Nov. 9, 2009
QB Colt McCoy
On how tough this week is: This week is one more week for us. It is conference game, so we are getting back into conference, which is good for us. Baylor had a big win on the road against Missouri, so we will have some good film to watch. We just need to keep getting better. We need to get started a little faster. We just need to keep getting better.
On Jordan Shipley being physically hit hard: Jordan can take the shots. He is tough, and he really makes sure his body is in good physical shape and in good condition. We all know we’re going to take some shots. For him, sometimes he gets to see them coming, but for me those big guys up front can broadside you. I do believe Jordan is tough and able to take shots.
On Shipley’s attitude after a game: He is the same whether he is catching the ball for 270 yards or didn’t catch a ball the whole game. That’s the good thing about him. That is the kind of teammate he is and that’s why everyone in the locker room has respect for him.
On Shipley’s potential in the future: There is no telling the potential he has. He just has the ability to get open, and I think our offense has allowed him to get open in the slot and if we need him to play receiver over there, he’ll be there. But the other guys Malcolm, James, and John, and Marquise and Dan. They had a great game, too. That’s why Jordan got so many balls because they couldn’t double team Jordan, they had to look out for Malcolm down the field and some of the other guys, so our team feels really good right now.
On this year’s team and the ‘05 team: I think that is one thing that we learned from the ‘05 team. They had their edge. They were focused every week. Not just focused and excited about going into the game, but focused all week, making sure everyone on the team is working hard and getting their minds right and understanding their jobs going into the game all week long. I think that is one thing that we have cleaned up well. We really practice hard. We really prepare each week so that we will be ready on Saturday.
On being undefeated: It is fun when you’re winning. I mean there is nobody on this team that has been 9-0 when they’ve been playing, and we’re in a really cool spot and that’s fun for us. We also have fun when we’re competing and working toward each other. Everybody on this team loves to play football. I really think this team is unique because we all see ways to improve, and we all see how we can be better. We need to try to keep that attitude.
On how hard it is to stay focused: It is tough to win every week. Playing for four years, I know that each time we step on the field, we are going to have to give each team our best shot. They are going to show something to us that we have never seen, but they are going to try to trick us, do something. We’re going to get their best shot. It’s tough and to put in the hours that you do leading up to the game, so that you can be successful.
On Baylor: I’ve played against Baylor for three years going on my fourth year. It is tough to play up there. Sometimes the stadium is windy, and I think we really have to focus on ourselves this week, and focus on going back to work. We watched the film together, did some great things together as a team, but we need to start faster. We need to create an edge earlier in the game. I think this is one thing we will focus on. The other thing is just playing together, really understanding each other and letting the running game play a bigger role this week.
On individual records: That is not my focus. My focus is winning. That is what I am consumed in and wrapped up in – being the best I can be. I have to give my team the best opportunity to win. Ever since I started playing as freshman, that has been my number one goal – win each time I step on the field. We’re just doing what we’re doing right now.
On how he feels about playing at this point in the season: I love it. I think that has been a huge difference from the beginning of the season until now. I think that the first part of the season was hard. You want to play your best. You want to play perfect. It is your senior year, so you want to do everything right. You get really uptight and kind of throw yourself in a hole that is hard to get out of. I am really having fun and enjoying it.
On watching the other college teams this week: I really wasn’t paying attention to all the games going on this week. I was really just focused on us. When you watch the film, (Baylor) really executed on (Missouri). They played really well on offense and their defense created some turnovers that helped them win the game. They played well. I think if you look at Baylor through the film I watch, each week they are getting better. We’ve got to be prepared.
On other receivers on the field: I do make a point to know where each guys is on the field. Depending on the play, you do need to know your teammates and you know who is in there and who runs each route better and that comes through practice and preparation. I understand where everyone is on the field.
On changing up receiver plays: Sometimes it is tough. Sometimes we pull out plays that we haven’t worked on in a long time. At that point, you just have to understand who is there and understand what they have to do. You have to trust them to be in the right spot. You do. But our guys practice really hard. They understand the game plan and where they need to be and that makes it easy for me.
On Cody Johnson: Cody has grown up a lot. He wants the ball. That’s what I like about him. If we could give the ball to him every play of the game, that’s what he wants. Coach Applewhite does a great job of having him prepared, and we’ve got a bunch of running backs that can come in and light it up. That’s good for me and that’s good for our offense. He is tough. He made a play the other night one-on-one with a defensive end and licked him, and he took it to the house. That is what he brings to the table. He’s toughness and his ability to make the first guy miss.
On what to do this week: I think we really just go back to work. We understand that it is a conference game, and we’re going to give the team our best shot each week. For us, that’s our mentality this week. We understand that we need to get back to work because we know that they are getting better each week, and they played a great game against Missouri on the road, and we just have to be prepared.
WR Jordan Shipley
On how he and the offense did: I think you have got to give a lot of credit to coach Davis for the game plan and for the game he called. Central Florida did a really good job of stopping the run and we saw that on film. They made that a priority against us. We always say that we are going to take whatever the defense gives us, and I think we threw the ball pretty well.
On whether he got a chance to savor his performance after the game: Actually I wasn’t around the T.V. for the rest of the day, which was kind of nice actually. We love those early games because you get done around 3:00 or 4:00 and get a chance to hang out with your family. We really enjoy having the rest of the day off.
On whether they wait to see what the defense gives them: I think the thing we are doing now that is really helping us out to create matchups is coach Davis moving me around from X to Z and moving other guys in and out. Malcolm (Williams) really stepped up and played great, James (Kirkendoll) is playing great, John (Chiles), Dan (Buckner) and Marquise (Goodwin). With all of those guys moving around so much I think it is really hard for the defense to game plan.
On his mind frame when someone presses him compared to dropping back: It doesn’t matter much for me. I think the rest of the guys will tell you same thing. We always try to focus more on our execution. We are going to see a lot of different looks. A lot of times we see totally different looks on game day than we see on film. It’s mostly about us going out and executing every day.
On the long touchdown pass: I didn’t think about it much at all because I’m not the one with the headset on, you are going to have to talk to coach Davis about that. I think it was definitely a great call and obviously it worked out pretty well. Like I said, coach Davis is as good as there is and he saw something there and it was a big play.
On soaking in the team’s record: Coach Brown always says to really just enjoy winning because it is tough being the way college football is. We are really excited to be 9-0, and I think the thing about this team is that we have great senior leadership, and they’re keeping everyone focused every week. We are all really just having a lot of fun and enjoying the opportunity to play.
On Baylor: I think they’re definitely a solid team and have a great defense. With coach Briles coming in, they’ve been a new team and have been playing really well. So we are going to have to be as prepared as possible and execute well.
On Baylor’s team speed: I think with our league and the Big 12 there are so many athletes out there that it’s always pretty much speed against speed. Everybody’s got guys that can run so we are definitely going to have to be prepared for them. They do have a lot of team speed, especially on defense.
On taking big hits: A lot of those hits hurt pretty bad for just a little while, but you have so much adrenaline that most of the time they go away. Some of them hurt pretty bad initially, but my dad always told me to jump right back up and to not let them see that it hurt you. You definitely feel it the next morning when you wake up. It’s always tough to get out of bed on Sunday mornings.
On whether he is aware of Baylor’s big hitter S Jordan Lake: I think he’s definitely a great player. Someone was asking me earlier, he seems a lot like me. He’s been around for forever and he’s a really smart player and hitter, and I think he is one of the best players in the league.
On whether there is anyone on the team tougher than him: Yeah, definitely. We’ve got lots of tough guys, especially on defense, and I think that’s pretty evident when we step out on the field on Saturdays. I think that’s helped us a lot. Our team toughness as a whole I think is really good. Our offensive line is tough as nails, running backs are tough as nails, and Colt takes a lot of shots. I think that the team toughness as a whole has really been a strength for us.
On giving his teammates credit: I think it’s always important to recognize the people who are responsible for what’s going on. I’ve been really blessed to have been a part of this program and have an opportunity to play here and have success. Always in the back of my mind I know that without those guys blocking, and Colt throwing the ball to those other receivers out there and making plays, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing. I feel like those guys deserve credit, and Colt’s the same way. He’s always about giving guys the credit they deserve.
On Malcolm Williams: Malcolm has stepped up and made some huge plays the last couple weeks. He is such a weapon because he is so big, fast, strong, and has great hands. It’s been great to see him step up and make some big plays. I think James (Kirkendoll) has been as good as anybody as far as running after the catch. He’s made some huge plays for us on third down and he made a play during the last game that enabled us to go on fourth down and make it because he slipped a couple of guys. Those guys are both playing well, Marquise, John, and Dan are all playing well so we feel good about the guys we got out there.
On whether he is aware of his numbers this season: It doesn’t matter. The reason I came back this year is to be a part of this great team and to hopefully win all of the games. That is the first and foremost goal, other than that, I don’t care about the individual stuff. Obviously I want to do well and I want to help this team win, but as far as my personal goals and the team goals, I just want to help this team win.
DT Lamarr Houston
On Baylor and their speed: They’re really fast. I know (David) Gettis is a track guy and (Kendall) Wright is a track guy just like how we have track guys on our team. They get the ball really deep, and I know their quarterback is really accurate. He threw for over 400 yards this game against a good Missouri team. They have some good team speed, so we’re going to have match up speed with our defense and work it into our game plan.
On Baylor quarterback Nick Florence: He’s not as mobile as Robert Griffin, but he still can run and I think he is doing an excellent job stepping up when Griffin went down just helping his team win.
On Baylor this year: I mean, they beat Missouri 40 to 32. Missouri isn’t a bad team by any measure at all and that proves a lot for Baylor when they throw up 40 points on a good defense.
On increasing sacks: We weren’t successful getting sacks in the last couple games, so Coach Muschamp has been challenging us to pick up our pressure on the front four, so we worked on it all week and will continue to work on it this week and work our pass rush protection so we can up our sacks and not have to adopt any more. It is a like a funny/slash just motivation type of thing. We don’t want to be part of the adopt a sack program anymore.
DT Ben Alexander
On how the season is going: Just whenever I get in there, whenever my number is called, I just try to get in there and help the team.
On Baylor: I know they beat Missouri last week. Missouri is a really good team. They had like 400 yards passing last game. Colt had 400 yards passing, and everyone is talking about us, but that was a great offense. They lost Griffin, who is an awesome player, and they’re still winning games and scoring points, so it is going to be a good game.
On the atmosphere in Waco: I mean we definitely want to get the (UT) fans out. We want them up there but Waco is, I went up there my sophomore year, those fans especially their student section is pretty wild, and they get up and root for their team. I am feeling like it is going to be a lot like Wyoming. I have a feeling their fans are going to be crazy and wild and get up for their team.
On being 9-0: I have never been 9-0. It is awesome. It is really awesome. I have never been this close to achieving that big goal with 9-0 and achieving it. It has really been awesome, but you still have to go to work. You still have to train and watch film and do all that stuff.
LB Keenan Robinson
On the type of player he tries to be: I’m always trying to stay humble and I just try to do what I love to do every week. I’m trying to produce every week and I’m trying keep my coaches happy. I think Baylor is very athletic offensively. They have very skilled players. They have players that can run that are big and physical, and I think they are just a team that we have to go out there against and prove that we are not going to sleep on them. We want to make sure we start fast and finish strong.
On being 9-0: It feels good because I’ve never been, not in high school, pee wee, none of that, it just feels good to have nine wins and not have to worry about other teams controlling our destiny.
On making improvements: Every week, I take pride on making sure that I get better. That the stuff I messed up on a week before, doesn’t happen again. I work on it in practice.
On Baylor being without QB Robert Griffin: I think we look at Robert kind of in the way we looked at Oklahoma State and Zac Robinson. And so that means that when you do your pass game you have to make sure that all the lanes cut at the escape lanes. I think that all quarterbacks can scramble if they need to, but I think that at the same time, we can’t blitz too much because (Nick Florence) can hurt us with his arm. So we have to balance the blitzes and the pass rush and all that at the same time.
On the best aspects of his play: On the field I’m more aggressive. I like to use my speed to fly around and try and make plays. The thing I like to do is play man-to-man, and I like to not only stop the run, but stop the pass. It’s nice to go out there and have Coach Muschamp call the play and scheme, and not worry if I am going to do what I need to do.
On what he needs to work on: I’m probably my hardest critic because I see a lot of flaws in my game that I need to work on. Coach Muschamp tells you what needs to be done and what he needs me to do. I look up to him as to what I need to work on and what I need from him to improve my game. I can always be better I’m never as good as I want to be.
DE Sam Acho
On the Baylor game: If we want to accomplish our goals, every week becomes more important. We can’t lose focus and slip up because right now we’re 9-0 and each game gets that much more important. Robert Griffin is a phenomenal athlete; I was chasing him around all day last year, and he out ran me a lot of the time, but it’s going to be a different kind of game. Their quarterback right now threw for 400 yards, so it’s a different dynamic.
On other teams’ rankings: We know everybody’s good and that on game day, the team that plays best is going to win. No matter what the rankings are, you have to play good on game day.
On Will Muschamp’s reaction to defensive penalties: The focus is to keep playing hard. You can’t always control what the refs are going to call. We just have to keep on playing hard and doing our job and get pressure on the quarterback, stop the run, make tackles, and do all the things we have to do to win a game.
On pressures that come with being 9-0: There’s always more pressure when you’re undefeated, but this team does a good job of handling pressure. We stay focused and we don’t get too caught up in the rankings.
WR James Kirkendoll
On the importance of receivers being able to take hits: Well, as a receiver you have to catch the ball; that’s the main thing. The main thing we try to go over is catching the ball, making people miss and doing whatever you can to make plays for your team.
On Jordan Shipley: Jordan’s unbelievable. He has great routes and blocks, and he’s fast. I really don’t think there are too many holes in his game. If he’s not hurt, he’s going to play.
On the depth of the team: Jordan can play pretty much any spot, I can, and Malcolm can. To be able to create different match ups, it gives us more of a chance to win.
On the speed factor in the Baylor game: They have some good team speed. We have good team speed, too. We both have good Texas players. I think every week each team is going to give us their best shot, so we have to be prepared.
On playing better: I feel like I just had to refocus, practice harder, and make plays whenever I can.
OT Adam Ulatoski
On the offensive line: You know we have done some things pretty well. We are just excited that we are 9-0 and we are going to go back to work and going to continue to try and grow.
On Jordan Shipley’s mentality being like a lineman and not worrying about attention: That’s just Jordan. He is just a blue-collar guy and he is going to go back to work and he is never going to be satisfied. He is just a humble guy. He doesn’t like the attention he is all about the team.
On the running game and Cody Johnson: I feel like it is getting better. I don’t think this last week we played as well as we could have. We had seen a lot of improvement the weeks before. I think we ran the ball well in short yardage last week. We could have done better on first and second downs. We are going to have to go back to work and fix that. Cody just runs extremely hard and I think everybody sees that. He had the play he had like six guys he bounced off of him. He is going to go out there and he is going to try to get more yards every time.
On Baylor: I have seen them improve tremendously. I think Coach Briles has done a great job with their team recruiting good players and I feel they have gained more confidence as I have been here. We have never tried to take a team lightly, but you can see how much talent they have and how close they have played some really great teams and so we are going to have to go to work and prepare really well this week.
On winning: You never want to take a win for granted. We have been fortunate enough to win a lot around here and sometimes you have a tendency to say, “Oh, it’s another win,” but you want to celebrate each win and know that it is hard to do.
OG Charlie Tanner
On seeing Longhorns fans on the road: It is awesome. I love it. We love when our fans travel. It is a great advantage to have a lot of burnt orange in the stadium because you know it is great having them cheer on every single play offense or defense. It really pumps us up.
On the Central Florida game: I feel like we pass protected really well last week. We weren’t satisfied with the run game. That is something we are really going to work on this week. Like I heard coach Davis say, first and second downs are crucial for us staying ahead of the game. One thing we talked about as an offense, it doesn’t matter how many yards we get rushing in the game as long as the times we do run it’s productive, meaning we get four yards or more or a first down or touchdown each time we run it. That is what we are really focusing on, is making sure we are productive each time we run the ball.
On the running backs: They’ve got so much talent and they are a lot of fun to watch. This past week Cody Johnson, he is a beast, he really is. He is so much fun to watch. He will get hit by one guy and still be running. He will get hit by another guy and still be running. It’s fun to watch him run he runs really hard.
On early games: Early games are fun. No one likes waking up at 6 a.m., but it is nice to get rolling. Staying in the hotel all day can kind of drag on. You’re watching other teams play and sitting there like, “Man, I am ready to go. Let’s get this going.” It is fun to wake up because once you get up, it is just out of the hotel room at your meetings and you are out the door, so I like them.
On Baylor: They’ve got a great team. I just watched about an hour of film. I’ve got a bunch more to watch. They’ve got a lot of starters back this year. Their linebackers are great and their two guys upfront, their defense tackles, they are huge. They really hold the front and that is something we are going to have to work on because they really free up the linebackers to make tackles, so it is going to be a great challenge for us this week. They are a really good team.
C Chris Hall
On Baylor: Coach Briles has done a great job up at Baylor. They’re playing really good football. Anytime you go on the road, especially in the Big 12, it’s not an easy deal. So we’re going to have to really prepare for a good Baylor team.
On staying mentally focused: I think we all need that to a certain extent. I think for the guys who were here last year, and played a good deal last year, with what happened out in Lubbock we know that at any time anybody can beat you, and of course we played a really good Texas Tech team. I think the role for some of our older guys, especially our seniors, is to keep that in front of the guys’ minds that we’re playing with. We really need to take it one week at a time. If we do, we can reach all of our goals. They’re all out in front of us, and so I feel like, mainly, our job is to keep that in front of everyone’s mind.
On times that seniors have given advice to the team: A great example from last year was when Sergio Kindle stood up before the OU game. He spoke about going back to Dallas and everything he said is what comes to my mind whenever I think about that. We’ve had guys who have done that, probably not as movie-worthy type as that one last year, but I think it has been effective. It’s been good.
On if Jordan Shipley could be on the offensive line: I think he needs a little different type of build to play offensive line. I think he’s really efficient where he is right now. He’s probably helping our team best at wide receiver and punt returner, but he is quite a football player and a great teammate. I’ve really enjoyed my five years here with him. All these guys, really, Charlie, Adam, Colt, everybody, it’s been a really, really good experience for me. I won’t get to play football with these guys anymore after a few weeks. That’s going to be tough.
On having a 9-0 record: I think coach Brown said that nobody playing currently [on Texas’ team] has ever been 9-0. We were my freshman year (in 2005), but I was helping out on the scout team, doing what I could, but I wasn’t playing. What a special deal to be 9-0 together. What an accomplishment. That’s really, really cool.
On how Baylor is on Texas’ playing level: I think they’re good enough to beat anybody on any given day, and with the way things have played out, everybody has 85 scholarships. There is such a mutuality of talent all across the nation. You look at schools that formerly people wouldn’t have considered really great programs. You look at Boise State; that is a great program. Obviously, they beat Oregon earlier in the year, and what an awesome job they have done. It’s the same here. Baylor has really, really started something. They can beat anybody any day.
On the large number of Longhorns fans that traveled to Baylor two years ago: That was cool. That was really cool. I wish we had played a little better, but at least we came out with a win. Of course, we would have liked to play better offensively. Heading up to Waco will be fun, especially, because we’ve gotten to do it before. I feel like I know a number of these venues we went to my redshirt sophomore year, so it’s kind of like getting to replay all that stuff that we did, so to me, that is really cool.
On what decides wins and loses: Coach Davis talks about two things when he talks about winning football games, and that is turnovers and explosive plays. I think when we win turnovers and explosives we’re 68-0, but when we lose both turnovers and explosives, we’re 1-17. So after hearing that for four-and-a-half years, to me, when I look at a ballgame, that is what I look at. Anytime you lose a turnover and explosive play battle, you’re more than likely by just looking at the numbers, more than likely to get beat.
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