Oklahoma State University Athletics
Coach Gundy and Players Talk with Media on Monday
November 06, 2006 | Cowboy Football
Head coach Mike Gundy
On moving on from Texas loss
“It is a new week, we are over the Texas game. I feel pretty confident that we did not give them our best effort, but there is nothing we can do about it now. When we prepare for games and give other teams our best effort we always appreciate winning, but when you do not play your best it is disappointing as a coach. So we move on, we have a great challenge at hand with Baylor. Obviously, we have already started preparation and moving forward and getting ready for an early kickoff at 11:30 a.m.”
On what the team has to do to bounce back this week
“The same thing they do every week. It is part of the maturation process we go thorough here in developing young men into being college football players and getting ready for life. We have had tough losses, did not play well down there, had had big wins, but we have got to come back out and get ready to go.”
On effort against Texas
“We just did not play as well as we could of. We did not have a lack of effort, I graded it very hard on all three phases and we did not ot have a lack of effort”
On the loss
“(The loss) was a combination of a good football team, very good football players and we just did not play our best game. I am not sitting up here saying that if we would have played our best game that we would have beat them by ten points. What I am saying is now we will never know because we did not ot give ourselves that opportunity.”
On the freshman
“Keith Toston played very hard for a true freshmen, he was aggressive, ran the ball well, blocked well. Russell Okung held his own for most of the game as a true freshmen. There were times when Perrish Cox made plays and there were other times that he didn't make plays.”
On trying to become bowl eligible with a victory over Baylor
“This game is no different than any other, it counts as one. Our players will prepare and go out and get ready to play a good team. This is a good football team. I have watched every game they have played and there was not a game going into the fourth quarter that they were out of and there is probably some that I am sure they feel like they had a great opportunity to win. “
On the Big 12
“This is a dog fight each week and when you go into these games you have got to be prepared to play and play well. You cannot turn the ball over, you cannot give up big plays, you have got to play well on special teams in order to compete in this league week in and week out. What you are finding is that there are not many teams in this league on an annual basis where you just walk out on the field and think you are going to win. “
On Baylor's improvement the last two seasons
“I just know they're more competitive, they have good athletes. Their secondary is about as quality as almost anyone we have played. They challenge people and they get right up in your face. Their talent level is better and they have won three league games now, so they are playing good. The key is that they have been competitive in every game. What I see is that they are a better football team and they are competing against everyone they are playing. “
Senior defensive end Darnell Smith
On the effort that was put into the loss to Texas
“The effort is always there. One of the main things our coaches teach us is no matter what happens always make sure that the effort is there. That is the only thing we can control individually, but I can definitely say we put in a lot of effort against Texas.”
On the goal line stand against Texas
“We want to always finish. No matter what happens, we will always try and give great effort. With the goal line stand it was a pride issue for us because we did not want Texas to score. Any team we go against, we are going to try and not let them score.”
On avoiding in-game distractions
“Our focus is to look at our opponent and the person we have in front of us. If you get caught up with the lights and fans, you are there for the wrong reasons.”
On last year's loss to Baylor
“In the loss to Baylor last year, I felt that we could have done better as a defense and as a team. You have to give credit to Baylor because they out-schemed us, they had a great game plan against our defense and they capitalized off our turnovers.”
Sophomore quarterback Bobby Reid
On the loss to Texas
“In my opinion, it was my first big game against a really good opponent on national television. I was happy to be back home (in the state of Texas) and my adrenaline kept on going. I did everything I have done for the past eight to nine weeks. Things happened the way it did and it is time to move on.”
On his performance
“I felt I should have played better. I should have hit D'Juan (Woods) in the end zone on one play because I had that play running through my head before the play even happened. The only thing different on that play was me not throwing a touchdown.”
On the road ahead for Oklahoma State
“Getting to a bowl is the top goal for our team. We still have three games left to play and I feel we are in a good position of achieving our goal. A lot of us are looking to get back at Baylor after losing to them last year. We are looking at trying to win out the final three games of the season.”
Junior defensive back Donovan Woods
On the loss to Texas
“We did some good things against Texas but obviously we gave up more points than we wanted to. Our objective is to always to score more points than the other team but we did not get that done. We have to improve from here.”
On preparing for Baylor
“Baylor does a little more passing than they have in the past. They remind me a little of Texas Tech's offense. It will be challenging for our secondary and I am sure we will depend a lot on our defensive line, which we have done a lot this season. We need to come out and play hard.”
Senior Defensive Tackle Xavier Lawson-Kennedy
On the loss to Texas
“Losing to Texas was upsetting because I felt we made a lot of mistakes. Things were not going our way and players were getting down. We had a lot guys in the right places, but Texas was an athletic team. We were not wrapping up and they also made us miss some tackles. You just have to make plays when you are in position of making them.”
On being one victory away from being bowl eligible
“It is very important to get a win on Saturday. Last year, we were 4-7 and it was upsetting due to the fact we went to a bowl game in the previous year. Looking at last year's seniors, It was hard for them not being able to go out with a bowl game. That is something as an upperclassmen we try to put in the younger guys heads is that we need to finish the season out with a bowl victory. A win against Baylor is important because it could make us bowl eligible. We just have to take one game at a time.”
