Oct. 16, 2005
Off to its best start after six games (4-2) since an identical record six games into the 1995 season, Coach Guy Morriss' Bears hit the road for the next-to-last time in 2005 to meet defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma in a nationally televised (Fox Sports Net) game on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 6:10 p.m. in Norman. Here are Morriss' thoughts on his team's 23-14 loss to Nebraska and this week's Oklahoma game:
On his thoughts after reviewing the Nebraska tape:
"It's kind of what I thought last night. I have no problem with the effort we're giving but we didn't play smart. We made, and I think they forced us to make some mental mistakes that, up until this point we haven't been too bad in those areas. When you play a team like Nebraska, you can't do that kind of stuff. They are a good football team. We had some assignment (errors), a lot of technique errors. That was a big game and I don't think they choked or anything, but you can't make those kind of mistakes. You can make mistakes like that against a lesser opponent and get away with it but not against that kind of opponent."
On the difficulties of the Nebraska game:
"I don't think that our kids were overwhelmed by them and the mystique of the Nebraska program but when it was time to execute and things were on the line, sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't and that was the difference. The penalties hurt us. The three facemasks, I don't know what to do about that. Two incidentals, they were just incidentals but what do you say to your kids to get it corrected. You don't want them to turtle on you and go in the tank but when you're trying to make a tackle you just go for it and whatever you can get. I can't fuss too much about those two incidentals but the pass interference; you know how I feel about that but..."
"What I'm going to talk to them about today is just that, hey guys, we played our butts off. The effort is not questionable, from an effort standpoint, we're flying but the technical stuff hurts. Communication problems and offensively we've got some technical stuff. We got overpowered up front a little bit."
On the play of the Baylor offensive line against Nebraska:
"It's a combination of technique and getting out-muscled but you can get rid of some of that with good technique. Chop your hips, get under them, get them lifted and stuff like that and we didn't do a good job like that so the strength comes into play when you're standing up straight and they are getting under your pads they will overpower you."
On Nebraska's adjustments:
"Ninety percent of their adjustments we knew they were going to make. There were a couple of times that they showed us a little wrinkle that we didn't know was going to happen, but I don't know that that affected the play at all. It's just a matter of getting the job done from a physical standpoint a lot of times."
On the loss to Nebraska:
"We didn't win the ball game and we're disappointed but I'm ready to go to Norman. I think the kids are going to see what they did. We can spin it positively to them and they are going to take responsibility for what they did, the good stuff as well as the bad, and work to improve it. We have a lot of games left and a lot of season left. Let's tee it up (against Oklahoma) and make them beat us at our best at least, don't make any dumb mistakes and just hand it to them. There was some good stuff against Nebraska but just not enough consistent good plays over the course of the game."
On Daniel Sepulveda's punting vs. Nebraska:
"A couple of punts Daniel just drove, too low and with no hang time. We need to get better at directional punting. If we can kick it out of bounds and it's a 40 yard punt, which we're capable of doing that, you can add 40 yards and that's not too bad."
On Dominique Zeigler's fourth quarter fumble:
"It looks like he caught it and was trying to shift it to his right arm and didn't realize there was guy bearing down on him and he just kind of popped it out. We knew that we needed to come out of that drive with a field goal or 7 because we were in a one-score and we could win position but that fumble just kind of took the life out of us."
On Terrance Parks' play:
"We had some stuff in for Terrance and we were just going to kind of go for that and see how he handled it. That one pick was behind Trent (Shelton) a little bit and I would like to see Trent battle for the ball a little more but it was behind him and the other one, I don't think that, well, the receiver on the opposite side broke his route and Terrance saw it and tried to pull it outside and it got all out of whack. We didn't have anyone to hold the free safety. I think we have to continue to let him play some and get more reps and see how he handles it."
Mentally, are you worried about your team?
"I don't know, right now we've got three big-time opponents coming up and I think our kids are going to play well. Whether we can beat them or not, we will find out but, I don't know, we've just got to go play."
On Baylor's mental mistakes:
"Our kids were very confident about their chances to win that game going in. They just have to understand what it's going to take. When you play in a game like that, the mistakes that we made, take yourself out of a game like that by our own dumb mistakes. Again, when you play people like that, they make you make mistakes. They get in your head and they fluster you and get in your head and you get frustrated and then you get a little anxious. All that stuff can mess with your head and we've got to do a better job from a mental standpoint of playing tough and not letting that happen to us. That comes from playing, and you know, they didn't blow us out. We had an opportunity to go win the football game."
"We have to learn to play in games like that, with a good quality opponent and a lot riding on it, good prime time TV and stuff like that. That's what they ask for and that's what we talked about all week, this is why you come, for a game like this and you've got to handle that atmosphere and we've got to learn how. Sometimes people are going to force you into some of the mental stuff that we did."
Baylor Sunday Notes: Senior LB Jamaal Harper recorded a career-high 14 tackles (8 solos) against Nebraska ... Senior FS Maurice Lane recorded his fourth straight double-digit tackle game, as he tallied 11 stops (7 solos) against Nebraska ... Lane now has 234 career solo tackles, good for second on Baylor's all-time list behind Mike Singletary's school-record 351 solo stops, and his 336 total career tackles rank fourth all-time at Baylor, 16 behind No. 3 Kris Micheaux's 351 total tackles from 1997-2000 ... Senior LB Colin Allred had a career-high tying 9 tackles (4 solos) against Nebraska, while senior OS Tyler Lindstrom had a career-best 7 tackles (5 solos) and senior DT Michael Gary had a career-best 6 tackles, all of which were solo stops ... Junior WR Dominique Zeigler's 87 career receptions rank in a tie for 10th on Baylor's all-time list, while junior WR Trent Shelton's 84 career grabs rank No. 12 on the Bears' career chart ... The Baylor defense ranks in a tie for 13th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 16.5 ppg through six games ... Baylor has held each of its first six opponents to 23 or fewer points, its longest such streak since the 1991 squad also enjoyed a six-game string ... The Baylor offense has scored on its first possession in each of its last five games ... Baylor had season-highs of 11 penalties (for 82 yards) and 3 turnovers against Nebraska, and its offense recorded season-lows for rushing attempts (23), rushing yards (51 yards), completions (17), interceptions (2), total plays (54), total offense yards (253) and possession time (22:48) ... After a season-low 2 penalties in its Big 12 opener at Texas A&M, the Bears have been flagged 19 times the past 2 games ... Baylor is 0-14 all-time against Oklahoma, 0-7 in Norman.
