Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU-Iowa State Postgame Quotes
November 29, 2025 | Cowboy Football
Oklahoma State interim head coach Doug Meacham
Opening Statement:
"I think defensively, we played well enough to win the game… They punted six times, that's pretty good… Offensively, we had spurts of really good stuff, but we had two turnovers… We've got to be able to punch it in the end zone when we get to the red area… Unfortunately, one of those two turnovers might have been the difference in the game… Hopefully, the guys coming back will learn some lessons from this year, I know I certainly have and I wish everyone luck."
Reflecting on this season:
"I appreciate Chad Weiberg for giving me the opportunity to do it, to choose me over some highly thought-of coaches… I appreciate him and his leadership and giving me the opportunity to get a feeling of what it's like to do it at this level… It's a great experience and something not many people get to experience so I appreciate that."
On new Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris:
"Coach Morris has a good staff coming in here, a bunch of good guys… He's a hell of a coach; I respect him immensely… I love what he does on offense and I know they improved a lot on defense this year as well… I think they did a great job picking Eric Morris… He's an old Texas Tech guy, an air raid guy… I look forward to what they do here, and I wish him all the best."
On interim defensive coordinator Clint Bowen:
"He's the greatest DC ever… That guy is all business and he's a hell of a football coach… Once he got his system in place, we played some winning defense… Hats off to him, he did a great job, and I'm cheering for him professionally."
OSU Wide Receiver Terrill Davis
On what he's learned this season:
"Don't take the losses and wins for granted. I just came from winning a conference championship in Division II and coming to this, and it's different for sure. So don't take any of that for granted. Just learning how to go through adversity. I feel like this season was all about adversity."
On the future of the program:
"I hope it goes good. I know the coach coming in; he recruited me while I was in the portal. He's a good coach, and I like what they do on offense. I loved it. He's really consistent. If he wants you, he'll come find you. He was a really good dude while he was recruiting me."
On the jump from Division II to Division I:
"I would just say getting used to the style of play. I come from an air raid, and coming here, it was a different style of play. So I would say,\ just getting used to that and getting more into blocking and all that stuff."
OSU Safety Raymond Gay II
On his last game as a Cowboy:
"It's kind of bittersweet. Coming in as a freshman, a young pup, I had all the older guys showing me the ropes and kind of leading the way. So now being in my fifth year, I'm a senior and this is my last game so just being able to pour into our younger guys and show them the ropes. I'm kind of sad that it's over, but it's time for the next chapter."
On the bond this team has:
"I feel like everyone who stayed or decided to stay, I feel like we were all bought into the program. Not a specific coach or specific player or things like that. We were bought into the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The ones that stayed, I feel like we had a strong bond, and we were able to stay together and fight."
On the fight he's had throughout his college career:
"Just going through so many changes and being able to persevere and be resilient and finish out the season strong. Just soaking in everything I've been through with different coaches, position switches and injuries. It can be a lot, but I'm trying to live in the moment and take it for what it is."
Oklahoma State interim defensive coordinator Clint Bowen
On the team sticking together:
"In terms of quitting, I credit our assistant coaches who continued to battle throughout and continued to build on them. Those kids weren't going to quit on each other because I think at some point in time, they embraced what it means to be a teammate. I never even felt a waver in our kids focus on doing what was right and what's best."
On what his next steps are:
"You know, this business is not a fairytale world, it's not sunshine and rainbows out here, it's the real world. In college football, you get fired and you move your family, and there are a lot of guys in this building who will be doing that. That's just the way it is. If you can't accept that, then don't be a football coach. Don't whine about it because no one cares. Eighty percent of people don't care about your problems, and the other 20 percent are happy you have them. It's the nature of this beast. If you don't want to be fired, then win, and we obviously didn't do that enough. So that's just what happens in this business. We'll figure this out."
On how this year has impacted him:
"It helped me in high school because it taught me just how important those kids' feelings are because high school kids are a little bit more sensitive and they haven't been exposed to the business of college football so they take things a little bit harder. You start to realize that what you say to young men can have a drastic impact on them. It helped me as a leader of young men because you start to realize that you can have an impact on people's lives, and this position does have an impact on people's lives. So I carried that into this experience because I knew going into this that it was going to be an opportunity for some young men to get better and do those things, and it improved my leadership skills for sure."
Oklahoma State running back Trent Howland
On what it felt like to get in the endzone:
"Man, it was exciting. I had the fumble early on in the game, obviously, but I forgot about it and knew that I needed to go out and finish this thing. I deserved to give it to them (the fans), but also myself. When they called the counter, I knew it was going in the endzone, and as soon as I saw everything open up, I just leapt in there. That put a big smile on my face."
On if he's learned anything about himself this season:
"One thing I'd say is that I battled a lot. Mentally, I've grown more from not getting the reps I think I deserve, or even when I've gotten them, I feel like I've left a lot out there on the field and not done enough for my team. So just mentally, I feel like I've grown, and that's going to help me in the future, especially if I get the opportunity to play at the next level and play a big role."
On what his next steps are:
"I'm figuring out now where I'll end up training at so I'll take advantage of that. When my Pro Day comes, try to put the best performance that I can for the coaches and let it take me wherever it goes."
Oklahoma State defensive back Parker Robertson
On Coach Clint Bowen:
"I think he did a great job getting us to go and getting the energy and effort up... He had a good scheme and good, hard coaching on us. I appreciate everything he did for us."
On how he'll look back on his college career:
"It'll be cool to show my kids one day, when I'm old and can't really walk around, to be like 'Your dad used to be able to play some ball!' So if we get out in the front yard or something, I'll have to show them a little something."
On what's next for him...
"I'm going to give it my best shot at the next level. I'm going to go back home and train up for the NFL Combine or Pro Day or whatever I get invited to and just give it my all and try to go to the next level."
On if he takes pride in the defense's performance...
"Most definitely. With everything that's gone on around us, we can only control what we can control. So on the defensive side of the ball, it's 'Let's get turnovers, let's help out, let's try to score on our own.' We just tried to put our offense in the best situation that we could, and we kept our head down, went out there and kept fighting."
Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell
On what it means to get eight wins:
"For this group to never waver, never flinch and actually just keep getting better through it is incredible. What a great testament to their belief and their ability to stay the course. They've given themselves a chance to do what very few teams here at Iowa State have done, and they got a chance to do something that only five teams in the history of the school have done because of their ability to stay the course and not waver. I'm really proud of it; it's really what I feel like our program has always stood for and to be able to see it come to life with this team was really awesome."
On the decision to go for it on fourth down in the beginning of the game:
"I've got great faith in that offensive line, who they've been all season has been tremendous. We didn't want to waver back and forth — we wanted to go win the football game. This group has fought back every step of the way, and we weren't going to flinch there. We didn't do much with it, but it was great that we got it."
On the defensive effort from a thin unit:
"It's incredible. Caden (Matson) played great today, Drew Surges has risen to exceptional level play the last three weeks. And I really think a lot of credit has to go to (Marcus Neal Jr.)... that guy is as good of a football player as we've had globally. His leadership last night — 8:30 at night, and there's all seven of those safeties sitting in his room talking about the game plan. And that's what people don't see behind the scenes is what's going on, and it's so powerful to watch. I thought again, David Coffey continues to play really good football. I feel like he's rising to become a super talented football player, and it's going to be really fun to watch him just keep going forward. And I thought the front six were outstanding again today. It was awesome to watch those guys."
On the offensive performance today:
"I feel like we were in control the whole game. We had a couple of those young pups at tight end have a couple of critical penalties that ended up negating some big plays. But I thought Rocco (Becht) was in great rhythm, I thought he played really good football today. I thought we were physical from the get-go, we ran the ball how we wanted to run the ball. (Oklahoma State) threw everything at us — you had six defensive linemen, eight d-linemen, five d-linemen. It was a lot. And a couple of times, we shot ourselves in the foot with some penalties so we'll have to clean those things up going forward.
Iowa State quarterback, Rocco Becht
On the passing game today:
"I think we did what we had to do in the passing game. The (OSU) defense came out and did a lot of different kind of looks. We expected them to come out with that, but they just pulled a lot on us — a lot of pressure, a lot of stress on the offensive line. And so we just did a really good job in protecting the football, getting the ball where it needed to be and making the plays when they were needed. All that matters is getting the win, no matter what the stats look like... and we made the plays that needed to be made in the moment."
On his evaluation of the season as a whole"
"This season is really special. We're going to look back at the season, and there's a lot of highs, there's a lot of lows, but man, I'm super proud of this team. It's really hard to go through a four-game losing streak and come back and win three games in a row. The team has a bunch of injuries, and for the guys that continue to come to the facility and want to work and want to get better, that shows a lot about the people that we have here in this program... I think for us to stay in in the facility, for us to focus on each other and know how special this season has been for us during the ups and downs — that's something that we're going to look back on for a while."
On overcoming the difficulties of the season:
"Honestly, it was really hard. There's a dark spot that I felt like I went into in that four-game losing streak that, mentally, I didn't think I was going to get out of. Luckily, I've got a lot of people by my side that I was able to talk to over that span. My teammates keep having my back, not giving up on me — that meant a lot to me. But man, to think about where we were and where I was to come out and end the year (on a three-game win streak), it's pretty special."
Iowa State wide receiver Chase Sowell
On the offensive effort today:
"I think just being on the same page is a big thing for us these past few weeks... If my job is to catch the ball, take a hit and get a first down, just to keep the drive going, then that's my job. Taking that next step to accept your role and accept the fact that that you're doing what's better for the team — I think we've all just bought into that."
On overcoming the difficulties of the season:
"I think it was hard for us to kind of find our identity again, just finding what we were doing wrong and what we needed to get corrected. I was prouder of how everybody responded to it, everybody being so curious to come back and find what they can do better to help the team win and find what their role can be to help the team win."
Iowa State linebacker Kooper Ebel
On the team's defensive performance:
"I thought we played great situationally… our backs were put against the wall, and we were able to come out and own the field. A lot of young guys and guys that haven't seen the field stepped up, and they came in and made some great plays… So there were just a lot of guys to be proud of today."
Iowa State defensive back Caden Matson
On secondary units staying ready:
"'Next guy up' is what Coach Broom texted me. 'Are you going to be ready? Are you going to prepare the same way?' Our room is awesome; I love every guy in there. We have a standard, and everyone knows what it has to look like so you just have to step up and play."
On the team's injuries:
"It just is what it is… You just have to fight through it and fight hard… It just sucks, and it is what it is, but we just have to keep playing."
Caden Matson on Coach Broomfield preparing players for gameday
"Broom's fantastic; a mind of the game is really what he is, so when we go through our week, he is good with tendencies, execution and little details… Today, I played a position I didn't play last week, and he coached me up and got me to where I needed to be… So he's just awesome."
Opening Statement:
"I think defensively, we played well enough to win the game… They punted six times, that's pretty good… Offensively, we had spurts of really good stuff, but we had two turnovers… We've got to be able to punch it in the end zone when we get to the red area… Unfortunately, one of those two turnovers might have been the difference in the game… Hopefully, the guys coming back will learn some lessons from this year, I know I certainly have and I wish everyone luck."
Reflecting on this season:
"I appreciate Chad Weiberg for giving me the opportunity to do it, to choose me over some highly thought-of coaches… I appreciate him and his leadership and giving me the opportunity to get a feeling of what it's like to do it at this level… It's a great experience and something not many people get to experience so I appreciate that."
On new Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris:
"Coach Morris has a good staff coming in here, a bunch of good guys… He's a hell of a coach; I respect him immensely… I love what he does on offense and I know they improved a lot on defense this year as well… I think they did a great job picking Eric Morris… He's an old Texas Tech guy, an air raid guy… I look forward to what they do here, and I wish him all the best."
On interim defensive coordinator Clint Bowen:
"He's the greatest DC ever… That guy is all business and he's a hell of a football coach… Once he got his system in place, we played some winning defense… Hats off to him, he did a great job, and I'm cheering for him professionally."
OSU Wide Receiver Terrill Davis
On what he's learned this season:
"Don't take the losses and wins for granted. I just came from winning a conference championship in Division II and coming to this, and it's different for sure. So don't take any of that for granted. Just learning how to go through adversity. I feel like this season was all about adversity."
On the future of the program:
"I hope it goes good. I know the coach coming in; he recruited me while I was in the portal. He's a good coach, and I like what they do on offense. I loved it. He's really consistent. If he wants you, he'll come find you. He was a really good dude while he was recruiting me."
On the jump from Division II to Division I:
"I would just say getting used to the style of play. I come from an air raid, and coming here, it was a different style of play. So I would say,\ just getting used to that and getting more into blocking and all that stuff."
OSU Safety Raymond Gay II
On his last game as a Cowboy:
"It's kind of bittersweet. Coming in as a freshman, a young pup, I had all the older guys showing me the ropes and kind of leading the way. So now being in my fifth year, I'm a senior and this is my last game so just being able to pour into our younger guys and show them the ropes. I'm kind of sad that it's over, but it's time for the next chapter."
On the bond this team has:
"I feel like everyone who stayed or decided to stay, I feel like we were all bought into the program. Not a specific coach or specific player or things like that. We were bought into the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The ones that stayed, I feel like we had a strong bond, and we were able to stay together and fight."
On the fight he's had throughout his college career:
"Just going through so many changes and being able to persevere and be resilient and finish out the season strong. Just soaking in everything I've been through with different coaches, position switches and injuries. It can be a lot, but I'm trying to live in the moment and take it for what it is."
Oklahoma State interim defensive coordinator Clint Bowen
On the team sticking together:
"In terms of quitting, I credit our assistant coaches who continued to battle throughout and continued to build on them. Those kids weren't going to quit on each other because I think at some point in time, they embraced what it means to be a teammate. I never even felt a waver in our kids focus on doing what was right and what's best."
On what his next steps are:
"You know, this business is not a fairytale world, it's not sunshine and rainbows out here, it's the real world. In college football, you get fired and you move your family, and there are a lot of guys in this building who will be doing that. That's just the way it is. If you can't accept that, then don't be a football coach. Don't whine about it because no one cares. Eighty percent of people don't care about your problems, and the other 20 percent are happy you have them. It's the nature of this beast. If you don't want to be fired, then win, and we obviously didn't do that enough. So that's just what happens in this business. We'll figure this out."
On how this year has impacted him:
"It helped me in high school because it taught me just how important those kids' feelings are because high school kids are a little bit more sensitive and they haven't been exposed to the business of college football so they take things a little bit harder. You start to realize that what you say to young men can have a drastic impact on them. It helped me as a leader of young men because you start to realize that you can have an impact on people's lives, and this position does have an impact on people's lives. So I carried that into this experience because I knew going into this that it was going to be an opportunity for some young men to get better and do those things, and it improved my leadership skills for sure."
Oklahoma State running back Trent Howland
On what it felt like to get in the endzone:
"Man, it was exciting. I had the fumble early on in the game, obviously, but I forgot about it and knew that I needed to go out and finish this thing. I deserved to give it to them (the fans), but also myself. When they called the counter, I knew it was going in the endzone, and as soon as I saw everything open up, I just leapt in there. That put a big smile on my face."
On if he's learned anything about himself this season:
"One thing I'd say is that I battled a lot. Mentally, I've grown more from not getting the reps I think I deserve, or even when I've gotten them, I feel like I've left a lot out there on the field and not done enough for my team. So just mentally, I feel like I've grown, and that's going to help me in the future, especially if I get the opportunity to play at the next level and play a big role."
On what his next steps are:
"I'm figuring out now where I'll end up training at so I'll take advantage of that. When my Pro Day comes, try to put the best performance that I can for the coaches and let it take me wherever it goes."
Oklahoma State defensive back Parker Robertson
On Coach Clint Bowen:
"I think he did a great job getting us to go and getting the energy and effort up... He had a good scheme and good, hard coaching on us. I appreciate everything he did for us."
On how he'll look back on his college career:
"It'll be cool to show my kids one day, when I'm old and can't really walk around, to be like 'Your dad used to be able to play some ball!' So if we get out in the front yard or something, I'll have to show them a little something."
On what's next for him...
"I'm going to give it my best shot at the next level. I'm going to go back home and train up for the NFL Combine or Pro Day or whatever I get invited to and just give it my all and try to go to the next level."
On if he takes pride in the defense's performance...
"Most definitely. With everything that's gone on around us, we can only control what we can control. So on the defensive side of the ball, it's 'Let's get turnovers, let's help out, let's try to score on our own.' We just tried to put our offense in the best situation that we could, and we kept our head down, went out there and kept fighting."
Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell
On what it means to get eight wins:
"For this group to never waver, never flinch and actually just keep getting better through it is incredible. What a great testament to their belief and their ability to stay the course. They've given themselves a chance to do what very few teams here at Iowa State have done, and they got a chance to do something that only five teams in the history of the school have done because of their ability to stay the course and not waver. I'm really proud of it; it's really what I feel like our program has always stood for and to be able to see it come to life with this team was really awesome."
On the decision to go for it on fourth down in the beginning of the game:
"I've got great faith in that offensive line, who they've been all season has been tremendous. We didn't want to waver back and forth — we wanted to go win the football game. This group has fought back every step of the way, and we weren't going to flinch there. We didn't do much with it, but it was great that we got it."
On the defensive effort from a thin unit:
"It's incredible. Caden (Matson) played great today, Drew Surges has risen to exceptional level play the last three weeks. And I really think a lot of credit has to go to (Marcus Neal Jr.)... that guy is as good of a football player as we've had globally. His leadership last night — 8:30 at night, and there's all seven of those safeties sitting in his room talking about the game plan. And that's what people don't see behind the scenes is what's going on, and it's so powerful to watch. I thought again, David Coffey continues to play really good football. I feel like he's rising to become a super talented football player, and it's going to be really fun to watch him just keep going forward. And I thought the front six were outstanding again today. It was awesome to watch those guys."
On the offensive performance today:
"I feel like we were in control the whole game. We had a couple of those young pups at tight end have a couple of critical penalties that ended up negating some big plays. But I thought Rocco (Becht) was in great rhythm, I thought he played really good football today. I thought we were physical from the get-go, we ran the ball how we wanted to run the ball. (Oklahoma State) threw everything at us — you had six defensive linemen, eight d-linemen, five d-linemen. It was a lot. And a couple of times, we shot ourselves in the foot with some penalties so we'll have to clean those things up going forward.
Iowa State quarterback, Rocco Becht
On the passing game today:
"I think we did what we had to do in the passing game. The (OSU) defense came out and did a lot of different kind of looks. We expected them to come out with that, but they just pulled a lot on us — a lot of pressure, a lot of stress on the offensive line. And so we just did a really good job in protecting the football, getting the ball where it needed to be and making the plays when they were needed. All that matters is getting the win, no matter what the stats look like... and we made the plays that needed to be made in the moment."
On his evaluation of the season as a whole"
"This season is really special. We're going to look back at the season, and there's a lot of highs, there's a lot of lows, but man, I'm super proud of this team. It's really hard to go through a four-game losing streak and come back and win three games in a row. The team has a bunch of injuries, and for the guys that continue to come to the facility and want to work and want to get better, that shows a lot about the people that we have here in this program... I think for us to stay in in the facility, for us to focus on each other and know how special this season has been for us during the ups and downs — that's something that we're going to look back on for a while."
On overcoming the difficulties of the season:
"Honestly, it was really hard. There's a dark spot that I felt like I went into in that four-game losing streak that, mentally, I didn't think I was going to get out of. Luckily, I've got a lot of people by my side that I was able to talk to over that span. My teammates keep having my back, not giving up on me — that meant a lot to me. But man, to think about where we were and where I was to come out and end the year (on a three-game win streak), it's pretty special."
Iowa State wide receiver Chase Sowell
On the offensive effort today:
"I think just being on the same page is a big thing for us these past few weeks... If my job is to catch the ball, take a hit and get a first down, just to keep the drive going, then that's my job. Taking that next step to accept your role and accept the fact that that you're doing what's better for the team — I think we've all just bought into that."
On overcoming the difficulties of the season:
"I think it was hard for us to kind of find our identity again, just finding what we were doing wrong and what we needed to get corrected. I was prouder of how everybody responded to it, everybody being so curious to come back and find what they can do better to help the team win and find what their role can be to help the team win."
Iowa State linebacker Kooper Ebel
On the team's defensive performance:
"I thought we played great situationally… our backs were put against the wall, and we were able to come out and own the field. A lot of young guys and guys that haven't seen the field stepped up, and they came in and made some great plays… So there were just a lot of guys to be proud of today."
Iowa State defensive back Caden Matson
On secondary units staying ready:
"'Next guy up' is what Coach Broom texted me. 'Are you going to be ready? Are you going to prepare the same way?' Our room is awesome; I love every guy in there. We have a standard, and everyone knows what it has to look like so you just have to step up and play."
On the team's injuries:
"It just is what it is… You just have to fight through it and fight hard… It just sucks, and it is what it is, but we just have to keep playing."
Caden Matson on Coach Broomfield preparing players for gameday
"Broom's fantastic; a mind of the game is really what he is, so when we go through our week, he is good with tendencies, execution and little details… Today, I played a position I didn't play last week, and he coached me up and got me to where I needed to be… So he's just awesome."
Players Mentioned
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