Texas
May 20, 2013
Texas
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Kansas State game quotes

TEXAS

Head coach Mack Brown
Opening Statement:
Give Kansas State all the credit in the world. They were ready to play and played really well. I'm proud of our guys - our guys have won a lot of football games. Our assistant coaches and our players have a never die attitude and as tough as things got tonight, they still just ran out of time. They kept fighting and had a chance until the end if a 51-yard field goal doesn't go in. I'm proud of our guys, I'm disappointed in the loss. Credit to Ron, I'm proud of him - a first year head coach doing so well here - getting the spirit back that Bill Snyder had. It's a great night for them and a tough night for us, but our guys get to go home and get ready to prepare for a Big 12 south championship and the right to go to Kansas City. That's what we'll be working on next week.

On the loss affecting BCS Championship chances: At Texas there's never a good time to lose, Ohio State wasn't good timing either. What you do is play the best that you can play, do the best you can do and tonight we just didn't win. Half the teams in America feel the same way. I told these kids they should not have their heads down with as many games as they've won in their careers. I think it's emotional every time you lose. It's not good. You put too much into it, you work too hard. The kids are really disappointed but like I said, these kids have lost very few so it's something they're not used to.

On the loss of Colt McCoy: We had the great drive to get it started and I guess he got hurt on the quarterback sneak. I thought Jevan (Snead) did a great job. The kids did a great job trying to rally around him because he hasn't played a lot, a true freshman, in this environment on the road, that didn't think that he was going to play - I'm really proud of him.

On Jevan Snead's performance as a replacement: All of the sudden you're standing over there in the cold weather and you're told you're going to play - get in. It's a little bit of a shock but I'm proud of him. I think everybody sees the player that he can be. That's part of the game. You have no excuses when you get beat. It's a credit to you when you win and when you get beat you get beat.

On Kansas State's big plays: We gave up too many big plays tonight and that's a credit to Kansas State. We just didn't play well in that one stretch for sure. They ran two or three trick plays and some of them we were just standing there and some we weren't. We miss judged some balls and the kids are disappointed.

On turnovers and the third quarter scoring: You just can't have it. One of them we were about to go take the lead. We were at the 20-yard line going in and the ball was stripped. They got the ball and that led to a score for them. Then we came right back where you have to answer, right after that - because their defense played so well to start the second half - and we fumbled again. That's where it all started. It took a life of its own with the two touchdowns after the trick plays, then the blocked punt. That's when I am really proud of our staff and our coaches that they hung in there and came back and still gave us a chance to win.

Senior S Michael Griffin
On the play of Texas tonight: First and foremost I would like to apologize to the K-State (football) team because I didn't shake anyone's hand after the game. We just never got things going our way. Every time we didn't have things go our way and all of the sudden something happens and it's going our way again. It was just an up and down game. K-State is a good football team and you can't put the blame on anyone. As a team I don't think we played the best as we have ever played, but we never quit. We played until the clock ticked to zero. Time just ran out, I think we had the momentum towards the end.

On getting to a BCS bowl game: I don't think it cost us the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) but then again our first goal was to win the Big 12 South, and we haven't done that yet, so we still have another game to attain that goal. After that we still have to go the Big 12 (Championship) and play for a championship and end up in a BCS bowl which will probably not be the National Championship. We still have good things happening for us though.

On the trick plays that K-State ran: In my opinion that shows our defense a lot of respect, that you can't run the ball and have to do trick plays in order to score a touchdown and get yardage against our defense. I think that shows our defense a lot of respect that you have to run trick plays to get things going.

KANSAS STATE

Head coach Ron Prince
On his emotions after the win:
It was a nice win for us. To be honest with you, we told our players all week don't be surprised if you jump out early on these guys and beat them. You could say that but the kids believed it. We had a lot of fun with it. There were a lot of things we did in the game to really try to be aggressive and a lot of those things did not work perfect but it was a great team we faced. I just could not be more proud of our kids. They hung in there and the coaches did a terrific job of getting the kids to practice with purpose this week. I thought it carried us a long ways for everything we had to come up with. My hat is off to those kids and the coaches who are in that locker room. I am really excited and really happy for them right now.

On the final change of momentum in K-State's favor: I didn't feel good about this one until the very end. We were coaching our brains out down there at the very end to make this thing go the way we wanted it to go. We had a sequence of plays there where we answered and that is one of the things I felt really positive about the Iowa State and Colorado games. There was some momentum switched there and our kids did a really good job with it. That was an unbelievable drive that they put together on us and they executed and made big plays. The kids never faltered and I was really proud of how they handled it. It was terrific and we'll obviously enjoy this one.

On the final pass play to Jordy Nelson: I learned something when coaching for (Virginia head coach) Al Groh and he told me something that I'll never forget. He said, 'Think players first, then plays.' That is something I have always tried to do as a coach. I try to get our players in the best position to make a play. There is nobody I trust more than Jordy Nelson and if there is ever a critical situation like that the game is going to hinge on. Those were my words before we went out there. I told Josh (Freeman) 'I trust you with the ball in your hands and I want to make sure that we get the ball to our best player Jordy Nelson.' He has been clutch for us ever since he came back. It is just right and fitting that he makes that kind of spectacular play. It is really no different than what he did last weekend.

Senior DT Quentin Echols
On the number of close games K-State has played this season: We have had a lot of close games. It kind of goes back to the first game of the season against Illinois State. We just had to learn how to win the game and even when they are going to push in and it doesn't look good. We just had to learn to win the game. It is kind of crazy because the Illinois State game, nobody would have thought it would have come back to help us. Ten games later it comes back to help us out against the No. 4 team in the nation.

On the teams' nerves down the stretch: No, we were not holding our breath. We were just ready to go out there and give it whatever we got. You only hold your breath when your scared and we weren't scared. We were more excited to go win, instead of scared of losing.

Senior K Jeff Snodgrass
On Coach Prince's faith in him:
He has always had a lot of faith in me and I thank him for that. We always joke around and he always talks about how we are going to go for it when we cross mid-field. It is one of those things that I am glad he has enough confidence.

Senior LB Brandon Archer
On the preparation for the game:
Definitely. We have been preparing for it all week. We knew it was going to come down to the last play. I had a weird feeling all week and it ended up coming out our way. Texas is a great team and we knew they were going to come back an fight and we knew that we had to keep going. Late in the season we start practicing harder and really realizing that you have to keep going and keep fighting. We have a lot of younger guys starting to do that. We decided yesterday that we were going to play defense one snap at a time and win the game that way and that is what we did.


 

 

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