Colorado-Oklahoma State Quotes
vs
Arizona
Nov 1 (Sat)
TBA
Colorado Head Coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders
Opening Statement:
“First and foremost, happy Thanksgiving to all that I didn't get a chance to say that too. Thanksgiving is not just about turkey and dressing and all of that, just about being thankful for what we are, who we are and how we are. We work in session right now. God is not through with any of us, thank God, we on our way. We head in the right direction. Now, let me transition to this team headed in the right direction. That was a phenomenal finish defensively. That's indicative of who we are in how we play the game of football, both coordinators, man, Rob and Pat man, my God, these guys are so darn good. I know you guys question a multitude of things from them, but they're so good, and they've been so consistent through the year. They've exceeded all expectations. We've exceeded all expectations, and I'm really happy where we are. We certainly wanted to take that one extra step last week, and we fell short. But look how we rebounded. Look how we wiped our tears and got back up, got on the horse and yelled, giddy up. And I'm proud of our young man. I think Travis clinched the Heisman with his performance. I think he made a lot of people aware of how ignorant they were, his performance today, three touchdowns, 100 yards, an interception, and two passes broken up. Should have had another pick hit him right in a darn chest. I think Sheduer proved that he should be right beside him. Special teams, great. I think Matta kicked his first field goal in several weeks. As for the opponent. We were not afraid, but just understanding that when a team comes here and you know that they know they're not going to a bowl they're going to come at us hard until you force them not to go hard anymore. And I'm thinking, that's what transpired. I adore that coach. He has some phenomenal words of encouragement after the game. He's a pillar of consistency in the Big 12. I think he's had two losing seasons in his whole career. That's unbelievable. I wish I could just touch the hem of his garment, biblically speaking, but I'm proud of where we are and what we’ve accomplished. I'm not wanting to go home and watch TV and wish somebody loses so we could go to the bowl game.”
On the seniors
“They're the ones who changed the game for us. They're the ones that impacted this wonderful learning institution. They're the ones that are responsible for the recruits that you're seeing commit. They're the ones that are responsible for the way that game was played, the way it panned out. They're the ones who put us on the map. They're the ones who have the multitude of these camera men and women and wonderful reporters in this room right now, and I just told them that to their face. So some of them, like Cam, that's been with me since he was a junior in high school, that stuff is tough, just talking with him here and there. BJ played for me when he was seven and eight years old in Dallas, and I could just keep going on and on and on. Shoot, I don't want to think about it too much, because I get emotional. But I don't just coach these young men. I love these young men like their family, and I just want to I just want them to soar, not just from the football aspect, but as young men in life. And that was tough just seeing them all around the stage, when I called them up in the locker room right before I came here, that's tough. I didn't really think about it until you know, you watching the last seconds tick off the clock like, dang, this is it. You know how long this journey's been with me and my kids, it's been a lot of ups and downs and in and outs and things you guys don't know about that we've overcome in a lot of adverse situations, a lot of highlights, man, it's been unbelievable to think that's the conclusion of the matter.”
Balancing coaching and fatherhood
“I've always been coaching dad, so I don't know any other way. It's not tough to balance that situation, because I don't know any other way. This is the first time I’ve seen the finish line. Usually, we're distance runners. Only sprinters see the finish line from the start. I'm a distance runner, so I never really see the finish line from the start, and today I saw it. So that's tumultuous, that's tremendous. That's heartfelt. I don't know how they're going to handle it, but Shilo is going to say he’s glad that's the last game with me. I know who he is, but the others, it’s going to be tough.”
On getting the game started quick
“That's what the plan was last week, to jump on them early, to try to make them understand who we are and who they are. It didn't happen that way. We made note of that, and we focused on all of that through the meetings, as well as all through practice sessions and our pre game speech, as well as our day before speech. We made note of all that so that we could have our business early on, because when we score early in the defense, that is hard to deal with.”
On the biggest reward this season
“Peggy is number one, we did what we said we were going to do. Number two is when you win, more of your young men get opportunities to go to the next level. Nobody wants losers. But when you win, everyone looks the part. And we have several young men in the East-West Shrine game. We're probably going to have several more in the Hula Bowl. And our kids are going to play in our bowl game, because that's what we signed up to do. And we're going to finish. We're not going to tap out, because that throws off the structure of next season. It's a couple teams, you take note, they laid an egg in the bowl game and they hadn't recovered. Since we don't plan on doing that. We plan on going out there fighting just like we fought today, regardless of where we are. I wish we had say in the bowl, because I want to go somewhere near that our fan base could get there economically, because I care about them that much. I think we have one of the best fan bases in the country. They showed up and showed out today. They're loud, they're boisterous, they're supportive. And I love them. I absolutely love them, because I’ve seen it go from nothing to something, and I think we had a lot to do with it.”
On Jimmy Horn
“Jimmy is like my kid. I love him that much. We've talked about some personal things through out his couple of seasons. I want to go with him Sunday to see his father as well, but he just turned around and asked me. So that's how that transpired. I said, you don’t have to ask me twice. And just speaking pleasantries along the way. It's unbelievable, I love him that much, and I'm sad that he couldn't physically play, because he's a dog, so when he's hurt, he's hurt because he would have tried everything and given everything to play, and we would have gotten the ball. But he’s tremendous, and I'm proud that I can assist that young man in any endeavor from here on out for the rest of his life.”
On the seniors leading a shutout (first since 2021)
“It means a lot, especially rebounding from getting our butt kicked last week, it means a lot that they understand that they know how to flush stuff in life. They know how to rebound. They know how to just put it behind them and keep on going and look straight ahead. And I'm proud of them for that aspect of things. Rob called a tremendous game. He called a tremendous game last week, but this week, we responded. We did the things that were called, and we executed on a high note, on every aspect of the game. The way they were getting after it, the way we got after it. We kind of changed philosophies of getting to the ball all we can practice. And it worked, and paid off.”
On Travis and the Heisman
“He's the best player in college football. You could find ways to hate, to criticize, to condemn him, and you won't come out of that looking looking professional, because now you're just searching for something. But Travis Hunter proved today, and he's proved every week, that he is the best player in college football. I think he's up for best offensive player and defensive player. I don't waste my time talking about other athletes that are up for the award as well. That's not fair to them for me to voice my my bold opinion on who should win the award and downgrade them. I don’t have to downgrade them. Travis is him. Travis is that dude. Nobody could deal with him on either side of the ball. If we put him at punt return, he would be that dude as well. A kick return as well. He's that guy, and his draft status is going to tell everyone who he is. Shouldn't that tell you who he is? He's probably going to be first or second pick out of the whole draft. That should tell you how dominant and prominent he is.”
On the impact of the team this season
“It's tremendously impactful for recruiting and impactful for you all, for our fan bases as well. I mean, you get more viewership and stories that you report. You get more notoriety in the things that you write and things that you say, speak, things that's recorded. Everybody wins. I think that's the thing I really want to impress on all of you is not just us winning, you winning too. So you want to keep this up, because when you're not, half of this room is empty. Then nobody has jobs, right? But when we went in, everybody’s working, everybody gets to call, everybody gets a job, everybody gets a hit. ‘Hey, go cover Colorado in that truth’. So I think we should work together to keep this thing going instead of hating. I appreciate every last one of y'all. Good or bad.”
On Isaiah Hardge
“This kid is unbelievable. I have a nickname for him, he’ll have to tell you what it is. But this kid works hard every day, makes great grades, never late. You don't have to call him twice for anything. He remembers his assignments, offensively, defensively, as well as special teams. And he doesn’t miss, we’d put a package in for for him to be at running back. I think he got nine or eight yards, two carries. He’s phenomenal, and he's always smiling. He loves the game, and knows the kind of young men we like to recruit. Those are the kind of young men that we adore.”
Colorado Players
Shedeur Sanders, Sr., QB
On playing at Folsom field for the last time:
“It hasn't really registered with me yet, because I don't even want to think about that type of stuff right now, even though this the last year, you know, playing with my brothers Shilo, Trav and Deion Junior. So that hasn't settled in for me personally yet. I don't even want to get in that mental space right now yet. God, just want to enjoy everything great we have going on here.”
On playing after winning the Johnny Unitas Award:
“It was kind of similar. We came in this year putting up similar numbers to that game, we had to leave doing the same thing. I just enjoyed playing in front of the crowd. Somebody texted me, said they drove all the way from I don't know where to come see us play. And that really meant a lot to me, because people spend their hard earned money and their time just to go out there and see us play, and sometimes we just go out there, go through the motions and things like that. So that's something that stuck with me a lot, is the efforts everybody, even in this room, has traveling here, getting this prepared, all just to come watch us play. I'm truly thankful for that, and I wanted to display how thankful I was today.”
On Travis’ closing argument for the Heisman:
“Is no it's no argument at this point. How many touchdowns he had, three receiving touchdowns, interception. He went for another 100 yards. LaJohntay went for 100 yards, almost 200 that's a lot, that's crazy. The consistency that he has. I feel like that's what the award is about. And of course, the other contenders in there have consistency also. But I just hate whenever you got to knock down other players for your guy to win. You know, I don't like that because I respect what Ashton Jeanty’s doing at Boise State, because he's doing an amazing job. And I just hate, you know, talking down, or anything like that on somebody else’s accomplishments. I feel like I wish everybody could win, but that's not what it is. Just getting invited there, that's a win for sure. Because how many players go into this off season doing the same regiment workout everything is just, what difference are you going to make when the lights cut off and Travis proved that week after week, throughout injuries and throughout everything, he's the life of our team.”
On what was said at halftime to bring the energy back:
“This is last home game, we not going to go out like that. Dad sat me down, had to talk. And then from then on, then that, that was just like, Come to Jesus meeting, like, you tripping right now. I'm like, I got you. So that that was kind of reset. It reset for us and then was able to go out and continue to put up points, put up numbers. Their defensive coordinator did an amazing job. Majority of snaps we knew they was in and around that time, that's when they started mixing everything up to where it was a little grayish, you know. They did a great job. I'm just thankful going against those different types of challenges week by week because my favorite thing about playing quarterback is the problem solving. So how are we going to solve this problem? And that's what I'll say I enjoy the most about that is just being in the pocket and just solving the problems.”
On why it’s important to play in the bowl game:
“Well, it's a team thing. That's what boils down to it. (If) me and Travis and a couple other players aren’t out there, the Buffs are not going to look the same initially going into the game. We understand the pieces we are to the team, just the leaders overall, and the amount of players that would sit out, you know, if we weren't out there doing it. We got to lead by example. We can't want them to go out there and play hard and we're just sitting back chilling. So that's something that Dad talked to us about, and I was like, okay, it doesn't really make a difference to me, because I always play almost every game of the season that I can.”
On how the end feels this year compared to last:
“We still didn’t finish it the right way. But it’s too late to come back.”
On if he feels accomplished leaving CU:
“Yeah, for sure, I'll never go back and change anything in my life that I could have done because it wouldn't make me the man who I am today. I know the efforts, the mental toughness, everything that it takes to come here and put on that jersey, to come and have the last name to even represent this university, and it's extremely tough. So the fact we're able to get through all that type of stuff and all these different blocks in our way, who was able to overcome a lot of adversity we have, and a lot of those guys that are injured, I feel bad, for especially Omarion Miller, because I wanted to at least play one more season with him, because I know what type of player he is. I know I know how to bring that guy out of him, you know. So that's the toughest thing. But I feel like we did everything we can this year.”
On it being the end of his football journey with his dad:
“It's kind of deja vu, like I had this whole thing going on in high school, that's what it was. I had the same thing going on in high school, and then, I was, okay with it. I was okay with it. And then he ended up coming to Jackson, all that, then the rest is history after that. But yeah, I'll say the cycle of life is the same year after year. If you're doing the same thing, it's just at different measures, at different levels, that it is. Four years ago, I had the same feeling I'm having right now, and here's what it is. I already knew at the end of the day, it's going to come to end. Everything in life that’s good always comes to end. You got to value the people you’re with all the time, because you don't know when the end is near. I valued everything, and I'm thankful for everything that happened.”
On what Travis means to him:
“Yeah, Travis, he's a different person. I learned a lot from him also, and he learned a lot from me. And his life experiences and the things he could have done, and the fact that he sacrificed all that to come and play with us is amazing, and it's something a lot of athletes wouldn't do at that time. Even coming to Colorado initially, when we first got here, you wouldn't see too many high recruits come and do all that, because now it's a risk. It's a high risk. Everything's easy whenever it's not as much of a risk and everything's going but whenever you got to start fresh, start new, that's when the people that believe the most are going to get together and make it happen. It's about vision. Travis had a vision. He's surrounded by the best people that he can be surrounded by to help him achieve his goal and everything he wants to do. So, obviously, it was a great decision for him, and I'm just waiting to see him on stage holding up a Heisman trophy.
On what he’s doing for the recruits:
“Yeah, my main thing is to surround them and give them everything that I wish I could've had. It's basically setting them up for success and everything in my power, I personally could, I’m going to do. I’ll donate to the collective for sure. It’s a tax write off. Donate to your collectives. I'll make sure we have a super team next year. Yeah, I'm just happy for the new guys coming in, and that we paved away from and out, they just got to take control. They just got to take over. We're going to make sure everything is good, how they need it to feed off, for sure.”
Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, Sr., CB
On rebounding defensively from last week
“I mean, we lost. We took it on the chin and we just got knocked out and lost. Not to think too much about last week, it was all about the guys that aren’t going to be here anymore. We just wanted to make sure we at least get this shut out. One shot. We've been talking about it all year. LaVonta Bentley was the main guy. He said every week to get a shut out, so we just wanted to make sure we did. That's why in the end, those guys really buckled down and handled their business. I mean, the backup guys that were in there, they show the Brotherhood that we have here and the Brotherhood that's been building.”
On reflecting on his career
“I was there giving thanks, giving thanks to God for putting me in this position. I've been able to thrive when I got a chance to make my dreams a reality. So that was the thing I was thinking about. And I was just spending my last few moments inside my favorite playground on Folsom Field. Nothing like it in the world. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. So I was just taking it in one last time, just to have clarity with the stadium and just respect to all of the fans and all of you guys. I appreciate y'all.”
On getting the game started quick
“It was kind of personal with me, for the team to start fast, for the defense, I feel like, when I play well, we play well. When I don't play as well, we don't play as well. So I feel like last week, I kind of failed the guys by starting out a little slow. So I came out in this game. When the focus is on starting the game fast, it’s big for me to get that first play, and it built from there.”
On the importance of the shut out
“It's easy when it's just a game. You’re just trying to win the game, but it was a lot more on the line today. Everybody understood that. Everybody took the selfish out of them and said, man, we're gonna do it for the seniors. We're gonna come out and get this shut out. I mean, even the guys that came in for the fourth, even the starter guys, we had seniors playing behind us, it was like, let them play. Let them get some burn in the fourth. Let them get the burn the whole fourth. We talked to those guys like, we have to get the shut out. So everybody's on the same page, and it’s just the Brotherhood we’ve got.”
On the legacy that was left
“I'm from Alabama, so I remember the 2009 Alabama team that struck the match for the run that Alabama went on. So coming this year, I always wanted to be the standard. I wanted to come in here and set a standard for us to live for years and years on hand. So for guys like DJ, when they come back next year, they know the standard. We bring guys in here, freshman guys in here, and we have a standard set. When I came here, we didn't have a standard. So that was the biggest thing for me. I wanted to set the standard, man. And guys like DJ, Colton, RJ, and Savion, guys like that can continue to live by our standard.”
On watching film tomorrow
“I'll watch as a fan. Like Coach Prime said, we had our chance to do it, and we didn't handle our business. By God's mercy, if he makes something happen for us and we're able to get there, that will be a blessing. We'll be ready to play well. We just watching as a fan. We handle what you have to do today. So that was the only thing we can do about it. “
On focusing on what could be controlled
“It was the controls you can control. We can't control whoever got to lose for us to win. I don't even know whoever got to lose for us to win. We can't control that, so we just control the controllers.”
Silmon Craig on what will be changing in the next year
“Well, trophies in the trophy case. They got the 2016 and we're gonna have 2025 trophies, 2026, 2027 trophies. That's the standard to win at the end of the day. I know these guys gonna come back next year and have to handle business how they're supposed to. So it's a standard. Everybody bought in, even the backup guys, the young guys that didn't play as much. I talk about Colton Hood a lot, but also Carter Stoutmire. The guys that they're bringing on, they know the standard is to win. So they're gonna go out, they're gonna win a lot of time. They will win a lot of games this year. We've seen that we can commit every day. It's a standard here to win. A lot of people gonna love to see us in the future.”
DJ McKinney, So., CB
On the legacy that was left
“What Cam was saying, to top it off a little bit, they set the tone for us early during the season. We knew what was expected of us, everybody doubted us and everything. But, you have to tune that out. You just put your head down and work. That's why he has that L on his jersey, because he set the tone early. He knows how to do things right. He set the standard. So they definitely left a culture for us to build on, to keep pushing, and make better.”
On focusing on what could be controlled
“It was just an emphasis on finish this whole week. Finish strong, finish for your teammates, for your brothers, for the supporters out there and everything. It was for the seniors, mostly. But God got us, so if it's in our path, if he got it for us, then it'll be done.”
On what it means to be playing for Coach Prime and CU
“I mean a lot honestly. Everybody knows who coach prime is. You know how confident he is, his swearing. You know everything. And then when he just pour into, it just builds you up. I say it's just been a blessing having him as a coach, as a mentor, as another father figure, really.”
Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening Statement:
“Well, that one didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. I don't even have to look at the stat sheet, but we didn't really give ourselves a chance on offense. I don't think we had a first down in the first half, and I was surprised that we couldn't perform better defensively. The numbers won't show up, but we actually played pretty good. The standpoint that we gave them, we turned the ball over twice at the 20 yard line or inside the 20. We gave him a couple touchdowns. They capitalized on it, and then we held them a number of times. We must have sacked him four or five times in the first half, but we never could manufacture anything offensively. We just kept putting them back out on the field and we just didn't have a very good plan on offense, and we couldn't make adjustments. It made for a difficult day. But I give them credit. They made the plays, they coached better than we did. I told the team that it's been a tough couple months for those guys, but they have continued to work and practice. They practiced well this week. We just didn't get the results. We got to do a better job of coaching and try to get some better results from our players. I also told them, I'm excited about the off season, and I'm excited about getting out there. I never liked the season to end in football, it's the one fun time of the year for us as coaches, and now we got to go on a pretty good stretch where we don't get to play a game for a while. Even though we've had a tough couple months, it's hard to let it go, because now we're back to off season, but it's important for the guys that are coming back to have that taste in their mouth. Days like today are extremely difficult to swallow. They haven't had many of them. In fact, I don't know that I've ever had one, but I challenged them. I did tell them that I was proud of them for staying with us for the last couple months, and I respected them for the way they continue to practice very enthusiastically. We just didn't get results today. We got to do a much better job of coaching than what we did today.”
On what was missing from the offense
“It was so bad it would be hard to point something out. You're being kind to us. We never could generate any momentum, one, as you watched us a number of times. Our offense, most offenses, are built about some momentum getting going. We never could get it to generate anything. We had a number of passes that were competitive. We didn't come up with them, and we had missed a throw or two. I don't really feel like we run block very well, but the big picture is I just don't think we had a good plan. I don't think our plan was very good, and for that reason, we never could get the ball rolling, and it just became a very difficult day.”
On this being the first season in 30 years without a conference win
“It's been a tough couple months on these guys. These guys that follow us know that as coaches, we can bury our head in our work, and we can grind, go to work early, go home late. For these guys, it's been tough, but to pick up and improve is not an issue really. We'll have a signing class of players that come in. We've got 27 guys that are leaving, and then we'll have what is going to be customary in the future, probably 25 or 30 total guys will be coming in and then go back to work in the off season and evaluate. We evaluate everything. We've won a lot of football games in 20 years at our place and so, for that reason, we know how to get it done.”
On process to prepare for upcoming season
“It's a different challenge, but we won't change. Two things are different. One is, you'll have a lot of in and a lot out with the portal and all the stuff going on, so that's a little different. It's been two years now that we're kind of going through that. As far as what we'll do in the off season to build for spring ball and then build for the summer and then for next September, will be very similar.”
On Travis Hunter
“Special. We challenged him too much. We threw at him six or eight times, 10 times. There's not really any reason to challenge him at times. Going in, I said this on Monday, he plays about 135 plays a game, on both sides of the ball, and he's a special player. You don't see guys like that come along very often.”
On what has been fun about the season
“I love to coach football. I love the X's and O's. Obviously I didn't do a very good job this year. I thought that we and/or I have done a good job this week, getting these guys ready to play just like we did last week. But unfortunately, as coaches, the results of your preparation each week, you see on Saturday. This happened to be on Friday, so we didn't do a good job, meaning we, me. That side of life, the challenge and what it takes to continue on or to fight back, I enjoy those kind of situations. I hate that it ends, because I'd like to be able to regroup and practice well and play a game next week and play better, but we don't get that opportunity. We only get so many.”
On assessing Kasey Dunn and Bryan Nardo as coordinators
“I've got to go back and look at everything. It's just not fair to be able to say it. There was times that I thought we had good game plans, and then there's times that I didn't think our game plans are very good. I didn't think our offensive game plan today was very good. I thought the defensive game plan was good. They just spent the entire day on the field, and eventually, if you're out there the entire game, then you have to minimize the total number of snaps that they're going to get when you keep putting them out there. They were 7-0 when they had more than 63 snaps in a game. Unfortunately, we gave them too many snaps today, and then you put them out there that much, it makes it difficult.”
On second quarter defense being plan for entire game
“We did the exact thing that you shouldn't do: play on the road and drop them in a position to capitalize on 20 yard drives to get a touchdown. Then, we had them in third and 25 and we get a holding call and give them a first down, or we're going to get the ball back there. I thought that some of the pressures that we had in for this game and some of the four man rush got to them today. I thought it was good, but what you're saying is correct. We won't know, because we never put them in a position to see if we could have success, because we kept throwing them out there in bad situations. As a play caller on the offensive side of the ball, when you can call plays and not be scared of what could happen because you're in a very cush situation, then most guys just start dialing it up, and then you end up being very good, because what you're dialing up is not what your tendencies have been in a normal game situation, and that's where things start to snowball and that's what happened to us today. Honestly, coming out at halftime, I felt good because I said, 'Guys, we gave them two touchdowns. Now they still scored. They capitalized on it, but we put them in good situation. And then, from that point on, and we held in one touchdown.' And then I said, 'Guys, all we got to do is get a couple stops, get something going on offense, and we get it to a one score game, and then play calling doesn't become as easy for them, and it could play in our favor,' but we never got that accomplished.”
On why the offense wasn’t as effective this season compared to last:
“We got sporadic quarterback play. And I'm not just blaming Bowman, but you guys watch all of our games, right? There's two or three games, he was fantastic. There's two or three games he was very average at best. And so in my opinion, high school, college or the NFL, and maybe even lower in high school, if you get sporadic quarterback play, it means for a very average season. If you get really good quarterback play, you have a good season. If you get great quarterback play, usually have a great season. Unfortunately, that just comes with the job. And then we didn't tie everything else into it. And then there were times we couldn't put it all together. You hear coaches talk about we need to play a game where offense, defense and special teams puts it all together, but we were up and down in all three phases all year long, so we could never pull that slot machine and get all three of them to hit at the same time. Couple times, maybe Tulsa, but either way, and I know that I'm just telling you the truth. That's what happened. We couldn't get all three of them to connect very often. Offensively, we played pretty good last week, but defensively, we couldn’t slow them down.”
On if inconsistency makes it difficult to evaluate each of the phases:
“Not really, because I've done this so long. I can tell by looking at the last 12 games, after the game, I told you guys this, we didn't do a good job coaching on this side of the ball. This side of the ball we did do a good job coaching. We didn't play hard on this side of the ball or this side we did. So I'm usually pretty good with the naked eye, so for me, no, but what I was saying earlier is we couldn't hit all three on the slot machine. If we'd hit it on offense today, we could have evaluated the defense better, but how do you evaluate them when they're out there the whole time and they're chasing that guy around the field the whole time, they eventually get tired, and so that's just the truth. That's just the way it is.”
On changes for the program next year:
“Well, there'll be about 30 [that] should go out and about 30 come in. We talked about that. By the time the portal takes place, then there'll be a transition on whoever goes out, and then whoever replaces them, we have to get back to work, not only developing our bodies and strength and speed, but we have to get back to work and teaching concepts and football again to get us, to put us in a position to have a really good spring. Then find out who we are in the spring, because we're going to have probably 30 new players, and then try to get to who we are quicker in August than what we have the last couple years. Now, this year was different. We had so many returning guys on offense, but in my opinion, in the new age of college football, the challenge is, once you get your new guys determining who you are by the end of spring ball, because that gives us the best chance to move forward in August, to get prepared for the first game in next September. And that's one area that we'll need to make an adjustment, because we haven't had to do that in the past. We knew who our guys were coming back, and then a couple years ago, we went through the spring, went through half August, just trying to find out who we actually are going to put on the field. I think we're going to try to avoid that now.”
On the shifting dynamics of new age college football:
“Well, the parity is created because of free agency, which is the portal. But this is something I've shared for three years, that we're going to have tremendous parity across the board, really, across college football, and that has become true now with what's happening. So that's great for viewership, that's great for television revenue, and that's great for the fans and terrible for coaches. But it's going to be that way forever, because you have free agency, where you've seen teams that might have had a eight or nine or 10 win season, and then the portal hit them, and next year, they win three or four, or you've seen the other teams that had a two or three or four win season, and then they hit on the portal, and then they win eight or nine games, or seven games, or whatever. In my opinion, you'll see more of that each year.”
On when he starts thinking about next year:
“Well, you know me well enough, I've already done it. I'm talking to you, but my brain's already working at the back side over here, my front side working for y'all that my back side is already working on next year.”
On the first thing he’ll do for this offseason:
“I just wish that I knew who was going to be on my team after the portal, because that would help me a little bit. But I'm not going to know that till what December 11 or 12th ish, something like that, [NIL] opens the ninth, I think so, by the 15th, in most cases, you're probably going to know who's out, and then what you've got coming in, then you can really go to work. So I'll be real honest with you. I've been real honest with you guys this year, you should be very appreciative of that. Most coaches that have had a year like this wouldn't be honest with you, but I need to evaluate what I've done and what I could have done better, and what role that I played this season, to see where it starts with me and then it obviously trickles down. Then it goes to coaches and players, administrative guys, and so on and so forth. So that's what I'll do.”
On how he compares OSU to CU in this new portal/NIL era:
“So, we have a plan for what we think is best for Oklahoma State. And I've said this, what is best for Oklahoma State might not be the same in Boulder or Lincoln or Gainesville or wherever. Okay, the one thing that will be consistent moving forward is it's going to take a lot of money to win in college football. That's not going to change. In my opinion, I've been wrong so you might not take that to the bank. I was wrong today, but it's going to take a lot of money to win in college football from what I see and what I'm hearing. Behind the scenes with what's going on right now.”
Oklahoma State Players
Brennan Presley, Sr., WR
On anything missing from the OSU offense:
“We had a tough time. My fumble doesn’t help. We set up the defense, just didn't help them out in my short field. You saw in the second quarter, they [the defense] shut them out. We just didn't give our defense a lot of great opportunities to stay in the game. That's on us.”
On emotions on season ending and end of college career:
“Gratitude. Thank you for everything. As bad as the year went, still thankful for that. Got to put on pads with a bunch of the guys I came in with. I think there's five of us left of my freshman class. So just really grateful that I got to spend these years and this time with the guys.”
On lack of success this season:
“That'd be a question for like Gundy [Head Coach Mike Gundy]. We just get out there and we just play, just do what we do. So that’d be a question for coach.”
On how tough the loss is:
“Every loss is tough. Whether you lose by one or whether you lose by 52. It always hurts the same, even though it doesn't look like it. It really does hurt. But I know they're [OSU players and coaches] gonna do what they need to do in the off season and get back for next year. I'm not worried about them. I know they're gonna they're gonna right the ship.”
On what he enjoyed most about this season:
“Playing with my guys, honestly. Because they don't play, or they don't do what they want, they then red shirt after four games, and then they leave their team. This team would never do that. Everybody on the team, no matter how bad the record was, or how bad the score was, wanted to play for each other. You want to get out there. We're down 38-0, and we're still there playing for each other. Because it doesn't matter at that point. We know the work that we put in that you guys don't see in the in the fall, in the winter, in the summer. All the hidden work that we do. That can't be taken for granted. You do all that work to play in the game. Why come out here and not try to give your all?”
On if the off-season work is fun:
“No, most of the time it sucks honestly. If it's a summer night you want to go get some ice cream with your friends, chill, hang out the house. You don't want to be in the indoor field catching 300 balls and running a ton of routes. But you know you have workouts in the morning and then you get to some workouts and you're sore. So there's a bunch of stuff that it'd be really cool if I could do, but if you sit on your butt and hang out with your friends you won't be prepared for the season. It doesn't feel good in the moment, but it feels good when you do get out here and you're able to make those plays. Or it's the stuff that you practice on, you're like, Oh, crap. Like, I worked at this. So, you know, I know I can do this. It gives you that confidence to go out there and play hard.”
On how he wants to be remembered:
“That I played my hardest. I personally have no regrets about anything because you can't control anyone else on a team. I wish they could. If someone could control the result of the game before it happens, I wish they talked to me before the game. You can't control the result. I did everything that I could to help the team out. I played hard. All ll I can control.”
On how Ollie Gordon II will be remembered:
“As one of the greatest backs to go through [OSU]. He didn't necessarily have the greatest season or the season he wanted to this year. But I think individually, you can look at all of us and say “Well none of us we had the season that we wanted to.” As a team collectively we didn't have the season that we wanted to. But as bad as it looks right now I think we'll look back at this and be thankful for it. Because this is a lot of adversity and a lot of tough times. Coach [Mike] Gundy says that adversity is when you find out who you are. So all that we're going through right now, it's gonna teach us a lot.”
On if he proved he can compete at the next level:
“I feel like I proved that, but at the end of the day I can't draft myself. It's not something that I can like vouch for. At the end of the day they're gonna look at the tape, look at the measurables and it's their decision. That's why I say I have no regrets. Because I know I did everything possible to give myself a shot of playing at the next level. That's all I can live with in today.”
On playing against Travis Hunter:
“He's amazing. He’s really, really smart. He is as advertised at the end of the day. He is one of the best players in the country.”
Korie Black, Sr., CB
On how much changes defensively
“We try to keep it the same for the most part, but the offense didn't start as fast as we planned and wanted them to, which is part of football. Things happen like that. We just tried our best to try to stop them, to keep them out of the end zone when they were already getting closer to it.”
On watching David Kabongo grow as a player
“It's been fun to watch him grow up and how he is as a person. He works hard every day, practice, workouts, anywhere. He's worked hard, gives 100%. It's no surprise that he played like that.”
On Brennan Presley as a player in the NFL
“He does everything well. He's always open. Even if he's not open, he still would make a great catch. He's definitely a player, for sure.”
On Bryan Nardo putting defense in a good position
“For the most part, yes. I feel like we always talk about just how there's no perfect call, just being able to make the plays right.”
On if this loss is tough
“It's not tough at all. It happens and you just got to keep faith with God. I feel like, that's where I've kind of grown and it has been real eye opening this season.”
On one thing he will take away from today and the season
“Just how you respond. We could have. As bad as it looked, we could have stopped playing as hard as we wanted to, but we kept playing hard. So just how you react and how you respond back to things like that, adversity.”
On if he had looked forward to playing against Travis Hunter
“Seeing them at the end of the schedule when the schedule came out before the season even started, we just knew who was there. So him and the quarterback are both great players so it's real fun being able to go against guys like that.”
On if playing against Hunter lived up to expectations
“For the most part. He's a great player and I hope he wins Heisman. He's a good player.”
On emotions after the game
“I'm not really an emotional person. I keep my emotions under control for the most part. It will probably take a while for me to really process, but I doubt that. I'm fine.”
On how he wants to be remembered at OSU
“Just how we responded back to adversity and just always kept playing hard throughout the whole season, because it's been a rough two months for us, but just how we how we played hard.”
On if next year’s team can correct the errors
“I'm sure they can. But it happens like that with younger guys and new people.”
Jake Springfield, Sr., OL
On this seasons result:
“We would prepare each week, try to turn into the game plan. But just sometimes things just wouldn’t go your way. I'm proud of everyone for fighting especially because we didn’t get the results we wanted. Neither the win or the offensive goals that we've set out. But no one backed down. Everyone kept showing up the next day. Wanted to get better. I feel like it's something that the younger people on this team are going to embrace, and then it'll help us in the future.”
On offensive game plan and the result today:
“We practiced for a week. I had belief in the game plan like I have the past these past few weeks. The coaches try to put us into the position to win. It just comes down to an execution standpoint. Sometimes I didn't execute the way I needed to or we would be taking turns of not being being able to execute. But we've all liked the game plan. I feel like the coaches are putting us in the best position to win. We just got to execute better.”
On if Brennan Presley belongs in the NFL:
“Definitely. His work ethic and how he prepares and handles himself is like professional. In the way he handles himself around the facility, it's like a professional. I feel like an NFL team could use someone like him on their team. What he brings to the table, his leadership and his motivation. I'll see him like putting in extra work, watching extra film, and it makes me want to go put in the extra work. He definitely has all the assets to play at the next level.”
On defensive line success this and previous games:
“I noticed the defensive line started playing better over the past few months. We all have since that bye week. Going against those guys in practice, it's always been high energy. It's been fun to go against them [the defensive line] this past year. We go against them, to compete against them all the time, but I love every single one of those guys. I'm going to have good memories of going against them in practice. The times they got me, the times I got them. Everyone's just kind of raised the level these past two months. It obviously showed today. I was happy and excited to see everyone go out on the field and do their job and get the results they were given.”
On Iman Oates playing improvement:
“He's had a lot of high energy. He's playing confident. You can see it in practice, he's definitely playing more confident, playing loose. Just playing free. Plays with a lot of energy. It's always fun going against him, in team or in past rush. He's a good player and I'm excited to see what he has.”
Opening Statement:
“First and foremost, happy Thanksgiving to all that I didn't get a chance to say that too. Thanksgiving is not just about turkey and dressing and all of that, just about being thankful for what we are, who we are and how we are. We work in session right now. God is not through with any of us, thank God, we on our way. We head in the right direction. Now, let me transition to this team headed in the right direction. That was a phenomenal finish defensively. That's indicative of who we are in how we play the game of football, both coordinators, man, Rob and Pat man, my God, these guys are so darn good. I know you guys question a multitude of things from them, but they're so good, and they've been so consistent through the year. They've exceeded all expectations. We've exceeded all expectations, and I'm really happy where we are. We certainly wanted to take that one extra step last week, and we fell short. But look how we rebounded. Look how we wiped our tears and got back up, got on the horse and yelled, giddy up. And I'm proud of our young man. I think Travis clinched the Heisman with his performance. I think he made a lot of people aware of how ignorant they were, his performance today, three touchdowns, 100 yards, an interception, and two passes broken up. Should have had another pick hit him right in a darn chest. I think Sheduer proved that he should be right beside him. Special teams, great. I think Matta kicked his first field goal in several weeks. As for the opponent. We were not afraid, but just understanding that when a team comes here and you know that they know they're not going to a bowl they're going to come at us hard until you force them not to go hard anymore. And I'm thinking, that's what transpired. I adore that coach. He has some phenomenal words of encouragement after the game. He's a pillar of consistency in the Big 12. I think he's had two losing seasons in his whole career. That's unbelievable. I wish I could just touch the hem of his garment, biblically speaking, but I'm proud of where we are and what we’ve accomplished. I'm not wanting to go home and watch TV and wish somebody loses so we could go to the bowl game.”
On the seniors
“They're the ones who changed the game for us. They're the ones that impacted this wonderful learning institution. They're the ones that are responsible for the recruits that you're seeing commit. They're the ones that are responsible for the way that game was played, the way it panned out. They're the ones who put us on the map. They're the ones who have the multitude of these camera men and women and wonderful reporters in this room right now, and I just told them that to their face. So some of them, like Cam, that's been with me since he was a junior in high school, that stuff is tough, just talking with him here and there. BJ played for me when he was seven and eight years old in Dallas, and I could just keep going on and on and on. Shoot, I don't want to think about it too much, because I get emotional. But I don't just coach these young men. I love these young men like their family, and I just want to I just want them to soar, not just from the football aspect, but as young men in life. And that was tough just seeing them all around the stage, when I called them up in the locker room right before I came here, that's tough. I didn't really think about it until you know, you watching the last seconds tick off the clock like, dang, this is it. You know how long this journey's been with me and my kids, it's been a lot of ups and downs and in and outs and things you guys don't know about that we've overcome in a lot of adverse situations, a lot of highlights, man, it's been unbelievable to think that's the conclusion of the matter.”
Balancing coaching and fatherhood
“I've always been coaching dad, so I don't know any other way. It's not tough to balance that situation, because I don't know any other way. This is the first time I’ve seen the finish line. Usually, we're distance runners. Only sprinters see the finish line from the start. I'm a distance runner, so I never really see the finish line from the start, and today I saw it. So that's tumultuous, that's tremendous. That's heartfelt. I don't know how they're going to handle it, but Shilo is going to say he’s glad that's the last game with me. I know who he is, but the others, it’s going to be tough.”
On getting the game started quick
“That's what the plan was last week, to jump on them early, to try to make them understand who we are and who they are. It didn't happen that way. We made note of that, and we focused on all of that through the meetings, as well as all through practice sessions and our pre game speech, as well as our day before speech. We made note of all that so that we could have our business early on, because when we score early in the defense, that is hard to deal with.”
On the biggest reward this season
“Peggy is number one, we did what we said we were going to do. Number two is when you win, more of your young men get opportunities to go to the next level. Nobody wants losers. But when you win, everyone looks the part. And we have several young men in the East-West Shrine game. We're probably going to have several more in the Hula Bowl. And our kids are going to play in our bowl game, because that's what we signed up to do. And we're going to finish. We're not going to tap out, because that throws off the structure of next season. It's a couple teams, you take note, they laid an egg in the bowl game and they hadn't recovered. Since we don't plan on doing that. We plan on going out there fighting just like we fought today, regardless of where we are. I wish we had say in the bowl, because I want to go somewhere near that our fan base could get there economically, because I care about them that much. I think we have one of the best fan bases in the country. They showed up and showed out today. They're loud, they're boisterous, they're supportive. And I love them. I absolutely love them, because I’ve seen it go from nothing to something, and I think we had a lot to do with it.”
On Jimmy Horn
“Jimmy is like my kid. I love him that much. We've talked about some personal things through out his couple of seasons. I want to go with him Sunday to see his father as well, but he just turned around and asked me. So that's how that transpired. I said, you don’t have to ask me twice. And just speaking pleasantries along the way. It's unbelievable, I love him that much, and I'm sad that he couldn't physically play, because he's a dog, so when he's hurt, he's hurt because he would have tried everything and given everything to play, and we would have gotten the ball. But he’s tremendous, and I'm proud that I can assist that young man in any endeavor from here on out for the rest of his life.”
On the seniors leading a shutout (first since 2021)
“It means a lot, especially rebounding from getting our butt kicked last week, it means a lot that they understand that they know how to flush stuff in life. They know how to rebound. They know how to just put it behind them and keep on going and look straight ahead. And I'm proud of them for that aspect of things. Rob called a tremendous game. He called a tremendous game last week, but this week, we responded. We did the things that were called, and we executed on a high note, on every aspect of the game. The way they were getting after it, the way we got after it. We kind of changed philosophies of getting to the ball all we can practice. And it worked, and paid off.”
On Travis and the Heisman
“He's the best player in college football. You could find ways to hate, to criticize, to condemn him, and you won't come out of that looking looking professional, because now you're just searching for something. But Travis Hunter proved today, and he's proved every week, that he is the best player in college football. I think he's up for best offensive player and defensive player. I don't waste my time talking about other athletes that are up for the award as well. That's not fair to them for me to voice my my bold opinion on who should win the award and downgrade them. I don’t have to downgrade them. Travis is him. Travis is that dude. Nobody could deal with him on either side of the ball. If we put him at punt return, he would be that dude as well. A kick return as well. He's that guy, and his draft status is going to tell everyone who he is. Shouldn't that tell you who he is? He's probably going to be first or second pick out of the whole draft. That should tell you how dominant and prominent he is.”
On the impact of the team this season
“It's tremendously impactful for recruiting and impactful for you all, for our fan bases as well. I mean, you get more viewership and stories that you report. You get more notoriety in the things that you write and things that you say, speak, things that's recorded. Everybody wins. I think that's the thing I really want to impress on all of you is not just us winning, you winning too. So you want to keep this up, because when you're not, half of this room is empty. Then nobody has jobs, right? But when we went in, everybody’s working, everybody gets to call, everybody gets a job, everybody gets a hit. ‘Hey, go cover Colorado in that truth’. So I think we should work together to keep this thing going instead of hating. I appreciate every last one of y'all. Good or bad.”
On Isaiah Hardge
“This kid is unbelievable. I have a nickname for him, he’ll have to tell you what it is. But this kid works hard every day, makes great grades, never late. You don't have to call him twice for anything. He remembers his assignments, offensively, defensively, as well as special teams. And he doesn’t miss, we’d put a package in for for him to be at running back. I think he got nine or eight yards, two carries. He’s phenomenal, and he's always smiling. He loves the game, and knows the kind of young men we like to recruit. Those are the kind of young men that we adore.”
Colorado Players
Shedeur Sanders, Sr., QB
On playing at Folsom field for the last time:
“It hasn't really registered with me yet, because I don't even want to think about that type of stuff right now, even though this the last year, you know, playing with my brothers Shilo, Trav and Deion Junior. So that hasn't settled in for me personally yet. I don't even want to get in that mental space right now yet. God, just want to enjoy everything great we have going on here.”
On playing after winning the Johnny Unitas Award:
“It was kind of similar. We came in this year putting up similar numbers to that game, we had to leave doing the same thing. I just enjoyed playing in front of the crowd. Somebody texted me, said they drove all the way from I don't know where to come see us play. And that really meant a lot to me, because people spend their hard earned money and their time just to go out there and see us play, and sometimes we just go out there, go through the motions and things like that. So that's something that stuck with me a lot, is the efforts everybody, even in this room, has traveling here, getting this prepared, all just to come watch us play. I'm truly thankful for that, and I wanted to display how thankful I was today.”
On Travis’ closing argument for the Heisman:
“Is no it's no argument at this point. How many touchdowns he had, three receiving touchdowns, interception. He went for another 100 yards. LaJohntay went for 100 yards, almost 200 that's a lot, that's crazy. The consistency that he has. I feel like that's what the award is about. And of course, the other contenders in there have consistency also. But I just hate whenever you got to knock down other players for your guy to win. You know, I don't like that because I respect what Ashton Jeanty’s doing at Boise State, because he's doing an amazing job. And I just hate, you know, talking down, or anything like that on somebody else’s accomplishments. I feel like I wish everybody could win, but that's not what it is. Just getting invited there, that's a win for sure. Because how many players go into this off season doing the same regiment workout everything is just, what difference are you going to make when the lights cut off and Travis proved that week after week, throughout injuries and throughout everything, he's the life of our team.”
On what was said at halftime to bring the energy back:
“This is last home game, we not going to go out like that. Dad sat me down, had to talk. And then from then on, then that, that was just like, Come to Jesus meeting, like, you tripping right now. I'm like, I got you. So that that was kind of reset. It reset for us and then was able to go out and continue to put up points, put up numbers. Their defensive coordinator did an amazing job. Majority of snaps we knew they was in and around that time, that's when they started mixing everything up to where it was a little grayish, you know. They did a great job. I'm just thankful going against those different types of challenges week by week because my favorite thing about playing quarterback is the problem solving. So how are we going to solve this problem? And that's what I'll say I enjoy the most about that is just being in the pocket and just solving the problems.”
On why it’s important to play in the bowl game:
“Well, it's a team thing. That's what boils down to it. (If) me and Travis and a couple other players aren’t out there, the Buffs are not going to look the same initially going into the game. We understand the pieces we are to the team, just the leaders overall, and the amount of players that would sit out, you know, if we weren't out there doing it. We got to lead by example. We can't want them to go out there and play hard and we're just sitting back chilling. So that's something that Dad talked to us about, and I was like, okay, it doesn't really make a difference to me, because I always play almost every game of the season that I can.”
On how the end feels this year compared to last:
“We still didn’t finish it the right way. But it’s too late to come back.”
On if he feels accomplished leaving CU:
“Yeah, for sure, I'll never go back and change anything in my life that I could have done because it wouldn't make me the man who I am today. I know the efforts, the mental toughness, everything that it takes to come here and put on that jersey, to come and have the last name to even represent this university, and it's extremely tough. So the fact we're able to get through all that type of stuff and all these different blocks in our way, who was able to overcome a lot of adversity we have, and a lot of those guys that are injured, I feel bad, for especially Omarion Miller, because I wanted to at least play one more season with him, because I know what type of player he is. I know I know how to bring that guy out of him, you know. So that's the toughest thing. But I feel like we did everything we can this year.”
On it being the end of his football journey with his dad:
“It's kind of deja vu, like I had this whole thing going on in high school, that's what it was. I had the same thing going on in high school, and then, I was, okay with it. I was okay with it. And then he ended up coming to Jackson, all that, then the rest is history after that. But yeah, I'll say the cycle of life is the same year after year. If you're doing the same thing, it's just at different measures, at different levels, that it is. Four years ago, I had the same feeling I'm having right now, and here's what it is. I already knew at the end of the day, it's going to come to end. Everything in life that’s good always comes to end. You got to value the people you’re with all the time, because you don't know when the end is near. I valued everything, and I'm thankful for everything that happened.”
On what Travis means to him:
“Yeah, Travis, he's a different person. I learned a lot from him also, and he learned a lot from me. And his life experiences and the things he could have done, and the fact that he sacrificed all that to come and play with us is amazing, and it's something a lot of athletes wouldn't do at that time. Even coming to Colorado initially, when we first got here, you wouldn't see too many high recruits come and do all that, because now it's a risk. It's a high risk. Everything's easy whenever it's not as much of a risk and everything's going but whenever you got to start fresh, start new, that's when the people that believe the most are going to get together and make it happen. It's about vision. Travis had a vision. He's surrounded by the best people that he can be surrounded by to help him achieve his goal and everything he wants to do. So, obviously, it was a great decision for him, and I'm just waiting to see him on stage holding up a Heisman trophy.
On what he’s doing for the recruits:
“Yeah, my main thing is to surround them and give them everything that I wish I could've had. It's basically setting them up for success and everything in my power, I personally could, I’m going to do. I’ll donate to the collective for sure. It’s a tax write off. Donate to your collectives. I'll make sure we have a super team next year. Yeah, I'm just happy for the new guys coming in, and that we paved away from and out, they just got to take control. They just got to take over. We're going to make sure everything is good, how they need it to feed off, for sure.”
Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, Sr., CB
On rebounding defensively from last week
“I mean, we lost. We took it on the chin and we just got knocked out and lost. Not to think too much about last week, it was all about the guys that aren’t going to be here anymore. We just wanted to make sure we at least get this shut out. One shot. We've been talking about it all year. LaVonta Bentley was the main guy. He said every week to get a shut out, so we just wanted to make sure we did. That's why in the end, those guys really buckled down and handled their business. I mean, the backup guys that were in there, they show the Brotherhood that we have here and the Brotherhood that's been building.”
On reflecting on his career
“I was there giving thanks, giving thanks to God for putting me in this position. I've been able to thrive when I got a chance to make my dreams a reality. So that was the thing I was thinking about. And I was just spending my last few moments inside my favorite playground on Folsom Field. Nothing like it in the world. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. So I was just taking it in one last time, just to have clarity with the stadium and just respect to all of the fans and all of you guys. I appreciate y'all.”
On getting the game started quick
“It was kind of personal with me, for the team to start fast, for the defense, I feel like, when I play well, we play well. When I don't play as well, we don't play as well. So I feel like last week, I kind of failed the guys by starting out a little slow. So I came out in this game. When the focus is on starting the game fast, it’s big for me to get that first play, and it built from there.”
On the importance of the shut out
“It's easy when it's just a game. You’re just trying to win the game, but it was a lot more on the line today. Everybody understood that. Everybody took the selfish out of them and said, man, we're gonna do it for the seniors. We're gonna come out and get this shut out. I mean, even the guys that came in for the fourth, even the starter guys, we had seniors playing behind us, it was like, let them play. Let them get some burn in the fourth. Let them get the burn the whole fourth. We talked to those guys like, we have to get the shut out. So everybody's on the same page, and it’s just the Brotherhood we’ve got.”
On the legacy that was left
“I'm from Alabama, so I remember the 2009 Alabama team that struck the match for the run that Alabama went on. So coming this year, I always wanted to be the standard. I wanted to come in here and set a standard for us to live for years and years on hand. So for guys like DJ, when they come back next year, they know the standard. We bring guys in here, freshman guys in here, and we have a standard set. When I came here, we didn't have a standard. So that was the biggest thing for me. I wanted to set the standard, man. And guys like DJ, Colton, RJ, and Savion, guys like that can continue to live by our standard.”
On watching film tomorrow
“I'll watch as a fan. Like Coach Prime said, we had our chance to do it, and we didn't handle our business. By God's mercy, if he makes something happen for us and we're able to get there, that will be a blessing. We'll be ready to play well. We just watching as a fan. We handle what you have to do today. So that was the only thing we can do about it. “
On focusing on what could be controlled
“It was the controls you can control. We can't control whoever got to lose for us to win. I don't even know whoever got to lose for us to win. We can't control that, so we just control the controllers.”
Silmon Craig on what will be changing in the next year
“Well, trophies in the trophy case. They got the 2016 and we're gonna have 2025 trophies, 2026, 2027 trophies. That's the standard to win at the end of the day. I know these guys gonna come back next year and have to handle business how they're supposed to. So it's a standard. Everybody bought in, even the backup guys, the young guys that didn't play as much. I talk about Colton Hood a lot, but also Carter Stoutmire. The guys that they're bringing on, they know the standard is to win. So they're gonna go out, they're gonna win a lot of time. They will win a lot of games this year. We've seen that we can commit every day. It's a standard here to win. A lot of people gonna love to see us in the future.”
DJ McKinney, So., CB
On the legacy that was left
“What Cam was saying, to top it off a little bit, they set the tone for us early during the season. We knew what was expected of us, everybody doubted us and everything. But, you have to tune that out. You just put your head down and work. That's why he has that L on his jersey, because he set the tone early. He knows how to do things right. He set the standard. So they definitely left a culture for us to build on, to keep pushing, and make better.”
On focusing on what could be controlled
“It was just an emphasis on finish this whole week. Finish strong, finish for your teammates, for your brothers, for the supporters out there and everything. It was for the seniors, mostly. But God got us, so if it's in our path, if he got it for us, then it'll be done.”
On what it means to be playing for Coach Prime and CU
“I mean a lot honestly. Everybody knows who coach prime is. You know how confident he is, his swearing. You know everything. And then when he just pour into, it just builds you up. I say it's just been a blessing having him as a coach, as a mentor, as another father figure, really.”
Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening Statement:
“Well, that one didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. I don't even have to look at the stat sheet, but we didn't really give ourselves a chance on offense. I don't think we had a first down in the first half, and I was surprised that we couldn't perform better defensively. The numbers won't show up, but we actually played pretty good. The standpoint that we gave them, we turned the ball over twice at the 20 yard line or inside the 20. We gave him a couple touchdowns. They capitalized on it, and then we held them a number of times. We must have sacked him four or five times in the first half, but we never could manufacture anything offensively. We just kept putting them back out on the field and we just didn't have a very good plan on offense, and we couldn't make adjustments. It made for a difficult day. But I give them credit. They made the plays, they coached better than we did. I told the team that it's been a tough couple months for those guys, but they have continued to work and practice. They practiced well this week. We just didn't get the results. We got to do a better job of coaching and try to get some better results from our players. I also told them, I'm excited about the off season, and I'm excited about getting out there. I never liked the season to end in football, it's the one fun time of the year for us as coaches, and now we got to go on a pretty good stretch where we don't get to play a game for a while. Even though we've had a tough couple months, it's hard to let it go, because now we're back to off season, but it's important for the guys that are coming back to have that taste in their mouth. Days like today are extremely difficult to swallow. They haven't had many of them. In fact, I don't know that I've ever had one, but I challenged them. I did tell them that I was proud of them for staying with us for the last couple months, and I respected them for the way they continue to practice very enthusiastically. We just didn't get results today. We got to do a much better job of coaching than what we did today.”
On what was missing from the offense
“It was so bad it would be hard to point something out. You're being kind to us. We never could generate any momentum, one, as you watched us a number of times. Our offense, most offenses, are built about some momentum getting going. We never could get it to generate anything. We had a number of passes that were competitive. We didn't come up with them, and we had missed a throw or two. I don't really feel like we run block very well, but the big picture is I just don't think we had a good plan. I don't think our plan was very good, and for that reason, we never could get the ball rolling, and it just became a very difficult day.”
On this being the first season in 30 years without a conference win
“It's been a tough couple months on these guys. These guys that follow us know that as coaches, we can bury our head in our work, and we can grind, go to work early, go home late. For these guys, it's been tough, but to pick up and improve is not an issue really. We'll have a signing class of players that come in. We've got 27 guys that are leaving, and then we'll have what is going to be customary in the future, probably 25 or 30 total guys will be coming in and then go back to work in the off season and evaluate. We evaluate everything. We've won a lot of football games in 20 years at our place and so, for that reason, we know how to get it done.”
On process to prepare for upcoming season
“It's a different challenge, but we won't change. Two things are different. One is, you'll have a lot of in and a lot out with the portal and all the stuff going on, so that's a little different. It's been two years now that we're kind of going through that. As far as what we'll do in the off season to build for spring ball and then build for the summer and then for next September, will be very similar.”
On Travis Hunter
“Special. We challenged him too much. We threw at him six or eight times, 10 times. There's not really any reason to challenge him at times. Going in, I said this on Monday, he plays about 135 plays a game, on both sides of the ball, and he's a special player. You don't see guys like that come along very often.”
On what has been fun about the season
“I love to coach football. I love the X's and O's. Obviously I didn't do a very good job this year. I thought that we and/or I have done a good job this week, getting these guys ready to play just like we did last week. But unfortunately, as coaches, the results of your preparation each week, you see on Saturday. This happened to be on Friday, so we didn't do a good job, meaning we, me. That side of life, the challenge and what it takes to continue on or to fight back, I enjoy those kind of situations. I hate that it ends, because I'd like to be able to regroup and practice well and play a game next week and play better, but we don't get that opportunity. We only get so many.”
On assessing Kasey Dunn and Bryan Nardo as coordinators
“I've got to go back and look at everything. It's just not fair to be able to say it. There was times that I thought we had good game plans, and then there's times that I didn't think our game plans are very good. I didn't think our offensive game plan today was very good. I thought the defensive game plan was good. They just spent the entire day on the field, and eventually, if you're out there the entire game, then you have to minimize the total number of snaps that they're going to get when you keep putting them out there. They were 7-0 when they had more than 63 snaps in a game. Unfortunately, we gave them too many snaps today, and then you put them out there that much, it makes it difficult.”
On second quarter defense being plan for entire game
“We did the exact thing that you shouldn't do: play on the road and drop them in a position to capitalize on 20 yard drives to get a touchdown. Then, we had them in third and 25 and we get a holding call and give them a first down, or we're going to get the ball back there. I thought that some of the pressures that we had in for this game and some of the four man rush got to them today. I thought it was good, but what you're saying is correct. We won't know, because we never put them in a position to see if we could have success, because we kept throwing them out there in bad situations. As a play caller on the offensive side of the ball, when you can call plays and not be scared of what could happen because you're in a very cush situation, then most guys just start dialing it up, and then you end up being very good, because what you're dialing up is not what your tendencies have been in a normal game situation, and that's where things start to snowball and that's what happened to us today. Honestly, coming out at halftime, I felt good because I said, 'Guys, we gave them two touchdowns. Now they still scored. They capitalized on it, but we put them in good situation. And then, from that point on, and we held in one touchdown.' And then I said, 'Guys, all we got to do is get a couple stops, get something going on offense, and we get it to a one score game, and then play calling doesn't become as easy for them, and it could play in our favor,' but we never got that accomplished.”
On why the offense wasn’t as effective this season compared to last:
“We got sporadic quarterback play. And I'm not just blaming Bowman, but you guys watch all of our games, right? There's two or three games, he was fantastic. There's two or three games he was very average at best. And so in my opinion, high school, college or the NFL, and maybe even lower in high school, if you get sporadic quarterback play, it means for a very average season. If you get really good quarterback play, you have a good season. If you get great quarterback play, usually have a great season. Unfortunately, that just comes with the job. And then we didn't tie everything else into it. And then there were times we couldn't put it all together. You hear coaches talk about we need to play a game where offense, defense and special teams puts it all together, but we were up and down in all three phases all year long, so we could never pull that slot machine and get all three of them to hit at the same time. Couple times, maybe Tulsa, but either way, and I know that I'm just telling you the truth. That's what happened. We couldn't get all three of them to connect very often. Offensively, we played pretty good last week, but defensively, we couldn’t slow them down.”
On if inconsistency makes it difficult to evaluate each of the phases:
“Not really, because I've done this so long. I can tell by looking at the last 12 games, after the game, I told you guys this, we didn't do a good job coaching on this side of the ball. This side of the ball we did do a good job coaching. We didn't play hard on this side of the ball or this side we did. So I'm usually pretty good with the naked eye, so for me, no, but what I was saying earlier is we couldn't hit all three on the slot machine. If we'd hit it on offense today, we could have evaluated the defense better, but how do you evaluate them when they're out there the whole time and they're chasing that guy around the field the whole time, they eventually get tired, and so that's just the truth. That's just the way it is.”
On changes for the program next year:
“Well, there'll be about 30 [that] should go out and about 30 come in. We talked about that. By the time the portal takes place, then there'll be a transition on whoever goes out, and then whoever replaces them, we have to get back to work, not only developing our bodies and strength and speed, but we have to get back to work and teaching concepts and football again to get us, to put us in a position to have a really good spring. Then find out who we are in the spring, because we're going to have probably 30 new players, and then try to get to who we are quicker in August than what we have the last couple years. Now, this year was different. We had so many returning guys on offense, but in my opinion, in the new age of college football, the challenge is, once you get your new guys determining who you are by the end of spring ball, because that gives us the best chance to move forward in August, to get prepared for the first game in next September. And that's one area that we'll need to make an adjustment, because we haven't had to do that in the past. We knew who our guys were coming back, and then a couple years ago, we went through the spring, went through half August, just trying to find out who we actually are going to put on the field. I think we're going to try to avoid that now.”
On the shifting dynamics of new age college football:
“Well, the parity is created because of free agency, which is the portal. But this is something I've shared for three years, that we're going to have tremendous parity across the board, really, across college football, and that has become true now with what's happening. So that's great for viewership, that's great for television revenue, and that's great for the fans and terrible for coaches. But it's going to be that way forever, because you have free agency, where you've seen teams that might have had a eight or nine or 10 win season, and then the portal hit them, and next year, they win three or four, or you've seen the other teams that had a two or three or four win season, and then they hit on the portal, and then they win eight or nine games, or seven games, or whatever. In my opinion, you'll see more of that each year.”
On when he starts thinking about next year:
“Well, you know me well enough, I've already done it. I'm talking to you, but my brain's already working at the back side over here, my front side working for y'all that my back side is already working on next year.”
On the first thing he’ll do for this offseason:
“I just wish that I knew who was going to be on my team after the portal, because that would help me a little bit. But I'm not going to know that till what December 11 or 12th ish, something like that, [NIL] opens the ninth, I think so, by the 15th, in most cases, you're probably going to know who's out, and then what you've got coming in, then you can really go to work. So I'll be real honest with you. I've been real honest with you guys this year, you should be very appreciative of that. Most coaches that have had a year like this wouldn't be honest with you, but I need to evaluate what I've done and what I could have done better, and what role that I played this season, to see where it starts with me and then it obviously trickles down. Then it goes to coaches and players, administrative guys, and so on and so forth. So that's what I'll do.”
On how he compares OSU to CU in this new portal/NIL era:
“So, we have a plan for what we think is best for Oklahoma State. And I've said this, what is best for Oklahoma State might not be the same in Boulder or Lincoln or Gainesville or wherever. Okay, the one thing that will be consistent moving forward is it's going to take a lot of money to win in college football. That's not going to change. In my opinion, I've been wrong so you might not take that to the bank. I was wrong today, but it's going to take a lot of money to win in college football from what I see and what I'm hearing. Behind the scenes with what's going on right now.”
Oklahoma State Players
Brennan Presley, Sr., WR
On anything missing from the OSU offense:
“We had a tough time. My fumble doesn’t help. We set up the defense, just didn't help them out in my short field. You saw in the second quarter, they [the defense] shut them out. We just didn't give our defense a lot of great opportunities to stay in the game. That's on us.”
On emotions on season ending and end of college career:
“Gratitude. Thank you for everything. As bad as the year went, still thankful for that. Got to put on pads with a bunch of the guys I came in with. I think there's five of us left of my freshman class. So just really grateful that I got to spend these years and this time with the guys.”
On lack of success this season:
“That'd be a question for like Gundy [Head Coach Mike Gundy]. We just get out there and we just play, just do what we do. So that’d be a question for coach.”
On how tough the loss is:
“Every loss is tough. Whether you lose by one or whether you lose by 52. It always hurts the same, even though it doesn't look like it. It really does hurt. But I know they're [OSU players and coaches] gonna do what they need to do in the off season and get back for next year. I'm not worried about them. I know they're gonna they're gonna right the ship.”
On what he enjoyed most about this season:
“Playing with my guys, honestly. Because they don't play, or they don't do what they want, they then red shirt after four games, and then they leave their team. This team would never do that. Everybody on the team, no matter how bad the record was, or how bad the score was, wanted to play for each other. You want to get out there. We're down 38-0, and we're still there playing for each other. Because it doesn't matter at that point. We know the work that we put in that you guys don't see in the in the fall, in the winter, in the summer. All the hidden work that we do. That can't be taken for granted. You do all that work to play in the game. Why come out here and not try to give your all?”
On if the off-season work is fun:
“No, most of the time it sucks honestly. If it's a summer night you want to go get some ice cream with your friends, chill, hang out the house. You don't want to be in the indoor field catching 300 balls and running a ton of routes. But you know you have workouts in the morning and then you get to some workouts and you're sore. So there's a bunch of stuff that it'd be really cool if I could do, but if you sit on your butt and hang out with your friends you won't be prepared for the season. It doesn't feel good in the moment, but it feels good when you do get out here and you're able to make those plays. Or it's the stuff that you practice on, you're like, Oh, crap. Like, I worked at this. So, you know, I know I can do this. It gives you that confidence to go out there and play hard.”
On how he wants to be remembered:
“That I played my hardest. I personally have no regrets about anything because you can't control anyone else on a team. I wish they could. If someone could control the result of the game before it happens, I wish they talked to me before the game. You can't control the result. I did everything that I could to help the team out. I played hard. All ll I can control.”
On how Ollie Gordon II will be remembered:
“As one of the greatest backs to go through [OSU]. He didn't necessarily have the greatest season or the season he wanted to this year. But I think individually, you can look at all of us and say “Well none of us we had the season that we wanted to.” As a team collectively we didn't have the season that we wanted to. But as bad as it looks right now I think we'll look back at this and be thankful for it. Because this is a lot of adversity and a lot of tough times. Coach [Mike] Gundy says that adversity is when you find out who you are. So all that we're going through right now, it's gonna teach us a lot.”
On if he proved he can compete at the next level:
“I feel like I proved that, but at the end of the day I can't draft myself. It's not something that I can like vouch for. At the end of the day they're gonna look at the tape, look at the measurables and it's their decision. That's why I say I have no regrets. Because I know I did everything possible to give myself a shot of playing at the next level. That's all I can live with in today.”
On playing against Travis Hunter:
“He's amazing. He’s really, really smart. He is as advertised at the end of the day. He is one of the best players in the country.”
Korie Black, Sr., CB
On how much changes defensively
“We try to keep it the same for the most part, but the offense didn't start as fast as we planned and wanted them to, which is part of football. Things happen like that. We just tried our best to try to stop them, to keep them out of the end zone when they were already getting closer to it.”
On watching David Kabongo grow as a player
“It's been fun to watch him grow up and how he is as a person. He works hard every day, practice, workouts, anywhere. He's worked hard, gives 100%. It's no surprise that he played like that.”
On Brennan Presley as a player in the NFL
“He does everything well. He's always open. Even if he's not open, he still would make a great catch. He's definitely a player, for sure.”
On Bryan Nardo putting defense in a good position
“For the most part, yes. I feel like we always talk about just how there's no perfect call, just being able to make the plays right.”
On if this loss is tough
“It's not tough at all. It happens and you just got to keep faith with God. I feel like, that's where I've kind of grown and it has been real eye opening this season.”
On one thing he will take away from today and the season
“Just how you respond. We could have. As bad as it looked, we could have stopped playing as hard as we wanted to, but we kept playing hard. So just how you react and how you respond back to things like that, adversity.”
On if he had looked forward to playing against Travis Hunter
“Seeing them at the end of the schedule when the schedule came out before the season even started, we just knew who was there. So him and the quarterback are both great players so it's real fun being able to go against guys like that.”
On if playing against Hunter lived up to expectations
“For the most part. He's a great player and I hope he wins Heisman. He's a good player.”
On emotions after the game
“I'm not really an emotional person. I keep my emotions under control for the most part. It will probably take a while for me to really process, but I doubt that. I'm fine.”
On how he wants to be remembered at OSU
“Just how we responded back to adversity and just always kept playing hard throughout the whole season, because it's been a rough two months for us, but just how we how we played hard.”
On if next year’s team can correct the errors
“I'm sure they can. But it happens like that with younger guys and new people.”
Jake Springfield, Sr., OL
On this seasons result:
“We would prepare each week, try to turn into the game plan. But just sometimes things just wouldn’t go your way. I'm proud of everyone for fighting especially because we didn’t get the results we wanted. Neither the win or the offensive goals that we've set out. But no one backed down. Everyone kept showing up the next day. Wanted to get better. I feel like it's something that the younger people on this team are going to embrace, and then it'll help us in the future.”
On offensive game plan and the result today:
“We practiced for a week. I had belief in the game plan like I have the past these past few weeks. The coaches try to put us into the position to win. It just comes down to an execution standpoint. Sometimes I didn't execute the way I needed to or we would be taking turns of not being being able to execute. But we've all liked the game plan. I feel like the coaches are putting us in the best position to win. We just got to execute better.”
On if Brennan Presley belongs in the NFL:
“Definitely. His work ethic and how he prepares and handles himself is like professional. In the way he handles himself around the facility, it's like a professional. I feel like an NFL team could use someone like him on their team. What he brings to the table, his leadership and his motivation. I'll see him like putting in extra work, watching extra film, and it makes me want to go put in the extra work. He definitely has all the assets to play at the next level.”
On defensive line success this and previous games:
“I noticed the defensive line started playing better over the past few months. We all have since that bye week. Going against those guys in practice, it's always been high energy. It's been fun to go against them [the defensive line] this past year. We go against them, to compete against them all the time, but I love every single one of those guys. I'm going to have good memories of going against them in practice. The times they got me, the times I got them. Everyone's just kind of raised the level these past two months. It obviously showed today. I was happy and excited to see everyone go out on the field and do their job and get the results they were given.”
On Iman Oates playing improvement:
“He's had a lot of high energy. He's playing confident. You can see it in practice, he's definitely playing more confident, playing loose. Just playing free. Plays with a lot of energy. It's always fun going against him, in team or in past rush. He's a good player and I'm excited to see what he has.”