Colorado-Baylor Quotes
vs
Wyoming
Sep 20 (Sat)
8:15 p.m.
Postgame Quotes
Baylor vs. Colorado, Sept. 21, 2024, Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.
Colorado Head Coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders
Opening Statement:
“Great, great, great, great win. Young men were resilient. They never gave up. They never surrendered. The coaches were still inspired. I mean, all the way to the end, they were still calling and devising things. And once we scored, we were already thinking, Okay, we want to defer if we win, because we want to put our defense out first, but they won to toss, and it went from there. I don't like how it played out, but I love the results. I think we're so much better than what we're showing you at times. We keep showing you glimpses of a running game. We show you we can throw the ball all around, and then we just stall for a series of two and surrender something foolishly, but I'm pleased, and thank you. I'm thankful. One step closer to getting Miss Peggy to a Bowl game. So I'm really proud of that. I want to apologize to the opposition the way we stormed the field, and I didn't get an opportunity to go and shake the head coach's hand, but I did try to go over to the locker room and wait it out until he came out, but I don't think they got the word to him. Because that's not professional. I wanted to shake his hand and acknowledge but I don't like what transpired at the end of the game, but I love what transpired at the end of the game. We have a fan base that's phenomenal. We have some young kids on this campus that love and breathes CU football, and I'm thankful. I mean, I walk campus every day, and they give us so much love and respect and honor.”
On how much credit should be given to the defense for the victory:
“We didn't play up to our capabilities or our ability whatsoever. We blew some things. They went empty. The quarterback draws. I think we saw that in practice a couple times this week, and we knew that was coming. We thought we were prepared for that. They ran that play several times, as well as in overtime. So we got to do a better job of that. But overall they were resilient.”
On how much satisfaction there is seeing Shedeur, Travis, and JohnTay making big plays:
“It's not just those guys. It's some of the smaller things you don't see. The O-line always gets ridicule. But we scored on a run. We scored on a darn run. I think it was two back to back runs that we did it. And you got your quarterback pushing the guy to get in the end zone, and he pops through there, and it's a touchdown. So no matter what transpires, I just love that these guys could just flush it and move on to the next play. That's something we're trying to teach, it's something we're educating them on, and it's something I'm proud of.”
On what special teams needs to fix moving forward:
“Well, number one, we got to do a better job of covering. I think both of our guys were running a twist there, and I think both of our guys might have got knocked off. We got to do a better job, and we have so much personnel that's able and capable of doing that. Sometimes guys don't take special teams serious. At halftime I told them, why do you think they call it special teams, you're supposed to be special when you run down there and do it. We got to get the ball in the end zone kicking off. We got to do that. We can't even give them an opportunity to return it. You rarely see Jimmy Horn Jr return the kickoff, right? Because they're kicking the ball out of the darn stadium. So we got to find a way to do the same.”
On Shedeur’s hail mary pass:
“First of all, I seen them load us up to our right side. I'm like okay that was really smart, because now [Shedeur] is going to have to boot to his off throwing hand. You don't want a right hand quarterback rolling to his left. So that was very smart on every half. But as I looked the whole [opposing] team was over there on Travis. And you got LaJohntay [Wester] in a one-on-one. How is there one-on-one in that situation? We should have had that first one back a couple of plays. We should have had that one, but we caught the one that we needed to catch. LaJohntay needed it as well. It was a great confidence booster for him. it was tremendous. It kind of threw us back to last year a little bit, didn't it? That's the way stuff was started last year. It was a tough one. I'm excited that we got it because this press conference could be totally different right now, but I'm excited that we won.”
On Sheduer and Pat Shurmur collaboration:
“The main thing, coach listens. Shedeur’s out there. So when we're saying, get rid of the ball, we don't know if somebody ran the wrong route. We don't know if he was expecting something else and it's supposed to be a chip on that end. So they're trying to fix it on the fly and do some things. We're listening to the receivers. We're listening to Brett Bartolone upstairs, telling us what they're doing so we could be more than able.”
Coach on Where the Game Stands in Comparison
“I don't rank games. I don't. I just love the w's. Man, I love the w's. I really do. By any means necessary, I really do.”
Coach on Omarion Miller and his tendencies to make plays
“Well, he's hungry. He wants it. I mean, he's sitting over there on the sideline. He don't want to be over there. When he gets in, he's ready. He's ready to go. And Shedeur has a tremendous expectation of him. Sometimes he would say who he wants on certain plays and certain routes. And Omarion just came in there and did his thing, man, I'm proud of him, that he wasn't over there sleeping. So when his number was called, he was ready to respond. I'm very proud of that young man.”
Coach on Shedeur’s 1000th completion; watching his growth
“He’s matured tremendously. Not just as a freshman but from a baby to where he is now, but at this level I expect, you know, when these two guys are on the field together, as long as with the rest of the guys, I expect them to do something spectacular because they do it in practice. They practice with purpose. I mean, when they play and they prepare with purpose, I have a tremendous expectation for them. You know, I'm more tough on these guys than I am on anybody, because I expect great things from them.”
Coach on fostering strong relationships with players; closing statement
“We don't only want to coach them. We want to grow them and to mature them and love them and chastise them at the same time. We don't just want to pick them up and push them in the swing set, you know. We want to make sure we sit down and tell them what they need to know at that persistent time. We love these young men in a multitude of ways, and some of these young men have never heard those words from a man, so it's vital that they not only hear it, but we show it. And you know, he knows the way I feel about him and the rest of these young men on the team, and we're developing a tremendous relationship that goes much farther than just football. Isaiah Bolden is here, who played for us and is with the Patriots now, but just just seeing his joy when we first saw one another, and I said, boy, if you'd have been here, you probably would have been a second round or third round. Phenomenal. Just seeing them and embracing them and them coming up to support us and watching our guys that they played together with, it was phenomenal. So we love them, not just through them playing for us, but forever and always. I appreciate you all. Thank you very much. This has been wonderful. We're sorry to keep you up so late and keep you on the edge of your seats, but God be the glory. We got the victory. We got the victory. We got the victory. And thank God we got the victory. God bless you all.”
Colorado Players
Shedeur Sanders, Sr., QB
You had two seconds on the clock, what did you see on that play?
“Definitely we knew. I told the running back, I said look. Do this with everything you got bro. Seriously I said come on bro, do everything you got to do. I knew I was getting a lot of pressure so I was like okay cool were about to roll right here. So let's go ahead and roll. We put Travis backside so he's gonna get all the attention. Then LaJohntay just gonna be there outside one on one. They are not gonna think we're gonna throw him the ball because he's like a shorter guy in that situation. So then I rolled left, everyone went in the middle of the endzone and I just trusted god. I just threw it up to god and god answered the prayer for sure.”
What are your emotions after a game like this?
“Just a relief honestly. Because I know personally I didn’t play anywhere close to my best game at all. I know offensively, we didn't play anywhere close to the best game we could have had at all. We were talking the whole game like something was going to happen. When Omarion got in and made that play, we needed somebody you know. We needed somebody to make a play and do something special. So that was the message during the game because offensively we just weren't clicking. I was missing reads. You gotta understand I can't have a game like that again.”
What’s your perspective on the final play that Travis made?
“I know exactly what y’all were seeing. I said the same thing. I was like okay, we've been here before. We got experience at home you know. I said early in the day, let's win and let's do it fast so we ain't gotta go to overtime. Just so happens we went to overtime. But that's the truth I really did say that earlier. But yeah it was just Travis he told me before he went on the field he said i'm gonna get a pick here. And I said make sure bro, make sure y’all do everything y’all can. Then he made a play which was amazing. So a couple weeks ago you said when was Travis’ best game? Travis has a lot of great stuff in him. It's just in those key moments and those key situations when he brings it out.”
Knowing that you guys can do better, what does this win mean for you guys going forward?
“Well it makes us take a deep dive in reality knowing that we can’t afford to do that type of stuff again. You know we are definitely getting punished. We getting punished tomorrow for all the mistakes I would say. For all of the penalties. Just for missed throws, reads, everything.”
You took a lot of hits tonight, how are you feeling physically?
“When it comes to Saturdays I just don't care. I will do whatever it takes to win. I know on that drive I felt that I was getting in that mode. I really felt that. Just really getting into a different mindset of like, whatever it takes I don't care. Quarterback sneaks, quarterbacks don't like those. But I don't care right now. Because we gotta do whatever it takes to win and that's why I'm walking down to the goal line and back. Whatever it takes to win. We trusted the other guys. Micah had his touchdown which I'm excited for. There's just a whole lot of trust going on. He was like hey, give me it bro I got you. I was like alright, I'll give it to you. He did what he was supposed to do. So overall, we're just really excited. Real thankful about this game and thankful for how we came out of the game. Nobody is too injured. We got 6 or 7 games until the next one.”
Did you get any deja vu from having another overtime win like this?
“Nah I say life happens over and over. Like it's the same circle if you really pay attention. I would say self reflect on everything that goes on in your life and make the right decisions. And just putting yourself in. I would say just doing good in life, doing good with people, just being a nice person overall, good will always come your way. So it's like year after year, I would say it's the same thing. But it just prepares you for the next level, next year and the next challenges you're gonna face. So it definitely was deja vu but I knew at the end of the day, somethings gonna happen.”
Where does your sense of resiliency come from?
“You don't have an option. That comes from your parents, how you were raised you know? You don't have the option to fail, that's a non negotiable. So it's like when people say what's your plan B? No it's only football, that's the only plan there is. I don't have a trust fund. Dad set me up good like that. But I’ll make sure I set up my kids.”
What was the scene like after all the fans rushed the field after the final play?
“I would say definitely, the words you speak are powerful. That's why I use the word legendary. I post it so many times I dont care whose nerves it gets on. But that's just the word that I stand by, and I like by. That's the word that projects my life. Through the moments, through everything, I know at the end of the day, “legendary”. That's just what's ingrained in me and that's all I think about.”
What are your thoughts on winning in all three conferences?
“To us it's just a game. We're not thinking about conferences and things like that, we’re just thinking about the next opponent. So each and every game is almost the same, we just have the focus, the same mentality going into it no matter the opponent. FCS, FBS, power five, power four it doesn't really matter. But everyone just give a round of applause for Travis right here.”
Travis Hunter, Jr., WR/CB
On the last second play:
"Just coach trusts me a lot. Defensive Coordinator, he trusts me a lot to go get the ball. I mean, Shedeur told me to go out there and get the ball. So I told him I got you, and I kept my word. I mean, I knew I had to tackle. You can see me putting in my mouthpiece late on the play, so I was already ready. I knew they were coming at me. They don't think I could tackle, so I had to show him."
On the emotions at the end of that game:
"Yeah, of course there’s emotions in a close game like that. You know you can tell I wanted the ball more than my hands, because I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go back and shine and make a play for my team. But the coach stuck to the plan, did what we had to do, came out with a win and put me in the right position to help the team."
On his perspective on that last play:
"I told Coach, let me go to the side by myself, because I know they have more people over there on me, and they give our guys on the backside a one on one opportunity, which they did. They did exactly what we thought. They had three people on me and everybody else backside had a one-on-one chance. So I just know sometimes you got to step back and let the team go ahead and play their role and let them come down with a good play. So I trusted the process. So at the end of the game, you can see, I mean, at the end of the play, you can see me already halfway over there, because I'm expecting the ball to go over there already."
On the long-term takeaways from this game:
"We know when it's crunch time, we know we got what we want to do. We come out and play, make a play, and like Coach said, it helps us a lot. But at the end of the day, we still didn't want to win a game like that. We want to go out with a bang. That's not the way we want to win. We want to go out and play how we should play."
On if playing both sides of the ball makes him better at each side:
"Yeah, I definitely have an advantage for playing both sides of the ball. I mean, I can know what type of routes they get from each slip, because I know what type of route I would run from each slip, so I just know how to shut down the receiver."
On how the team is doing relative to expectations this year:
"I mean, we still have more to grow. We still have more to do. We still got to improve. I mean, like we said, we don't like the outcome of the game, but we love the outcome of the game because it's showing that we have the effort we're going to fight to the end, till the clock ticks 00, so, I mean, we still got expectation for our team, and we don't want no games to be close, but we still came out with a dub, so we have to look up."
On the 2nd half defense this season:
"It's kind of our coach, [Cornerbacks] Coach Mathis, he don’t play. I mean, we're going to halftime, you know, we've got to go out there and play. I mean, he was a dog, so we take that energy from him. He gives us that energy. We go out there and play. I was supposed to play, but we got to put together two halves. We can't let no deep balls over the shoulder…I mean, we know we got to go out and dominate, but we got to put together two halves. We don't like, we don't like the go balls."
What was going through his mind on the last play/drive?
"We got to win. That's pretty much it. I put myself on the opposite side to help my guys get a chance. I just wanted us to have a chance. A new guy had a chance or a shot. It's 50/50, but with our receiver core, its like 80/20. I mean, you can't get any better than our receiving core."
Micah Welch, Fr., RB
On running the ball throughout the game:
“I feel great. I just want everybody to know we can run the ball and shut up all the haters about it. So that's all I got to say about it.”
On his two touchdowns…
“It felt great. We've been practicing that since spring ball, and we went out there and executed. I would like to thank my offensive lineman, the wide receiver, everybody on the offense, coaches, that’s who helped me.
LaJohntay Wester, Sr., WR
On quarterback giving confidence to the team:
“Oh definitely. I mean, I always have confidence in Shedeur man. He's the reason I came here. He came and got me and I told him, like, I'm not gonna let you down. I came here for a reason. He brought me here for a reason. So anytime he throw the ball to me, I gotta make that play like that's just my mentality because he didn't bring me here just to drop the ball or miss assignments. He brought me here to do what I do, and tonight I did what I did.”
On mindset from going through hardships:
“I have the same mindset. It's never gonna change. My mindset is to help the team win show that we can run the ball, do my assignments, I can block for Shedeur. We going to keep the same mindset.”
On building connection with Shedeur:
“No, definitely. This my first year of playing with Shedeur, so we did a lot of off season training, but it ain't nothing like live bullets coming at you. So we getting a lot of live bullet reps together. And I just feel like we jelling. I mean, if you see a game, we just keep getting better and better. So that's the whole goal. Take it day by day. Keep getting better and better.”
On the Final Play
“Well, it was a bit of a hail mary. I was one on one, I ran down there. I saw him rolling out, and then I saw the ball coming my way. And as a receiver, your job is to make the quarterback right, whether it's a good ball or a bad ball. And I just made a play on the ball. It isn’t anything more or anything less.”
“We had another two seconds left to get one final play, which meant we had another opportunity, so just next play mentality. We found that, and executed the hail mary, then Michael came and finished the deal.”
On getting himself back in the game…
“Coach Phil he just stays on me, man. He trusts me. He believes in me, and I trust and believe in myself as well. So I mean, it's football. You're not gonna be perfect. You going to have mistakes out there, but it’s just playing the next play, and making up for it. As long as you make up for it, everybody's going to forget about those drops.”
Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda
Opening Statement:
“Really tough and just kind of a heart wrenching loss. Haven't really been a part of something like that, especially down to the last play of overtime, or last play of regulation, like how that went, and so very hard to take team is very gutted, you know, right now, and so frustrated, gutted, and so, you know, we're probably going to be hurting all the way back to Waco. My message to them was, hey, there's a lot of heart in this. There's great care factor in this. There's just way too many mistakes, way too many mistakes, and for us to be making those mistakes and wanting to win and expecting to win, we just can't do that, and that continued, you know, we were able to battle back from this mistake and that mistake until we couldn't battle back anymore. The end of regulation play, something I've never seen, man, then to fumble it when we could have tied it up, and all of it is just par for the course, and so, so much to improve on. I love the team. I love their compete. Like I say they're gutted. So, big, big, big time game next week, and it's something we have to bounce back for, because I know they're going to come right high. “
If there was a breakdown at all on the Hail Mary pass:
“I guess, yeah. We have this [play] called victory cigar. It's supposed to be that. And, you know, we have to the quarterback's hand, we'll have an up and under rush. So there'll be a contain rush on the outside, then there'll be someone that will work up and then come under and so generally you get, you get sprint outs to the quarterback's hand. And so you want to, you would work an up and under rush to try to flush them to someone that's outside of them, for contain, then away from the quarterback's hand, you have a contained rush. And so, you know, we had an injury earlier in the game, and so we had a backup in that spot, in one of those spots, and you know, we wanted to see what their formation was, and so we called time out prior to that play. And then we have the drawings of that play. And so during the time out, we were showing the drawings, and we went to opposite sides, you know, the guy that was up and under went away, and the guy that was contained went to the other side. And so I think when you watch that play, you'll watch someone come from the right and just go up and under. Well, that's a shame, because he's contained. And so I've never seen that. I take full responsibility for that. You know, I have to find a way to coach that better. And so that's, yeah, I've never, I've never seen anything like that.”
On calling timeout before the last play of the regular season:
“No, I think I would do it again if, if I was going to be guaranteed that we'd get lined up and be in the right spot and do all the right things and so to make that type of error coming off a timeout, when you have it drawn up and you have a card that's addressing that is inexcusable.”
On where to go from here and what the gameplan was against Colorado:
“Try to get your heart back in your body. I think we fix the mistakes. You know, I look at, we had eight sacks in this game. We should have had really double that, to be honest. And, that's not any disrespect. I have a lot, so much respect for Colorado. I think early in the game, defensively, speaking, there's a couple series where they're set back, and the ball's off on time, you could tell that, hey, they got a beat on you. They know where they're going with it. I think outside of that, really, those first two drives, I think a lot of it was, you know, rush was flushing them, we couldn't tackle them. His eyes came down and saw the rush. He's running around, and we struggled to contain him while he's running around. And then when the ball was up in the air, we struggled to make a play when the ball was in the air. I think that's really the name of the game, you know, you look at the passing yards and so many of it, we were chasing the guy, and he's kind of running for his life, and he throws it up. And, we didn't come down with it. So I just think there's a lot to improve there. When things break down, making a play. And then I think overall, this to start, you know, we had a plan to start fast, and I thought there is elements of that, but I think we still need to be better in terms of the execution piece of starting fast. I think if we that would have happened, I think that would have been a stronger trend in that first half, and you wouldn't have had those points early on.”
On special teams play along with the team overall:
“It was good to, it was good to continue to make plays on teams. I think that we've been, we've been able to do that, really. That's going back to last year. And so the new leadership there, and new players and everything else. We continue to do that, so I'm pleased to see it. I think we're only going to get better there. I think offensively, there's really good things. I mean, the run game took a little bit to get going, but when it got going, I think it really helped us late in the game, and then I thought Sawyer played heart wide open, and as I would expect him to, you know, so a lot of positives there, but it's hard to see them right now.”
On how to keep the players on a forward track:
“Yeah, there's some of that that happened in the locker room right after I talked. And so there's some of that going on. And I think, you know, there's always different stages for growth. And you always wish growth would be, you know, just like this. And so many times it, it takes a more of a winding path, and I just think for our guys that have just fully committed to this and to have their heart ripped out like this of their own doing. I think it’s a big wake up call, and I know they will respond. I know this team and I know that they will come out stronger because of this.”
Baylor Players
Josh Cameron, Jr., WR
On feeling after loss:
“Just a lot of hurt. It's a lot of hurt. There's only one way to go now and that's up, but just a lot of hurt by the errors. The errors that we made can't be made if we want to beat good teams like that.”
Emotions over the last play standing:
“Just a lot of anger, disappointment. Still kind of feeling that just anger, disappointment really”
On where the team goes after loss:
“It’s kind of like I said before, there is only one way to go and that's up. Really just using this loss, remembering this feeling. The whole locker room feels this. Just remembering this feeling going into the next games.”
On big plays from special teams:
“I just thank Coach Scott for the scheme and the guys around me blocking. It wouldn't be possible without them.”
On if the team had energy going into overtime:
“No doubt. I definitely felt that way. And we weren't moving. It was good energy going to overtime.”
On QB Swayer Robinson first true away game start:
“I think he just did an awesome job handling the environment. This is one of the loudest stadiums that I've played at so I think he did great. Yeah, he just did a great job.”
Kyler Jordan, So., OLB
On missing last play:
“It's hard to describe just something we practice and something we got. Anyway we didn't execute, just started. One missed assignment. Something we gotta do better.”
On if fumble takes away from the good in the rest of the game:
“Sure feels that way. Just so hard. You put so much into it just to have it in your hands and throw it away. It just hurts, just the pain in the locker room. It's just terrible. You want to remember the good, but I think it's hard to remember the good when it turns out the way it did.”
On feeling in control until the end:
“Heartbreaking. It's really just like I said before, just something we practice, and we just didn't execute it just how we needed to. It's just heartbreaking. I wish I had another way to describe it.”
On defense in the second half:
“You know Coach Randy. He's one of the best defensive runners in football. That's the whole reason I came here. And he came and we do a game plan and, shoot, we should have had way more than we did. He did a really good job in the pocket of getting away in trouble. Props to him.”
On next steps after losing Big 12 opener:
“I think the biggest thing is we can't let this turn into what it did last year. You know it's going to come down to what we do in the next week. You know, losses are going to happen. This is football. This is Big 12 football. So it's really about how we bounce back. We can't do what we did last year. I think as many of the guys in the locker room that were here last year, we're not doing that again.”
On what Coach Aranda said in locker room after:
“It's just heartbreaking. Too many mistakes. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”
On how to respond:
“Yeah, we just got to learn from our mistakes. We got to be more prepared as a team. That's extra time you got to spend individually, whatever it takes. I'm not saying that we weren't committed. That's not what I'm saying. But we got to do more, you know, just got to do more.”
On thoughts going into overtime:
“Let’s go. We got ourselves into this situation, got to get ourselves out.”
On not as many blitz:
“Really just a lot of stunts, bringing guys, showing up. They're dropping back just getting offensive line to slide where we want them to, and things of that nature.”
Baylor vs. Colorado, Sept. 21, 2024, Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.
Colorado Head Coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders
Opening Statement:
“Great, great, great, great win. Young men were resilient. They never gave up. They never surrendered. The coaches were still inspired. I mean, all the way to the end, they were still calling and devising things. And once we scored, we were already thinking, Okay, we want to defer if we win, because we want to put our defense out first, but they won to toss, and it went from there. I don't like how it played out, but I love the results. I think we're so much better than what we're showing you at times. We keep showing you glimpses of a running game. We show you we can throw the ball all around, and then we just stall for a series of two and surrender something foolishly, but I'm pleased, and thank you. I'm thankful. One step closer to getting Miss Peggy to a Bowl game. So I'm really proud of that. I want to apologize to the opposition the way we stormed the field, and I didn't get an opportunity to go and shake the head coach's hand, but I did try to go over to the locker room and wait it out until he came out, but I don't think they got the word to him. Because that's not professional. I wanted to shake his hand and acknowledge but I don't like what transpired at the end of the game, but I love what transpired at the end of the game. We have a fan base that's phenomenal. We have some young kids on this campus that love and breathes CU football, and I'm thankful. I mean, I walk campus every day, and they give us so much love and respect and honor.”
On how much credit should be given to the defense for the victory:
“We didn't play up to our capabilities or our ability whatsoever. We blew some things. They went empty. The quarterback draws. I think we saw that in practice a couple times this week, and we knew that was coming. We thought we were prepared for that. They ran that play several times, as well as in overtime. So we got to do a better job of that. But overall they were resilient.”
On how much satisfaction there is seeing Shedeur, Travis, and JohnTay making big plays:
“It's not just those guys. It's some of the smaller things you don't see. The O-line always gets ridicule. But we scored on a run. We scored on a darn run. I think it was two back to back runs that we did it. And you got your quarterback pushing the guy to get in the end zone, and he pops through there, and it's a touchdown. So no matter what transpires, I just love that these guys could just flush it and move on to the next play. That's something we're trying to teach, it's something we're educating them on, and it's something I'm proud of.”
On what special teams needs to fix moving forward:
“Well, number one, we got to do a better job of covering. I think both of our guys were running a twist there, and I think both of our guys might have got knocked off. We got to do a better job, and we have so much personnel that's able and capable of doing that. Sometimes guys don't take special teams serious. At halftime I told them, why do you think they call it special teams, you're supposed to be special when you run down there and do it. We got to get the ball in the end zone kicking off. We got to do that. We can't even give them an opportunity to return it. You rarely see Jimmy Horn Jr return the kickoff, right? Because they're kicking the ball out of the darn stadium. So we got to find a way to do the same.”
On Shedeur’s hail mary pass:
“First of all, I seen them load us up to our right side. I'm like okay that was really smart, because now [Shedeur] is going to have to boot to his off throwing hand. You don't want a right hand quarterback rolling to his left. So that was very smart on every half. But as I looked the whole [opposing] team was over there on Travis. And you got LaJohntay [Wester] in a one-on-one. How is there one-on-one in that situation? We should have had that first one back a couple of plays. We should have had that one, but we caught the one that we needed to catch. LaJohntay needed it as well. It was a great confidence booster for him. it was tremendous. It kind of threw us back to last year a little bit, didn't it? That's the way stuff was started last year. It was a tough one. I'm excited that we got it because this press conference could be totally different right now, but I'm excited that we won.”
On Sheduer and Pat Shurmur collaboration:
“The main thing, coach listens. Shedeur’s out there. So when we're saying, get rid of the ball, we don't know if somebody ran the wrong route. We don't know if he was expecting something else and it's supposed to be a chip on that end. So they're trying to fix it on the fly and do some things. We're listening to the receivers. We're listening to Brett Bartolone upstairs, telling us what they're doing so we could be more than able.”
Coach on Where the Game Stands in Comparison
“I don't rank games. I don't. I just love the w's. Man, I love the w's. I really do. By any means necessary, I really do.”
Coach on Omarion Miller and his tendencies to make plays
“Well, he's hungry. He wants it. I mean, he's sitting over there on the sideline. He don't want to be over there. When he gets in, he's ready. He's ready to go. And Shedeur has a tremendous expectation of him. Sometimes he would say who he wants on certain plays and certain routes. And Omarion just came in there and did his thing, man, I'm proud of him, that he wasn't over there sleeping. So when his number was called, he was ready to respond. I'm very proud of that young man.”
Coach on Shedeur’s 1000th completion; watching his growth
“He’s matured tremendously. Not just as a freshman but from a baby to where he is now, but at this level I expect, you know, when these two guys are on the field together, as long as with the rest of the guys, I expect them to do something spectacular because they do it in practice. They practice with purpose. I mean, when they play and they prepare with purpose, I have a tremendous expectation for them. You know, I'm more tough on these guys than I am on anybody, because I expect great things from them.”
Coach on fostering strong relationships with players; closing statement
“We don't only want to coach them. We want to grow them and to mature them and love them and chastise them at the same time. We don't just want to pick them up and push them in the swing set, you know. We want to make sure we sit down and tell them what they need to know at that persistent time. We love these young men in a multitude of ways, and some of these young men have never heard those words from a man, so it's vital that they not only hear it, but we show it. And you know, he knows the way I feel about him and the rest of these young men on the team, and we're developing a tremendous relationship that goes much farther than just football. Isaiah Bolden is here, who played for us and is with the Patriots now, but just just seeing his joy when we first saw one another, and I said, boy, if you'd have been here, you probably would have been a second round or third round. Phenomenal. Just seeing them and embracing them and them coming up to support us and watching our guys that they played together with, it was phenomenal. So we love them, not just through them playing for us, but forever and always. I appreciate you all. Thank you very much. This has been wonderful. We're sorry to keep you up so late and keep you on the edge of your seats, but God be the glory. We got the victory. We got the victory. We got the victory. And thank God we got the victory. God bless you all.”
Colorado Players
Shedeur Sanders, Sr., QB
You had two seconds on the clock, what did you see on that play?
“Definitely we knew. I told the running back, I said look. Do this with everything you got bro. Seriously I said come on bro, do everything you got to do. I knew I was getting a lot of pressure so I was like okay cool were about to roll right here. So let's go ahead and roll. We put Travis backside so he's gonna get all the attention. Then LaJohntay just gonna be there outside one on one. They are not gonna think we're gonna throw him the ball because he's like a shorter guy in that situation. So then I rolled left, everyone went in the middle of the endzone and I just trusted god. I just threw it up to god and god answered the prayer for sure.”
What are your emotions after a game like this?
“Just a relief honestly. Because I know personally I didn’t play anywhere close to my best game at all. I know offensively, we didn't play anywhere close to the best game we could have had at all. We were talking the whole game like something was going to happen. When Omarion got in and made that play, we needed somebody you know. We needed somebody to make a play and do something special. So that was the message during the game because offensively we just weren't clicking. I was missing reads. You gotta understand I can't have a game like that again.”
What’s your perspective on the final play that Travis made?
“I know exactly what y’all were seeing. I said the same thing. I was like okay, we've been here before. We got experience at home you know. I said early in the day, let's win and let's do it fast so we ain't gotta go to overtime. Just so happens we went to overtime. But that's the truth I really did say that earlier. But yeah it was just Travis he told me before he went on the field he said i'm gonna get a pick here. And I said make sure bro, make sure y’all do everything y’all can. Then he made a play which was amazing. So a couple weeks ago you said when was Travis’ best game? Travis has a lot of great stuff in him. It's just in those key moments and those key situations when he brings it out.”
Knowing that you guys can do better, what does this win mean for you guys going forward?
“Well it makes us take a deep dive in reality knowing that we can’t afford to do that type of stuff again. You know we are definitely getting punished. We getting punished tomorrow for all the mistakes I would say. For all of the penalties. Just for missed throws, reads, everything.”
You took a lot of hits tonight, how are you feeling physically?
“When it comes to Saturdays I just don't care. I will do whatever it takes to win. I know on that drive I felt that I was getting in that mode. I really felt that. Just really getting into a different mindset of like, whatever it takes I don't care. Quarterback sneaks, quarterbacks don't like those. But I don't care right now. Because we gotta do whatever it takes to win and that's why I'm walking down to the goal line and back. Whatever it takes to win. We trusted the other guys. Micah had his touchdown which I'm excited for. There's just a whole lot of trust going on. He was like hey, give me it bro I got you. I was like alright, I'll give it to you. He did what he was supposed to do. So overall, we're just really excited. Real thankful about this game and thankful for how we came out of the game. Nobody is too injured. We got 6 or 7 games until the next one.”
Did you get any deja vu from having another overtime win like this?
“Nah I say life happens over and over. Like it's the same circle if you really pay attention. I would say self reflect on everything that goes on in your life and make the right decisions. And just putting yourself in. I would say just doing good in life, doing good with people, just being a nice person overall, good will always come your way. So it's like year after year, I would say it's the same thing. But it just prepares you for the next level, next year and the next challenges you're gonna face. So it definitely was deja vu but I knew at the end of the day, somethings gonna happen.”
Where does your sense of resiliency come from?
“You don't have an option. That comes from your parents, how you were raised you know? You don't have the option to fail, that's a non negotiable. So it's like when people say what's your plan B? No it's only football, that's the only plan there is. I don't have a trust fund. Dad set me up good like that. But I’ll make sure I set up my kids.”
What was the scene like after all the fans rushed the field after the final play?
“I would say definitely, the words you speak are powerful. That's why I use the word legendary. I post it so many times I dont care whose nerves it gets on. But that's just the word that I stand by, and I like by. That's the word that projects my life. Through the moments, through everything, I know at the end of the day, “legendary”. That's just what's ingrained in me and that's all I think about.”
What are your thoughts on winning in all three conferences?
“To us it's just a game. We're not thinking about conferences and things like that, we’re just thinking about the next opponent. So each and every game is almost the same, we just have the focus, the same mentality going into it no matter the opponent. FCS, FBS, power five, power four it doesn't really matter. But everyone just give a round of applause for Travis right here.”
Travis Hunter, Jr., WR/CB
On the last second play:
"Just coach trusts me a lot. Defensive Coordinator, he trusts me a lot to go get the ball. I mean, Shedeur told me to go out there and get the ball. So I told him I got you, and I kept my word. I mean, I knew I had to tackle. You can see me putting in my mouthpiece late on the play, so I was already ready. I knew they were coming at me. They don't think I could tackle, so I had to show him."
On the emotions at the end of that game:
"Yeah, of course there’s emotions in a close game like that. You know you can tell I wanted the ball more than my hands, because I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go back and shine and make a play for my team. But the coach stuck to the plan, did what we had to do, came out with a win and put me in the right position to help the team."
On his perspective on that last play:
"I told Coach, let me go to the side by myself, because I know they have more people over there on me, and they give our guys on the backside a one on one opportunity, which they did. They did exactly what we thought. They had three people on me and everybody else backside had a one-on-one chance. So I just know sometimes you got to step back and let the team go ahead and play their role and let them come down with a good play. So I trusted the process. So at the end of the game, you can see, I mean, at the end of the play, you can see me already halfway over there, because I'm expecting the ball to go over there already."
On the long-term takeaways from this game:
"We know when it's crunch time, we know we got what we want to do. We come out and play, make a play, and like Coach said, it helps us a lot. But at the end of the day, we still didn't want to win a game like that. We want to go out with a bang. That's not the way we want to win. We want to go out and play how we should play."
On if playing both sides of the ball makes him better at each side:
"Yeah, I definitely have an advantage for playing both sides of the ball. I mean, I can know what type of routes they get from each slip, because I know what type of route I would run from each slip, so I just know how to shut down the receiver."
On how the team is doing relative to expectations this year:
"I mean, we still have more to grow. We still have more to do. We still got to improve. I mean, like we said, we don't like the outcome of the game, but we love the outcome of the game because it's showing that we have the effort we're going to fight to the end, till the clock ticks 00, so, I mean, we still got expectation for our team, and we don't want no games to be close, but we still came out with a dub, so we have to look up."
On the 2nd half defense this season:
"It's kind of our coach, [Cornerbacks] Coach Mathis, he don’t play. I mean, we're going to halftime, you know, we've got to go out there and play. I mean, he was a dog, so we take that energy from him. He gives us that energy. We go out there and play. I was supposed to play, but we got to put together two halves. We can't let no deep balls over the shoulder…I mean, we know we got to go out and dominate, but we got to put together two halves. We don't like, we don't like the go balls."
What was going through his mind on the last play/drive?
"We got to win. That's pretty much it. I put myself on the opposite side to help my guys get a chance. I just wanted us to have a chance. A new guy had a chance or a shot. It's 50/50, but with our receiver core, its like 80/20. I mean, you can't get any better than our receiving core."
Micah Welch, Fr., RB
On running the ball throughout the game:
“I feel great. I just want everybody to know we can run the ball and shut up all the haters about it. So that's all I got to say about it.”
On his two touchdowns…
“It felt great. We've been practicing that since spring ball, and we went out there and executed. I would like to thank my offensive lineman, the wide receiver, everybody on the offense, coaches, that’s who helped me.
LaJohntay Wester, Sr., WR
On quarterback giving confidence to the team:
“Oh definitely. I mean, I always have confidence in Shedeur man. He's the reason I came here. He came and got me and I told him, like, I'm not gonna let you down. I came here for a reason. He brought me here for a reason. So anytime he throw the ball to me, I gotta make that play like that's just my mentality because he didn't bring me here just to drop the ball or miss assignments. He brought me here to do what I do, and tonight I did what I did.”
On mindset from going through hardships:
“I have the same mindset. It's never gonna change. My mindset is to help the team win show that we can run the ball, do my assignments, I can block for Shedeur. We going to keep the same mindset.”
On building connection with Shedeur:
“No, definitely. This my first year of playing with Shedeur, so we did a lot of off season training, but it ain't nothing like live bullets coming at you. So we getting a lot of live bullet reps together. And I just feel like we jelling. I mean, if you see a game, we just keep getting better and better. So that's the whole goal. Take it day by day. Keep getting better and better.”
On the Final Play
“Well, it was a bit of a hail mary. I was one on one, I ran down there. I saw him rolling out, and then I saw the ball coming my way. And as a receiver, your job is to make the quarterback right, whether it's a good ball or a bad ball. And I just made a play on the ball. It isn’t anything more or anything less.”
“We had another two seconds left to get one final play, which meant we had another opportunity, so just next play mentality. We found that, and executed the hail mary, then Michael came and finished the deal.”
On getting himself back in the game…
“Coach Phil he just stays on me, man. He trusts me. He believes in me, and I trust and believe in myself as well. So I mean, it's football. You're not gonna be perfect. You going to have mistakes out there, but it’s just playing the next play, and making up for it. As long as you make up for it, everybody's going to forget about those drops.”
Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda
Opening Statement:
“Really tough and just kind of a heart wrenching loss. Haven't really been a part of something like that, especially down to the last play of overtime, or last play of regulation, like how that went, and so very hard to take team is very gutted, you know, right now, and so frustrated, gutted, and so, you know, we're probably going to be hurting all the way back to Waco. My message to them was, hey, there's a lot of heart in this. There's great care factor in this. There's just way too many mistakes, way too many mistakes, and for us to be making those mistakes and wanting to win and expecting to win, we just can't do that, and that continued, you know, we were able to battle back from this mistake and that mistake until we couldn't battle back anymore. The end of regulation play, something I've never seen, man, then to fumble it when we could have tied it up, and all of it is just par for the course, and so, so much to improve on. I love the team. I love their compete. Like I say they're gutted. So, big, big, big time game next week, and it's something we have to bounce back for, because I know they're going to come right high. “
If there was a breakdown at all on the Hail Mary pass:
“I guess, yeah. We have this [play] called victory cigar. It's supposed to be that. And, you know, we have to the quarterback's hand, we'll have an up and under rush. So there'll be a contain rush on the outside, then there'll be someone that will work up and then come under and so generally you get, you get sprint outs to the quarterback's hand. And so you want to, you would work an up and under rush to try to flush them to someone that's outside of them, for contain, then away from the quarterback's hand, you have a contained rush. And so, you know, we had an injury earlier in the game, and so we had a backup in that spot, in one of those spots, and you know, we wanted to see what their formation was, and so we called time out prior to that play. And then we have the drawings of that play. And so during the time out, we were showing the drawings, and we went to opposite sides, you know, the guy that was up and under went away, and the guy that was contained went to the other side. And so I think when you watch that play, you'll watch someone come from the right and just go up and under. Well, that's a shame, because he's contained. And so I've never seen that. I take full responsibility for that. You know, I have to find a way to coach that better. And so that's, yeah, I've never, I've never seen anything like that.”
On calling timeout before the last play of the regular season:
“No, I think I would do it again if, if I was going to be guaranteed that we'd get lined up and be in the right spot and do all the right things and so to make that type of error coming off a timeout, when you have it drawn up and you have a card that's addressing that is inexcusable.”
On where to go from here and what the gameplan was against Colorado:
“Try to get your heart back in your body. I think we fix the mistakes. You know, I look at, we had eight sacks in this game. We should have had really double that, to be honest. And, that's not any disrespect. I have a lot, so much respect for Colorado. I think early in the game, defensively, speaking, there's a couple series where they're set back, and the ball's off on time, you could tell that, hey, they got a beat on you. They know where they're going with it. I think outside of that, really, those first two drives, I think a lot of it was, you know, rush was flushing them, we couldn't tackle them. His eyes came down and saw the rush. He's running around, and we struggled to contain him while he's running around. And then when the ball was up in the air, we struggled to make a play when the ball was in the air. I think that's really the name of the game, you know, you look at the passing yards and so many of it, we were chasing the guy, and he's kind of running for his life, and he throws it up. And, we didn't come down with it. So I just think there's a lot to improve there. When things break down, making a play. And then I think overall, this to start, you know, we had a plan to start fast, and I thought there is elements of that, but I think we still need to be better in terms of the execution piece of starting fast. I think if we that would have happened, I think that would have been a stronger trend in that first half, and you wouldn't have had those points early on.”
On special teams play along with the team overall:
“It was good to, it was good to continue to make plays on teams. I think that we've been, we've been able to do that, really. That's going back to last year. And so the new leadership there, and new players and everything else. We continue to do that, so I'm pleased to see it. I think we're only going to get better there. I think offensively, there's really good things. I mean, the run game took a little bit to get going, but when it got going, I think it really helped us late in the game, and then I thought Sawyer played heart wide open, and as I would expect him to, you know, so a lot of positives there, but it's hard to see them right now.”
On how to keep the players on a forward track:
“Yeah, there's some of that that happened in the locker room right after I talked. And so there's some of that going on. And I think, you know, there's always different stages for growth. And you always wish growth would be, you know, just like this. And so many times it, it takes a more of a winding path, and I just think for our guys that have just fully committed to this and to have their heart ripped out like this of their own doing. I think it’s a big wake up call, and I know they will respond. I know this team and I know that they will come out stronger because of this.”
Baylor Players
Josh Cameron, Jr., WR
On feeling after loss:
“Just a lot of hurt. It's a lot of hurt. There's only one way to go now and that's up, but just a lot of hurt by the errors. The errors that we made can't be made if we want to beat good teams like that.”
Emotions over the last play standing:
“Just a lot of anger, disappointment. Still kind of feeling that just anger, disappointment really”
On where the team goes after loss:
“It’s kind of like I said before, there is only one way to go and that's up. Really just using this loss, remembering this feeling. The whole locker room feels this. Just remembering this feeling going into the next games.”
On big plays from special teams:
“I just thank Coach Scott for the scheme and the guys around me blocking. It wouldn't be possible without them.”
On if the team had energy going into overtime:
“No doubt. I definitely felt that way. And we weren't moving. It was good energy going to overtime.”
On QB Swayer Robinson first true away game start:
“I think he just did an awesome job handling the environment. This is one of the loudest stadiums that I've played at so I think he did great. Yeah, he just did a great job.”
Kyler Jordan, So., OLB
On missing last play:
“It's hard to describe just something we practice and something we got. Anyway we didn't execute, just started. One missed assignment. Something we gotta do better.”
On if fumble takes away from the good in the rest of the game:
“Sure feels that way. Just so hard. You put so much into it just to have it in your hands and throw it away. It just hurts, just the pain in the locker room. It's just terrible. You want to remember the good, but I think it's hard to remember the good when it turns out the way it did.”
On feeling in control until the end:
“Heartbreaking. It's really just like I said before, just something we practice, and we just didn't execute it just how we needed to. It's just heartbreaking. I wish I had another way to describe it.”
On defense in the second half:
“You know Coach Randy. He's one of the best defensive runners in football. That's the whole reason I came here. And he came and we do a game plan and, shoot, we should have had way more than we did. He did a really good job in the pocket of getting away in trouble. Props to him.”
On next steps after losing Big 12 opener:
“I think the biggest thing is we can't let this turn into what it did last year. You know it's going to come down to what we do in the next week. You know, losses are going to happen. This is football. This is Big 12 football. So it's really about how we bounce back. We can't do what we did last year. I think as many of the guys in the locker room that were here last year, we're not doing that again.”
On what Coach Aranda said in locker room after:
“It's just heartbreaking. Too many mistakes. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”
On how to respond:
“Yeah, we just got to learn from our mistakes. We got to be more prepared as a team. That's extra time you got to spend individually, whatever it takes. I'm not saying that we weren't committed. That's not what I'm saying. But we got to do more, you know, just got to do more.”
On thoughts going into overtime:
“Let’s go. We got ourselves into this situation, got to get ourselves out.”
On not as many blitz:
“Really just a lot of stunts, bringing guys, showing up. They're dropping back just getting offensive line to slide where we want them to, and things of that nature.”