Transcript & Video: Cats speak after falling to WVU

Watch a collection of Kansas State players speak following Saturday's battle with West Virginia.

Written quotes provided by K-State Athletics Communications.

SKYLAR THOMPSON, SENIOR QUARTERBACK

On the biggest frustrations after the game...

“Just the two turnovers on my part. That’s a frustrating aspect, it’s something that I wish I could take back, but I understand it’s a part of the game. Sometimes you can;t catch a break here and there. We got beat today in all phases and there is no way to put it or explain it in the right way. We didn;t play well and make plays we needed to. It was a good learning opportunity for us and I eventually believe we will really learn from this and put things in perspective that anybody can beat anybody. We just need to be able to play fourth quarters.”

On what he saw on the last play of the game…

“So it seemed like a simple snag and go and I just didn’t put enough on it. I was trying to throw over the top of number 24 and I under threw it. I know it’s a throw I can make and I just missed it today. It’s tough in general, I’m not making excuses. It's something you can only learn and improve from.”

What were your feelings after that throw…

“I was upset and I looked back and I know I can make that throw. I’ve made it plenty of times, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I’m am going to learn and improve from it.”

JORDAN MITTIE, SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE

On what he thought West Virginia did that they weren’t anticipating...

“They did a lot early on that we weren’t expecting. They were doing these fold blocks where they would cut into the defensive tackles and folding the guards over. I think we adjusted to it as the game went on but it definitely hurt us early in the game.”

On West Virginia switching quarterbacks…

“I don’t think so. He played at the end of the game last week. We knew we might see either guy so we were prepared for either, so it didn’t have much of an effect.”

On how many of their points came from the defense being in almost auto-pilot...

“Most of the time on defense you can point to somewhere where there is a misfit or a misread. That was what happened early on, we might have been a little out of focus. You have to come out ready to play every week in this league, that’s a capable team. We knew they had 500 yards throwing the ball last week and they just had four turnovers and we knew they could move the ball and we just couldn’t get any of those big plays.”

JAMES GILBERT, SENIOR RUNNING BACK

On why the run game struggled today...

“Their defensive line was getting a lot of penetration to slow down our run game. We did not do a good job cutting guys down too.”

On back to back weeks of struggling in the run game…

“We have to execute. It starts with the players and not the coaches. It is not the scheme either it starts with the players and we have to execute to get better.”

On focus today…

“Sometimes I feel like we did well but our confidence kinda went away a little bit but as a football team, we have to stick together and take it one play at a time.”

On going away from the identity of running the ball…

“It is real tough and that is who we are. When we struggle to run the ball it is hard do the rest of our offense and execute it at a high level. It starts with the run game we have to execute better next week.”

CHRIS KLIEMAN, K-STATE HEAD COACH

Opening Statement…

“Obviously, disappointing loss. A game that West Virginia earned the victory and deserved to win, I thought they outplayed us. All that being said, we had an opportunity late in the game to almost steal a victory. So, disappointed in a number of things but we’ve got to move on, we’ve got to move forward. That’s what we talked about in the locker room was this one’s going to hurt and we had an opportunity to win, didn’t get it done, it’s our own doing and we’re not going to point fingers because whether it’s the coaching staff, we made some errors, offense made some errors, special teams, defense, everyone made their errors today. We’ve got to come back on Monday and get ready for a tough road trip to Texas Tech and circle the wagons and get the guys ready to play because we’ve got a ton to play for still.”

On the running game…

“Somebody’s got to step up and make a play. We weren’t able to sustain a running game and have a good enough running game to get us into second and shorts. We had the one explosive play to start the game which was a great play and great design but we have to find some more explosive plays in the passing game. Especially when people are pressuring us and taking us off the run.”

On the issue with the running game the last couple of games…

“I think it’s a combination of things. I think it’s a lot of blitzing up front and if that happens, we’ve got to be able to decide where that pressure is coming from and hurt them when they do pressure and sometimes that’s in the run game but often times it’s in the passing game. We have to come up with some better ideas in the throwing game to be able to counteract the pressure we’re seeing on first down especially.”

On the 3rd and 22…

“It was a blown coverage but I didn’t see where he came from on the third and extra long. That can’t happen to give up a touchdown. All that being said, that’s not the play that beat us. That was a key factor but there’s so many other things throughout the game that could’ve helped determine that fate. And, obviously, that’s a big play because everyone sees that’s a touchdown early in the fourth quarter but we had our opportunities after that even.“

On Skylar Thompson…

“I thought he did a nice job. To really evaluate it after not looking at it, obviously, we want to score more points and that’s everybody, that’s not just your quarterback position, that’s everybody. We’ll have to evaluate and see where we can help him more, whether it’s in the run game or protection-wise. One thing is that Skylar is a great competitor and he’ll bounce back.”

On this being a surprising loss…

“I kind of caution everyone with that as far as that. Did you guys expect us to lose to Texas? Did you guys expect us to beat TCU? Did you guys expect us to beat Oklahoma? I’m not a big believer in that. If you don’t come prepared every week to play and if you do you have a great opportunity to win, if you play your tail off and practice your tail off, you may not win all the time. I’m not, and I never will be, one of those guys that will say ‘Well, you can chalk this one up as a victory, we’ll probably lose that one’, I’ve never been like that and never will be as far as, every week, you’re going to get everybody’s best shot. This is a really good league and everybody can beat everybody and that was more the message at the end of the game was ‘hey guys, this league is a really good league and make sure you’re ready to play every week.’”

DENZEL GOOLSBY, SENIOR FREE SAFETY

On what is the biggest frustration after the game...

“I think we left plays out there to be made both offensively, defensively and on special teams, so we need to continually get better at every phase of the game.”

On the 3rd and 22 touchdown play made by West Virginia…

“I saw him scrambling and it’s tough when a quarterback scrambles because sometimes players don’t know if they are past the line of scrimmage or not. I saw the ball getting thrown on the other side of the field, and a guy must have been able to get open. I haven’t seen the film yet so i will have to see what really transpired, but it was a good play on their part.”

On the defense giving up three passing touchdowns...

“They have some explosive players and a lot of good guys on their team. So I think they had a good game plan and they executed. They were the better team today.”

NEAL BROWN, WEST VIRGINIA HEAD COACH

Opening statement…

“First of all, I appreciate you all being here and making the trip, everybody that covers us. This is a huge win. It felt like a long time coming, kind of been knocking on the door. I told our staff earlier in the week, I really felt like we’d be in the position at some point to win a game or win more than one game that we shouldn’t have. We come in here against the number 24 team in the country that beat Oklahoma on this field. It’s big for our program. It’s big for our players and I’m proud of our guys. They competed. It wasn’t always pretty and that's kind of what we are right now, but they believed the whole time. That was our message to them, believing, being a man that’s accountable. Thought they did those things today. Really proud of our staff, thought we had a good plan in all three phases. Defensively, forced two takeaways. I thought we tackled really well in space and maybe the best we’ve done all season. We pressured the quarterback. We didn’t always get him down, but he had to move and get out of the pocket. Then, the second half after the first drive, we played big. Really excited for Hakeem Bailey, a guy that since we came in here in January, he’s really tried to do everything right, so I think it was fitting for him in this win to make the play that kind of capped it off. Offensively, zero turnovers, ran the ball better, which you look at the stats, we took some negative runs in the second half, but I thought we really kept them off balance in the first half.”

On West Virginia’s performance…

“We challenged our guys and talked about being accountable, what the expectations are and what the standards are for this program. I thought they showed character, competitive character. We come out, we go three and out and I think it went backwards. Sam (James) made a great catch. I thought they got a little handsy on that play, but they ruled him out of bounds so we punt and then they hit the first play of the game for a touchdown. Then, I think we came back and went in for a touchdown. So, I knew once we did that, we were going to be in this game until the fourth quarter, and that’s been our goal all year. Let’s get these games in the fourth quarter and let’s see what happens and we’ve done that with the exception of two. In this one, we finally came out on top.”

On Hakeem Bailey’s interception…

“The guy was open. I think we got some pressure on him. That’s a route that we’ve had trouble with in the past, not only here, but at Troy (University). So they got us in a good look. They made a good call and the ball just hung up, and (Hakeem) Bailey went in and made the play. My initial thoughts when the ball was in the air, because I saw it going to 83 (Dalton) Schoen, and I knew that would be the kind of guy they would go to. I saw him break free and I’m happy we got it. There’s been a lot this year that hasn’t gone our way, so we were due.”

On key points for defense against K-State’s Offense…

“I think that we were able to limit their run game, and I don’t think that this is a team that wants to throw the ball 39 times. They probably called closer to 45 pass plays. We came in the game and our intention was to try to make them throw the ball. I think Skylar Thompson is a really good player, but just because we didn’t think that was what they were built to do. I think they’ve got a couple wide-outs that are really talented, but we wanted to make them throw the ball. They did and they were effective, but as we know, because we have to be a team that throws the ball, there’s some bad things that can happen when you have to lean on passing.”

LEDDIE BROWN, SOPHOMORE RUNNING BACK

On how excited he is with the win...

“I think it was a great team win on both sides of the ball, offense and defense. We played off each other and the game plan on both sides, all the players did their job and just believed that we were going to come in here and win this game.”

On the running game today...

“Yeah, we knew coming into this game that we couldn’t win this game without the run game being a factor. Coach Scott has been telling us all week. He drew up a game plan, told us exactly what the defense was going to do, so we already knew coming in what we were looking for. We could just execute the game plan.

GEORGE CAMPBELL, SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER

On the excitement level after the win...

“It’s definitely high. It’s been a long time coming this year. Things haven’t always been going the way we wanted it to go, but to get a win like that in a crucial moment means a lot for the team. It just carries on momentum to the next week.”

On the offensive performance with the quarterback change…

“I think we just came out and executed the way we should. I think if Austin (Kendall) was back there, as well, it would’ve been the same way. I think that Coach Brown has trust in both quarterbacks, and both can get the job done.

On finding deep plays….

“Honestly yeah, it’s something we talked about during the week. We talked about the defense and we talked about the certain plays we were going to run, just being able to execute them when we got to that important moment.

JARRET DOEGE, JUNIOR QUARTERBACK

On making big throws while getting hit…

“Yeah, it’s part of football. You’ve got to be able to make some throws when you’re getting hit.”

On the touchdown pass to Bryce Wheaton...

“I was thinking just get through my progression, but I was forced out of the pocket and I saw Bryce (Wheaton) just standing there wide open. Fortunately I was able to get it off before I got hit. I didn’t know exactly if he caught it or what happened until I looked up and he was in the endzone.”

On when the coaches told him he was starter and what were his thoughts…

“Earlier this week, they told me and my first thoughts were just take it as another game. I’ve done this before, and just prepare like I’ve always prepared for this game.”

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