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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 2, 2015

Eric Morris

Lubbock, Texas

Q. What did you think about you guys scored almost 40 in the first half and then 15 in the second half. What was the biggest difference for you in the second half?
COACH MORRIS: The biggest thing was the two turnovers. You're not going to score in this league. That's a good defense. You're not going to score every time you touch the ball. So we had a couple bad drives there in a row when the defense stopped them, which we're remarkably bad about playing together on this team.

We had a couple opportunities. I think it was 31-14, and we had a chance to get it back. Then when they gave it to us, we could have gone up a couple scores there to start the half and didn't execute and didn't complete the balls or get the run game going like we needed to. But I was proud that we responded there in the fourth quarter. Put together some good drives and responded.

The two biggest plays is the fourth down fumble and the interception in the red zone offensively speaking.

Q. What have you thought about Ian last week? Has he developed into a go-to guy for you guys do you think?
COACH MORRIS: Yeah, no doubt. He was a lot faster this week. You could tell on film he's finally getting back to himself and playing fast. And Pat's looking for him and hit him on some seam balls and ran some great out routes and some options underneath. But he's a kid if he stays healthy. It hurt us when he went down there for three games, but got to keep him healthy. I'll probably watch how much I play him to limit the number of hits that he's getting. He played every play of that game until he got nicked up a little bit there at the end.

But he's a guy we've got to get the ball to. Got to find ways to get him the ball, and 11 the ball and 21 the ball.

Q. Do you think you made adjustments at halftime that caused them to be a little less efficient?
COACH MORRIS: Not at all. They played the same defense. They caught us in a blitz one time on a run play early in the second half, but they ran that same blitz and we ran the run play the other way in the first half, and it was a big game. So, no, they didn't come out and change what they were doing schematically.

Q. Coach, what are the inconsistencies as you've put it a couple times aside, what makes Jakeem such a special player?
COACH MORRIS: I wouldn't say he has many inconsistencies right now. I mean, he's really stepped up. He's playing a lot tougher. I think he had five knockdowns in that game which nobody sees. He's cutting people down the field and getting people on the ground. It's hard for a guy of his stature to take those hits on kickoff, take the hits carrying the football, and then to get up every play and block his butt off for his teammates.

So he's being a great teammate. He's leading us. He's really dynamic. He might be the hardest player in the country to tackle in open field. He's fun to watch, and we need some guys to keep feeding off him and find ways to get him the ball.

Q. (Indiscernible) Saturday had 12 catches against Oklahoma State last year. Is that a coincidence, or is there something about the defense?
COACH MORRIS: No, they pressed our outside guys and tried to take them away. Tried to take a few shots and didn't like it. So they play them with linebackers, so they keep their linebackers in the game. Some of these teams put extra DB in and play some different coverages against him. But when you get him matched up on linebackers, that's something we'll try to attack that part of the field.

Q. Speaking of, where are things with your outside receivers right now thinking about reps going forward?
COACH MORRIS: Someone's got to step up and make plays. We'll move Giles out on certain formations to see he's got great ball skills and jumping ability to go track the football. You'll see him a little bit on the outside this week, not full-time moving, just kind of move some guys around a little bit.

We need some length. We're missing Dylan with that 6'4" body. When you do get that coverage, that you can throw it up and they have the ability to jump up and go get it. So we've got some shorter guys out there right now. So we've got to start winning on these posts and vertical balls.

Q. You've had the second or third highest point totals on offense this season all resulting in a loss. You guys have to get close to 60 points to be able to pull out a win.
COACH MORRIS: No, we expect, we're pretty dynamic on offense, and we play fast, and we've done some really good things at times this year. So, but you know, easily we could have scored 70 points that game. We don't worry about what the other side of the ball is doing. We try to control our job every single play and that is to be efficient and to play fast and get first downs and turn them into touchdowns. So just like any other team in the nation, you're not going to score every time you touch it. You're going to punt every once in a while. So that to me is even going back and watching it wasn't that big of a deal. The big deal were the turnovers in key situations when we had chances to do it.

Then again, proud of the kids. The first time I thought that they fought back. We cut it to three there at the end and kept clawing back and didn't give up. So it was good to see some of those kids staying there and fighting.

Q. You guys played against TCU and Oklahoma State offensively. Is that encouraging to these guys that they know when they're relatively mistake free, they can play with anybody in the conference?
COACH MORRIS: Yeah, no doubt. Those are two really good teams. But we've got to start pulling some of these out in the end. It doesn't make it any much better or easier to come in here on Sundays and look at it when you're not winning those games. You still have a terrible feeling in your gut when you walk in here. It doesn't matter because you say, yeah, he scored 53, that doesn't matter. We should have scored 73. We had the opportunities to do it.

So we've got to keep growing, eliminating mistakes. I think Pat's getting better and better each week. He's learning from some of these things. He's in his tenth or 12th game right now. So, yeah, I think once we've got to do it one time. We've got to pull it out and be victorious at the end of it. And then we can get things rolling, I think.

Q. What is your reaction on the sideline when you see him go down for a cut block on that? Not cut block, but knockdown on that Jakeem run?
COACH MORRIS: Yeah, that's who he is as a player. You're not going to take that competitiveness out of him. Same thing against Arkansas. You tell him not to do it. But he's just being a football player and that's one of his friends. We do everything together around here. So he's trying to help his buddy out. You don't obviously draw it up that way where he's going to do that. Jakeem made about five people miss and cut it across field. So he saw it, and he reacted like any other good football team or good football player and teammate would.

Q. With the injury at safety, what is now the strength of this West Virginia defense? What are you concerned about?
COACH MORRIS: I think they're the most physical team I've seen on tape up to date. They run and hit. Their linebackers are incredible. They trigger. They're fast. They make good hits. They make plays in space. Their defensive line, they've got a nose guard that's played a ton of football for them. That's going to be tough to block in there.

Castro has his hands full. I think they do a good job on the outside at corner too. They make a lot of plays out there. So we'll have our hands cut out for us. They're a tough football team. They're well-coached and they like to hit people.

So we've got to be prepared to step in there at their house. They play really well at home, and we've got to fight with them.

Q. How do you think their secondary as carried on with the loss of Karl?
COACH MORRIS: He's an irreplaceable player. He was probably the best defensive back in our league. He brings so much to the table. He's all over the place. He's a ball hawk. He'll hit you and he'll intercept it. Great coverage skills. He's one of those guys that's really special and the guys that get paid a lot of money for doing it on Sundays. He has that kind of ability. But their next guy is a good football player. Karl Joseph, is that his name? Joseph, yeah, he's irreplaceable.

Q. What happened with the zone reception? What has Oklahoma State changed?
COACH MORRIS: Nothing. That's a play that's in our day-one install. He made a bad read and didn't see the corner fall off on it, so, nothing at all.

Q. Did he expect the corner to do more?
COACH MORRIS: I guess he didn't see him. He was pressed and then he fell off of him. So I guess presnap he thought he was going to run with the crosser. But just, I mean, that's a mistake that he's got to fix and get to his next read, and his next read is wide open in the middle of the field. So that stuff's going to happen, but there was nothing that was a bad sequence or anything.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH MORRIS: Zach Austin, yeah, Zach Austin.

Q. Given the familiarity between Coach Holgorsen and Kliff and you and the guys on staff (Indiscernible)? Is this a week offensively where you're more cognizant of trying to play away from tendencies and if so, would you tell us that?
COACH MORRIS: I don't think so. Dana's done a great job wherever he's been, and he's kind of molded different every stop he's been. He's a little different at Houston than here, and a little different at Oklahoma State than Houston. He's continued to evolve. He likes to run the ball a little bit more up there.

If you watch it on tape, he'll know what we're trying to accomplish, and I'm sure he'll watch film with the defense and trying to tell them what we're trying to get to and what spaces we're trying to hit.

But, no, I mean, we're going to play fast. It's hard for people to communicate specific things against us based on formation and wide receiver splits because we get to them so fast and the ball is snapped. So they're a great defense that flies around. They play three down, so that helps them a little bit being able to coverage and drop eight and bring zero blitzes and put some pressure on you.

So, I'm sure he'll talk to them about different stuff we want to do. But, no, they've changed a little bit, so I don't think it will be that big of a deal.

Q. As Pat continues to grow and the defense has struggled late in games, what is your best way to make sure he doesn't try on do too much?
COACH MORRIS: Yeah, I don't think you say anything to him. You can point to about 15 -- I mean, he made one or two bad reads, but you can point to 15 plays that if we don't have him back there, we're in some deep bad situations.

He's a gamer. He makes great plays with his legs. He still sees the field when he's moving around. So, I think you continue to let it be him and let him watch the film and learn from these mistakes that he's making.

He's done a great job all year of correcting stuff. His pocket presence was a lot better. He was square in the pocket this week which Coach Kingsbury I know harped on big last week and has dropped some things. So I think he made some big-time NFL throws.

The third down comeback he throws to Reginald Davis is remarkable. So he's doing some great things, continues to get better. So just let him continue to get better each week but not take away from the good things that he does do.

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