Oklahoma State University Athletics
Coach Simmons Discusses This Week And Nebraska
April 08, 2003 | Cowboy Football
On opening the season with Nebraska "We don't have any choice. When you look back in the stats, apparently we've opened up with Nebraska nine times in the history of this school. So if they (the Big 12) wanted to change it, they should have changed it a long time ago. It's Nebraska. It's a good team. It's a game that we have to play. So I have to take the mindset that we're playing one of the best teams in the conference."
On the history of the series "There's always history and there's always today. What we have to pay attention to is today. Obviously, we will look back on how we played them in the past. I think in the past we've played them well at times. Last year, was a game that we were capable of winning. We're going to be in Lincoln. Obviously, I think that we still have a good football team, but we have to execute. We can't let history be a part of this, we have to let today be as part of it."
On last year's game with Nebraska "Absolutely (you can take something positive out of last year's game). I think when you play the kind of game that we did play, you look at the positives, but we didn't win the game. Our intention is to go to Lincoln and win the football game."
On the Missouri vs. Nebraska game this weekend "I watched it, and they (Nebraska) were impressive on both sides of the ball. Whatever problems they had the week before, they got ironed out. I think part of it was because the series is a close series in the last year or so with Corby Jones going in there. Nebraska's got a good defense, let's give them that. They went in there on offense and (Eric) Crouch did an outstanding job and put some points on the board. Turnovers against any good football team is going to take the wind out of their sails. When you give a team like that 16 points off of turnovers, it can be a rough day."
On the quarterbacks' performance during the last week "Based on practice last week, I thought that they did well for what we were asking them to do. We were trying to go back to the basic fundamentals in terms of the mistakes that we had in the previous game that had to do with the fundamentals of carrying the ball and the quarterback exchange. We tried to address those kinds of things a little bit and hope we have the kind of gameplan so that it would make things simple for them. You can't put the ball on the ground, and we tried to stress that."
On Tony Lindsay's status "He's still going through the healing process. He will probably be doubtful for this ballgame. In talking to a trainer, he's still in that four-week window. We can make a decision after that. I saw him practice last week. He moved around; he was throwing the ball; he took his drops. I think he still has a little bit of swelling in that knee which is a sign that he's still going through the healing process. Last week, he didn't do a lot, but he took snaps and he threw the ball and got in a little bit of the gameplan, but not enough were we can say 'Tony, go in and play.' From a conditioning standpoint, our concern is where that knee is and that's what we have to base our decision on."
On the Mississippi State loss "We addressed it on Monday and Tuesday. We always take a day to address the fundamentals. I would like to think that we're an old enough team now that we can move forward and get ready for this ball game."
On Kenyatta Wright's status "That is questionable."
On last week's practices "I like to think so (that the team got things accomplished). I like to think that after we went through Monday and Tuesday and continued to study film, we settled in on what we're going to do. The only thing that I told the team is that we're going to tweak it a little bit this week, but for the most part, we're pretty well set in terms of our gameplan."
On position changes "There may be a combination that we change around offensively. You may see Josh Lind at the center position. You may see Reynell Lavigne at the guard position. We're trying to find a pretty decent combination with that offensive line. Jeff Machado may be a factor depending on the healing process of Blaine Cook."
On playing Nebraska in the same manner as last year "The one thing that we've always felt against Nebraska is that if you're not able to run the ball, it's going to be a long day. When you look at the teams that they've played, they have not had success running the football, so we've got to find a way to be able to have success running the ball. Otherwise, they're going to tee off on you. We have to structure a gameplan so that we can have some success running the ball which will allow us to do some things if we're going to throw it."
On this week's starting quarterback "That decision has not been made. We're going to sit back and take a look at the practice progress as we get into this week. I'm really looking for consistency. It's a little bit different playing in Lincoln because they do a good job with their crowd. All of those factors will be taken in as we sit down and come up with a starter. Both guys are going to play."
On having two equal quarterbacks "I think it's a situation where you're really going to have to play them both. People have pros and cons about the two quarterback system, and I'm at the point right now where I think that both kids at this point deserve to play. One is not better than the other one. That clearly defines that we will have two quarterbacks."
On B.J. Tiger's not playing in the second half of the Mississippi State game "B.J. had a good week of practice. Obviously, he can bring a lot to the table. He's just got to become a guy that listens and a guy that is fundamentally sound. He can help this program. That's not to say that Ben Bowling doesn't have those same qualities. What he lacks is experience, based on his mistakes in that ball game."
Junior Defensive End Zac Warner
On bouncing back from a loss to Mississippi State "We had a week off, so we really worked on fundamentals. We went back to the basics -- worked hard on tackling. We looked at that film and saw the mistakes we made, and we're just trying to iron them out and get them out of the game plan. We're just going to go in and execute this week at Nebraska. We forget it, but we still remember it, get the mistakes out and go play next week."
On whether the MSU loss cast doubt over the team "Any time you lose, you're going to have some doubt. But we feel like we're a great football team. We did not execute that game at all. We came out, we were flat and we did not play well on either side of the ball. That's something that we've really got to iron out. And we've talked about that, but we feel like we're putting that game behind us. We're going forward; you have to when you're going to play Nebraska. We're excited to go and show the nation what we're all about."
On being three- to four-touchdown underdogs after last year's thriller "I hadn't seen that yet, but that's interesting. Last year, we were close, but that's in the past. We're not going to feed on the past; we're looking at what's happening right now. Being a 26-point underdog, that's something our team should take as a slap in the face. But that's all right; we don't mind that. As a defensive player, we're going to go out to execute our game plan and shut their offense down."
On using the point spread as a rallying point "Any time a team is a 26-point favorite, that shows a lack of respect. We lost the game, and I can understand that, but I don't think we should ever be 26-point underdogs the way our defense can play football. The offense is going to come out and score points, and we're going to shut them down. All we've got to do is execute our game plan to the full extent, and we don't feel like any team should beat us like that."
On last year's game as an indication of how good OSU could be "We played well last year; we came out and played really physically against them, and that's what you have to do against those guys. We really felt like we were going to be a better football team than we were. A lot of people thought that game would turn us around, but every week you have to come out, and we didn't execute in some games after that, and it really hurt us. One game's not going to make your season. We're going to come out this week and try to make a statement, try to put ourselves on the map."
On the ball-control factor of the game last year against Nebraska "I think that's a key in every game. As a defense, we're trying to go three-and-out every series. We want to get off the field, give our offense the ball, and if we can win time of possession by 10 minutes, chances are that we're going to win the football game. So as a defense, we're looking to go three-and-out every time, get off the field and give our offense a chance to score some points."
On the team's attitude toward Nebraska "We have a mutual respect for Nebraska; they might not respect us, but we respect them as a football team. But we know we're just as good as they are. We're as big and strong as they are; we have worked hard for two or three years in the weight room. We feel like that can't come in and out-physical us, and they're not going to. We know that we're as good a football team as they are; they've just executed very well this year, and that's something that we're going to have to go out and do. It really just comes down to going out, playing your keys and stopping your assignment. If all 11 guys do that, we'll win the football game."
On Nebraska's unbeaten streak over OSU since 1961 "That's a long time. Nebraska's been a powerhouse for however many years. But we're not really worried about that; we're worried about this year."
On the pain of coming so close but not winning last year "It hurt, and it put a taste in our mouth that we felt like should have carried over the rest of the season. But it still just came down that we didn't get it done at the end of the football game, and that's what cost us. We learned from our mistakes. Yeah, it definitely hurt, and that's something that you remember. But you just want to go out, make it right and beat them this year."
On what he remembers from the game last year "I remember our great fan support. We had tons of orange in the stands for a Kansas City game. I also remember that they had good fan support. The crowd was 80,000 or something like that in Kansas City, and that was really exciting. We just went out and had an attitude that 'We're going to carry this game. You're not going to out-physical us; you're not going to beat us; we're going to play you man-for-man.' And that's what we're looking to do this year."
On shutting down Nebraska's running game "Any time you go out there and dominate the front line, as the game goes on, you get more confidence. You're sitting there play after play and physically beating your man. Doing that, it gives you enough confidence throughout the game. And even though we didn't win the game, we feel like we physically outplayed them. But the score was on the wrong side, so that's what matters."
On whether Nebraska will have to throw to beat OSU "They're going to play Nebraska football; they're going to run the option. First and foremost, you're going to have to stop that. After that, get them in third-and-long situations and they'll have to throw the football. They can't live on the run when it's not working for them. But if it's working for them, they're going to stay with it. We're going to play our keys, shut down that run and make them throw the ball; then we're going to go after the quarterback. That's the kind of defense we play; we're going to stick to our game plan. That's something we really stress this year, and hopefully we'll get a couple of good hits on them in the option."
On Nebraska "I watched the game Saturday. They played very well. They executed outstanding. Missouri put themselves in a lot of bad situations: They had guys not playing their keys. With Nebraska, it's all about playing keys and playing your responsibilities. As long as all 11 guys do that, they can't run the football. That's something we're going to work on hard this week. The physical part, even if you out-physical them up front, you have to play your key, play your responsibility. If you have the pitch and the quarterback cuts upfield, you have to stay on your pitch man and trust that the other guys on defense are going to make that play."
