Oct. 17, 2015 Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
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2/2 BAYLOR (6-0, 3-0)à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € 62, NR/RV WEST VIRGINIAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € (3-3, 2-1) 38
McLANE STADIUM - WACO, TEXAS
OCT. 17, 2015 - ATTENDANCE: 45,370 Baylor Head Coach Art Briles
Opening statement...
"Really good win against the only Big 12 team we don't have a winning record against in games since 2011, so it's a big deal for us as a program. We felt a lot of desire and need to clear our name. We didn't feel like we had a good name in West Virginia after last year, so that was our motivating factor. It had nothing to do with rankings or getting bowl eligible or anything other than the fact that when people talk about us up there, we want them saying good things about our football program. We didn't really have that until today, so that was our motivating factor today."
On Seth Russell making big plays ...
"We felt like coming into the game he would have to run some. We hadn't been running him much but he has that ability, and that's an X-factor we haven't had for a couple years. He's really good at it. I thought he did a great job today protecting the ball. He made good adjustments at the line of scrimmage. He did a good job. We were a little rusty on Thursday so we put in a little extra time, and it really paid off from a mental standpoint today. He's really playing well for us and that's the most encouraging thing. We're getting to know him better and he's getting to know us better. I'm having a hard time finding faults. He's pretty complete."
On West Virginia stopping the run ...
"You never like to think it's going to be hard to run the football, but they're a run-stop team. They're a team that takes a lot of pride in stopping the run. They do a good job and they have good people, so we knew it would be a little bit of a grind."
On Corey Coleman ...
"He's a hard match-up because he's very explosive, very talented, and very passionate. And he's got a guy throwing the ball really well who can also run the football. When you have those things defenses have to make decisions. He's just good. He was a top recruit, the best guy in the state of Texas, top four or five America. We knew we were getting a great athlete."
On being bowl eligible ...
"We acknowledged it and it is a big deal. It's a gigantic deal being bowl eligible six years in a row. That's nothing to be taken lightly. It's hard to win consistently, so that shows a little substance in our football program."
On getting the edge back ...
"I don't think I'm without edge, but there's always more out there. We've got to do a great job of refocusing and recharging, and making sure we put the same amount of energy into the next game against Iowa State that we did for this one. We put a lot of energy into this one."
Baylor QB Seth Russell
On him running the ball so much ...
"We knew they were going to heat us up a bit and that's what they did. If they bring seven, you leave one free rusher so that's who we were reading. If he crashes down, I pull it and then I'm one-on-one with the safety, basically. That's kind of what we did last year, but we didn't execute the quarterback run as much last year because we weren't expecting it. This year we were expecting it, we had a good game plan drawn up, and we executed it."
On Corey Coleman's continued stellar performances ...
"You watch him, the way he runs his routes, he's so dynamic, so explosive. You have to double team him. That's maybe the only way you can try to stop him. If you double him, then you're going one-on-one with one of the fastest guys in the nation and with one of the most consistent guys in the nation; KD [Cannon] and Jay Lee. It's basically pick your poison; that's the way I look at it. We need to continue to execute with our deep balls; we hit on a couple today which was good because it softened them up. But as long as we continue to be able to run the ball and throw the ball we should come out on top."
On how important Shock Linwood is to the read option success ...
"He's huge. With the threat of a quarterback who can run the ball, you've seen it in many spread offenses, if the quarterback can run it, you can really hurt some defenses. Our offensive line was doing a great job of moving people out of the way and making holes. That's huge and as long as we continue to execute that's something we can continue to look forward to."
On if he'll be sore after running so much and taking hits ...
"Yeah, probably a little bit, but that's football. That was our game plan, I knew I was going to have to run it eight to 12 times. We had to keep them honest. There were some big holes. But football is football and you're going to get banged up. It's all about the recovery and getting ready to answer back next week."
Baylor LB Taylor Young
On his goal line tackle to force a field goal attempt ...
"That's every linebacker's dream to have a tackle like that. That is something that's natural, but hopefully I can get even more if I practice on it. I plan on having much more of that right there."
Baylor WR Jay Lee
On the win ...
"It was a big win. We are bowl eligible now, but we didn't think about that when we went into the game. We just had to go out there and do what we know how to do. We knew what happened last year, and we didn't want that sour taste in our mouth again, so we went out firing on all cylinders."
On his success throughout the game ...
"Throughout the course of the game we saw [West Virginia's free safety] jumping on the switches and screens that we were throwing. We just made an adjustment, and we knew if we ran it he would jump, and sure enough it was there."
Baylor DB Ryan Reid
On his second-quarter interception in the end zone ...
"It was good for the defense. We kept on saying that we needed to create turnovers, and we've had turnovers all year every game. The coaches kept telling us that we needed a turnover, and for me to answer, I feel great. I'm going to keep working hard for more."
On how the team is feeling about its 6-0 start to the season ...
"We're not going to get cocky with it. Each game gets bigger. All you really got to do is play your role on this team. If everyone plays their role right, then we all clash together for a Big 12 championship."
Baylor WR Corey Coleman
On setting the Baylor single-season TD catches record ...
"It means a lot to me. [Kendall Wright] is like my big brother. It's a blessing, and he set the standard high. My goal was to go get it, and I reached it. I'm trying to make [the record] elite. I'm trying to make it unbreakable. I'm always trying to get better, always trying to find ways to get this team better. I like competition, so it's a great feeling."
On defending Baylor's FBS-best 19-game home winning streak ...
"We have a point to prove every time we step out on that field. We can't tolerate anything, so we have to put our foot down and just be at our best. We have great fans, and we don't want to let anyone down."
Baylor DT Beau Blackshear
On Andrew Billings' injury ...
"It's never anything good to see your teammate down. We know he's a strong guy and he would try to come back and fight through it. He came back in for that one play and just looked like he couldn't go. So the rest of the D-line, we knew we really had to step up and fill in for what we were losing without him."
On what it means to beat West Virginia ...
"We're good, we got bowl eligible. This whole week we were talking about how they were the only team we have a losing record to coming into this game since 2012. We really just wanted to come out and defend our home turf out here and get another win and keep everything rolling."
On if the team celebrated being bowl eligible ...
"We try to expect that, that we're going to get that every year now; that's where the bar has been set and what we expect to accomplish. But we're definitely excited and it means something to us."
On what the defensive adjustments at halftime ...
"We saw they were trying to do more quarterback runs on us and that they were going to take those deeps shots. But they were trying to get a little read with the quarterback and everything, so we just tried to exchange who was taking the flare guys out and all that stuff to try and keep our linebackers in the pocket area to try and contain them."
West Virginia Head Coach Dana Holgorsen
Opening statement...
"Another hard fought loss. I have to give our players credit for fighting, they won't back down, they'll keep fighting. With that said, not good enough to get a victory. Congratulations to Baylor, they're the number two team in the country and this is the best Baylor team I've seen, ever. They're a good team. Our guys thought they could win, fought hard. In the second quarter, I think the two red-zone opportunities we had both needed to result in points. That would have tied it at 27 going into halftime. That was tough, and then after that, you can only hold them down for so long. So again, congratulations to them, they're going to win a lot of ballgames. We're going to go back to work and we're going to keep fighting."
On Skyler Howard's play today as compared to up-and-down play last few weeks ...
"Yeah, he's under some pressure. He puts pressure on himself. You guys know where I'm going with this, there's a lot of people putting pressure on him as well. He works hard and he's not going to listen to what people say and he's not going to quit fighting. I'm proud of him, his work ethic, his fight, and he's going to continue to do that regardless of what people say."
On the chop block before halftime resulting in lost momentum ...
"In the second quarter we had two missed opportunities that, if we could have gotten two touchdowns out of those drives, it would have been 27-27 at halftime. That would have put us in a better place at halftime, that's no question, but that's the sort of stuff that needs to happen in order to beat these guys. Was it the reason we lost the game? I'm not going there, it was only one penalty. We still could've made the field goal there though."
On Baylor's offense putting pressure on West Virginia's offense to score ...
"Yeah, you have to score points. We scored 38, which is pretty similar to what we scored last year. I knew we couldn't outscore these guys, we're not there offensively yet. We're going to continue to improve, I think we took a step in the right direction today. With all of these young and inexperienced guys, we will continue to improve offensively. With that said, with the experience that Baylor has on offense, we can't outscore them. We had to have them have a bad day. They need to miss some throws, have some turnovers, which clearly they didn't do that. I thought our defense battled. Our game plan offensively was to try and control the ball a little bit, which we did a decent job of in the first half, but then you start pressing. You get down a few scores and you start pressing offensively."
On how he thought West Virginia did defensively ...
"Number one [on Baylor] is the best player in college football. You can put me on record for that. Corey Coleman is the best player in college football. Seth Russell didn't miss any throws. Their O-Line is big and physical. They have good running backs. If you double-cover one receiver they have three others that are pretty good. They have it in a pretty good place here."
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