Oct. 13, 2014 Opening Statement:
"It was a really good win the other night, significant for a variety of reasons. First of all, we got bowl-eligible and secondly, it keeps us in the competition for a Big 12 championship. From that standpoint, it's a momentum win. The way that we are looking at this week is to ride the momentum six more days, and I think the schedule plays in our favor where we get an open date after West Virginia. So we will take advantage of riding the high for five or six days. You can do that, but you can't stay that way for an extended period of time. That's what our plan is going to be this week going into West Virginia."
On what he can expect from West Virginia's offense:
"(Clint Trickett) is good. I thought he was good last year. He is a coach's kid and has been around the game his whole life. He's grown up and is a lot more comfortable in his system as opposed to last year when he transferred from Florida State. Dana (Holgorsen) is always going to have good people to put in their schemes. (Kevin) White is leading the nation in receiving yards. They mix it up well. They're always going to run the ball effectively, and it is always going to be a challenge. They've scored points against everybody they have played this year. They have not won two games this year, but they were against Oklahoma and Alabama. You could toss a lot of people in that hat, and a lot of them end up that way. They played extremely well and won a good, tough game on the road last week up in Lubbock, which was impressive"
On defending the fade pass:
"You know that you are going to get those anytime that you have press coverage. That's just the way that the game is played. There are a variety of ways that you can defend: disguise coverage, bring the heat and get the ball out of the quarterback's hand before he's ready or you can play on the ball. All those things fall into it. We're not surprised that it is happening. Our players are aware, and we've got good guys. We trust them."
On the 11 a.m. kickoff at West Virginia:
"Our guys are not college students when we are in game prep. They're football players because their body clock is programmed that way. We start programming it in about Thursday to where their bodies will be ready and set to go. That's just a part of the trade. It's not an issue. If it is an issue, it's the same for them as it is us."
On running the ball better in the second half:
"Coach Clements and Coach Lebby do a great job making adjustments during the game. We had some big adjustments at halftime. I thought that Coach Montgomery was magnificent the other night and all the help that we had with other people. We had some changes in our last two drives that other coaches made adjustments to and kept drives alive for us. Those guys did an outstanding job. I think it has a lot to do with our style of play, adjustments and people up front. Those guys are good."
On Taylor Young's performance Saturday:
"He did a great job. Taylor is a great football player and has been great on special teams all year. He's a spark player. We had to pull him off special teams because he started the other night, and it weakened us in some areas there. We've got to have some guys step up and improve there. He is a very instinctive football player. I have to give credit to Coach Gush and Coach Bennett for finding him on the recruiting trail because he was a little under-recruited, but they saw some things in him that told that he was a really good player. The guy is good, and he did a great job. He was a half-step away from getting a pick the other night that would've been a huge play."
On Bryce Petty being the leader of the comeback:
"The thing that is a little ironic, I talked to Bryce a little while ago, is that he isn't happy or satisfied. He knows that we as a football team left a lot of plays on the table. We can play a whole lot better on both sides of the ball and special teams. He's a guy who has a lot of experience, seen a lot of things and won us games. The expectation levels for him are up there pretty high, but at the end of the day it is all about winning. We like to score on our first four drives, but we weren't able to do that. We scored on our last four, which is the impressive part."
On Corey Coleman's versatility:
"He's very versatile, dynamic and tough. He's a passionate player, and I really respect his attitude and passion that he plays with. He's extremely physical and really good with the ball in his hands. He's a guy that we are glad that is healthy because he makes a difference on our football team. We knew Johnny (Jefferson) wasn't going to play and that we over-used Shock (Linwood) at Texas. We had to use him a little (at RB) the other night out of necessity. Corey got in there and made a couple of huge plays for us."
On Shock Linwood "running angry" in the second half:
"Well, you've got to start out angry. One of my sayings has always been to not wait until something bad happens to get good. Be good to begin with. Don't wait until somebody slaps you where you're mad and ready to fight. You better be ready to fight from the get-go. That part of it we have to work on, but he is a great football player and teammate. He is a guy that provides passion because when he runs, he runs with everything he's got - and he's got a lot. Everyone in the locker room respects that guy, without question."
On the role of strength & conditioning in their success:
"We've always felt like Kaz Kazadi and his staff are the best in America. I think that they do an outstanding job with our guys not only in season, but out of season. All that stuff pays off. I feel like the longer we're in the game with somebody, the more probability of us winning there is because we're not going to relent. We are going to keep going."
On Chris Callahan's confidence:
"As I said, everyone stops and watches a field goal. They look at the snapper holding the kick. Regardless of how much knowledge you have of the game. Those guys have to believe in themselves. He makes pressure kicks in practice. It's hard to walk out there when you've got a hundred-something guys within five feet of you screaming and hollering while you kick. It's not easy. He's done extremely well the last couple of weeks in practice. We just haven't had the opportunities in the game. We almost did one at Texas and Iowa State, but they weren't the right situations. They didn't feel like the right thing to do, but for him they would've helped. He got in there the other night when we had to have it and did an outstanding job. It's really a credit to him without question. He did what he was supposed to do - go in there and make kicks. It was a huge game without question."
On how the pick six affected his confidence:
"A lack of confidence or a deflating of confidence is not really what happened. I was upset with myself because I don't want those things to happen. Especially with as many looks as I have seen, I should have known Mallet, who caught that pick, was going to be there watching. For me, I was upset that I missed that look, but at the same time I really just wanted the ball back because I felt like there was still a lot of time left. At that point there was a lot of momentum their way, but if we get two stops and score three times, that is all we need. It was never a lack or deflation of confidence, I just wanted the ball back."
On Shock Linwood:
"That little kid is a baller. I love him to death. To me, he is one of the most underrated running backs not only in the conference, but in the whole league itself. The guy is about as consistent as can be. Anytime we need a spark, he somehow seems to give it to us. He is one of my favorite guys on the team. There are a lot of things that make me look better and our team look better, but to have Shock back there with us really helps us out a lot."
On the veteran receivers finding their rhythm:
"I think I just had to hit them. They were ready to go. They had a great week last week. They had a really good Tuesday practice, and a really good Wednesday practice, which those two guys had not had in a couple of weeks. Corey (Coleman) had not been healthy since camp, so it was great to have those guys back. When they are hitting on all cylinders, you can try and stop them, but it is tough. They are some players, dynamic, versatile, and everything you want in a wide receiver."
On his confidence level of having a big-time comeback:
"Honestly, I do not know if it says anything about me, but more about this team. For them to have my back throughout the whole thing, we talked about a pick six and a lot of guys can give up at that point in time, but they never did. That was really what I was pulling from. Guys slapping me on the head, and telling me to pick my head up, and that we are all right. It is not as much me, but the guys around me. I got 10 other guys that help me out constantly, and the other 11 on the other side of the ball. You have to have stops in that situation, and they came through time and time again. Really, we spotted them 17 points, so it shouldn't have even been that close. The first interception, the defense made a huge goal line stop. To come out of the first pick with them only getting three points was huge. That ended up being the game. Those guys on defense are playing really well, and really confident. We have a complete team, and it is fun to be around."
On expecting the West Virginia game to be another shootout:
"Who knows? If it comes down to that, then it comes down to that. It is hard to predict games, especially in this league when you look at how good defenses are getting. I really do not think it was a lack of defense. I think you would be crazy if you said that. It is more or less the talent in the league right now is pretty outstanding. Road games are funky, especially in Morgantown. It will just be good to get out of there with a win, and that is what we are going to try and do."
On the versatility of Corey Coleman:
"He can really play anything. He's an extremely talented player and an even better guy off the field. He's extremely dynamic and versatile, so we've got to get him the ball early. The more touches he gets, the more juiced up he gets, and that's when he's extremely dynamic because he can take it at any time."
On what the sidelines and huddles were like after the comeback started:
"Like I told you guys after the game, it's just amazing to me the team that we have. I was going up and down the sideline like `hey guys, we got this' and they would look at me like `yeah, I know.' Okay, then I'm going to talk to somebody else. It's just that confidence, that I got your back, you got my back, we've been through worse. It was just a matter of time before things started picking up. Coach actually just told me in there that our goal is to score the first four drives that we get out there. We didn't do that, but we scored the last four. The motto with us is `it's not how you start, it's how you finish.' It's just been a true testament to this team. It's that never give up attitude."
On what has made this team a better road team than previous years (whether it's maturation or something else):
"I think that, for sure. I think also just the mentality. I know I've talked about that before, but just the whole change in how we think. We never feel that we're down. It's not over `til it's over. So when you've got that belief, when you've got a lot of guys that believe that, it normally comes true. So it's just taken a couple of years for that to come true, but now that we've got that, I'd be crazy if I didn't say 100 percent of the team knows that we're there at any given spot in the game. So you've just got to keep playing and normally good things will happen if you believe like that."
On how such a big comeback will influence games in the future:
"It really is a lot of confidence for us because there's not going to be many situations worse than that, being 21 points down that late in the fourth quarter. So for us, it's like Coach Briles says--you can't really teach experience or read it in a book. You just have to live it. So for us, that was living proof that we can come back literally from anything. So it's just a lot of confidence for the guys and for the team."
On West Virginia:
"I was actually just watching film on them and it almost seems like they've always got 12 or 14 guys on the field every play. They fly around and they're confident right now. They really are. You can tell that on film and the way they play. So we're going to have to be really sound and we're going to have to execute well, especially our game plan. But I have no doubt in this team and just like last week, you can never count us out. So it's a tough environment, but it's just all about execution and playing Baylor Football."
On the impact of Bryce Petty leading the big fourth quarter comeback:
"It just gives us that much more confidence--not just in him but in this team as a whole unit. Being down 21 with 11 minutes to go and to come back and win--someone told us the odds of us winning at that point was something like 1.9% and so with that we decided we wanted to take those odds. It gives us a lot more confidence going up and it shows that even with our backs against the wall we can come out fighting."
On if Bryce seemed any different during that fourth quarter:
"Everyone was so focused, not just Bryce. Defense got a stop and offense went and scored and I think that everyone knew "Here we go." Defense got another stop and offense went and scored again. That time the fans were going nuts and that gave us a little bit more confidence and no one was hot-headed or anything about it or emotional. Everyone was poised."
On the defense now compared to two years ago:
"We definitely have a better defense now. The guys that we have and the mentality they have is different than what it was two years ago."
On the atmosphere two years ago at West Virginia:
"It was a fun atmosphere. It was kind of like what we had the other night. They were loud. Whenever it was third down they would make a lot of noise. I remember the blue and gold stripe thing they did. It was how you would expect college football to be."
On heading to West Virginia:
"I'm not worried. We know what we can do and we know how to fix the things we did. Overall, it wasn't our best but we got the win, which is what really matters."
On the TCU defense:
"It wasn't anything mind-blowingly schematic that they did. They're just a good football team. They're a really good defense and they will always be a good defense with Coach Patterson there."
On what Baylor needs to do to get by West Virginia:
"We've just got to keep on doing what we're doing and keep playing Baylor Football. They've got a really good defense. You know they're going to come with full steam ready to beat us, just like everybody else we play."
On the effect of the early kickoff time:
"We're playing so early, it's like we're losing a day. So we just have to prepare our bodies and just be mentally focused and make sure everybody is focused in the hotel."
On how his confidence was during the game:
"Well, the past is the past. I knew I needed to prepare for the future and this past week, it was TCU. I just need to perform in the moment and just perform how I can do and influence the team how I can. So my confidence was high going into the game and I'd had a great few weeks of practice, so I really think obviously, my confidence is back and I feel great."
On what he was thinking right before the kick:
"You gotta make this. Or else."
On the pressure of the audience:
"I just kind of zoned them out. I didn't hear them. I just focused and blocked everyone out. I didn't hear anything except Frerk catch the snap and the ball hit the ground, and then the ball rubbing against the back of the net through the posts"
On how they accomplished the comeback against TCU:
"We are able to overcome adversity. We rallied together on the sideline and just stayed positive because we know we can put up points quick and we needed our defense to hold them up. They went out there and made the stops and we went out there and scored to capitalize on the stops."
On what they said to Bryce after the pick-6 in the fourth quarter:
"We are receivers, so we have to make Bryce look good. We just told him that every throw he throws to us, we would make it count. Corey (Coleman) and Antwan (Goodley) came up big at the end and KD (Cannon) and I did our thing there in the third quarter. We just did what we had to do to win."
On whether he expects another shootout against West Virginia:
"I don't really know what to expect, but I just know we have to come out and start faster than what we have these past two weeks. We just have to rally together again and play the best football we can."
On starting because Aiavion (Edwards) was out:
"It was very exciting. It was exciting for everybody surrounding me, my family and even my teammates. Aiavion was even very excited for me."
On how he mentally prepared:
"Well, you know Coach Gush. He doesn't let me slack off even though I might not start. He pushes me, like I need to come to every meeting and I need to look at film. Even at home, every day, I need to look at two hours of it."
On the excitement of the last-second win:
"It was awesome. You saw it. It was exciting. Things went well. At first, we went through a little adversity, but we fought through everything."
On his performance at the end of the game:
"I knew they were going to try me. I'm the smallest out there. I just had to step up and make plays. If not it could have gone ugly so I just had to do what I had to do."
On having a short memory:
"My memory stopped right when the play was over. I can't go onto the next play worried about what happened on the last one. It would just get uglier and uglier."