Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Preview Texas Tech
November 17, 2021 | Cowboy Football
Running Back Dominic Richardson
On what it meant to play well against TCU:
"It was a great opportunity. I've been looking forward to this day for a while now. I've been working my butt off in practice, and I was just determined to get out there and have that opportunity to showcase what I have. It was like a switch to me, like an anger switch. It's running with power, and that's how I run angry, as you can see. I was fueled up about playing TCU and it showed."
On how the other running backs supported him during the TCU game:
"I think they knew I was coming in pretty angry about this game, since they all knew what happened. They were just excited for me to have the opportunity to get out there and run hard. Like I said, I couldn't do it without my o-line, they blocked their butt off and opened a big seam for our running backs. But yeah, I was very determined, and they knew that."
On if the team notices what others say about them (CFP rankings):
"We're just locked in right now; we don't worry about those outside of this stadium right now. We don't really care about what social media thinks. We wouldn't win as many games as we're winning right now saying that we're great, that's just distracting for us. So, we try to stay locked in and move onto the next game, which is Texas Tech, and then onto the next."
Offensive Lineman Hunter Woodard
On the offense playing so well the past couple games:
"Our running backs have really shown up. Jaylen (Warren) has done great all season, but then the other guys have really shown out. The receivers are making great plays and the offensive line has really bonded the last couple weeks. We have a pretty solid set five and I think that's really important to really establish the run game."
On how the replacements for Josh Sills and Danny Godlevske played last week:
"I think they're doing great. They practiced great and they played great on Saturday. I don't have any concern with them at all."Â
On Texas Tech:
"They move a lot and have a lot of players. They definitely got after Iowa State. They're a good athletic group in the box. We've seen teams like them before, we just have to be ready for the movements and twists and take care of them."Â
Cornerback Jarrick Bernard-ConverseÂ
On Texas Tech:
"They're a good team. We have to give them their respect. Each week is a different week. They have some really good guys that are really talented and athletic. They do a good job playing hard, so we need to come locked in."
On the confidence level of the defense :
"It's pretty high, but we're trying to stay as humble as possible because you can never relax.  It's a new week and a new team. They're going to try to beat us. We have to come ready to play and ready to execute the scheme."
On what's different about this defense :
"Preparation. We're more dialed in. We take everything seriously because it's our job and we want to be successful."
Safety Tanner McCalister
On playing against a quarterback they don't have much film on:
"We kept getting to that last week against TCU with (Chandler) Morris. When you don't have a lot of film, it kind of stands true, because whatever he puts on film, that's kind of how you're going to play. But, the one tricky thing is, we don't know how their coaches have prepared for our defense. We have a pretty aggressive defense so each week we tend to watch film and some things they do against us are sometimes a little different. That's where [Coach] Knowles comes in. Knowles is a really good adjuster. Last week, I think we talked about it and we had to do a lot of adjusting coming into the game. I think early on their first drive they hit us on maybe one or two shots or something like that. So, we had to make some adjustments and we did that and ended up leaving the half with maybe only three points. I think adjustments are going to have to come into play in this game as well. We've just got to make those on the sideline and get back on the field and stop them."
On how the defense makes good adjustments:
"Like Jarrick talked about, preparation, and we're also some mature guys. We all at this point kind of understand that we all have a job to do. If everybody does their job, then we know the system defense, and I think that's why we're playing so good right now. When Coach Knowles talks on the headset and gives us adjustments, we just trust in that and hope he knows what he's talking about. As you can see, we think he knows what he's talking about, so we listen and we try to go out there and do the job that he gives us."
On the progression of the defense since Jim Knowles arrived:
"It's been a pretty big change. Coach Knowles came in and he put in some of his defense, and it was kind of rocky because we really didn't understand anything he was trying to do because we were young and he was young with us. So, as the years progressed, he's put in more things, added more schemes, more blitzes, more pressures, different coverages that we can do and different decisions that we can make as players if we feel we see something. Just like we have trust in him, he has a lot of trust in us now too and allows us to do some cool things. I think that's why we're playing so good right now. It's been a pretty steady climb and progression and I think it's only going to keep getting better as long as [Coach] Knowles is behind it."
