OSU vs. West Virginia Postgame Quotes

November 17, 2018 | Cowboy Football

Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening Statement
"Obviously, that was a fun one, great college football game. I'm really proud of our players and their ability to fight back. I thought our coaches made tremendous adjustments at halftime, maybe as good as I've been around in a long, long time. I've always said--I'll be honest with you about whether we get out coached, out played, gave it away or whatever, but our coaches made tremendous adjustments at halftime—gave our players a chance. They bought in. Guys made plays, early in the game Tony (Gibson) did a good job of mixing up coverages--did some things, a couple things we hadn't seen. Fired a corner on two receiver sides. It got (Taylor Cornelius) off track a little bit, who had a couple ill-advised throws. But then he rallied back and we kind of settled in with what we needed to do, and he was on track pretty good. Couldn't be any more proud of him and his ability to throw the ball and run it. Defensively, made some adjustments a little bit in the running game at halftime, we were able to squeeze the run better, force them into some throws. They made some throws but we were in coverage, they made good throws, made good catches. Our guys were right there. I'm ok with that. But overall it was good, kicked the ball good. And we'll let them enjoy it tonight and then we got to get back to work tomorrow."

On the halftime adjustments that were made
"We went to four wide (receivers). We got rid of what we were doing, revamped it, went to four wides, ran six or seven base plays and then we'll roll with it and play fast."

On how the halftime adjustments helped Cornelius in the fourth quarter
"That is why we did it, based on what they were doing. They played considerably different than what they played other people. And so we had to make adjustments and go from there."

On defensive adjustments
"We got out of our gaps like five times in the first half and we were using a certain technique and we weren't having success with it so we just got rid of it and went back to something base. And the linebackers got in there in the "A" gap a little bit better than what we had done. It wasn't as a big of an adjustment as we made on offense. It was more just the technique we were playing to try to cinch that in. The only issue you have when you do it is sometime you're going to be in single coverage, which we were. It's a little concerning to be in single coverage against them. We were in good shape. We made some plays, they made some plays. It was more of a technique change and adjustment than actually the schemes."

On his team's gritty performance
"We beat two top-10 teams. And three yards away from beating three last week. So I'd say the guys are doing pretty good. They're playing hard, I'm proud of them. We're doing it with some new guys. We played a center that's never played today. Didn't have Justice (Hill), didn't have (JD) King. So I'm proud of them for their effort and what they give to the program, and the character and culture to them means a lot."

OSU Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles
On West Virginia's last drive
"You don't want to give up the big play. You want to make them earn everything that they get and they did. We are all over their receivers. What a great quarterback and receiving core. We were all over them. We weren't giving them anything easy and they made a bunch of completions. We used the whole game to stop them."

On adjustments made defensively
"Some of the adjustments to their motions and things they were doing with their backs out of the backfield, we had made some mistakes in the first half in them and they were costly. They challenged us and did some things that we didn't do a good job against in the first half. So we had to draw some things up and fix it."

On players reacting to adjustments
"They were great. We are doing everything we can to train them to compete every play, one play at a time, for the whole entire game and you saw that tonight. They didn't go down ever. Second half came out, we made some adjustments and we fought. We just kept fighting."

OSU Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On players stepping up
"When you think about the injuries and who had to step up. Going into the game plan, we had a heavy dose of Jelani Woods and when he goes down and you are playing with your backup center and you don't have Justice Hill, you are just hoping that guys step up to the opportunity. And they sure did. It's just very exciting to be a part of it."

On being in consecutive close games
"I think, to a certain extent, a team can get in the situation and think 'here we go again', and not come through. Our guys punched through. They broke through that glass. There have been those close calls. It can be a little bit like a disease and our guys just had a resilience about them and they deserve all the credit in the world."

On earning the berth to a bowl
"It's super important for the development of your program. The biggest thing is our guys deserved to win. With what they put forward and what they put forth effort-wise, it's a tremendous feeling to know that your players are now being rewarded that bowl game. We have TCU next and I know they are looking forward to that challenge because it's going to be a challenge. It always is with those folks. We just have to be consistent with how we prepare. They don't get down and you see the results of it."

Quarterback Taylor Cornelius
On Senior Day
"It flies by. Everyone tells you that, but you never really expect it. Today was awesome and a great way to go out for sure."

On the Cowboys' resiliency
"It has been there all year. We just made plays. We turned the ball over early - can't do that. The defense gets all the credit in the world for this game. They stopped a big-time offense that had a lot of talent on it."

On earning bowl eligibility
"It's very nice. We knew we were going to have it, but it's nice to have it locked in now."

Wide Receiver Tylan Wallace
On the receiver corps as a group
"I'm really proud of the group as a whole because the rest of our guys really stepped up. I felt like I wasn't playing as well as I should have and made a few mistakes out there, but I'm just happy that those guys could go out there, make plays and help our team win."

On his first touchdown catch
"This week we tried to work on running down the fade a little bit more than high-pointing it because when we high-point it, (defenders) tend to throw us out of the bound when it's in the air too long. On that play, I saw it was little bit outside, so I just tried to reach back and make the best effort I could to catch it."

On his confidence heading into the second half
"I knew we had this, for sure. In the first half, they did some things that they didn't really show on film all year. So at halftime, we came in and switching things up, made some adjustments and came out on that first drive and were just going through them. I was really happy that we could adjust in the second half."

Running Back Chuba Hubbard
On the victory over West Virginia
"It was a great team win. Coach Gundy said it was going to be a battle and it was. We just kept hitting back. They knocked us on the ground a couple times, but we kept getting back up and played as a team. It was an awesome win."

On the offense's resiliency
"We knew we had to do something big for the seniors. We wanted to let them go out with a bang and we just gave it all we had. It was a big win."

On sending the seniors out of Boone Pickens Stadium with a win
"I've only been here for two years, but I know how hard these guys have worked and they deserve it, so I'm really happy for them."

Cornerback A.J. Green
On his game-clinching pass breakup
"I knew that we were sending an all-out blitz, so I thought it was going to be a sack or it was going to come out quick. The pressure made him roll out of the pocket, but I felt like it was a designed roll out to bring (David Sills V) all the way across the field. I saw (Sills) stem out for a slant and when he pushed up, I ran with him. I saw the ball in the air and didn't want to take any chances with trying to get a pick or anything, so I just said, "Get out of here!" And I knocked it down."

On the defense's resilient effort
"This one is for the seniors like (Justin Phillips). I talked to (Kenneth Edison-McGruder) a lot before the game and told him, "This is for you." We just knew that we had to keep responding, and keep responding, because the offense was going to get rolling. We went out there and gave it our all."

On securing bowl eligibility
"It means a lot because we get one more game with these guys. I love this team and everything about how we just keep working."

Linebacker Justin Phillips
On defeating No. 9 West Virginia in his last game at Boone Pickens Stadium
"That's a fun way to end it. I'm just proud of our guys for going out there, fighting hard and giving everything they had for our seniors."

On the defense's resiliency
"We've had that resiliency in us all year. Big games have come down to the end and a lot of guys stepped up. We just kept each other out during the game and didn't let anyone get down. It's just encouraging to see everyone keep fighting."

On securing bowl eligibility
"It's a relief now that we have that extra game and I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun."

Safety Kenneth Edison-McGruder
On the victory
"It was good being out there to run around with my teammates and all my seniors here at Boone Pickens Stadium. It was a very emotional day and it made it even better to come out with the win."

On the defense's resilient effort
"We just wanted to take it play by play and play each one to the best of our abilities. We weren't going to let a big play or a play that didn't work for us get us down. We went play-by-play and were able to get the job done."

On what the senior day atmosphere means to him
"I have a great appreciation for it. It is appreciation from me and appreciation for the program. It is a good appreciation day. I love this program and love everything that it has done for me. Coach Gundy has taught me a lot."

West Virginia Head Coach Dana Holgorsen
On the game
"Congratulations to Coach Gundy and Oklahoma State. They have been in a lot of these games and you can tell they had a little bit better mindset down the stretch than we did. It's disappointing that we had a chance to close them out and we didn't."

On Taylor Cornelius
"Cornelius made a play. He is a good player. He has gotten better every week. He has been there for a while. We couldn't get pressure on him. Couldn't get off blocks. He scrambled around and kept his eyes down field."

On if they left any points on the field
"I think we left probably 14 points out there. When you are in the red zone and can't punch it in, if you are a great offense, you do that. I guess we are not a great offense because we couldn't do that."

On the last play of the game
"I didn't expect them to blitz, but Will (Grier) did a good job of keeping it alive and gave our guys a chance."

On Kennedy McKoy's performance
"I thought he played good. He ran the ball hard. He gave us what we wanted early. He made some plays in the second half and I thought he played good."

West Virginia Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson
On the defense overall
"They spread us out, we had too many guys blow some and miss tackles. It was an ugly second half. I thought the first half we came in and played well, created turnovers and created momentum a little bit."

On the OSU quarterback run game
"I thought he did a really good job. We had a couple of blitzes. We flushed them out. We had them contained. I don't know what happened. They had easy access to the perimeter and they had some big runs"

West Virginia Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital
On the quarterback sneak
"It was something that I thought we would just go with and it was something that we were pretty confident about and we went out there and just did not execute it."

On overall execution
"They played a little different then they showed on tape. Something that we were confident in, where we went to an unbalance and we put everyone on the right side that we could at least isolate Wesco and they ended up trailing a safety behind and making a play on Will."

Defensive Lineman Reese Donahue
On the defense overall
"It was really frustrating, I 100 percent take the blame for what happened today. If you look at it, 41 points in a game should be well enough to win a game. That is 100 percent the defense's fault, they will try to take some blame, as well as the offense. In reality, it is our job to stop them and we didn't do that today and when we can't stop them, that is when we have problems."

On the quarterback runs
"I don't think that they necessarily made an adjustment personally I think that they told the quarterback to read because a lot of their stuff comes from the option and we were accounted for it."

Quarterback Will Grier
On getting to players in the end zone
"Everyone did a great job on picking the blitz up and I was just trying to give us a shot and like I said, they made the play."

On David Sills having a big shot in the end of the 4th quarter
"I thought he had a shot, he is 6-5 and long. You are not going to call a perfect play there. I thought I would throw it out to one of our best guys and try to make a play."