 
Mack Brown Monday press conference: October 25
Saturday night was a great win for the Longhorns. You've got to give Texas Tech a lot of credit. It's been hard to beat Tech, especially out there. The atmosphere was tremendous. I have to complement their administration, in a hostile environment, they took care of us and made sure everyone was safe. It was a great setting, great weather and a super night for football. The turnover margin was so key in this game, because we had trouble getting turnovers against them last year in Austin. We won the turnover ratio one to zero. That was big. More than that, anytime you get a blocked punt, which we had and another really short one, they are like turnovers because it gains field position for you. Anytime you get a fourth down that they do not convert, it's like a turnover for you. They were 1-of-4 on fourth down situations. We really gained huge advantage over field position on the two punts and the stops on fourth down. The other hard thing to do against Tech is win the explosive plays and we won that 11 to eight. Third down is something they have done better than anybody in the country and something we haven't done very well. We were 10-of-16 on third down situations. We held them to 4-of-20 in third down situations. Time of possession has been on the other side of the coin for us the last two weeks. We wanted to stay on the field more in this game. We had nearly 40 minutes in time of possession.That's a team stat because we were getting three-and-outs at the end of the first half and staying on the field offensively. We didn't give the Tech offense many opportunities early and then they got so far down that they had to get off of their game plan and start trying to go deeper. We only punted one time and Richmond punted for 55 yards. We had one punt and 10 kickoffs. That kind of tells the story for the night and we were 9-of-9 in the red zone. I was very happy for Vince that he got back on track and showed the same quarterback confidence that he showed early in the year and the latter part of last year. I was proud of the offensive line and the tight ends. The tight ends had 20 knockdowns and caught six balls. People don't often see how aggressive they are downfield. Cedric Benson gained 1,000 yards for the fourth straight year. He became only the fifth player in history to do so. We are seeing records broken by Cedric every time he touches the ball. That's fitting for him because he's worked so hard here to be the great player that he's wanted to be. I thought Saturday that his 168 yards were the toughest 168 yards I've seen him get. Tech played really tough, they played hard and they were going to take him out of the ball game. Two years ago out there he only had 92 yards rushing. Every time he's gained 100 yards or more and every time we've out rushed the opponent, we've won the game. Even more than his running ability, Cedric made some great blocks. Vince was in charge of 79 of the 80 yards on our first scoring drive, so that meant the Cedric was blocking a lot. Defensively, I thought our staff had a great plan. They used so many different players in so many different schemes. The interception was a zone blitz and Aurmon Satchell got back in the middle of the field and made the play that led to points. That was the kind of night we had. In the fourth quarter twice on fourth downs, we either knocked (Tech QB Sonny Cumbie) down, sacked him or kept him from getting the ball out of his hands. The most impressive thing about our defense was how hard they played. We did a better job than we have before of keeping fresh legs in the game. We played just about everybody who came on defense. We were a really physical football team on defense. The thing that you learn as you continue to be in this league after seven years is how physical the league is. You look at the games we had against Oklahoma and Missouri and they were knock down drag-out games. Then you go to Tech and it's another physical game and now we've got to go to Colorado. You don't get a breather and it's a grind. We have to do great job of preparing this week. Last week people thought we would lose, and our players were under a lot of pressure and scrutiny. This week they will be bragged on. That's just the environment we are in. We've got to be mature enough. I feel like it's harder to coach in this environment and harder to get the players ready when everyone is bragging on them than when everyone is critical of them. What they've got to understand is this is the most important game they'll ever play because it is the next one. It's the only game in school history with more than 12 games played that we have a losing record. We've won six and lost seven at our school against Colorado. They'll come out of the A&M game with a lot of confidence but they'll also be angry. Their backs are up against the wall. They are still very much in the north race, so this will be a huge game for them. I have as much respect for Gary Barnett as for anybody in the country. Joel Klatt, their quarterback, is getting better and better. He threw for over 300 yards against A&M. Bobby Purify is as good a runner as there is in the country. He'll be drafted next year. Their punter is averaging 46 yards a punt. Mason Crosby from Georgetown kicked a 60-yard field goal a couple of weeks ago. They had 520-yards against A&M on Saturday, 364 yards were passing. They lost two fumbles and the last one was the most critical and probably cost them the game in overtime. They are a good football team and they'll be ready to play us. We have to get rid of the Tech win today. We have to get ready for Colorado starting today. If they've got Joel Klatt throwing that well and Purify running they are a real tough offense to deal with. That will be key this weekend to stop the run and at least make them throw. Bobby Purify is a tough player. He's a slasher. There are a lot of similarities between he and Cedric. He's impressed me since he's been at Colorado.
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