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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 7, 2015

Kliff Kingsbury

Lubbock, Texas

Q. Coach, did you see anything on the film that you were encouraged a little more than what we heard from you Saturday night?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, there were some positives, but like I touched on, the biggest disappointment was not finishing the game. That's what I felt. Coming off the field, I still feel that way. But there were some positives from young guys who made some plays, which was good to see when the lights came on, but lots of room for improvement.

Q. The lack of killer instinct, can you coach that, can you force that or is that natural?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: We'll find out. We're going to try to coach it and try to put our guys in situations to do that, but I think we have some guys that have it, with you as a collective group we have to get better at it.

Q. Did the weather affect anybody or were you happy with the conditioning of the team?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I thought I was pleased after the game. I didn't see many guys cramping, and I thought effort was good. It was hot for both teams. It was hot down on that field, but that comes with the territory this time of the year in Texas.

Q. What's it say about your opening weekend when you had an offensive player of the week and special teams player of the week for the Big 12?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: There are some positives, for sure. That kickoff return by Jakeem was big, and then Pat moved around, made some plays, had some good numbers. Could have had huge numbers had we not dropped eight passes, but I thought he protected the ball well.

Q. What is Pete Robertson's status?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: He is day-to-day. It's still being evaluated. That's how it's going to remain.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It's just day-to-day, we'll put it that way and leave it at that.

Q. Is Pat going to be your starter again this week?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Pat will be the starter.

Q. And how is Davis handling everything?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: He's disappointed as a competitor. You can see that, but couldn't be more proud of the way he's handled it with his teammates. The way he's coached up young wide receivers, the way he's worked with Pat, complete professional in that regard, and that's not easy on do at that age. With him knowing how good he can be and how good he is, but I couldn't be more proud of the way he's handled the whole situation.

Q. Will Reggie Davis be good to go for the entire game Saturday?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Reggie Davis will play the entire game, yes.

Q. How much did Pat check on Saturday and how did he do in that area?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Getting better, not a ton, but there were some times he got us into better plays. Would still like to have some back, come decisions he'd like to have back. But for the most part, like I said, I thought he was pretty sharp.

Q. What's Dylan Cantrell's status for Saturday?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Still being evaluated. He's day-to-day as well.

Q. Micah Awe?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: The same. All these guys are day-to-day and be evaluated and basically be game-time decisions.

Q. (Indiscernible) differently to the Big 12 Saturday?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I don't. I think we want to do what's best for him, and we felt like Ja'Deion High, Keke Coutee had given us enough confidence that they could come in there and get the job done. So Reggie was able to come out in the second half. But he wasn't feeling it, so we decided to keep him out.

Q. What was his injury?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It was a shoulder injury of some sort.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: One of those, yeah.

Q. What concerns do you have about UTEP?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: A lot. We played them last year, obviously, and were very fortunate to get out of there with a win late. They went to a bowl game last year. Coach Kugler's in his third year. You can tell the players are understanding his schemes, what he wants to do.

They were second in the country last year in time of possession, so they're going to hold the ball and they're going to pound you. They like to run the rock and do a good job at it. One of the top running backs in the country. Lot of the things scare you. Defensively they're aggressive. Changeup a bunch of looks, and give you a lot of pressure and you have to win.

Q. Coach, what does Aaron Jones do running the ball and out of the back field receiving that is so special that he's hard to cover?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Just a very good player, and they do a good job of -- their offensive line does a good job of finding ways to get him the ball both in the run game and the pass game. We faced him last year and he had a great game. He's a guy that we're going to have to find a way to get to the ground. But he's a very talented player.

Q. It seemed like last year you guys were disappointed a lot with the response specifically defensively. So after a tough first two quarters, did it speak to maybe a change that you had to shut out third and a little bit of a response there?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I hope so. I think it was a great job by that coaching staff, that group of gathering them up, not going into panic mode and making adjustments and the players felt that and they settled in a little bit. Still not where we want to be obviously, but that is the type of responses you want to see in a first game.

Q. What specifically do you need to see your defense change and do better going into this week that you didn't see this last weekend?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: First and foremost, eliminate the mental mistakes. A lot of things we had repped a ton in preparation for that that we saw and just didn't react appropriately. Then tackle guys in space. We really struggled in space and getting guys down. We have to tackle better.

Q. Is your kicking situation settled?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: We'll continue to look at both guys. I thought Taylor punted the ball extremely well. I thought his kickoffs were great. And Barden kicked what we asked him to hit. And Clayton will be ready to go, and we'll try to get him some kicks if we can.

Q. What happened to Josh Outlaw?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Josh Outlaw is no longer a member of this team.

Q. Was he dismissed?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: He's just no longer a member of this team and that's kind of how we're going to leave it.

Q. Given what you've seen in the fall, were you surprised shocked or for the first half of the defense?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: First of all, I appreciate you dressing up today. You look good.

Q. Thank you, Coach?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I knew going in we didn't know what we had exactly. I wouldn't say disappointed. They had a great scheme. They hit us with some things. Quarterback moved around, we had a 3rd and 15 early, and they scrambled for it, and it kind of piled up from there. First games big things happen, and you usually make your biggest improvement from week one to week two, and that's what we're looking for.

Q. We hear a lot that there is a change and a big jump from week one to week two. What do you attribute that to?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I don't know. Maybe just first-game jitters. First time you've seen that type of speed in a long time. First time going through the game-day routine live. I think there are a lot of things that contribute to it, and it may just a little coach talk as well. You hear that a bunch. It seems to be the second week guys are more focused, more locked in and able to do their job better.

Q. What do you tell your teams when you're going up against a team that's very different from the first week? Basically both teams trying to impose their style. It's very different. They're going to try to make it look like a game like last year?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Luckily we have that game from last year to base a lot of what we're selling them this week on. Them holding the ball, possessing the ball. So offensively when you get drives, you've got to try to make them count. Defensively you've got to be ready for a downhill run game, play-action pass, and sit in there and stay focused on some of those long drives.

Q. Obviously having your next two opponents playing each other last week, will this game (Indiscernible) leading into that game?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I never look at it that way. Each week is so different as far as barometer goes. I think things happen within a week and teams play other teams differently, so I don't see it that way.

Q. When you were watching that game, did you make some notes when you saw some stuff from Arkansas or are you just focusing on UTEP for this week and you'll watch it again?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I'll just watch it again. I really focus in on UTEP.

Q. Coach, the cost of attendance, players are starting to get those checks coming in. How are they responding to that? What's different?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: They're happy, I know that. No, I think different guys spend it on different things. There may be one day that we can appropriate the funds where we'd like them to go, but I think they're not wanting for anything currently, put it that way.

Q. (Indiscernible) go out and buy some headphones?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: We talked financial issues with them, financial planning. We've had those discussions, those type of presentations. Whether they're effective or not, I'm not sure. Effective or not, I'm not sure.

Q. Do they get those checks the first of the month or at what point? Have they already gotten September's check?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, two checks a month. They split them up.

Q. I guess there was some talk about coaches fining players cost of attendance money. Is that something you would do?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, they're not professional athletes yet, so I wouldn't do that.

Q. Do you have any reaction to what happened in the Marble Falls game with the referee and the players apparently targeting him?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I saw that. I'm down from around that area. It's shocking, really. I don't know what caused it, but I was just shocked. That's really my only reaction.

Q. Thoughts on performance of your offensive line Saturday?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Not bad. The false starts were concerning to have an experienced group like that put us in first and 15, second and 15 four times, which I don't think we had four of those the entire camp. So we have to get that figured out. As a unit I thought played fairly well, kept Pat on his feet and provided some good holes for the running game.

Q. You played several freshmen on Saturday. Did anybody stand out?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I thought Giles had a great look in his eye, made some plays, was very physical in the run game when he had a chance to block. And D'Vonta Hinton running on special teams was not afraid to stick his nose in there and mix it up, which was good to see.

Q. The 2016 signees that you'd like to red-shirt this season?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Still sorting through that. I think that's a decision that will be finalized once we get into conference.

Q. With four returning offensive linemen for UTEP, they're a good rushing team, but do you challenge them this week?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: They'll be challenged. When they watch that film today, they know there is a long way to go, and they know what's coming. Based upon last year and playing this team, it's a very good football team and they're going to come right at us, so we better be ready.

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