	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 10, 2016

Seth Russell

Waco, Texas

Baylor - 40, SMU - 13

Q. Seth, that first half, how frustrating was it? And what do you tell yourself to kind of persevere through those type moments?
SETH RUSSELL: Yeah, it was really frustrating, just because we weren't really playing well, as it showed. We scored 6 points in the first half, and that hasn't happened in a long time at Baylor for the past eight years or so.

Give it to SMU. They were flying around on defense. They were giving us things we hadn't really seen them do, and they have some really good players on that team. They're going to do a great job in their conference. They're going to be a tough team to beat.

To persevere through it, you've got four quarters. We're sitting on the sideline the first quarter, it's 3-0 SMU, and we're thinking, it's just 3 points. We can do that really quick. And ended up pushing the ball down the field, getting a field goal, tying it up, and then they end up getting a field goal, and then we work it down the field again before the half and got another field goal.

So we go into the locker room, it's a 0-0 ball game. We made some adjustments, and we came out playing.

Q. Seth, was there stuff in that first half that they were throwing at you maybe that you weren't ready for? Or what specifically were they taking away from you all?
SETH RUSSELL: Yeah, I think they were just bringing a bunch of different blitzes off a bunch of different edges. They were disguising pretty well.

Our tempo, it's hard -- with the tempo, it's hard to see where the blitz is coming from. If it's coming from depth, they show it early, the line has to kind of talk it out. They were doing a great job of changing up every snap. Give credit to them. They did a great job.

Coach Clem did a great job the second half of just cutting out a bunch of things and just going to our basic stuff. I felt like they helped clean up a lot of things, and we started to play real conservative, just trying to get first downs because we didn't do that at all the first half. As long as we can get the ball rolling and keep the ball in our hands, we have a pretty good shot to win the ball game.

Q. Can you talk about the interceptions by Orion and Davion? Those are really kind of game turning plays.
SETH RUSSELL: Those were huge. The defense, they kept us in the ball game. They were the game for us. They won the game for us, I feel like. It could have been a big turnaround with us not being able to move the ball. And big interceptions in the end zone, you can't ask for anything better than that.

And to have Davion return it back to the 40, which is huge. It gives us good field position. And Orion just fell down in the end zone, which is good. It gives us 20 yards to work with.

The defense stepped up. They bowed their neck. It shows how hard they've been working, how hard they've been doing things. They have a chip on their shoulder, and they're going to go into every game with that chip for sure.

Q. Seth, what was the message at halftime? Because you guys came out in the third quarter, pumped 20 in the third, and looked like a completely different team.
SETH RUSSELL: It's a 0-0 ball game. They got the first half out of the way, and we got -- what is it? 20 more minutes or whatever it is. 24 more minutes. We just had to go out and play ball. Or 30 minutes, I'm sorry. You know, you get hit in the head a couple times, whatever.

But it's part of it. We knew we had to do some things. We changed up some things up front offensively, and it's 0-0. Whoever's going to step up is going to step up and win the game. Luckily, we executed on a few plays, got the points on the board, and really the defense just did what they did best and stopped them.

Q. [No microphone]?
SETH RUSSELL: Well, I don't remember. I think Iowa State last year. Iowa State, yeah, great memory. But I think that was the last one that had a good run for the most part. I feel like our running backs did a great job, running hard, running tough, like I knew they would. And they really stepped up big for us.

Q. Seth, now that a couple games have gone by, how do you feel you're holding up physically, with such a long break? And also, what was it like to be able to get out there and run the ball a bit?
SETH RUSSELL: I feel great. The body feels good. I've got the normal football nicks, maybe a thigh bruise or a stubbed toe, something stepped on. I feel great right now. Neck is holding up better than what I expected for sure. I don't feel anything. I feel really healthy for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297