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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 10, 2014Pete RobertsonDeAndre WashingtonQ. How do you feel coming off the bye week? You had a lot more carries than in years past. How are you feeling now? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Body is feeling good. I think we definitely needed it. I think we got some of the guys that were banged up, gave them a chance to get their bodies right as well, so definitely feeling good coming off this bye week. Q. Obviously, Senior Day coming up. Guys like Bradley and some of those guys you came in with as freshmen, how much would you like to send these guys off with a good game on Saturday? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Yeah, definitely huge. I mean, it's been a pleasure playing with those guys. I mean, especially because I have a special relationship. I came in with the majority of those guys, so it will definitely be huge. I'm definitely going to try to do everything in my power to make sure we send those guys off on a positive note. Q. It's always good to have an opportunity to have a bye week and rest up a little bit. But do you think this is a great time for you guys? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Yeah, just how the flow of things, how things have been going this year. I think it was much needed. Gave us a chance, especially with our quarterbacks, to get those guys healthy, as well as a few other positions. I think it came at a good time. Q. Obviously, you've played aside many quarterbacks. Do you think it changes your game as far as the offense is concerned? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: As far as my game? No. At the end of the day, it's still football. You have to go out there and do what you do. So I don't think too much changes as far as what the running backs do. But as far as our game plan as a whole, I think it definitely has some changes. Q. Do you look at a guy like DeMarco Murray and what he's doing and doing for the Cowboys and trying to emulate some of that for what you can do for this team? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Yeah, I'm actually not a really big Cowboys fan. But I do watch DeMarco Murray. I think he's having a fantastic year. Kind of watch how high his career has gone, and he's had his injury problems. But I think he's definitely done some good things for those guys this year. Q. Who is your team? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: I'm a Houston Texans fan. We're struggling right now too. But you know, I'm going to ride the ship out. Q. What concerns you about going up against Oklahoma's defense? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: I can't really say I'm concerned. I mean, those guys do some good things, but I'm not really too much concerned. Q. (No microphone) is that something you guys talk about or do you just try to take it one game at a time? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: I mean, definitely. It's still a one‑game at a time situation. But we know what's at stake. We either win out or we lose one game and get ready for a long off‑season. So I mean that's what we're dealt with right now. So we know what we're up against, and we're just trying to take it one day at a time starting this week. Q. Do you get the sense everybody has a sense of urgency about that? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Definitely. At this point you really have no choice. As I said, we put ourselves in the hole early on in the season. These are the cards we've been dealt, so we have to make the most out of it. Q. Do you anticipate Davis will be back? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: He's been out there practicing some. I don't know what his status will be, but he's been out there moving around and practicing with us. Q. It could be a 6‑6 regular season, if you had known that coming into this season, how difficult would that have been to handle? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Yeah, I mean, it definitely would have been something I would have expected. But sometimes things don't go how you expect. Like I said, these are the cards we've been dealt with, and we've got to play our hand. Q. With the kind of defensive scheme Oklahoma's going to bring, do you think your offense is up to the challenge this week no matter what? DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Yeah, it always starts with us. When we're playing our game, I really feel like we have one of the best offenses in the nation. But like I said, it starts with us. We can't rely on what they're going to come in and do. I'm pretty sure I know Coach Stoops is going to come in with a great game plan as he always does. It starts with us. Q. How have you seen this team's mentality as far as the running game goes kind of change? We were joking a couple weeks ago about how it's turned into a running team. DEANDRE WASHINGTON: I think that's the sense we've been having, especially with the O‑line. The progress they've made is definitely huge for us. It's been fun. I think it's definitely something we can keep building off of because it's only getting better. With the young running backs we've got and the young running backs coming in, I can only imagine how this thing might take off. Q. I see you get pretty hyped sometimes when they're loaded up in the box, and you're still running for a first down. DEANDRE WASHINGTON: Yeah, all that goes to the O‑line. They find ways. I just try to find that one little crease and do what I do. Q. Pete, how are you guys on defense feeling coming off the rest of the bye week? PETE ROBERTSON: Oh, we're feeling good. A lot of guys were banged up, minor injuries. We're feeling pretty good. We had a week off to relax. We actually had a light practice Saturday, but the week felt good just knowing we had a week off to get prepared for Oklahoma. Q. What do you see about Oklahoma that concerns you? PETE ROBERTSON: They have play makers. Trevor Knight went down. I hate that he went down in the game. He was a big part of that. He can make plays with his feet and also with his arms. They've also got good running backs, freshmen running backs and receivers. They've got play makers like TCU and a couple more teams in the Big 12. Q. With Trevor going down and uncertainty about whether he's going to play this week, how does that change the way you guys prepare? PETE ROBERTSON: It really doesn't change much. It just changes a little bit how we'll pass‑rush Trevor. Like I said, he can make plays with his feet. It just goes in the game where we're just going to play the game out if he plays or doesn't play, we're just going to play our game, come out high intensity and try to come out with a win. Q. What is the mood in the locker room? You've got to win out to get to a bowl. But it will be another year without a winning Big 12 record. PETE ROBERTSON: There is no set mood. It's just every day coming to work. We don't try to change our game plan or how we practice based on these three games. We're taking it a game at a time and a day at a time and just come in and work and get ready to face Oklahoma this Saturday. Q. I know you don't look at the stats and stuff like that, but just knowing that you're top in the Big 12 in sacks, how gratifying is that to boost you up for a match‑up against Oklahoma? PETE ROBERTSON: Those stats, I take that in just boosting up our team and our defense. We've been lacking a little bit or we've been missing plays, plays we could have made. But I just want to take it in with the defense, with Branden Jackson, with Sam Eguavoen and J.J. Gaines. We just come in and play hard. There are some guys that keep me up and me keep them up. We just have fun on Saturday. Q. Senior Day coming up on Saturday. A lot of these guys you have a close bond with being their same age. What does it mean to you to try to send these guys out on a good note? PETE ROBERTSON: It means a lot. DeAndre said earlier, we all came in together, Sam Eguavoen, Kenny, Bradley. We just had a special bond because we all lived in the dorms together our freshman year. We all talked about the 2011 class taking over and stuff like that. It just has been a special moment just playing and really knowing that I'm a senior, but I'm a junior. Just knowing when I met these guys I knew we were going to have fun together just playing on the field and off the field. It's going to be a special moment Saturday trying to send all these guys out with a win. Q. DeAndre talked about playing with the hand you guys are dealt. You have to go out and win all three games. Do you kind of just let it ride and not worry about we've got to do this, we've got to do this, and try to play off the screen? PETE ROBERTSON: We just try not to worry about it. We just try to play our game. That's every single day, even in the weight room, at practice, and even on Saturdays. We just try not to worry about the three games, whether we getting to a bowl game or not. We just try to win every single game we can. Q. In playing against TCU and helping you with the play makers, does that help you going into this game or does that mean nothing? PETE ROBERTSON: It's still about the same. Our three teams they all have play makers, but different types of play makers. If Trevor Knight was playing the game with the three quarterbacks, we saw they can make plays with their arms and their feet. And just coming in, it's basically coming in ready to play. All the teams in the Big 12 are good. Every guy that's at a Big 12 school got recruited for a reason. So we're just trying to come in and play our game, like I always say, and just have a high intensity the whole game. Q. How important is it to you to play well against Oklahoma? PETE ROBERTSON: It's going to be very important even though they've got a left tackle projected to go in the first round, it will be very important. I've been studying him for a while, since we had this bye week. He's a good tackle. It's going to be very important to help my team out and put us in a better situation and better field position for the offense to score a touchdown. So the defense is going to come out and just try to take off on OU. Q. How much does playing guys like that raise your game knowing that you're playing against guys that will be at the next level? PETE ROBERTSON: It raises my game a lot because I've got to come up with my A‑game every single down, every single down. Because, if not, he's projected to go first round and he's going to try tome bears me anyway he can. So I've got to come with it. Not just me, but the defense in general. Even with Branden Jackson lined up on his side, I line up inside, Jackson Richards, it doesn't matter, their front is going to be physical and we're going to try to be physical with them. Q. This will be the third year in a row that Jones Stadium has set an attendance record. What does that mean playing in front of these fans and they keep supporting you guys? PETE ROBERTSON: It means a lot because we've still got our support there, even though we're having not a good season right now, our fans are still there cheering us on win or lose. It's very important. I appreciate their support. Q. (No microphone) Oklahoma can run the ball and Trevor Knight can move with his feet and they can throw pretty well. Do you think this is possibly at this point one of the most balanced offense you've played? PETE ROBERTSON: At this point after playing TCU and Kansas State, because they did the exact same thing Oklahoma is trying to do, they're going to try to run the ball on us, catch it with some play action and try to throw it over our head. I want to say just a total balanced offense we've seen this year. Because like I said, TCU and Kansas State were also good themselves, but they're probably the most physical team we're going to play so far this year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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