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Sept. 29, 2008

WR Jordan Shipley
On being worried about the conference games: We're not concerned about that. The thing that I think we have improved on around here, last year it seemed like we started out really slow in several games and we had to fight our way back. I think what we have been able to do this year is start fast and jump out on people. I think that is what encouraging to us. We have been able to come out better than last year at the beginning of the games.

On offensive success: The line is what starts it all off. We lost a couple good players from the line last year. I think the one thing that helped us, the guys that are playing now. All of them got to at least play the last few games last year. They all got that experience. They are playing at really high level right now. The running backs are playing really well and Colt (McCoy) is doing a great job. When you got all those aspects working for you, then I think that has made the difference this year.

On the team: The thing about this team is that we have a lot of unselfish players. After the game you go in there and the individual stats don't matter. Everyone is jumping around having fun. It is so much more fun when you've got guys that don't care about themselves and are happy to see the team do well. I think that is the main thing about this team that I appreciate and being able to have fun with guys and know the team is the most important thing. We've got a lot of close guys on the field and off the field. We've got guys that like to be around each other and have a lot of fun playing the game and hanging out and being teammates. It goes a long way on the field to help this team do well.

On seeing three Big 12 teams in the top five: The Big 12 conference right now really strong. It is a lot fun to be apart of and we're really excited that conference is doing is as well as it is. We are looking forward to opening conference this week.

On Colorado: Colorado is always a great team and anytime you play Colorado you have to be extremely prepared because they can beat anybody on any given day and we are going to come in and be as focused and as prepared as we can. We are really looking forward to playing them this weekend.

On Colt McCoy: I think the main thing for Colt right now is he relaxed and trying to do whatever he can do to make our offense more effective. The thing about him is I don't think he is putting too much on himself. He is not going to force anything. He is going to do his part. He is the kind of guy that is able to relax and just the play the game. I think that is what he is doing right now.

OT Adam Ulatoski
On the character of team: You build it throughout the season. We've had four games and you have eight more guaranteed. You can't really say what our character is because we haven't faced a lot adversity yet. I think that really brings out the character of your team. We are just going to keep on going and play as hard as we can.

On starting conference games: This is where the grind starts. To do the things we want to do, we have to go out there and win the Big 12 and it starts with this game. There are so many great teams and so many great quarterbacks. There tons of teams with so much talent. It is going to be a grind the next three weeks.

QB Colt McCoy
On the offense: Through the first four games we executed extremely well. We have done what Coach Davis asked us to do. I think it goes to preparation in practice. I think we are focused at practice. I think we want to be the best that we can be offensively. We are doing what the defense tells to do. We only passed for 190 yards this week because we did not have throw that much. We were in and out of different personnel and different groups out on the field and moving the ball every time we've had it. We are doing things and executing and we've just got to keep on doing it.

On his running ability: You've got be able to use your feet to keep the defense off-guard to move the chains because that is what it's all about. When I can use my feet I'm going to use them and just like Coach Brown tell me everyday, "When you can go make a first down, go make it." I think the offensive line is doing a great job of giving me some protection. We are throwing the ball effectively. We are completing 80 percent of the passes, so we are clicking right now. We've got to keep it up.

On being ranked No. 5: We don't really focus on the rankings. We focus on ourselves and how good we can be. We have a long ways to go. We stood out there in practice on Sunday doing up-downs for all the things we did wrong. The coaches don't let anything slide. We know it and we want to be the best.

On the many upsets this weekend: It's hard to win. It shows that every week you have to be prepared. There is no doubt that those teams were probably better teams, just that day they didn't play as good as the other teams. We have to be prepared every week. That is why our focus is completely on Colorado right now and playing good football. They are playing really good at home. It is going to be night game, so we definitely have to be prepared. 

On the team's leadership: I think this team has great leadership from top to bottom. I think the seniors are doing a great job of keeping everybody focused and under control. I think Coach Brown does a great job pointing out the things we do wrong, but also the things we do well to not let us get too high or too low. I think this team is just really focused. Everybody knows their role and everybody is doing it.

On beginning conference play with Colorado: The Big 12 is going to be challenging. Going up to Colorado is not going to be easy at all. We have a tough road ahead of us. That is our focus right now. It will only be our second game on the road, so we will face some adversity. We're looking forward to see how things fall into place, who is going to step up when we need someone to step up and that usually happens on the road.

On the running backs: We are excited. We are waiting for Fozzy to come back. When we have those guys, we have tremendous depth. They all can come in and run the ball. You look at Cody (Johnson) and what he has done, but you can also look at Vondrell (McGee) and Chris (Ogbonnaya). They have not carried the ball as much, so they are still fresh and rotate them in and out.

On the team: We are playing as a team. We are winning on all three phases of the game, which are offense, defense and special teams. When you do that, you have a pretty good chance of winning. Also, on offense, we are taking care of the ball, not turning it over. We are moving the ball.

On Colorado: I expect them to be big. I expect them to be physical.  Coach Davis said they are fast in the secondary. They play in the Big 12, so they are going to be good. They have only lost one game. We are excited about going out there.

CB Ryan Palmer
On if he is surprised by how well the team has been playing: The way we've played shows that we have the confidence and the ability to play like that every week. If we execute on everything we do, the talent on this team can put points up like that and stop teams from scoring on us. I'm not surprised by the way we've been playing; I knew we could play like this all along. We just have to continue to do it in the Big 12 with tougher competition.

On having three Big 12 teams in the top five: It's good for our league. It's kind of crazy though, but it's good for our league because the teams that are in the top five and the top 10 are good teams and we play them all so we've just got to be ready to play. You've got to buckle down and just get ready to go.

On the team's Big 12 schedule: You've got to look at it one day at a time. We can't look past Colorado. We've got to get ready to go against them because they're a tough team. They fought hard against Florida State. It didn't come out like they wanted, but they're going to be hungry to come back. We've just got to get ready to play. You've just got to get physically and mentally ready to go. You've got to just buckle down and say, `Hey, let's go.'

On the play of the secondary this season: I think we're doing pretty good. We've given up some yards but we really haven't given up that many touchdowns. We stopped them from scoring and we've got young safeties back there playing their tales off. I'm real pleased on what I'm seeing.

On Colorado's offense: They've got a lot of guys that can run. Their receivers have good speed. Cody (Hawkins), he's a good player, he can scramble a lot, get out, run around and throw it just kind of like Chase (Clement) at Rice. We've just got to be ready to go, their receivers have a lot of speed, their running back is a good running back. They have a spread offense and they're going to be chunking that thing all day so we've got to get ready to go, have a good week of practice and go up to Colorado and take care of business.

DT Lamarr Houston
On the defense's identity: Blue collar is like we're factory workers. We work hard and we're trying to build more discipline than we had last year, and that's what Coach Muschamp wants, that's what he's training us to be.

On if he likes being known as a blue-collar team: I come from a blue-collar family, so I know what it's like to work and I like it. I think everybody's buying into it. It's good for the defense, it's good for the team and it's working for us and helping us win.

On the Arkansas game: I felt like it was a good game. We followed the game plan, we did what Coach Muschamp wanted us to do and things happen when you work through the defense. I felt like it was good for us to see that our defense, what Coach Muschamp calls, it works and it's right.

On returning to his home state of Colorado: I've got a lot of friends there, my high school coaches are going to be there so it's going to be fun to be back in Colorado and playing at Boulder. It'll be fun.

On the team's No. 5 ranking: You can't really pay attention to the rankings. We've seen that last weekend, seen that the weekend before. Rankings don't really mean anything until it's about January or December so we try to not to pay attention to that, we just play football and take it one game at a time.

On the secondary's role in the 14 sacks the last two weeks: The more time they give us to get there, the more we can get pressure because if they're not covering we're not getting there. They deserve a lot of credit.

On his role on the team: I just want to play. I like playing football, I love playing the game and I'm just trying to do everything I can to help the team win.

DT Roy Miller
On the defense's personality: This defense is just a hard-working team that just loves to get better, loves to be relentless, loves to chase the ball and hates for people to make plays on us.

On the relationship between different position groups on the defense: They've got a tough job out there, man coverage and different situations they're put in. Guys have different jobs. Something hard at cornerback is man coverage. It's hard for us to get double-teamed (at defensive tackle). Everybody's just helping each other. I want guys to get sacks. I want guys to get interceptions. They feel the same way about us. We all work together.

On the schemes Will Muschamp designs for the defensive line: We all know when it's our time to be disciplined and when coach gives us a chance to be more loose and we have to take advantage of those times. Coach gives us a good chance to do both of those things.

On the team's No. 5 ranking: It's crazy because I don't really get into all that. They just tell us every year we've got a chance to win the Big 12, that's what our goal is. We want to compete every week. We just want to beat the team we play against that week. As far as what we deserve, when it's all said and done what we deserve will be sorted out.

On avoiding the upset at Colorado: The fact is, tomorrow we've got to go practice just like they do and that's how you start winning the game is on that first day of practice, trying to outwork your opponent and that's what we're trying to do. They upset (West Virginia) already up there. They're undefeated at home. There are a lot of things that can make a team scared. You've just got to work. You've to dissect them. We've got to go to work just like we plan to do every day and just be prepared. That's what we will be, we'll be prepared and we'll be ready for the game Saturday.

C Chris Hall
On the success of the defensive line in pressuring the quarterback: It gets me really excited. Sacks are so huge. They can really kill a drive, especially in a two-minute situation, in a hurry-up situation. If you get a sack, you have to use a timeout and it's basically dead. When I see our defense get a sack, I literally jump off the bench. It's pretty exciting for me.

On being ranked in the top five: That's really exciting. It means that later down the line, there might be some big games. But really what we're focused on is Colorado. That's going to be a great atmosphere that we're going to be in this Saturday and we'll be playing a really good Colorado team.

On the cooler climate of Colorado: Offensive linemen usually like a little cooler weather because let's just say we usually carry a little more weight than everyone else. So we don't mind the cooler weather, we actually kind of enjoy that.

On Cody Johnson's early impact: You could see this early on last year when Cody was redshirted. Whenever Cody would get the ball and he would start pounding the rock, hitting people straight on, running people over. There would always be some big bangs when Cody was running the ball. So of course that got me excited. Now to see him on Saturday doing the same thing that we saw him do in practice a year ago is huge. He's really helped us out and we're glad he's doing so well.

On possibly relying on Colt McCoy too much: I think as long as we're winning games, it's pretty good. Ultimately, that's what we're out to do is get Ws. Our coaching staff and everybody, top to bottom, have done such a great job with these first four games. I couldn't be happier with the way things have turned out.

On Colorado's defense: I am planning on watching film this afternoon, so I probably couldn't tell you a whole lot right now. But my guess is, the way they really got after West Virginia and beat them, that they're a good ball club.

LB Sergio Kindle
On the key to getting so many sacks as a defense in the last two games: I think we're just figuring out the defense a little better as the weeks go on. We're throwing in different blitz packages every week it seems like. The more we rep them, the easier it is for us to get there when we run them.

On competing with the other guys to get to the quarterbacks first: There was [a competition] until Rak (Brian Orakpo) started taking them all. Now we're just fighting for scraps (laughing).

On starting Big 12 play: It's all focus now. It's time to get ready for Colorado. We didn't fare to well in the Big 12 last year, so basically we just have to put a little more focus into it. These are crunch time games.

On the road so far possibly being too easy with some tough games ahead: I'm not concerned at all. It's hard to stop people. I guess it's going to be a little harder going against some better teams. I consider Arkansas a good team, it was just our day.

On who gets the credit for the high number of sacks, the defensive line or the secondary: They work really hard up front. They do get a lot of credit in the back though because there were some times when the quarterback actually got past the rusher but didn't have anywhere to go with the ball and someone came from the backside.

DE Brian Orakpo
On the quarterback pressure now turning into sacks: It's been there from day one, we're just getting the sacks now. That's a tribute to how much pressure we've been getting. We're finally getting the sacks, getting the ball loose, forcing fumbles and turnovers.

On being ranked second in the nation in individual sacks: To tell you the truth, as of right now, I have zero. That's how I feel every week, I have zero sacks and I go from there and try to add on to that.

On Colorado: Colorado has been doing a tremendous job on their season so far, beating West Virginia. It's another off-the-radar team that is very good. They have a lot of talent. It's a huge step for us going on the road again and we know they're going to have a huge surge. We just have to have our surge as well.

On being ranked number five in the nation: Me personally, I don't care about rankings. Take those and throw them out the door. It really doesn't matter what you're ranked. If you lose one week, you're out. I treat it one game at a time. You have to take it week-by-week and game-by-game. I don't care what ranking we are as long as we keep winning.