Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Notes And Quotes
October 05, 2004 | Cowboy Football
OSU Football
vs. Iowa State
Oct. 2, 2004
Postgame Notes
• Oklahoma State improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1997. The Cowboys snapped a two-game losing streak to the Cyclones and are now 23-16-3 all-time against ISU.
• OSU won its Big 12 conference opener for the first time since 1998 (38-28 vs. Kansas).
• Vernand Morency has now scored a touchdown in all four games this season and seven consecutive games overall dating back to last year. He has scored 12 touchdowns in his last seven games.
• With 143 yards today, Morency went over the 100-yard rushing mark in his sixth straight regular season game dating back to last year.
• The Cowboys committed their first turnover of the year in the first quarter when Donovan Woods threw his first career interception. OSU also recovered four fumbles and has a 14-1 turnover ratio for the season.
• Efe Mowarin and Nathan Peterson recorded their first collegiate sacks this afternoon. Peterson finished with three sacks in the game.
• Jason Ricks three field goals today is a career high. He kicked a career-long 39-yarder in the second quarter. He also missed his first field goal (44 yards) and extra point of his career.
• Jamie Thompson recorded a career high two sacks with two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
• D’Juan Woods 11-yard touchdown catch was his third of the season and his 45-yard reception in the third was a season long.
• Billy Bajema had season highs in receiving yards (76) catches (3).
• Donovan Woods’s three-yard touchdown run was his fifth rushing score of the year. His seven completiond is a season best as well. He has now accounted for nine scores (five rush, four pass) with one interception.
Postgame Quotes
OSU Head Coach Les Miles
On the crowd
“I enjoy playing a game in front of a home a crowd that is packed. I really appreciate seeing a bunch of orange watching us play Iowa State. I do not know if you guys notice, but we certainly do. We appreciate coming to the park with a full house. “
On the defense
“I thought our defense set the tone. I think they really improved in the off week. I thought they had great plans, except for one drive. Our defense came to play all day. “
On special teams
“Our special teams were good. They made some mistakes. Certainly, we did what we had to do to win the football game. I enjoy downing a ball inside the opponents five. I enjoyed the punt returns. I thought we were a little sloppy in fielding some of those punts. It is nice to get some yardage on punt returns.”
On the offense
“Offensively it was a sputtering, non-ideal game plan or performance. Certainly, what I enjoyed about it was that this football team understood that they were sputtering and had done some things poorly and they rebounded. They fought through it and found a way to win.”
On Iowa State
“I think Iowa State is a much improved football team since last year. I thought they were very capable defensively and that they played extremely well against us.”
On Nathan Peterson
“I think Nathan has gotten better steadily and was pressing to play more and more. He was a huge key today.”
OSU Players
Tight End Billy Bajema
On the Iowa State defense
“Iowa State came out to play on defense. They were strong up front and early in the game we tried to run the ball. At times that gave us great field position inside the red zone and helped us score some points.”
On his big plays
“I just blocked down on the play. Then I came loose and got free and I got some
room to run. On the big play I had great blocks down field, including the one by Prentiss Elliott to help me break away.”
On starting 4-0 going into Colorado
“It’s an awesome way to start the season and we just want to keep on rolling.”
Safety Jon Holland
On Iowa State’s offense
“They were pretty good offensively because they use two different quarterbacks. That can be tough on the defense at times. You never knew what they would be running.”
On the play of the Cowboy defense
“Our goal is to get a couple of fumble recoveries every game. Today, we had our season high with four fumble recoveries. This game also helps our defense get even more ready for Colorado.”
On winning the Big 12 opener and taking a 4-0 record to Colorado
“It feels real good, but we aren’t getting big heads because we are 1-0 in conference. We just need to prepare for Colorado and hopefully come out of that game 2-0 in conference.”
Wide receiver/Punt returner Prentiss Elliott
On seeing playing time this season as a freshman:
“It feels great to have the opportunity to play. I just look forward to having a great season and am enjoying my plyaing time for the Cowboys.”
On returning returning punts this season:
“The return I almost broke today I had help from everyone on the field at the time. I had good blocking and made a move on a few guys, but at the end I got tackled. A natural feel for football and great reaction is what makes a returner good.”
On Iowa State
“That was a great team that came out and played against us. All of our coaches did a great job on preparing us for the game. The offensive stuttered a little bit, but the defense stepped up and made plays when the team needed them to.
Iowa State Head Coach Dan McCarney
On the game
“Obviously Oklahoma State is an excellent football team. We knew that coming into today. You can’t make some of the mistakes we made today and expect to have any chance to win a Big 12 football game. You can’t fumble four times, regardless of the reasons. You can’t do that. Some of the mistakes we made in the kicking game and the four turnovers really hurt us. They are an excellent football team with a great rushing attack. They are a well balanced, good football team. They will go on to win a lot of games. There are a lot of reasons why they are 4-0 right now. They are a really fine football team.”
On defensive play
“We played a lot of snaps of good defense today. We gave up some big gains in the throwing game that we have to get corrected. I thought that there were a lot of snaps today in which we played real good defense. To many short fields and we only got one turnover on defense. We are not doing what we need to do to knock the ball loose and when it was, we just didn’t get on it.”
On offense
“I don’t think we were very tough offensively today. We are not a very physical team offensively. There were a few plays, but I can’t stand on the sideline and say that we had a tough, physical offense today. We have a lot of work to do before we take on an excellent Texas A&M football team this next Saturday.”
On Vernand Morency
“There were a lot of snaps when we did a really good job against him. He is a tremendous back. I don’t know that, in the red zone, I have seen a better back in my years. There were a lot of times when we tried to get eleven hats and swarm the ball to slow him down. Nobody is going to stop him. I’d be shocked if anyone was able to. You have to control him and we did that at times today.”
On focusing on the OSU run game
“We had respect for their throwing game, we just didn’t want to give up any long runs and long passes. I thought, for the most part, against the run, we did that against the guy that is leading the nation in rushing. Clearly they got a bunch of big plays in the throwing game. We weren’t in bad shape, it was just their guy made the plays and ours didn’t. That is what we tried to do, contain the big plays.”
Iowa State Players
Quarterback Bret Meyer
On the game
“Our defense really came out and played well. We had four turnovers on offense and special teams, and when you turn the ball over against these guys you are not going to win. That goes for anybody.”
On the turnovers
“I think it is just a lack of focus. I can’t turn the ball over three times, that’s just all it comes down to.”
On giving up a short field
“We can’t put our defense in those situations. We could have moved the ball on the first drive of the game. After Ellis Hobbs made a big play, we kind of had some field position and had some things going. After that we really did not get much going until parts of the third and fourth quarter. We have to play four quarter games, that is what it comes down to.”
On OSU
“They are a great team and they are going to go a long way. They have a lot of great athletes on defense. I think we did a pretty good job with their running game. I think they can have a pretty good year.”
Linebacker Brandon Brown
On Vernand Morency
“He hit the hole hard, he is very fast, and he got to the hole quick. I think that is one of his main strengths.”
Offensive Lineman Luke Vander Sanden
On offensive execution
“Eleven guys need to work and execute on the same play and any time you don’t have that physicalness, you are going to be taken out of that play.”
On Bret Meyer’s fumbles
“He is usually not that way. Everyone has to take credit, you can’t blame that all on him. It has got to be on the protection too. Everyone makes mistakes and hopefully we can get these things corrected and move on.”
