The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Iowa State quotes
10.19.2014 | Football
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TEXAS QUOTES
Head coach Charlie Strong
Opening statement: Wow, I didn't know it would end like that, wow. You look at our offense, and you watch 'em grow up, and you watch Tyrone [Swoopes] get better and better every game. They were able to throw the deep ball tonight and [Jaxon] Shipley got that pass interference, and he comes back and makes a big catch down the sideline and 9, [John] Harris, continues to be our guy, and you look at the catches he makes, he makes such big catches and he's able to get the ball in his hand. We made a change-up with our offensive line. Did a really good job of protecting the quarterback, and the backs ran hard.
Not very pleased with our defense, thought we could have played better than we did, but it's always a good test when you can wake guys up. Sometimes you think you're better than what you are, and defensively we know we can improve but watching Nick Rose hit those two field goals. We have struggled in the kicking game. We got some life tonight with Hot Rod, [Roderick] Bernard returning the kick-off. Just happy to get the win. We know we had a lot of mistakes; we feel good about it, that we can get it corrected, and we got a week to get it done before we travel to play Kansas State.
On the team needing to learn how to win and finally getting it done: More than anything I think it's an overall attitude. Now, you get a shot of juice, and just to come back, watch us, we drive and score and going end-to-end and defensively let them move the ball down the field, which is surprising, because you have 1:15 on the clock and they do that with no effort at all, and they make the big play. Actually I was going to send the game into overtime. I said, "Hey, let's wait and see how many yards we get on this kick-off return," and Hot Rod was able to get the ball out, and I thought, hey, let's go for one, and Shipley ran by the defender and next play Harris was able to get outside, but this is just -- overall attitude is going to be great.
On the enormous leap Tyrone Swoopes has made over the last month: It's hard to explain because I go back to spring practice and the spring game was, like, wow, can he play quarterback? I was going to tell him to move to another position. Just to see -- you know, you start to see the -- I named [David] Ash the quarterback early to help his confidence and then we go into the first game and lose him and what is great is that we had a week to prepare Tyrone, because if it had happened in the middle of that game, I don't know if his confidence would be where it is right now, because he would have had to go in and not be prepared to be the quarterback and now he goes in playing quarterback and then just watch him continue to get better and better. He's fun to watch now.
On what was wrong with the defense tonight: Just making plays. We didn't make plays on defense. We allowed the guy to sit back and throw the football. It was just technique more than anything, fundamentals and technique. We need the defensive back to be inside, and he sat outside, and he threw the slant route, and if you look at it was a 3-by-1 formation, so the ball was going to go to the one receiver's side, or it was going to go to No. 3, which was the tight end. Those were the only guys they were throwing the ball to.
I said, "Guys, they been throwing the ball to two people. All we have to do is cover them with cut, split. You know they are going to throw the underneath routes, and they are going to come and get the ball. But, you know, they needed a wake-up call, because I think our defense was feeling too good about themselves, and this will get them back down to earth.
On what it does for the offense to have a day like this: It's really great and it's great to see that happen for our offense because our defense has been getting all the press, and everyone has been talking about how bad our offense is, and for them to come back and score the points that they scored, it's going to help them more than anything, because you think about how they're going to start feeling about themselves, and even last week against Oklahoma we were able to move the ball.
I felt like even last week if we could have made one stop and got the ball back for our offense, we could drive the ball down the field.
On what was his mentality not wanting to go to overtime: No, no, I said let's see where the ball ends up. I was going to go into overtime. I was going to say take a knee to overtime, because I didn't think they could stop us on the offense, but once we ended up where we did with the kick-off return. I said, let's take a shot.
Then we make the big play. We get it up to the 32, I said how many more yards did we need for him to get into field goal range where he's going to make it. I said, don't tell me the ball is on the 30 yard line. I need to know he's going to make it. So we had to get five and then they go man to press and pressed outside and Harris ended up beating them down the sideline.
On if he was serious about switching Swoopes' position: No, I'm joking, I wasn't going to switch him, what else was he going to play but quarterback? No, I'm joking.
On if there was something different they designed for Swoopes that enabled his ability to run for 95 yards: No, what we told Tyrone -- Shawn and I sat down with him, we said you have to understand you're not a pocket quarterback. If something breaks down you're going to have to use your legs. You're big, you're strong, you're physical, you're fast, you're athletic and maybe with a body like yours, you don't want to overthink it. So don't be afraid to take off running with the ball and then, you know, that week he was off, at first he kind of stood in there and acted like he was afraid to release the football. But now with bringing the pressure, you look at what happened tonight, they brought pressure and he was able to get the ball to the outside.
The one that we thought we wanted him to hand, it would have been lights out to 28, and he kept it before we scored the last drive there. Just to watch him and his foot work and how physical he's playing. He's playing very smart.
On if this could be the moment that helps Swoopes' confidence: Well, you know what, it's getting like that week, bye week, because even at Oklahoma I thought he played very well. But this one tonight is going to be very good for him, because like you say, talk about a signature win and for him to make the throws that he made and just manage the whole offense. The one bad play he had was on the interception, when he tried to throw his ball across his body; he released it into the stands, and ended up second down, and then it was 14-7 and it could have been 21-7 and not been coming down to the end like we did.
On if there was anything he said to them at the end about finishing the game: No, we talked about it just in our meetings and just even today at pregame we just talked about there is somebody that needs to make a play. At some point somebody needs to stand up and start just leading the team and put 'em on their shoulders, and it's amazing to watch Tyrone and you look at us on defense. We didn't play well tonight, but we got us a stop and got a touchdown with [Dylan] Haines -- actually Haines, he gambled on the one interception, which is great. Sometimes you have to take that chance, and he ended up taking a chance and got that score. You know guys made plays. You look at 9 [John Harris] making a play, Ship made plays, Tyrone, even 28, [Malcolm] Brown, 32 [Johnathan Gray], and then on defense we know we have enough playmakers there, we just have to play a lot better.
On if Swoopes is maturing in being able to take the pressure in the pocket: It's all about the confidence with the offensive line. You look at it, you're right, he stood in there. They brought a lot of pressure and kept blitzing, and sometimes they would turn a guy loose, but he just hung in there and made sure he released the football, and a lot of them were deep balls which are easier to deliver, because now it's one-on-one and you have the ball up for grabs you have to take the football from him, or somebody's gotta go make a play. But just him having the confidence in his offensive line and where he's feeling a lot better now and that O-line we look at it tonight, I started Camrhon Hughes at the one tackle, and we call him NCAA, no contact at all, no contact at practice. My man don't block anybody, but we ended up starting him tonight. NCAA, I saw him, I was like, wow! Sometimes that's all you have. That's what you play with.
On the improvements the offense has made and who deserves the credit: You look at [Shawn] Wat[son] and [Joe] Wick[line], and the thing about it is, you talk about those quarterback run plays, that's all they probably did at Oklahoma State, and that's what he inserted for us, because they ran the ball a lot with their quarterback and that's -- we knew that with Tyrone we needed something different, something that would get him started. So now with Wick installing the quarterback runs and the power play and the read play, it's really helped our offense. More than anything, the offensive line has really grown, and when you look at it, I know week by week we talk about it, but they have gotten better and better and better, and we may have given up one or two sacks, but at least we're protecting the quarterback, and he has the confidence to stand in there and make the throws. Before you felt like sometimes the quarterback will bail too soon but now you see Tyrone sitting in there and the offensive line is getting better. It's fun to watch them, there is not much of them but the few that we have they're trying to do what we ask them to do.
On Nick Rose hitting field goals, William Russ punting well and the special teams effort: Yes, I like Rose. He banged the one field goal, and with 7 seconds, he ended up hitting the one and with Russ you're right on the punt. But we were able to get down and cover. We just gotta cover and play better on special teams. I kinda challenged special teams and we put Hot Rod back there, return guy. He has so much speed if he ever breaks one they won't catch him. He's small and quick. We were just trying to find guys and get 'em in place. Usually special teams have good depth and now we're just trying to find where you're not always playing your starters, because in games like this you need to rest guys and you need to put in the back-ups and put them in and be comfortable with them.
On Dylan Haines going from walk-on to a game like today when he had a 74-yard interception return for a TD: Dylan is a starter and he's playing so well at the safety position and like you said, you think of the first game, and tonight he's in there for a touchdown, but he continues to improve and get better and it's fun because you see a young man as a walk-on and he's earned his way, and he's done everything to -- you think about scholarship guys, and now he has a scholarship but he's playing very well, too. Thank you.
Assistant head coach for offense/QBs coach Shawn Watson
On the play of Tyrone Swoopes: It's gratifying to see his development over the last two weeks, especially because the things that he needed to grow into, basically learning to trust himself and compete.
He was such a -- he was so eager to please and he wants to do everything perfect and you can't. It's just part of the deal. You chase perfection, and along the way this guy is catching excellence now because he's learned to compete. It's been fun watching him over the last two weeks go out and compete and have fun because he's smiling the whole time, and I know he's engaged in what's going on because he can repeat the coverages back to me, just like clock work, when we go through a series drive and sometimes -- I remember one in particular a 10-play drive we had, and he told me exactly what was going on in every play, so it's that kind of recall, and that's why he's growing right now.
On the confidence he has in Swoopes to go for it at the end: I don't worry about him anymore.
I used to -- you know, I wanted to make sure we got him started the right way. Right now I just have all the confidence in the world in him because he shows it in practice, he does it in the meeting room, his demeanor around us is very consistent, he's kept his feet on the ground and kept working. He and the whole group of guys deserve the opportunity to go out and -- that's the beautiful thing about [head coach] Charlie [Strong], Charlie is like, let's go after these guys and we went after them and we came back with two plays that we had open earlier, we had hit them and we missed some, too, and the one that he hit to John [Harris] he had earlier in the game, he actually missed him, and it was just a ball placement error and he corrected it. That just shows how much he's grown.
On how it feels to have the offense perform so well and pick up the defense: It feels good. You know, what we always want to do around here, the way that [defensive coordinator] Vance [Bedford] and Charlie and I have always worked together and why we work together so well is we have each other's back. So when it's time for us to show up, we show up, and we were able to show up tonight, and the guys did an excellent job and they're into what's going on in our program right now.
I feel like we have taken some big steps to becoming a football family, a team, and the chemistry is -- the chemistry and the attitude is in our building, and it's been a process, but you can feel it. Over the last two weeks, especially.
On if he was lobbying to take a shot at the end of the game: No, we just felt like going into that deal -- we had an idea what they were going to do with us, because we had seen pressure every snap with the exception of a few when we threw some answers, but you kinda knew what they were going to do, so we had a play that, like I said earlier, had been there. We ran it back-to-back, and it was open both times, and Tyrone, this happens to be one of his favorite plays, you know, and he has a lot of confidence in it, so it was an easy go-to play and it's what you would want to run in that situation because of the threat of blitz, and they actually give us the last opportunity to execute that play.
On what he said to Swoopes after his interception in the first quarter: God, I tell you what, he came out and he knew, that was an impulse decision. You know, that was -- you know, a little bit too -- I felt like he had a lot of success up to that moment and it was just -- took it -- that was an impulse decision, took for granted the situation. He needs to burn the ball and live to see another day.
They had us covered down, just burn the ball and live to see another day, because we took seven points off the board. So Ty knows how I am. He goes, "Coach, I know, I know, I know, I'll fix it." I reminded him, to burn it and see another day and that's about it. We moved on.
So he's getting it. He knows. I think he felt terrible about it, but he was able to move on, too, and that's positive.
On how much of this offense was by design: There was a lot to decide. They were in the second half trying to get the offense -- their offense back to get the ball back, so there was a lot of blitzing going on, we were blitzed, I think, almost every snap, and we had -- our answer was -- we had an answer that we provided them and that is what opened up Tyrone. So, you know, Ty was able to do a nice job and help us execute the trump card.
On how rough it was with Swoopes in the spring: He's come a million miles in a short period of time, too, but that is a testimony to Ty and his character. He's got great character and the attractive thing for me with him has always been his character, because he's a humble, hard-working guy.
During the spring, you know, I'm sure Charlie -- we were all sitting around, saying this is such a great, good-looking athlete, he does so many things and can he be a quarterback. I had a candid conversation with him at the end of spring and he -- we talked about this before, he invested himself this summer, and in training camp he invested himself, and when his opportunity came along -- and he's grown with us and grown with the team and he's becoming something special right now.
Senior RB Malcolm Brown
On how the win feels: This feels good. Definitely so much better off of a "W." I'm doing pretty good, so I'm just going to enjoy tonight and enjoy next week.
On what's still possible: I mean, there is still a whole possible for us. We go and we win out, I mean you can never know what could happen. We could still be up there for a Big 12 Championship. You never know what happens to the other teams, so if we go and do our job and win out, there are a lot of things still possible for us.
On if it is easier to think there is more possible after Tyrone's game tonight: Oh yeah. Definitely. Tyrone did a great job—I've always had confidence in him. As an offense, we played a whole lot better than how we've been playing. We still had some mistakes that we can correct, but I was happy to put some points on the board. That overall was the best thing we can do; put points on the board.
On how it feels to be the reason the team won: It feels good. We've been kind of letting the team down for six games, so then to come out here and do our job and do what we've been wanting to do for the whole season, I mean, it feels great.
Senior CB Quandre Diggs
On the offensive production leading to the victory tonight: The offense bailed us out tonight. We didn't play like we wanted to on defense, but the offense stepped their game up. The [offense] came ready to play. They made big plays at the end of the game. We've got to get back on the field tomorrow and get those things figured out. I think we will get back to what we do best.
On the defense generating three turnovers in the game: We haven't had any turnovers the last two weeks. Two weeks ago we were second in the country in interceptions, and we came out today and made some plays. That definitely changed the momentum in the game.
On Tyrone Swoopes' performance: He is very confident in himself. I think last week was a building block for him, and I think he will continue to use this one as a block and get ready to go for the rest of the season. It is a tough stretch, we just have to take it week by week.
Sophomore DB Dylan Haines
On what happened on the interception play and if he was taking a risk: Well it was just man to man coverage, my dude motioned and I carried him and I kind of anticipated the route and I just jumped in front of him and made a play.
On if he thought he would score on the interception: Yeah, I kind of first just took off down the sideline and then I saw someone come in to cut me off and so I just cut back and was just doing anything I could to get in the end zone.
On the defense struggling and the interception play changing that: You know it was a momentum changer I think. You know going in right before half and making that play you know I think you look back at it and that obviously helped us win the game.
On the defense: We missed a few tackles, missed a few assignments… we are just going to look back at it and try to get all of those things corrected. But I think we are obviously a lot better defensively than we played tonight.
Senior WR John Harris
On QB Tyrone Swoopes: He's come a long way. That kid's grown up so much. You saw tonight, the poise, and just the way he commanded the offense. He basically took over the offense in the fourth quarter with his feet. That's the first time I've seen him do that. You can see he's grown up and he has to step up and make plays, and he's going to do that. It's great to see him grow up and he's going to have more success going forward.
On the offensive performance: The game in general was kind of a wild game. Never having seen our defense play like that, it was kind of weird for us. To watch the offense go down the field when we needed to put points on the board was incredible. It just gave us more encouragement and enthusiasm that we could trust each other and go down and make the play.
On if Texas still has a chance in the Big 12: Everything is possible. In the Big 12 anything is possible. I mean, you saw today Baylor and Oklahoma lost, West Virginia got a big win, so I mean anything is possible. I've always said that in the first place. When you have two losses in the Big 12 you're never out of the race. As long as you keep winning, I think we're in a great position to win out. I think we've just got to keep going out and play.
Senior LB Jordan Hicks
On Iowa State's offense: It was tough. They were executing and we weren't. They were able to get some big throws and some big runs on us. They had us on our heels a few times. Our offense did a great job battling back and keeping us in the game the entire game.
On if the Cyclones ran plays the defense was not expecting: Not really, we just weren't executing. Our eyes were in the wrong place sometimes. We were just not playing the way we should have, but the offense did an amazing job.
On if how it feels to come away with a victory: We're relieved. It feels good obviously, to get that "W" since it's been a few weeks. We were in the locker room celebrating, but we have to get back [to playing better defensively]. The defense has to have a great week of practice. [Kansas] State just played a really good game, so it's good to be a good challenge at their house.
Junior PK Nick Rose
On how it felt to kick a game-winning field goal at home: It felt real good. I think all credit goes to the team, actually. They kept us in it the whole way. Our offense really put in another level tonight. On their level, [Tyrone] Swoopes carried them and I think our O-Line played real well. So they kept us in the game. I just did my job at the end and I got the opportunity to seal the deal. I just walked up and hit it.
On how it feels to have the coaches' confidence: It feels great. The struggles in the beginning of the season, I think as my first season to kick field goals, I was going to have some rough patches. Just as any kicker does, you're going to have lows and highs. I guess I started off in a low and hopefully I'm not even on my high yet. Hopefully, I'm just getting through things and I'll continue to get better. It feels great to have them [the coaches] behind you. It feels great to have the confidence of the staff and to know they're going to let you walk up and hit it from anywhere on the field feels good.
On if he's knocked off the cobwebs: I feel like the first couple of games, I was shaky, real shaky, even for PATs. It's a nervous thing. I think I've gotten past that. I felt real confident tonight. I walked up and hit everything well. I kicked off well. I was happy about that too. I definitely think as time has progressed, I've gotten a lot more confident in myself. Even through practice and practice reps at the practice fields, it's all continually getting better and better. I think that's what I've been searching for is consistency.
Senior WR Jaxon Shipley
On dramatic highs and dramatic lows: It's one of those things that I'm just glad that it didn't go into overtime. I thought Tyrone did an awesome job tonight. I've been telling people that he's a stud and people won't buy in, but hopefully now after his game today they will. I thought he showed incredible leadership and composure. We scored that last drive in not even 20 seconds. He threw some great throws today and looked like a really good quarterback to me.
On what he is saying in the huddle: Yeah, he is playing more of a vocal role now. It's not a whole lot, but the things he says, everybody listens because he's not necessarily the most talkative guy so when he says something in the huddle, everyone listens and everyone respects it. I think that's a big deal. You have to have a quarterback that everybody will listen to and everybody will do what he says. We really believe in him. He said that we had to get something going on that last drive and we did. I thought John Harris also played an unbelievable game. He's a stud man, I'm just glad to be playing beside him.
On what it does for the offense with the win tonight: Yeah I mean, you've been hearing about the defense every game and that is fine with me, because I think our defense is unbelievable and if your defense is playing a good game, that's only going to help your offense out. Thank goodness today we showed up as an offense and even though the defense didn't play as quite as well as the past few weeks, I thought the offense stepped up and like I said, Tyrone showed unbelievable leadership and he played his butt off. I think that he is someone that this team is looking up to as a leader and it's someone who can lead us down the road from here.
Sophomore QB Tyrone Swoopes
On how he has grown this season: It's just been hard work, working with Coach Watson and him teaching me little things to help me throughout the game and practice, pretty much everywhere in life. And then the guys are also getting better, the offensive line is getting better. The receivers are out making plays for me, the tight ends as well and the running backs running the ball really well. All around I think we've all gotten a lot better over this month.
On this being his signature win as a rookie quarterback: I feel like it is. In a way any win is good. It feels good to come in here and talk about a win rather than a loss.
On how this win affects his outlook on the season: It just gives us hope going in to these next five games. The Big 12 is kind of crazy right now. You've just got to go out and stay focused and get these next five.
Junior CB Duke Thomas
On his interception: All week in film we have already been knowing what was going on and I just saw the formation and was ready for the play. Coaches on the sideline were screaming it too, so it all just came together.
On the total team win and the offense: We have been talking about the whole time, saying how the offense needs to come together. They stepped up today and made big plays and bailed us out all night so we definitely owe the offense.
On if the team learned to win tonight: Oh definitely, we just found a way to finish and that's what we have been working toward. Everybody has got to do their part and we definitely figured that out tonight.
IOWA STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Paul Rhodes
Opening statement: A lot of excitement in that college football game. Proud of how our guys finished and fought and competed for 60 full minutes of this ballgame on the road after really facing some tough adversity to begin the game. Being down 14 points, we easily could have folded up and did nothing of the sort. Not once did they flinch. Very proud of their effort. Our football team continues to improve and really play together. That was very impressive to see on this stage.
On Texas' game-winning possession: They made great plays, didn't they? Quarterback threw great balls. Two great receivers made great plays.
On what he told his team after the game: A lot of what I just said. We came down here to play the entire game and fight and scratch no matter what happened. They did exactly that against a very talented Texas group.
On Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes: He came out smoking. Really came out throwing the ball well and throwing it on time and executing tremendously well. More passes than we expected coming out of the gate. The ball was in the air and thrown on time. We needed to get him out of a rhythm; fortunately we did a little bit.
On thinking about going for two after last touchdown: No. We thought conditioning wise we were in good shape. Going into overtime and competing from the 25-yard line with equal opportunities was something we wanted to do.
Sophomore DB Nigel Tribune
On the mood of the locker room: Of course, disappointed. We had the game won. Most importantly, I'm more disappointed in myself. I've got to make that play and force a difficult field goal instead of the easy field goal.
On how his interception changed the momentum of the game: It was a big momentum shift. They were moving the ball pretty easily on that drive. Our defense was kind of winded and it was just a good play. They didn't get any points and we got the ball back, extra possession for us.
On how good of a quarterback is Tyrone Swoopes: He's a good quarterback. He's still learning and he's getting better every week. He played a good game.
Senior RB Aaron Wimberly
On the difference with having success tonight running the ball: There was no difference. We went out to execute on our blocking, wide receivers and offensive line did a great job. We just executed. We all saw what we needed to do, changes that needed to be made, and running backs had to execute.
On the mood in the locker room after the disappointing loss: It was a close game. I think it was a great game and we've got to move forward.
On the offense clicking well tonight: We had great preparation. We just knew we had to go out there and execute, every ball needed to be caught. Everyone had a great game.
On if they took advantage of anything in specific against a great Texas defense: Just looking at them. We had great preparation for them. Plays that we know we can gash them on with and things like that.
On if he felt more explosive with tonight's performance: I saw the holes and I just wanted to hit them fast so their linebackers couldn't adjust.
