Oklahoma State University Athletics
Simmons Speaks On Last Saturday And Tulsa
April 08, 2003 | Cowboy Football
On Lindsay's mindset "Tony's a competitor. Obviously, you don't want to get injured in any kind of ballgame. He's anxious to see exactly what the extent of the injury is going to be and what he's got to be mentally prepared for in the long haul -- if it's a short term to get back from a rehab, or if it's going to be a long term where he has to sit down with family input as to what will be the best direction to go."
On the coaching philosophy of bouncing back from a key loss "Tony's important. This team has gone through a little adversity before as far as losing key people. I'm going to have to address it, but I'm not going to dwell on it. There's got to be a belief that the guys on your present team can do the job with the support of the other guys on the team. That's the approach I've always taken when you don't have the guy, you've got to proceed forward with the guys that are on your program. And that's what I'm going to talk about today."
On the starting quarterback for Saturday's game "It'll probably be B.J. that starts. We're going to practice this week and see what's best for us, but more than likely its going to be B.J."
On his assessment of the quarterbacks last week "I thought that under the circumstances, B.J. went in and was very cool and calm. I thought he executed the offense as far as making the key throws and keeping the drive alive on third-down situations. I really like that he did that. He needed to have a little more awareness when the clock was running down, but I think that will come in time in terms of the decisions that were made and not getting points on the board. When Ben came in, he faced some adversity real quick with that tipped pass. But I thought he came back and handled himself really well. He's done some things that he always did in two-a-days as far as making quick decisions, and both of them have shown very good promise."
On the offensive mindset with the two new quarterbacks "I think we need to do what's best for the football team, not that we're not going to open it up or were not going to throw, because those guys both have pretty good arms. It's just a matter of when we sit down and based on our opponent and what is going to be our strength at that particular time, we may run it a bit more or we may stick to the philosophy of throwing the ball down the field in key situations."
On Bowling coming back from the adversity of his first pass "I think it's easy for a quarterback to get dejected on his first throw, but he came back, and we threw the ball a couple of times with him. And he made good, solid throws to the receivers. I've always said that he has something about him from that standpoint. He's a competitor, and so is B.J."
On Tiger's character coming back from personal trouble "B.J., like anybody else, is going to make some poor decisions. What I look for is, when he made those situations, how he'd handle the problems that he'd face down the road. So far, he hasn't had to deal with any kind of wrong decisions. As long as he can act in that vein, it says something about what he wants to do with his life."
On the defensive performance "In this particular ballgame, were we tested? Well, our defensive line got a lot of pressure; our linebackers were all over the place; our secondary this team didn't have an opportunity to throw the football because of the pressure the front put on them. But I thought that they had the game under control, that they game up with big plays. I think [UL Lafayette had] 61 yards and seven first downs, and that's an outstanding effort."
On facing Tulsa after last season's loss "It's new and different, but it's in-state, and obviously it's going to be a big game. Last year, we did not play as well as we'd like to; I thought Tulsa played well, but I didn't think we did. We're on Lewis Field now, and the thing that we have to make sure that we do is execute our game plan."
On the OSU secondary's challenge against Tulsa as opposed to US Lafayette "I think Tulsa has changed a bit in terms of being a little more balanced; they have a passing attack, but they will run the football. I think Dave Rader and his staff have done an excellent job over at TU, and they put key people in positions to make plays. They present different challenges for our defense, so were going to have to do a good job running and passing/receiving."
On the play of Kevin Williams "I thought he played well for a redshirt freshman. We felt, going in as a true freshman, that he had the ability to really be a good player. For him to come out and win the position and play the way that he played speaks that he's got a good career ahead of him."
On the defensive ends in general "Not that attention means anything, because the attention goes to the entire defense, but when you can have your down linemen make plays, it really takes a lot of pressure off the linebackers so they can help in coverage."
On the Tulsa rivalry "Everyone talks about the OSU-OU rivalry, and obviously when you talk about Tulsa, it's never mentioned. It probably should be, because Tulsa probably plays us harder than any other team, and the thing we've got to realize is that we've got to play just as hard."
On last year's loss as motivation "People remember what happened to you when you play a team before, but it should not be a motivating factor. Execution; playing this team; the fact that there are a lot of people that know one another; we've got a lot of fans from all over; we've got kids from Tulsa who want bragging rights: Those things are the motivating factors."
On emotions role in the game "Emotion plays a big part of the game. But there's some point in time where you settle into your game plan and you really start playing the game. That's when the execution of the game plan comes into play. But emotion is an important part of anything you do. You want your team ready to play emotionally; you want your team to cross every position to be into that ballgame. But after you get past the first two or three hits, that's when you really settle down and start to play your game."
On the OSU offensive line "There's some improvement that needs to be dealt with. They gave us a couple of different looks that our kids did not recognize; they had some run-throughs that cause some problems. So well sit down, and today we're going to correct those things so that when we face that situation again, we'll have some answers."
On the team possibly losing confidence without Lindsay "I would hope that's not the case with the number of people that we have on this football team. We've talked about experience: When you have this many seniors, I would hope that they know that you have to win with the people at hand. We talk about supporting one another, and I think that this team collectively, whether on offense or on defense, will support whoever's at quarterback."
Asked if the strong defense will help the confidence of the quarterbacks "That's a big part of it, but obviously the offense is going to have to do its part on the football field. You can have some confidence, but you can't go three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out. We're going to have to put points on the board to keep our defense fresh."
On the possibility of platooning the quarterbacks "I've got a lot of options, but I don't know if that's going to be one of them."
On playing true freshman Tim Burrough "We really like Timmy, and we really like what he brings to the table athletically. We were going to keep bringing him along to the point where we'd play him either in the first ballgame and/or the second, but with Kevin Brown's injury, I think it was a moot point. Timmy will play, and play quite a bit, this year."
Asked whether he felt disappointment after the UL Lafayette game because of the injuries to Lindsay and Brown "No, when you win a ballgame, obviously the thing you want to do is celebrate. In the aftermath, when you go home and think about the players and the type of injuries that they do have and both those guys are key players for this program you come to a reality that you've got to move forward. This is one game that we have on the schedule, and we have 10 games left, so you have to get back and get to the task at hand."
"There's a reaction to it, and that's just being human. You have a guy that you feel for that gets injured, and you don't really know the extent of the injury, but you know that he's very important to you as a person. And that's where the concern comes in: not so much a concern about our season, but about him as a person."
OSU Players
Sophomore QB B.J. Tiger
On whether the team was disappointed after last Saturday's game "I don't think that we were disappointed. We have a lot of depth on this team. With the injuries, you have to come together as a unit and just make things happen and take it one game at a time."
On playing in his hometown of Tulsa "I'm really excited. I'm just taking it as another game. I hope we can come out with a victory. Last year, we didn't play as well. But this year we've worked harder and can come out with a victory."
On the team's response to his play against Louisiana - Lafayette "I think that they accepted me. They were kind of worried about Tony (Lindsay), but when he came out, I went in. I stepped into the huddle with confidence in myself and in my teammates around me, and we made things happen."
On whether or not he had talked to Tony Lindsay "I haven't talked to him lately, but at halftime I went up and talked to him to see how he was doing and to get some words of wisdom from him. He gave me a couple of things about what the defense was doing, and that's the last time I talked to him."
On what Lindsay told him "He said to just bring the guys together. Ben Bowling and I would have to fill in in his place, and he said to just get them going. He didn't seem disappointed, but I know he was. As hard as he worked this summer and what he did to prepare himself for the game, I'm sure that he was disappointed that he was injured."
On how hard he worked over the summer "We (Tony Lindsay and I) worked hard together. He helped me with a lot of things. I look up to Tony. He was the Big 12 Newcomer-of-the-Year, and he was the starting quarterback. I looked up to him. I have some big shoes to fill."
On whether or not he will start against Tulsa "I haven't been told that yet. I'm not sure, but I'm just going to work hard as if I am the starter, and maybe I'll get the call. I didn't think that it (being a starter) would happen this fast in the season. I prepared myself this summer, and I think that I'm ready. I think that our team is ready."
On the advantages of Lindsay's injury happening early "I think that that's probably the only advantage out of this situation with Tony being hurt. We just have to go forward."
On Tulsa's defense "I really don't know what to expect yet. I haven't had the chance to watch their film yet. I just got finished watching film from last Saturday. I'm going to get on that as soon as practice starts. I'm going to be watching their film day and night."
On his performance "I fell better after watching the film than I did after the game. I made a lot of mistakes, but they were a lot of mistakes that I can improve on. I know what I did, and I know what needs to be done to correct it."
On his strengths and weaknesses "I would say that my strength is throwing or running. My strength is also being a leader and motivating the other guys, getting them pumped, and getting them ready to execute."
On whether Tulsa is a revenge game "I wouldn't say that it was a revenge game. We just have to play. It's not revenge. The best team wins."
On how his pregame preparation has changed "I know I'll probably get a lot more snaps. I'm going to watch a lot more film. All my steps are going to be a lot faster and sharper this week."
On the team's confidence in him "They are confident in me. I have worked with them all summer. I think our team has confidence in one another, and that's all it's going to take."
Jack Golden
On the defensive performance "Going into this game, our defense wanted to come out and make a statement about what kind of a defense we wanted to have this year. Going into this game, we said that we were going to do certain things, and for the most part, I think that we accomplished those things. We're going to take a look at the film today, and we're going to make some corrections, because we did make some mistakes out there. For the most part, we did do some things right, but there is a lot of room for improvement on our defense."
On the defense stepping up after Tony Lindsay's injury "That happened during the course of the game. When we saw that Tony was out, we felt like we had to step our part of the game up and get the offense the ball back. That was one of the things that we didn't do. We didn't force any turnovers. Going into this next game, that will be one of the things that we concentrate on this week."
On coming back after missing last year "I was just eager to get out there. I was a little nervous starting the game off, but as the game went on and the game progressed, it felt good to be back. I was just glad to be out there. I was just having fun."
On the reputation that the defense is building for impact hits "We're trying to make a statement this year. We're not going to let anybody come onto our field and do what they want to do. As a defensive unit, we have the responsibility to set the tempo. We feel like we can come out and set the tempo for the game, starting with the kickoff team. If we come out there be physical and we're physical against the team that we're playing, that sets the tempo and lets them know that they're in for a rough game."
On whether the rivalry is bigger to Tulsa than it is to OSU "I think that the rivalry for the most part is bigger for them that it is us. Last year's game proved that. We went out there and we weren't really focused. We might have been looking toward's the next week's game. Those guys were seriously focused, and they treated it like a bowl game. Going into the game this weekend, we're going to look at the things that we needed to do that we didn't do last year and we're going to take it into this year's game and we're going to be focused."
On matching Tulsa's intensity level "I feel like we have to match it and then exceed it some. We can't play down to our competition's level. We have to come out there and set the tempo and make them play to our level if they want to beat us. We have to be consistent in doing that. When we come out there and we play down to our competition's level that gives them some hope that they can play with OSU."
On the team's support of B.J. Tiger and Ben Bowling "We believe in them. We believe in them a lot. They went out there Saturday and I'm quite sure that they were nervous, but one thing that we talked about as a team before going into that game was that if something like that should happen, we have go support our guys and let them know that they can't be afraid to make plays, even if they do make mistakes. You're going to make mistakes. Ben and B.J. went out and they did make some plays and they made some mistakes also, but like I said, as a defensive unit, it's our job to get them the ball back."
On whether the team can beat Big 12 teams without Tony Lindsay "I know we can. Tony's an integral part of our offense. He's an integral part of our team. He's a athlete, everyone knows that. But he's also a leader on the field and off the field. He's going to be missed even if he's not out there this week with us. But we're confident in the people that we have to step up. That's one thing about college football, when someone goes down, we're confident that we have the players this year that can step up and keep the team going."
On the first team defense scrimmaging with B.J. Tiger or Ben Bowling "That made us better. We've seen B.J. for two or three years now. We know what he's capable of doing. He does it on our first team defense all the time. If we don't wrap B.J. up, he'll take off down the field. Ben will do the same thing. They both have strong arms, and they're just developing their game, week by week. It's going to be fun to watch them this year."
On last week's performance giving the defense momentum going into this week's game "It gives us a lot of momentum. That was one of the things that we wanted to shoot for in the game. We wanted to go out and make the statement that we can pitch shutouts and we want to pitch shutouts. Going into this game, we want to be focused on what we need to do. We know that Tulsa's offense is loaded. They can throw the ball, they can also run the ball. We also know what kind of defense we are, and if we're playing to our full capabilities, they're going to be in for a rough day."
On what he thought when he say Lindsay being carried off the field "I was sympathetic. I can emphasize with the fact that he was hurt. I sat out last year, so I know how it feels to be hurt. I could see it in his eyes that he was a little down about it. I talked to him after the game, and one of the things that I told him to do was keep his head up and stay positive, and I know he's going to do that. I don;t think that they (his expectations) are any lower. We've got people that can step up in Tony's place. B.J. and Ben are going to be great quarterbacks for us. They're young and they're still learning. That's one of the things that's going to make us better going into this week. We're going to focus on what we need to do, and we're going to help B.J. and Ben get better."
Freshman QB Ben Bowling
On being thrust into a key role quickly during his true freshman year "That's one of the reasons I came to OSU; I just didn't expect it to be this quick. But it is, and I think Im ready for it."
On the possibility of facing high-school friend and rival Josh Blankenship of Tulsa "I'm not taking it as a personal issue. It's Oklahoma State against the University of Tulsa. We're just trying to reach our goal, and thats to win a Big 12 Championship. It's ironic at this point, but like I said, it's not a personal issue. Josh and I are in the same situation right now, and I'm sure were both looking for the opportunity to play."
On discussing his new role with Coach Simmons "I haven't yet, but I'm sure later in the day, I'll go to his office and talk to him to see what's expected of me this week. I've heard a lot of things [about his role], but I really can't say until I get the word from Coach. My role does change. When Tony went down, I said to myself, ÔHere we go.' I've said all season that I'm ready to go. When I first went in, [the interception] could have happened to anyone, but I think I bounced from it pretty well and played the rest of the game well."
On the effect on the team of losing starting QB Tony Lindsay "Tony's a great leader, but I think the team believes in B.J. [Tiger] and me also. I think both of us, when we're out on the field, we know what were doing, and I think the team believes in us."
On discussing the quarterback change with Tiger "B.J. seemed fine; he seemed pretty comfortable. I just gave him some help and pointers on defense, because they were obviously trying to stop the run the entire game. At halftime, we talked about checking the post as one of our concepts. When he hit that long touchdown third-and-2, he did what he was supposed to. He did a good job."
On the role of his father in Bowling's development "My dad's always there for me. He's given me a few pointers on how to handle some things. He's been basically my biggest supporter so far. He's been there in the major leagues and college, so he's kinda helped me know what to expect and what to do."
Asked if he has been told that he will play Saturday "I haven't been told that, but I'm pretty sure that I will get the opportunity to play. I don't know how soon, and you'll have to ask Coach Simmons that. But I'm going to practice this week like I'm the starter; that's the only way to practice."
Asked whether it's fun to be playing so soon "I wouldn't say it's a fun thing, because losing Tony is a big loss for everyone. But that's one of the reasons I came here, to play early. I didn't know it would be this early, but I'm a man of my word, and I'm ready to play."
Asked whether his teammates, particularly receivers, have confidence in him "I believe they do. Through preseason practice and last week's practice, I had a really good practice last week. I believe the guys have confidence in me that I can get the job done.
On talking with Tony Lindsay since Lindsay's injury "The last time I talked to him was Saturday, and I think he's getting an MRI today. But he seemed pretty down, obviously, because he was expecting to have a pretty big year this year. But I'm sure he'll battle back with flying colors."
On Lindsay's advice to Tiger and Bowling "He was giving us some words of encouragement, but also he was pretty down about his injury, and that was taking most of his focus. But obviously, he wanted the team to come out with a victory."
On facing Tulsa "I'll know in about 30 minutes about Tulsa. I look forward to playing those guys. It's my hometown, and nothing would be better than coming out with a= victory playing them and getting to play a little bit. Also, I'm playing against some ex-Jenks teammates that are starting across the ball from me, so it will be interesting to see how that turns out. I haven't talked to any of those guys, but I'm sure I will in the next week."
"I'm excited. It's a rare opportunity that a true freshman gets to play, and I'm fortunate. Also, I feel pretty responsible. I've got to get the job done, and so does B.J. The teams got to rely on us to lead it to victory this weekend."
On the meaning of the rivalry to him and the other Tulsa natives "It's an in-state battle, and I don't want to go home over Christmas break and have the trash-talking coming back at me."
On last year's OSU-Tulsa game "Yeah, I was [at the game]. Actually, I was sitting right next to Josh during the game. I couldn't believe they didn't pull it out. I expected OSU to walk in there and take it to them. But that's why this year, we've got to take this game pretty seriously. We've got to step up to the challenge."
On circling this date on the schedule "Our mindset this season has been to take one game at a time and not to look too far ahead. I wouldn't say I wasn't looking forward to it, but we weren't looking ahead. I really haven't heard anything on the field, and I haven't heard anything off the field either. All I heard during preseason was all about USL, ULL now, but now the game's here, and it'll be the talk all week."
