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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 15, 2016

Kliff Kingsbury

Lubbock, Texas

West Virginia - 48, Texas Tech - 17

Q. Coach, how would you assess your performance today?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It's the worst I've seen since I've been associated with Texas Tech. I've never seen a team play that poorly, coaches coach that poorly and just get embarrassed. So I have to apologize to the fans, student body, alumni. That was as bad as it gets.

Q. What do you think happened?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: They wanted to play more than us. We weren't focused. Weren't locked in. We did a poor job, obviously, preparing as coaches during the week. They took advantage of it.

Q. Did you see any of that during the week?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I did not. I thought we were prepared, but we were not. From the opening kickoff, first drive we go three-and-out and don't stop them defensively. So I'm not sure what happened, but it was not what I expected.

Q. Do you think the pregame altercation affected the start of the game in lieu of your team versus them?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I'm not sure. You'd think that both teams would be fired up. We seemed intimidated, and they took it. They talked all week about what they would do, and they came in here and they do it.

Q. It seemed like they were flat?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we were definitely flat. Like I said, we had no energy. They wanted it more. They were moving around out there faster. They were making more plays, they were blocking better. Getting off blocks better. Hitting harder. Every phase of the game they dominated.

Q. How do you change that moving forward when your team goes out flat like they did today?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, that's something we've got to talk about with the staff and figure that out quick. We've got six games left. Had three and three. I believe we're a better football team than what was just out there. Like I said, that was the worst thing I've seen since I've been coaching. But we have to prove it. So we're going to look at all angles this week to see how we can improve upon what we just did.

Q. The accuracy was not great. His shoulder okay? Is he still feeling some residuals?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Maybe the lack of practice this week maybe caught up to him a little bit. I felt like he was never really comfortable. From the first pass on, he had a good look and seemed like he wasn't in rhythm or locked in like he's been. And you've got to give their defense credit. Yeah, he wasn't as sharp as he's been.

Q. Do you think your offensive line was outmatched physically or was it mental breakdowns?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: A little bit of both. They beat us up front on their one-on-one matches at times. And they brought in four guys which we should be able to pick up. We weren't able to pick that up. I think just lack of focus and not doing their job.

Q. Were Patrick's mechanics getting him in trouble at some times also?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Possibly. Making adjustments for his shoulder, throwing motion-wise, I think that that probably caught up to him a little bit today.

Q. What about (Inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No question. Like I said, it was poor coaching, poor playing, poor everything. But when you have 12 men on the field after a timeout or a breakdown, that's inexcusable and that's on us as coaches.

Q. Do you know what happened on the punt snap that went to Taylor?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: The answer I got was it slipped coming out. It was not a called fake. I know that.

Q. Do you think at the end of the game that there was some intent to go ahead and put a little extra on or were you thinking they might take a knee right there?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, no. They're running their offense. At that instance, you don't kick a field goal, you just hand it off like they did, and we couldn't stop them.

Q. What you need more of as a team in order to respond better when adversity sets in?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Just mental toughness. I've obviously not done a good job of doing that. I thought there we came out and scored right after halftime. Make it 20-14, get two scores and they go right down and answer, and we just didn't respond. We're lacking in that department. If things get tough, we don't handle it well.

Q. Do you think they quit?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I don't think they quit. We started flat and stayed flat and never rose up. We didn't play to our level ever.

Q. When you came out in the second after halftime, what did you tell them at halftime that you could change them playing flat?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I felt like we were still in it. We weren't playing our style of football and we were still in the game. Come out and execute like we do, but we never did.

Q. (Inaudible) being suspended for the first half of next week, does that get you back into a situation where you have to go back to the offensive line (Inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, that's selfish play. Inexcusable play. And lack of discipline. That's a reflection on me. This week we'll work to get that fixed. We've got six games left to try to change that.

Q. How much time do you spend correcting what happened today versus obviously looking forward to (Inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we have a very good team coming next week. So we'll watch the film and figure out what we need to do moving forward. There was a fine line there getting it corrected the best we can, and prepping for OU.

Q. You said this is as disappointed as you've been, Coach, is this as bad as you've been after a Game 2?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, after what I saw. Like I said, I'm alum here, that's not acceptable.

Q. (Inaudible) how much did you miss Dylan?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: We always miss Dylan, if he's not in there. He's a physical presence. But I don't think it was as much of that as they did a good job walking down and us not being able to get the ball there.

Q. How much is coaches versus the players?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, it's equal amount. Anytime you go out there and play like that, everybody's at fault. Like I said, it's inexcusable.

Q. Are you lacking on-field leadership in some of those moments?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I mean, we haven't -- like I said, I don't know if we're lacking it, but it hasn't shown in times we really need it, obviously. Anytime it's tough, we seem to fold. If we get a lead, we can play all right. But anytime we can get behind, it's tough. Or we don't handle it well or we haven't thus far in this season.

Q. (Inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I have to talk to him. I have not heard.

Q. (Inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: He was a little bit banged up this week, just from practice.

Q. (Inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I won't go into the injury, but it was kind of a day-to-day deal, and he ended up not playing.

Q. (Inaudible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Just he'd been sick, and then wasn't very effective. He had a stomach flu. Didn't practice Thursday, and we just weren't getting much push, and he wasn't finishing runs the way we thought we needed to.

Q. What did you think that West Virginia's defense to maybe cause the offense to be off? Anything you saw?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: They're a good team. They run a great scheme. I said it all week, and you have to match their intensity, and we did not. They swarmed the football. We didn't block them well. We didn't throw accurately, and we didn't make people miss, so it was a bad combination.

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