Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State vs. West Virginia Postgame Quotes
October 25, 2014 | Cowboy Football
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Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement
"I just had a good talk with the team. I told them I didn't want them to lose sight of really what took place today. Up until the fourth quarter when we started going through fourth downs, I thought they prepared well this week. I thought they played hard. There are certainly things that we need to get better on. It's quite simple. For us on offense in the first half were able to rush the ball, keep them off balance, mixed in the pass, the play action, the run and have some success running the ball, we're a much better team. In the third quarter, we weren't able to maintain the run. I thought we lost up front with their front against ours. We became one-dimensional and when we're one-dimensional, we're an average football team. Defensively, I thought, other than the first two drives. We went through the second half of the first quarter all the way through the middle of the third quarter and played excellent. Then we started giving up some runs. We let them run the ball on third and seven for a first down. That was disappointing for us. Late in the game we were in an all-pass situation. It was a difficult time for us. Overall, I'm disappointed for the players. We challenged them and we knew that West Virginia was playing good right now. They got down early, came back and had some fight into them. We just couldn't get over that hump. We couldn't move the ball offensively in the third quarter. We couldn't run the football and it makes it difficult for us to score points and come back. (WVU) had the feeling that they thought we couldn't score so they started running the football and used the clock, which was smart on their part. I also shared with them that we have a game next Saturday whether we like it or not. We have to rally, stay together as a group, come back tomorrow and go to work."
On going for it on fourth down
"We thought we had a chance and at times when you're in the position that we are, you have to hit a fourth down. We were moving the ball and felt good about it. The field position was a really long field goal or a punt that would maybe only gain you maybe 20 yards unless you dropped them inside the 10, which is a little bit lower percentage. We were just trying to get some momentum and trying to get the game going."
On the play calling on the touchdown drive
"We ran the ball a little bit, and because we were running the ball, we set up the reverse. We were able to play a little tempo and we were throwing the ball flat and we hit a reverse then we caught them in man coverage. Some of the things that we prepared for. I know everybody thinks it's complicated, but it's really very simple. If we aren't running the ball effectively for three to four yards a carry, then it becomes difficult for us to throw passes. That's what happened to us in the second half. When you get behind, it's really difficult. We're a little bit limited in an eight-man drop."
On the offense
"Everything offensively, to me, is alarming. Look at where we're at. We have a quarterback that's inexperienced and we have an offensive line that's young and inexperienced. We're a little beat up at times, and in places we're trying to continue to push forward. We're certainly aware of it."
Oklahoma State Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On the offense's struggle to score points today
"Extremely frustrating. Points and turnovers are where it's at. That's what's going to correlate to victories, so we've got to score more points and continue to secure the ball."
On getting the offense in better rhythm from last week
"It's hard to say that we improved. I think that we used tempo effectively at times. In the first half, we ran the ball well, we were able to have a couple of (explosive plays). Our play-pass was pretty good. We caught the ball and ran after the catch pretty well at times. I think those things and rhythm are pretty important. We were able to use counterpunches with them early and that helped."
On why third downs were so hard to convert today
"It was really man-to-man matchups in the first half and second half as well. We have to do a better job of putting the ball where it needs to go and figuring out which defensive back we need to attack and which receiver we need to go to. That's as much play-calling as anything. I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus. We need to do a better job as an offense of beating man coverage."
Oklahoma State Defensive Coordinator Glenn Spencer
On the defensive performance today
"I hated that last possession. We were having to do some desperate things to try and get the ball back. When you do that, you sell out and anytime somebody misses a tackle, it's a big gain. I hated that for them that they gave up that one on the end. The first couple of drives, we had to settle them down and change a couple of things. We had to protect a couple of routes. Whenever you have to do that, it forces you to have to stop the run in a couple of different ways and we did. There's four quarters to it, so we recovered and had a couple of nice quarters. We definitely needed to give our guys some shorter fields. We were stopping a lot of drives, but we weren't giving them good field position."
On West Virginia converting long third downs
"We missed some tackles that allowed it, but you're playing coverage there because you're trying to double up on the outside. You don't want to single up your guys and give up a post or a long ball. When you do that, you know you're going to give up some yards on a run, but not to that point. You miss a tackle and that's bad. Those two drives, we eventually got them stopped, but that was an opportunity to give the offense the ball on the 50 and give them a short field. We did not do a good job there."
Oklahoma State Players
Cornerback Kevin Peterson
On the defense helping the team hang with WVU
"We just went out there and executed the gameplan that Coach Spencer and the rest of the coaches drew up for us. We blitzed when we needed to and we backed off when we needed to. We had them for a while, but there's only so much you can do. It was a long game, and they kept making plays when they needed to make plays."
On limiting WVU WR Kevin White to only three catches
"I think two of those catches came on quick bubble passes, and the other one came when he switched sides, so I was just trying to stay on him as much as I could. We said that we were going to go out there and try to be a better athlete than him and to try and contain him the best we can. I think we did that for the most part."
On what stood out with the defensive unit today
"We didn't quit today. The defense and the offense are going to come out there and play hard no matter what. The scoreboard doesn't really tell the story of how the game went today, and it was really a close game the whole way through. We just never gave up, and the whole team collectively came together to play as hard as we could until the end of the game."
Wide Receiver David Glidden
On the positives gained from today's game
"We fought until the end. On the offense, I saw a lot of guys still blocking and fighting even toward the end of the game. You never really know much until you go back and look at the film, but once we see that, we'll be able to take more from it. I know I saw a few guys that were fighting their tails off, and they kept us competitive throughout the whole game."
On underclassmen building on their experience gained throughout conference play
"I couldn't be more proud of those guys. A couple of guys, like Ra'Shaad Samples and Raymond Taylor, those guys were giving it their all there at the end of the game. They were making the most of their opportunities."
On struggling to establish a rhythm in the passing game
"Like I said before, we'll go back and watch the film and find out more from that. I think there was definitely a point and time when we were clicking today, but sometimes the defense makes plays, too. They have their own gameplans, schemes and plays as well, so you've got to give them props."
Safety Jordan Sterns
On recording a career-high 20 tackles
"I just wanted to fly around. Last week, I feel like I floated too much. Today, I just wanted to go out there and play with an edge. My teammates did a good job of keeping their guys contained, and I just did my job."
On putting pressure on WVU QB Clint Trickett
"As a defense, I know we were all ready to go out there and play hard. We try to play as brothers, and we did our job as far as doing we what we doing in practice this week. We had a good week of practice leading into this. The linebackers and the rest of the defensive backs really got after it, and we were really just trying to do our jobs."
On matching up against a physical Kansas State team next week
"We have to bounce back. Me and my teammates need to get back together, talk about the game today and let it go, just like last week. After that, all we have to do is come back out next week ready to play."
Fullback Teddy Johnson
On scoring his first career touchdown
"It felt great. It's my senior year and I've been here for five years, so it was great. It's every fullback's dream to have that play called at that time, and I've been envisioning it ever since I moved down to fullback three years ago. It was just a great feeling to get in there, especially on homecoming."
On being able to contribute to the offense in a statistical manner
"We've got that play designed out of a couple of different sets, but it's supposed to look like that and be executed the way that it did. The fact that it did come out the way it was supposed to is awesome, and it worked out well for us."
On what WVU did defensively to slow down the Oklahoma State offense
"When we got to third downs, they brought a lot of pressure, so we weren't able to get the ball to the receivers in the way that we wanted to. That was our biggest issue, and it cost us."
West Virginia Head Coach Dana Holgorsen
Opening statement
"Obviously, I'm excited for our coaches and our players to come to Stillwater and get a victory. There wasn't anything easy about it. It was a lot more challenging than what the final score indicated, I think everybody agrees with that. We won the turnover battle, which was good. Our defense played well, third downs, once again was off the charts good. Nick O'Toole our punter and Mike Molinari on kickoff probably deserve a few game balls for keeping the ball away form No. 24, who is pretty dynamic. Wendell Smallwood, I thought he was the fastest guy on the field. We started good, but obviously they settled in and we had to make adjustments in the second half."
On defensive adjustments
"We just played ball. This whole thing was challenging. Coming off of a big win last week, we kind of went through the motions for a majority of the week, we practiced inside, there was no way that we could practice for this heat. I mean, it was hot and it took a toll on us. We tried to run the ball and huddle up some more to take the pressure off of our defense, which I think we did pretty well, but there's no way that you can practice for [the atmosphere]. It was tough."
On the third-down calls
"We saw something there that we could take advantage of. I know the chatter, what people say, but it's something that I felt like was the best thing to do. Believe it or not, we try to call plays on third down that work, and we saw a few things that would make us think it would work. Giving the guys the ball when they're dropping nine people makes sense to me, so we're going to continue to do it. If they crowd the box, we'll probably end up throwing it."
On QB Clint Trickett's game
"His numbers weren't fantastic, just an average 21-30 for 238. Kevin [White] looked dead-legged to me today. They played a lot of cover two, which people are going to do to try to take him away. When you have games like that, you have to be able to run the ball. That's the difference between being able to win a game like this and not. The way [Trickett] managed the game, he knew what our mindset was and did a good job of getting our guys in the huddle and making sure our guys were on the same page. He made some good decisions in the pass game, and took care of the ball. He managed the game extremely well and that's what he does best."
On OSU's third-down efficiency
"I don't pay attention to all of the calls, but it looked like we were playing defense. We were mixing it up well on third downs. Sometimes we would blitz on third down. Sometimes we would drop everything. I think coach Gibson does that as good as anybody. He gives them a look and then blitzes everybody, or gives them that look and dropping everybody, so mixing things up kept them off-balance. We talk about finishing all the time on third down, and we were 50 percent on our side, which is the difference in the game."
Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson
On Oklahoma State
"I want to give their quarterback and offensive line credit. They looked better today than they did on film They were moving the chains and got us on our heels a little bit."
On Daxx Garman
"He throws the ball well and they've got a good football team."
Punter Nick O'Toole
On Tyreek Hill
"(Tyreek Hill) is a great returner and the game plan was to kick it away from him."
On the Kicking Game Plan
"We wanted to make (Hill have to run across the field to try to catch kicks, so our cover guys could get down there."
Running Back Dreamius Smith
On OSU Defense
"They were in a defense that we saw all week and the coaches said we would be able to hit it and get downhill."
On Simulating the Heat in Practice
"That really paid off, it got us prepared. (Coach Holgorsen) said it was going to be hot, we cranked the heat up and we had to stay cramp free."
Running Back Wendell Smallwood
On Preparation for OSU Defense
"We didn't know how they were going to play us, but we figured they would try to shut down the pass, so it opened it up for all the backs."
On Depth Helping Running Backs
"It helps a lot, because if one goes out, another comes in that can do just as much."
