Oklahoma State Cowboys College Football Pregame Quote, 11/18/2019

We are onto another week. Last week was a good win for us. We obviously had a great day for the military, which was awesome. I made it real clear to the team [why we wore the uniforms to honor the military] and they all understood. I thought it was a good learning opportunity for all of us and for the young people on our team. It was a great day for everybody. It has been overwhelming. Moving forward to West Virginia, we got an early kickoff. Obviously, they played really well last week. Went in and won in Manhattan, where we all know it’s a difficult place to play. Their defense has been good all year. They’ve had a game or two where maybe they felt like they didn’t play as well as they wanted to. They’ve been very consistent. They get pressure with their down guys. They tackle really well. One thing I noticed right away is that they don’t miss a lot of tackles. They are aggressive and they are playing well on defense. Offensively, they’ve found a quarterback that they are comfortable with. He is effective with the football and he takes care of the football. It’s a good win for them and we are looking forward to the preparations this week and the early morning kickoff out there in Morgantown.

On Dru Brown’s performance:

We were pleased with Dru. He has been a great illustration of the culture at Oklahoma State. I mentioned it after the game, he was a captain in that game because of all of the hard work and effort he has put in, and the commitment he has had to our program. We enjoy seeing him have success, and he came out and played well.

On Spencer Sanders limiting turnovers:

He’s done well. We implemented some ways to try to correct the issue. I sat up here five weeks ago and said in most cases those things don’t happen overnight. He’s been successful in what has hurt him and our team in the middle part of the year, which was putting the ball on the ground. We worked hard on it from a drill standpoint and he’s gotten better. He’s starting to settle in at his position and has a better feel. His ability to make decisions and make adjustments on the sideline is getting better each week.

On running back load management and mentorships:

Everybody needs a mentor and somebody to lead the way. When Justice Hill went down, Chuba Hubbard was the guy; he started taking all those hits in the last three-and-a-half games of the year. There are only so many hits in all of our bodies. Those games have helped him and that experience has helped keep him fresh. L.D. Brown has played better and we have some other guys in the program that we’re excited about. If Chuba comes back next year, his carries will be reduced. People will go crazy and ask, ‘Why is that?’ There is a certain aspect of protecting them. As long as we’re productive and winning, we want to give them the best chance to play for a long time in the NFL.

On Dylan Galloway coming back from injury:

He’s a really unique young man. His nickname is ‘Big Sleepy’ because he always looks like he’s asleep. It’s interesting that he always plays better than you think he’s going to play, every game. I think he came back at Iowa State after his injury. We were concerned for him because he hadn’t practiced that week. He got in and played better in that game than he had in any game. He is a very talented young man. He hasn’t even scratched the surface of how far he can go, based on his talent level.

On the team keeping its composure vs. Kansas:

We said in August we needed to greatly reduce our non-combative 15-yard penalties. We have done a really good job of that; I will give the team credit. They had three chances, maybe four, in the last game to throw a blow to try to fight back. I said it postgame, that happens with teams when you’re losing, you get discouraged and you get upset. We’re not in a position where we need to respond to any of that and we need to learn from last year’s mistakes which took us out of a couple games.