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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 10, 2015

Kliff Kingsbury

Lubbock, Texas

Iowa State - 31
Texas Tech - 66

KLIFF KINGSBURY: That's what we did, and we gave ourselves a chance.

Q. Seems like this team has won on 3rd downs. You were 11 of 15 and defensively was 5 of 15
KLIFF KINGSBURY: That's huge, between that and the turnover margin that was the difference is that our offense made some plays to stay on the field and then our defense made some to get them off. Gave us some momentum early and were able to kind of run away with it.

Q. What was the secret to the defense playing so much better in the second half?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think coaching. I think Coach Gibbs and his staff do a good job at halftime making adjustments, coming in, talking about things and adjusting to it, and so that's a credit to them. We had a lot of plays we could have made in the first half and didn't. I know they were frustrated with some long runs, but I think that's a credit to our guys that they can get in there in the locker room and talk about it and get it coached to those players at halftime.

Q. What did you think about all your young guys at receiver today?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Ups and downs, but we knew that going in. Pat did a good job of keeping those guys up and moving around and finding them. But with young wide receivers you're going to have some good plays, you're going to have some bad plays, but I thought they all competed well and I didn't think the moment was too big for any of them.

Q. Specifically with Giles, two touchdowns today, but
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, converted high school quarterback, so we've been working a lot of the nuances of playing wide receiver with him and he's worked hard at it. He's very athletic, great ball skills and made a nice play in the end zone on that back shoulder.

Q. Inexperience amongst those guys I'm sure will hit consistency and you'll see some of that change, but it looks like maybe big play capability is still there. How does that change?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think Jakeem had a big one that really got us going, key, key, Tony Brown can really run, Giles can really run, Zach Austin had his big game last week, Reggie Davis made a tremendous catch in the back of the end zone, and then Ja'Deion High, couldn't be more prouder of him, stepping up, starting the game and making a couple plays.

Guys are taking advantage of their opportunities, it's just we've got to get the quarterback and him all on the same page and grow together.

Q. Is the key for Jakeem simply catching the football?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: That definitely helps. You know, he had a couple big drops the first few games, and he's great at separating. He's great when he has the ball in his hands, and if he can become a more consistent receiver, he'll be hard to stop.

Q. Is it safe to say that Mahomes is 100 percent now, or is he still dealing with a couple things?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think he's close. He still has that brace on. He's still not as fast as I've seen him the first three, four games. I thought he really had a burst. But he did a great job moving around, setting his feet and getting some good velocity on the ball.

Q. Even though the offensive line had some challenges, were you happier with that today than maybe last week?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Last week, no doubt, they took the fight to us really. We couldn't run the ball, didn't pass protect as well as I'd like, so we made that an emphasis, let's get the running game going, if we protect and run the ball well, we'll usually have a good ending to the game.

Q. Getting the ball as much as he did the first few games, was that by design?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we're trying to take as many hits off him as we can, so I don't think we called any called runs I can remember. He had an option play that didn't work. But other than that, the times he moved around, that was him doing it.

Q. What went into (inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Just consistency. We wanted to push Reggie, and Ja'Deion is a guy who shows up every day, always going to be where's supposed to be, always going to catch the ball, always going to run the route. Probably not the burst that Reg has but we just wanted to create some competition there, and I thought he stepped in and every ball that was thrown to him he made a play on it.

Q. (Inaudible.)
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, it was crazy. Crazy. Just a great job of coming back to the ball and laying out and making a huge play there when the game was still in doubt.

Q. With a quarterback like Pat do you emphasize even more to those receivers or running backs don't stop in that situation?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, everybody, the O line, the running backs, the receivers, we talk about it every week, just keep going because he will find you, and there were a couple times where he got into that mode earlier than I would have liked. He got out of his reads and just started trying to make plays, but that just comes with more experience, and when we can get that throw it not there do your thing, that's when you get really, really get good.

Q. Virtually everybody got to play today. That has to really please you as a coach to be able to be in that position.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It does, to be at the midway point and have almost everybody out there getting on the field because they all worked very hard. Everybody works as hard as everybody else, and works hard all summer, so that's a big deal to get out there in a college football game.

Q. With the first three games your defense (inaudible) last two games (inaudible) and then today certainly (inaudible) is there a correlation between your success?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, that's usually how it works. When they're pretty good, it's hard to take them away. But that being said, I thought the last couple weeks we had an opportunity to get a couple and didn't, and so at least they caught them today, so hopefully we can build off that.

Q. What was Jakeem's ability after he took that shot?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: He was cleared. He went through the protocol and was cleared, so he's good to go.

Q. Were you ever worried this week or before the game about the emotional state of your team?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I felt like we had a good week. I really did. I mean, when you break it down, we lost to probably the two best teams in the country. We know we have a pretty good team when we do what we're supposed to do and so I've never thought that's been shaken. I think they understand what we went through playing those two teams in a row, and now it's about us just getting better as a team.

Q. You put extra guys on the sideline today, dressed everybody out to help with that enthusiasm; is that something you might consider keep doing?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I do. It was the best sideline we've had since I've been here. Something that those guys, we talked about earning your right to be down there, and we felt like we had great work with the scout teams, and they did a good job on the sideline.

Q. DeAndre had a big game, obviously he's taking a lot of pressure off of Patrick. Speak to his role on the team.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, when he's having a great game as an offense we usually play very well. It was good to get him going. He's done a good job of making plays on his own, even if it's not there, breaking tackles. You never see negative plays with him. We've just got to keep him rolling.

Q. Jakeem's 75 yard touchdown there early, did you notice (inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I did, I did. He plays hard. He's got a great motor and very unselfish player, especially for a young guy. So we definitely saw him clean that up and helped Jakeem get in the end zone.

Q. It seemed like Madison and (inaudible) big march down the field. Do you feel like that group is returning to what their reputation was over the last decade, being physical wide receivers?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: That's what we've been preaching and working at since we've been here. I think they're all buying in and seeing if you block for each other and work for each other everybody is going to have success. There's enough footballs to go around, so it's been fun to watch that progression.

Q. (Inaudible.)
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he just saw it. It was a great cut. He's a tremendous running back when you're talking about vision. Not the biggest guy, but any time we repped him in practice he seems to find the hole and I think they lose him because he's not very big, but he's a tremendous natural runner and has some of the best vision I've seen.

Appreciate it.

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