himself ready
"Knowing that your opportunities are coming makes you think about what you have to do. You have to think about what your plans are and what your intentions are. Thinking about this calms me down."
On Southern Miss
"You have to disrupt his rhythm. You can't let him get into a comfort zone. When they move the ball down the field, we have to go out there and keep them off balance. That's what we have to concentrate on, and that's what we intend to do."
On getting a win
"It's important that we get off to a good start. We have to use this game as somewhat of a measuring stick of how far we've come and how far we have to go. We have to go out there and play our hearts out and give 100 percent, knowing that we will come out on top if we do that."
On if it's possible to place to much importance on this game
"If we go down there and play with a lot of emotion and have fun, we know that if we don't win, it's not the end of the world. That's why you have an 11 or 12 game season. You can always come back next week, bounce back and redeem yourself. At the same time, this is an important game because it's the first game of the year. We want to establish some momentum going into the season and go down there and win. That's how we have to look at it. I don't think you can put too much emphasis on this game. If you just go down there and play, everything else will take care of itself."
On Coach Miles perspective on the season
"In years past, we've gotten ahead of ourselves. Looking down the road, as opposed to what Coach Miles likes to say, OeLooking one game at a time.'" Each game is it's own season. You know you can't move on to the next game without playing this one. One thing we have to concentrate on is playing one game at a time. That's something that has been said before, but it hasn't been done a lot of times. We really have to concentrate on just doing it one game at a time."
