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QB COLT McCOY
On the Oklahoma game: I felt like we played pretty well against Oklahoma. We’ve put it behind us. I feel like if we can play that way as a team -- special teams, offense, defense -- play together like that, then we can pull together as a team and figure out a way to win.

On the status of the team: I’m really proud of our coaches, of my teammates, of everybody sticking together. At this point in time, it could be real easy for guys to give up, for the seniors to just play for themselves. That’s not what this team is about, it’s about everybody pulling together, sticking it out. There’s more energy, more focus, more preparation going on now than there’s been. I think that’s really motivation for us. We want to be as good as we can be and we feel like we still can be.

On playing against former UT co-defensive coordinator and current Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik: He has been around me for two years, been around our offense and Coach Davis and everybody, so he knows what we do, but we know what he does too. It’s going to be pretty fun, it’s going to be a challenge for us, but if we’re on top of our game we should be fine.

On Iowa State: I’ve seen them a couple times, I watched (the film) with Coach Davis a little bit. They fly to the football. They blitz. It’s like watching spring practice from two years ago, it’s a lot of the same stuff. I feel like in their secondary, they do a little bit more than when Coach Chizik was here. They do more shell coverage, deep safeties and stuff. We’re just going to have to figure out what works for us and have a great week of preparation and be prepared because Coach Chizik’s going to throw some stuff at us. We’ll handle it, we’ll get prepared and we’ll be fine.

On if he expects Coach Chizik to blitz more than usual: No, I don’t expect Coach Chizik to blitz more. He’s a guy who sticks to what he does. He’s a great coach. We miss him. I like him a lot. He’ll have his defense ready to play.

On the offensive line: I feel like they played tremendous on Saturday. It’s so hard sometimes because defenses do different stuff to us every week. They throw different blitzes, and for a young offensive line, it’s a struggle. I can’t be more proud of them for what they did on Saturday, they played really well and they competed and played hard the whole game. If we can do that, we’ll find ways to win.

On Jamaal Charles’ fumble: We believe in him, we’re confident in him. You can’t point your finger at anybody. This is a team game, this is a team effort and overall our effort was there. We did the things we needed to do to win the game. It was unfortunate for us that we had a few turnovers. As far as Jamaal, he’s the man, he’s fine. He knows he made a mistake, nobody has to go tell him. He’s hard on himself anyways. (We) just talk to him, give him some encouragement, say, ‘Keep your head up, you’re fine, just relax, go out there and play, we all know you can do it.’

On Limas Sweed: He’s a great player. He’s had some struggles with some injuries, and he’s been trying to play, trying to fight and be out there with this team. His effort has been tremendous, we all respect him for that and understand at the same time that he has a legit injury. If he can play, he can play, if he can’t, he can’t. I feel like he’s done everything he can for this team so far this year.

On Jermichael Finley: I felt like early on that he was getting a lot of man-to-man coverages with the linebacker. I feel pretty comfortable with that match-up because he can run pretty good routes and he’s got great hands.

TE JERMICHAEL FINLEY
On his performance against Oklahoma: I felt great about this game. Colt stopped me before the game and told me he was trying to get the ball because I’d be matched up with linebackers and their free safeties had bailed out. When I saw that on the first play of the game, I knew I was going to have a big game.

On Iowa State: We’re 0-2 in conference, but we’re starting a new season against Iowa State. I know for a fact Coach Chizik is going to come out and play us hard because he was here with us for two years. That team is going to be pumped this week.

On using this game to start over:  We’re going to be ready. We’re starting a new season. We’re just going to go out and try to win every game.

On playing against Gene Chizik: Coach Chizik is a blitzing coach, I know we’re going to have a lot of (blitzes). He’s going to bring the house probably the whole game and so we’ve got to be ready for all of that. Like I said, he was here for two years so he knows what we do and we know what he does. We’ve just got to be ready.

DT DEREK LOKEY
On what the team has to do now: I really think that from here on out we have to take it one game at a time, and we have been, but we’re not as in control of our destiny as we want to be as far as the conference scene. If we don’t continue to win the games, all of them one by one, then it doesn’t matter how the conference plays out if we don’t continue to win games. That’s our goal, to one by one get through the rest of the schedule, and some things have to happen for us to slide into that conference game at the end and they can. Last year, we had to lose two for OU to get in and it ended up happening. You never know and we have to focus now as a team on beating Iowa State first.

On getting to play against Coach Chizik: It’s going to be a challenge in that he knows a lot of what we do, offensively and defensively. He’s kind of got a book on us I would imagine. That’s going to be a challenge as far as going in there and against him because he’s such a good coach and he’s so smart and at the same time, he spent two years around our offense and our defense. He knows us; he knows our personnel and it will be a challenge.

On if it’s strange going against someone that played such an important role for him as a player: It is, but in this business as in most other businesses, the people that rise to the top end up getting head jobs. He was a great coach, a great defensive coordinator and I couldn’t be prouder for him. This week he’s not our friend, but after the game we’ll shake his hand and pat him on the back. He’s a good guy, and I’m proud for him to be in that position, but this week he’s the enemy.

On what the defense learned from watching the film of the Oklahoma game: The most frustrating thing was that they ran 70 something plays and we stopped them. If they ran 78 we stopped them 74. They had about four big plays that really probably in the end, wound up costing us the game as far as the defense. To play nearly perfect for 95 percent of the snaps and then to have three or four mistakes cost you is what’s frustrating.

On if it’s comforting knowing that other teams may have more than one loss this year: I don’t know, maybe. It’s a strange year in college football. Everybody is playing so close, Stanford beating SC at home, just some strange things that are happening. We just need to take control of the things that we can control and play Iowa State and give them our all this weekend. We’ll see how things unfold; it’s been a weird year, so you never know.

DT FRANK OKAM
On if he’s looking forward to playing against Coach Chizik: I am. It’s always good to see an old coach, especially a man you really respect. It will be a good sight to see.

On what it is that make Coach Chizik such a good coach: His demeanor was what sticks out the most, the way he carried himself. He was very direct towards you. You were very aware of how he felt about you as a player and a person. When a guy comes to you like that, you have to respect that.

On the Iowa State game and playing against Chizik but also needing to get a conference win: That’s really the most important thing; we have to get our first win in conference. We have to get back on track and they’re the next team on the schedule, so you have to take it like that. I have always felt like you can be friends before the game, but during the game it’s time to take care of business then shake hands after that.

On how much he pays attention to college football outside of this program: You are very aware of everything that is going on, especially this year. It’s basically the top and the bottom has flip-flopped really. Teams that have historically not been there are ranked in the top 10 and the teams that are normally there are either ranked near the bottom of the top 25 or not at all. It’s one of those years that you realize anything can happen and you really realize how much parody there is in college football and how you really have to prepare every week. I think if you get caught up in the names on the jerseys instead of the players, instead of actually going in there and performing, you can get beat every week. Our main objective is to keep playing and take care of ourselves and see what happens in the end.

WR QUAN COSBY
On TE Jermichael Finley’s performance against Oklahoma: It just shows that we have more weapons and even at the tight end position. It makes people concentrate on the middle a little bit more, so it definitely helps on the outside and even more with different checks it helps our quarterback and the (offensive) line, so it helps the team all over. And we hope it continues to.

On anticipating Jermichael Finley’s performance: You never know what is going to happen during a game. You really have to go with what the defense allows you to do. (Finley) made huge plays and definitely kept us in that game. And again, he’s a big time player, and we just hope the success continues.

On praise surrounding his accomplishments: This is the ultimate team sport, and I just think that there are a lot of guys, especially on special teams, really giving it their all for me and I guess making me look a little better than what’s actually going on. And at receiver, Colt (McCoy) and the (offensive) line and the other receivers we push each other to make plays and try to do anything positive for the team. So as far as any of those comments, thanks, but I’m just out there trying to be positive for our team.

On a special teams score: It’s funny because different things happen to where unfortunately we haven’t (had a special teams’ TD) yet. But the guys are out there trying really hard and I just need to see the crease and hopefully hit it and maybe we can get a (special teams) score sooner or later.

On his approach on special teams: Run from the opposite color jersey because again looking out there even before it all sets up, you just look across and you know your player and the way it’s all going to set up. And again, you just kind of look for a crease and follow the big guys that are working for you. We’re really close and we’ve been positive for our team, and we just want to continue to do that.