Klieman’s opening statement:

“Great game by our guys on Saturday. Phenomenal effort, great poise, we didn’t panic. We started fast like we needed to, they came back like I knew they would and we found a way to continue to keep answering the bell when it got close. We never got behind and I think that was really important with the crowd with the way it was, and us not losing the lead, continuing to stay a step ahead and getting an extra possession or getting a field goal before half, or a big kick return and getting another score when we were losing the momentum. In the second half, putting a couple big drives together as well as the defense – even though we didn’t play exceptionally well on defense – we played well at critical times against one of the best offense in college football to force a couple of punts in our territory which really changed some of the momentum that they had. And then we were able to continue to keep that two-score lead until the very end. I’m proud of the guys. We talked about it yesterday as really 12 one-week seasons in college football and that’s what it is, guys. It doesn’t matter what league it’s in, what conference it’s in, anybody can beat anybody. So you better prepare and have great preparation and focus. This week it is no different with Texas Tech. It’ll be an exciting week for us at home on (Agriculture) Day here at K-State. Excited about our agriculture background and being an ag school and being a land-grant university. It’ll be a special day here at the Bill.”

On the blocking performance against OU:

“Sustained blocks and – we ID’d guys better with a lot of stunts and movements teams have done to us – you can ID guys and either you sustain them or you fall off of blocks, and I thought we did a really good job of sustaining blocks and not falling off of them. We did a really good job at the point of attack and the other thing I know helped us in the run-game was the amount of tempo that I know (offensive coordinator) Collin (Klein) ran and tried to go fast. We believed that they were going to wait to see what we were going to line up in and I think we caught them a few times that gave us not a free 10 yards, or 12 yards but gave us some second and shorts or got us a first down simply by going fast.”

On what he’s seen from Texas Tech:

“Very impressive. They got down and a sign of a really good football team they had guys who believed. I know they are really well coached, so when they were down and found the resolve to continue to fight and stay in it until the bitter end, then they found a way to win it in overtime. It’s a huge win for Joey (McGuire). He got a signature win right away.”

On the significance of the matchup:

“I don’t ever think about that probably like you do. It’s one week seasons. It’s hard to predict what is going to happen in any conference or in any league. We play them when they tell us to play them, where they ask us to play them and on whatever network it is. Our guys are just excited about being 1-0 in league play. That’s the thing that’s most important for us is trying to continue to play well in league play.”

Klieman on injury updates:

“Andrew (Leingang) is still out indefinitely. We’re trying to learn more from the doctors, I really can’t get into what it is. We’re trying to learn more this week and I can’t tell you if he’ll be available this week. We’re still waiting on some more appointments and tests for him. Drake (Cheatum) will be fine. Nate (Matlack) played just a couple plays on Saturday and couldn’t be effective the way that Nate feels like he can be. I think that helped us because we were smart enough as an athletic training staff to shut him down. So I think that will help him this week be more healthy.”

Klieman on Tech’s tempo:

“In the past I would’ve said that we had to probably slow it down, but for our offense to be successful, they need to be in rhythm and the one way you get in rhythm is by going faster. And we were able to slow it down when we needed to. I think CK had a great game plan as to when to go fast, and when to slow it down. And we have to continue to mix that up. The thing that I hope – I haven’t looked and you guys know it better than I do – you guys know what the temperature is going to be like on Saturday morning. I know last week it was 90 on the field and it was hot. Our guys were gassed. The big thing for us whether you go fast or whether you go slow, you better convert on third and fourth down. We were 10 of 19 and they were 5 of 15. That resulted in us hanging onto the football for I think nine more minutes. If we would’ve had 25 more plays and lost those nine more minutes I don’t know where we would’ve found them, especially on the defensive front. So if you’re going fast and still moving the chains I think it’s great.”

On more guys on defense playing:

“You know TJ Smith I thought played well and did some really good things. You know, TJ was coming off an injury and didn’t play in the first game but he wasn’t probably going and now he’s getting back and that’ll help us because TJ is a good football player that we’ve probably got to give more reps to to even it out with Kobe (Savage). Kobe is doing really well, but he’s playing an awful lot. Nick Allen played some MIKE, played some WILL. Cody Stufflebean came in and played some plays. (Jaylen Pickle) played some more plays because of Nate (Matlack). My man Uso (Seumalo) played a couple of big-time snaps and he’s going to get more snaps probably but Eli (Huggins) is a difference-maker inside there, but we’re excited to see what Uso can do because he can help us.”

On Julius Brents' hits:

“We played well in the secondary even though we gave up a couple explosives that we don’t want to give up. But you’re going to against an offense that is that talented. But I like the way our corners were aggressive and Julius especially in man coverage, he made a couple of plays in one-on-one on outside balls that were big. And then he tackled really physically and that’s Julius. He’s getting better and better and I know he’s played a lot of football for us but just understanding what we’re doing defensively. I think he’s really starting to come into his own and understand our scheme and where he fits and he played well.”

On being prepared for Texas Tech by what they saw against OU:

“Hopefully it prepares us pretty well as far as the amount of throws, passing game, open sets and ball coming out of the quarterback’s hands. These guys are exceptional. It’s not just Myles Price. There are a lot of guys that can beat you. They’ve got running backs that can beat you, a lot of wide receivers that can beat you. A guy that is really helping us right now is Adryan Lara on scout team. That kid spins it around really really well with a lot of different wideouts that we use. Adryan is really challenging us and it’s going to make us better when we do do some spread sets because Adryan can look guys off and put the ball in some tight, tight windows. It’s a big challenge every week in the passing game and we’re fortunate that we’ve got really good scout wide receivers and Adryan playing quarterback on the scout team.”

Klieman on Leingang’s absence and the OL in general:

“They played really well. They were beat up and they were fatigued, but they weren’t going to be denied. You weren’t going to get Hadley (Panzer) or (Hayden Gillum) out of the game. I think KT (Leveston) is playing so well right now and it’s fun watching him play with confidence. All of us have known KT’s ability over the last few years, but to see KT playing with such confidence and having fun playing he’s playing at an all-conference level. (Christian Duffie) is really silent but is playing really well. He’s just doing what Duff does. He does his job to a high high level. And then yeah, (Cooper Beebe) went out and Dawson Delforge came in and did a nice job. Not having Leingang in we lost a backup especially at the tackle spot, so Beebs would’ve been our kick-out guy to tackle and that didn’t happen so we ended up giving I think Coop an IV bag in the third quarter and he was able to come back and finish it. But man this global warming stuff is killing us, it’s so dang hot all the time that we can’t get this thing cooled down.”

On what Deuce Vaughn has shown in pass protection:

“Yeah, he’s been really good. He’s worked at it as far as the mental side as far as knowing who he has. And he’s standing up and stoning some guys. He’s a really strong kid and sometimes you don’t realize how strong he is when you’re coming at him full speed. And he plays with good pad level and with a good base and he delivers a blow. He doesn’t catch it. I think that’s a big thing from a pass protection standpoint. You don’t want to catch it, you want to deliver the blow and he has stepped up and made some really nice blocks that have allowed us to stay sack-free so to speak, as well as giving Adrian (Martinez) more time when a play breaks down to either go make a play with his arm or his legs.”

Klieman on giving up big plays and Omar Daniels’ mentality:

“Omar is a confident kid and Omar is a really good football player. He got beat by one of the best wide receivers in the Big 12 and probably the country in (Marvin) Mims. Some of it is a technique thing, but I appreciate Omar because if you’re going to play DB you’re going to get beat. Bottom line, you’re going to get beat at times. Nobody wants to. You could be a freshman or a fifth-year it’s going to happen. It’s just about how you respond when it does happen. Omar will respond. He’s a confident guy and we have a lot of belief in him. It probably will help him. Nobody wants to get beat but you learn to survive and learn from it.”

On Khalid Duke and speed:

“He continues to take steps forward just with the amount of time that he missed and then getting him back when we started school and the season started. In our mind, we’ve played four games and that’s about four weeks. That’s his training camp. He missed three-plus weeks of training camp, so that’s his training camp. He’s fresh, he’s in shape, he’s moving around really well and he’s confident. It’s fun to see the look on Khalid’s face. Khalid’s having fun playing and it’s great to see with some of the challenges that he’s been able to overcome that some of his best football is ahead of him this year.”

Klieman on Ben Sinnott:

“I think it was something that we saw in prep to try to get some seam routes and vertical routes and he happened to be the guy that was open or Adrian did a nice job of looking off the safety and finding him sitting down in the zone. That’s not an easy catch because you don’t know where the guy is coming from. You don’t know if the guy is going to get hit, undercut, whatever. You don’t know where the defender sometimes is. Those are big-time plays. Those were explosive plays. We talk about explosive plays and the two seam routes that I know we had I think one was on the first drive that set us up for a score. Another one came when we were tied or had to have a big drive and he carried some guys. He’s a big guy but he carried some guys for five, six or seven more yards. It was good to see Ben add some things to our passing game with our wide receivers who all played well.”

Klieman on prepping for Texas Tech’s QB and whether you prepare at all for Tyler Shough:

“We’ve got to watch the film. It’s hard to beat Texas and make a change. I don’t know if they’ll make a change. Joey’s got to decide that. But we’ll watch the film because I think there are some differences between the two guys, but Smith is playing really well right now and played – I think – dynamite against Texas. So obviously that’s more of our focal point but you never know who is going to come in offensively or defensively and make a play or two that can turn the game.”

On the 55-yard run by Adrian:

“Well it definitely opens things up, I think we can all see that. The touchdown runs were all designed runs. The long run was not a designed run. Just talking on the headsets with CK, we were going to try to run four verticals again and see if we could throw a seam ball for 15 or 20 yards and they did a good job of covering the seams. I think Adrian – which I was so appreciative of – had a mindset that if the seam was covered I’m gone because we couldn’t have thrown a shorter comeback if the seams were covered and gotten a first down. So we would’ve punted in a one-score game. So once he saw the seams being taken away I think that lifted some of the underneath coverage out of there and then when he took off and ran he just had to beat one guy to get to the corner and then I think the thing that impressed all of us and what we were all wanting to see and did see is he put it in another gear in the fourth quarter. That was a gear that I had seen and knew was in him and he knew it was in him, so to have that second gear and to split the safeties and outrun everybody and just the smartness of sliding and keeping the ball in play so the clock had to keep running – because we knew at that time whether we got a touchdown or field goal it became a clock issue with possessions and clock and timeouts.”

On the most difficult part of preparing for an air raid offense:

“Just trying to keep the ball in front of you. Trying not to give up explosive plays is the first thing. There are a lot of motions and what we call formations into the boundary where they are stacking receivers to the short side just trying to out-number you and trying to make sure that we can even out the numbers so to speak. You have to be able to get a pass rush and it’s always hard to get a pass rush because the ball comes out – but if you don’t try to get a pass rush then they are not going to get the ball out and they are going to hold it for a little bit, so for Coach Klanderman and that defensive staff it’s trying to change some things up. You’ve gotta be able to play man, you’ve gotta be able to play zone, you’ve gotta be able to pressure, you’ve gotta be able to drop eight. You have to keep changing the picture, which seems like an easy thing to do, but when the tempo is as fast as it is you’ve got to limit some of your calls.”

On benefits of playing OU before Tech:

“I think the systems are a little bit different but the tempo is not. So the tempo helps us in the fact that we had to get ready to go right away again. But the systems are a little bit different. These guys can still run the ball. They’ve got two really good running backs that have been around there a long time and have been productive for a long time. It’s not one of those things where we can say we’re going to drop everybody and say run the ball. That’s the first thing we have to do is shut down the run game the best we can – or I should say control it – I shouldn’t say shut it down because I don’t think you can shut it down. Just control it so that once again you’re not having those 2nd-and-4’s and limit explosive plays.”

Klieman on the 24-hour rule:

“The 24-hour rule became about a six-hour rule. Because by the time we got home, thanks to the Pride, our kids loved that, it’s one of the neatest traditions that is around in college football and to see guys like Josh Hayes and Kobe Savage and Adrian (Martinez) and any new player come back and see the droves of band members and cheer squad and that’s special. Can’t thank Dr. (Frank) Tracz enough for getting that done. So we got home at 3 or 4 in the morning and I had a TV show to do in the morning, so I didn’t sleep a whole lot on Saturday night and was back here ready to get to work. Some day we’ll get caught up but you’re fortunate to win and you know, when you play on the road at night, that’s the disadvantage. Coaches will bounce back, we’ll find a way to bounce back. It’s the players that are going to bed at 3 or 4 in the morning and they’ve got treatment in the morning and then they are practicing on Monday, on Tuesday, it’s a normal week and your bodies are beat up anyway, and it takes – you’ve got to get your bodies back. And that’s our main focus this week is getting the players' bodies back. Coaches are going to get their bodies back but the players have to get their bodies back.”

On Kobe Savage’s Big 12 Newcomer of the Week award:

“Kobe’s been a great addition for us. We knew it in the spring when we brought him here because of his energy and love for football. He’s just continued to improve from spring to summer and then to fall camp. But if you tracked him for a day he doesn’t sit and he probably doesn’t sleep a whole lot. That kid is always doing something football whether it’s recovery or doing extra drills after practice to – I remember coming up here on a Friday, Saturday during June when we’d have recruits up here and it’s 90 some degrees out. He and other dudes are out there working out all the frigging time in the heat. To the amount of time that he sits in Coach Klanderman’s office and just talks ball. It’s fun because he’s reaping the rewards, but he’s put the work and the effort in. It’s neat when a kid has the success that he surely has earned.”

On message to Savage’s family on recruiting trip:

“Great family for starters. And very close-knit family that is very invested in their children. We do what we always do. We show them who we are, the kind of people that we are and the impact of all of the people. Not coach Klieman but all the people that are going to impact him from nutrition, to strength and conditioning, to athletic training to academics, to assistant coaches. Everybody that’s going to have an impact on that kid’s life. That’s the 50-year plan, not the three-year plan. That’s the 50-year plan and that’s what we try to sell to all our people. We’re going to give you an unbelievable degree and an unbelievable opportunity to be successful with a great bunch of guys in the locker room that care about each other, that love each other and I want to make sure in the next 50 years you’re going to be an unbelievable community member, a father, husband, leader, whatever it may be. That’s something that everybody in this football department shows a kid when they come on a visit. That’s the difference.”

On Chris Tennant:

“I appreciate you asking about Chris. His mindset never changes and I just love the way he approaches things. He never gets too high, he never gets too low. Chris and I know he has to make the short field goals that he has. There’s no reason for me to go up to the kid and yell at the kid and say ‘what the heck are you doing?’ It’s like missing a four foot putt. Everybody misses them, well Gene (Taylor) doesn’t, but most people do. And Chris just continued to work and that’s all he did. I don’t even care – I don’t know what the distance of the field goals were, that place was rocking and he didn’t flinch and he banged them through with confidence. I’m excited for Chris because we all know what a leg he has and the kind of athlete he is. I’m excited for his future.”

On substitution patterns and subbing late:

“Absolutely. You have to. That’s the rule and they put the rule in play that if you substitute you have time to match that substitution. We knew it was a critical situation (4th and 5) and they substituted late. And I screamed in the headset, send somebody and (defensive ends coach) Buddy (Wyatt) did the perfect thing and sent a defensive end for a defensive end and those kids don’t run 4.4, so it’s going to take them a while for them to get out there and take them a while to get back. And then I think they substituted again another guy and yeah, you hate it as an offensive coach, but that’s the rule and it was benefit for us. We’re fortunate because I think they had a delay on that time, so I think that was one that knocked them into a punt where they were going to go for it. Really sharp by Coach Wyatt to get a d-end for a d-end. It would be really easy to shift a corner out for the corner that was closest to us but we went d-end for d-end and took our time.”

Klieman on what he appreciated of Adrian Martinez’s play on a second watch:

“The calmness that he had. The confidence that he had. Nothing rattled him and we were able to get to the line of scrimmage most of the time soon enough that if he didn’t like something he was calm, came up and made some changes to some plays and got us into the right call. That was the cool thing that I saw in front of 84,000 people. He was like, ‘I’ve got this under control.’