Oklahoma State University Athletics
Highlights From Monday's Media Luncheon
September 10, 2007 | Cowboy Football
Head Coach Mike Gundy's opening statement:
“It was good to get back last week and get a win and get the players on track. Obviously, it is a short week for us. Everything has to be moved up a little bit and prepare to travel on Thursday down to Troy and play a good football game. They do a nice job on offense. They spread you out. The quarterback is a good player. They make plays and obviously they score points. Defensively, they can run and it is a better defense than we faced last week. They are very similar athletically to some of the teams in this league, so we will have a very good week of preparation and we have a task that we need to take care of, because this is a good football team and traveling down there and playing them, I think our players are aware of the history and the success they have had down there against bigger schools. We are looking forward to it, but we have a lot of work to do and obviously it starts today. We are looking forward to getting down there and playing again.”
Gundy regarding the scheduling of the Troy game:
“This was done before I was here. These games are done usually four or five years in advance. Games that are scheduled are the games we play. We scheduled the Georgia game, which I was involved in. The other games were scheduled before I was here. This is a good challenge for us and we are looking forward to it. We need to do better on the road. We said that before the year and we didn't play well at Georgia and this is a good challenge for us to play well down at Troy.”
Gundy regarding Bobby Reid's injury and his status:
“We have to see how well he comes a long and how much he can move around. We will just see where he is at with his injury.”
Gundy on tempo when Zac Robinson entered the Florida Atlantic game:
“The tempo picked up when Perrish ran that punt back. That got us started, then we came in and scored. Then we had a big pass going down the sideline that kind of got it going. Actually, the tempo of our offense is always based on a big play, because we are a no-huddle offense. If we can get in a groove or a rhythm and get flowing, it is easier for us to call plays and use our hurry offense.”
Gundy regarding tight end Brandon Pettigrew:
“Brandon gives us some opportunities to get some big plays, but he obviously doesn't have the speed of some skill players. Most of your big plays come from guys that are fast and can cover more ground and make players miss. Brandon does give us some opportunities for some 15, 20, 25-yard plays, but not necessarily the big ones.”
Gundy regarding Dantrell Savage:
“Well we would love to have Dantrell. It is not something that we talk about. As soon as we get him ready to go we will certainly use him.”
Gundy regarding Zac Robinson's performance against Florida Atlantic:
“He played pretty good. He had two or three reads that he could have done a better job on, but he handled himself well and made some good throws.”
Gundy regarding his view on losing starting positions to injury:
“I'd hate for a player to have earned a starting spot and then get hurt and lose his job because of that. It has not really happened much though. It is not really a policy; it is kind of something that I have always been around. I have tried to think back on the 17 or however many years I have done this that it has actually happened. You can look at it both ways and I don't disagree. I see both sides of it. It is almost like if a guy has a job and he gets in a car wreck and he can't come back to work and they put another computer programmer and they fire him and tell him to go home and say sorry, you got in a car wreck. It's a bad break.”
Gundy regarding Troy:
“They are going to make some plays. They have made plays for two years. That quarterback has made plays so it is not like your just going to all the sudden shut them down completely. They scored however many they scored against Arkansas and they scored 31 against Florida. It looked like to me that they settled down in the second half and played better and scored some points. So they are going to make some plays and score some points, so we are going to have to do the same.”
Gundy regarding areas for improvement:
“We have to get better in several areas. We played better than we did against Georgia, but we have still got a ways to go. We tackled better and we surrounded the ball and we contained the offense better. Obviously we were at a different level there. Offensively we limited some mistakes. We had a couple of dumb penalties, but for the most part we didn't turn guys loose in protection, so we improved but we have still got a ways to go.”
Gundy on how OSU will approach this week's game at Troy:
“In the situation we are in right now, it is not hard for us to prepare for this game, because we are very aware of the ability that they have and the speed that they have on their offense and their quarterback play. Our players will be able to stay focused. I think maybe if you were in the situation where you are ranked really high in the conference and you go down there, then you could lose a little more focus, but we are not having a problem with going down there and staying focused because we are aware of what this team is capable of.”
Gundy regarding the environment at Troy:
“I would say they will be fired up. They have been on the road twice and they are playing at home on national TV. I would say that they will be rocking and rolling down there. Once the game gets going, we should be OK. Our players just need to get in there and go. We have talked about this. We need to play better on the road. It is another opportunity for us to go and play well and take care of business and give ourselves a chance to win.”
Gundy regarding Zac Robinson:
“He is pretty good in practice. Zac does a nice job in practice. He has been effective for us in spring scrimmages. He has played well. I am glad we have him.”
Gundy regarding Zac Robinson performing better in games than in practice:
“He has played twice. He has done fairly well in games. He has played in the A&M game and this last game is what really mattered. He has played well. Zac is a good player”
Offensive Lineman Brady Bond regarding practice the day after a game:
“We were a little sore of course, but we have got all of the soreness out of us and we are ready to go.”
Bond regarding his return after injury last year:
“Personally, I have goals. That was just more motivation for me to step up and play this year.”
Bond regarding his preference on who the starting quarterback should be:
“I don't have any say in that. My job is to block, so I am going to block and whatever goes on back there goes on.”
Safety Andre Sexton regarding his interception on the first play from scrimmage against Florida Atlantic:
“I was just happy to catch the ball at first, because last year I was having a little trouble with it. Coach made a great call and it put us in a good position and just running to the ball like we have been preaching the whole spring and this past year. With everybody getting around the ball you make things happen so I was just happy to be in the right place at the right time and I got in the end zone because my teammates were blocking for me. It started us off right at home.”
Sexton regarding the importance of seizing momentum against Florida Atlantic:
“We needed some big plays on the defensive side, because we are trying to show everybody all the hard work we've put in and show that we are not a joke on the defensive side of the ball. We needed something big to spark it and get some attention.”
Sexton regarding defensive coordinator Tim Beckman's impact when he's on the sideline:
“Just the energy he brings, because he is always fired up in everything he does. There is not going to be a dull moment with him on the sideline and he will never let us slip at all. He is always in you face and even in the end of the game he is still fired up on the sidelines so with that it can't help but keep motivating you and just bring the intensity that we need on the field.”
Sexton regarding playing on ESPN2 this week:
“It is just another chance for everybody to see how our defense has changed in the last couple of weeks. We are trying to get a whole different picture of our defense out there and show that we are flying to the ball and we hit people hard and we have a high-powered offense that people already know about, so we need to go out there and showcase ourselves.”
Sexton regarding who played well against Florida Atlantic:
“Patrick Lavine. I saw him flying all over the place on film and he got the MVP for the defense. He is doing what he has to do out there.”
Sexton regarding challenges Troy will present:
“The first thing that came to my mind when I heard we were playing Troy was that they had upset Missouri a couple years back when I was in high school and that was really surprising. They are getting a lot of nationally recognized teams that are playing them. I know that Arkansas and Florida, top 10 teams in the country, and then we are going down there so they are going to be fired up. It's their first home game. It's going to be a real big game for us and help us move in the right direction, so we are going to take them real serious.”
Running Back Keith Toston regarding his preference on who should start at quarterback:
“It really doesn't matter. Both of them are great leaders. Both of them can lead our team so we are not really worried about who is coming out and playing.”
Toston regarding fellow running back Kendall Hunter:
“Kendall is a good running back. I have known that since Coach Luper told me in the spring that we had a running back that was coming as a freshmen that was kind of Savage-like. During two-a-days Kendall showed what he could do but he made the same mistakes I made as a freshman trying to learn the plays and it's difficult to use our offense, but he has got a couple of chances to come out in this last game and show a little bit of what he can do.”
Toston regarding Troy:
“To me it's a game that we have to win, because we are getting ready to play here and we need as much confidence as we can going into the Big 12. Troy is a great team. They have a lot of athletes. It's a game we need to win as a team.”
Toston regarding the improvement of the offensive line from week one to week two:
“We have a great offensive line. I think in the first game against Georgia, everyone made mistakes. We have had a lot of cut downs on our mistakes.”
Linebacker Patrick Lavine regarding the improvements made by the OSU defense from week one to week two:
“I would say our big improvement was tackling. We had a lot of different positions and a lot of people new on the defensive line and we had Donovan Woods at linebacker for the first time in a real game. I think it was a big adjustment going down there to Georgia for the first game. We just feel more comfortable when we are at home and everybody just seemed more relaxed.”
Lavine regarding having Tim Beckman on the sidelines vs. being in the press box on game day:
“Having coach Beckman on the sidelines is great, but having him up there being able to see what is going on in the field is great too. No matter where he is it is going to be a good thing for us. He really keeps us hyped up. I would like to see him on the sidelines for week three.”
Lavine regarding Chris Collins:
“Chris is a big addition to our team that we didn't have last year. With him at the linebacker position, It just makes our defense much better.”
Lavine regarding Troy:
“We are expecting them to come out throwing the football. They have good skill positions and it is going to be up to us to stop them.”
Lavine regarding defense:
Coach said our image kind of went the other way after playing against Georgia. I think as the weeks go on we will have opportunities to change the way people feel about our defense and I think this is going to be one of those opportunities.”
Lavine regarding the Troy quarterback:
“Their quarterback is real good. That is a person that we are going to have to stop on offense and if we are able to stop him, which I feel we are...then we will win the game.”
Safety Clint Coe regarding facing Troy after transferring from there after the 2004 season:
“I was talking to my dad about that last night about the feelings that I am going to get when I get down there. As soon as I heard that we were going to play them, I was super excited...I think it's going to be kind of weird. I don't really know how I am going to feel. I know it is a business trip. We need to go down and get a win. It going to be fun, because I haven't been there since I left, so it is going to be fun to see all of those guys.”
Coe regarding how Troy will view this week's game:
“I have told them that we are going to have to be ready to play, because this is a big game for them. The spotlight is on them because a big conference school is going to be playing at their place. Troy is going to be on national television, which they don't get that often. They are going to be ready to play, so it's going to be a tough game for us.”
Coe regarding Troy as a team:
“They are a great ballclub. They have a new offensive coordinator. Their offense is a lot more explosive and fast paced. They do a lot of different things. They are going to try to put the defense on their toes and make us tired. We need to try to take the win from them early.”
