POSTGAME QUOTES: Texas Tech 27, Houston 24
9/23/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
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TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (3-0 • 0-0 Big 12)
at HOUSTON COUGARS (2-1 • 0-0 American)
Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 • TDECU Stadium • Houston
HEAD COACH Major Applewhite
Opening Statement
"Obviously I'm very disappointed in the outcome of the game. We didn't play well enough to win. I told the guys that any time that we turn the ball over five times as a football team and only get one turnover, you're not going to win many games. At the same time, I think we did play hard on both sides of the football. I think our offense played well towards the ends to try and get us back in the game. Our defense played really hard. I told the guys there are two types of people in this world; the ones that take it to heart and do what they need to do to get better, and guys that point fingers. I can tell from being around the guys in the offseason and end of July, that there are a lot of great guys on our football team. There are some great leaders on our team. They'll look at themselves and some of their teammates, and make the necessary adjustments to get back to practice tomorrow to get ready for conference play. I told them what we've all head and is pretty cliché, but you can't let one loss beat you twice. You're going to have to deal with that in life. You're going to have bad days.Your boss is going to get mad at you and you have to move on and attack the next day. "
On if he considered playing Kyle Postma earlier…
"We always go through personnel after a series. It was apparent in the game that they were going to drop into coverage. They were giving you quarterback runs in terms of scrambles. He was going to give us the best opportunity at that point when the complexion of the game changed and it started to get like that coverage wise. I thought he did a great job. He came in, took care of the football and led us to some scoring drives."
On if the quarterback position is open…
"Every job is open. I know what it's like on the outside. We don't discuss any other position differently. Whether it's right guard, quarterback, kicker or punter. It is always open. Everybody on the team deserves that."
On how D'Eriq King performed…
"That's just the way we're going to continue to gameplan. I've worked with a lot of great coaches and for a lot of great coaches. One of those coaches told me if you're not giving it to people that can score, what are you doing? We're going to continue to feature guys like D'Eriq, who make smart decisions on and off the field."
On moving forward…
"This one stings, but we need to move on. We've got eight more games left to play in this season. We did do some very good things in this game. There were probably three plays that completely flipped the field. I have to think back as a coach and think, 'did I give them a play call that they can execute?'. If I did give them the right call, 'was it the right people?'. If it was the right people, 'did I coach it well enough?'. If I did coach it well enough, then we need to talk to the players about their understanding and technique. Even after a win we still go back and ask the same questions. The tackling and explosive plays were the most disappointing thing. There were plenty of opportunities for us to win this game on offense."
On the offense not scoring on opportunities given by the defense…
"Just lack of execution. I'm proud of the guys on defense, now take that with a grain of salt, we just talked about three plays that went for 50 or better and a lack of tackling. We knew they were going to play with pace. There was one time they caught us in pace and scored a touchdown off of it. When you just look at this game, they really fought their tails off and kept us in the football game. Despite not being in the right places sometimes and not making tackles, they played hard. I'm really proud of guys like Matt Adams, Garrett Davis and Ed Oliver; I could name them all. I'm proud of the way they fought and continued to fight. They said, 'We're going to keep going out there, play great defense, getting these guys off of the field, and believing in their teammates.' Offensively, it was way too late and we had dug too deep a hole."
On the call that led to an interception when the score was 13-10…
"It was 3rd and 8 if I'm not mistaken. He was flushed to his right and it was a three-point game. Ever since I was a freshman, we've always taken the quarterbacks down to the red zone in seven on seven. We've always had to say, 'reserve the right to kick, reserve the right to kick.' It is a costly lesson and I know where Kyle is mentally right now. I know he's beating himself up. I've been that guy and it stinks. It's one of those moments you'll never forget it as a player, but you'll draw on that moment and become a stronger, tougher, and mentally tough football player after those kinds of mistakes. If you go back and look at it and see what he could've done, he was just trying to make too much happen. He wants to win and I've made those mistakes. When you have points in your pocket and can tie the football game, you have to learn how to do that. This is a game where obviously points always matter. Like everybody else he'll look at the mistakes he made in the game and he'll learn from it."
On the constant 3rd and long situations…
"You want to stay out of third and long, and the only way to do that is to be good on the first and second downs. What do you do? Do you run the ball on first and second down to get to third and mediums or short? Then you become highly predictable in terms of running the football. What if they stop you for a yard gain? Now you're second and nine. Now you have to throw it and sometimes those go incomplete, and create third and longs. We've got to look at that offensively and just be critical. Always look down from the adult, all the way down to the child. What can I do, or what should we have done in some second and long situations, to get into a more manageable third and four, third and three? At the same time, we want to be aggressive, we don't want to get two and a half, then two and half and let's always have third and five and be somewhat manageable. No, we want to take some shots and be aggressive on first and second down. We've got to go back and evaluate those times when we could've been better as coaches and when I could've been better in terms of helping call plays."
On the pregame moves and how they affected the game…
"The end result was that they scored 27 points. I'll have to go back and watch the guy who came in for (Alexander) Myres. Number one, it was a great play call and opportunity. They had a double move one time on Isaiah [Johnson] that got dropped in the end zone. Also, there was another time where Jeremy [Winchester] made a play on the ball on a fade route in the end zone. Jeremy [Winchester] had another one that he made a play on in the back of the end zone. Off the top of my head, they played well considering there's not a lot of depth. I'll have to go back and see who played and how many snaps they played to be able to tell you how well. Just looking at the overall score total, I'm proud of the way they played. They just need to do a better job at tackling and preventing the explosive plays."
HOUSTON JUNIOR SAFETY Garrett Davis
On the difference between the first and second half…
"There was no difference in the way we played. A couple of guys, including myself, could have done the critical things better, like technique and run fits."
On the role fatigue played…
"A small role. We practice in Houston, under the sun. We're used to that. We were on the field a lot, and fatigue does play a role. The heat and Houston humidity can be a factor. But like I said, we're used to it."
On losing by a small margin…
"I'm a sore loser. I don't take losing well. We have to be critical of ourselves, figure out what we can do to get better, and clean up the things we didn't do well today."
On the mood of the team moving forward…
"We have to clean up the mistakes we made today. As far as the talk in the locker room, defensively, we told each other that we're a championship defense. We played decently enough today, but we could have done a lot of things better. Going forward, specifically this week, it'll be about the game planning for Temple. Individually, we just look in the mirror and see what we can do to get better."
HOUSTON SENIOR LINEBACKER Matthew Adams
On the big plays given up on defense…
"That's just comes down to mental mistakes and us beating ourselves up. We have to go back in the film room, correct it, and limit the mistakes."
On the team's state after the loss…
"It was a tough loss. Our guys finished. They worked very hard to finish and make it a three-point game. Right now, our mindset is that conference play is a new season. We try not to let losses affect us."
On if there were any frustrations…
"It wasn't frustrating. I was proud of how the defense went out, executed, and held them to a three-point win. Texas Tech is a high-powered offense. They're known for scoring a lot. For them to have so many opportunities with the ball and only score a few times is a good feeling defensively."
On if there are positives to take from the game…
"There were a lot of positives. The momentum swung multiple times throughout the game, and for a young group to continue executing is good. Anybody else probably would have broken down. I'm glad the defense didn't break down. We gave up a few big plays, but that's it."
HOUSTON SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER Steven Dunbar
On the offensive problems…
"We didn't get into an offensive rhythm. Some of the turnovers hurt us in that area. It's hard when we can't get in a rhythm of positively moving the ball."
On looking forward to conference play…
"That's the next task at hand, but we should learn from this game first. I'm excited to see how we work this coming week and prepare for the game, but we have to learn from this one."
TEXAS TECH HEAD COACH Kliff Kingsbury
On the defensive performance…
"It was a great effort. I said that on the field. I feel very proud for Coach Gibbs and Coach Spavital; they were the catalyst behind building the third-ward defense. They had led the country in takeaways and things of that nature. They came to us and have that sort of performance, it's awesome I'm very excited for those two guys. I'm excited for our defense, they played their tails off, and won us the game."
On the difference between this year's defense and last year's defense…
"I think consistency in the defensive coordinator position. That's something we haven't had in a long time. All the teams traditionally in the Big 12 who have had success have had long time defensive coordinators. You have to be able to build that culture and mindset and it looks like we're heading that way."
On who stood out defensively…
"All of them, honestly. It was such a team effort. We lost one of our best tacklers Dorsey, then we saw some guys come in and make some plays late. So overall just a great effort."
On an injury update for Vaughnte Doresey…
"It was a head injury. He's being taken to a precautionary checkup."
On what goes through his mind when a player leaves on a stretcher…
"You go over there and check what's going on. It's awful to see that and you just start praying really."
On what's it like watching Keke Coutee and Nic Shimonek have that connection…
"It's fun to watch. Keke is a special player. I don't think we played very good offensively.I didn't call a very good game and you have to give their defense credit. They did some good stuff, they have some really talented players, a lot of pride and play hard at home. You look at their track record defensively at home and it's pretty stellar, but I think Keke and Nic had a great connection. They connected when we needed them."
On if he did a quick snap intentionally…
"Yeah we did. We had struggled to get to that tempo early on. We saw an opportunity to take a shot and I don't think they were lined up as well as they would've liked to be. Keke did a great job at running to a perfect throw."
On how important this game was…
"It was big. We know that nobody has won here in 16 games. Some big time Big Ten programs have come here and haven't been successful. It's a tough place to play. It's hot and they have a great stadium. I coached here for four years and not a lot of people beat us here. I understand the level of pride that the team has, especially when I Power 5 team comes in. I didn't think we played great, but you have to give them credit for fighting and making it closer than it should've been."
On the two big runs in the second half…
"I think we just stayed at it. I think their defense played a bunch of snaps. We stayed at it and were able to wear them down a little bit at times."
On what it is like to come on the road to this kind of atmosphere and win…
"Hopefully it builds confidence. I think two weeks in a row we had a chance to get and put away a team early and we let them hang around. We have to get better and that."
TEXAS TECH SENIOR QUARTERBACK NIC SHIMONEK
On how he would rate his play today…
"Not very good. Luckily the defense played out of their minds it was crazy it was so fun to watch them. It was energetic. That's a good defense over there. There's a reason why they've won 16 games at home and against Louisville. All these teams and for our defensive to hold them to 24 points. Seven of those were mine from the interception I made a bad play and he returned it, so I take credit for that. I am so excited for Coach Gibbs, Coach Eli and all those players over there. Things are starting to come to fruition. It's a positive thing and it's a very great thing to see."
On what the players have to do to get on the same page
"Keep coming to practice. Jordan Brooks played his tail off. I came up to him afterwards and told him we've carried them before and it is going to have to happen two-fold. They're going to have to carry us and if it's not clicking against a defense like that it's tough. They do a lot of crazy stuff, but they're great at it. Their defensive line, much respect to those guys. They played great. Ed Oliver is probably the best defensive player in the country. I think we have shown over these first three games if we can play together, look out."
TEXAS TECH SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE END ELI HOWARD
On the mentality of the team…
"I think it was an awesome win for the defense. They played really hard and the offense did too. We never lost our composure and never lost our confidence in each other. It tested our teams' comradery and I think it is a big step in the right direction for us. "
On what Coach Gibbs said to the defense…
"They're just really proud of us. We beat the monster that Coach Gibbs created. They created the third ward defense. We were just really proud of how we stepped up to make plays when we had to and made stops when we had to. Like I said, they had a great scheme for us. We trusted them and did the best to execute their game plan."
