Oklahoma State University Athletics
Football Media Luncheon Quotes
October 07, 2002 | Cowboy Football
Oct. 7, 2002
Head Coach Les Miles
On Playing Hard and Losing
"Any time you play hard and you don't win it's painful. Hopefully we can get beyond playing hard and finishing close. I think our team is better but not necessarily because of the plays they established on Saturday against Texas, but because of a combination of signs shown from the first game through this game of improvement and hopefully we will go beyond playing Texas and teams like Texas hard, and get to a point where we can play them to win. The focus from this point forward is to play to win."
On Comparing This Year's Team With Last Year's Team
"Last year's team fared against Texas by playing them hard for a quarter and then lost poise. Just before the half they trailed 14-10 and at half-time trailed 31-10. I think that there are still missing pieces to the puzzle with this year's team. I think this year's team is a better running team, that our defense handles the rush pretty well and our special teams is playing well. We are on the threshold of being a good football team. I just don't know how wide that threshold is."
On Saturday's Game Against Texas
"Our special teams took a challenge. Our special teams have been the best in the Big 12 and have gotten up and answered the challenge. We did have some inconsistent snaps and we have to correct this. "
On Kansas State
"It's a different challenge to face an option attack. Our defense is going to have to make some adjustments and take into account that their quarterback is a very mobile and capable runner. I like our match up, I think our defense will play extremely well against K-State. Their defense is one that is very talented and capable to crowd the box and make you throw it, but we are going to go and play our game and get opportunities to score."
Wide Receiver John Lewis
On the emotions at the end of the game
"We came out and felt like we had a lot of opportunities to win the game and we just squandered it a little bit. I think everybody thought we were going to win the game. Just being so close made everybody angry because we let it get away from us."
On the loss
"I guess you can use this as a stepping stone. Everybody played 110 percent, but we just have to put it behind us and get ready for next week. I don't think you can dwell on a loss for so long because it might interfere with the next game. We will probably be in that situation again, but next time we will probably take advantage of it and win the game."
On Kansas State
"They have a similar defense to Texas. They play a lot of Man-3 and a similar defense as SMU with quarters."
Pagitte McGee
On the Texas game
"I think it will make us better as a team and focus on the progress of the season and get some more wins under our belt. It was pretty hard for us, but I think we need to beat Kansas State and go on from there. You just have to learn from your mistakes and go on to the next game, knowing you played well against the No. 2 team in the nation."
On Ell Roberson
"I think it is going to be a big challenge for us. We need to step up and get better as a team. We need to hit him and keep hitting him and we will then slow him down."
On defending quarterbacks like (Chris) Simms or Roberson
"It is pretty hard to say because whichever quarterback you take, it is going to be a hard contest."
Josh Fields
On the offense's performance
"After watching the film last night, I can't explain where I stand because our whole team played four quarters of football. As far as the offense, we had some penalties that hurt us at the beginning of the game and turnovers. Our defense gave us a chance to hang with them, and I am really proud of the fact that we came back in the fourth quarter and made a run. We had a couple of things that cost us a little bit, and that is pretty frustrating."
On the game
"The way most people were going about it was that they wanted us to gain a learning experience and were happy to hang with them. Our team doesn't want people to give us credit for hanging with a team, we want to win games. It was pretty frustrating for people being happy for us hanging with them because that is not what we want. We want to go out and win the big games."
On the noise factor
"We had to concentrate and lock in because we had some holding and offsides. It was loud but I don't think it was something that could effect our performance out there. It is something that we are going to have to concentrate on this week because Manhattan is as loud or even louder. We have some things that will help us deal with the noise this week. We are just going to correct our mistakes and move on."
