Postgame Quotes vs. Oklahoma

Oklahoma State Quotes

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy

Opening statement:
"That's about as good as it gets for college football. Sometimes I get on a really small rant when I say we need to be careful about messing with the structure of college football. Things that happened today in these games and what you see here, college football is pretty good the way it is. That was a heck of a game. Two really good teams playing and I'm glad we were able to come out on top at the end. They played a heck of the game. They are a really good team. They're well coached and had a really good plan. I told our guys on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday that my job is to get a feel for what our schemes are offensively, defensively and special teams. Saturday, my job is to evaluate it and see if we did a good job scheme wise, with the X's and O's. I told them I've been an offensive coordinator a long time and there's been times on Saturday I've thought, 'that wasn't a very good plan'. Our coaches did a great job this week with our concepts and what we tried to get accomplished. We had concerns I mentioned on Monday with pass protection with them. They're disruptive up front. Spencer was really good at avoiding the rush and making plays. I know he threw an interception and then threw a tipped interception, but overall, his decision making and ability to keep his composure and find his way through and around the pass rush and make plays was really good. I know you're going to ask that question, but he played really good in this game…"

On the Oklahoma offense:
"You guys cover them, obviously, like you cover us. On most occasions they are good in the first two quarters. Their first 18 to 25 plays are good. They know what they're doing. They're good at scheming. They come up with good ideas and they have good players. Their running back and quarterback are good players, 27 is a good player and 18 is a good player and all those wideouts are good players. They're good at that. They got to us in the first quarter and a half. We played the best game we've played against a really good opponent offensively in the first half all year. Luckily, we played really good offensively so we could go blow to blow and stay in the game and go in half time zero to zero basically. They made some adjustments. You would have to ask Coach Knowles the details of it. It worked good in the second half, and we were able to stop the run. I know he broke the big run, but for the most part we stopped the run and it allowed us to play a little more zone coverage in the back end."

On Malcolm Rodriguez and Devin Harper:
"They just play hard. I told the guys I don't even know what to say about it anymore. I just sit here, I'm just the head coach and enjoy the game. I really enjoyed that game. It got a little tight there in the last four minutes, but other than that it was a fun game to watch. Two good football teams going at it, but those guys have just been fantastic all year. Malcolm (Rodriguez) has done it for four years, but for (Devin Harper), it's pretty special he's come back, especially because he's been behind Amen (Ogbongbemiga) for many years and this is his year. He came back and worked hard, not said a word, never complained and really grown into his own. He can run. He's going to get a chance. Someone's going to bring him into a camp and give him a chance. I couldn't be more proud of him."

On the Big 12 Championship:
"I haven't done it before. What I told them tonight was that it's one week. Go out with your family, eat dinner with your girlfriends or whatever. Be careful on the streets, we need everyone back. We have to go back to work tomorrow at four. Baylor's going back to work tomorrow. We don't need to give them a one-day edge on us. I tell them the truth: 'This is awesome, and I wished you had a week to enjoy this, but we don't get a week to enjoy this. I need you here at four o'clock tomorrow, we have to focus and go to work because this thing is over.'"

Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles

Opening statement:
"What a game. Definitely a program win. I'm happy for all the guys, all the players and all the coaches that have been here for a long time. They really established a culture here and my whole goal when coming here was to bring the defense to that level. It wasn't pretty tonight in some aspects in the beginning. We had some guys lose their eyes and gave up some big plays that we don't typically give up, but they're a heck of an offense. We got into halftime and were able to make some adjustments and I'm really proud of our guys."

On being able to beat OU on senior night:
"That's huge. We haven't fared well defensively against those guys. I blame myself for a lot of that. It was just good that we could go into a game against them because they're really good offensively and have all the tools needed to win. We were able to change coverages and do things that we did, and the guys responded. I'm real happy for our seniors and the guys who just believed and continue to believe."

On what he felt during the third quarter:
"I'm just feeling the momentum of our defense. I felt like we had settled down. We got the sense that our guys were starting to smell blood in the water, and they were playing fast. They were playing really fast. When you can play fast you've got a chance to win."

Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn

On what made Spencer Sanders effective:
"He's getting much more control; we've talked about that. He feels comfortable back there with the calls and feels comfortable with the line. There are certain situations where he knows when to run. In his first year, his instinct was to run. If there was any type of pressure at all, his eyes dropped, and he ran. Now he's sitting back there looking for the receiver, he's trusting his big kids and waiting for the throw. That's what I think makes him the most effective right now is that he's playing with his arm and his head than with his feet last."

On the team responding to being down in the third quarter:
"It's probably because we have been in this situation so many times before. When we talk about it, it's strange to look back all the way to 2011 when coach Monken was the offensive coordinator. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was walking into halftime and there was no panic even though we were getting our tails kicked in. That has stayed with our program over the years and Gundy made a big deal about that. That has been something that has always been in the back of my mind too, is believing that you have a chance to get back. Our guys believe it, they really do, so it's great."

Oklahoma State's Malcolm Rodriguez

On what it means to win Bedlam:
"First time beating these guys, so it's hard to explain. We pulled it out at the end. I'm just grateful and I'm glad we were able to do it."

On getting the stop on the fourth-down play:
We got a lot of guys, older guys, that haven't beat (Oklahoma) yet. The pass rush was great getting to him, so props to those guys for getting after him."

On Caleb Williams 56-yard run on the final drive:
"I clamped the back and I saw him scramble so I was hoping one of our guys would bring him down. I just started chasing, you know, then we got him down. I knew we had a shot, adjust the defense, and Coach Knowles made the right calls at the end."

Oklahoma State's Spencer Sanders

On his touchdown run:
"The offensive line blocked tremendously, and receivers blocked tremendously. It was a great play call, and it was exactly how we practiced it all week, so we really just executed."

On being the third quarterback to win a Bedlam game under Mike Gundy:
"It's not even really about the quarterback. We win as a team. We won as an offense, and we won as a whole team."

On the keys to winning a back-and-forth game:
"We listen to our coaches, and we practiced hard. We practiced well, and obviously our offense is playing against one of the best defenses in the country so that is only going to make us better. our defense is playing phenomenal, so I don't even need to speak on that."

Oklahoma State's Devin Harper

On this week's mentality :
"The whole week we went in there knowing they had to match our intensity. We were the big dogs at the time because they were trying to get to the Big 12 (Championship) and if we beat them, then they don't get there. That's all we wanted to do was kill two birds with one stone."

On keeping the team under control when adversity hits :
"The whole team knows we have to stay composed. We had our ups and downs and when we're down, everyone is there to pick each other up. Coach Gundy tells us all the time that leaders have to lead, and we do, no matter the circumstances. We're going to lead and fight no matter what."

On the last drive of the game :
"We just had to get (Caleb Williams) down and not let them get too close to where they can score. We got him down and then got the stops. We got some sacks and it all fell into place."

Oklahoma State's Josh Sills

Opening Statement:
"Moments like this are why you play college football. These are the games you dream of as a kid. I can remember watching on Saturdays with my dad saying those are the games I want to be a part of, those are the games I want to play."

On re-entering the game after going down with an injury:
"It's like I told the guys and trainers on the sidelines, I said, 'I have nine more minutes of my senior day, so I'll be damned if you're going to take me out of the game. I'm going back in whether you like it or not.' That's what happened."

Oklahoma State's Tay Martin

On the atmosphere in Boone Pickens Stadium:
"When we went out for pregame, there was chanting and stuff. I got chills and I just felt the energy. It motivated me even more, so it is very exciting to play for a crowd like that for sure."

On his rushing touchdown:
"It was routine. We had been practicing that for a week, so I was waiting on that play to get called in the red zone. Shoutout to Coach Dunn, he put in a great game plan, and we executed it to perfection as much as we could. I saw a lot of green grass and my teammates did a good job blocking and I cut it up, saw the open crease and it was like practice."

On the defense playing well despite the offense struggling:
"It motivated us, you know. We had their back in the first half and they had our back in the second half. We just feed off of each other and we never lost sight of the main goal, just to keep playing and keep our heads down and win."

Oklahoma Quotes

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley Quotes

Opening Statement:
"Got rich and lost it tonight. Heart's broken for our players… It's a horrible feeling, that's the only way I can describe it. We've had a chance to win the league six years in a row… We're not going to have the chance to do that this year and it's a gut punch, man. I hate it for our players, they fought their ass off tonight, we really did… We had a ton of big play on all sides and came up one play away and agonizingly close on that last drive."

On the locker room postgame:
"Guys in the locker room, there's kind of two sets of players in there right now… You've got guys that have been through it and won championships, won games like this, went on to win championships… Then you've got guys in that locker room that are with us for the first time that haven't been a part of this ride and what it feels like. I think for everybody what this does is makes you appreciate it and what this program has been able to do for the last seven years."

On Oklahoma State:
"Give Oklahoma State credit, they played well, they're a great football team. They're an experienced football team and they did a nice job. It's a great fight and like I said, one play away could've went either direction. I'm heartbroken for our players, man… I'm proud of the way we fought, and it is what it is."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Devin Harper

Tay Martin

Malcolm Rodriguez

Spencer Sanders

Josh Sills

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