Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Talk Big 12 Championship Game With Media
December 01, 2021 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER - The fifth-ranked Oklahoma State football team will take part in the Big 12 Championship game for the first time since the game returned to the conference in 2017. The Cowboys will face Baylor in a rematch from October 2, with a chance to win the program's first conference championship since the 2011 season. Here is what some of the Cowboys had to say during media availability:
Safety Tanner McCalister
On the possibility of making the College Football Playoff:
"It's hard not to look at it. I want to sit up here and say I'm thinking about this game, which obviously we are, but we know what's at stake. Like I said, the more you win, the more you get to play for. So, we're just trying to keep winning and how you do that is just focus day to day. Today, we came out to practice with a focus like we're going to win the day. I think we won today and we're going to try to win tomorrow and Thursday, then get some rest on Friday and try to win the day on Saturday. If that leads to the College Football Playoff, we're going to be excited. We're going to try to keep winning more games and we'll see what happens from there. Obviously all of us want to get there. That's a dream of all of ours. We're going to do our best and try as hard as we can to get there."
On the "No Quit" attitude of the team:
"We all see the bigger picture. Every time you win, you're just playing for more and I think we understand that. Like I said, nobody wants to lose. We all want to win. So, you don't want to be that guy, like Coach Gundy said, you don't want to be that guy that everybody's looking at like, 'What is he doing out there? Why is he not going 100%? Why is he not flying to the ball?' When you sit down and watch film the next day, you want to have some peace knowing I left it all out there. I think we all strive to do that every game."
On his big pass breakup on the final possession of the game:
"Honestly, I saw a guy running wide open. We were in a certain coverage where it was supposed to play out like that and I had to run and get over there. I saw [the receiver] throw his hands up and he actually caught the ball. And when I saw his hands go up I knew I had to rip his hands away and get that ball out and I did that."
Offensive Lineman Josh Sills
On what makes this year's team special:
"Honestly, I think it's just everyone's openness. You heard Tanner say, the offense and defense gets together; it's not separated. The defense doesn't just hang out with defense. The offense doesn't just hang out with offense. We intermingle. We go out to eat together. We hang out. I just think the biggest thing is just Coach Gundy and Coach Glass, and the culture that they've built here. You just put your head down and work. I think that's the biggest thing that I've bought into and that's similar where it is where I come from. It's a small town and everything you have, you had to work for. It kind of relates to me and that's the biggest reason.
On the importance of center Danny Godlevske:
"Danny's huge. Danny has a lot of experience. He's physical. He's super, super football savvy. He's super smart. The biggest thing to me that you can't replace is experience and Danny has a lot of that."
On offensive lineman Joe Michalski:
"Joe's done super well. He comes out to practice every day [and] works hard and gets better. He plays physical. He practices physical. [He] puts in the extra time watching film, meeting with Coach Dickey [and] Coach Meyers. [He] makes sure he has the game plan down like the back of his hand. He's done really well. [I'm] really proud of him."
Wide Receiver Brennan Presley
On how far the team has come:
"We just play for each other now. It's really simple. It's the guy next to me and I'm playing for him. You can see that with our team. No one's being selfish. If another guy scores, everybody on the bench is cheering. Nobody is like, 'Oh my gosh I wish that was me. I wish I was this and that.' We're happy for everybody, no matter who it is. Tay [Martin] can go out there and get eight touchdowns, I can get no catches, as long as we win the game, it doesn't matter to me. I think everybody else on this team has that same mindset whether it's offense, defense [or] special teams. We're making plays and we're happy for whoever's making plays, it doesn't matter who it is, and we know we can make those plays."
On the Bedlam win and celebration:
"It was like a dream come true, just because I've been watching the Bedlam games my whole life growing up. I've always had in my mind, if I ever got a chance to be in that game and get a chance to make a play in it, then I was going to do it. That was honestly like a dream."
On his kickoff return touchdown:
"I didn't know how deep I was. I was like two yards deep, but after the first one where I got 42 yards, I thought the first one was going to hit, so I was like, 'OK, OK I'm kind of in a groove."
Defensive Lineman Brock Martin
On Dave Aranda describing Malcolm Rodriguez as "slippery":
"I know first-hand how slippery he is. I played him six times in three years in high school. He's not an easy dude to tackle, and he never was even when he weighed 152 pounds. I know first-hand how slippery that guy is. Malcolm is strong, deceivingly strong, and he plays bigger than he looks. I know what he's saying."
On facing Baylor a second time:
"We're not sure if we will see (Gerry Bohanon) or the backup quarterback, so that will be different, but we are going to expect both. Schematically, they're the same team. They're an outside zone team and naked boot team. Toward the end of the season they ran more read option with Bohanon, but we don't know how much we're going to see that. He pulled a hamstring and from what we know it could be pretty serious. I hope he's healthy. I hope we get a 100% healthy Baylor. You don't like winning championships on a team that's not 100%."
On maintaining composure against Oklahoma:
"It's a big game with a lot of emotion in it. We don't like them and they don't like us. When bad things started to happen there in the third quarter with the safety and the muffed punt for a touchdown, everyone was kind of like here we go again type of deal. We had to get everyone's heads right. The position I took was to take care of my defensive line. Malcolm (Rodriguez) and Devin (Harper) took care of their guys. Guys like Tanner McCalister, Kolby (Harvell-Peel) and Jason Taylor II and that crew take care of the defensive backs. We worry about our own guys and that's kind of how we handled it."
Safety Tanner McCalister
On the possibility of making the College Football Playoff:
"It's hard not to look at it. I want to sit up here and say I'm thinking about this game, which obviously we are, but we know what's at stake. Like I said, the more you win, the more you get to play for. So, we're just trying to keep winning and how you do that is just focus day to day. Today, we came out to practice with a focus like we're going to win the day. I think we won today and we're going to try to win tomorrow and Thursday, then get some rest on Friday and try to win the day on Saturday. If that leads to the College Football Playoff, we're going to be excited. We're going to try to keep winning more games and we'll see what happens from there. Obviously all of us want to get there. That's a dream of all of ours. We're going to do our best and try as hard as we can to get there."
On the "No Quit" attitude of the team:
"We all see the bigger picture. Every time you win, you're just playing for more and I think we understand that. Like I said, nobody wants to lose. We all want to win. So, you don't want to be that guy, like Coach Gundy said, you don't want to be that guy that everybody's looking at like, 'What is he doing out there? Why is he not going 100%? Why is he not flying to the ball?' When you sit down and watch film the next day, you want to have some peace knowing I left it all out there. I think we all strive to do that every game."
On his big pass breakup on the final possession of the game:
"Honestly, I saw a guy running wide open. We were in a certain coverage where it was supposed to play out like that and I had to run and get over there. I saw [the receiver] throw his hands up and he actually caught the ball. And when I saw his hands go up I knew I had to rip his hands away and get that ball out and I did that."
Offensive Lineman Josh Sills
On what makes this year's team special:
"Honestly, I think it's just everyone's openness. You heard Tanner say, the offense and defense gets together; it's not separated. The defense doesn't just hang out with defense. The offense doesn't just hang out with offense. We intermingle. We go out to eat together. We hang out. I just think the biggest thing is just Coach Gundy and Coach Glass, and the culture that they've built here. You just put your head down and work. I think that's the biggest thing that I've bought into and that's similar where it is where I come from. It's a small town and everything you have, you had to work for. It kind of relates to me and that's the biggest reason.
On the importance of center Danny Godlevske:
"Danny's huge. Danny has a lot of experience. He's physical. He's super, super football savvy. He's super smart. The biggest thing to me that you can't replace is experience and Danny has a lot of that."
On offensive lineman Joe Michalski:
"Joe's done super well. He comes out to practice every day [and] works hard and gets better. He plays physical. He practices physical. [He] puts in the extra time watching film, meeting with Coach Dickey [and] Coach Meyers. [He] makes sure he has the game plan down like the back of his hand. He's done really well. [I'm] really proud of him."
Wide Receiver Brennan Presley
On how far the team has come:
"We just play for each other now. It's really simple. It's the guy next to me and I'm playing for him. You can see that with our team. No one's being selfish. If another guy scores, everybody on the bench is cheering. Nobody is like, 'Oh my gosh I wish that was me. I wish I was this and that.' We're happy for everybody, no matter who it is. Tay [Martin] can go out there and get eight touchdowns, I can get no catches, as long as we win the game, it doesn't matter to me. I think everybody else on this team has that same mindset whether it's offense, defense [or] special teams. We're making plays and we're happy for whoever's making plays, it doesn't matter who it is, and we know we can make those plays."
On the Bedlam win and celebration:
"It was like a dream come true, just because I've been watching the Bedlam games my whole life growing up. I've always had in my mind, if I ever got a chance to be in that game and get a chance to make a play in it, then I was going to do it. That was honestly like a dream."
On his kickoff return touchdown:
"I didn't know how deep I was. I was like two yards deep, but after the first one where I got 42 yards, I thought the first one was going to hit, so I was like, 'OK, OK I'm kind of in a groove."
Defensive Lineman Brock Martin
On Dave Aranda describing Malcolm Rodriguez as "slippery":
"I know first-hand how slippery he is. I played him six times in three years in high school. He's not an easy dude to tackle, and he never was even when he weighed 152 pounds. I know first-hand how slippery that guy is. Malcolm is strong, deceivingly strong, and he plays bigger than he looks. I know what he's saying."
On facing Baylor a second time:
"We're not sure if we will see (Gerry Bohanon) or the backup quarterback, so that will be different, but we are going to expect both. Schematically, they're the same team. They're an outside zone team and naked boot team. Toward the end of the season they ran more read option with Bohanon, but we don't know how much we're going to see that. He pulled a hamstring and from what we know it could be pretty serious. I hope he's healthy. I hope we get a 100% healthy Baylor. You don't like winning championships on a team that's not 100%."
On maintaining composure against Oklahoma:
"It's a big game with a lot of emotion in it. We don't like them and they don't like us. When bad things started to happen there in the third quarter with the safety and the muffed punt for a touchdown, everyone was kind of like here we go again type of deal. We had to get everyone's heads right. The position I took was to take care of my defensive line. Malcolm (Rodriguez) and Devin (Harper) took care of their guys. Guys like Tanner McCalister, Kolby (Harvell-Peel) and Jason Taylor II and that crew take care of the defensive backs. We worry about our own guys and that's kind of how we handled it."
Players Mentioned
OL
/ Cowboy Football
DE
/ Cowboy Football
S
/ Cowboy Football
OL
/ Cowboy Football
WR
/ Cowboy Football
LB
/ Cowboy Football
OL
/ Cowboy Football
S
/ Cowboy FootballTuesday, July 07
Tuesday, July 07
Friday, June 05
Friday, May 29
