Colorado-Oklahoma State Quotes
November 15, 2008 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Dan Hawkins
On Colorado's Offense
“I thought we established some offensive continuity, we missed some opportunities to be sure. In general, we were in a pretty good groove. We only punted one time. We felt like we had an opportunity to do some things offensively, and we did counter them a little bit.
On What He Tells His Team Following the Loss
“We always talk about finishing. We have a big game coming up for a lot of reasons, if not for any other reason, just to finish. We need to continue to work and finish.”
On
“I thought our guys did a good job battling back from that; again, I think that's just such a key factor. We talked about it coming out of the tunnel in the second half as well and we weren't able to stop them. That whole momentum thing is big for anybody, in particularly our guys.”
On Playing in the Big 12 Conference
“The margin for error is clearly very, very small. You have got to make every play. You can't drop a ball, you can't hit the wrong gap, because you will be split in a hurry. I thought our guys did a nice job of raising their energy level back up to where it ought to be and where it should be; and that was nice to see. You just have to make a couple of plays in there to keep it going.”
On When He Knew TB Darrell Scott Would Not Play
“He dinged that thing up again on Tuesday and didn't really do that much during the week. In particular on Thursday you need to practice. Obviously for a young guy that's really important too. Sometime a veteran who doesn't go on Tuesday or Wednesday can get in there on Thursday and have a productive day for you on Saturday. When you don't go Wednesday and Thursday and you are a young guy, you're just asking for problems there. Hopefully that thing will get healthy again for him because it has been bothering him for a long time. Hopefully with an extra week here he'll be able to get healed up.”
On If TB Darrell Scott Has Been Healthy and Confident This Season
“No. Again, it's a consequence of that. Being banged up he wasn't 100% in the preseason, but I think he got a little bit of confidence after the first game. He hurt his knee in the second game, and he hurt is ankle against
On the Health of
“Unfortunately we still have the M.A.S.H unit. If we had more guys that were temporary injuries, you would expect to have a few of them back. We have a lot of guys on crutches and recovering from surgery, so those guys won't be back.”
On What He Tells the Seniors
“We put a lot of that stuff together for them, in particular when we get down to the end of the season and making sense of things. That's important that they learn and the younger guys learn from it. I still think there's much to be gained if we get going in the right direction here and finish on a good note. I've always said we'll sit down when the season is over and figure out what kind of year it was.”
On
“He did a great job, he really did. He was a real key to what they do. When they would get in a pickle, he would make a great play. Obviously he can really run and he has good command of their offense; he's probably overshadowed a little bit by some of the guys in the league, but he's a pretty good player."
General “Earlier in the week I was a little concerned about this game, because defensively, On Injuries “We have a few guys that are beat up a little bit. Kendall Hunter has a quad bruise. It's nothing serious, but he couldn't go back in the game because he couldn't loosen up his thigh. [ On “Our scores on offense down there inside the 10-yard line weren't very good again. We have to do a better job as coaches for coming up with a plan when you are on the road like this and you are down within the five, you need to come away with touchdowns. I am going to give them some credit. They had a nice plan and they have been pretty tough within the five-yard line.” On Winning Nine Games “We are proud of our football team. There is a lot of hard work. I said this earlier in the year, I remember when Coach Mangino said last year, “There is a lot of hard work that goes into a successful season, and achieving expectations that some people think you can't get to.” It started after the bowl game last year. There is still a ten-win opportunity. It's a good year for our guys. Our goals changed last week from the championship to winning 9 and now our goal is winning 10. Our team accepts that and they understand.” On Play of QB Zac Robinson “He did a great job. He had a key run for us there late in the game where he pulled 12 yards on third and 11.” On His Team's Athleticism “We have got some guys that can make some plays with the ball. Our secondary played well tonight and it did make a difference.” On Upcoming Open Week “It's really good for us. The coaches need it, and the players need it. We have got a couple guys banged up tonight. We are only going to practice twice next week; we are going to let them have some day off. They've earned it and they deserve it.” On Team's Kick Coverage “They have done that all year. [ On Altitude Issues “I did. I was jogging on the field today, and I noticed it. It scared me a little bit, but the players didn't say one thing about it all week, and I didn't hear them say a word about it before the game or during. It was a beautiful day here today during the day. I kind of wanted to play during the day, but tonight was a great night for football; great football weather.” On Going for a Field Goal on 4th and 1 Early “Just playing on the road, I thought that they had developed some momentum on the last two plays. I thought at that particular time, and because we were on the road, and they were kind of fired up after the last two plays, I felt comfortable taking the three points.” On Dez Bryant's TD Catch “It was a great call and Trooper [Taylor] has done a nice job on him with that one-handed grab, and he works on keeping him in bounds and diving for the goal line. I don't know that he has any weak hand. I am not a guy that's going to brag about a lot, but that's pretty amazing.” DT George Hypolite ON NEBRASKA GAME-“It's great. There's no grander stage than playing in ON MEMORIES AT FOLSOM- “65-51 at the end of the day. That's all that needs to be said.” ON LOSING ON SENIOR DAY-“It's a little bit of a sour note. I heard earlier we were like 17-1 on senior day. It's definitely not the way you want to go out, but that's football. You keep playing long enough things like this are going to happen. You keep playing and you're going to miss a few plays and make a few too. Tried to tell the guys as much as I could, ?This is a football game. Don't win it for the seniors; do it for each other because we deserve to win this football game not because of some special day.' I think we played a good game, just missed a couple spots and gave up a couple big plays.” ON LOSING RYAN WALTERS-“You never want to lose your senior safety captain. He was born to be a Buff. It just a little bit, but I tipped my hat to Anthony Perkins and Patrick Mahnke. They stepped right in and really didn't miss a beat. They really didn't make any mistakes.” ON THE REST OF THE SEASON-“It's been a one-game season for a long time. We have two weeks to prepare for FB Maurice Cantrell ON NEBRASKA GAME-“It's definitely important. We're going to approach it like we do every game. We're going to go through the film tomorrow and put this game behind us and move on to try and beat LB Shaun Mohler ON DEFENSIVE EFFORT-“It was a great effort by the whole defense to hold them to those field goals early on. That's what we were trying to do as a defense this whole week. “ ON WR DEZ BRYANT-“He is fast. We tried to contain him like all the other receivers we have played against this year. But he made a couple big plays there.” ON HIS INTERCEPTION-“I was back off the line a little bit and I saw the running back come out of the back field. It was a bad throw and went off his hand right to me. It was a beautiful thing.” LB Brad ON NEBRASKA GAME-“I think the team understands that it is playoff football. We have to win this game and there is no option. We have to win this game and I don't think it will be a problem to get motivated.” ON MEMORABLE MOMENTS-“I would say the most memorable moment was beating Ralphie out of the tunnel today. I think they need to work on Ralphie's speed a little bit. I jumped out on her early and beat her down the field. “ WR Scotty McKnight ON TEAM EFFORT?“We played a good game. But you don't want to come out on the losing side. With a group like this, we all play for each other. We are all competitors and we really wanted to get this one. Obviously it was going to hurt tonight and tomorrow when we watch it on game film. But we have to wipe the slate clean.” QB Cody Hawkins ON PLAYING THE WHOLE GAME-“I knew I was going to play a majority of the game. We had some stuff for ON RB DEMETRIUS SUMLER BEING INVOLVED-“I was very excited to see Demetrius do a lot today. Even though you hear so much about “Speedy” (Rodney Stewart) and Darrell Scott since the start of the season, but hands down, Demetrius is the leader of the group. He knows every position in every single situation. I'm just really glad because the guy's one hell of a running back and he can be a great player for us. You could see it today; he can do everything you ask him to.” ON STRUGGLING TO SCORE IN THE RED ZONE-“I think with such a young team you like to have a lot of veterans who can smell blood and just get that killer instinct when you get in the red zone. We're getting close in some areas. We did an awesome job with our offensive line and Demetrius pounding it in there right after the interception that Shaun Mohler had we just keeping keep looking for a bit of momentum. I think we got knocked because of field position. Our defense is doing such a great job of stopping them and their punter did a great job of pinning us deep. We just need to continue to work and focus on making those plays in the red zone. ON UPCOMING BYE WEEK-“I'm really glad we have this bye week coming up. It helps us a lot because we are such a young team. We can really work on getting every little detail right rather than being in some situation where only the veterans know what to do.” ON BEING MORE INVOLVED-“It was a good experience. I had fun out there. Just wish we could have gotten the win. I'm trying to do whatever I can to help the Buffs so that stuff doesn't matter if we win.” ON STRUGGLING TO SCORE IN THE RED ZONE-“I think it comes from being young and inexperienced. It hasn't just happened this game. It's something we're trying to work on. We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot. We have a good offense. We can move the ball, but we kill ourselves in a lot of situations. That's something we have to buckle down on if we want to win in RB Kendall Hunter ON THIRD-QUARTER TOUCHDOWN RUN?“Our offensive line was blocking their butts off, opened up lanes for that run.” ON QB ZAC ROBINSON?“He's a really cool guy. He's funny, jokes around every now and then. I'm sure he was feeling a little pressure being back home but he didn't show any emotion.” ON WR DEZ BRYANT?“What he does doesn't surprise me because he does it all the time in practice.” QB Zac Robinson ON OKLAHOMA STATE DEFENSE?“The defense has played great all year with the exception of last week against Texas Tech. We had a lot of confidence in them. They have stopped a lot of great teams.” ON TOUCHDOWN PASS TO WR DEZ BRYANT?“He made an unbelievable play, and took it into the end zone. We were talking on the sideline that that was a Sportscenter Top 10 play.” ON THIRD QUARTER TOUCHDOWN RUN?“It was great to score that and was fitting to do it in the OSU corner of the field.” ON THE NEXT OPPONENT OKLAHOMA?“This was a big win for our team. Obviously, we are unable to win a championship. Now we're focused on getting win number 10. Any time you play Bedlam, especially at home, it will be fun.” ON IF THE WIN SOLIDIFIED HIS DECISION TO GO TO OKLAHOMA STATE?“That was solidified from the first day I stepped on campus.” WR Dez Bryant ON HIS EXPECTATIONS BEFORE THE SEASON?“Before the season, all I envisioned was winning the Big 12 with the team. I'm happy about my personal numbers, but I was just hoping to win a championship with the team.” ON THE NEXT OPPONENT OKLAHOMA?“It'll be wild, crazy, and sold out. We just have to play our hardest and hope to come out with a win. We need to go out and practice as hard as we can, to the best of our abilities.” LB Orie Lemon ON TEAM CHEMISTRY?“We all stayed together as a group this week and we knew where we wanted to be at the end of this game.” ON THE SEASON OUTLOOK?“Our goal was to get 10 wins and to get to 10, we had to get nine first. ON WINNING DESPITE MISTAKES?“It goes in the record books as a win, it doesn't matter how we did it.” LB Patrick Lavine ON THE OFFENSE?“We have a good offense, but tonight they had a little trouble and the defense helped out and made plays.” ON ON WINNING 9 GAMES?“No one said we would be here having nine wins, but we have done it, we are here.”
ON LAST GAME AT FOLSOM FIELD?“We had so many good times here with the fans. It was sad for my teammates and I to come up short. That's how football is and that's how life is. If you play long enough things like that are going to happen. We had so many big wins here, big plays. The fans have been great throughout my entire career and I want to say thank you.”
ON LAST GAME AT FOLSOM-“At the end of the day we wanted to go out there and get a win. But now I'm sitting here and trying to take it all in. It was my last time at Folsom running behind Ralphie.”
ON OKLAHOMA STATE'S OFFENSE?“We played them pretty tough. We made some plays. But they had a couple big runs and throws there that just killed us.”
ON TOUCHDOWN CATCH?“It's definitely the first time I've scored like that [off the tip]. At first I thought it was going to get tipped and fall to the ground but it hung up there and I was able to catch it. I think someone was giving me a little love or maybe it was karma. I wish I could have said we game planned that all week. It worked out and sparked us there a little bit. At times we were doing what we were supposed too, there were times when we weren't. But now we have two weeks to figure that out for the big game against
GENERAL- “We all rallied together as a team before the game, we knew what we had to do to get a ninth win. We got a good result.”
ON PLAYING IN HOME STATE? “It's great obviously to play in front of so many family and friends and to play in a stadium that I grew up watching so many games in. Once it got kicked off, it felt like any other game.”
ON HIS TOUCHDOWN CATCH?“It just happened as a reaction. I felt my jersey being held, and I though Zac was about to be sacked. I stuck my hand out and the ball just stuck.”
ON THE WIN?“It feels great to win as a team. We practice hard and we all know where we want to be.”
ON THE WIN?“We are trying to get to 10, but we couldn't get 10 until we got nine. I mean a win is a win. The past is the past, we move forward.”
