Head Coach Guy Morriss
On the Oklahoma loss:
"I'm over it. We have to get it out of our system and move on. We've been pleased with the way we've responded. We have to keep responding that way every time we lose a game. We talk to the guys about not letting a loss snowball into another loss because we're still down and moaning about a previous loss. We have a lot to play for still for the rest of the year and we have to stay focused on our long term goal which is to get two more wins. Certainly we have a chance to get one of those this weekend. That's what we have to get prepared to do, get focused on Texas Tech and get ready to play."
On how the team reacted:
"It's similar to our other two losses. They were disappointed. There's no question about the effort being given; it's just that there are some issues with little things that are still plaguing us.
We've talked about it with them and I think the kids are receptive to our concerns. We just have to find a way to get those things corrected. The three losses have kind of been all of the same nature. We've played three pretty good programs and they are going to make good plays. We expect them to make big plays. What's frustrating to the coaches and to some degree the players is what we are doing to ourselves, just missing some of the little details. We have to get that fixed and I think they realize that. But I don't question them; they'll be ready to play. Based on everything I know about them, they enjoy playing here at Floyd Casey, there will probably be a good crowd, it's a TV game. You couldn't ask for a better script so they'll be ready."
"We have no questions about our effort. It's just that we need to play smarter and eliminate the mistakes. I think we are better on defense and offense this year. I feel we can get them stopped."
On Texas Tech:
"Our kids aren't thinking that we are just trying to play with teams or keep it close. We expected to beat Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. I don't think the kids are pleased playing close at all. And we feel that way about Texas Tech. We want to win this football game and get it done. Playing close is not our goal."
"I think some of the problems that they present in order to be successful against them is that you have to change your style a little bit. I haven't coached in that system in several years. I think Texas did it to them last week and we're going to have to do some of those same things in order to be successful against them as well. Like the coordinators talked about, we have to control the ball a little better and certainly we don't need the tie aspect like we had against Oklahoma. We have to find a way to take them out of their rhythm a little bit and challenge their receivers."
"Coach [Mike] Leach is a different type of thinker but the system itself is very simple to operate. It's just hard to prepare for. The one thing is trying to get your scout team to emulate the speed of the game and precision with which they run their routes. They've got a good offensive line that provides [Cody Hodges] with a lot of time, and it's hard to duplicate that with a scout team. You do the best you can. And of course the better personal you have, the better chance you have of beating them. There are some things that I have learned from being in the system that hurts their offense and we are going to try and do some things.
"They've got a great offense. They move the ball on almost everybody. They throw it around for a lot of yards. I'd like to throw the ball too. I think Mike [Leach] is starting to realize that you have to have more balance or precision with your running game. They have done a good job of doing that and putting it into their offensive scheme."
On Tech's RB Taurean Henderson
"He's a pretty good back. I think he's really suited for that style. They don't have a sophisticated running game. He's the kind of guy that gets the ball and is patient. He just kind of picks at holes and lets the big guys up front work for him. Again, it's very simple to teach and adjust. There's not a lot of complexity to it and it's easy to operate."
On Homecoming:
"It's a lot of pageantry and its good to see a lot of the alumni back. It's a good weekend and we should have a good crowd. That's meaningful to us and we'd like to see the place packed with support from the fans."
On Baylor's player rotations:
"We'll play a lot of people. We've really cut practice down this week to keep our kids' legs under them. I don't think we are going to reinvent the wheel as far as scheme-wise goes, but we just need to make sure we take a lot of stuff out. That's one of the reasons we cut practice, to force the coordinators to cut some stuff out and concentrate on what you really think its going to take to beat Texas Tech. Let's polish that up and be good at it without keeping the kids on the field very long this week. We've really cut a lot of time. From a physical standpoint, they'll be alright. They need to get on the field today and get the blood pumping and bang around a little bit. That will help us more than anything; but, not stay out there too long."
On Baylor's health:
"I think we are still pretty healthy so far. We try to do a good job of managing the kids during the week. We should get [Will] Blaylock back and [Alton] Wideman back. We won't have J [Fields] obviously. Other than that I think we're about 100 percent healthy. At this time of the year, everybody's got bumps and bruises but we'll play this those."
On WR Dominique Zeigler:
"If you ask him, he's our big play guy. And we think so as well. We needed him to step up and give us that kind of effort. He seems to play his best against better competition for some reason. I think he's a gamer and we've got other guys with that mindset as well. It just seems that Oklahoma was his night. We were finding him and he made some nice, circus catches. I'd like to see it from him every down. He's been pretty steady all year long and you won't always have the opportunity to make those catches. His catches stick in your head because some of them were pretty acrobatic. But he's played pretty well all year long.
On center Will Blaylock's return:
"We've felt like he's our best lineman, especially in the running game. He should improve our efficiency when we do run. We can get a better push.
On past nine losses to Texas Tech:
"I think it's just more motivation that you can use to fire the kids up with. We've been dealing with a lot of firsts, and I didn't realize it until to day that it has been that long since we've beaten Texas Tech. It's good propaganda to use and I'm sure our players are aware of it."
Offensive Coordinator Brent Pease
On Oklahoma:
"As we look back at it, obviously there are good and bad things. We looked at the bad things and we need to make some corrections. Looking at the good things, Dominique [Zeigler] had a good game and made some great catches when we needed big catches. I thought we got into a flow and made some drives with big plays. Really, I think our kids up front held up well. They didn't hit us with a lot of sacks. Our kids did a good job of picking blitzes up. We didn't have a lot of touches with Paul (Mosely) and Brandon (Whitaker). For us to be good, they have to be touching the ball. We have to be productive in the run game to run pass and play off each other. That's one thing that kind of caught up with us. We had to put a little more emphasis on the pass game. We really put it on Shawn [Bell] to make some throws and I thought he did a pretty good job with it."
"When it got down to the overtime situation, there were some spots that I wish I had some calls back. I would have put in some different calls to make the scores or continue the game to go into the third overtime."
On Texas Tech:
"Texas Tech's defense does not bring consistent, blitzing pressure. It's a concern, but they only blitz about 10-12 percent of the time. They are very base and their emphasis is more of a stop offense to prevent the deep ball. They do have Dwayne Slay; he's probably an All-Big 12 player. He comes up and hits. He's a tall kid and he can come out and do some damage. The one thing you will notice about Texas Tech is that their defensive backs are very physical with receivers. They will come and actually hit you before the ball is thrown. We will have to do a good job of separation and get off of them. For us, we have to have a good mixture of intermediate and deep throws. They have a lot of veterans back with linebackers and defensive linemen, who are a little bit deceiving as pass rushers. They are probably better than you think. They have creativity to get to the quarterback and get the ball out of your hands.
Defensive Coordinator Bill Bradley
On Oklahoma:
"I was really impressed with the way we played the third and fourth quarters. And in regulation time in the second half we held them to three points. Our guys had good direction at halftime and had good looks in their eyes. We don't have to worry about our guys and their effort because they're going to fly around, run and battle. We let Oklahoma have a few plays in the first half with little discipline areas not being in the right spot. In the second half, Gutierrez' runs were very unconventional where he would start one way then finish up reversing the whole field. He took advantage of how our defense runs to the ball. I think Oklahoma's offense played a very good game against us. It was another one of those very big games where on defense we had a chance to close it out. We didn't quite get it done, but it wasn't for a lack of effort.
On Texas Tech:
"We've got a big job ahead of us and I think our guys are excited to answer the challenge. And they have to; they have no choice. So we are looking for to this game. Our first priority is to stop Henderson, their running back. They don't rush the ball a lot but when they do, they hitch it. And he catches the ball extremely well in the back field. He's a good all purpose yards guy in the Big 12. We have to stop the receiving core as a group. Defensively we have to get in the right spots and when we play man, we have to challenge them. When we're in zone, we have to have our eyes in the right spot and make some hits on them. What's impressive to me is that their starting receiving are all one through four in the Big 12; they have amassed 2,200 yards receiving in seven games. That's the biggest part of the game we will have to stop."
"We've got a couple of things teed up that we think we can get to Hodges on, and make him uncomfortable. We're looking forward to the challenge. They are a great offense and we have a good opportunity in front of us. We have a good defense so we'll see what happens. Last year we played them pretty well. We played strong but gave up some plays at the end of the first half and then a drive in the middle of the third. We let them have control of the game. But our guys played fairly well that game last year so we've looked at that. The first nine times Hodges threw the ball we sacked him a couple of times. A couple of times we could see them arguing on the sidelines. Hopefully, we can get them in that mode again and keep them there."
