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Baylor Head Coach Jim Grobe
Opening statement...
"Well, that was interesting. I always have a concern when we play the first game. We're so excited to play and sky high. It's hard to simulate that again the second week. We, of course, had a tougher challenge today. I think the thing that I was so proud of was how well our kids bounced back. We just didn't have good stuff offensively in the first half. I really thought our defense, to hold them to six points, was really, really good. We were backed up a few times. We did a great job to kind of bow our necks and not let them in the end zone. But I do have to give credit to SMU. I thought Chad Morris and his staff had a good plan. They gave us some problems early. I think at halftime we figured some things out that really helped us. But for the most part, I thought SMU's kids and their coaching staff did a great job. We knew we were going to have a challenge. We knew that they were going to be ready to play. I think this is a great win. I think some of the best wins you have are when you're challenged and you find a way to get it done. So for us right now, I told our players in the locker room, we've got to play a lot better going forward. We had too many penalties. Offensively, we had a couple turnovers that we shouldn't have. I thought at times some of the penalties were crazy, the procedure penalties. We just can't do that. That's undisciplined, and we can't do it. Going forward, those things are going to hurt us. I felt like -- from an effort standpoint, I felt our kids, when it came time to win a football game, they found a way to do it, and that's the bottom line. I'm proud of our staff, proud of our kids. Obviously, I think we can be a good football team. I don't think we showed today the kind of football team we can be. Now, I want to give SMU credit, though. I think you ought to realize their kids played really, really hard. We've got to improve quite a bit. I think we can be a good football team, but I don't think we played as well as we can play today."

On Baylor's interceptions, three of them, two by S Orion Stewart and one by S Davion Hall, and how big those were in this game...
"Well, you know, I talked about we needed to force more turnovers defensively. But those turnovers were so big because of where they happened. We had two in the end zone where they were driving on us and ready to score points. And then any time you have an interception for a score, it makes it really good. So I thought overall, I think we're going to feel like we didn't play the run very well defensively. We're a little soft inside. But we forced some turnovers, and that was huge, and a big, big part of the football game today was our defense kind of bowing up and doing what they needed to do to keep SMU out of the end zone."

On losing veteran CB Ryan Reid in the first half, but having safeties Stewart and Hall with big games helping to overcome Reid's loss...
"Well, you always want veteran players back there, and that's what Orion gives us back there. He's kind of the senior leadership back there. So we hate to lose a guy like Ryan because he's our leader over there also. They had a couple of receivers that were really dangerous, so when he got hurt, we didn't panic, but you really have a concern when your senior corner is down and you know how good their receivers are. So I like the way our younger guys came in and played on the corner, but I think you make a good point. I think Orion settles them down, and he settles Davion down. Davion's a young guy, was a receiver that we moved to safety. He's going to continue to get better and better. He's very athletic and not real comfortable at times with some of the calls and those type things, but it's because he's young and new to the position. But I think being back there with Orion really helps him."

On QB Seth Russell looking off in first half but making more plays in second half to show sign of a veteran staying with the process...
"Absolutely, and I think it's a situation where, when you know a guy like Seth Russell's maybe not got his best stuff, you don't worry about it, you just hang in there with him because you know it's coming. You know he'll get it going. I think what we're going to see, when we get back and look at video, I think we're going to figure out he missed some throws, but we probably didn't run routes at times as we should have. We've got a lot of young receivers. We've got a lot of guys playing for us right now. So I think it's probably going to be a combination of Seth will probably tell you that he missed some throws, but then we'll probably look at it and feel like we didn't quite get where we needed to be with our routes."

On SMU's tempo on offense...
"I think tempo -- you know [SMU head coach] Chad [Morris] is going to do some tempo stuff. So we expected him to do that, but they kind of mixed it up. And what happens when you're a defensive coordinator and you're making calls, you're kind of in a groove, and all of a sudden I've got to make a call quicker. We're trying to not only -- you know, we've got some young defenders. So we're trying to not only make a call to stop the offense, but we're trying to coach them while the series is going so hopefully we can get better and improve as we go. So it just -- you know, sometimes you've got to make a call a little quicker than you want to, but I think that's a little more of a credit to SMU than a problem for us. Phil did a really, really good job changing gears when the pace changed, but I think what it did, especially in the run game, we weren't quite settled. We didn't quite have our cleats settled in the ground on some of those inside runs. So that's something that we've got to get better at. We go against each other a lot, so we should be used to pace. That's not anything. I think we just kind of didn't play as well as we needed to early, and as the game went on, I thought we kind of began to play better."

On if he felt a lack of energy in McLane Stadium...
"I did not. Maybe I'm just focused more on what's going on out on the field, but I didn't sense that there was a lack of energy from the stands. I think our guys expected to come out and play better, and when we didn't play as good as we can early, I think it kind of threw them off a little bit. I thought there was great energy in the crowd. It's a little different, though, when it's hot. I mean, you kick at 2:30, the crowd and the players are hot. So that might dampen it a little bit."

On WR Blake Lynch fumbling away a TD and getting one back later and the lessons he is teaching the younger guys...
"Great point. The thing that I will tell you, show you what a great coach I am, I told him, you might want to carry the ball with you into the end zone in that situation. But I think what you saw and what we saw that was real exciting, Blake Lynch can play football. He's a really good player, and he's a guy, going forward, we're going to have a use a lot more. I think he's a young guy. He's got to learn -- I think the biggest issue was he was giving such great effort to try to get into the end zone, and sometimes you forget to secure the ball. But that's what -- you work with young players, and the nice thing today was we were able to win a football game, make a lot of mistakes, but see some of these young guys really step up like JaMycal Hasty, watching him run the football. Watching Blake Lynch play receiver today was really special. So all these young guys are going to be making mistakes, but as we go forward, you've got a pretty good idea they'll start cutting back on those."

On how nervous he was in the game, especially when Baylor's offense went for it on fourth and one from its own 29 yard line...
"A little -- I told [defensive coordinator Phil] Bennett -- you know, I'm an old defensive coach, and I think we were backed up -- I'm just going to throw a number out. I think we might have gone on fourth down five times behind our 50 yard line, I think, and that is not in my comfort zone. I will just tell you that. I'll tell you that. But I felt like we really needed to hang on to the football. We put the defense out there too many times, and I really felt like, in those situations, we needed first downs, and [offensive coordinator Kendal Briles] felt like we were good. We were just rolling and going. The problem is I think KB would feel good on fourth and 20. But I felt like, knowing our football team, I felt we were capable of making those, and I think extending drives was important for us at a certain time when our defense had been out there too much."

Baylor QB Seth Russell
On how frustrating the first half was and how he persevered through it...
"Yeah, it was really frustrating, just because we weren't really playing well, as it showed. We scored 6 points in the first half, and that hasn't happened in a long time at Baylor for the past eight years or so. Give it to SMU. They were flying around on defense. They were giving us things we hadn't really seen them do, and they have some really good players on that team. They're going to do a great job in their conference. They're going to be a tough team to beat. To persevere through it, you've got four quarters. We're sitting on the sideline the first quarter, it's 3-0 SMU, and we're thinking, it's just 3 points. We can do that really quick. And ended up pushing the ball down the field, getting a field goal, tying it up, and then they end up getting a field goal, and then we work it down the field again before the half and got another field goal. So we go into the locker room, it's a 0-0 ball game. We made some adjustments, and we came out playing."

On what SMU did on defense to throw the Baylor offense off...
"Yeah, I think they were just bringing a bunch of different blitzes off a bunch of different edges. They were disguising pretty well. Our tempo, it's hard -- with the tempo, it's hard to see where the blitz is coming from. If it's coming from depth, they show it early, the line has to kind of talk it out. They were doing a great job of changing up every snap. Give credit to them. They did a great job. [Offensive line coach Randy] Clements did a great job the second half of just cutting out a bunch of things and just going to our basic stuff. I felt like they helped clean up a lot of things, and we started to play real conservative, just trying to get first downs because we didn't do that at all the first half. As long as we can get the ball rolling and keep the ball in our hands, we have a pretty good shot to win the ball game.

On the interceptions by S Orion Stewart and S Davion Hall...
"Those were huge. The defense, they kept us in the ball game. They were the game for us. They won the game for us, I feel like. It could have been a big turnaround with us not being able to move the ball. And big interceptions in the end zone, you can't ask for anything better than that. And to have Davion return it back to the 40, which is huge. It gives us good field position. And Orion just fell down in the end zone, which is good. It gives us 20 yards to work with. The defense stepped up. They bowed their neck. It shows how hard they've been working, how hard they've been doing things. They have a chip on their shoulder, and they're going to go into every game with that chip for sure.

On what the message was at halftime...
"It's a 0-0 ball game. They got the first half out of the way, and we got -- what is it? 20 more minutes or whatever it is. 24 more minutes. We just had to go out and play ball. Or 30 minutes, I'm sorry. You know, you get hit in the head a couple times, whatever. But it's part of it. We knew we had to do some things. We changed up some things up front offensively, and it's 0-0. Whoever's going to step up is going to step up and win the game. Luckily, we executed on a few plays, got the points on the board, and really the defense just did what they did best and stopped them.

On when his last long TD run was after scoring on a 19-yard run vs. SMU...
"Well, I don't remember. I think Iowa State last year. Iowa State, yeah, great memory. But I think that was the last one that had a good run for the most part. I feel like our running backs did a great job, running hard, running tough, like I knew they would. And they really stepped up big for us."

On how he feels physically after two games...
"I feel great. The body feels good. I've got the normal football nicks, maybe a thigh bruise or a stubbed toe, something stepped on. I feel great right now. Neck is holding up better than what I expected for sure. I don't feel anything. I feel really healthy for sure."

Baylor NB Patrick Levels
On the defense stepping up with the offense struggling a bit...
"Most definitely. We're just a team. We don't get upset or anything. We just go out there and try to make plays to help our offense get going. Sometimes they don't always come out hot. So the defense got to step it up. That's what we did today."

On how the defense still played well after some injuries...
"[LB] Lenoy [Jones Jr.], and we had [CB] Tion [Wright]. But Lenoy, he comes to practice every day ready. When he got in, we just told him, just listen to us. We're going to help you with the calls. If you get confused, just look at us, we're going to give you the call, and just go out there and play hard, most definitely. Tion, he's a senior. So we weren't too much worried about him at cornerback replacing Ryan."

On the intensity level picking up at halftime and what Coach Grobe said during the break...
"Yeah, he came in and told us -- well, really talked to offense and said they have to step it up, and the defense to just keep playing hard and playing fast. We just wanted to wait until our offense got rolling because we know eventually you can't stop them all day. So just keep going out there, keep getting three and outs, not letting them get touchdowns, and forcing the field goals, and eventually Seth was going to get it going."

On how big the interceptions were today...
"Oh, most definitely. Orion Stewart with the pick six, that was definitely the play of the game to kind of turn the tide to just get it over the hump of kind of playing back and forth with them. And Davion really stepped into a spot where someone busted coverage. He stepped up, caused the pick. I was hoping to cut it back so I could hit the quarterback, but he went ahead and ran out of bounds, but that was a big play for us, most definitely."

On the defense tightening up as the game went on...
"Well, they kind of came out this week with a tempo that we hadn't seen yet, and it was kind of just us getting the line and getting the calls and playing our responsibility and not kind of looking around lost. We just said, you know what, if you don't get the call from the coach, we're just going to play this. If we play our adjust, it's going to work out for us. We can adjust to anything because everybody knows what we're supposed to be doing at all times. It was just getting the calling and getting everybody lined up. It was a little bit of an alignment issue. So once we got that fixed, we're good to go."

Baylor LB Aiavion Edwards
On how important it is to have a veteran like S Orion Stewart...
"It means a lot. He's a guy that you can always count on to get us the call -- you know, the coverage call, a guy that's just going to do what he can, a guy that's going to give it all he has every play. It's just awesome to have him back there and just to find the ball wherever it's going or to come downhill and make plays. It's nice. The experience he brings is just amazing."

On Stewart's interception for the touchdown showing his veteran ability...
"I think so. He's just kind of playing. He kind of figured out. He knew what was coming, and he was able to make a big play on the ball and take it back. It's something that comes with experience. He was able to trust himself and break on the ball and go when he needed to go."

SMU Head Coach Chad Morris
On the game being a tale of two halves...
"Yeah. You know it was -- first of all, I want to take my hat off to Baylor and Coach [Jim] Grobe. Those guys fought hard in the second half and made some plays when they had to make them to come away and pull the game out. I felt like our guys deserved to be in this moment. I felt like the moment wasn't too big for them. I'm extremely excited about the direction of where our football program is going. I think we're definitely trending, trending upward, and I'm proud of our players and proud of the effort they give. I'm not in this for moral victories by no means, but our guys came out and played hard, fought hard. We had opportunities to make plays, and a team like Baylor, you can't settle for field goals. You've got to have touchdowns. We cost ourself a couple of picks. Actually, we had four turnovers. Any time you have four turnovers, it's hard to win anything in a pick six. But when you look out on the field and you see the majority of those kids are freshmen and sophomores, the future is getting bright, it is. But I'm proud of our players and proud of their effort. We've got to clean up a lot of things. We've got to put the ball in the end zone, and we will."

On QB Ben Hicks' performance, especially in the first half...
"I felt in the first half he was at dynamic as anybody around. I thought he was on it. I thought he had -- he was ready for the moment and excited about this moment and was prepared. I thought the second half we had a couple of things go wrong. We had Courtland open in the end zone and underthrew him, and the guy made an incredible play on it. Another corner ball here to Myron, and then just one mistake led to another. That's being a young kid. You've got to let those things go. You can't let one mistake lead to another one, and that's what happened today. He'll learn from it. He's a competitor. I know everyone in his hometown is proud of him. I'm proud of him. He's got a great future."

On the wide recievers being a positive today, especially Courtland Sutton...
"Courtland is coming off of last year, and I've been around some great wide receivers. Newt Hopkins, who plays for the Texans, Courtland reminds me a lot of him. Courtland can contort his body in so many different directions and make plays. He's got great hands, great concentration for the ball. He is, he's a force. But it was good to see James Proche make some plays today. Might be as good a catch as I've seen a kid go up and over and down here in the red zone. Again, freshmen, sophomores making plays. So I'm excited about those guys. We're going to continue to keep pressing. The season's got to start tomorrow mentality for us, but it was good to see some of those guys make some plays. Wish we'd have had a few more of those plays made."

On what he told the guys at halftime...
"Really the first thing I said to them is we belong in this moment. We've got to keep playing. You no he, we've got to keep fighting. This is going to be a four quarter game. We've got to have touchdowns. Baylor is going to come out, and they're going to score. Nobody has really shut those guys out before. You've got to be able to match points, and you've got to be able to do that to stay in ball games like that. We were unable to do that, especially late in the second half, and that was disappointing."

On if he felt like they let one off the hook in a way today...
"I felt like we played the first half well enough to win. If we could have came out and matched that intensity and that energy and made a few plays, yes, I feel like we -- and our guys feel the same way. We deserve to be in this moment, we feel like, but we had an opportunity to play well enough. If we just executed and made some plays in the critical situations down here -- you know, we make two picks, get down deep in the red zone, and we come away with zero points. You can't do that. If we come away with points there, I think the outcome could be different. I think the game is close to the bitter end in that case. We've got to be able to capitalize off turnovers and be able to execute. We were unable to do that in a critical time."

On if he can take positives from the defensive play...
"Yeah. I thought defensively, they played too many plays tonight. They were on the field entirely too much. I tell you what, their play, they were very prepared and ready to go. I was excited about their performance tonight and the way that they performed and played and executed. Again, when it got down late in the game, you know, one of the things we deal with is some depth. But they snapped the ball 103 times tonight, and we've got to be able to help them out. Three and outs don't do us any good."

On if this was a good gauge for where you'd be year one to year two...
"I think if you look just at the line of -- for whatever stats mean, I think this is a much improved football team. I think we're a better football team than we were a year ago at this point playing the same opponents. We've got a lot of improvement to do. That's got to start tomorrow. But I do. I feel like we're moving in the right direction. We're still a ways away, but we've got to keep pushing."

SMU QB Ben Hicks
On his first start here in his hometown and how exciting it was for him...
"It was a great experience. Wish the outcome would have been better. It was a great experience to be back in Waco and see some people that I don't see very often. It was fun."

On seeing and throwing an interception to Baylor S Orion Stewart, another former Midway High School Panther...
"I talked to him a little bit after the game and during the game. Wish I didn't throw it to him all night, but that's just how it goes sometimes. I'll bounce back. Orion's a great player. He's on scholarship too. It was good to see him but not in the way that I saw him."

On being resilient and how he thought he handled the game...
"I thought I handled it well. Obviously, I could have handled it better. There's a couple of throws that I wish I had back. I thought the offensive line played really well. Play makers made some plays for me. I've just got to do better not turning the ball over and finishing drives. That's all on me. Having to kick two field goals in the first half when we could have scored some touchdowns, that's on me. But we'll get back in there on Sunday and refocus and try to get ready for Liberty.

On the negative change in SMU's offensive performance from first half to second half...
"No. I thought we came out with energy in the second half. Two turnovers, one in the red zone, doesn't help. I've got to make a better throw. He made a good play, but having two turnovers in the second half obviously doesn't help anything."

On what the next step is for him after getting this game out of the way...
"Obviously, I've got to learn from it. Go back in the meeting room on Sunday, tomorrow, and learn from my mistakes and learn from the good stuff and see what I can do better next week, going forward in the season. I thought we did some really good things. I thought the offensive line played well. We had some play makers. Defense played unbelievable. I got to play better. That's the bottom line. I've got to learn from it and play better next week. I think we're going to be good."

On if he had to settle himself down at all, being in his hometown for his first start...
"No, not really just because I just wanted to play. We could have played anywhere, and I would have been ready to play. That's what I like to do. So playing here wasn't a huge deal. Yeah, it was cool to be back in Waco. It was a great experience, but that wasn't something that made me play harder or anything in the game."