Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State-SMU Postgame Quotes
September 21, 2002 | Cowboy Football
Sept. 21, 2002
Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes
OSU Football
vs. SMU
Sept. 21, 2002
Postgame Quotes
OSU Coach Les Miles
On the game
"The kids played hard. I believe that they are not satisfied with the start of the season. They went out to play hard and get better. We hit on all cylinders the first half and took the game away from SMU. It was a good game. We got a couple of backs running the football, some throws and catches, some protection, and the defense played hard."
On getting SMU behind by 45at half
"Once we had a club beat 49-0, but I think it was probably 35-0 at the half. I can remember getting 39 scored against me once at a place where there was red on their jersey and an "N" on their helmet. It is what we needed and had to do. We had to play all out and we were successful. Phil Bennett and SMU are a good football team and there is nothing to overshadow that. They played TCU and Texas Tech awfully hard. They're a good football team. I can only tell you that playing in our stadium tonight, we were as good as we've been."
On establishing physical presence on first drive
"We had a nice drive, and it was run and pass. It was going as we wanted it to, and we got down in there. We didn't expect them to throw the ball well on us, so it just made sense to go and capitalize on that drive because if in fact we were short, they would have a tough time getting off their goal line."
On Seymore Shaw's running
"I think we were blocking for him, but also he is a very physical running back. He gets into the secondary and he is going to run over some guys. If he had made deceptive cuts instead of running over guys, he may have had a few more yards."
On scoring seven straight possessions
"It is just like you diagram it. You decide to go down the field and have success, and that is just how we did it. They were playing Rashaun Woods one-on-one unlike the double coverage we are used to seeing. There were some incomplete passes so we needed the run to keep us getting the first downs."
Offensive Lineman Jason Russell
On the fourth down decision
"As an offensive line we knew that we could overpower them to get the first down. I knew that we had great running backs in the backfield to get the first down. That wasn't just coaching, it was all of us."
On the team's confidence
"I think the confidence has always been there. Personally, I know I have confidence in Seymour (Shaw) and all of the other backs. It's been rocky at first, but there has been a lot of good things that we have done. I don't think that the confidence had really left."
Running Back Seymore Shaw
On the team's confidence
"We just had confidence. As the game goes on you just feel confident in yourself, and the offensive line did a great job and the running backs were getting confident within each other. The coaches were confident in us."
On his three touchdowns
"I consider it a blessing. I'm giving all of the credit to the offensive line. They were pushing the defensive linemen. I give all of the credit to the offensive line, but it felt great."
Quarterback Josh Fields
On the team's first drive
"I think we definitely set the tone with that. We knew that they were a strong defensive line with a good secondary. We just came out and attacked them. Our offensive line pretty much just pushed them over. You know it's a good day when your offensive line can do that."
On Rashaun Woods
"Coach Gundy tells just to give him a chance and with Rashaun all you need is a chance. Pretty much over 50 percent of the time he will pull it down. He did it again today and he did it the beginning of this year and last year. He just keeps on doing it."
Safety Kirk Milligan
On his interception facing the sun
"The sun was just peaking over the west end of the stadium. Fortunately, on that play the defensive line put pressure on the quarterback and made him throw it high. I happened to look around and catch it."
On the defensive perspective on the offense's ball control
"That was key for our defense allowing us to put a goose egg on the board in the first half because we don't have to be on the field. It gives a lot of confidence in our offense when we don't have to take as many defensive snaps. It gives us a break on defense and allows us to work hard on special teams."
On outlook of the game
"We played a terrible first half of football. Whether or not it was getting first downs on offense, or not lining up and stopping plays on defense. We need our better players to step up in that situation and play better. We're not a bad football team and I think the second half showed that. We are at a point where we need to get better. This is a disappointment, but it doesn't damper what kinds of things we can build with. I believe I found out a lot from this game. I saw what kind of guys have character and the leaders that are on the team."
On halftime speech
"I told them we were down 45-0, and that I wasn't even going to look at the first half, but I would watch the second half with great interest. I'm going to find the guys that have character on this football team, and I think some of them did."
On defensive problems
"Well, we aren't covering in the secondary, and that is one thing. No technique, or pass rush so that is a double whammy when you got all day to throw the ball and no one covering."
On Rashaun Woods
"He is a really good player and adjusts to the ball. He finds the ball on every play."
Opposing Players
SMU running back Keylon Kincade
On the game plan early:
"We came out and they tried to run an eight or nine man front to get at the run, so we came out trying to spread things out and keep them honest so we could go back to the run, something we are real good at. Things didn't flow the way we wanted them to and they played a good game.
On the effectiveness of the OSU defense:
"I was a little surprised by them, usually we can hold the ball a little bit better than we did. The front line was real good."
On the halftime score:
"Most of us have never been a part of that, being down by that many at halftime. It put us in a state of mind where it felt like a dream or something."
Defensive back Kevin Garrett
On Rashaun Woods:
"He made plays. We were in position on every play, the jump balls, but he was able to come down with it. He times the ball well, and that's one of his big assets. He's a real good player. I was able to stick with him in coverage, but he's athletic enough to come down with the ball."
On OSU's first half:
"It was just a combination of running and passing the ball. They'd run the ball and in key situations pass it with the long ball. We were in position but they just happened to connect. They had success running the ball also. That's usually a thing teams don't have success on us with."
