OSU-Texas Postgame Quotes

Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy

Opening statement
"That one was a little more fun than the last couple. So we were pretty good across the board. I was hoping we could average four yards rushing per snap—we were a bit under that, three-and-a-half. Overall, very balanced offensively. (Taylor Cornelius) was able to throw the ball well and we made some nice catches. I thought our offensive line was excellent. In fact, I thought the first half they were somewhat dominant for where we've been during the year. Defensively we were good. I had concerns about covering their big, athletic wide receivers. I thought our corners, safeties fought their butt off. Even when they made plays, we had them covered for the most part. I congratulated the team on their last two weeks of practice, they've been excellent in practice. They've practiced really hard and it worked out well for us tonight. I wish we would have been a little better in special teams. It would've made it different during the game just based on how we had to handle the clock at the end of the game. If we would've hit just one of those field goals it would've made a big difference. But, overall I was very proud of the guys. The crowd was fantastic, homecoming was fantastic. Obviously, the weather is beautiful. It was a good time to play and win in primetime. I'm proud of them, I want them to enjoy it tonight and we have to get back to work tomorrow and get ready to play the next game."

On Tylan Wallace's performance
"I thought he was excellent. When we needed to make a play those guys were able to make plays. It's interesting with young kids. When we played Iowa State out here, he dropped one that he would've run in the end zone. Everybody said, "You'll get another chance and you got to make a play." And that's what he did."

On the fourth down play calls
"It was just based on how they covered us. They are three-prong plays. (Cornelius) made the right read. It was nice that (Cornelius) made the good throw and the kids went up and got the ball."

On having to face Texas coming off a loss
"I don't think it mattered. They've ignored all outside, whatever noise there was. I watched them in practice, I thought they had two great weeks of practice."

The explanation of the holding call that occurred near the end zone
"They said he wasn't in the end zone. I asked them directly and they told me he was not in the end zone."

Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On Taylor Cornelius
"Just a lot of heart. Threw the ball well early and started us off fast with a heck of a throw to Tylan Wallace. I think that just set everything in motion. Just being on time with that throw was huge. And then just his guts, his will to win and very competitive guy. Just very happy for the young man. No good quarterback play can conquer solo, so it takes a lot of good blocking around him, it takes a lot of good receiving and it takes a lot of good running."

On Tylan Wallace
"He is a special player. He's got a knack for timing his jump up so he plays a lot taller than what he is, especially on vertical throws. He is a gamer. He loves it. The bigger the game, it seems the bigger he is going to play. He is just the guy that is very dependable. He plays the same way he practices. He is a fun guy to have on your ball club. He is a great example to everybody else of 'you play like you practice'. He goes hard every day and the results are not surprising."

Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles
On the defense feeding off the crowd
"I thought the defense definitely fed off of the crowd. What an unbelievable atmosphere. I think that helps defensively to have that kind of atmosphere because defense is all about effort, intensity and momentum. Defense is a really big momentum game and I thought the crowd being in our corner was great."

On his message to the team
"Any mistakes you make are on me because if something happens out there where we blew something, that's my fault for not training you well enough. All you need to do is fight the good fight every play, make it a fist fight on the perimeter and inside. If you do that, we will be fine. That's where I try to take the load off of them. There is so much scheme that I want to do and move ahead."

Wide Receiver Tylan Wallace
On his fourth-down touchdown catch
"I was just going and I saw him look for the ball and was thinking "oh man, he see's this." I knew I just needed to do what we work on in practice. I made sure I timed my jump right, and he mistimed it, and I guess I got the timing right and came down with it."

On prepping for catches in key moments
"We work in practice on these fourth down-and-one situations and such. Nobody is going to give it up to us, so we just have to always go and make a play and that's what we did."

On Taylor Cornelius' performance
"What a lot of people have been saying on social media is just crazy, and then you can see what he went out there and did tonight. What can you say about him? The guy was throwing the ball and putting it where it was supposed to be, and was making all the right throws. It's unbelievable and I'm proud of him."

Quarterback Taylor Cornelius
On the offense's fast start:
"It was just good execution, like we thought we could do all year. We just got things rolling early and it was just a good feeling."

On the offense's success in all areas
"You have to give credit to the offensive line, because that's where it all starts. They played a hell of a game today. Unbelievable job tonight. Tylan (Wallace) had some unbelievable catches, the line did a great job blocking, Justice and all those running backs did a great job as well."

On his fourth-quarter, fourth-down touchdown run
"I just saw Cover 2 or something like that from the defense, and then I saw an open lane and tried my best to get in the end zone."

Safety Malcolm Rodriguez
On the Cowboy defense's performance
"We were just amped up and ready to go out there and put a show on for our crowd and our fans."

On how the bye week helped the defense prepare for Texas
"We has a lot more film time and we were in there studying - keying on their offensive line, their blocking and their wide receivers. It really helped us out."

On extra motivation for tonight's game
"We just knew we had to come out - at home, in front of our crowd for Homecoming - amped up and capitalize."

Linebacker Justin Phillips
On the defense's success against Texas
"It just started with film study early in the week and in the two weeks that we had. Everybody was prepared and we just went out there and flew around to the ball."

On the performance against Texas
"Everybody fed off each other's energy. Somebody would make a play and that picked up another guy. Everyone was just having a lot of fun out there."

On how the Cowboys bounced back after the bye week
"We just had to get back to Oklahoma State football. We just had to be the aggressive defense that we are and make things happen."

Texas Head Coach Tom Herman
Opening Statement
"Extremely proud of the way that our guys fought in the second half. There were times in this program when going down by 17 and a few three-and-outs there on offense, and we didn't look like we could stop anyone on defense, that we probably would have checked it in. But we didn't and I was really proud of that. But this was a big learning moment for our guys, I think. We are in a point in our program right now where we can not play our best, especially on the road, especially against a really good football team and expect to win. It's not going to happen."

On the team after the game
"That's a really upset and dejected locker room, but they are very, very together. I love the fact that one loss hurts that bad. We had guys in tears. To think how far we've come, to where one loss matters that much, and it should. That means we are headed in the right direction as far as the attitude of this football team and the belief in the way we do things. In the big picture, I told them this is probably the only time, because when you lose a ball game like that you have to have some kind of hope. The hope is actually really bright. The future is really bright."

About the game plan going in
"We've got our whole season in front of us, but we have to learn from what happened and make sure that never happens again. They had a great game plan, we did not. They executed their game plan, we didn't. And as coaches we have to figure out why that happened and make sure that doesn't happen again."

On the end-of-game on-field confrontation in the fourth quarter
"I thought Mike [Gundy] had come out and was having words with one of our players. I took exception to that. When I shook his hand at the end he said 'Hey I was just trying to make sure we were smart and no fight ensued.' I believe him, we smiled. We go way back, and I have no issues. He told me what he was trying to do. I saw it differently at first, and I was going to go defend my player."

On the first half
"What didn't happen? We didn't stop the run, which we've done so well around here for a year and a half. They had a good plan. They have a good tailback. Their quarterback did a phenomenal job of keeping it at times. Obviously we underestimated his ability to run the football. When the ball was in the air, we didn't play it properly, we misjudged balls and took poor angles. Their guys made plays when the ball was in the air."

On the players attitude after a loss
"As poorly as we played at times tonight, and poor is an understatement on both sides of the football, it would have been very, very easy for an 18 to 22 year-old man to say 'Hey tonight's not our night guys, they got us.' We didn't. When we pulled within three with 11 minutes left, I don't think there was any doubt in anyone's mind on that sideline that we were going to win the game. But we didn't, and we didn't play our best down the stretch. That's a monumental leap for our program and something we will certainly draw from obviously. You don't want to have to have that in a loss. We aren't going to say 'Hey, we tried hard.' That's not an excuse or a right answer. But I do think when you are searching for positives in a night like tonight, that's one of them.

Tight End Andrew Beck
"I'm just doing my job and having fun with it. Hopefully, they keep throwing my way, but I'm going to do whatever the play call says. I get no influence on what play is called, that's on the coaches."

"I thought [Sam] handled it well. He's going to grow from this just like the rest of us are. But I thought he handled it well. He was calm and level headed which is what you're looking for in somebody in that position to be. So I'm proud of him and how he executed."

Quarterback Sam Ehlinger
"You know I couldn't tell you. But that was definitely the reason we fell in a hole. We didn't come out like we know we can. We didn't play our best. On the road for a seven o'clock game, in a tough environment that's gonna happen."

"We just started playing our football. We've learned through out the course of the season that when we play our best no one can stop us and we have to capture that and play like the 100% of the time, not just at the end of the game."

Defensive Lineman Chris Nelson
"It's a big take away. It just showed that the guys were quick on that sideline. Nobody ever got down on each other, everybody was just uplifting each other the whole game, and that's a big change."

"I told them we're still in this race. Don't let this one loss get us down. Lets come back tomorrow stronger than ever."

Defensive Back Brandon Jones
"I guess we were just overthinking at first. We know every game is a really big game, from where we are ranked, we knew we were going to get their best. It's a big game for both of us and playing at their homecoming, we knew what to expect. As a defense our main thing was stopping number five and number two and obviously they had a big game so it's kind of hard to win when you don't meet your goals."

"I didn't realize we were in a punt safe. We were down and I wanted to try to make a play for my team. It was obviously a bad read, I didn't expect the ball to go as far over my head. I was standing at the 20-yard line and didn't really realize where I was at that point but overall I just wanted to make a play for my team."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Taylor Cornelius

Justin Phillips

Malcolm Rodriguez

Tylan Wallace

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