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WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 15, 2016Skyler HowardRushel ShellWest Virginia - 48, Texas Tech - 17 Q. Was that a point of emphasis for you? RUSHEL SHELL: It was definitely a point of emphasis. Because we know their guys like to make one guy miss and go the rest of the distance. We made an emphasis in practice. When they catch the ball, they have to be tackled right then and there. Q. Third downs you guys were able to get off the field a lot more today against a guy that scrambles a lot. What were you seeing on third down and making it easier for you guys? RUSHEL SHELL: Coach Gibby was doing Coach Gibby. That's what he do. Q. When you get the chance to blitz, what goes through your mind? RUSHEL SHELL: I don't know. I blitzed today, the quarterback ran away, and my eyes lit up. Q. That was all the way across the field, did you know you were going to get him? RUSHEL SHELL: Yeah, I knew I was going to get him if he tried to outrun me. Q. Seemed like the blocker almost got out of the way too. You didn't want any parts as he came off the edge? RUSHEL SHELL: Oh, no, he didn't. Q. Do you feel like this bodes well for you guys? As a defense, you know when you're going to face a lot of offensive teams that are similar to this Texas Tech team? RUSHEL SHELL: Yeah, this will definitely give us some confidence, because this offense was the number one offense in the country. I think around 600, 700 all yards. So to do what we did to them was really good. Q. Do you pay attention to those numbers coming in? They scored 50 points in nine straight home games, NCAA record, and almost 17? RUSHEL SHELL: I didn't know that. I just knew they scored a lot of points. Q. So what does that mean to you to accomplish that knowing that it was an NCAA record, 50 points? RUSHEL SHELL: This is what this defense does. Just makes plays. Q. I know you guys have had confidence in Coach Gibby, but when you're talking about it today, you kind of light up, saying that's Coach Gibby. Anything he tells you to do now, you have faith in it? RUSHEL SHELL: Every time, every time. Because on the corner set, he told me, this is it right now. And he ran it. And came through. Coach Gibby knows what he's doing. He's been doing this for some time. We put our trust in him. Grinded into the off-season, so we believe in him. He's our leader. As he goes, we go. Q. Was the objective to try to make them think in the pocket a little bit? RUSHEL SHELL: We just wanted to make the third down, not manic. We wanted to back them up in third down and force them to complete a great pass, and we wanted to blitz them. Q. It looked like when it became street (Inaudible) he was kind of standing back there running around a little bit, that's when he was able to get to guys. Was that the goal? RUSHEL SHELL: Yeah, that was definitely the goal. Contain them. Try to miss out on the pocket. He's a great quarterback, he finds the receiver. He always looks down field at his receiver. So he did a good job. Q. Were you expecting to run the ball as much as it opened up today? SKYLER HOWARD: Anytime you can keep the ball away from a team like that, it's great. So to be able to run the ball and establish our lineup front, definitely pays off for us. Q. It looked like the first quarter I think it was there was a zone read and you gave the ball (inaudible) in the back field, was that the key? SKYLER HOWARD: No, we knew they were going to be chasing, and it's something coming into this game we were going to be aware of. That was actually a misread by me. So after taking a look at it and seeing that happen, we knew what we were getting after that. Q. The way that your defense played to be able to limit them so much on the scoreboard, what kind of confidence did that give you guys as an offense that you didn't have to get into a shootout and you could just play your game? SKYLER HOWARD: It's always good when the other side of the ball is doing great and giving the whole team confidence. We're always prepared for a shootout. Coming into this these games, you kind of expect that and prepare for it. If it doesn't go that way positively, then we'll take it. Q. You guys talked about a number you wanted to get to this year. To get 48 for the first time this year and get in over 40, what did that do for this team? SKYLER HOWARD: Showed that we can do it. (Inaudible) it's again, establishing that confidence that we can do it. Q. You guys have more in store offensively? Is there more that you can do on a regular basis? SKYLER HOWARD: Yeah, in all honesty, we didn't do a lot of things today. We kept it pretty basic. So I just think that the hard work we're putting in practice, the film, the veterans coming back, the chemistry, the older guys, it's all finally coming together. Q. How about a young guy like Kennedy McCoy, just four touches with 99 yards? SKYLER HOWARD: Getting into space, if you get into space, he makes guys miss. After their safety missed, going on the sideline, you know, it's great. We need those guys to keep stepping up. All three of those guys did great today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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