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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 19, 2015

Kliff Kingsbury

Lubbock, Texas

Q. What is Le'Raven's status?
COACH KINGSBURY: Day to day. We'll get him out there and see how he feels. We look to get him in the training room, but we won't know until we get him on the field.

Q. As a former quarterback, what kind of challenge is it, when you lose people up front, to develop that chemistry with perhaps guys that haven't played a lot this year, keep the offense going?
COACH KINGSBURY: As you know, Le'Raven is one of the better tackles in the country. I didn't think up front we handled that well. When he went out, we moved some guys and slid some guys around. We didn't step up like we needed to. We'll address that this week. Whether he can go or not, we'll try to get that fixed.

Q. How different is your message this week with your team as opposed to last week? Is it some of the same things or something different?
COACH KINGSBURY: I think we can learn a lot from last week. Particularly offensively, how we didn't show up, how we didn't play hard, how we didn't play the way we needed to play to get that win.

So they will be highly motivated this week going into a great environment at OU and a great team. So we'll have them ready to go this week.

Q. The second half of your season is starting. I know you want to take one game at a time, but you got these five teams left. Can you talk about how you're looking at it, how you want the team to look at it?
COACH KINGSBURY: You've got five guaranteed opportunities. You've got to take each one one at a time, prepare the best you can prepare and play your best. That's why I was so upset last week because we didn't play our best and prepare the way we needed to prepare. That's on me. We'll be out there today working hard knowing that you have five incredible opportunities and got to make the most of them.

Q. Do you know why they didn't prepare very well last week?
COACH KINGSBURY: I don't. Like I said, as a head coach, that's on me to get them motivated and make sure you play your best, and we didn't get it done.

Q. Did you see any red flags last week? Any idea that might happen?
COACH KINGSBURY: No, I didn't. I just -- I thought we practiced fairly well during the week. We just -- that day, I just didn't like the vibe during warm-ups. Didn't like how we started the game.

Once again, defensively, I thought it was fine. I thought we did a good job and won the game for us. Offensively, never got it going.

Q. Is it easier to get your team's attention during a performance like that than it was two weeks ago after the Ohio State game?
COACH KINGSBURY: I would hope so. As you watch the film, there's a lot of embarrassing plays on the offensive side of the ball. Guys getting dominated, guys not playing hard, guys missing assignments. They'll be working hard this week to get it corrected.

Q. What do you see this week when you look at Oklahoma's offense?
COACH KINGSBURY: Tons of great skill players. Lincoln's done a nice job of adapting to the personnel and putting his spin on things. A good quarterback, two good running backs, probably better than anyone else in the country. Very skilled wide receiver, Shepard, one of the best route runners in the country. Great offensive line. They can attack you in a lot of different ways. We have to defensively try to create some turnovers somehow and hopefully slow them down a little bit.

Q. Do you have any kind of advantage that you know Baker and his talents?
COACH KINGSBURY: I don't think so. The little film I've watched on him, he's developed very well. He's playing at a high level. There's nothing that I know about him that could help us.

Q. You said he's developed. What kind of developments is he -- have you seen out of him since his time here?
COACH KINGSBURY: No, I just think he's older, more mature. Lincoln's done a nice job with his scheme, and they're playing very well as an offense.

Q. With Pat and his performance on Saturday, do you think his biggest issue was he was pushed too much at times? What did you kind of see from him as you watched the film?
COACH KINGSBURY: I think receivers are struggling to get open, dropping a lot of balls up front. When Le'Raven went out, protection was spotty. He tried to take it on himself, Which is what he does. That's what you want him to do. He's got to know, hey, if it's off on a part aroud you, you've still got to do what you do, but we've got to have other guys step up. It was just poor really on all sides when it comes to offense.

Q. Did you call that that [indiscernible] play to generate some spark?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, we wanted to try to get us going a little bit, but it did not work.

Q. Did you feel at points that just the knowledge of your offense played in maybe to the defensive success?
COACH KINGSBURY: No, not at all.

Q. Did you see a vibe like that in the pregame? I'm sure you're thinking about what can I do?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I tried my best halftime speech, and it didn't work. We just have to grow up. You know, you start some young guys at wideout. You start some young guys up front, when Le'Raven goes out, that didn't step up. Like I said, we'll get it addressed this week.

If we play that way this week, it won't be close.

Q. When you see the defense step up like they did Saturday, what does that do for you as a coach?
COACH KINGSBURY: It was great to see that. They've been working hard. Those guys are playing a lot of snaps. Branden Jackson, Pete Robertson, guys that have been here a long time. To make those plays they did when we had to have them, that was hopefully something to build off of.

Q. Coach, what does Le'Raven bring to you? With 25 consecutive starts, offensive team captain, how much of a loss was that? What does he bring to the team?
COACH KINGSBURY: Just lots of confidence. He kind of shores up that offensive line. We lean on him a lot. We single him up a lot. We can slide that way and do things of that nature. It was just a common expectation for everybody on our offense, quarterback included, running backs, knowing that he's in there and he'll get the job done.

Q. Are you relieved to be back in a week where you don't have to reach for motivation? You've got Oklahoma on the road. This is a challenge that's different, but maybe one you like a little bit better.
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I just think -- that's why I was so upset. Once again, you hear about the trap game, all these things, and you work to eliminate that, and I did a poor job of doing that. This week, our team knows what's ahead of us. It's a great team on the road where they play very well. We're going to have to play our best to hang in there.

Q. From a player's perspective, do you think those guys will be more fired up playing Baker just because they know him and were buddies with him?
COACH KINGSBURY: I'm not sure. They're all buddies. Any time you play your former teammates, former coaches, you're going to be excited on both sides. I don't know how much motivation that will be, but I'm sure they'll all be fired up to go against each other.

Q. Is that story line, the whole Mayfield transferring, all that, is that too played up?
COACH KINGSBURY: For me, yes. That happened two years ago really, 21 months, something like that. It's two good football teams. I don't want to take away from that based on that story line. So I'm excited to watch those two teams go at it.

Q. Lincoln Riley is a guy who coached at Tech not too long ago and has really developed as an offensive coordinator. What have you seen him bring to the OU offense and their spread?
COACH KINGSBURY: He did a great job at East Carolina developing that quarterback. He's doing a great job with his quarterback now, finding different ways to get those running backs the ball in space and get those receivers the ball. He's a smart mind. They picked it up quick.

Q. Is the defensive line for Oklahoma going to pose any problems for Pat?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, it's a good group. Mike Stoops has always done a tremendous job defensively with his schemes. Brings a lot of different looks, and up front it's as good a group as we'll face, I think, since Baylor. We'll have to play a lot better than we did last week.

Q. And Le'Raven, you said, is day to day?
COACH KINGSBURY: He's day to day.

Q. Has Pat had to respond to a performance like that before or a film session like he's had, I'm sure?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah. It really is what it is. Everything kind of fell apart. I was proud that he kept battling. He was banged up pretty good and kept battling, but that's something. It's only the 11th, 12th start. We'll learn from it. And still found a way to win. You've got to applaud him for that, but we'll definitely get better this week.

Q. Did you keep count of how many pressures he took on Saturday?
COACH KINGSBURY: I'm not sure. It was a lot, though. I know that.

Q. That two-point conversion with Le'Raven, what was the thought process behind that?
COACH KINGSBURY: Just saw something on film that we liked and kind of had an automatic check in there to get it to him.

Q. Do you think it would surprise people to learn just on the surface that DeAndre Washington has 300 yards more than [indiscernible]?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, he's quietly had a very good year, especially this last week. He was the one guy offensively that stepped up, wanted the ball, and put it on his shoulders and helped us close that thing out. He just continues to get better and better.

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