Oklahoma State Quotes
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy
Opening Statement:
“That was a better game for us overall as a team. We minimized missed assignments from the last game. I told the team and coaches in the locker room that I’m proud of them and we’re responsible for improving every game. We still had mistakes, but we cut our missed assignments considerably in my opinion and we were able to rush the ball. We ran the ball for 4.3 yards a carry, 4.5 is what we’re looking for but much better rushing the football and we were much more physical in the second half. Our running backs approached some tackles in key third downs situations to keep the drive alive. With 6, 8, or 10 minutes to go in the game, they could’ve stopped us a couple times and our backs ran through and made some plays. Obviously, Spencer (Sanders) played well again, he got called in on as a disguise and threw an interception in a quick game, but he obviously ran well, handled things well and did a really good job on the screen game by avoiding the rush and pressure man coverage. He played well and we defended. In the second half we were physically running the ball and then we were able to look like our team last year with pass rushing. It put a lot of pressure on the board so that we could make plays. I was pleased with our special teams. Arizona State is a really good punt rush team and we worked hard on it this week and challenged our team. Protection was good, quarterback was good, punter was good, and we did a really nice job with that. So overall we improved and got better. We still have a long ways to go, we know that. We fought through some adversity at times, and we just have to keep moving. We look forward to another good week of practice and improving in areas. We had some guys get reps that hadn’t had a lot and they’re young and immature, but they have another game under their belt.”
On some of Arizona State’s early plays:
“We had seen a little bit of them but not too much. We made some mistakes with communication. I wish I could tell you something else but that’s the truth. We have to go through that and then they got us at the start of the second half, they shifted the empty, and we had one guy that was halfway doing the right thing and one that got lost. That’s what happens, they’re young and they’ll get that but really other than that play, the defense was really good in the second half.”
On Dominic Richardson:
“He did blossom tonight, he really did. Ollie (Gordon) also came in and broke some tackles, but we need Dominic to do that. That’s the type of running back he is, and he averaged 4.9 yards a carry, ran through some tackles, and did a good job of taking care of the football. They’re well coached in tackling and stripping the ball. I was concerned about that, but Dominic played well in the second half particularly.”
On OSU’s forced fumble:
“Obviously turnovers are big. We had an interception and what I would call two turnovers. We forced a fumble then had a 19-yard punt and that’s basically a turnover. At that time, they went back to the weak side, and we had a nice charge, blew the thing up and the ball was on the ground, so we covered it.
Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn
On the flea flicker in the fourth quarter:
“There’s a lot of calls that go in your favor sometimes. There’s a lot of good ones that don’t work out for you. We’re just fortunate for us to have that one work out.”
On Dominic Richardson’s performance:
“He played really well versus TCU last year so that’s the guy that every time he takes the field, I expect to see. He’s got to be the guy for us.”
On the offensive performance in the second half:
“Guys stepped up and made a lot of big plays, and our offensive line was fantastic in order to run that football in the second half the way they did.”
Oklahoma State quarterback Spencer Sanders
On his performance tonight:
“I have to hold myself accountable and play better. I am a very fiery competitor and I feel as though I didn’t play as well as I needed to.”
On Dominic Richardson’s night:
“Dom had a hell of a game, he ran hard, and obviously we all know he is a great player. He’s just showing the world that he is getting better and better every week.”
On the offensive line:
“I think the offensive line stepped up and played wonderful game. If any props go to anybody it goes to the offensive line, they played their tail off and had a wonderful game.”
On the offensive line, continued:
“I’m excited for those guys, I hope they go out and have a few drinks. They played good, they deserve it.”
Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Derek Mason
On his defense's success on third down:
"It was made mention of. I really didn't follow it all that much. I'm really looking at in-series adjustment and where we're need to go from series to series. But to hear what the number was, it's pretty dang good. I think the D-Line is the tip of the spear. What those guys do up front, we follow. Rushing and coverage have to work together and tonight, I think I saw more of that. I saw more of rush and coverage working together and now what we've got to do is continue to clean up all these little things that sort of rear their ugly head for us at the wrong times. But overall, kudos to the guys tonight. I thought they were remarkably better, and we challenged those guys to be better. I'm glad to see that that's part of the week one to week two process."
On his defense's ability to contain the Arizona State quarterback:
"I thought those guys were phenomenal. We talked about having a 'crush rush' against him, just because Emory was more than capable of ripping off huge chunks on the ground and I thought those guys did a great job of tracking him, nosing him up and pushing the pocket. Because it's very easy for guys to get into pass-rush mode and what they want to do right now is get to an edge, right? We needed to front him up and make sure that he was more lateral than being able to get vertical and I thought those guys did a phenomenal job of that tonight."
Oklahoma State running back Dominic Richardson
On struggling in the first half, but getting it going in the second:
"ASU is a great opponent. They have great backers, great corners and a great defensive line. We were trying to run the ball and they were kind of overflowing and seeing that run. So, it wasn't there in the beginning, but it started to open up a little bit and I started to read it more and my O-Line started doing better. I couldn't do it without my O-Line, man. They start waking up and we're into business."
On the mindset coming into this game:
"Coach told us coming into this game that we needed to be physical, because their linebackers are pretty physical. We knew that coming into this game. So, we knew that coming onto the field and that's the main thing, just being physical is where it started from. If you hit them first, you're going to fall forward and get the first, so we needed to be physical, that's pretty much it, man."
On why having a dynamic quarterback like Spencer Sanders helps him:
"It makes it a lot easier for sure. He's a dual threat, he can run it, he can throw it. Y'all know what he can do, he's a very elusive quarterback. That helps out with me a lot. They know he can hand it to me, and I can run it hard, or they expect the quarterback to run, so they don't know what's going on. It's a tricky deal for the defense."
Arizona State Quotes
Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards
Opening Statement:
“We gave ourselves a chance, especially in the third quarter but also in the first half as well. The defense did a pretty nice job of slowing them down some. In the third quarter, I thought the offense came out like we talked about at halftime to get back in the game and we were able to do that and then, magically, we blew two coverages. We gave them some easy scores and that’s tough. I thought offensively we hit some big plays in the passing game, but we weren’t very good on third down, a lot of third and longs. It was tough to block them, and they got to the quarterback some. I thought Emory (Jones) did a nice job, I thought the offense in the second half, we got some big plays in the passing game, but you just can’t play from behind on the road against a good team. There’s a lot of football left so hopefully we can learn from this and grow as a team.”
On penalties throughout the game:
“They were competitive penalties. There was a couple holding calls, but we had no false starts, the crowd noise didn’t get to us, and I thought we did a nice job with the crowd actually. We didn’t flinch, we didn’t do any of that. It was just competitive penalties, they had seven and we had ten, that’s football. But a couple of them hurt us, a couple of them on the quarterback and on third down. You touch him when he’s going out of bounds, and you give them a first down. We shanked a punt, and we gave them three points. It’s just a lot of little things came up in this game.”
On momentum swings:
“Good team capitalize on mistakes. Giving them an extra down when you should be off the field. Hopefully we’re gonna learn from that, I mean that’s all you can take from this. The errors you make, you’ve got to learn from them.”
Arizona State offensive coordinator Glen Thomas
On the team’s mentality:
“I was pleased with their mentality coming into halftime. I think we knew we were right there close. The third down conversion rate was not where it needs to be, obviously. But I was pleased with their mentality coming in. We felt like we were in a good place. We were optimistic, obviously we came out and in the first drive of the second half and did some good things. I think we’re in a great place there, got to stay out there and help our defense if nothing else and convert on third downs. But, overall, I thought the mentality, as far as the consistent mentality was there throughout the game.”
On Elijah Badger:
“We’re excited about his trend. He’s definitely trending in the right direction. The more comfort level and more experience he gets out there, I think that’s going to continue to grow. I’m excited about what he’s going to do moving forward. I think he could be a big piece of what we’re trying to get done.”
Arizona State quarterback Emory Jones
On defensive pressure:
“It definitely impacted the game. I had to speed up some of my reads and make sure I got the room. I feel like I gave up on a couple plays and just threw it away instead of trying to make a play out of my legs. So, that’s something that I look back on and will try to be better.”
On Oklahoma State:
“They showed everything we were expecting from every rep we practiced on, we didn’t do the best job at picking everything up. I mean, it was all right there. We just didn’t take care of business.”
Arizona State linebacker Kyle Soelle
On Spencer Sanders and Oklahoma State:
“I think we did a good job at first. Obviously, later in the game the hurry-up kind of gets you. I felt that we were never really intimidated by them. Off the jump, I think we came in to win the game, we felt like we were going to win this game. We competed in all four quarters. Hats off to them, they got us tonight.”
On momentum swings:
“It’s a hostile environment. I felt like they were real quiet early. Obviously, when they start scoring, the crowd gets back into it.”
On OSU’s high tempo offense:
“It wears on you later on in the game. I feel like we’re a well-conditioned team, they just have a really up-tempo. It’s something we’ll look at tomorrow and go from there. But I think we handled it well throughout the whole game. We competed.”
Arizona State receiver Elijah Badger
On his performance:
“There were a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. But, like, we executed well. But we need to execute better in the end zone.”
On ASU’s offensive development:
“It’s getting really comfortable. It’s going to get better; we’ll work on it. Just a little fallback, but we’re going to be back next week.”
