Thanks to K-State Athletics Communications for providing the following quotes from Kansas State coordinators Courtney Messingham and Scottie Hazelton.

Videos provided by K-StateOnline.

On the West Virginia game…

“It was two-fold - one, (I was) really, really happy with how we started both halves. (I was) happy with the opportunity to score four out of the first six times we had the football. In this league, and really any time that it’s possibly going to be a higher-scoring game, field goals don’t generally win you games. We needed to score touchdowns in the red zone, and that gives us eight more points if we scored two touchdowns rather than field goals on two of the first four scores. Touchdowns is what we are going to keep preaching. We’ve done a nice job scoring in the red zone, but, again, we’d rather have a touchdown than a field goal.”

On calling plays with a struggling run game…

“I still feel like we try to stay true to we have to make them defend it, and we’ve done a nice job of keeping the ball and winning the time of possession. But, it does make it harder to get some of your play-action shots and that type of stuff if you don’t feel like you’re forcing the safeties to come be run-fit guys.”

On Texas Tech’s defense...

“They’ll probably play what I would call more of a 3-3 stack where they have their three linebackers stacked right over the top of their D-linemen. No. 6 (Riko Jeffers) and No. 1 (Jordyn Brooks) are both big, thick dudes that run well. Then, their D-line in general, are thicker, stronger dudes that can run. We have to force them to have seven, eight, nine guys in the run game, not just those six. They do play quite a bit of odd front, which is the three-down stuff, but they will also get into some four-down if we’re in 12 or 22 personnel.”

On if Texas Tech’s tendency to give up big plays entices K-State’s offense…

“Yes, but we also have to make sure you - which we always will - establish the run first. With that being said, first play of the game last week you throw the ball down the field for a big score. We have to come out and be aggressive, but I think we still have to hang our hat on who we want to be, and that’s run the ball and then still take some shots.”

On his mentality to call either run or pass plays in certain situations…

“There are definitely times when you say, ‘I know they’re going to do this, so we have to mix it up on them.’ But then, as the game rolls, you look last week a little bit and TCU and you say, ‘Even when they pretty well knew they were going to run the ball, they had opportunities and they still ran the ball.’ That’s what we have to be able to do is, not maybe force your will upon them, but yet still be able to say, ‘You have to keep loading the box to stop us from running the ball.’ Now, that being said, when they do do that, we have to make big plays. They’ve given up a lot, but haven’t gotten the number that we need to get. We need to make some more big plays.”

On the status of running back James Gilbert…

“Obviously, every week he’s been trying to get himself into a position to play, and I feel like he’s closer right now than he was the last two weeks, definitely. So, I anticipate him playing and being more full speed.”

On depth affecting margin of error this season…

“I think it comes down to, as you grind out the season - and unfortunately our bye weeks were so early - now you’re seven games in a row, and obviously we have two more in that seven, you start having where depth becomes a big key to being successful. That next guys up still being to execute at the level that you need to.”

On the status of running back Jordon Brown…

“Both those guys (Brown and James Gilbert) I feel like have been much closer when Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday practices have gone than they have been the previous two or three weeks.”

On the hit on Skylar Thompson during the fourth quarter of the WVU game…

“As it was going on and it happened, I didn’t know if it would be a concussion type of deal or shoulder type of deal just because as he was going down and where the hit was coming from, you’re never real sure. The one good thing about him is, as soon as he got back over to the sideline, right away the coaches talking to him were like, ‘No coach, he’ll be alright. He’s ready to go.’ Now, if it were to be that he’s not, we had great confidence Nick (Ast) would go in and run the show. The first play, actually, when Nick was in, it was like an 11-yard gain. I think the O-line in that setting are saying, ‘That’s alright. We want our guy back there, but somebody else has to pick up the mantle and play.’ So, I think we would have been fine.”

On how close he thought the last interception against WVU was to a touchdown…

“As Dalton (Schoen) was taking off from his little stop-and-go, there was space being created. You still have to throw a really, really good ball in those settings because, obviously, their DB - it was a DB, more of a corner-type guy rather than a linebacker - his ability to retrace and go attack the ball, he did a really nice job of making a play. Obviously, when it’s in the air, you’re feeling like, ‘Hey, we have a fighting chance.’ I’m all in for giving Dalton 50-50 balls and letting him go make a play because he’s done a great job his whole career here doing those things.”

On back-up quarterbacks reps…

“Obviously, Skylar (Thompson) gets most of the reps, but those guys are probably going to get 40% of the reps. Now, sometimes those are split between each other in a general time we’re going . It changes a little bit depending on if it’s a red zone or third-down (period) and what looks we feel like Skylar needs to get. But, those guys are getting enough that I think they definitely know the scheme and the why of what we’re running what we’re running in those situations.”

On wide receiver Dalton Schoen…

“The thing that he has done the best job at is, whatever it is that comes toward him, he’s attacked it. There was probably about four weeks in a row where he had at least one reception that you would have said, ‘Boy, that’s, at best, a 50-50,’ and he was four weeks in a row of making the play. I think he does a good job of knowing, ‘Hey, when my opportunity comes, (I’m going to) take full advantage of it.’ He’s done a great job in our short time with him.”

On if he thinks it’s amazing that Dalton Schoen was originally a walk-on…

“I would have never of guessed that just because of how he goes about his business. It shows that he’s put himself in position to be successful. He’s a guy that, every night after practice, he’s out there. He’s still one of the last guys coming off that practice field. I’m sure part of it is the practice numbers are dwindling down. I’m sure that it will finally hit him at some point where he says, ‘Hey, I’m not going back on that field to practice each day.’ That will be a change for him because at some point, four or five years into it, that final day comes. He’s been tremendous for us.”

On wide receiver Landry Weber…

“He’s done a phenomenal job all year long on special teams. So, I think everybody trusts him, and that’s a big deal when your quarterback trusts you. As an example, in the second drive, he had a huge catch last week. That’s just the quarterback saying, ‘They guy maybe not open, but I believe in him. If I give him a ball that he has a chance to make a play on, he’s going to make that play,’ He’s done those things.”

On what sticks with him the most about loss to West Virginia…

“Giving up three third down touchdowns. That’s the big one. We gave up four third downs all day and three of them were touchdowns. That’s something we’ve been pretty good at this season. Just losing those opportunities. Those were things that you say, ‘Well, you play that game again and you don’t make some of those mistakes we win it’. So, that’s always a hard way to take a loss.”

On if it’s stressful to go against an offense as fast as Texas Tech…

“I think every game is stressful in its own way, and that adds to it this week for sure. It’s just, how do you practice? How do you get the scouts to run and understand the tempo of this? How do you get the guys trained? It’s a fine line, especially playing this late into the season. You want to save the guys legs some and you don’t want to wear them down, but you have to go fast to make sure that they’re prepared to see fast. It adds a different level of stress during the week, for sure. I think every gameday is the same. It’s always stressful as you get into a game, for sure.”

On where Texas Tech’s offensive speed ranks in terms of his career…

“Well, they (Texas Tech coaches) were from Utah State. We played them the last two years when I was at Wyoming. They definitely have the ability to go faster than anybody else, or at least as fast as everybody we’ve played. They’re definitely the fastest-tempo guys. I’m trying to think of anyone faster. I guess I don’t know anybody that runs much faster. They have the ability to go at eight or 10 seconds per play. I’m sure for media guys they don’t enjoy that all the time because they can’t even watch a replay. That’s the hard part is they go so fast it’s hard to get all that stuff done.”

On how much the background of facing the Texas Tech coaching staff when they were at Utah State…

“They’re a little bit different, but I think it will help some. It will help them too. Both teams have seen other, so they kind of know what we do and we kind of know what they do. So, it helps us a little bit there. At least we’ve had the experience of saying, ‘Hey, this is how we’ve practiced against them. We did one time and it worked pretty good, and we did it this time and it didn’t work very good.’ Just preparing the guys, at least we had a plan going into the game. There’s two different teams. We’re coaching a different team, and they have a different team. So, that’s a little different. But, at least the plan going it to we felt like, ‘Hey, we’ve done some things that have helped us, and hopefully that helps at least prepare the guys the correct way.’”

On the importance of understanding Texas Tech’s ability to run and not an Air Raid…

“I think that people misunderstand them too a little bit that way. They have that element to their offense, but they’re still a run-first team. A lot of their fast-tempo plays are run plays, and they do play with a tight end all the time. There’s a little bit of a difference between the (Mike) Leach 10 personnel - they have four-wide all the time and throw it all over the place - and these guys, they’ll use their tight ends, keep them in the box and run the ball still. I think that that makes it even stronger because you can’t just go out there and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to roll out six DB’s and let’s go,’ and see who can play the fastest. You at least have to be sound to the run game, as well, which makes it difficult in a different kind of way. Their passing side a lot of the same, but they still run the ball quite a bit.”

On if trying to save legs in practice have given any younger players some more reps…

“Sure. We’ve been using Will Jones, Tyrone Lewis, some of those guys that come over and give them a little bit more reps. Who knows how the season will progress with the redshirt rule, try to pick and choose our times when we play those guys. At least they’re getting an opportunity to practice with us. Ekow (Boye-Doe) has been up. We’ve had some different guys up to do those things. But, it’s still about we might go fast for five, then slow down and just talk to them for a minute. ‘Hey, just take a break.’ Let the scouts take a break. But, yeah, they’ve been practicing with us. I think that, in between that and the bowl prep, it’s always good to have those extra practices for those guys, especially if they have a game left. If they have a game left and can play in a bowl game, and they get another spring ball underneath their belt, the chances of them playing in that game if they have a game left are pretty good.”

On playing Jonathan Alexander at linebacker last week and if it will continue…

“Probably not this week because they have a tight end in there. Mostly that was for four wide receiver sets where we could play him in there. If it’s a situational thing, maybe. Jon’s a guy that he has that build. Shoot, you’d like him to be a linebacker, but he’s more safety. He’s a guy that can do a lot of things we ask a lot DB’s to do. He can play man. He can move all over the place. So, if we see more 10 personnel teams, for sure.”

On Khalid Duke’s progress at defensive end...

“Yeah he’s a guy that, athletically, he matches what you look for. We always fight in the room, ‘I’m going to steal him back.’ I don’t know. He’s pretty athletic there and can run and it gives you that different sense of juice off the edge. With the reps he’s gotten at D-end, I think that he’s done a really good job. I don’t know that he’s ready to play all the time in base situations, but to be a pass rusher and do those things, I think he’s done an excellent job.”

On how Eric Gallon II and Justin Hughes are doing with their injuries…

“Good. I think Eric has another surgery coming up in a little while. He has to do some stuff with his knee. I saw him yesterday. He was crutching around. He’s a pretty good place. At least that he’s kind of coming to terms with it. But, he has to get some movement, stuff like that, so he can go in for a second surgery. Justin’s good. He’s in meetings every day, has been. He travels with us. He’s kind of a little bit of the juice on the sideline. He stays connected. He’s a ball guy. That’s what he loves to do, and he wants to be part of ball. He’ll be on the sideline, and he does it in practice, where if someone’s got something, he’ll go coach a guy. So, it keeps him connected. He’s doing well.”

On injuries and depth reducing the margin of error…

“I think that that happens every year as you get nicked up. You’d rather it to be more scattered because you start to run out of guys at certain spots. But, it’s hard you go into game planning and you say, ‘Hey, ok, we’d like to do this. Who do we have that can do that?’ It just becomes thin. Sometimes that leads to the mental breakdown. You get to play 65 or 70 on a game day, especially playing a fast team like this, sometimes it’s not so much of the, ‘Me doing my job,’ it’s the, ‘Me doing my job fast, repetitively when I’m tired.’ It’s hard to replicate when you’re going to play 70 and they’re still going fast. Now I have to something. Those are the things that we are breaking down a little bit. That’s where the depth hurts us, I think more so than the playmaking. Whoever is on the field is playing, and they’re playing and they’re the starter. We have to go with it and we have to come up with a plan. It’s the lack of, ‘OK, well, we can roll in three or four other guys to give that guy a break that’s been hurting us,’ more than anything else.”

On how rare it is for a player like Trey Dishon to start 40-plus games at defensive tackle...

“That’s hard to do. Very rare. I think that that’s an uncommon thing. I think that it says a lot about his ability, but also his preparation toward the offseason because, really, you prepare yourself during that time to be able to take a beating and be able to go that long. I hope to say he’s playing less snaps a game now than he did last year because I know his play count was crazy last year when we looked at it. That guy, he’s a trooper. He does what’s right, and you hope that through that, he trained the guys in that room, the (Drew) Wileys, the Eli Huggins, the guys coming up to be able to say, ‘OK, that’s really the standard and that’s what I have to do in the offseason.’ That’s really a tribute to him and the strength coaches because they got his body right and got him able to play for that long. That’s a hard thing to do, and it takes great mental toughness. You can’t take that away from the guy either.”

On linebacker Cody Fletcher coming back after the injury…

“Sure, I was hoping he would be able to roll in more and take some of the stress off of Da’Quan (Patton) and play a ton of special teams. That injury, it was a hard one for him. He had to do nothing for, I don’t know how long he was out like a month and a half. It was a long time. He could do nothing. So, even we he got back, he wasn’t the same. It was like, ‘OK, hey, I’m just starting fall camp all over again.’ So it takes you some time in there. I know he’s played more the last two weeks. I know this week he’s going to be on special teams quite a bit, and he should play at linebacker, too. I think he’s getting close to where he was during fall camp, which he looked pretty good during fall camp. So, if we can keep him there, it’ll be good.”

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