Dec. 5, 2015 Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
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NR/NR/NR TEXAS (5-7, 4-5)à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € 23, 12/12/12 BAYLORà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € (9-3, 6-3) 17
McLANE STADIUM - WACO, TEXAS
DEC. 5, 2015 - ATTENDANCE: 48,093 Baylor Head Coach Art Briles
Opening statement à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"A disappointing situation for our seniors, for our University and for our football team. We're just going to have to try and salvage the season by going to a bowl game and winning the bowl game."
On if he was surprised the way the team started the game à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I mean, driving down there and not converting a fourth-and-a-foot? Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. We convert that there, then who knows what happens. We actually had a third-and-one and then fourth-and-a-foot and didn't convert. I was a little surprised by that, quite honestly. The rest of the deal, I mean they hit the big play but there's still a lot of time left in the game."
On when the team made the change to the wildcat and its success à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Halftime. We had a chance to get in here and figure out something that could help generate some positive yards. I thought it was pretty effective for the most part. I thought Johnny [Jefferson] and Terence [Williams] did a good job for the most part. [Devin Chafin] got dinged up in the first half and Shock [Linwood] couldn't go. So I thought those guys did a great job."
On if the team panicked when Chris Johnson went down à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I don't know if panic is the right word, but just a regrouping atmosphere and attitude. You're ready for that, but when it happens, you're not. Then the realization sets in that a lot of the gameplan is, essentially, out of the window."
On the team's rally à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We certainly thought at halftime that we were going to come back and win 21-20. That was our mission and goal coming out of the locker room. We just felt like if we could come out, get a couple of stops and get a couple of scores that we could flip the momentum a little bit. I thought the crowd got involved and did a great job. We didn't get a touchdown on our second drive of the third quarter, which was kind of a tough deal for us. I felt like we had a play or two that could've worked, but due to consequences, not everyone was on the same page. So we opted for the field goal. And you know you have to score two more times, if you get the touchdown, then just one more. But we were moving the ball pretty effectively at that time so we thought we might get a couple of more scores."
On if this will be Corey Coleman's last season at Baylor à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It certainly looks like that, yeah. I think he'll play in the bowl game and then move on, which we're all in support of. He's done a great job for this University and for this football program for four years."
On Lynx Hawthorne's performance à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"The sad part is coming out of the locker room and those guys are very emotional. That's the sad part. Because they give it their all. There's a bunch of them in that situation, and that's the part that affects me as much as anything. I don't like to see our guys unhappy. I like to see them happy. I thought Lynx was -- courageous is a great word. He battled, he fought, and did a great job and put us in a position to win us the game late. He has nothing to be sorry about because he played from the inside out."
Baylor DE Jamal Palmer
On the emotions of the game à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It was a hard-fought game. Everyone came out and tried to get a win. Then Chris [Johnson] went down so as a team, as seniors, and as a defense, we tried to come together. But it's hard losing at home for your last game."
On the defense à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We just knew the situation with the offense. At halftime, the defense was like, 'let's go.' We knew it was on us to come out and get good field position. We had a quarterback go down and Lynx [Hawthorne] did the best he could, but we just came up a little short."
On Johnny Jefferson's effort à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Lynx is just an athlete. We trusted in him to make plays because that's all we had left. But when they decided to put Johnny in at the wildcat, it was a difference maker."
Baylor OT Spencer Drango
On the season à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"There are some teams that love to go 9-3, so I don't really see it as a disappointment. The disappointing thing is not sending the seniors out with a win at home. But we're still going to a bowl so we're excited to be a part of that."
On the game à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"When we're working with a fourth string quarterback who's a receiver, it's hard. But he played great. We had a few turnovers, but we knew we were going to have to run the ball to have a chance to win, so we took it upon ourselves to just go."
On the offensive line à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We knew at halftime we were just shooting ourselves in the foot the whole game. You can only shoot yourself too many times before it gets bad. After halftime, we took it upon ourselves to not give up and fight until the end."
Baylor WR Corey Coleman
On entering the NFLà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € draft à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Coach Briles and my mom and [Coach Kaz Kazadi] discussed it, and that's what we think the best route is. I'm thankful for all of Baylor nation and for the Baylor program for everything they've done for me. Every time I think about it, I get really sad. I really love this place and I'm thankful for Coach Briles for believing in me."
On this team's fight à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It shows a lot of maturity. We never thought about quitting on our fourth string quarterback who's actually a receiver, and we still came back. It was really tough, the situation we were in. We had to switch up a lot of stuff on the fly."
On playing in the bowl game à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"This team is one of a kind. I honestly wouldn't want to play with any other guys. I love this school and this program, and I'm definitely playing in the bowl game."
Baylor DT Beau Blackshear
On the season à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It's tough, but these past five years have been awesome. From what Baylor was to what it is now, it's been great to be a part of that. This is a tough way to go out, but the good definitely outweighs the bad."
On Texas' approach on offense à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We knew they were going to have a heavy run package and we needed to go in there and stop that. We had some missed tackles and that touchdown at the very beginning, but we had a good game plan going in."
Baylor WR Lynx Hawthorne
On coming in for injured QB Chris Johnson à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"You don't ever want someone to go down, but it's one of those things where as the weeks went on of working [at quarterback in practice], I'm really just trying to perfect my craft just in case if something did happen. Something did happen, and I wanted to be really prepared."
On the game à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It hasn't really all sunk in yet. Even at halftime, I was sitting there and was like, 'you're at quarterback.' Even the loss, it's really all a blur right now."
On playing QB for first time since high school à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"There's some no-no's that you don't do at quarterback, and I found out the hard way. I kind of scrambled, threw across my body into double or triple coverage, stuff like that. The game plan evolved where they were like, 'let's take a little off his plate.' At practice, I was doing pretty well with some stop balls, and the deep ball I got down this week."
On halftime adjustments à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It's still football. It's still playing catch, which anyone can do. I feel like the first half I wasn't making it that. I was making it more, 'wow, there's people here in the stands, throw the ball now, you're running the number one offense in America.' I wasn't playing football, and the second half I was like, "just throw the ball, let them catch it, you have the best receivers in the nation."
Texas Head Coach Charlie Strong
On finishing the season with a win for the seniors à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I'm so glad for our seniors. I said to the team before the game, 'we need to go get this one; we need to go get it done for our seniors.' To our young players I said, 'just go out and play with confidence.'"
On this win's impact on next season à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"This is a spring board for the spring. Now we have something that we can build on, something that we can take into the offseason."
On the season as a whole à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Not pleased with the year we had. You go beat Oklahoma and then you bounce back later and go on the road and beat Baylor; I don't have any answers for this team. I wish I did. I wish each and every week could've been like this one. But I'm just so happy; I'm happy for our football team and this whole program. I don't want to make any promises about next year, but we have a lot to look forward to."
Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes
On the early lead à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"That's what we try to do every game. When you get out to a lead early with a couple of scores that always helps. Anytime we go out there, that's what we want to do, and that's what we did today."
On beating a ranked team like Baylor à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It was big for us to win this one today. We hadn't been playing well on the road and for them to be ranked, too, it showed us what we can do and what we need to do in the future. So, it was big for us."
Texas RB Johnathan Gray
On the future of the program à ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"For next year, I feel like those guys will be pumped from this game and it'll be motivation for next season. They play hard. They're going to be motivated and they're going to be hungry. And I think those guys will be ready to play. I think that guys are maturing, especially the younger ones. As you could tell out there, they have some football awareness, and they can go out there and get the job done. So when they come back, hopefully they'll build on it and have a better season."
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