The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
11.27.2014 | Football
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TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Charlie Strong
Opening statement: Whenever you play a football team like that, you have to play clean football. We didn't do it tonight. Too many turnovers in the half, a collapse of the game, just didn't see it coming. You feel like, well, we played up until this point knowing that what was at stake for us that we would have played a lot better.
And defensively, you are up 6-0 and make another score, make it 13-0 and hang in there on defense. But it's got to be a complete game. The guys have to understand that they've got to finish their game no matter what happens. I just know this is a better football team than we showed. We just gotta go out and finish and make plays and we weren't able to make plays and just continue, just be consistent with our drives. We have to make it a physical game. We weren't were physical tonight.
On Tyrone Swoopes' performance: I just told him he has to play. You can't turn the football over. You can't get down on yourself. It's all about his demeanor. I said let me tell you this: The only way we're going to drive the football, we're going to score, is you have to make it happen, and you have to play well. And didn't – didn't make it happen tonight, just too many turnovers. Go manage the offense; and if anything if we don't drive the ball, let's punt it. Let's get it back and eventually we will drive the football. But we can't turn the ball over.
On considering benching Swoopes for a spell to regroup: Well, we thought about that, but we – you know, it's the last game of the season, so it's – you know, it's one of those points where, you know, just needed to settle him down, never got him settled down in time. Like I said, the turnovers is what hurt us. And then just your demeanor. You've got to carry yourself a different way and just have that attitude about you, which we didn't have.
On TCU's defense not allowing vertical passing plays: The thing was, we had some vertical throws. One throw we threw it outside to Marcus, we had Harris run it down the boundary on the other side. But it was a lot of – we had our chances, just had to protect and weren't able to protect where we could get the ball released down the field. They went forward and sacked us, they brought a lot of pressure and it was all about locating the pressure and getting a hat on it.
On Swoopes not showing more progress and the future at quarterback: Well, you always have to recruit and you have to recruit for every position. You just gotta make sure you recruit good players, but you look at Tyrone, you know, he has some games where it's been up and down for him. Tonight wasn't his night. When you play a good team like this, you have to play well. But with Tyrone and everyone else, you've got to protect. The back's got to run hard and receivers have to make the catches also.
On if the poor play was a step backwards or an isolated incident: I don't know if we're going to go backwards because I said to them you would think the way we played here the last few weeks we would have went out and played a lot better than we did tonight. But playing the No. 5 team in the country, you just can't turn the ball over. You can't have mistakes, and what happens when you do they take advantage of it. Early, you know, we get the big punt return, they get the big punt return. We hold them to three. We turn it over. Hold them to three again. And we fumble the ball and defense goes in and scores it to make it 13. And they beat us on the delta move down there to make it – get it to 20. But still it's all about just not creating the turnovers and just playing. The guys continue to play through the game.
On his thoughts on improvements in his first season: We have to get better. You can't look at 6-6 and say it's the best, it's really good, you made improvement. We have to get better. We know this. We have to do a better job of coaching and with our players, we just gotta play better. It's all about managing the game. It's all about, you know, you are looking at yourself and making sure do we have this team ready to go. And just making sure that when you do go out to recruit that guys understand that what is expected of this program, the expectations here, the standards here, the pride, tradition, it's all a part of it. That's where – and I've told them when we start up again January, that's what it's always going to be about. Some guys may not like it. They may not want to be here. That's fine. But we gotta get this program back to where it's going to – where it needs to and it's going to happen. We'll get it back there.
On Quandre Diggs' performance and his two beats on jump balls: Quandre, it was just body position. The guy outjumped him the first time and the second one he kind of faded back underneath, if he's going to make that play, he's looking at a tall receiver. And I think a lot of times he played behind it thinking the ball was going to be overthrown. And it wasn't. The guy went up and got it. But when that happens to you, you have to have short memory. He didn't. He let it kind of bother him. He didn't play with the juice that he's used to playing with, the enthusiasm he usually has.
The guy made two really good plays on him. And those two jump balls, you look at some of the scores, two jump balls there, the ball thrown in the end zone to make it 20 was just one of those floaters where – but we had the play one before that where we get, where the ball hits him in the back of the calf. We drop the interception right before that. So we had our chances to either get the ball back and get our offense, see if we could go march in and score, but you just can't give the team that many opportunities to go score because they'll take advantage of it.
On if TCU is the best team Texas has played this year: Yeah, they have a good football team. I don't know if they're the best but they have a good team. The quarterback is hard to get down, he can move the ball around and he can beat you with his feet. And he can just keep a down moving just by scrambling around and getting the ball down the field. But defensively they can put a lot of pressure on you, and they bring the blitzes, where the secondary would be up front with the backers or whatever. But you just can't turn the ball over. It's one of those where you have to play good, clean football. We didn't play clean football tonight.
On the game getting away from Texas in the fourth quarter: Shouldn't have ever led to it today. It can be fixed. It's just a matter of just fighting through it. We did. You can't give in, and that's what I told our team. I said this is the first time I just really saw where one phase don't play well, it's up to the other phase to pick it up or the other two phases to pick it up and today we didn't get it done.
On Swoopes finding confidence again: Competition is going to help you with confidence. When you go compete for a position and understand it, you can't have those mistakes and make those mistakes, you're out of the game. Right now it's the issue because you don't have – if you compete -- somebody else that is ready to go in and go compete with him. But that confidence will be built. You build confidence and build competition and get the right, recruit you some more guys.
On keeping the team from getting down after the loss before a bowl game: For some of these guys, seriously it's going to be their last game. So you look tonight being senior night, being an emotional night, we come out played a lot better than we did. But for some it's the last one. You know, they'll never play again. But it's all about us just making sure as a coaching staff this is going to be the test, how well we can get this team back ready and get it back going, heading to the bowl season.
On Senior Night: Well, senior night's always emotional when guys put so much into a program and you would like it to work in the right way for them. And you think about it, it's the last time they'll run out of the tunnel. This is it for them. But it's been special. It's been a special group, and you would like to see tonight where we could have played a lot better and come out the right way. Because I see this team 2-4 and 3-5 and the seniors stepped up and got us to (win) No. 6. And we're hoping we would have got to No. 7 tonight.
On the decision to not play Jaxon Shipley and his availability for the bowl game: I don't know if he'll be out for the bowl game but he's injured. So that will be the decision, he just couldn't play.
Assistant head coach for offense/QBs coach Shawn Watson
On the play of Tyrone Swoopes: He played a good defense. First off, you gotta start off by giving TCU credit. They had a really, really fine defense. Good front. Good job on coverage scheme. They played well.
And then you gotta keep (indiscernible), a really good defense, basically came down to, he's got to grow from the experience today, grow from the mistakes and there were some good things that he did at the same time, have to take those, take the growing, the things that he needs to grow from and then just keep working on getting better.
On Swoopes' running plays and if there were more of those designed: No, those are plays that were actually run to size which means there's a pass play actually with that. So the defense plays off what the defense gives. So when he hit those, that's what they gave and that's what the play's designed to take. So he did a nice job of making some of those reads.
On if today shook his faith in Swoopes: Not at all. Not at all. That's not the way our staff is made. That's not the way Charlie's made, the way I'm made. We're not made that way. That's not what we're in the business for. We're in the business to grow young people and make them better. He will get better from every experience he goes through. You guys have heard me talk several times. I think every time he goes out there, because where he's coming from is a new experience. And tonight he faced a really good defense. And he'll have to grow from this experience and understand what it takes to compete and play and prepare for guys like this. I think valuable lesson learned. I would hope he would take from this that how razor sharp you've got to be to play against a defense like that.
On if its fair to say it isn't a major step back: You know, I don't look at those things like that. As you're growing a quarterback, I'm obviously sensitive and understand where he's coming from. And what we're trying to grow with him.
And we've got to stay with him. Gotta keep hanging in there with him and keep growing him. And I think one of the biggest things that happened for him and our future here we'll have competition too. And that helps a quarterback grow. You need it in your classroom. You've got to have it.
You heard me talk about that, too. You've got to have people here to push the classroom, because when the quarterback's right, the team's right. The only way you get that is beginning first off by having competition in your classroom.
On if he'll bring in a junior college QB: We always keep those options open. We've looked in that market, and we'll continue to look. We'll see what the market, what it presents itself.
On if Swoopes hasn't been pushed this year: No, he hasn't, because you've got another -- his push right now in the classroom is a young freshman, too. I mean, think about it. Let's do the math. I mean, they're both at the same place.
And that's something that they both need. And they need -- a quarterback needs that classroom. He's got to have those people. Every great quarterback situation I've been a part of is because we had four guys in that classroom competing hard for the job. And that's how that gets better.
On the offensive line's struggles: It's always a huge factor, absolutely. It's one of those situations where the quarterback obviously wears it but there's also other people involved also. Again we played a good defensive front; they played hard and well. Our players are young players. They've got to grow at the same time. They're no different than Tyrone. You've got to, when you play a defense like theirs, what they've grown into, what I've seen of them this year, you've got to have an edge on you.
On what frustrated him about tonight and what his emotional level is after this year: Well, we've had a hand dealt us that we're playing with. So, no, I'm not frustrated. That's what we were hired to come here and fix. When we got here we haven't been able to impact the position in recruiting yet. We'll be able to do that now. So that's the big first step is to get competition in here. So, no, not at all. Not even close.
On what frustrated him about tonight: You know, just -- I know how much the kids put into it, how hard they work. And then it just -- with a young group of guys, it's the process of learning how much of an edge you gotta have in games like this.
They're playing against an opponent that's a top 10 team. So that, I know how hard they worked. I know what they put into it. But you gotta go out there and you gotta let it, when the lights go on, you gotta go out there and earn it, because obviously they're protecting what they've vested into.
On if he has any regrets not playing Jerrod Heard: No, because in order to play you've got to be ready to play. And we weren't at that stage yet. I mean, fellas, we've gotten in the situation that's dealt us. Our job is to manage it, fix it, make it better. That's what we're trying to do.
We have not been able to impact our class yet or this program with any recruiting. This will be our first opportunity to do this. This recruiting class. And we'll keep growing, gotta grow the position because I'm a major advocate as your team goes as your quarterback goes.
On why Armanti Foreman didn't play more: Again, I can speak for what he's grown into, what you see now. He's had to earn that. That's just the way our program is. Charlie does a beautiful job of, our kids will earn what they get. And he's earned his time on the field, and he's become a player.
That's good for our program because he's starting to step forward and become a player.
On what Swoopes has to do for him to have confidence in him: What he's gotta do -- I've got all the confidence in the world for him. If you've ever coached, you'll understand that a coach's job is to put everything he has, pour himself into the player. And you'll develop the player.
And that's what my job is, and that's what I'll continue to do. So as long as the player's giving back, and that kid gives back, he's an unbelievable human being, he gives back, I will never give up on him and neither will anybody in our program. He'll have to earn his time on the field at the same time. So does that answer your question good enough?
On what the identity of the offense is: We're still growing it. When you've gone through all the transition we've gone through, the reality of the situation we've been through a lot. And we're playing with a young quarterback.
Are we what we want to be? No. We've had to tweak ourselves based on the people we've played, based on the people we're playing with, and we have a much different vision of what we are and who we want to be and again we gotta get people in here to compete for those jobs and help us grow this team and become the team that we see ourselves becoming.
Senior RB Malcolm Brown
On feelings after the game: I'm disappointed a little bit, but we've just got to move on to the next one. We've just got to go get a "W" in this bowl game.
On what was the biggest setback [turnovers or lacking offensive rhythm]: It was a mix of both. As many turnovers as we had, you can't win games. You've definitely got to get a rhythm going as well. It was mutual with both.
On TCU's defense: They're a pretty good defense. At the same time, we're good enough to beat them. We just didn't execute.
On confidence moving forward to the bowl game: I'm still confident. You can't let games like this just ruin the next game. You've got to learn from it – watch film, see what you did wrong and move to the next one.
On Tyrone Swoopes' mental state: I think he's fine. Definitely, not just him, the whole offense was frustrated tonight just because we couldn't get things moving. Tyrone will bounce back like he always has.
Junior DT Malcom Brown
On the unexpected outcome of the game: We had the preparation. I'm right along with him [Head Coach Charlie Strong], I didn't expect that either. It was really emotional. It's the senior's last game, it's a real bad way to send them out and I feel really bad for that.
On if it is tough being out there and facing all the pressure: You always want the offense to come off if they are not doing a good job, but I mean we still have to hold them. I just feel bad that we gave up plays and just kept letting them score goal and goal. At some point, we have to buckle down and just be like, "We're not going to let them score anymore. We are going to stop them right here." We can't just let them keep scoring. I'm never going to point any fingers; it was a whole team effort. We all need to do better.
On if he feels like the defensive side of the ball got things back to where he wants Texas defense to be: That's why I came here, they were really physical. Yes we had gotten back to that this year, but if you do look at the record and how much people score on us in the second half, I feel like I don't know if we relax or whatever it is, but we obviously need to get better on our second half defense, offense and every aspect of the game.
Senior CB Quandre Diggs
On the team's performance: We didn't play the way we wanted to, me especially. We just have to bounce back and get ready for bowl practice.
On what the team was lacking during this game: We just failed to execute. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. I feel like I let my team down tonight. It definitely hurts.
On defending Josh Doctson: He made great catches. It happens, you know. As a defensive back, you're going to have those days and today was my day I guess.
Junior C Taylor Doyle
On the loss: It's tough. We didn't find a rhythm on offense. We didn't win the turnover battle and that falls on the offensive line, you know, keeping Tyrone [Swoopes] clean. It is disappointing, but we know that we have a lot of work to do and we're going to stay positive going into this bowl game.
On the offensive line's performance: You have to give credit to a good defensive front with TCU, but we didn't play to our standard. We're going to watch film and correct the things we need to correct and continue to build.
On Tyrone Swoopes' performance: We think Tyrone did a great job. We're taking responsibility, the offensive line, for not keeping him clean. I think he's done great things and we have the utmost faith and trust in Tyrone and everything he does. We're confident in calling him our quarterback.
Senior WR John Harris
On the offensive performance: I mean it's real frustrating, especially after the way we performed the last few weeks. I mean just to come out in your home stadium the last game; I mean it's really frustrating. You just got to live with it and move on.
On if this sets back their progress: Teams take a false step, I mean we took a really big false step here. We just came out as an offense, you know just kind of flat tonight. I don't know how to explain that. Their defense alone is really good, they have really good skill players, but I mean we have really good offensive players too just as well. We just came out flat and you know we can't do that in big games like this and you especially can't turn over the ball four times, so that played a huge role into the game.
On Tyrone Swoopes' performance and interceptions: I am not going to blame all of that on Tyrone, I mean that is not all is fault, it's all of us collectively as an offense, I mean we can help him out a lot better. Maybe one could have been his fault, but all of those weren't his fault. You see him, he throws a pick and you know you see him still go down there and help cause a turnover and get the ball right back. I mean the kid goes out there and plays his tail off so you can't ask anything more than that of a guy who likes to compete. Especially after he turns the ball over and then goes back and gets it instead of hanging his head down, he could have easily watched the guy run to the end zone.
On why they remain confident in Swoopes': Because he has been the guy for the past three games. He played a heck of a defense, I mean that defense is really good, they are number five in the nation for a reason, both sides of the ball offense and defense. He shouldn't hang his head down. He didn't play that great at times but I mean he shouldn't hang his head down. He should just try to move forward and keep going with it.
Senior LB Jordan Hicks
On what they have to do to regroup and come back fired up for the bowl game: I mean I think that after a loss like that people are going to be fired up anyways. We just have to come back, regroup, like you said, watch the film, take it on full goal and continue to work and get better. With every game, there has always been stuff we can get better with. Obviously with this game there is a lot of things we can get better with. We just have to focus on that through bowl season and we are going to be alright.
On if there was a point when he thought it was getting out of hand and what he was feeling: Yeah it was the fourth quarter. It's not fun at all when you lose like that. The whole game we were in battlefield position on both sides of the ball. We weren't able, as a defense, to put the offense in good field position. The offense obviously made some mistakes as well, but it was a team loss. Those types of losses are what hurt the most.
On his thoughts on people saying tonight negates the progress they have made in the last three weeks: I mean, people can say all they want. To me, it's obvious what we have accomplished from the beginning of the season until now. I've said this over and over again, but this team continues to fight no matter what the situation is. Obviously tonight, didn't really show that, but I don't expect us to lay down at all. I expect us to get back in the lab and continue to work and grind—make sure we are doing the little things right. We are going to keep pushing.
On senior night emotion: It's disappointing, very disappointing. As a senior leader, you want to lead the team to victory. It just wasn't there tonight.
Sophomore QB Tyrone Swoopes
On tonight's performance: I just couldn't get a rhythm going. I was doing things to try and get it going, but I just couldn't find a rhythm.
On pressure affecting his performance: Like I said, I just couldn't get anything going. I don't know really what else it was. I'll just have to watch it when we get back and see what happened.
On personal aggravation: I knew I wasn't playing well. Turning the ball over is never good, so it just kind of got to me a little bit. I couldn't really get back up and get going again. It's just something I've got to work on.
On taking a step back offensively: We don't look at it like that. Y'all might, but we don't. We've just got to look at it as an opportunity to get better.
On his 11 starts: I just need to get more consistent. I played well some games and some games I haven't. I've just got to keep working on getting consistent and playing well.
On how he has improved the most: Competing in the pocket, as Coach [Shawn] Watson would call it. These last couple of weeks, I've been trying to work on that. That's something that I will continue to work on in the off season.
TCU QUOTES
Head Coach Gary Patterson
Opening statement: We won. That's all that matters.
On if this was the max effort that he could get out of his team tonight: They have a good defense, a really good defense. All we heard all week was their defense, our offense. Our guys took it as a challenge on defense. We can still play defense at TCU.
On if his defensive efforts showed early in the game stopping Texas: This group played a lot of football on defense. We came here to win a ball game, we didn't came here for anything else than to win a ball game. Most people were picking this as an upset.
On in he thought his defense might have to carry the team tonight: No, I didn't. When you come into somebody's house you've got to play defense, there's not any in between about it. You've got to be able to play defense. We did what we needed, we had some big catches and some big runs. We used time. We dropped a touchdown, we could've had another one in the end zone. I don't think anyone asks in the end how you score.
On if this was his most well-rounded defensive performance in conference play: In conference play, I don't know. We've played some awfully good defenses in the last three years. Maybe this season, maybe. This group has been playing all year.
On if he thought the game could turn out like this: If you had asked if it was going to be 48-10 in Texas, I wouldn't have said that.
On what the playoff committee is going to think about this win: To me, everybody was talking about how important Texas was, about how good they are, at the beginning of the year. You know, you've got to keep with the same story, you can't say now that they are not any good. I mean, three quarters of the United States was picking Texas to beat us tonight. You can't be like now Texas is not any good. They are a really good football team, they are really good on defense, and they didn't have Jaxon Shipley. If you look at how everything went down, we got some takeaways, did some things we needed to. Offense played well and moved the ball when we needed to, we got some scores when we needed to, and we found a way to win. It's hard to win in the Big 12 right now, it just is.
On if he actually said three quarters of the country: I don't know, I didn't notice. I wasn't paying any attention.
On how important it was for them to set the tone early in the game: Well things were going good so we felt like the longer the game went down with them staying in the game, Texas was going to get momentum. We felt like we had to start early on offense and we started early on offense, we started early on special teams and we started early on defense. For two and a half quarters, it was a tight ball game.
On if he sensed any rust on Texas after the bye week: No. I think you've got to give Texas credit. They had a game plan, they prepared for us. They did the same thing to Baylor. I mean, Baylor scored 21, 28. They scored in the last vertical of the game. They've done that before. West Virginia, these kind of offenses, Oklahoma State. They played well all year.
On if he felt that the game was under control at some point: After losing a 21-point lead in Waco, I don't know if at any time or point a game is in control until the last seconds.
On the toughness of quarterback Trevon Boykin: They hit him all night. There wasn't a lot of people open but they did a nice job. We really had to carve out some yardage and carve out some drives. They did a nice job. That's a good defensive football team. But that's what quarterbacks are supposed to do. In general I think we did a pretty good job of protecting him tonight, there was just not a lot of people open. They did a nice job of changing up their coverage, blitzing, showing the blitz, dropping out…they did a nice job.
Junior QB Trevone Boykin
On most people picking Texas for the upset: Yeah, and it kind of tripped me up because I mean, I saw that stuff and the things that your hear, you can go out and you can think if you didn't know anything about us, you would think that we are the 5-7 team. They were talking about us like we haven't done anything, that we haven't proven anything. That kind of ticked us off a little so we just wanted to come out and play a big game.
On the kind of statement he thinks they made: Hopefully a pretty good one. But at the end of the day, if you're talking about the playoffs, it's really not up to us.
On the importance of the win against Texas: The tradition that they have here, as a kid growing up, you might not say it, but everybody wants to come here. It's big for us because some guys that didn't get a chance to go to Texas now have the chance to prove themselves and we tried to do that every time we go out there.
On if this win is going to motivate them moving forward: I felt that it will motivate us a lot, but like I said, we're just going to focus on our game, and after the game, win or lose, we are going to celebrate no matter what. We're going to focus on Iowa State this week and that's just what it is.
Senior S Sam Carter
On if he agrees with Coach Patterson's statement that they feel like they have one more to go: That's the key. This game is behind us. We're happy about it but we have one more. Iowa State's pretty good, also.
On if this was a satisfactory performance: We're happy to get the win. Defense, those guys played well. The d-line played excellent and linebackers. We're happy to get the win but Iowa State's the next opponent.
On how much did the early turnovers and three-and-outs set the tone: I don't know if it set the tone or not but we knew, get on and off, give our offense more opportunities. Those guys can score at any time, so the more times they get the ball, the better they are.
On if he and the defense was offended by everyone talking about TCU offense vs. Texas defense: We take pride in what we do. I'm not going to take anything away from those guys. Those guys' defense is amazing, also, but we really hold ourselves to a higher standard on this defense and for us to get overlooked, that does get to you. We just want to come out there and play as well as we could.
On if the first takeaway lit a fire in the team: A little bit. You want to get the ball back to those guys. We talk about turnovers and whatever safety gets them, we're excited. Whatever linebacker, a d-lineman got a pick tonight so when we get those guys the ball back, anything can happen, so we try to get those guys the ball.
Junior WR Josh Doctson
On being fully healthy: Better than last week and the week before. As the week progressed, I feel like I got a little more wiggle and this game I felt I was 100 percent jumping.
On winning jump balls: I just felt like I had that bounce, which I feel like I didn't have last week. It was really good to feel that.
On confidence in jump balls: I should get them 100 percent of the time. That's just me being competitive. It's me or no body.
On statement win: I think the whole team came in with the mindset of being ready to play. Obviously I'd be lying if we weren't aware of style points and all that, but just came out and played TCU football and did what we had to do.
Senior LB Marcus Mallet
On what the defense did the first three drives to take Texas out of its offense: We just came out strong. We knew as long as we kept with the game plan and played our hardest that we had a chance.
On if he was offended about everyone talking about TCU's offense vs. Texas' defense: We go out there every Saturday and we try to be the best defense on the field at the time and sometimes we get overlooked and that just motivates us to go even harder.
On what's got them this far this season: The want, the attention to detail and just being out there with the guys you love every day, man. Coach P[atterson] constantly tells us, "We're going to practice. Even if you don't want to practice, you might as well make the best of it."
On if the first turnover of the game lit a fire for the team: It does, it does. It gets us motivated to go out there and get more the second drive and every drive after that.
On Tyrone Swoopes: He's a good player. Swoopes is a good player. He's athletic, he's a big guy, hard to tackle, and he's a good player.
On what it feels like when a guy creates a turnover: It goes back to the summer workouts. Just seeing everything pay off. In a game, it gets everyone happy. We get live off of that and we feed off of that energy.
