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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 10, 2016

Cameron Batson

Lubbock, Texas

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Cameron.

Q. What's the mood amongst those on offense, putting up some great stats and not coming out with a win?
CAMERON BATSON: It's definitely a tough feeling. You know, you practice hard each and every day, and on Saturdays you don't get the outcome that's expected. We just have to keep pushing as a team and things will get better.

Q. What do you think was the biggest problem through those first three offensive drives of the second half? Defense able to get some three-and-outs but only able to get 3-points out of it. What do you think was the biggest trip there?
CAMERON BATSON: Definitely penalties. Penalties have killed us all season, all game. We squandered drives ourselves. It's not like other defense are really stopping us. We've really been stopping ourselves with penalties, making it third and 15, third and 20, and then that's a hard position to be in. So we have to cut out the penalties and be more disciplined.

Q. So the fourth downs, were those just lack of execution, being able to go get those short yardage situations?
CAMERON BATSON: Definitely. It was definitely lack of execution. Sometimes the linemen don't get the push that they need. And running back, it's hard for the running backs to hit the hole.

So it was definitely a little bit of both. We could have probably made some better calls there or Pat could have checked out of some things. But it was still, at the end of the day it's a tough loss.

Q. Do you think because you guys have been so penalized you don't necessarily get the benefit of the doubt on some things and that you're going to have to play cleaner maybe than normal?
CAMERON BATSON: Could you repeat the question one more time?

Q. Do you think you've been somewhat targeted from the standpoint that you've had so many penalties that you don't get the benefit of the doubt? And as a result you're going to have to play cleaner?
CAMERON BATSON: Sometimes. You know, it just all depends on what referees, how they're calling the game. It was like a particular play we're dealing with blocking downfield, we didn't think that it was a penalty. He just finished the block.

But, I guess, since we do get a lot of penalties that the refs are definitely looking for it.

Q. Have the coaches talked much about it or is it to a point where you feel like you've heard it so much that they don't need to harp on it?
CAMERON BATSON: They definitely don't need to harp on it anymore. We know in this room as an offense and as a team, period, that we have to cut down the penalties.

One of our big goals is to be disciplined. And we haven't shown a lot of discipline in these past few games.

Q. Why do you think that is?
CAMERON BATSON: It really just stems from practice. You know, sometimes we create penalties in practice and we have to cut that out. We have to minimize the mistakes, and sometimes on game day, I don't know, sometimes guys just getting nervous or it's the crowd that you really can't focus or hear.

But you definitely just have to -- we have to get in there and we have to focus more. We have to definitely get in there and practice and take that more seriously as far as penalties and mistakes that we make.

Q. Have you looked at the defenders that you're going to be up against Saturday and have any take on how tough you think that's going to be?
CAMERON BATSON: We haven't actually watched film yet. We'll get in there today and watch some film. But I can remember last year, West Virginia, they're a very physical team. They play a lot of man to man. And so we'll have our hands tied this week.

Q. The catch that you made at the goal line, where you had to dive for it, what was the difficulty for making that catch?
CAMERON BATSON: I don't know. At the time, it was definitely adrenalin was pumping. You are just trying to make a play on the ball. Pat put it in a great spot where it was either I could catch it or the defender couldn't get to it.

So it was definitely just -- I would kind of say a routine play because we practice those plays each and every week.

Q. Are you looking forward to playing against man to man or do you prefer zone?
CAMERON BATSON: I definitely prefer man to man. I proud myself on man to man to get open and single man coverage. You know, zones, they work well too. We definitely can find holes in the zone. So we're really just going to see how they play us and make our moves from there.

Q. Who is better you or Tramain?
CAMERON BATSON: Tramain was a great player, of course I would say I'm better. But Tramain, he's taught me a lot, and I love Tramain to death.

Q. Do you communicate or how much do you talk to him say in the last month or so during the season?
CAMERON BATSON: He actually texted me. He texts me before every game, wishes me good luck. Tells me to go out there, execute, be disciplined and just have fun.

Q. How inspiring was it to see Pat and what he did for you and your teammates just the offense as a whole?
CAMERON BATSON: Pat did a great job. You know, with everything going on as far as his shoulder, that happened last week, he came in, he stepped in. And he did a phenomenal job of getting the, moving the ball around.

He did a lot with his legs as well. So Pat, he's definitely tough and he'll do anything for this team. He puts his body on the line for this team.

Q. How would you describe the locker room talk and is it what Donald Trump says it is?
CAMERON BATSON: We really don't, you know, worry too much about that. We have a great culture here at Texas Tech as far as keeping ourselves held to a higher standard.

Q. The fact that you catch a touchdown pass every game this season I think you're one of two players in the nation to do that, how do you feel -- does that show how much progress you've made since last year or do you feel like you've progressed to get to that point where you've been consistent?
CAMERON BATSON: Yes, definitely last year I played behind Jakeem, I was his backup so I didn't get as many reps as I thought that I could have got or should have got. But I definitely worked hard this off-spring, during the summer, just to instill the trust that the coaches trust me very well.

And it's definitely starting to pay off. The man above has definitely done a great job of giving me the talent and the ability to play this game at a very high level.

Q. I know you guys felt you left points out there but looking at the case on defense, is that the stiffest defense you felt like you guys have faced this year?
CAMERON BATSON: Yeah, definitely K-State they did a great job of showing some different coverages and everything. They played a lot of bracket. And they really played base, but they were very disciplined and physical in what they did.

So we just -- we could have made some adjustments on how we went about the offense and everything. But I definitely have to give credit to those guys because they were there each and every play.

Q. Special teams obviously has a lot of different phases, but just seems like whether it's on kickoff return or punt return or whatever it is, just seems to be a game-changing mistake it seems last few weeks. What has Coach Rob preached to you guys in practice, what are you guys working on most? Is it consistency?
CAMERON BATSON: It's definitely consistency. We work each and every day on special teams. We just have to clean up that side of the ball. We'll have to come in and practice harder, watch a little bit more film, see what those guys are doing, read our keys. So it's a lot of things that play into it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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