Sunday Conversation With Guy Morriss
11/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 14, 2004
Q: What are your thoughts on yesterday's game after digesting it?
Morriss: "I really tried not to think about it last night to be honest with you. I went home and went to bed. I'm just really disappointed. As a coach, going in, I thought it was a game we had a chance to win."
Q: Did Oklahoma State surprise you, hitting you with the big pass that early?
Morriss: "Their passing game is play action pass. I don't know where we were at and why they beat us so bad on that play. We have to get that kind of stuff fixed, given that we don't have that much of a pass rush."
Q: You said your plan was to put in Terrance (Parks) in that third series, then Shawn (Bell) broke his hand and Terrance went in for good. What do you do when something like that happens? I know you just have to pick up and move on.
Morriss: "I don't know that anyone doesn't have confidence in Terrance, but it's just the unknown, it was his first extensive playing time for him, how is he going to react? Because when the lights come on, people react differently."
Q: How much, if any, did it help him that he did get in a little at Texas Tech?
Morriss: "I think it helped him. He's a quiet kid he doesn't really show a lot of emotion, you don't really know what he is thinking or how he is feeling. He doesn't say two words."
Q: Terrance (Parks) said after the game that he was very nervous in that first series. I didn't see it out of him, did you?
Morriss: "I did not see it either. I think he could be a big time quarterback, we all expect that out of him. I think all of us were real impressed with his performance yesterday especially considering the circumstances. For him to get thrown in the fire like that, he did a good job."
Q: Do you think this game; him (Terrance Parks) having some success can really spark him?
Morriss: "Yes, I do."
Q: If you make the 4th and inches and go down and score, does that put you right back in the game?
Morriss: "Yes, I think it does. I think that is the way our kids would see it. I have been kind of second guessing myself now; take the field goal and put some points on the board. But I also think that you try and show confidence in your people. I thought surely we could get six inches. The odds are we should make that, and go for seven rather then have to settle for three."
Q: It seemed like the defense didn't respond when you needed it to?
Morriss: "I don't know that it was that we didn't respond, but I think it was more of what Oklahoma State did. We got kind of close and then they would flex a little bit."
Q: Does that take a lot out of it giving up three touchdowns at the end?
Morriss: "It is disappointing. I am anxious to see that last one, too, because we just weren't even in the same area code with that guy, and that troubles me."
Q: What do you do with Terrance (Parks) this week, everything is on him? Do you do anything differently with him?
Morriss: "We may have to take some of the decision-making out of his hands and live with getting caught in a bad play. I think we'll put 85 percent of the reps into him this week in practice and go from there."
Q: Talk about the challenge of facing Oklahoma.
Morriss: "I told the kids after the game that it is a perfect scenario for us; in my mind that's what you live to play football for, you're on television, you have an early start, you're at home and playing a ranked opponent. I just want to see us come out and fly around; I am disappointed in the last two weeks. We play hard, but we didn't play with that inspiration I thought we learned how to play with. We are just kind of going through the motions. That's what I want to see, a tean flying around out there on every play."
Baylor Football Notes: Baylor will close its 2004 season against No. 2 and 10-0 Oklahoma in Waco, Saturday, Nov. 20, with kickoff set for 11:10 a.m. ... The game will be televised on a split-national basis by Fox Sports Net ... Tickets for the Oklahoma game may be purchased through the Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-BAYLOR-U ... The Oklahoma contest will mark the final game in the careers of 19 Baylor seniors ... Baylor sophomore QB Shawn Bell broke his left (non-throwing) hand in the first quarter of last Saturday's game at Oklahoma State and will have another round of X-rays Monday in Waco and his availability for the Oklahoma game is listed as probable ... Baylor quarterbacks have thrown 17 touchdown passes this season which equals the third-best one-season total in school history (the 1966 team also had 17 passing TDs) and is the Bears' highest total since 1996 when they recorded 18 TDs in the air ... Baylor signal callers have completed 221 passes this season, the third-highest single-season mark in school history and just 14 shy of the school record set in 2001 (234 completions) ... BU's 373 pass attempts rank as the third-most in school history, while its 2,212 yards rate as the seventh-best one-season total and its 59.2 percent completion percentage is ahead of last year's school-record mark of 56.68 percent ... Senior RB Anthony Krieg needs 51 yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark for his career ... Junior FS Maurice Lane was credited with a season-high 16 tackles (14 solo) at Oklahoma State ... Lane, who has recorded three consecutive double-figure tackle performances, now has 194 career solo tackles to rank No. 8 all-time at Baylor ... Sophomore P Daniel Sepulveda's 45.8 yard average is just off the Baylor single-season mark of 46.35 set by Ty Atteberry in 1996 ... Sepulveda ranks No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 5 nationally this week and has never been ranked outside the top 5 in punting nationally this season ... Sophomore WR Dominique Zeigler has caught a team-high 55 passes for 536 yards and 5 TDs on the season ... Zeigler ranks No. 6 on BU's single-season reception list (just seven shy of No. 3) and is just the sixth Bear ever to catch 50 passes in a season (a feat that has now been accomplished nine times by six players) ... Sophomore WR Trent Shelton has caught at least one pass in 21 consecutive games, but his multi-reception streak ended at 13 straight contests as he had just 1 reception, which went for 55 yards and a TD, against Oklahoma State ... Shelton's 55-yard reception from redshirt freshman QB Terrance Parks ranks as BU's longest pass play in 2004 ... Parks, who had seen limited time at QB this season prior to the OSU game, stepped in for the injured Bell completed 18 of 34 passes for 261 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT, all marks which were career-highs ... Parks' 261-yard effort vs. the Cowboys marked the sixth 200-yard passing day by a Baylor signal caller in 2004 ... Bell has not thrown an interception in his last 159 pass attempts, the longest active streak without an interception in the Big 12 ... Senior LB Justin Crooks' 14 tackles for loss equal the seventh-best one-season total in school history.
