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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 2, 2015Micah AweLubbock, Texas Q. What's the mood of the defense at this point? MICAH AWE: Get back to work. They say every week you can't think about last week because it's going to affect you this week. We've got West Virginia this week and that's it. Q. What do you take from the first half performance? Is that something you build on or hang on until the second half? MICAH AWE: You always have things to build on after watching tape. I think we did get better at some things last game. Just the dice didn't roll our way, but doesn't mean it can't roll our way this week against West Virginia? Q. Did you feel there was a change of momentum when Jah’Shawn Johnson was ejected from that game? MICAH AWE: I mean, Jah’Shawn Johnson, I don't think that was a good call. But doesn't matter what I think. Next guy up, because once he went down, we can't make that excuse and say Jah’Shawn Johnson wasn't in there. No, it had nothing to do with that. We've just got to continue to be consistent. Q. How much does Coach Harbaugh trying to avoid the penalties when talking tackle at this day and age, is that something that's a weekly or daily conversation? MICAH AWE: Not really. You look at that film, and Jah’Shawn Johnson had a pretty form tackle. The guy was just the same height as him. That's not a big part of the game. That was just unfortunate. We've just got to improve and learn how to move on and not think about those things. Q. Was it something that emotionally affected the defensive side too much do you think? How did they handle emotionally that loss on your side? MICAH AWE: I don't think it was a huge loss. I mean, it was a shock at first, but we've still got the number 12 team out there on the field, so you've just got to move on. Q. Obviously, you've got a few regular season games left in your career. What do you tell your teammates to help them? MICAH AWE: The main thing is we want to talk about Xs and Os so much and what the coaches tell us to do. But I'm like we've got to play with passion. These last three games we work literally two-thirds of the year to play not even a third of the year. So these last three games we're going to listen to coach. We're going to watch our film. But once it gets on the field, we've got to play with passion. Football is not an easy sport. You're going to get banged up and there are a lot of bad things that can happen. So we're going to go out there and be stagnant. You've got to play with passion, and know that this next play might be my last. These next three games might be my last ever playing football. So I'm going to try to bring my passion to the game and hopefully everyone else will. Q. What kind of challenges does West Virginia pose? MICAH AWE: The same challenges every other Big 12 team poses to you. They're a good offense. That's why they're in the Big 12 and stuff like that. They're tough too. They're not a bad team. They're a really good team. We can't go out there and lollygag. We have to play team defense and build up on what we've been doing. Q. Couple weeks ago you said the rush defense was on you. Does it feel like that Oklahoma State game was a good response just in that aspect? MICAH AWE: I think we did improve in some things like I said, and there are some things that we still have to improve on. Offenses in this Big 12 are always going to make plays on you. It's all about being consistent. That last game told us we have to be more consistent. Just like this next game, we've got to be as consistent as we can be and get the ball back to the offense. Q. Nine game under your belt. What has Coach Gibbs brought in a positive sense that wasn't here last year? MICAH AWE: Improvement. No one wants to believe that in the media, I know that. But you watch the film. I've been watching the film. Everyone's been improving. There's been some building blocks that have been laid this year, these first nine games that eventually people will look back this year and be like, okay, I see what he was talking about. But like I said, we've got to go out there on Saturday and play West Virginia, because they're going to be a tough game and we can have fun and show some passion. Q. He keeps his sense of humor while talking to us. What's he like, Gibbs in the meetings after games like these? MICAH AWE: Same thing. I mean, when you lose a game the way we did with so many roller coasters, you've got to think, you know, someone's not living right or something like that. Because things just don't go our way sometimes and you're just wondering how did that happen? So that's how he keeps the humor. Because, you know, this defense between the difference between this defense and last year's defense is there are a whole bunch of guys who want to be good who are getting better every week. I mean, practices are harder than games to me these past couple weeks because I've been really trying to improve myself. That's all up to Coach Gibbs because he has that business, that next level mindset, if you don't get better, someone else will get better than you. And that's what I'm trying to do. Q. Over your career, how many times has Jakeem made you look silly and made Oklahoma State look good in practice? MICAH AWE: He'll probably admit every time we've had a one-on-one, but I've only had like five with him and I think I've tapped him three out of five. So I'm still winning. But Jakeem is, I'm surprised that NFL scouts aren't going crazy over him. I heard if he goes to the NFL, he'd be like the shortest player to go. Him being short is like the best thing that could ever happen to him. So I don't know what small or short means to people anymore, because for him, that means making plays, and he's been doing this forever. I mean, you can't knock on that dude at all. He's one of the toughest guys ever. He's a little man, and he has little man syndrome, but it's very, very bad. So he has to go to the doctor or something for that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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