Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU vs. Iowa State Postgame Quotes
October 20, 2012 | Cowboy Football
Oct. 20, 2012
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Oklahoma State vs. Iowa State Postgame Quotes
Saturday, Oct. 20, 12012
Oklahoma State Head Coach Gundy
Opening Statement
“Our guys really played well, especially with our offense playing average for the most part. We had too many drops, didn't convert short yardage. I'm proud of the effort. I'm proud of the way we played football. I see that Randle rushed for 150 yards, J.W. (Walsh) had 50 rushing yards and Desmond (Roland) did a nice job of finishing the game and running the ball for us. Our goal was for J.W. to throw it 50 times today and he got close with 47. Our punting was great. We weren't where we wanted to be in kicking field goals. We missed two today that I think were both an excess of 50. Quinn is certainly very capable of hitting those. I think the credit goes to our coaches and with where we're at right now as a football team to beat the No. 24 team in the country by three touchdowns is pretty impressive. We've got a lot of work ahead of us. We've got to get our guys healthy and keep practicing hard. The attitude of our team is very good. Their body language is very good. They played with a lot of fire and energy today. We've got a long way to go, but today was a good day for our team.”
On Throwing the Ball
“We felt like we needed to throw the ball in order to move it. They've been as good as anybody in our league at stopping the run. For the most part, they're giving up 3.4 rush and 17.2 points a game. They're doing that with only 13 sacks. If you add all that together, it tells you that you better be able to throw passes down the field. I felt like we had to throw it 50 times in order to win the game.”
On J.W. Walsh
“At this time last week, everyone was telling us how bad he played. That's the good thing about college football—you get another shot. Everybody was down when I went to the coffee shop, the gas station, dropping the kids off at school, everyone was worried about J.W. He is not the answer. He hasn't arrived because he's a freshman who's played four games. He was very productive today. We don't have to make a decision right now. The good news is that we've always felt like we've had two quarterbacks who are good players. As the season progresses, I think we're finding out that's true. They're just two different styles of players.”
On Wes Lunt
“Last week, we could have used him in an emergency. He could have played today, but I would not have considered it an emergency situation. As I said, we wanted to make sure he's healthy before we put him in because he's a freshman. It's just different. When you're a fourth- or fifth-year guy, you kind of understand pain and how to deal with it. He's young and we want to make sure that he's full speed before we put him in the game. His workload in practice increased each day, and later in the week, we felt like he may not be ready so we gave (Clint) Chelf more reps. We'll do the same thin this week. We'll find out where he's at through Tuesday and Wednesday.”
On Walsh and Lunt
“I think both quarterbacks are playing better than what anybody would have anticipated out of freshman or true freshman. I think they're very well coached. J.W. made eight to 10 key mistakes today and that's what I was referring to earlier. A veteran guy in our offense doesn't make the mistakes J.W. made today. That's part of the growing pains. He also made some plays on his own that helped us continue drives. They're both very young, as you guys know. They're both just starting the learning curve and making mistakes. We would hope that the mistakes that J.W. made today won't be made next week. It's the same thing with Lunt. There were some plays that J.W. made at Kansas throwing the ball, and we called the same plays today. Ironically, we got the same look, and he executed it correctly, meaning that he learned. It's just a slow process, and you can't really rush a young man through it at that position.”
On How the Team Can Improve
“We have to get better in the red zone at scoring touchdowns. Everybody knows that when we had a first-round pick at quarterback and a first-round pick at wide receiver, it made it easier. I think that's the same with anybody in the country. With our style of offense, you have to manufacture a way to score touchdowns. There are pros and cons with our offense. Short yardage and inside the 7-yard-line is always a difficult thing for us. We talk about it. We scheme it. We plan it. If you look at people who run our style of offense and have similarities, we're in the same boat. There are a lot more pros in our opinion—being able to move fast and throw the ball down the field and scoring quick when you need to score quickly. We will continue to try to get better in those areas.”
Oklahoma State Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken
On J.W. Walsh
"He played his butt off. We moved the ball pretty well. He's going to be a work in progress. He's a young player. I thought that even though he got dinged up, he ran the ball well. That's one of the weapons that he has. When teams want to come after you, you need to be able to make the throws that he made. Other than maybe a throw or two, the plays that he could make, he did. If you can make the easy plays, then you've got a chance."
On Charlie Moore
"I think he's worked awfully hard to get where he is as a player. I think that's the biggest thing. Guys need opportunities at times and their confidence grows. We didn't do that earlier in the year. You only have so many bullets. We're trying to get it to those guys. He's played well since the season started. When you play receiver, you can play well even if your stats don't show it. Charlie has played the same way, he just hadn't had the opportunities."
On the Offense Moving Forward
"We've got to score more points. We gave ourselves a bunch of chances offensively. Walsh played really well. No matter where we end up, we've got two guys that can really play."
Defensive Coordinator Bill Young
On Iowa State
"Iowa State is pretty good. They make some things happen. We knew going in that their wide receivers can get behind you. The quarterback laid the ball out there. They have scholarships too."
On the Defensive Performance
"This is as good as we've played defensively since last season. I think we played better at times last season than we have this year. We're kind of a work in progress. When we force turnovers, we can be a good solid defense. Last year, we forced turnovers. That's the difference between us now and a year ago. From a personnel standpoint, we're just as good as we were a year ago."
On the Defense Early in the Game
"It's so difficult to say. I haven't seen it on film. I just know that they got inside of our corner one time, and he had no post help. You've got to have better pass rush in that situation. When it's a long ball, it's the defensive line's fault just as much as the defensive backs."
On the Defense Moving Forward
"We really think we have a solid defense. I've said and will continue to say that we need to cause more turnovers. When we give our offense the football on a short field, good things happen, and that showed today."
Quarterback J.W. Walsh
On How He Felt Today
"I felt great. When you can get guys going how they were going today on the perimeter, and when the line is blocking like it was, it makes more a big day for the offense. It makes it easy on us. All we have to do is just get it to the guys, and if we do, they'll make plays."
On the Number of Passes Thrown
"When you come to a school like this, and you know the offense, you know what you're preparing yourself for. Whatever coach is going call, you're going to execute it. That's what we plan on doing week in and week out."
On His Comfort Level
"I feel much more comfortable. It's crazy how much time and the reps you get change everything for your confidence. The way we've been practicing, and the games we've had, the comfort level just keeps growing."
On How He Prepares
"You treat every week and every day like you're the starter no matter what. When Wes (Lunt) was the starter, I was just one play away, so I needed to act like I was the starter. In the game, in practice, and in the film room, you always need to treat it like you're the starter, no matter what position you are."
Running Back Joseph Randle
On Beating Iowa State
"I try to block that game out, to be honest. I thought about it a couple of times when we were watching tape and preparing. You see that game, and you just cringe a little bit thinking about it, but we owed them one."
On Looking Ahead to TCU
"It's a one game season every week. We try to take it one game at a time. We've got TCU next, so all of our focus is on TCU right now."
On the Offense
"I think that our offensive line did a great job, or receivers did a great job. We lost a lot on the outside, but the guys that came in stepped up and made plays."
On his Increased Workload
"It's fine with me. I try to condition a little bit more in practice so I can play strong the full game, but I'm not complaining."
Wide Reciever Charlie Moore
On J.W. Walsh and Wes Lunt
"I thought that they handled it well. There's good chemistry in the locker room. Wes is getting more healthy and both are getting reps. Either one of them can lead this team, so that's great. They both know that they have full support and that either one of them can go in at any time."
On J.W. Walsh
"I definitely see improvement. He's growing up. I think that he's gotten better each game. Last week was a rough game as a unit. It didn't all fall on him. You see a lot of confidence in him. He's having fun, he's running the ball, and making passes. It was a fun day to watch him."
On His Improvement
"It's been a good past couple of weeks. I've been working hard. I'm just going to keep working hard this week to continue to improve."
Wide Receiver Josh Stewart
On How the Team Played
"It gives us a lot of confidence. We worked hard in practice. We knew that if the defense went out and played well, and the offense did everything we were supposed to do, we knew we would win because of the offense and all of the weapons we have. It all worked out perfectly, and we're proud of how we played today."
On His Increased Role
"My mindset gets stronger. It makes me want to make a play even more because I know that all of these guys on the team are depending on me to make the play. When the ball's in my hand, I try to do everything I can to not let anybody down."
On Taking So Many Hits
"I'm okay. I like getting hit. If I'm not sore at the end of the day, I feel like I didn't do anything. When I sacrifice my body for the team, I feel even better."
Cornerback Brodrick Brown
On Iowa State Scoring Early
"We just wanted to go out there and play our hearts out. We remember last year and wanted to get revenge on them. Putting up 10 points early kind of woke us up. We went in at halftime and made some adjustments. We didn't let them get anything."
On Coach Gundy Reaching the School's All-Time Win Mark
"That's an unbelievable feeling for me. I'm happy for him and the program. It's an awesome feeling for him and us. To get the win for him is a good thing."
On Getting Turnovers
"It just opens up the door for more turnovers. We wanted to get three or four turnovers going into today, and I think we ended up somewhere around there. It's a good feeling to be back getting turnovers and flying to the ball."
Safety Daytawion Lowe
On the Defense
"I think we just picked up the tempo. We came out and allowed a couple of deep balls, so that put us in a tough situation. We regained our composure got going after that."
On His Interception
"I saw him looking over there, so I knew he was going that way. I just made a play on the ball. That's what the coaches teach us. When it goes up into the air, it's our ball."
On Getting Turnovers
"It feels great. They were coming last year, but we haven't gotten too many this year. Now, we have to keep on getting them. Now that we have some, hopefully they'll keep on rolling."
Iowa State Head Coach Paul Rhoads
On the Game
"We have to execute the plan that we come into the game with, knowing what's right and what's wrong. 11 guys have to execute. There's no different play call that you can make to catch a ball. You look at every single piece of it, coaching, playing and executing abilities of the personnel, and continue to move along. It's four games into the conference season and it's been full of competition. We know what we're going to get the rest of the way. That helps with adjustments."
On the Quarterback Situation
"It was the fourth quarter and we needed to drive the field. We needed an arm that could throw the ball downfield and get down the field in a hurry instead of methodically driving the ball. I don't know who will be the starter next week. I didn't know who the starter would be this week coming into the Sunday after last week's game. I wanted to see how they practiced, and it could have been Steele or Sam [Richardson]. Steele had a great week of practice, and that's the reason he came in."
On OSU's Offense
"The double move was what the touchdown was. We came in here at halftime and the difference was a big play, the double-move play. It was a well-conceived play. And the penalty, that was the difference in the first half. They were doing a nice job of running away from coverage. Not vertically running up the field, but running away from coverage both man and zone, finding holes and catching it."
On the ISU Defense
"At 24 points in the fourth quarter, I thought our defense was playing alright. The final stat sheet reads 600-plus yards, but it's a team that averages 601. They throw it, they run it and they've got great players to do that. They average 48 points, and on a perfect weather-conditioned day we held them to 31 points. I'm not going to walk away from this and say we played poorly on defense, I'm going to walk away from this knowing that we had some poor plays as a defense. Fifty percent third-down conversion is not going to put you in a position to win very many games.”
On Addressing His Team After the Game
"There's five games remaining. The worst thing that you can do in a situation like this is have any kind of division, finger pointing or blame being handed out. I think there is a good chance that people could be holding that in. It's human nature. We're 4-3 and we're a good football team. We know we're a good football team, but we want more. Our expectations are to win a bowl game. There's nobody that got on the plane and wanted anything else other than victory. That's why you can't finger point."
Quarterback Jared Barnett
On Struggling Offensively
"After those first couple drives, they started making adjustments to our offense and we didn't respond. They were definitely getting pressure on me and making it hard for our guys to beat them in one-on-one coverage."
On How the Offense Can Improve
"I still believe we really have to get the running game going. It's easy for them to bring a whole bunch of people and just play one-on-one on the outside if they know we aren't going to run it. We really have to get the running game going."
On Being Part of a Quarterback Controversy
"It's always difficult. I have to go out and make sure I'm doing my job, and I didn't get it done today."
On OSU's Defense
"If we turned around and responded, we'd be having a different conversation right now. The scoreboard would say something different, but we didn't come out and respond. Therefore, they were able to run the same defense, put pressure on us and it made it really difficult for us to get going."
Running Back Jeff Woody
On the Team's Focus
"We go back to Big 12 season. You can't take any team for granted. You can't look at any team and say 'There's no chance we lose to these guys,' because every team in the Big 12 is solid. We go to correct the mistakes me made. Tomorrow, we'll look at what we did, and we'll do our best to try and get it turned around."
On the Offense
"It's frustrating, but we're so close to firing on all cylinders. That's the frustrating part. It's not a big thing. It's we're just a hair short on execution, a hair short on play calling and a hair short on everything we're doing. Once we get it corrected, we're going to be cooking."
On What the Team Can Take From the Loss
"This game, it was a step short on a route. I took my eyes off the ball and dropped a pass. Or a quarterback leaving it just short. We're not far off. We've had games like last year against Missouri or three years ago against Oklahoma that were some of the worst offensive games we ever played. This one, we were close."
On Playing Two Quarterbacks
"It doesn't really matter for us. From a running back's perspective, each guy has a different feel, but we get enough reps with both of them that it doesn't matter. As far as the toss-up every game, that's just a matter of what the quarterback's confidence level is going to be. With the guys we have, I don't think it's going to be too much of an issue going forward."
Linebacker Jeremiah George
On the Team's Defensive Performance
"I think we might have left a couple of plays and a couple of opportunities for turnovers out there. In the beginning of the season we did a great job of getting a lot of turnovers and getting our offense back out on the field. As the season has wound down, we haven't been able to do that much. We did have two that I can remember, but it's all about opportunities. We're getting a lot of opportunities, and we have to be more positive with them."
On the OSU offense
"They were able to do a lot of different things. They were able to run screens and they were able to run the ball when the needed to. We did make some key stops and we did force them to kick some field goals, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. They were a good football team."
On Bouncing Back for Next Week
"We love playing at home. It's going to be our homecoming, so we're going to be excited to play. Baylor has a high-scoring offense and we're looking forward to the challenge."
