Oklahoma State vs. South Dakota State Postgame News Conference - 8/31/2024

the team that was a uh it was a really good win first game of the season which we all know is always a little scary um not quite as much for us this year with with all the returning starters but as I have said for months um this team doesn't make a lot of mistakes they're very well coached they're tough um we had to take the game from them like I thought we would have to they weren't going to give us the game they had opportunities at times um couple times we dropped coverage had a chance to hit a hit it and make a play and they didn't um sometimes that works for you sometimes it doesn't those are areas we need to be better in um but overall um I was pleased um with um the performance from a discipline standpoint um we only had one penalty um which is really good and I thought we were um good in special teams not excellent because we gave up um a couple returns too many yards we missed tackles but overall in special teams our ability to punt flip the field down the ball inside the 5 yard line and perform in the P field goal was really good so we're good in special teams good in penalties good in Hidden yards um we rushed the ball for I don't have I haven't even looked um 127 yards 38 carries so a little bit under what we should be be um we should be about a probably almost a yard more per carry there um but overall it was good for us um got a lot of work to do I shared with those guys that in all three phases there's going to be some really good video based on what I was told on the headphones from the tablets because obviously we can watch the video now during the game so we know a lot more during the game than we used to so there'll be some really good teaching as we move forward um giv a chance to relax a little bit tonight um and then get back to work and each week you know the challenge gets greater you mention needing to take the game from South Dakota State early how important were those first two defensive drives to get off the field turnover on Downs the interception um defensively we played good and then gave up big plays so I I almost did the math in my head there's about four plays that we could have taken away and it will be almost 50% of their production no 35% of their production that's my guess now again that's just me doing it in my head but those are important early in the game to get those stops and kind of get rolling and we had a chance and one time we were up three and a half or maybe four scores we could have stopped them and scored again and then extended the game to where it was we could have played a lot of other guys we didn't we gave him a cheap one dropped coverage in my opinion and then offensively in the fourth quarter we just sputtered around and um you know we tried to run the ball and use the clock and we just weren't very good if I had to do it all over again I'd just go play fast because I didn't like that side of it but um we were trying to just kind of nonchalantly use the clock and move the ball might not think of a seventh year guy in Alan Bowman getting better but year two now in this offense is there another level he can reach and also just you think today well Allen I think was good from a mental standpoint from what I had heard on the headphones um made decisions in what we asked him to do and his grade in that area I think would be really high and that's where he can help himself and help our team if he'll get the ball distributed to the people that we have because most of what we do is run pass options Mike we watched North Dakota State play Colorado great game could have gone either way Thursday night when you saw that game did your anxiety level for this game go up any or did you know that it was a potential dog fight anytime you get one of those two teams so I was watching the Emporia State Hornets at the same time so I did not see a play but I was getting text messages um my youngest son was watching that game and col rod and was dinging me about it so my anxiety went up when I saw that score um I can't remember I was afraid to look it up but I think this team beat them by three or four touchdowns last year I'm not sure and I'm not taking anything away in Wakota State they they do a great job but when I when somebody sent me the final score my anxiety went up a little bit I I will have to admit Mike we've heard about Oli continuing to physically evolve and but seeing him out there on the field it seemed to pop in my mind I don't know about you but his decision to add the weight and the strength what do you hope that brings to his game and ultimately your team well he was physical last year and he looks to be physical again now um I thought he ran very well today made guys miss guys bounc off of you he made big runs at Key times today and he looks better physically running than he even did last year in my opinion now as we get through the next month and start to play teams that are going to be bigger and more athletic again not take anything away from them but we're going to play teams that'll be um in a better physical presence it'll be interesting to watch him but today I thought he was good from a physical standpoint adjustments you guys made going into this year seemed like Colin was almost exclusively on the edge obviously Kindle linebacker things like that how do you feel like those aspects of the game went the first they were in a lot of heavy Personnel so that brings him up on the edge more than what it would they play a lot of 12 and 13 Personnel so there's packages we have for him to do do different things but that side of it brought him up a lot today um and I can't see as much from the sideline there because you know he's in the mix and there's so much going on but I didn't hear anybody on the headphones concerned about his play today even though the weather ended up being more comfortable than we probably anticipated a couple of weeks ago did you still feel you that was an area where you can get the going and and maybe end up with the cramping issues that they we we should have used more Tempo early in the um third and fourth um but the the issue with the tempo was is they stopped it and so we didn't get Tempo so to a certain extent you're almost working against yourself if you're in a hurry mode and they're stopping it then it works against the principle of the concept so to we we lost a little bit of that based on you know they had cramp problems um we need to play Fast um I think we're good when we play fast in my opinion um but there's also areas that we need to improve in uh based on what I saw today just from with the naked eye you think by seasons in you'll look back maybe in South Dakota will have been one of the three or four better run defenses you will have seen or are you a little concerned that you didn't get big bigger numbers I in the Run game I I thought we were average running the ball today now they play they play good defense they always have and they understand principles of inside leverage you know I'm going to take the runaway I'm not going to let this guy block me and then I'm going to Rally late and defend the pass you watched enough football you know what I'm talking about they're really good at it and so you know that's why hardly anybody scores on them in their games but I didn't think that we ran the football as well as we should have in my opinion what did you think of Kowski and Johnson the the quarterback yeah I thought he he made some plays I I think um I don't know the young man but I'm going to guess if you talk to him he's going to feel like he missed five or six throws that he could have hit um just watching his his uh all his plays from last year um but uh he's uh you know he has ability to to run the ball some and can throw it around um and he improvises you know there were several times that we had a good twist and we had a blitz on him and he gets out of there and makes a play that's what he's really good at in my opinion coach what did today's game show you with a naked eye that you feel like needs to not happen next week to give you a better shot to beat Arkansas than maybe today's champ St just what I said what I started with we play good defense and then we give up four or five big plays and as you start to play teams that are talented that's going to create an issue so those are the are that's the first area we got to improve on second is we have to run the ball better we ran the ball okay today but that's not good enough those are the two areas was that a what in the not being good as good in the Run game as you wanted offensive line backs calls what was the I I would have to um look and see um I thought there were some Concepts we could have done differently in my opinion rushing the ball that would have helped us some but it would be a little unfair for me to say that without watching but I will certainly know more whenever the next time we get together how much of the Arkansas opener have you had a chance to watch or is that not much at all not really because uh you know patrino came in so you know we watch his stuff um I'm I'm sure he's probably I know that coach is an o line guy and a run game guy and and and so is coach patrino and so I'm sure their mesh is going to be good but me watching his stuff would be more valuable um and then some defensive stuff we we're there's probably not going to be a lot to watch unfortunately they're going to have better tape than what we're going to have just when what with what happened in week one Mike I think you said at one point this preseason that you felt like dejon after the injury last year was probably gonna give him a little Edge anger or something like that have you seen that with who djan stribbling um have you sort of seen what happened last year with the injury effect and maybe just sort of round him into an even you know better player he's been really really good um it's it's extremely difficult for guys as you know to get injured early in the season they they put so much time and effort into everything they do and his composure and the way he handled himself was awesome because he had one of those injuries where he could have played but we chose to not playing based on a small percent percentage that he could have really injured himself more um we could have kind of casted it up and let him go but and there was a time when I think he wanted to do it but we felt like we knew better for his long term and he's really worked hard and had a good August uh he he there was one ball today he could have caught they didn't catch normally he'll catch that and you if he makes that catch in the end zone then you know he's going to end up with a 125 yard day would you know he had a good day that would have been a great day to go back to to gronowski their quarterback uh you know he's had some big games as a runner he talked about that just how did you feel that your front seven did did you feel like um y'all sort of forced him maybe made him decide not to run as much and and how when he did decide to run how did you feel like y'all contain I thought our coaches had a good scheme and concept to discourage some of that but also rally late to him him because he can be an issue in that area they know what they're doing on offense with their 13 personnel and shifting and moving and getting a Nubs side and run a counter back that way because with the quarterback running you're one man short over there somebody's got to Rally back over the top and I thought that our Concepts and our players did a good job of that today so what is the ultimate value of today does it give you a real feel for what your team is going into what you're about to get into or does it just give you a good road map for the next three practices what today mhm um it get I have a pretty good idea of of what I think I saw in the areas that we need to improve in in my opinion it's not a secret we have to do a good job of matching up and not drop coverage on defense and we have to rush the ball better that'd be two good starts right there that you uh did you use any of the the iPads on the side are you able to me yeah no I didf no they all did they had them upstairs and down um that'll you know that'll be a discussion in the morning what we get out of it what changes we need to make this is all so new the earpiece and um it'll be interesting when we review it in the morning to try to learn and make it better the tablets how productive were we do we need to change the way we're operating in that area earpiece all those different the technology is so muchat so different this year I didn't use it um I don't have time to look at that and then also know what's going on with both series I you know I need to know what's going on in the game to make decisions and if I'm over there looking at a tablet it'd be hard for me to do that unless I was the play caller you hear what is is saying to Bowman or are you blocked out of that I can't they won't let me hear it if anybody's a good it guy uh we get the guy from Michigan down here and let him hook me up even though he didn't do it what was that song in uh what was that song you you should know yeah the song it was kind of a partial rap in the shower it called me I didn't do it it wasn't me what was it that's right it wasn't me I know that was you it wasn't meame is based on who's in the game so one of the more challenging things that we face this year is not violating the Green Dot rule because the guy with the Green Dot is the guy that's that has the control of radio he can't have two green dots on the field where it's a penalty so you have to be really careful now offense is not as much of a challenge because you're not going to have two quarterbacks on the field the defense you have different people and then the real ch challeng is on special teams when you have a cross of both sides of the ball on the field you got to make sure you don't have two green dots hey might speaking of stickers on helmets we got the news before the game that your QR codes got mixed by the NCA when did you find out about that and how did um how did that affect maybe your equipment guys most I guess yeah it went um oh probably two Tuesdays or Wednesday is um they called me and said that NCAA was uh had met and said it was a uniform violation and that um it was punishable by The Players being suspended if we put um the QR codes on the helmets now I read the rule I think it's judgmental based on if it ever went to a court of law um it's pretty vague uh and um all we're trying to do is the most we can do to maximize our players opportunities with fans across the world that don't have a chance to be involved if they're not local and they felt like that it was a a uniform violation because it had a social media handle to it which in my opinion is not because there's nothing that has anything to do with the social media on the QR code just had around Stadium we had it everywhere so you can do it we had it um we have it you know it's in his restaurants it's in bars it's it's all over campus it is there is a link on social media but that is not on the QR code so Thursday night the the guy that watches it for us he was texting me and people were sending money to it in edmin at some bar we made several $4,000 I don't know who it was but and uh maybe they were watching a game and thought it was us playing I don't know but somebody was lighting it up on Thursday night but um they said it was a uniform violation so I don't agree with that but what I didn't want to do is take a chance on them trying to drop the hammer on a player because that wouldn't be fair to the player now if it was me if they were going to drop the hammer on me I don't care I would have wore it but I don't want a I don't want a player to get penalized for something like that so I just said it's not worth it because um you know I don't know what Authority they have anymore but I just don't want to take a chance on them trying to penalize a player for something that um we could avoid out something where you can use them I'm working on it on field goals including the 52 Y how you feel like he did in his first game I thought he played well I thought that he uh you know obviously was good with his kicks and then he had uh let's see well I don't it didn't break the punts down here but um he kicked uh I don't know he kicked two or three off maybe early in the game then we West came in and did our kickoff West did a great job it looked like uh but Logan was looked good and was comfortable on his field goals and PS kind of kind ofpp I know Camp kind upet about that today yeah I was pleased those are the things I thought we were good in special teams and I thought we were really good discipline standpoint got to minimize some big plays we got to rush the ball better on next week you're not old enough to have played in that rivalry but old enough to remember it I think what do you think of the historic nature of of renewing the Arkansas rivalry and what you remember of it as a kid um you know I I remember more with them being involved in games in the Cotton Bowl um and then the Orange Bowl with Lou Holtz remember that I think it's a good concept for both schools based on the way this playoff system is going to go because as I mentioned earlier I feel like that they're going to reward teams for a more challenging preseason non-conference schedule and this will be a a good challenge for us anytime you're going to play a team in the SEC because they're going to have really physical guys up front will be a good challenge for us so I think it's positive last uh you know I haven't I'm going to guess we're not going to get a lot out of it because they probably wouldn't bu vanilla really quick wouldn't be my guess now I haven't looked at it um we'll get something out of it but I mean it's not going to be as much as what they're going to get out of this game because we're more like who we are in this game a bunch and yeah you know the bigs be tied in yeah Luke yeah he's going to be pretty last question you mentioned wanting to get more guys in late if the game had gone a little differently you did get to rotate a lot of guys in at different spots to the first three quarters is is that a strength of this team that you expect to be utilized every week getting guys in at different spots yeah I think that's important and you know we've talked about it all through the off season that we have a number of players on both sides of the ball that have some sort of experience that can get in and play and in my opinion the area you really improve in is when you get in a game and play practice is great but it's not the same so the more reps we can get players in it does two things one it shows us who they are and two it gives us a chance to evaluate them and keep the other guys fresh so so I was pleased with the number of players that we're able to get in thanks guys good all right