The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Iowa State quotes
10.23.2010 | Football
Oct. 23, 2010
TEXAS COACHES
Head Coach Mack Brown
Opening statement: I want to congratulate (Iowa State head coach) Paul Rhoads. They've had two really difficult weeks. About the time you sit around and think something can't happen, it does. He had his team ready to play today. Ours was still sitting around and thinking about how well we played at Nebraska, and sat around and got beat. I thought they were better coached than we were. I thought they tried harder than we did. They definitely made more plays than we did. I do not want to take anything away from him. He did the same thing in Lincoln last year. It scared me to death all week. He got his team ready.
What we did was totally unacceptable. There were some guys that played really well. I told them in the dressing room that I'll congratulate them tomorrow. It's a shame nobody will ever know it except the coaches.
We told them [that] we'll look at every play very closely and see what needs to be changed. Four turnovers for us, gaining one against them - we're still not forcing turnovers, and we're not protecting the ball on a weekly basis. We've done it for two games. We haven't done it consistently for the year.
To rush for 96 yards and give up 199 yards, the defense didn't stop the run. This game was very similar to UCLA with the arrogance we played with after we beat Tech on defense. Our defense didn't go out there and line up and stop them. What our offense did for three quarters is unacceptable having six points in this ballgame. Kicking field goals, and we even missed a field goal. We lined up for a fourth-and-one and got offsides and didn't make it, which is unacceptable. We missed a field goal, which we haven't been doing. We threw an interception in the end zone, which we haven't been doing. We get the ball back with a turnover at the end of the game with a chance to win, and we turn it back over on the [next] play. We have a third-and-18, and we hit his arm and their guy goes and gets it and our guy is standing there watching. It's tough. We didn't play well.
We said during the week that this team is not good enough to beat anybody unless they all come out and play as a team. They didn't. Coaches did a poor job, obviously. I told the players it's hard to figure out whether you blame coaches or players. The players didn't get ready to play, and it's the coaches' job to get them ready to play. That's my job to get the coaches ready to play.
We've got a lot of work to do before we play Baylor next week. I'm really disappointed.
On the practices last week: Tuesday I thought was a little slow. There was a lot of soreness. The linebackers didn't practice all week. I expected them to have some trouble today and they did. I thought Wednesday's practice was really good. Thursday's practice was great. I was worried when I walked out there pregame, because I thought they were standing out there with an arrogance. It really worried me. Then we started the game that way. We seemed to play that way until we decided we were going to win with about 12 minutes to go.
On Iowa State's 74-yard punt: I thought we should've caught it in the air.
On if the players' leadership is to blame: You can blame whoever you want. It doesn't matter. It's everybody's fault. It's called a team for a reason. It's called a family for the same reason. It's everybody's fault. I come in here and blame me - obviously, it's all of us. We can blame players. It doesn't do any good. All you can do is bench them.
On the running game: I don't know. I thought we started last week with a running game. Obviously we didn't play well today for three quarters at all. I'm really disappointed. This is as disappointed as I've been in our offense.
On if the team's offense troubles him: Last week, yes, they played great. It mystified me. This week they stunk, and it mystified me. Yes, I get mystified. Coaches get confused. There are a lot of things going on, and you've got to figure out what it is and fix it. It's always a group of things. That's why coaches can't come in here and tell you what went wrong until we see the film. I know what you know. I know we lost the game, and I know we stunk. I don't know who played well. I'll figure that out tonight.
On what's going to change at practice: We'll take out the guys that didn't play well if we can find one who can play better and let him step up. That's it. We've been practicing the same for 13 years and it's worked pretty good.
On if this team reminds him of another team: Yes, '07. This team is '07 all over again. You don't ever know who's going to show up. It scares you to death. I felt it in pregame, like I said. I was scared to death all week. I kept telling everybody Iowa State is going to play as hard as they can. I kept telling everybody that if we sit around and think we're as good as we played at Lincoln all week and listen to it all week, then we'll stink. That's what we did.
On if he can draw from what happened in 2007: I'm trying. I'm fighting my guts out to get them to turn. That's what I did in '07. I fought my guts out every day. You've got to stay after it every day. You've got to go back and every day look at every little thing you're doing and figure out where it can help.
On if the team's attitude changed throughout the game: It changed in the fourth quarter when they thought they might get beat. I'm proud of the way they fought in the fourth quarter. If they played like that all day, it would've been a blowout.
On what needs to change on offense: I don't know. We'll have to see. Something is wrong with the offense. We've got to get it fixed.
On where he saw the momentum shift: The defense walked out there and stunk when we kicked the second field goal. They drove it the length of the field and went up 21-6. Then at the end, when the defense got a turnover, the offense goes out and Garrett [Gilbert] has the ball pop out of his hands because one of the linemen didn't block. They get it right back. We just kept killing ourselves. I never thought we'd lose the game. I thought with a minute left we'd still get it, because they weren't stopping us. We're not answering. We're not a team that's answering.
On if there was a lack of effort on defense: It's hard to tell. Not when they're stopping them and getting the ball back. There are 199 yards rushing. That's not good.
On QB Garrett Gilbert: Some plays he's playing great. Obviously the three interceptions we'll have to go back and look at.
On who didn't play: [Jackson] Jeffcoat didn't play. Emmanuel Acho didn't play. Keenan [Robinson] didn't practice much all week. [Kenny] Vaccaro didn't practice much all week. Jared Norton didn't practice all week. In pregame, they tried Emmanuel and he couldn't run. They tried Jeffcoat - he couldn't run. I don't know how much Norton played. Keenan played a lot.
On where he goes from here: Well I'm disappointed. What you can do is go scream at all of them. Some of them played well. You have to be careful that you don't scream at all of them. What I'll do is go home. I'll take a shower, clean up and sit down and watch the film about three times tonight and try to put some sense to it and figure out who didn't play well. Usually there are six, eight that didn't play well. There will be a bunch of them that played well. It's confusing how to fix it. A team like UCLA, a team like Iowa State that came in without confidence - we didn't jump out and keep their confidence down. We let them gain confidence during the game. It's a weird sport. It's a momentum sport. Both of those games were very similar.
Offensive coordinator Greg Davis
On what happened offensively today: We had four turnovers, and I think that obviously is a huge part of not putting more points on the board. We had two different times in the end zone where we had to kick field goals, and that hurt us a lot.
On WR John Chiles: I think that John is about to be healthy for the first time in awhile. He went through a severe groin injury and because of that he did not practice much. He is a good player. I think that he is closer to being well now, and because of that he made some good plays tonight.
On the offense's lack of explosive plays at the beginning of the game: Usually with something like that, it is a bunch of different things. One of the things that we started the game with was a bunch of short throws. We got some throws to Mike [Davis] early, and we had a throw to James [Kirkendoll] early. Some of the first half was a little bit by design. We were not stretching the field as much as maybe we should have.
On RB D.J. Monroe's lack of playing time: We just felt like, especially as the game went on, that it was a game that we were playing from behind. As we talked about before, there are some limitations there, but obviously he got in there on one play and gave us an 11-yard run. We have to do a better job of getting him the ball.
On where the team goes from here: I think we just need to see what we can when we watch the film, and see what we can do to give our players the best opportunity to be successful.
Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp
On what wasn't executed as well in today's game: Poor in pass rush lanes at times. Poor on the zone read, [and] conversions on third down in the second half. We had opportunities to get off the field and we didn't. Those are the things that show up­- the zone read or something when we played well. I saw we missed a couple of tackles and allowed some scrambling for sixty yards in the game on the quarterback. Third down in the second half, and they don't get off the field. And we've got third-and-long opportunities several times, and we don't capitalize. We only created one turnover for our team. We've got to generate turnovers for our football team.
On what he thinks needs to be improved: I think our consistent play has got to improve. That's really the bottom line. We've got to play more consistent - go back to focus coaching. You can go back to a lot of different things, and I don't think you put your finger on one thing and say, "this is where it is."
TEXAS PLAYERS
DE Sam Acho
On the lack of energy today: We did not come out excited. They got up early, and we just were not ready to play.
On how to explain the lack of energy after the UCLA game: It is hard to explain. We are going to go back and watch the film and make changes from here on out.
On the game today: Any time you are playing college football in this day and age, you have to come prepared and come ready to play. You have to play with excitement and passion, and we did not have that today. So you have to give credit to Iowa State for having that today. We just did not have it.
On learning from this game: You just have to look at it and learn to prepare better. You have to learn from this and keep on moving.
On playing with excitement: If you watch a game like this, it shows what happens when you do not play excited, and you do not play hard. It is just something you have to do week-in and week-out. That is the only way to win.
On LB Emmanuel Acho not playing today: It is a team game. If someone goes down, someone else has to step up and fill in.
CB Curtis Brown
On the loss: We are all down. We all feel like we didn't perform as well as we know we could have. I feel like we got a little complacent after last week and didn't put the effort like we did against Nebraska. We just have to change that so every week from now on, we just have to prepare like they're the best team we'll play all year.
On sensing a letdown in pregame: I honestly didn't think so. When we started it just seemed like it was slow. It wasn't up to beat. It just wasn't us.
On Iowa State doing anything differently on offense: They executed their plan. They came in and weren't worried about our past wins or their past losses. They came and played football, so I tip my hat to them because they came and executed.
On the team not having great energy: I didn't sense it before the game. I thought we were prepared, but after it started rolling it just wasn't feeling right. We just weren't doing what we're exactly supposed to do. It wasn't clicking today.
On being surprised with the loss: You never know with these football teams now. They had losses, but any team that comes into your house and executes their game plan right - they have a chance to win. That's exactly what they did, and we didn't step up to the plate.
WR John Chiles
On Coach Brown's postgame words: He told us to get ready for next week - check this one off. Everybody has to stay together. This isn't the time to pull apart; we have to pull together and become a team.
On coming into the game unprepared: Sometimes teams can catch you sleeping like that. I'm not sure if it was energy or the game, but whatever it is we have to get it fixed.
On feelings of the team following the loss: We're frustrated. We win a lot, and we get used to winning. So I think we just took it for granted. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but we have to look at the film and figure it out and get it fixed. I thought after UCLA and Nebraska, the team kind of grew up and gelled a little. So I thought we were going to get the ball rolling and finish the season the right way. It didn't work out like that, so we need to get prepared for next week.
On persevering despite the third loss: We have to keep on playing each and every game like we are going to win the national championship. We have to keep on playing, keep on going, keep on working hard and gel as a team.
S Blake Gideon
On his feelings following the loss: I think I'm just as stunned as everybody is. Obviously, this isn't what is expected at The University of Texas. We don't come here to get off to a 4-3 start. It was just bad today. I don't know how else to say it. It was bad. The scoreboard reflected it, and so we're just going to have to go back to work.
On what went wrong for the team today: I think obviously we didn't start very well. We kind of got a little fire going in the fourth quarter, but you can't do that. It has to be constant. We have to come out, start on fire like we did in Lincoln and be able to finish games at the same time. It's not a one-quarter game, so we still have yet to put together four quarters.
On the difference in the team from last week to this week: We talked the whole week about not wanting to be the team that had the hangover from a big emotional win. It's hard coming off of a game like Nebraska. We have enough older guys on this team that we need to be able to put the past in the past and start over at the beginning of every week. You could definitely tell there was a little bit of hangover this week, but we're just going to have to start over.
On persevering despite three losses: There are still games to play, and there are still opportunities for us to go out there and play Texas football. We're never going to stop. We're never going to give up, and we don't need people to convince us that the season isn't lost. We're never going to stop.
QB Garrett Gilbert
On fixing one thing to improve his play next week: Obviously, when plays get extended, sometimes just forcing the ball and trying to make a play when maybe the defense has a better call than they do.
On the team's effort: We didn't come out with energy, and that's on us as a team and that's on us as leaders.
On the team's attitude throughout the game: We felt like we stayed positive; trying to find a spark somewhere, trying to get everyone going, trying to get something to get us excited. And offensively, we didn't do that until it was too late.
On what went wrong during this game: I think it comes down to just making mistakes. There's no excuse for that, obviously. Turning the ball over is what killed us. We're going to have to go back to work, take a look at it and improve on it.
On his range of emotions: It simply is just disappointed. We didn't come out with the energy we would have liked to, and it cost us. Forcing too many balls, making too many mistakes.
On if he saw anything different with Iowa State's defense in this game: I don't know if there was anything that they were doing differently. Our receivers did a good job - trying to find open spaces on extended plays, [and] being able to make plays after the call.
OL Kyle Hix
On the difference between today's game and last week: I really couldn't tell you. We just need to grow up as an offense and come together and not blame each other. We need to get back to work.
On if the running game was a factor: I thought the running game was there in the beginning, but when you fall behind like that, you have to start throwing the ball to catch up. We just got behind too fast, and we had to start throwing. But I thought the running game was there.
On what he told Garrett Gilbert throughout the game: I just told him to keep his head up. We were driving and coming back in the fourth quarter, and we just had to keep believing. But it didn't work out for us today.
OL Michael Huey
On the team's effort: You look at the fourth quarter, and we're coming back. We are a team that's going to keep fighting, and we're never going to lay down. I don't think there's any point where I'd say we were done.
On the team's performance after what happened against UCLA: You just look at a train of inconsistencies. I guess we just got complacent, and it resulted in a loss.
On if the players have taken ownership: Of course. We don't want to lose. We take ownership of our unit, of our side of the ball, of our team. This week is going to be a huge workweek for us.
On the first three quarters: I think we just started slow. I feel like we couldn't get things clicking. Once we started rolling, things started to pick up. Then we ran out of time, and we beat ourselves.
DE Eddie Jones
On what went wrong today: We just have to go back to the film, see what we did well and what we did wrong. It's hard to put into words right now.
On if the difference in intensity was surprising: I think they came out just like we did last week after coming off of two losses. All you can do is hope for someone to come in and give you their best. We're Texas - we get everyone else's best, and you just have to go out there and play to a standard.
On what he does as a leader of the team: We have a 24-hour rule. We're going to let this one settle in. It's our third loss of the year. You never want to lose. We've lost two games at home back-to-back. We are going to have to go back to the drawing board tomorrow, learn from our mistakes and try to get better.
On the atmosphere in the locker room: We're upset. It's a loss. You have to deal with it.
On if anything Iowa State did surprised them: We didn't have defense. We didn't play to the defense's standard.
On the importance of forcing turnovers: It's a big key. We go into the game looking for three turnovers, and we only got one today. Penalties and turnovers will always determine the outcome of the game, and we didn't get enough [turnovers] today.
RB Tre' Newton
On the loss: It hurts a lot. Our goal every week is just to go out and get a win, but there are obviously a lot of things we need to improve on as a team. We just need to come together and get better. You have to give Iowa State their credit, but we have a lot of things to fix and do better.
On the team mindset coming into the game: We knew all the risks coming off the Nebraska win. We just needed to come in here as a team and just be together and be excited about doing our work, and that just didn't happen for us today.
On where you go from here: We just got to go back to the practice field and get to work. Improve and get better.
On how the team feels: It's not a good feeling. Nobody likes losing. Nobody on our team likes losing, so we just have to hit the practice field, listen to what the coaches say and come together as a team more and get to work.
On sensing a letdown in pregame: I feel like we had a pretty good week of practice. I don't know too much about that. I just focus on what I have to do and things like that, and just worry about the running backs and us as a group. We just have to come together as a team and get excited about our work each week. This proves that you can't take a week off. You've got to come ready to play every week, and that's what we have to do.
DT Kheeston Randall
On whether or not the team was unprepared to play today: I wouldn't say we weren't ready to play. We just had some tribulations, and we didn't bounce back from them. That's something we have to work on this upcoming week in practice and get ready for Baylor. Some people weren't focused on the game today. We have to do a better job of making sure we are focused for next week's game.
On similarities to the UCLA loss: None of us planned on losing. We're winners here at Texas, and losing is something that is unacceptable for us. We just have to bounce back and play better this upcoming Saturday.
On lack of turnovers caused by Texas: I guess we have to do better because we haven't been getting any. We just have to help the offense out. Help give them a shorter field. We have to get off the field on third downs. We just have a lot to work on.
On the defensive play following turnovers: Coach Muschamp always says to have a firefight attitude no matter what happens. We have to go out and do our job, and we didn't do that to the best of our abilities today.
On thoughts following the loss: It's bad for the program. We have to give Iowa State credit - they beat us today. But we just shouldn't lose to certain teams here at Texas. Whether it's home or on the road, we just don't want to lose.
IOWA STATE COACHES
Head Coach Paul Rhoads
On today's game: I am very humbled to be sitting here coaching this program on a day of a historic game for Iowa State University. This is the first win over The University of Texas. It's the last school in the Big 12 that we haven't beat. We are proud of that accomplishment. There are two groups that I would like to say thank you to. First of all, my coaching staff. They had an unbelievable effort to continue to coach and teach and develop game plans. Secondly, our players. We have given up 120 points over the last two weeks. To stay focused, persevere, and trust in that coaching and go back to work every day, and think that you can win a ball game against the No. 22-ranked football team in the nation in one of the most traditional places to pay college football, it's a huge credit to our football players.
On recovering from the last two week's losses: I'm sure there are some people in here who have had children that are 18, 19, and 20 years old, and they are a hard group to figure out. We came to play today. We were focused, resilient, and we executed better. I'm not saying we didn't come to play against Utah and Oklahoma - we just came to play and played better this week. We fought for 60 minutes and executed our assignments. The difference between this game and Oklahoma is that we had early success. With that early success, we built confidence.
On Iowa State LB Jacob Lattimer: He took the starting role and ran with it. He has been improving. He's never played defensive end. He played outside linebacker, but he is growing into this position and he is getting comfortable. He has got good explosion, and he used that to his advantage today. He is a tough, hard-nosed football player.
On the team's final defensive stand in the fourth quarter: I didn't say a word to them. I didn't need to. I was speaking a lot throughout the entire game, but I didn't need to during that drive. They knew what was left, and they knew what they had to do.
On the team's offensive performance: I thought Tom [Herman] called a great game. I will add that I think he listened to me. We were smart on first and second down, and we put ourselves in makeable third down situations. Very rarely were we third and long. I thought he called a heck of a game.
IOWA STATE PLAYERS
P Kirby Van Der Kamp
On winning at Texas: It was very exciting and such a great game. It got close in the fourth quarter and we were getting nervous, but pulling it out just feels awesome.
On the importance of field position: The coaches didn't have to say anything about that, but I feel I could have had a little better hang time and direction. And overall I think I did a good job. My shield did a awesome job containing them, too, because they are a rush team.
OL Alex Alvarez
On Texas' defensive line: I give them credit. They are a great team and watching them on film we worked pretty hard this week, and we knew what they were going to do and we went out and executed.
On the play of the ISU offensive line: I think we had to step it up and today it showed. We played a lot better than we could have played in past games. A lot of it is because we take it on ourselves and that we have to get better, do things right and execute.
RB Jeff Woody
On imagining beating Texas: We imagined doing it. We had a great week of practice and had great focus coming into the game, so we anticipated playing well. But when you see that scoreboard, it is still a belief you have beating a team with as much history and status as Texas. It is an incredible feeling.
On what the win will do for the program: Confidence and momentum. When you win, you don't feel anything and when you lose, those bumps and bruises hurt. The toughness. The feeling that you have. You are proud to be a Cyclone, and you want to come to practice. Now we want to come and build on Texas.