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STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 3, 2016Zach ConqueClint ConqueLubbock, Texas Stephen F. Austin - 17, Texas Tech - 69 COACH CONQUE: Certainly compliments to Texas Tech, they have got -- I'm sure they answered some questions that they had for tonight. We obviously realized that it was going to be a tough get for us as a football team, No. 1, coming into a Big 12 environment, opening the season against one of the most prolific quarterbacks in college football; you know, playing against one of the most prolific offenses in college football over the last 20 years; with the history of quarterback play they have had here and the numbers they have put up. With that said, though, I was hoping we could have put up a little better fight, particularly early. I was pleased in the middle part of the game. I thought we moved the ball offensively in the second quarter. Got into the red area, came away with a field goal and got down there again, didn't convert a fourth down. And then the third quarter, I thought we came out and had a couple of drives. So, I mean, there's some positives we take from this. You know, certainly there were about -- and I'm probably just guessing here, but of the 72 that we traveled, probably 40 of them played their most significant college football. I looked out there at the beginning of the fourth quarter and it was a senior and a sophomore and nine freshmen. So obviously the outcome is not what we had hoped for. I think we came out of it healthy. We came out of it -- our bank account's a little healthier. Really, our football season starts next week. With that said, I was proud of the effort of the kids. I thought we really tried hard. I don't think there was any quit. We had a few fouls. We did turn the ball over a couple times, which we've got to get that cleaned up, and give Texas Tech a little bit of credit there. I think one of the things that really hurt us offensively from maybe controlling the game early, is we couldn't establish the run. Give Texas Tech credit. They are breaking in three new starters on the offensive line. Have to go back and evaluate that. Can't be one-dimensional. We are not going to win a lot of college football games throwing it 55, 60 times every week. To win a championship, I don't think you can do that. I think you can win some games, but I don't think you can win a conference championship throwing it 60 times a game. Q. What did you think about Tech's defense? COACH CONQUE: Obviously they created some turnovers, some opportunities for their offense. I'm sure they are pleased with that. I really thought that their interior people caused us grief pretty much the whole night. We couldn't move them. We hit a seam every now and then, but we couldn't consistently generate any functional running game. Thus, making it second and long, third-and-long, and then they can pin their ears back and then we gave up obviously some sacks. But you know, how that compares to Kansas or Texas or Oklahoma, I don't know. I don't play in this league. I know this: We have a hard time moving their three big kids inside. Q. The seniors on this team, what did you see from the teammates that traveled today? ZACH CONQUE: Like he said, a lot of first games -- that started last year and obviously some freshmen. It was good to see the guys out there getting some experience. Obviously a lot of them, shellshocked a little bit. But to see them go out there and fight was good to see. Q. What did you think Tech's offense did that gave you grief through those first two quarters? ZACH CONQUE: He just kind of hit it on the head. The first few drives we had a hard time establishing the run and it's hard -- like he said, it's hard to sustain drives and win football games without having a decent run games. But I was encouraged, though, came out in the third quarter and we kind of opened up the offense a little bit, made some plays here and there. But at the end of the day, it's something that we'll get back on tomorrow, fix that this week. Q. You touched on it briefly, but what's your overall impression after facing Patrick Mahomes? COACH CONQUE: Well, he's certainly an outstanding athlete, very strong arm. He has command of the system that they run. I think Coach Kingsbury, I'm quite certain has a lot of confidence in his abilities to run the system at a fast pace. You know, you lost some receiver play from last year, but all the returning receivers, your top three receivers, all still had as many or more catches than our top returning receivers and they were backups, you know what I'm saying; the third or fourth receiver. But Mahomes is a very gifted athlete. Very strong, athletic young man. He was able to extend plays, obviously make some positive yards with his feet, and then he was able to hit some explosive throws after being able to extend those plays. So my hat's off to him. He's a very talented young man. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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