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TEXAS

HEAD COACH MACK BROWN
General comments: Our guys were ready to play, they played well. I thought that was the best I have seen Colt [McCoy]. I am glad to have Jordan [Shipley] back. Limas [Sweed] looked well for really the first time this year tonight. I thought we played well on defense. We got to play a lot of guys, which really helps us. We are probably fortunate that by leading 41-0, we had the bad kickoff coverage and they came down and scored right before the half. It gave us something to challenge the guys about the second half. And that was finishing, because that is something we haven't done very well. I am pleased overall because I felt like it was a very good win for us, in the fashion we need to win, because we haven't really done that as a team yet this year. And we need that going into next week.

On the difference tonight with the defense: We felt like they didn't give up as many big plays and that is what has been killing us. We have played great at times, but we haven't done anything consistently well as a team. We put an entire team performance together in the second half against TCU, but we weren't has consistent in the first half and had the two turnovers for points. We felt like that was the key for tonight, for everybody to play together because we play better together as a team and the guys did that tonight.

On playing John Chiles: We have wanted to play him for three weeks and just not had the opportunity. I think putting Kyle Hix in on extra point or field goal got him the game earlier, and since he was already in we would have put him in with three plays left in the game and the games were closer than we expected them to be and we didn't want to waste Tray (Allen) and didn't want to put John in just to hand off three times. We wanted to get him in the game earlier tonight and we did. They blitzed right into him the first play he went in, and I think we lost two or three yards, but I was really proud of the way he played in the second half. I thought again that was Colt's best game by far. I thought he looked like Colt of old. He was relaxed and he made the throws he needed to make and he scrambled. We are really proud of him tonight.

On the defense: It will really give them a lot of confidence. We rotated the linebackers about every series, I thought, if not every two series. We have been able to do that some up front with our defensive tackles for sure. We worked in at defensive end, but we thought it would really help them tonight. Brandon Foster pulled something in pre-game so he didn't play, so that puts Deon [Beasley] and Ryan Palmer out there by themselves really and I was glad that Curtis [Brown] and Chykie [Brown] got to play some at the end.

On playing the younger kids: Usually when you put younger guys in for the first time on offense they don't do well. We put them in with four minutes or something left in the third quarter and we told the older ones hang on, don't leave, we might need to put you back in if these guys struggle. But they played very well. It was an all freshman (and) red-shirt freshman group, so we are pleased with them.

On John Chiles: He has been that way in practice. That's why we wanted to get him in. What you didn't want to do is put him in at the end of game when it was on the line with a tremendous amount of pressure and him maybe to not have a great experience the first time he walked out there. That is what we were trying to do - find the right setting for him. We even thought if he could go in with Colt and maybe all the other starters and do something simple that we could get him started a little bit tonight, so that if the game is closer and we had trouble, we would of at least had him in for a snap. It worked out perfectly tonight that he came in the third quarter and he did really well. He looked relaxed. He was a little slow getting out of the huddle a couple of times, but they were all pretty excited.

On Limas Sweed: It felt like with Limas' sore wrist and then his tweaked ankle. and he was so close on the long pass last week, they overturned it, he hasn't had a lot of good luck this year. Tonight he looked like how we expected him to look this year and like we need him to look for the rest of season. I thought he was a big factor in the game.

On Vondrell McGee: Vondrell is very strong. He is powerful. We have seen that some on short yardage and the goal line and we are the same way with him as we were with John [Chiles]. We feel like he can play more. He was really strong. You have to remember too that he and John came in when the Rice defense was tired. So it was different in the late third and the fourth quarter. We were really pleased with both of them.

On what the team learned tonight: That they understand that when they play together as team, they have a chance. We aren't as experienced or far along as some of the other teams we have had. Some of our teams could play okay, and still win, this one can't. We have to play good to win. This team has to play as a team. We have to win the explosives, we have to win the turnover ratio, we have to kick it well, we have to do all the things that you need to do in a football game in the Big 12 to be successful. I thought they saw tonight by pulling things together a little more that they saw it got the game lopsided pretty quickly.

On having the full receiving corps available: It is all the difference in the world and Jordan as well. Your split end is usually a tall guy that gets some one-on-one coverage and if they double him it leaves your tight end and your post people one-on-one. We just missed that with Limas. Limas is a guy who can change the game and if you take him out of the line up, and then you put Quan [Cosby] over there last week. He had a great night and caught a lot of balls, but then you short end yourself somewhere else.

On Jamaal Charles: After the two fumbles last week and the second play of the game, the first play we throw out of bounds and the second play he fumbles, it was a great start. He came back and did a tremendous job. A couple of the coaches asked if we should put him in to get 100 yards and it was my decision not to. I thought it was foolish. We need to beat Kansas State and play well next week and we are not into stats. But he would of obviously gotten a lot of those yards that Vondrell got after they got tired in the fourth quarter if he would have stayed in.

On throwing the ball deep: We were trying to get the ball deeper a lot anyway. Central Florida stayed off of us. Rice blitzed a lot again tonight. They came a lot so we didn't even get the ball deep because we are conscious of that. We thought we had the one to Limas that was a late hit on the quarterback, but it was a dropped ball and we didn't get it. Then we had the one to Jamaal that we didn't catch and then I think the rest of them were probably connected, no Jordan's was knocked out of his hands in the end zone. Those are the three I remember that we didn't get.

On playing better tonight: It is because we are consistent. After studying Sunday and Monday the thing that was harder to fix was that it was somebody different every play. That is the one that drives you nuts on one side, but on the other side you can fix it if you play better individually, and we thought they did that tonight.

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR GREG DAVIS
On improvements he saw in the game: We had several things we wanted to accomplish tonight, and first of all, we needed to get the win. That was the most important thing. We were able to stretch the field a little bit tonight, which is something that we worked on really hard this week because we felt like we had some opportunities to stretch the field and weren't able to do that (earlier in the season). We challenged the guys to come out and play well. We did a much better job in the red zone in terms of another area we had not been proficient in.

On WR Limas Sweed: Yeah, Limas has been in-and-out with an ankle (injury) so having him back totally healthy allowed us to have some opportunities to spread the field, and in some of their blitz packages, Limas was getting one-on-one coverage, and he did a great job, and Colt (McCoy) did a great job of getting the ball to him. Limas did tonight what we expected. He was healthy for the first time, and we felt like we would get some one-on-one situations. One thing that Limas is doing earlier in the year is that he is drawing safety coverage over the top of his corner and that's allowing a lot of the other guys to get one-on-one. And we really want to make sure that we're going to get him some one-on-one situations. We just want to continue to use him, and it's good to see him healthy again.

On back-up QB John Chiles: Well, he's a heck of an athlete. I don't think there is any question about that. We've got a package with him and Colt (McCoy) being in the game at the same time. He has a really strong arm and he is learning more. The unfortunate thing for John is that he didn't have a year to sit and Colt (McCoy) and Vince (Young) both had a year to sit, and it's hard to describe the importance of that. Vince (Young) did a great job with Colt (McCoy) when he was red-shirting. But he is getting better every week, and I'm really pleased with his progress.

On RB Vondrell McGee: He did what we thought he would do. He's a slasher; he goes north and south really well, and I was not surprised with the way he played.

On playing OL Tray Allen: Well we decided with a number of linemen banged up that it would have been nice to redshirt Tray. We just felt like that was not going to happen so we went on and played him. When you play, you get better. Even though we ask our guys to get mental reps, they start making jumps when they're playing and they can see themselves on tape.

CO-DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR DUANE AKINA
On improvements he saw in the game: Well I thought that we addressed a couple issues. We wanted to come out and play collectively as a team -- offense, defense and special teams -- and I thought we accomplished that. We really put together a dominating performance. We had an opportunity to play some of the young guys very early into the third quarter, which was something that we really wanted to get done also.

On holding Rice to negative yards rushing: It's something that we've taken great pride in here and we talked last night and today before we boarded the buses about really assaulting the line of scrimmage and taking control of the line of scrimmage. Everything starts up front. There is a tremendous amount of pride in the defense and they really wanted to do well.

WR LIMAS SWEED
On the game: Everybody went out and played hard. I think the whole (offensive) line did a great job of blocking and executing. Colt (McCoy) did a great job of reading the defense, and the defensive guys went out there and played to a standard. So I definitely think that the team came out and played at the level that we're capable of playing. I just give all the credit to my teammates because it's not about one person, it's a team game.

QB COLT McCOY
On the game: I felt like we executed really well. Our defense gave us really good field position and gave us a lot of opportunities to convert short fields, and I felt like we did a good job of that tonight. This is what we were hoping for coming into the game. We wanted to come out here, execute, make as few mistakes as possible and take advantage of what they gave us, and I felt like overall we did that.

On the offensive line: The offensive line did really well. They gave me a lot of time and a lot of protection, and we were able to execute in the passing game.

On back-up QB John Chiles: He's always working hard. He's in the film room, and he's working with me a lot. We sit down and study, we go over game plans the night before the game and I help him in practice. He's improving every week.

DT FRANK OKAM
On the game: I think this game definitely helped. You can see that overall, the team is doing some things better and that's why it showed up on the field today.

On the team playing a complete game: I think overall, on offense, defense and special teams, that was probably the most complete game we have had so far this season.

On if there are some things still to work on: Definitely, I think you can see at the end of the half, we let them go down there and score, and we never want a team to score on the last minute of the half. So there are definitely some things we have to work on.

On the young players getting experience: I think it was very important. I think some of those young guys missed out on the first three games to get some experience, so this was well needed and well deserved.

LB RODDRICK MUCKELROY
On the team looking better as a whole: I mean, we made progress as a team, on offense and defense. So we got better today and made progress as a team.

On having a large win: As a team, we're happy because we did a lot of good things tonight as a team. We have to continue to get better and we did a lot of good things tonight, so we're pretty happy has a team right now.

On attacking the line of scrimmage: You have to win the line of scrimmage as a defense. If you win the line of scrimmage as a defense, you're doing good. I think we won the line of scrimmage tonight, so we're happy about that,

On having Sergio Kindle back and then losing him again: Injuries, that's part of football and that's the tough thing about football, you never know when they are going to occur. We just have to pick up the slack.

RB JAMAAL CHARLES
On fumbling on the second play: I tried to do too much with the ball. All of a sudden, someone came behind me and knocked the ball out. I just tried to do too much. I was kind of down that I fumbled the ball on the second play of the game.

On bouncing back: After the fumble, I started to focus and hold the ball in tight. I got my mind focused and told myself that I have to come back and concentrate.

On converting in the red zone: We came together this whole week and concentrated on the fact that we have to score when we get down in the red zone. We improved tonight.

On John Chiles: He looked pretty good and he ran the ball very well. He and Vondrell [McGee] got in the game and he opened up some holes for Vondrell, really big ones.

RB VONDRELL McGEE
On the experience he gained: It was just good to be able to get out there and get a chance to get a couple of carries in at the end. It was nice to show what the future holds.

On John Chiles: John is a good player, he is one of the fastest guys on the team and it didn't surprise us that he took off running when he got in.

OT TONY HILLS
On the large win: The guys all had their mind set on doing that tonight. What you saw tonight was just a conscious effort of everybody being on the same track.

On Colt McCoy's play: We try to give Colt as much time as we can because he is a special player. He is always making hot reads, making audibles and making adjustments. He makes sure that he manages the game well, so the more time that we give him, the better he will play.

On having Limas Sweed back: It definitely helps us out. Limas Sweed is our deep threat, and we were able to see what he is able to do by getting the two touchdowns that he had on the deep balls. He is able to make big plays, so it definitely helps us out.

On being able to get some rest in the second half: It was nice, but it was weird. But anytime we are playing like we did tonight, I am happy.

DT DEREK LOKEY
On Rice: I thought they came out and played hard the whole 60 minutes. As far as we went, I thought the offense did a great job tonight. They went out and moved the ball well and pretty much did what they wanted to with it. As a defense, we're a little disappointed with (allowing) the score at the half, but besides that without watching tape that was the only glaring negative that I saw.

On if this was the kind of game the team needed: Yes, definitely. This is definitely going to help us as we head into the conference schedule here. It's a real good pick me up to see everyone play together and to also see a lot of those young guys play. John Chiles and that second team offensive line went out there and did a really good job tonight. I was excited for those guys to get to play.

On Kansas State: It's back to work Sunday. Tomorrow morning we'll be back up here watching this film, getting this out of the way, and looking forward to Kansas State.

On negative rushing yards for Rice: It feels good. There is a lot of pride in that and that is something that we didn't do our best job of last week. To come back and have a showing like that is good for this defense. We were much more consistent on defense, except for that one drive.

WR QUAN COSBY
On the game: It was a great game. It was huge for us. We had some very good plays and were really explosive. That is what we needed from our unit and for the team. It was great. To go out and play as well as we did is always a good thing. We made some corrections in the red zone that we needed to.

On the young players getting in: Giving them a little experience before Big 12 play is huge. Getting out there and looking good as an offensive unit and getting them ready for Big 12 play was huge for us.

On John Chiles: He seemed very relaxed. We told him to go out there and do what he does best and you saw it. He's a great athlete and a great quarterback. His arm is going to be fine. He can do great things and you saw what he was made of.

QB JOHN CHILES
On his first time to play: It was pretty exciting. I got a chance to go out there and show a little bit of what I can do.

On how he felt going out the first time: I couldn't breathe the first couple of plays, but after that, I got settled in and did a little bit better.

On the off-season: My first intentions I think were to redshirt coming in January. I just wanted to learn the system so I could become a better quarterback, but once Sherrod Harris got hurt, I talked to the coaches and it looked like the best thing for me to do was play. They decided as a staff that I would play.

On scoring on his first drive: My offensive line did a great job. I think they came together and they had been doing pretty well at practice. Vondrell McGee had a couple good runs and I had a couple good runs.

On how anxious he was to get into the game: I was pretty anxious, but I got the chance to get in today and show what I can do.

On he and McCoy being on the field at the same time: Right now, I do whatever I can to help the team. We tried to work something out to where I can contribute right now.

On if this game helped him get ready for Big 12 play: I think so, getting the experience and getting that first edge off was good.

On what the older guys said to him before he went in: Jamaal Charles and Limas Sweed let me hang out with them so, it's been a good experience being around them. They're teaching me the ropes so they basically told me everyone had to go through it, so when it's your time, it will be your time.

On being in the huddle the first time: I just talked to them and told them that even though we're young, we could do this.

RICE

HEAD COACH DAVID BAILIFF
On Texas: Texas is absolutely the best, most athletic, biggest, fastest and strongest football team we are going to play all year. We have to create energy in this program. That has to be our main focus.

On Limas Sweed: He is an amazing player. When you are 6-5 and can run like he does and has the body control. He works really hard every snap and does not take a play off. He plays hard, catches the ball and hands it back to the official. He is not only a big-time player, he is a classy kid.

QB CHASE CLEMENT
On the game: When we did not capitalize on the turnover, it definitely hurt a little bit. We got a turnover right at the beginning of the game and the momentum was on our side. We needed to make something happen and come out showing that we were ready to play. When we did not, it hurt the momentum. We have to do a good job of mixing up protections and get the run going. If you can't run the football, you are not going to have any success passing the football.

DB JA'COREY SHEPHERD
On the game: The way we look at it, these are just like preseason games. The only thing that really matters to us is conference right now. We need to focus on Southern Miss and try to pull this thing together. We still have a chance to go undefeated in conference and the Liberty Bowl with all our goals intact. I don't think we are going to play a team like Texas in conference. We are going to take this game and build on it.

On Limas Sweed: He is a very good receiver. He is one of the top five receivers in the nation right now. There were a couple of plays where I should have made the play on him, but he shielded me off and made the play on the ball. You have to make plays on the ball. On the touchdown pass the ball was in the air for a long time. I should have made the play, but unfortunately Limas came down with the ball and he was better at the time.