Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU Football vs. Louisiana Tech
September 08, 2001 | Cowboy Football
Sept. 8, 2001
Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes
OSU Coach Les Miles
On OSU's defense
"The defense consistently played them just how we needed to have them play
for us to win this game. They played an over the top zone coverage, and man
forced the throw underneath. When they got in a dangerous field position,
they pressured them and sacked them and consistently took them out of an
advantageous position. The defense played tremendously."
On the fumbled punt
"Anytime that you play a game, and you jump out 14-0, your designs are to
score 21 then 28. You think, OeThis is going to be a great day.' The reality
is that their defense and special teams pressed the ball, and it came loose.
When that ball came loose and was rolling around in the end zone, it seemed
like a great opportunity to be offensive. When we jumped on it, we scored
some points, and it made us all happy. "
On Aso Pogi
"There were some protection problems that were taking place. We didn't
necessarily execute the passing game, not only at the quarterback spot, but
also at the wide receiver, offensive line and tight end positions. I think
anytime that there are breakdowns, it has a tendency to shake the offense. I
don't necessarily think it was entirely Pogi's problem."
Oklahoma State Players
Robbie Gillem
On recovering the fumble
"How lucky was I? I was going to my assigned person. I glanced and realized
he had bobbled the snap. I tried to shift because I knew he was not going
to get it off. I saw the ball kicked up and another guy tried to knock it
out of the endzone and it bounced sideways. I just happened to be at the
right place at the right time. How lucky was I. The play is towards the top
of my list of biggest plays."
On defensive pressure of McCown
"We had a few pressures built into our dime defense. After McCown got sacked
a couple of times, he realized how to check out of it. I think he is a great
quarterback, he is very young."
Aso Pogi
On the game
"Good game, you take the victory. It's exciting for us to get a hometown
win. It is our first win, so there is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.
Credit our defense and special teams because they played a key role in this
victory. They did a great job."
On the offense
"We wanted to get our running game established early. We did a lot of things
well offensively. There were key mistakes on my part that we definitely
can't have, but those things will be corrected.
On his two fumbles
"I don't think they took my momentum away. The thing about football is that
you know things are going to happen and things will go wrong. Especially at
the quarterback position you have to keep the poise and come back and keep
fighting. We're proud of our offensive line, they played well and our
special teams got us a victory. We came back after the two big fumbles.
Oklahoma State Locker Room Quotes
Tatum Bell
On Getting the first win of the season
"It felt real good. I thought we played as a team throughout the whole game.
Our main goal going into the game was to run the ball because we needed to
make up for last week. Acouple of turnovers still hurt us. The defense
played good the whole game so that is what kept us in it. We gave them
thirteen of their points off turnovers. My position was not perfect either.
We need to just keep playing hard and eliminate those turnovers."
On his rushing performance
"I was not ebven noticing what I was doing. They said I went over the
century mark on the Jumbotron, but I do not worry about that while I am
playing. I read that stuff in the newspaper afterwards.
Elbert Craig
On the defensive performance
"We were on the field an awful lot, but sometimes it was our fault. We gave
up some big plays when we should have stayed back and the quarterback came
up and made a good play. The secondary has to be better as a sound team."
Louisiana Tech Coach Jack Bicknell
On being down 20-13 at halftime
"I was happy to be down 20-13 after the way we started out. I thought our
defense was starting to play better and I felt good about that. I thought if
we could get something going on offense then we could be in it at the end,
which we were. Obviously, we just had a bad snap and it cost us the game."
His thoughts on Oklahoma State
"I thought they were a very good football team. I think they have a real
good quarterback (Aso Pogi). He is a kid that is a good athlete and makes
plays. They have an excellent running back (Tatum Bell). That kid was
extremely quick. They looked real big up front. I was hoping they were not
quite that good, but when I got here and saw the athletes they had I said
this is a good football team. I think they are very good and will have a
good year."
Louisiana Tech Player Quotes
Spencer Young
On Performance
"We were very happy the way we were at half-time, but yet we weren't because
we knew we hadn't played our best football either. We knew in our our hearts
that we were the better team, and we wanted to come out in the second half
and prove that."
Need to work on
"We need to work on special teams, the little stuff and not missing
assignments."
On Atmosphere
"An atmosphere like this is crazy, and I think that is one thing OSU had
going for them is that the fans got behind them and boosted them up, and
that's why they came out on top."
John Simon
On offense
"I think we did ok, but there are a lot of things we need to work on."
On Match-ups
"They definitely weren't better than us. They did have some better match
ups in certain areas, but they couldn't guard us in man-to-man, and we
allowed them to do that in certain situations."
On Game
"We don't go anywhere thinking that we played with Oklahoma State or Florida
State. We go into a game thinking we are going to win, and we are upset
that we did not win. I am stressing there are a lot of things we need to
work on, and we shouldn't be satisfied with that loss to Oklahoma State."
Carlin Thomas
On Defense
"Overall the defense did pretty well. We started off kind of sluggish, but
we picked it up and did what we had to do."
