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BAYLOR UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 24, 2016

Jim Grobe

Waco, Texas

Oklahoma State - 24, Baylor - 35

COACH GROBE: I told our team in the locker room after the game that we didn't always play our best. We did some really, really good things. And then we did some things that weren't our best, but I've never been around a team that gave a better effort than we have tonight.

I thought the thing that saved us tonight is just guys playing as hard as they could possibly play. They are not -- the first and second units, there's not a lot left in that locker room on the defensive side, especially, offensively, we are used to getting more snaps than we did tonight.

But some big plays really helped us out. Forced some turnovers on defense really helped us. But I was just really proud of the way our defense bowed their necks when they had to make plays down the stretch.

Q. It can't be easy to start a game, go down, score a touchdown and then all of a sudden have a delay like that.
COACH GROBE: We found that out tonight.

Q. To come back out with the intensity that y'all had, how were you able to do that?
COACH GROBE: Well, I think the one thing that we did a good job of, we just got our kids to relax. You know, we tried not to have them stressed out. We didn't go in and start X'ing and O'ing them and all that stuff. We were told it could be a fairly long period of time before we got back out, and it ended up being over an hour and a half I think before we got going again.

The thing I wondered, worried the most about, was we had a rookie kicker who had to sit in that locker room for an hour and a half before he got to come out and kick the extra point. I didn't know what was going to happen when we did that. We even discussed going for two to take the pressure off him, but he did great.

I would have liked to have seen that not happen. I would have liked to have seen us take that momentum. We've been talking so much about starting fast, and then we take that first drive down the field, and then wait an hour and a half. So we didn't start as fast as we wanted to tonight.

Q. Can you talk about the importance of Zamora and Platt stepping up with KD and if you can update us on KD and Shock.
COACH GROBE: Well, I think honestly, we knew Ish had potential. There was no question, we knew he had potential. I don't think he caught a lot of balls last year but we could see in spring practice, the coaches saw in spring practice, and then I could see in our summer practices, that he had talent.

But he had not played yet. You know, a lot of young guys, they get playing time when it really counts and they don't play very well and I think we'll find that he probably didn't run some routes as well as he could have. He probably had some issues getting lined up split-wise from not having a lot of playing time so far, but from a big play standpoint, he was huge tonight. I mean, it was big for us.

Q. And KD?
COACH GROBE: Yeah, KD pulled a groin. He actually pulled it in practice this week. Not bad; he pulled up and Mike kind of took care of him and he didn't do much all week. And then tonight, he felt like he was good, but pulled up again. So we'll find out, probably Mike Simms will know something tomorrow or Monday how KD is going to do.

Shock's okay. We just got 65 snaps tonight. We just didn't get a lot of snaps tonight. Hopefully we'll get him more snaps going forward. I don't think there was a problem. I'm telling you, I don't -- I don't think there's a problem with shock. It would be news to me if there was.

Q. You're a defensive guy, and I'm sure you didn't like putting them in some of the positions they did, but the way they kept coming up particularly in bad positions like that, and late in the game, I think they had played over 40 minutes tonight.
COACH GROBE: You know, we have done that, really, all season. You know it seems like when our defense gets their backs against the wall, we play better, and so I just like to go ahead and spot them on the 20 and say, let's play football. (Laughter).

But it just was amazing tonight to watch the guys play so hard, and at times, we missed coverages, we missed some line stunts once in awhile. I thought Oklahoma State, I have to give them a lot of credit, I thought they had a great plan running the football tonight and that kept the clock spinning and kept our guys out there. But when you stay out there as long as we did tonight and still have some juice left at the end of the game, says a lot about the character of our defense.

Q. When you talk about the effort and what you said in the locker room after what you've seen around here these last few weeks and months, how emotional did you get watching this, right before your eyes, knowing this was a huge game, in how you set up at least the first part of conference play?
COACH GROBE: Actually when we left the locker room at half-time, I actually told the kids how proud I was of them for how hard we played. I said, guys, we haven't played our best but let's play better in the second half, but I couldn't be happier with how hard we are playing. And then I never dreamed we'd have to play that much harder in the second half to get a win. And I think this was really a testament to the toughness and character of these kids. You know, they just refuse to give up, even when our backs were against the wall.

So for me personally as a coach, I think the No. 1 thing you want is to think that you're getting a best effort. You might not always get their best play, but if you get their best effort, you feel like you're doing something good, and I think -- I've got to give all the credit to our coaching staff for the way they have prepared them.

You know, offensively, we didn't hit as many plays as we normally do, but when we had to make something happen, we did, and you know, defensively, I thought our coaches just kept sending them back out there and there were a lot of one-act guys on the defensive side of the ball tonight.

Q. That fourth down call, that was referenced, the snap to Terence, seemed pretty risky, but obviously you had some confidence in your defense there and they came up for you a couple times. What gave you that mind-set and what went into that thinking?
COACH GROBE: Honestly, you're talking about the time we were backed up inside the 30-yard line? That was totally my fault. We go pretty fast offensively, especially if we've got a short yardage situation, and somehow I had clicked my headset the wrong way and I was yelling, "Punt the ball! Punt the ball! Punt the ball!" And KD goes so fast, that before I could run down and grab him, we had run the play.

So you know, I've got to take total credit for that. That's just a little switch on my battery pack, and if you're not careful, if you touch that, it cuts your voice off. So I'm just casually saying, "Punt the ball, punt the ball," and then I see we're going to go for it and I start running down the sideline and couldn't get to him. But KD was happy to go for it. He never minds going for it.

Q. I guess people in the press box and across social media thought you were a little crazy going for that -- so wasn't your call at all but you'll take credit for it --
COACH GROBE: It's really fun. I like the attitude of our offensive coaches because they are just going to go, go, go, until somebody says let's slow down. In that situation, we did it -- what was it, I can't remember -- the SMU game I think when we went for it on the 29-yard line and that was mainly because -- I was okay where that because I thought our defense had been out there so long and I didn't want to put them back on the field.

But tonight, I felt like we needed to punt the football. I just didn't get the message to them quick enough, and you know, they are going to assume that if I don't say something, it's okay to go for it. So if we'd have gotten it, I'd take credit for it and say, oh, yeah, I wanted to do that.

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