Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Postgame Quotes vs. Kansas State
November 18, 2017 | Cowboy Football
OSU Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement:
"For whatever reason I can't figure out what I'm doing or not doing that keeps us from showing up in the first half of our home games, and I shared that with the team. We all need to look at ourselves and figure out what's going on because we, for whatever reason, we're not showing up and we get in a hole. And then today we were in an unbelievably deep hole. Quite honestly I don't know how we got back in it at the point to where we had a real chance to win in the end and then couldn't execute. We couldn't throw we couldn't catch, which chances of that happening were slim in my opinion.
"We just didn't play very good today and that's disappointing and obviously that starts with me. I must not have done a good job of getting them ready this week. I thought we practiced well but I need to go back and look and see exactly what happened and try to make the adjustments that we need to make in all phases to improve. The turnovers obviously are killer and then allowing the touchdown on special teams. Even though they returned the kickoff for a touchdown, I want to see what happened. The ball was placed on the boundary, it looked like there were 45 people in the boundary, and how that guy came out of there I don't know. So we'll have to look and see what happened there, but we worked extremely hard this week on all of our special teams, because obviously that's where Kansas State makes a living. And our coverage units, other than that one, and our punts were good, but we lost that one.
"Three-of-13 on third down is not really like us, for the most part. Mason (Rudolph) did not play good in the first half. So it's really pretty simple. I'm disappointed in their play and I'm disappointed in our coaching, in that their plans were better than ours. Their players played better than we did. Each week I have to make an opinion on how I think we match up against each team and that helps us put together game plans and so on.
"In my opinion, we should've won that game just based on talent from top to bottom. It's got nothing to do with Kansas State. I have all the respect in the world for their staff, all the respect in the world for their players. But we should've played better and we should've done enough to win the football game. It's not always that way but in my opinion that's the way I felt. So I give them a lot of credit for what they brought in, for rallying, for making plays in the end. They made the last plays out here and we didn't. I told the team that too, that's exactly what I told them, is that, 'You should've won this game, and that's not you as players. That's coaches and players as a group. We as an organization should've played well enough at home to win the game.' But that's why we play the games, it doesn't always fall that way.
"So you talk about a special teams touchdown, you lost the turnover battle, I don't know how many poor throws and/or dropped passes we had, and we weren't any good on third down, and we gave up at least three, and maybe four huge plays on defense. So you stir all that up and that's not a good thing. That's really what happened."
On if there was life or energy missing from the team:
"I don't think it was that. That's why I said I'm a little confused from my standpoint, I didn't feel like it was that. We just weren't making any plays. I said you throw everything in and you stir it up, it was there were times we didn't block very good, there were times we didn't cover very good, times we didn't throw very good, times we didn't catch very good, and there was a time we didn't cover the kickoff very good.
"I didn't think it was lifeless, I just am a little puzzled why, in the first half playing at home with the crowds we have that are unbelievable, why we can't perform better in the first half. The only way that I know to clean something up and fix it is to address it and say, 'I think this is an issue, let's fix it.' Otherwise, it doesn't go away, and that's why I was saying that. Not so much lifeless but I'm not sure, there are just a lot of little things that kept going; that when you threw it all in there and stir it up, that's why you got beat, or we got beat."
On what KSU did offensively that OSU didn't quite expect:
"Well it's the same stuff, the same stuff they've done. And what's interesting is we had several three-and-outs today, but then we give up big plays. And you have to minimize big plays against a team that runs that style of offense in my opinion because you can get your three-and-outs, but you can't give up big plays, you can't turn guys loose in the secondary, that's what we did a few times."
OSU Defensive Coordinator Glenn Spencer:
On OSU's defense:
"You have to play some man coverage to stop all the quarterback runs. They're a great running team. Those big plays count though. It's not like you can say, 'Hey, you guys did all right except for the big plays,' you know. Big plays count. Again, it's all about scoring defense. We didn't score too much."
On defensive adjustments:
"They do a good job when they start stacking their run game. After that first drive they had a couple double leads ... and quarterback runs. We had to stiffen it up, and that means some guys are on islands and have to make plays ... staying as deep as the deepest sometimes ... and keep it in front of you. I thought we answered back on the run game, but we were definitely not strong enough in all phases. That's very evident."
On the team's slow starts:
"We will address it. Mike (Gundy) mentioned it there, and he's right. Why the same calls that we called after that first series that stopped them ... maybe it was a missed tackle, a miss hit, they aren't ready for the game ... I'm not sure, but we've got to address it and get that problem fixed. We can't start off behind like that. You lose all the home momentum, and they catch up. The game wasn't lost in that last series. The game wasn't lost in the last couple series. We had some stops, but we did too much damage on those big plays in that second and third quarter. We had a chance to make a run at them and get up. The offense started doing something, and we lost momentum by giving up a big play."
OSU Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On the last series:
"I don't know if surprised is the right word. I was hopefully just trying to get us in the right play, and that's where my mind was. I don't have expectations like some people do. You just take what comes and work on the next call. That's where my mind was."
On the last nine minutes:
"There was more rhythm, obviously. Any time you're able to get first downs, you get lined up faster, you exhaust the defense, you're able to sustain drives and play with more rhythm. I think that was the case there."
On the out in the final series to James Washington:
"It was open. I think everybody in the stadium saw that. That's a guy who has made that catch a million times, and he's got to put that one past him and move on down the road. That's the nature of the beast. You throw a guy 500 balls in a season, he's going to drop one. It's just one of those things where James has to get over that and move on to next week.
On quarterback Mason Rudolph:
"I think I have to do a better job of preparing him. I take full responsibility for it. The kid is a great quarterback, and I've got to get him more prepared and do what we have to do to get him executing better."
OSU Quarterback Mason Rudolph
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We thought everything was going well down the stretch and we gave ourselves a chance. Obviously on that fourth down, I threw it a little high over Marcell (Ateman). I've got to give him a chance and I failed to do that."
On what led to his first half struggles:
"I don't really know. That's a good question. I don't think we played very well as a whole so we'll have to go back and watch the tape."
On missing out on the Big 12 Championship game:
"It sucks. It's not fun, but we'll turn it around and come back focused tomorrow."
OSU Offensive Tackle Zach Crabtree
On his immediate reaction:
"We've got to show up and start faster. You can't start slow at this level. It doesn't matter who you play, because everybody is good enough to beat you. We started slow and didn't get all the way after it tonight."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We just stayed the course. We talked about having no fear, no frustration and no fatigue and stayed the course and did our job. That's what we did and essentially gave ourselves a chance at the end, but when you dig yourself in that big of a hole to start out the game, it's hard to come out of."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"It's all about our mentality. When we come in tomorrow, it's a new day and the sun comes up tomorrow. It's about our approach and the way we attack, because we all have to realize that we still have some big games ahead and so we'll come back to work and get ready to go."
OSU Defensive End Cole Walterscheid
On his immediate reaction:
"They outplayed us alls game and we came out kind of flat. They got up on us and we just were never really able to recover."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We worked hard to try and get the ball back there at the end, but it was just a little too late and we let ourselves get too far behind really."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"We just have to forget about the loss tomorrow, correct our mistakes and move on so that we can get our mind focused on Kansas."
OSU Linebacker Justin Phillips
On his immediate reaction:
"We of course wish that we could've come out with the win tonight, but we just have to move forward and learn from the mistakes we made in this game."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We just kept on it and we thought we had a chance the whole game. When we finally got that little bit of momentum, we kind of got rolling, but we weren't able to finish that off in the end."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"We just have to figure out how to start off fast at home and then make sure we finish the game strong."
OSU Wide Receiver James Washington
On his immediate reaction:
"I really don't know, we just kind of came out flat. We needed to come out ready to make plays."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We just had some energy and guys did their jobs when the ball came to them."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"We can't dwell on this loss. We have to come back stronger and make sure that we're ready to go next week."
Kansas State Head Coach Bill Snyder
On today's win:
"I just said I appreciated the fact that we played hard. I addressed the value of being able to play collectively as a team. Defense had a role in it. Offense had a role in it. Special teams had a role in it. We can be a decent football team when we play well on all three sides of the ball. That was probably the biggest emphasis."
On Kansas State's offense:
"I thought Skylar (Thompson) did awfully well. We only threw 13 passes and still we were able to get the ball downfield. That was the important thing. So we got some big plays. We've had a drought with big plays, really. We got some today that made a substantial difference. (Byron) Pringle had a role in that in not only the kick return, but the catches that he made and the routes that he ran in order to get himself open. I think that was significant. Skylar managed the game well. He threw the ball extremely well. Ran a little bit when he had to."
On Kansas State's defense:
"I think the things we did well is, first, we kept them out of the end zone. It was significant in the first half. We gave up big plays and that didn't stop in the second half as well. At the end of the day, we made the stop that won the ballgame. Being able to hold them on four downs after watching their offense, I'm not sure anybody can hold them for four downs. That's a pretty major task."
On playing as underdogs:
"They don't surprise me. Because it's expected. I expect them to play well, and I expect them to be successful ballgame in and ballgame out. There isn't anything that was a surprise. They got closer to playing to what I would expect they're capable of playing."
Kansas State Offensive Lineman Dalton Risner
On Skylar Thompson's performance
"He was really good and he came in this game extremely confident. I was worried last week he was shaky and I was worried about him, but what can you expect? Like I told you guys in media, I knew that Skylar was going to come in and get it done. I could see that confidence in him and I wanted to see that out of him today and he did an extremely good job. It sucks that he got banged up later in the game but he's completely fine...he played a great game and I'm extremely proud of him."
On Byron Pringle's performance
"It's the same story. You talk about the offensive line being up and down, but we've got to do some good things today and same with Byron. He's been up and down but he got to do some great things today and it's all stuff we knew he could do and it's all things he knew he could do. It's all just getting the right opportunity at the right time and making it happen. He did an extremely good job...he had a big smile on, you guys don't see Byron scream or do anything crazy but he had a big smile on after the game and gave the offense a little speech about how blessed he was. It was pretty cool.
Kansas State Linebacker Jayd Kirby
On what was going through his head at the end of the game when OSU had the ball
"It got to the point where it was going to be in the defense's hands. It didn't need to be there. It shouldn't have gotten to that point, but it got to that point so we were all comfortable. It was, let's go out there and do it for the team."
On if this win turns their season around
"Oh yeah. I mean huge. We just got bowl eligible and beat a top 10 team so I mean yeah that's huge. We really needed that win for the team."
Opening statement:
"For whatever reason I can't figure out what I'm doing or not doing that keeps us from showing up in the first half of our home games, and I shared that with the team. We all need to look at ourselves and figure out what's going on because we, for whatever reason, we're not showing up and we get in a hole. And then today we were in an unbelievably deep hole. Quite honestly I don't know how we got back in it at the point to where we had a real chance to win in the end and then couldn't execute. We couldn't throw we couldn't catch, which chances of that happening were slim in my opinion.
"We just didn't play very good today and that's disappointing and obviously that starts with me. I must not have done a good job of getting them ready this week. I thought we practiced well but I need to go back and look and see exactly what happened and try to make the adjustments that we need to make in all phases to improve. The turnovers obviously are killer and then allowing the touchdown on special teams. Even though they returned the kickoff for a touchdown, I want to see what happened. The ball was placed on the boundary, it looked like there were 45 people in the boundary, and how that guy came out of there I don't know. So we'll have to look and see what happened there, but we worked extremely hard this week on all of our special teams, because obviously that's where Kansas State makes a living. And our coverage units, other than that one, and our punts were good, but we lost that one.
"Three-of-13 on third down is not really like us, for the most part. Mason (Rudolph) did not play good in the first half. So it's really pretty simple. I'm disappointed in their play and I'm disappointed in our coaching, in that their plans were better than ours. Their players played better than we did. Each week I have to make an opinion on how I think we match up against each team and that helps us put together game plans and so on.
"In my opinion, we should've won that game just based on talent from top to bottom. It's got nothing to do with Kansas State. I have all the respect in the world for their staff, all the respect in the world for their players. But we should've played better and we should've done enough to win the football game. It's not always that way but in my opinion that's the way I felt. So I give them a lot of credit for what they brought in, for rallying, for making plays in the end. They made the last plays out here and we didn't. I told the team that too, that's exactly what I told them, is that, 'You should've won this game, and that's not you as players. That's coaches and players as a group. We as an organization should've played well enough at home to win the game.' But that's why we play the games, it doesn't always fall that way.
"So you talk about a special teams touchdown, you lost the turnover battle, I don't know how many poor throws and/or dropped passes we had, and we weren't any good on third down, and we gave up at least three, and maybe four huge plays on defense. So you stir all that up and that's not a good thing. That's really what happened."
On if there was life or energy missing from the team:
"I don't think it was that. That's why I said I'm a little confused from my standpoint, I didn't feel like it was that. We just weren't making any plays. I said you throw everything in and you stir it up, it was there were times we didn't block very good, there were times we didn't cover very good, times we didn't throw very good, times we didn't catch very good, and there was a time we didn't cover the kickoff very good.
"I didn't think it was lifeless, I just am a little puzzled why, in the first half playing at home with the crowds we have that are unbelievable, why we can't perform better in the first half. The only way that I know to clean something up and fix it is to address it and say, 'I think this is an issue, let's fix it.' Otherwise, it doesn't go away, and that's why I was saying that. Not so much lifeless but I'm not sure, there are just a lot of little things that kept going; that when you threw it all in there and stir it up, that's why you got beat, or we got beat."
On what KSU did offensively that OSU didn't quite expect:
"Well it's the same stuff, the same stuff they've done. And what's interesting is we had several three-and-outs today, but then we give up big plays. And you have to minimize big plays against a team that runs that style of offense in my opinion because you can get your three-and-outs, but you can't give up big plays, you can't turn guys loose in the secondary, that's what we did a few times."
OSU Defensive Coordinator Glenn Spencer:
On OSU's defense:
"You have to play some man coverage to stop all the quarterback runs. They're a great running team. Those big plays count though. It's not like you can say, 'Hey, you guys did all right except for the big plays,' you know. Big plays count. Again, it's all about scoring defense. We didn't score too much."
On defensive adjustments:
"They do a good job when they start stacking their run game. After that first drive they had a couple double leads ... and quarterback runs. We had to stiffen it up, and that means some guys are on islands and have to make plays ... staying as deep as the deepest sometimes ... and keep it in front of you. I thought we answered back on the run game, but we were definitely not strong enough in all phases. That's very evident."
On the team's slow starts:
"We will address it. Mike (Gundy) mentioned it there, and he's right. Why the same calls that we called after that first series that stopped them ... maybe it was a missed tackle, a miss hit, they aren't ready for the game ... I'm not sure, but we've got to address it and get that problem fixed. We can't start off behind like that. You lose all the home momentum, and they catch up. The game wasn't lost in that last series. The game wasn't lost in the last couple series. We had some stops, but we did too much damage on those big plays in that second and third quarter. We had a chance to make a run at them and get up. The offense started doing something, and we lost momentum by giving up a big play."
OSU Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On the last series:
"I don't know if surprised is the right word. I was hopefully just trying to get us in the right play, and that's where my mind was. I don't have expectations like some people do. You just take what comes and work on the next call. That's where my mind was."
On the last nine minutes:
"There was more rhythm, obviously. Any time you're able to get first downs, you get lined up faster, you exhaust the defense, you're able to sustain drives and play with more rhythm. I think that was the case there."
On the out in the final series to James Washington:
"It was open. I think everybody in the stadium saw that. That's a guy who has made that catch a million times, and he's got to put that one past him and move on down the road. That's the nature of the beast. You throw a guy 500 balls in a season, he's going to drop one. It's just one of those things where James has to get over that and move on to next week.
On quarterback Mason Rudolph:
"I think I have to do a better job of preparing him. I take full responsibility for it. The kid is a great quarterback, and I've got to get him more prepared and do what we have to do to get him executing better."
OSU Quarterback Mason Rudolph
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We thought everything was going well down the stretch and we gave ourselves a chance. Obviously on that fourth down, I threw it a little high over Marcell (Ateman). I've got to give him a chance and I failed to do that."
On what led to his first half struggles:
"I don't really know. That's a good question. I don't think we played very well as a whole so we'll have to go back and watch the tape."
On missing out on the Big 12 Championship game:
"It sucks. It's not fun, but we'll turn it around and come back focused tomorrow."
OSU Offensive Tackle Zach Crabtree
On his immediate reaction:
"We've got to show up and start faster. You can't start slow at this level. It doesn't matter who you play, because everybody is good enough to beat you. We started slow and didn't get all the way after it tonight."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We just stayed the course. We talked about having no fear, no frustration and no fatigue and stayed the course and did our job. That's what we did and essentially gave ourselves a chance at the end, but when you dig yourself in that big of a hole to start out the game, it's hard to come out of."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"It's all about our mentality. When we come in tomorrow, it's a new day and the sun comes up tomorrow. It's about our approach and the way we attack, because we all have to realize that we still have some big games ahead and so we'll come back to work and get ready to go."
OSU Defensive End Cole Walterscheid
On his immediate reaction:
"They outplayed us alls game and we came out kind of flat. They got up on us and we just were never really able to recover."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We worked hard to try and get the ball back there at the end, but it was just a little too late and we let ourselves get too far behind really."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"We just have to forget about the loss tomorrow, correct our mistakes and move on so that we can get our mind focused on Kansas."
OSU Linebacker Justin Phillips
On his immediate reaction:
"We of course wish that we could've come out with the win tonight, but we just have to move forward and learn from the mistakes we made in this game."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We just kept on it and we thought we had a chance the whole game. When we finally got that little bit of momentum, we kind of got rolling, but we weren't able to finish that off in the end."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"We just have to figure out how to start off fast at home and then make sure we finish the game strong."
OSU Wide Receiver James Washington
On his immediate reaction:
"I really don't know, we just kind of came out flat. We needed to come out ready to make plays."
On the Cowboys' late charge:
"We just had some energy and guys did their jobs when the ball came to them."
On moving forward to next week's game against Kansas:
"We can't dwell on this loss. We have to come back stronger and make sure that we're ready to go next week."
Kansas State Head Coach Bill Snyder
On today's win:
"I just said I appreciated the fact that we played hard. I addressed the value of being able to play collectively as a team. Defense had a role in it. Offense had a role in it. Special teams had a role in it. We can be a decent football team when we play well on all three sides of the ball. That was probably the biggest emphasis."
On Kansas State's offense:
"I thought Skylar (Thompson) did awfully well. We only threw 13 passes and still we were able to get the ball downfield. That was the important thing. So we got some big plays. We've had a drought with big plays, really. We got some today that made a substantial difference. (Byron) Pringle had a role in that in not only the kick return, but the catches that he made and the routes that he ran in order to get himself open. I think that was significant. Skylar managed the game well. He threw the ball extremely well. Ran a little bit when he had to."
On Kansas State's defense:
"I think the things we did well is, first, we kept them out of the end zone. It was significant in the first half. We gave up big plays and that didn't stop in the second half as well. At the end of the day, we made the stop that won the ballgame. Being able to hold them on four downs after watching their offense, I'm not sure anybody can hold them for four downs. That's a pretty major task."
On playing as underdogs:
"They don't surprise me. Because it's expected. I expect them to play well, and I expect them to be successful ballgame in and ballgame out. There isn't anything that was a surprise. They got closer to playing to what I would expect they're capable of playing."
Kansas State Offensive Lineman Dalton Risner
On Skylar Thompson's performance
"He was really good and he came in this game extremely confident. I was worried last week he was shaky and I was worried about him, but what can you expect? Like I told you guys in media, I knew that Skylar was going to come in and get it done. I could see that confidence in him and I wanted to see that out of him today and he did an extremely good job. It sucks that he got banged up later in the game but he's completely fine...he played a great game and I'm extremely proud of him."
On Byron Pringle's performance
"It's the same story. You talk about the offensive line being up and down, but we've got to do some good things today and same with Byron. He's been up and down but he got to do some great things today and it's all stuff we knew he could do and it's all things he knew he could do. It's all just getting the right opportunity at the right time and making it happen. He did an extremely good job...he had a big smile on, you guys don't see Byron scream or do anything crazy but he had a big smile on after the game and gave the offense a little speech about how blessed he was. It was pretty cool.
Kansas State Linebacker Jayd Kirby
On what was going through his head at the end of the game when OSU had the ball
"It got to the point where it was going to be in the defense's hands. It didn't need to be there. It shouldn't have gotten to that point, but it got to that point so we were all comfortable. It was, let's go out there and do it for the team."
On if this win turns their season around
"Oh yeah. I mean huge. We just got bowl eligible and beat a top 10 team so I mean yeah that's huge. We really needed that win for the team."
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