Head Coach Art Briles

Opening Statement...
"It's the best time of year. I love this time of year especially for the fact that we know we got one game in front of us, weather is cool, the guys are out of school and we're going to do what we love, which is play football. So, it's a little bit different than fall camp. Fall camp, you know, you got the full season staring you in the face. Here we got a 60-minute game that will determine how we feel about this season."

On replacing Philip Montgomery...
"I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to work the bowl game or not. I talked to him last night and it looks like he's going to stay at Tulsa, which I figured that's what he needed to do because that's his job now. I am extremely excited for him, really happy for him. He's done a tremendous job for us on and off the football field. Everywhere he's gone he's represented Baylor in a very high-character fashion, represented me and what we stand for as a program in a high-character fashion. So, to me a good thing happened to a good guy. He's done it the right way. He's kept his mouth shut. He's worked behind the scenes and produced on the field and he got rewarded for it. So, I am for him 100 percent, but he's not going to be able to work the bowl game with us. Kendal (Briles) will call the plays in a collaborative manner that we always do. It's always a collaboration of four or five of us, but he will be the lead play caller, and we'll go on."

On Kendal Briles staying on the field...
"We haven't decided yet. We're kind of working through that. We'll have to develop another signal caller if he does go in the box. So in the next four or five days we'll figure that out."

On naming an official offensive coordinator...
"I'm not going to rush into naming who will replace Philip. All of our focus and drive is on Michigan State, of course, without any question. We have been in this situation before and haven't come out the way we want to come out. So we're driving for 60 minutes in Dallas right now."

On changing how he plans compared to other bowl games...
"We're always changing, so we'll be different than we were a year ago in the Fiesta Bowl. And a year ago in the Fiesta Bowl, we were different than we were in the Holiday Bowl and the Alamo Bowl before that. So it's always different because you've got a different set of experienced players who are on the field and circumstances with who you're playing. It's all about the opponent, the timing, and the time of the game. So, there will be a few changes, but philosophically and schematically there will be some changes also. But, you know the core of it's still the same."

On talking with the players about the bowl situation...
"I mean we're playing in the third greatest bowl in America. We're playing one of the greatest teams in America, Michigan State. There have been four football programs that have played in back-to-back BCS games; you're talking to one of them and Michigan State is one of them, Florida State and Alabama. So, you choose your company, and that's pretty good company in my book."

On this position helping the players, coaches, and the situation...
"It helps recruiting a whole bunch as much as anything, that's what our business is. You want to find the lifeline of our business, it's all about recruiting and getting the players that you need on campus and giving you a chance to sustain. And that to me is the most impressive thing about this season is that, you know, we have substance. We've proved we have substance as a football program. We have other things we need to prove at a very high level, and that to me is what it's all about. You know, that night will pass, there will be another night. We're not a one-night wonder."

Bryce Petty

On his reaction to Coach Montgomery taking the Tulsa job...
"It's a great opportunity for him. I love him to death. So, to be honest, it was crazy for me as a player to be with the same coaching staff for as long as we have. It's a great opportunity for him, and I am surprised it didn't happen sooner. I am glad that it has happened, and I wish him all the best."

On finishing this year...
"You know, it's huge. We didn't do that last year. We actually had to be told that we were Big 12 Champs last year, and I don't want that feeling ever again. After a bowl game that's what people remember - people remember the last game you play no matter how good, how bad, how ugly the whole season was. It's all determined after the last game. I want to make sure as far as a team, as a player, individually, we don't have that feeling again. I am going to everything I can to make sure that we don't."

On the bowl situation...
"The Cotton Bowl is a great bowl and Michigan State is a great team. So, I think everything worked out for us the way it's supposed to. And I have peace in that. I am happy with how everything has turned out. Everything happens for a reason. We're supposed to be where we're supposed to be and we're facing a great team and a very well-coached team. It is a great challenge for us and a great way to put Baylor on the map on a national scale."

On practicing with the Michigan State quarterback...
"Yea, he's my dude. I love him a lot. So, as soon as we found out, we had a couple of texts back and forth. I am excited to play with him. I am excited to compete with him. He's a great quarterback. They run a great system up there. It'll be fun to see him across the sidelines and it will be great to compete and may the best man win."

On Michigan State's defense...
"They're very sound. What we got to do offensively is establish a run. They pride themselves on stopping the run, so we got to establish a run and take chances when we get them. They are going to make you earn every inch you get. So those small successes, those first downs, you know plays of 10 yards or more are big. You got to take them anyway you can get them. So for us it's just small successes."

Orion Stewart

On Michigan State's offense...
"They play very physical. Their running back is good. They have a quarterback who is good. They have a receiver, actually all their receivers are pretty good. It is going to be a challenge, but we are going to be ready to play."

On motivation from last year's bowl game...
"Last year is not happening this year. I'm not going to let it happen to our team. I just can't let it happen; that's my mindset going into it."

On there being a statement to be made...
"I think so, I think there's a statement to be made just for us nationwide, just to say, `We are Baylor,' and who we are, to show them that we really have one of the best programs in the country."