 
Player press conference quotes: Oct. 29
DE BRIAN ORAKPO On RB Dantrell Savage: He’s been there for a while, we’ve played against him and he’s a great player. He makes plays for his team and the times we have been down to Oklahoma State he has been the leader so to speak as far as putting big numbers up rushing the ball. He’s the type of guy that is a big playmaker and we plan to try to get after him and try to cause some disruptions in the backfield. On how they plan to stop Oklahoma States offense: That’s a good question; just a great game plan really. We have to come out this week and practice and see where their weaknesses are. We’re going to watch film and see what they do and what they don’t do well. They have great players; guys that in the future will be in the NFL. We just have to maintain and hopefully have our defense play as a whole. If we play as a whole we’re a very tough defense and I feel like if we’re all on the same page we’ll be able to stop these guys on Saturday. On how he feels with his performance and on Coach Brown mentioning how he’s getting better and better with each game: Every week and every day my knee is getting a lot better. That’s the whole part of recovering. That’s a great compliment from Coach Brown, coming from a coach like that to praise on me. I’m just trying my best. I’m going out there and giving it my all and trying to make stuff happen for our defense and to put other guys in situations to make plays. Our whole defense is making plays that we need to and it’s good to have guys come in there and make plays when we really need it. I’m just there to help. DT FRANK OKAM On if he’s tired of having to make comebacks against Oklahoma State: You have to [be tired of that]. You wonder why you’re starting slow. My first two years here we started very slow and had to make some huge comebacks. Hopefully, we can get that behind us and try to come out and start fast this week. On how to carry the momentum of the fourth quarter against Nebraska to the Oklahoma State game: Obviously, the first thing you want to do is look at the things you didn’t do as well and try to make sure those don’t happen again. Using the momentum through this week, hopefully you can use it and ride it out up there. Especially being on the road, it’s an us against them mentality that I know I enjoy. It kind of takes the pressure off you when it’s in their place. On preparing for Oklahoma State’s offense: Looking at their Big 12 games, they should really probably be 4-0. They let A&M come back and get them by one point. They could easily be sitting at the top of our division. When you see that and the numbers their offense is putting up, as a defensive lineman, you have to think the only way you can take all these other weapons out of the mix is to dominate the line of scrimmage. If you don’t do that, you allow them to run the ball or get play action and throw deep with Bowman. If we can make them one dimensional, we have a chance. If they can pick and chose what they want to do, it’s going to be a very long day. QB COLT McCOY On his thoughts of the fourth quarter: I think we just got a feel of what they were doing. I know it took a long time, but they were bringing someone every play. A couple of times I audibled there at the end and kind of got him through the line. The offensive line did a good job of making some holes and making some things. Jamaal was able to see them and scored some touchdowns late in the game that really boosted us. It gives Jamaal confidence, it gives our offensive line confidence in running the ball and we have to build on that. On Oklahoma State learning from Nebraska: I wouldn’t be surprised if they take a lot of lessons from the Nebraska game. We just have to be prepared. I know Oklahoma State is a lot more aggressive as far as what they have done this season. They have blitzed a lot more than Nebraska had coming into our game. I think they’ll be prepared, they had a week off, they watched our game and we have got to prepare for whatever. We have to understand that every team is going to do something different and we have to figure it out. On Oklahoma State’s pass defense: I’ve watched them on film a little bit and I know that they’re really aggressive, they fly to the football, but I think they are a little vulnerable in some areas. We just have to be prepared. I haven’t seen the game plan. I’m sure the passing game isn’t going to go away. When the running game works that well in a game like that where they’re blitzing everyone and we’re not able to get protected long enough to make some good throws and to pass the ball effectively, that is something we have to work on and get better at. On what he feels like the pluses are going into the Oklahoma State game: I feel like a big plus for us is the confidence of the offensive line and Jamaal (Charles) and Vondrell (McGee) being able to run the ball. I think that really helped them a lot and got them pumped up and that’s a big positive for us. I think we can build off of that. We just have to keep fighting and I think one of the big characteristics of our team this year is to never give up. Things haven’t come easy for us. We’ve had to fight for everything. I think that is making us grow stronger and more together than ever before. On running the zone read: I’m sure we will continue to run that more. I think it worked effectively for us. I know last week we worked on it in practice and Coach Davis wanted to run it eight or 10 times a game to help out our play action pass and our offensive line because they’re really good at blocking the zone read, and Jamaal (Charles) is really good at seeing it. If they give me a couple of reads, I need to be able to make some yards and to make some first downs with that. I think that will help out our package as far as in the shotgun. On Stillwater: It’s a really tough place to play. It’s a lot like playing at Texas Tech except the fans are right behind our bench. Everywhere you go the fans are going to be loud, especially there because they added on. It’s going to be a challenge. On the road in the Big 12, it’s never easy. CB RYAN PALMER On playing at Oklahoma State: It’s always a good game when we go up to Stillwater. They always bring their A-game. They have a hostile crowd. The crowd is real close on you, so it’s real loud up there. We just have to have a fast start. We always talk about finishing, but we have to have a fast start this game. They have a real explosive offense with (RB Dantrell) Savage, (QB Zac) Robinson and Bowman and even Dez Bryant the freshman receiver, he’s a real good player too. We just have to be ready to play. On the challenge of starting fast: It’s hard to do sometimes. It’s always hard to get a fast start. You really have to be clicking on all cylinders. Everything has to be clicking well – offense, defense, special teams. I feel if we just have a good practice this week, practice on the little things that we need to correct, we’ll be fine to have a fast start. On the challenge Zac Robinson brings to the defense: I saw a couple games. He likes to run too. He looks down the field and if nothing’s open he can take off and go. It’s going to be another challenge as a whole defense. It’s going to be a challenge for us, too, because it’s hard covering a receiver twice, covering one time and you think the play’s dead and he scrambles and throws a deep pass. You have to be disciplined back there, your eyes have to be right. We just have to be ready for anything they throw at us. On continuing to improve as a player: As games go on, you get a little bit more experience and you calm down more. You get a little confident, not in a cocky way, just like in a way that you know you can execute the defense the coach calls and things like that. You don’t want mess up on the alignment assignments. You don’t want to have mental errors. That’s where I’m still trying to grow – having mental errors. I’m still trying to grow in that area. Just getting smarter, learning more, just being a student of the game, that’s what I’m working on. Athletic ability cancels out with another athlete. You could have the same athletic ability, but when it comes down to who knows this, it makes a good athlete a great athlete. I think continuing to study film and continuing to get my mental game right is going to help me in the future. On the identity of the team: I really like this team, we’re fighters. A lot of people doubted us. We haven’t been blowing teams out like we did in the past, and we’re not as explosive as we used to be. All we do is just go there and fight every game. It might not look pretty, but a win is a win. I feel like this team has a lot of heart. We were down against Nebraska, and we just kept fighting and fighting and finding ways to win the ball game. That’s what I like about this team – we have a lot of fight in us. Nothing’s going to be easy, nothing’s going to be given to us, we just have to fight for everything we want. WR QUAN COSBY On the keys to coming from behind: Really just execute. It’s been the same thing even before, it wasn’t anything that we did, it was definitely things that they did because they played well. It was lack of execution, little things as far as checks being made. We made the adjustments at halftime. That was the biggest difference, momentum and execution. On how Nebraska prepared the team for Oklahoma State: It was huge for us. We learned how to be patient and handle the blitz. I don’t think they ever stopped (blitzing), I don’t remember a play where they didn’t. It prepared us for this week with (Oklahoma State) blitzing a little more than usual too. You just have to handle it, know your checks as a receiver, keep your eyes right so we can just go out there and maybe hit them. On the success of OSU CB Martel Van Zant, who is deaf: It’s unbelievable. I actually know American Sign Language, I took a few years here of ASL, and I know how hard they have it growing up. For him to be at a Division I school and as successful as he is, it’s amazing. I look up to him. He’s an inspiration for many in that community, especially going to TSD. Everyone there knows and they look up to him, so it’s pretty sweet. On Colt McCoy’s toughness: It’s unreal, especially seeing it on film. A lot of times I’m running routes or doing something, but to see it on film, he’s a warrior to get up from some of those hits he takes. To come in and still be able to make the checks, do the sight adjustments and call the correct plays, it just shows the character in him and his will to win. DT DEREK LOKEY On Jamaal Charles: I thought Jamaal was amazing this weekend. I think every game he’s got the ability to do that. He’s got such exceptional speed that if he breaks one tackle or one guy slips off and they’re in man coverage, then he’s gone. He showed that this weekend a few times. His speed and elusiveness, I wouldn’t want to be on the other side trying to tackle him. He’s a great player. On the defensive line: I think we’re getting there. Having Brian (Orakpo) back and Aaron (Lewis) is on his way back, and I think we’re getting there slowly, but surely. This front can be special. I think we still have a lot of work to do though. On dealing with double teams: Frank (Okam) has established himself as such a great pass rusher and leads our team in sacks. He does such a good job, especially stripping the ball and picking it up this past weekend, teams are going to double Frank because they have to. With me, it’s just kind of how offenses in this conference do it on passing plays, they keep the center and the guard with the nose. It’s kind of a natural thing for the nose to get doubled. On playing against Oklahoma State: I didn’t play last year, and I think last year we got after them pretty good. The two years before that it got a little scary at first and we were able to come back. Especially the last time we were in Stillwater, at night and it was a little spooky. We’re going to have to start fast this week, execute a little better and make sure it doesn’t happen again. On the Oklahoma State rushing game: They run lateral type zone plays and then they come back and do smash-mouth, down the middle type stuff. It will present a challenge and we’ll just have to get ready. On playing in Stillwater: It is a challenge, you sit there and your coach will be talking to you and there will be somebody hanging over the ledge, literally two feet from you, screaming in your face and calling you every name in the book. It makes it a little bit more difficult. At the same time, if you go out there and maybe the team’s not as excited as it should be, it makes them excited fast with people screaming in their face and things like that. I think it’s an advantage in that standpoint. OT TONY HILLS On the offensive line: I think what teams see is that we’re a young offensive line, so they’re just going to try to get to the quarterback, and blitz us as early and often as possible. That’s a credit first of all to Dallas (Griffin). He’s our quarterback on the offensive line getting us to the right reads and making sure we have the right IDs. Also to the young guys, watching film, asking questions, coach MacWhorter working with us, having our eyes in the right places, fundamentals, we work that every day. It’s just something that you get to see on Saturdays working. Actually, I think that since teams blitz us so much, we’ve actually seen a lot of things. On Colt McCoy: He’s a warrior. He’s getting knocked around there, trying to make things happen. A testament to his character is he got hit pretty hard on a roll out play that he was trying to complete a pass to (Jordan) Shipley on, John (Chiles) came in and did a good job, then (McCoy) comes back in, runs the play and gets a lot of yards on it. That just lets you know he was the heart of a warrior.
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