The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
10.27.2014 | Football
Head coach Charlie Strong and players met with the media
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Head coach Charlie Strong and players met with the media Monday morning to review the Kansas State game and preview the upcoming matchup with Texas Tech. The Longhorns and Red Raiders will meet Saturday at 6:30 p.m., with the game set to be televised on Fox Sports 1. Below are quotes from Strong, senior CB Quandre Diggs, junior C Taylor Doyle, senior WR John Harris, senior LB Jordan Hicks and sophomore QB Tyrone Swoopes.
Head coach Charlie Strong
Opening statement: We're sitting here at 3-5. That is not acceptable in this program. I am really frustrated and disappointed. I told our team that yesterday. When you look at the game on Saturday, we had our chances. Opportunities passed us by. Offensively we didn't play one of our best games. You look at the week before, we scored a lot of points. Not that you expect to score that many points, [or get that] close on the road when you're playing a good Kansas State football team.
Defensively we had a chance to put together a really good game. Gave up some really big third down plays. That can't happen when you're on the road. You expect to play great defense. You're sitting there down 6-0, give them a score right before half, goes to 13, then 16. We had to get off the field on third down and didn't do it. It came down to just executing the game plan. We just didn't do a good job executing the game plan on all sides of the ball.
I was very pleased with our special teams. We did a great job of punting the ball, did a great job of covering. All three phases have to play well and we didn't play well. We're sitting here with five losses and that would never be the standard of our program. I told our players I'm disappointed and frustrated about it.
On Malcolm Brown not getting many carries in the second half Saturday: We rotate three running backs. D'Onta [Foreman], we ran him twice, he got 19 yards. At the end of the day, it turned into a throwing game. We didn't get the touches. Plus we didn't run the ball as much as we needed to.
On if he is worried about the team checking out for the rest of the season: I don't think we're going to check out. You still have four games left to go play. You have a chance to get to a bowl game. That's what it's about now, going and getting to a bowl game, go win the games.
I always say to them, it's never what someone else does, it's what we do. You sit there and look at the film. We sat there on defense yesterday, went through the first series. I think they had a 12-play drive. It's what we did, not what [Kansas] State did to us.
It's all about us continuing to coach. We'll see how good of coaches we are. We can't allow the players to check out because we still have games to play. You want to see the seniors walk out of here the right way. Their careers haven't been great for them. Before the season started, we talked about having double-digit wins, but it never happened in their career.
On if there is communication confusion between the coaching staff on offense: I don't know what the confusion is. What's the question? What was the confusion?
We rotated three running backs. D'Onta [Foreman] had two runs of 19 yards. [Johnathan Gray] was the one who [got the ball] on the fourth down play.
The rotation was there. They just rotate. [Running backs coach Tommie Robinson] is on the sideline so he rotates them.
It was just an execution on the reverse plays. It's not a hand-off, because wide receivers don't take hand-offs. It's the pitch we always do, any time we come across motion, even when we're running the reverse, it's just a pitch up there. We just didn't execute it.
On if he or assistant head coach Shawn Watson wanted to get Malcolm Brown more carries in the game: When you come down to it, it's up to each coach how they substitute their players. It's a substitution with the coaches. When you're down, you're always looking for reasons things didn't happen. Down 23 points, it turned into a throwing fest also.
On Desmond Harrison, Kent Perkins and Daje Johnson: Desmond [Harrison] will not play. Kent Perkins is still battling. He will be day-to-day with his knee. He came back and played some in the game. Daje [Johnson] was back at practice. We'll watch his progress during the week.
On if Kent Perkins' injury is relatively minor: We're going to get him out at practice, and see how he moves around. He came back into the game on Saturday and tried to play some. It tightened up on him. He was standing there and got rolled up. That's the thing you like about him, he's able to come back into it.
On if any thought has been given to playing Jerrod Heard: I look at last week at this time. We were praising Tyrone [Swoopes], talking about how great he played. That's the thing at that position. I think about it, and it's all about consistency for him, just like with any other position. It's about consistency.
But you also look at it. It's a position that's always going to be given praise when they play well. When they play bad, everybody is going to second guess.
Tyrone is still young, still developing. It's hard to put a guy on a pedestal so quickly. It's about watching him continue to develop and grow. He's going to get better and better.
You look at Saturday and some of the throws he didn't make, but it was a combination not only of him. Anytime something bad happens they want to look at the quarterback position. We had to play better all-around and we didn't do that.
On the offensive struggles against Kansas State: Anytime you go on the road, you have to play your best because you're going to get the opponent's best because they're at home. We drive the ball, get a holding call, then get sacked. We're out of that drive.
Then we have a chance, we get the ball down there again. We're talking about the reverse. It was wide open. If we execute that play, either he's going to score or get knocked out-of-bounds somewhere in the red zone area.
Then you get the ball at fourth-and-one. 16-0 at that time. Worst thing, [we had to] get [at least] a score here. So it's going to be 16-7.
Defensively we have to stop them and get the ball back … We have got to play our best. I don't know if it has to be perfect, but you have to play your best. Anytime you play against a good football team like Kansas State, they're not going to beat themselves. They're not going to do it. It was there for us to get it done. We had the opportunities, but we just didn't take advantage of it.
On Swoopes being unsure what happened on the fumbled reverse: He wasn't for sure … It's not so much he doesn't know the play. He knows the play. It's not so much that. He's concerned about what happened with the exchange. When he's pitching, he wheels around and he's in the block. Any defenders coming through ... He didn't see what happened within the play.
On who decides which players are in the game on a given play: Each coach is responsible for his guys. When you look at it, the two backs have been Malcolm [Brown] and [Johnathan] Gray. D'Onta [Foreman] had a really good week of practice, so we felt like giving him some touches, to see how he [would] do. He ran the ball fairly well. At some point he's going to be an outstanding player here.
With the receivers, it's how you rotate them. If a guy gets tired, you sub them in there. It's all about getting guys in the rotation. When you have enough players at those positions that you can rotate, I like to see it done. On the offensive line, we can't do much about that because we're very limited there.
On if he ever overrules a position coach: I don't get into that. That's why they coach. That's not my job. That's why I have them here. I'm not one of those guys that is going to tell him who is going to play or not to play. If a guy is not ready, I'll tell them that. But, I'm not going to walk in and say, "Don't do that."
On if he plans on redshirting senior offensive lineman Desmond Harrison: We haven't really made a decision yet on him.
On both Texas and Texas Tech looking to rebound this weekend: If I'm [Texas Tech's defensive] coordinator and I just gave up 82 points, you're trying to figure out, "Hey, how did this happen?" You're looking at your players on defense, and they're really feeling down because they're giving up that many. Then you look at our game, we get shut out. You expect we can drive the ball, get some points.
You have two teams coming off of a loss. Texas Tech probably figures [that they] have [Texas] coming in off a loss, so [they] have to play well. Both teams were embarrassed last week.
On offensive coordinator Joe Wickline being sued by Oklahoma State: You're always concerned because he's part of our staff. At the end of the day, that's why he has a lawyer. We'll let that settle. That's going to be settled the right way.
Yeah, I'm concerned because he's on my staff. I know who he is, and the type of person he is. I know Joe. I hired Joe. I can't say I feel pretty comfortable about it, but he's my guy.
On the difference between twist pressure and blitz pressure: Anytime you look at twist pressure, it comes from the four down lineman. The three technique presses up the field, it's more of a pick route. They're trying to figure out who is singled up, who is doubled up. [A press] usually comes from that position where [there is] a three technique, then the end will loop up underneath.
On the other side, they get the nose to step and try to hold the two guys. So with the twist pressure, it's more of can the offensive line get back and get set where they can pick up all the movement.
The blitz pressure he can really see. At some point somebody has to show the blitz. Twist pressure you don't have to show. Blitz pressure you will show.
On if he changes things up this week or stays the same: I told them we're not going to change up. There's no need for us to change up. We have four games left to play. We need to go play these four games. It's all about the seniors. I said to them, We got to get them to a bowl game. You look at our schedule, I know you're sitting there with two ranked teams on it. We haven't beaten a ranked team. The main thing is if we come together as a football team, don't hurt ourselves, if we just execute, who knows. If we play the way we're capable of playing, we'll see how we end up with these next four.
On how he gets the guys to turn the page: Well, it also comes back to us, too. We have struggles, yes, but we create our own struggles. It isn't what someone else does. We create our own. It's all about executing. With each game, I think about those five losses. We look out here at BYU. We didn't play good at all. We didn't play good as a football team.
We just got embarrassed. You play a first half on defense. Second half, give up a lot of points. You have a young quarterback playing for the first time. He hasn't played. That's the struggle. Then you go down to UCLA. You get to that game. You go into it, four minutes to go, you have a lead, give up a double move on the outside, touchdown. Give up a big punt return before that. Go down the field, don't cover the punt. You have a chance to win that game.
The Baylor game, playing pretty good defense. Don't move the ball on offense. You have your struggles. You look at BYU, Baylor, they're at home, you expect to play very well at home. That's the thing, we haven't done a great job of defending our home field. It's going to happen. That's got to happen where you defend your home surface.
The Oklahoma game, play very well on offense. You get that game, you're down 18, you get it back, fight back, back into that game. Then it's third-and-three, we don't get the stop on defense. They're playing well. You come back and go on the road to [Kansas] State. Anytime you go on the road, you have to play great defense. I always say you have to play great defense on the road. You need to just get a score, too, on offense. Move the ball, be able to execute.
It just comes down to execution. It happens. We haven't executed. But, you know, you still have four games left to go play. That's why you don't sit there and say, It's the end. It's not the end. You know what, it's four games. Texas Tech this week, so let's get ready to go play.
On the officiating this season: I can't complain. You think back to that game, you look at the play down the sideline. We throw the fade, one drive I'm talking about where we get the holding and the sack. We throw the fade down to [Jaxon] Shipley, the defender played the ball. We didn't get that call there. On the fourth down, I didn't really see that one. I thought maybe after we reviewed it, we would get that one. You're hoping you get a score there.
I don't complain about the officiating. We just have to play better, don't put ourselves in that position. The false starts, guys are jumping, not hearing the snap count, not focusing, not locking in.
On what he saw from the players yesterday: Yeah, you know what happened, what's really good now is that it does burn some [of them]. When they got back yesterday with the meeting, I talked about the reason why we lost the game and showed them why. What I do, I have a script where offensively this is what we could have done, defensively this is what we didn't do. In the kicking game, this is what we did not do to go win the football game … The key thing is you got four games left to go play. I ask them questions. "How many of you guys want to go to a bowl game?" The whole team raised their hands. I told the juniors, sophomores and freshmen, "You guys put your hands down, I want to see how many seniors want to go." It's going to be up to these guys there because they have to get this team going back. If they want to go to a bowl game, they'll get the team headed back in the right direction.
On if this is as frustrated as he has ever been in his career: It's tough. Look, as I look back at coaching, we could have done a better job of coaching, too. You look at it … the BYU game, I saw a team that wasn't ready to play. I let it happen. That's what happens. You go and get embarrassed. Then you look back as a coach, what's frustrating is you look at the losses, see what you could have done differently, how could our approach have been to the game. If we had been in this situation, what should we have done. You begin to second guess yourself.
That's not the standard. I still believe this. I always will believe this. I told our team this. We are a better football team than a 3-5 record. We're a better football team than that. The record doesn't show it, but we're a better team.
On how much he brings up state pride when playing an in-state team: It's all about pride in the university. I don't see much about this. I think we know who we are. At the end of the day it's about us. We got to go get it done against whomever we're playing now
I don't really worry so much about anyone else. It's more about focus and how can I get this team ready to go play.
On if leadership is still an issue on the team: You have guys that have stepped up. I look at us on defense and [Quandre] Diggs is doing a good job. Malcom Brown, who is only a junior, is doing a really good job. Then you go to [Jordan] Hicks, I think he's doing an unbelievable job. Even 33 [Steve Edmond] is doing a great job. He doesn't say much, but just how he carries himself and how he plays.
On the offensive side of the ball, you're so young. Little Malcolm [Brown] is doing a great job at the running back position. [Jaxon] Ship[ley] doesn't say much, but just how he carries himself. [John] Harris [has done a good job]. You don't have very many [leaders], but you have some that are stepping up.
On what he thinks about Tech's offense and if he has ever been to Lubbock: I don't think I've been to Lubbock. I look at their offense and Webb. Who knows if he is going to play or not, but we are going to approach like he is. He's a good passer. Does a great job of standing there and throwing the football. I watched that West Virginia game numerous times. I think we're going to get the team that showed up against West Virginia, which played an outstanding game. West Virginia had to hit a long field goal to beat them at the end.
On if the game plan changes when facing a young quarterback: We're going to run our package. You look at the game against [Kansas] State. The first 30 plays, we blitzed 20 of them. We're not going to back away. But that's the way it is. I love to bring pressure. I love to try to disrupt the rhythm. That's when you get to teams. When we get to third down, that's when we have to execute and get off the field. We can get it to the third down. It's more us just getting off the football field.
On his tone towards the team: They hear a lot [of criticism from me]. They hear more than what they like to hear. But they take it the right way; they understand. On Sunday, sometimes I need to back away, because you watch the game, you get more frustrated after you watch the game … Someone told me, watch the film, back away, go watch the film again. You get a different feel.
On what his challenge is to bring in recruits sitting at 3-5 this season: A lot of times when you're sitting at 3-5, a lot of them think they can play for you right away. The University of Texas, it's everything you need academically, athletically. It's what it is. They do see the record but they also see the university. That's the main selling point, "Where you're at, it's a great place."
On freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard's involvement in the offense at practice: Jerrod [Heard] has been in the offense. You don't have to change it up. He understands it. He can go in and execute. You maybe have to cut it down like we had to do for Tyrone in the beginning, give him the things he does best.
… You look at every game for us, and we're in a fight. If we ever get a blowout [we could put him in] … He's going to be an unbelievable player. He just needs to continue to develop. He's learning well … What we want to do is make sure if [he ends up playing this season] he comes in, he's going to be the guy that takes the snaps.
On the learning curve as a head coach: You're always learning. You learn as a head coach. When you're not winning, the grade is not very good for you. When you are winning, you think the grade is really high for you. You have to learn about your team. Being here, it's a different team for me. I always believe this, "When players start trusting you, they start knowing you care about them, and you'll be able to get anything done you need to get done." It's like anything else. Me personally, I don't think I've done a great job because we wouldn't be sitting here at 3-5. If I'd done a great job, we'd be better than 3-5.
Senior CB Quandre Diggs
On mindset of the locker room: We've just got to go out and get a win. Got to go out and compete in practice this week.
On his readiness for Texas Tech: Got to get up every week. It's a game. It's an opportunity to go out and play, it's just another football game. Go out and play and hopefully get a win.
On the Tech game being bigger because of in-state rivalry: No. I just want to win - plain and simple.
On the senior's duty to create a bowl-oriented mindset: I feel like we've taken the challenge all year. Things just haven't worked out. We've got to do more.
On where he stands [regard to having ups and downs]: I'm down. We just need to get our stuff together and play football. I don't know, let's just go out and play ball.
On film on Tech's receivers showing they don't have a lot of size: I'm not the biggest guy in the world, so I can't go off film just because they're small guys. I've got to go out and compete, do what I do best and have fun. That's what I do each and every week.
On starting flat against Kansas State: Those guys came out, they beat us. We didn't play well. They played their game. They do what they do in Manhattan. I feel like guys don't get up for the occasion. I'm tired of bothering with people that are old enough to be able to get up and get ready for a challenge. If you can't do that as a man, then I don't know what to say.
On if he envisioned being 3-5: I never envisioned losing. I didn't grow up losing. I don't like losing. It's unacceptable.
On what needs to happen during the last four games: We need to win. Hopefully guys, myself included, all put it together, just go out and play our best games and don't settle.
On frustration: I'm frustrated with losing. I've never been in this predicament in my life. I don't know how to handle it; I'm just learning - I'm 21. I get frustrated. I just want to win football games; that's what you come to The University of Texas for.
Junior OG/C Taylor Doyle
On team mindset after the Kansas State loss: It's always disappointing to participate in a game like that. After we watched the film yesterday, we are only thinking about Tech.
On the Texas Tech defense fixing mistakes after giving up 82 points to TCU: Absolutely. I think their defense is going to be as motivated as ever. They're a great defense. We definitely have our hands full going in this week.
On what makes Tech's defense great: I think that can happen with swings in momentum. The week before, they played a close game with West Virginia. They've always had a pretty solid defense.
On the offensive line's responsibility when the run game is lacking: The offensive line is absolutely accountable. It's always disappointing. When we have three great running backs, you have to see where the problem is. It's tough when you can't get a run game going. We're holding ourselves accountable and doing everything in our power to get it fixed.
On building momentum after missed calls by referees: As an offense, you always want to build momentum when you can. You definitely want to be successful on first downs. On the field, we aren't really conscious of which way the refs are calling plays.
On false starts: The coaches obviously address it. [Offensive line/offensive coordinator] Coach [Joe] Wickline puts emphasis on pre-snap fundamentals, being perfect with the things you can control before the ball is snapped. That falls under the category of that. It occasionally happens, but you don't want to be called for false starts.
On disappointment within the team: Everyone is disappointed. It's tough when we know what we're capable of, yet we still don't really find a rhythm. [Coach Strong] corrects what needs to be corrected, addresses the things that need to be addressed, and the next day we move on. It's all about our next opponent.
Senior WR John Harris
On if it was too soon for the offense to be praised last week and too soon for them to be criticized this week: I don't know. Not really. That's hard to say. I mean, we were playing so well as an offense. We were probably praising ourselves a little bit, too. I wouldn't say it was too quick to praise. I guess we kind of ate into it a little bit and kind of just fed ourselves a little bit too much and ate more than we could chew.
On the flat start and what happened from there: It did seem kind of flat. Even going into the stadium, there wasn't really any music playing. It wasn't music that we were used to or anything. It was kind of quiet. Even hearing the student section was kind of flat. It felt like a flat game. In the locker room, we had energy. In the warm-ups, there really wasn't too much energy. Nothing really felt like it was going until when the game started. You could kind of see it a little bit.
On how important is it for the team to set the tone, especially on the road: I mean I feel like you have to do that. Maybe I guess we were expecting to feed off a little bit more energy than how we had been. An 11 a.m. game, kind of like we did at Oklahoma, there wasn't any energy in the stadium. You have to bring your own energy and find enthusiasm for an early morning game like that. I think it's important for any team because it plays into another team's advantage when you go into somebody else's stadium and you feel flat. You have to find some energy to start the game.
On if it's a problem coming off a loss and going on the road again: I don't think it will be a problem getting up for this game. I think most guys are kind of excited going to Lubbock more than anything. Not saying they weren't excited going to K-State last week. We know the type of place Lubbock is, how their students are, how it is to play there at night. I think guys will be more upbeat for this game and ready to play. I think it will be a totally different experience than when we went to Kansas.
On if he thinks that comes from Texas pride and the in-state rivalry: Oh yeah, of course. I mean, a lot of the guys on the Tech team might have played with some of our teammates here. Some of them grew up with them. There's going to be a lot of pride. A lot of trash talk that goes on between the two teams on the field. It will be a fun game to be a part of. We can't wait to get out there and play. We love going to Lubbock and play. It will be a fun game.
On if he was excited Texas Tech gave up 82 points: You can't really worry about that. You never know how teams play in the Big 12. Anybody can give up 82 points, especially the way TCU is playing. They can come out and play lights-out defense this week. You know they're going to take a level of pride and not let that happen to them at home.
On why he thinks the team is better than the record shows: Details. Little things have cost us games. Special teams, offensive, defensive games, it's the little things.
We still have yet to put a complete game together, in my opinion. You look at the UCLA game, if we cover a little bit better on special teams, they might not get that last drive and we win that game. In the Oklahoma game, if we execute a little bit better on offense, stay away from some of those early penalties, you look at the stats going into halftime, the lead should be almost ridiculous. Like I said, it's little things that are killing us. Special teams, offense, defense. The penalties are the biggest issue and detail to assignment. This isn't a 3-5 team, doesn't feel like a 3-5 team. It feels more like a 5-2 or 5-3 team. It's the lack of detail that keeps hurting us each week.
On if it's frustrating to have a breakout year individually but the team being down, may not go to a bowl game: It is frustrating. I've been part of a team where we went 5-7, then went to some bowl games and then won some games. It's frustrating at times. I mean I want to help this class get to a bowl game my last year. I don't want to finish 5-7 like I started. That's far from where I want to go. It's frustrating to think that I could leave here as a senior like I did when came in as a freshman, 5-7. That's not a mark I want to set a trend for, for these younger guys, because that's a trend that doesn't need to continue.
On if the energy level matters sitting at 3-5: I think it matters all the time. You got to have something that motivates you to play. You feed off of something. Teams feed off of something, whether it's crowds or other team's music or opponents. You need some type of momentum to go with you, especially when you're on the road. Because you don't have your fans and you don't have a lot of people there cheering for you. You have more stuff working against you than you do with you. Even at 3-4, I still think you need something to pick you up, get you going and get you motivated to play. I'm not saying we weren't motivated to play. Energy-wise, we could almost feel it. Like it just wasn't there. It felt dead. Even with the fans, it felt dead.
On if there are enough guys on the team that are passionate about football: I think we do have them. I just think they're not playing with it. I don't think there's a guy out there that plays with more passion than Quandre [Diggs]. Quandre goes out there and gives his all out there every week. There's guys that give their all, give their passion, but not at that level. You can tell how important it is by the way he gets on those guys every time. You can see the frustration on his face when we come off the field and we're not scoring. I hear it from him all the time. There's not enough people playing with passion. There's guys on the team with passion. You just got to play with it. These last four weeks, we're going to need it, now more than ever, to get to a bowl game.
Senior LB Jordan Hicks
On the mood of the locker room: A lot of disappointment. Nobody likes the position we're in. Nobody expected to be in this position. Everybody is questioning what we are doing wrong. Everybody is just asking questions, but there's a vibe of its do or die. It's the last four games of the season. We really have to win. We have to pull out a win, especially this week. We've got to get things going. I think everybody's going to come in tomorrow focused, ready to go. Everybody's got film today, and we'll get a look on these guys. I think we'll be fine.
On Coach Strong's mood with the team: Well, he's reiterated that he's not going to quit, and neither are these other coaches – none of the coaches. They're going to work hard, work harder than they have, to continue this season and get it finished off on the right foot. They'll get momentum going into next year and just make sure that the senior class goes out right. He wants to do a lot for the seniors, for us. You can tell he really cares.
On frustration turning into giving up: There's no giving up on this team, no. I have 100 percent faith that we will not give up.
On if he hates to lose more than he loves to win: Yeah. I absolutely hate losing, yeah. It's not something I enjoy at all.
On teammates feeling the same way [regard to previous answer]: I don't know. I don't know if it's specifically certain people don't feel that way or what it is. Honestly, I'm really not sure. I just think everybody has to truly be passionate about football and it has to mean something to them, to go out there and show who you are in front of the world. It's Texas. You're on national TV every game. You're proving yourself to the world, to people that you potentially could meet down the road. You have to have some pride about you, in what you do, what this defense means, what the offense means, what this team means to you. You know what I'm saying? It's more than just yourself. It has to mean something to you all the way around the board.
On there being enough players that feel the same way [regard to previous answer]: Probably not. You look at our record, I mean, it shows. I don't think that's who we truly are. I don't think that record shows who we truly are. In the end, it is what it is. We could be in a completely different situation if maybe we had some more of that mentality on this team.
On Strong saying they are better than 3-5 and it not showing on the field: I think you look at Oklahoma. I think you look at Baylor at times. I think you look at UCLA. You see the team that we really are. You see it showing up on the field, you just don't see the result. You don't see the W in the column. It's tough. I think that's what makes it hurt so much, is the fact that we've gone out there and we've worked, we've prepared. This off-season was horrible. It was one of the hardest camps I've been through physically and mentally. This off-season was waking up every single morning at 6:00 in the morning and going at it. You're working for these games. When you come out here and you're so close in all these games, it's those games where the margin is so small, it really just gets under your skin, and it really hurts.
On where the team goes from here: You just got to go back to the basics, that's really all it is. Get back to the basics. Get back to executing what you've been taught to do. These coaches, in my opinion, they've done a great job getting us prepared, getting us ready for the games. We just haven't gone out there and executed. You got to have that pride, like I said, to put that product on the field, the product that you're proud of.
On being a leader and getting teammates on board with hating to lose: I think collectively we have to do it. I know I've talked to Malcolm [Brown]. We're talking about getting some guys together, just making sure everybody's on the same page before we take a step, before we approach everybody. It's a tough situation, it's a tough situation. This team has been through adversity before. We've been through adversity year in and year out, coaching changes, player changes. Whatever it is, people have had to step up and continue to work, continue to fight, continue to grind. That's the nature of this team. At this point, I don't think that nature is going to go anywhere.
On what has worked in the past to change the momentum of the team's season: It's frustrating. It's very frustrating. Trust me, I know it's very frustrating. I think that's the whole dynamic of the leadership. I'm going to go in there and talk to the coaches today about what more I can do, about what more we as leaders can do, who I need to approach, what angle I need to take. It can't just be, what are you going to do specifically in reference to me for this person? It's, what are we going to do as a group to get this thing going? It's frustrating. It's very, very, very frustrating.
On envisioning being 3-5 so far this season: Adversity is adversity. Like you said, I've been through a lot. You learn to deal with it. The more you grow, the more you've been through something, through adversity, the more you learn to deal with it, the more you learn to take, I wouldn't say precautions, but take the necessary steps to get past it, to grow from it. That's what we have to do, we have to continue to grow. This can't be something that these freshmen or these sophomores see and they don't change. It has to be something that they can continue to build upon, see what's wrong, take this season, these past games, and be like 'you know what, this isn't going to be us when we become juniors or seniors, we have to take the necessary steps.'
On there being anything from 2010 that he wants to prevent moving forward [regard to not playing in a bowl game]: There's definitely some similarities to this point. I think to me it's just a matter of getting everybody on the same page and focused on the one goal -- that's beating Tech at this point. That's the number one focus, the number one goal. We've got to continue to work, continue to grind. We can't take these guys lightly because they'll come out there ready to go. If we do that, continue to work, continue to get that momentum building, there's four games left, we can go out there and win them all. We have the potential to do that. There's no doubt in my mind we have the potential to go out and win every single game we line up. If we're able to do that, it's a completely different vibe in here.
On Strong's Sunday demeanor after a loss: He definitely builds himself up. As he starts to think about the stuff that happened in the game, the mistakes that were made, definitely his voice starts to change. But, you know what, he speaks nothing but the truth. That's who he is, who he'll always be. We respect him for that.
On what challenges Tech poses offensively: They've always been a threat when they step on the field. We have to go out there with a lot of respect for them. Like I said, if we take them lightly, they'll come out and they'll attack us and they can score some points. We've got to be ready for them. I know their quarterback is kind of dinged up, but I'm not sure what that will mean. Whatever it means, either way, we've got to be ready.
On changing the game plan for Davis Webb [Tech QB]: I don't know how much the game plan will change. We'll find that out tomorrow I guess. When we get in there and actually start practicing, the coaches start game planning, and we learn the game plan. I'm pretty positive we're probably going to attack them like we've done every other offense that we face. We come after them. That's just who we are. I don't know how much that will change, I don't know.
Sophomore QB Tyrone Swoopes
On what he saw on film that particularity upset him: We just didn't execute as a unit. It was just little things. It wasn't things that were just major. We just weren't executing as a team really.
On where they are at looking forward from a frustrating loss: Of course it was frustrating. I feel like we'll be fine. I mean, we're a young team. We know that our best days are ahead of us. We're not going to let one game, one bad game, get us down. We're just going to keep moving forward and keep getting better.
On if he was surprised about not executing or if Kansas State was that good: I was surprised that we weren't executing. I'm not going to take anything from Kansas State because they're a good team, really good team. It really wasn't too much what they were doing. It was just self-inflicted things we were doing to ourselves that was impeding our progress and wasn't letting us move the ball down the field and get points on the board.
On how to prevent them from beating themselves: I think it just comes with experience. Being in games like that where we know it's a big game, we know we can't beat ourselves. We've got to make the other team beat us. It just comes with experience. That's really it.
On if it is important to have good things happen early in the game: I think that definitely helps. I mean, if things don't happen early, I feel like we just keep on going out. We try to make things happen. Just on that play, I mean, I could have given him the ball in the end zone where he could have ran under and got it. We really wouldn't have had to deal with that. But, yeah, I mean, if things happen early in the game that are good, it gives us momentum going into the rest of the game. I think if we just get rolling early, that will help us out a lot more.
On what his mindset is going into the game when the opponent gave up 82 points the previous week: I don't think we really pay attention to that because that was the week before; totally different circumstances. They're going to be at home. I know they're going to play a lot harder than they might have last week. I feel like that really doesn't mean anything this week, with this game.
On how important it is for the team to make it to a bowl game: Yeah, it's important for the whole team just because if we go to a bowl game, we win a bowl game, it will just give us momentum going into next year. I feel like that will be really good for us if we get that opportunity.
On if he is looking ahead at the schedule: We know what we have to do. We just have to win. We're not really looking too far ahead because we got to take it one week at a time. Like I said, we know what we have to do. We just have to go and do it.
On how well head coach Charlie Strong is doing: I think he's doing just fine. It's just us going out on the field and executing. I mean, he can do all he can up to that point when we're on the field. So I feel like some of it's kind of on us as players to kind of go out and do what our coaches have been coaching us to do, not only in practice, but we have to take what we do in practice to the games.
On if there is anything he will do differently this week: I don't think we'll change anything. Like I said, we just have to execute. Like I said, wasn't anything major that we were messing up on Saturday. We just weren't doing the little things that we needed to do to put ourselves in position to get points.
On how much accountability he takes for the shutout: I feel like it's more on me than I guess everybody else just because I guess the play starts and it ends kind of with me.
It's not just me, but it's everybody as a whole offense. But, I mean, I know I could have done things better on Saturday that could have put us in position to at least get points on the board. Yeah, I feel like some of it was on me.
On the unexpected experience of playing a leading role on this team: I've enjoyed it, just getting to play. I know being in the position I'm in, it's going to be kind of a rollercoaster, ups and downs. I feel like I've got the people around me to help me handle that. I feel like I've handled it just fine.
On the team pressing forward from a 3-5 record: I feel like this team does a good job of kind of learning from our mistakes and not really letting things get to us, get us down, because we know that each week we've got to move on. We can't do anything about last week. All we can do is correct our mistakes and play the next game.
On after looking at the film if he saw a lot more carries that could have been there for him: They were defending it kind of different than everybody else had been previously. I was reading my keys. I feel like most of them I kind of read it right. It was just a day I didn't have as many opportunities to kind of get out and run like I had weeks before. It was just kind of the way they were defending it really.
