Watch: Klieman, players meet with media following Pop-Tarts Bowl win

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman, running back DJ Giddens, and quarterback Avery Johnson met with the media following the team's win over NC State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

The full video, along with transcripts for each person, is available below.

ON THE FINAL DRIVE:

Yeah, we knew we needed to finish the drive strong and put the game away, and just credit to those guys up front. Fifteen plays is not easy, and they dominated. We pushed the ball down the field and ultimately got in the end zone, so credit to my teammates.

ON HIS CONFIDENCE THROUGHOUT THE GAME:

I just try to carry myself with confidence throughout everything that I do, and credit to my dad always for just making sure I am confident in myself. When you have teammates and coaches and players, like you know players around you that are confident in your ability, it just ultimately makes my job easier. So credit to them once again just making my job easy today.

ON HIS FRESHMAN SEASON

It has been a lot of ups and downs and a lot of learning. When you come into college, you do not really know what to expect. I am so happy I chose Kansas State. I am so happy I got to be around these players and these coaches because they truly do care about you, and it really is a brotherhood and it really is a family. It is not like that at other places, and I am a hundred percent sure of that.

Whenever you have people that care about you in the facilities, in the locker room, it just really makes going out and putting your head down and working easier

ON SCRAMBLING OUT OF THE POCKET

Yeah, really just kind of goes -- kind of weird. Pre-snap when you get the coverage and I go through my read and I do not like necessarily what we have, then I kind of get flushed out of the pocket and, ultimately, I just try to keep my eyes down the field and see if maybe somebody pops open. If somebody does, great hit them. If not, tuck it down and run. \

At the end of the day, if there is nothing available, you have to throw the ball away. I just tried to be smart with the football today and tried not to turn it over. At the same time, just cut it loose and play a little bit, because you can not play conservative with the football.

ON PLAYING WITH CONOR RILEY AS OC

It was a lot of fun. For it to be my first start and his first game as an OC [offensive coordinator], we both had ups and downs. I am looking forward to growing with him and building with him and just you see he really cares about this team. He had fire to himself throughout practice, throughout this whole Bowl week, throughout the whole time we were down in Orlando.

He is really thankful to be in this position. I am really just happy to be able to throughout this whole week just build a deeper relationship with him because he really does care about his players and at the end of the day he want to win just as badly as the rest of us, so credit to him.

ON HIS FIRST TOUCHDOWN

Man, that is a play that we been practicing all week. We already knew it was coming, we prepared for it. We got extra – stayed after practice. Got some extra reps of them throws, because we knew it was going to come. They were going to bring everybody and once he made the check, I already knew what it was. I knew it was going to go.

ON PLAYING WITH AVERY JOHNSON

It is great, because we complement each other. It is always good for a quarterback to be able to run the ball, because if it is not going to go for me, he is going to do his thing or vice versa.

ON PLAYING WITH A LOT OF KANSAS-BORN PLAYERS

Yeah, it is always great seeing Des do his thing on the field, knowing he is from Kansas, too. Every time in the locker room, we are always talking to each other about the game and how both of us did good during the game. It was great seeing him do that for real.

OPENING STATEMENT

Great win for our program. Great win for our seniors. Finished the legacy of 2023 with this group and started a new journey and legacy for the 2024 guys. That is what Bowl games are becoming a little bit. We honored the seniors, and then we got a little glimpse into 2024.

We beat a really good football team. I have tons of represent for Coach Doeren. He is a great football coach. They play physical, and they play hard. These are two mirrored programs and the game was really physical on both sides. That is what we knew it would be. Their quarterback is an exceptional player. We finally found a way to slow him down a little bit in the second half, and we struggled in the third quarter moving the ball offensively.

Then, we got into a little bit of rhythm in the fourth quarter, which allowed us a couple big drivers. One, obviously, with the touchdown, and then, got the interception and were able to basically run the clock out. That is something that is really important to me, really important to Coach Riley and our offense is to finish the game, finish the game on the field, offensively.

We have been going for it on fourth down all year, and we were 4-for-4 tonight and that was a huge deal.

ON CONOR RILEY

I think he did a phenomenal job. To me, it is an entire picture. It is not a three-hour snapshot. It is over the last two weeks of just watching him handle the offense, handling being in the front of the room.

Really different for Conor being on the field, as opposed to being in the box like he was tonight. That is a different view.

Clint Brown did a phenomenal job helping him up there. We are going to enjoy the heck out of this one, and we will talk about some of those things later on.

I was proud of Riles. I love Conor Riley. Conor Riley and I have been battling together as assistants. When I got hired at NDSU, he was the first guy that I asked to stay with me. When I got hired at K-State, he was the first guy I asked to come with me. He earned the right tonight to do what he did.

ON AVERY JOHNSON

He is a special, special talent. He is a very humble kid that has a ton of confidence, and that is a really hard thing to do.

Yeah, he has some swagger, and he can be brash, I am sure, if he wants to, but he is such a humble kid. It is a credit to his parents. His parents have done a phenomenal job, raising a competitor, raising a guy that hates to lose at anything.

But just having the confidence and being humble, as well, it is a pretty unique trait. The kid is mature beyond his years, and I think a lot of people saw that. North Carolina State has really good players on defense, and they had a hard time catching him, because he just understands angles and how to beat people. When he could not get the edge, okay, he would throw it away, did some big-time things, but some of the scrambles he had were against really good football players.

For a young player to do what he did, we are really excited about the future.

ON DJ GIDDENS

The kid was turnt tonight, wasn't he (Laughter). As soon as I find out what that is, I will tell you. (Laughter).

DJ is – I mean – that kid learned and watched Deuce Vaughn, who is a really good player and just bided his time and that is hard to do at that running back position. He carried the ball some last year and stuff, but he learned behind Deuce. We gave him the football this year.

We relied on him. He is as good a guy picking up the protection. A great guy in catching the football, and guys, he is a load to bring down now. He ran through some arm tackles against really good players, and one thing I knew Riles was going to do is he is going to force feed DJ.

ON AVERY JOHNSON'S PLAY OUT OF THE POCKET

Yeah, they have a lot of guys returning, and I know they were without their really good linebacker. To go against a defense like that, I have so much respect for their defensive coordinator and their defensive staff. We didn't turn the football over, that was a huge thing.

Some of those times, a young player may force a throw when he is scrambling and does not see anybody open. He just said, you know what, I will throw it away.

The No. 1 stat that he looks for is: Did you win the game? I know he was 14-of-31, but he threw the ball away and avoided a number of sacks or lost yards and, you know what, he is 1-0 as a starting quarterback. That is the No. 1 stat that we look at.

He helped us win. He made big-time play after big-time play. He made the check on the last touchdown throwing it to Jas. He saw the look. How many young kids are going to say, no, I am not going to change it right now and throw a great dime to him.

ON THE SIX-YEAR SENIORS PLAYING TONIGHT

They love K-State. They love the culture they have built. They love the fact that they have one more stage to play with their brothers. That is a party going on in there with those six-year guys.

I think it says more that they came back to play for K-State this year, and so many of those guys are O-linemen, and they came back to play for Conor Riley.