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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 5, 2016Jah'Shawn JohnsonKliff KingsburyPatrick Mahomes IILubbock, Texas Texas - 45, Texas Tech -37 Q. Coach, did you feel like offensively from the first quarter to the second and the rest of the game UT did something different or was that more what y'all were doing? First quarter you were on a roll and never got back to it. KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we just hit a lull and never came out of it in the way we did. I thought we were about to in the third quarter. We fumbled that ball and never got going again. We had what we wanted; we just weren't as sharp as we needed to be. Q. Why do you think Pat had so many misses today? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I don't know, I will have to watch the film. I don't know if it was coverage or pressure but we weren't on like we've been on at times this year, and it's on me. I've got to figure out where that is going wrong, because we're better than that at executing a bunch of those throws and we just didn't hit 'em. Q. Malik Jefferson was shadowing and the delay in rushing, did you see that and did you notice that, and did you feel like it had an affect on Mahomes in the offense? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Once again, I would have to watch the film. I saw him out there flashing a bunch, but I don't know what that plan was exactly. But it looked like he was around the football a bunch perform. Q. You had no answer for Foreman today defensively. KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he's a tremendous back. We knew he would get his, but I thought they played well enough defensively at times, they stood up and had some unbelievable plays to get us the ball, with a chance to win the game over and over and over, and offensively we kept floundering and not getting it done. I know he got his, but all you can ask for is the ball with a chance to go win it. That's what we had. Q. Do you think that's an indication that your defense is getting a little tougher, that there are still some dashes, but they are also there to make some of the big plays? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I hope so, because in moments like that you want them to stand up, and they kept standing up and kept standing up and kept getting us the ball back, which was a big step in the right direction. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but we talked about being more mentally tough, and they showed that at times tonight. Q. (No microphone.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, it's definitely not helping. I thought at times we didn't protect well, and at times Pat may have gotten out of the pocket a little bit early, but we've got to be better up front. We've got to execute better at wide receiver, gotta run better routes, gotta be more accurate as a thrower. To me it looked like it was a combination of all those things today. Q. Do you feel like Mahomes tried to make the big play a lot too many times today instead of checking down? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Once again, I will have to watch it. Seemed like he was getting out of the pocket more so than he has been and trying to do a lot. From where I was at I couldn't really see. I thought we had people open at times. Just gotta look at the film. Q. Seems like as the game wore on and sometimes in other games, you will see an extended period of kind of pounding it on the ground, and it pops up all of the sudden. Is that a directed correlation of what the defense is showing, or is that something you are intent on doing on your sideline? KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I think we are going to do what we think is working, and we were struggling throwing the football there for a period, so started running it a little bit better and doing some stuff off that. Q. No microphone.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: I like the way he competes. He wants the ball, he's asking for the ball, he goes out today and runs tough, so I think he has a bright future ahead of him. Q. Coach, just comment on Douglas' play today. A 100-yard return, He never gave up on a number of plays? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he keeps competing. He loves to play the game, kind of like Da'Leon, another young kid that just loves being out there, very competitive, fights every day and we've seen some progression since the season started for sure. Q. I'm curious on the stretch at the end of the half because we've seen this a number of times this year, less than 30 seconds and you've chosen not to compete, and I just wonder if that's lack of trust or -- KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, this situation we didn't have any timeouts, so down 2, didn't want to do anything with the ball. Without any timeouts, it would have been a tough deal to get all the way down there and try to kick a field goal. Q. (No microphone.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I think we're 100% with that thus far this year, and I'll have to look at the spot, but somehow we lost yardage on that. If I had to do it over again I think I would probably do it again honestly because I think Pat is 100% on that this year. Q. (No microphone.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I thought Pat probably tried to do too much, understanding the situation, let's check that down and get a first down and have a couple shots at the end zone. Didn't work out for us. Q. Is that something that -- you mentioned that before this year, Pat pressing too much or trying to do too much. Now that we're nine games into the season, has he been resistant to your message to try and let it come to him or how is that progress? KLIFF KINGSBURY: There were times this year that we were really good at it and times that we weren't; just a combination of things. I thought for the most part he took care of the football, probably wasn't as sharp as he's been but he's progressed. We just -- at times when he wants to win it and do it all, he's gotta stay within himself. Q. Is your playbook opened up further when you've got some guys back on the outside like you did today with Louis and Cantrell? Is that another dynamic to the offense that you didn't have in prior weeks? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think so, both those guys do a great job competing, block, finishing runs, so hopefully that can open us up moving forward. Q. (No microphone.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: He was kind of looking down the middle and progressing outside. I saw him get flushed and I guess he didn't see Tony. With 9 seconds left, I'm sure he was just trying to make a play. It happens. Q. Is this as frustrated as you've been with the offense? You put the team in position a number of times and the defense did, too, to come back and score and you had a number of three and outs today. Is this as frustrated as you've been with the offense? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, just something is not clicking at times, for whatever reason we have this lulls where it's everybody, and we can't do that. We've gotta execute at a high level and in this league you know you've got to keep up. We're not keeping up at times, and when we have those opportunities, we're going 3 and out or floundering around the last couple of games, and that won't get it done in this league. Q. Why do you think that is? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I don't know. Gotta figure that out. The last two weeks I felt like we had a bunch of stops where we had the ball and just kind of didn't execute. Q. How do you teach this team to rally? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I thought they fought tonight, or today, but it just wasn't good enough. That's something that's gotta be learned. You gotta get over the hump and win, and you gotta have that success, and you can look back on that when you get in those situations, but we haven't had a lot of success thus far. Q. The fake punt by Barden, was that called from the sidelines, was that intended or was that something he had to look for? KLIFF KINGSBURY: We had it called. We thought at that point, I think it was 38-30, I felt like if we didn't score that drive we were going to be in trouble, and he did a great job of executing and Coach Rob had a great play call. Q. (No microphone.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I don't think so. I think Dylan was hot and we went with him. Q. (No microphone.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think he will be okay. Sounded like it was some sort of a strain. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. Q. Pat, you seemed to be having some problem with the accuracy. Was there something that you're not seeing or doing or is it related to the injury? PATRICK MAHOMES: I think it's more my footwork being off, especially near the end of the game. I talked with Coach Kingsbury about it right before the game, trying to be consistent. I feel like near the end of the game my footwork gets sloppy, whereas the beginning I'm a little bit more on point, and I think that's related to the accuracy. Q. Do you think that's related to your knee or a mentals thing? PATRICK MAHOMES: I think it's old, bad habits that I came back with as the season has worn on, and I gotta make sure I work on those at practice. Q. (No microphone.) Do you feel like that had an affect on y'all's effectiveness? PATRICK MAHOMES: Overall as an offense we didn't execute well, starting off with me. I didn't hit a lot of reads that I should have, and then we just missed communication on a lot of plans. They definitely had a great game plan but we had a lot of miscommunications throughout the game. Q. (No microphone.) PATRICK MAHOMES: I mean, I don't remember exactly how much time was left. Cam was my second read. I saw him and tried to force one in there, probably should have taken the check down the last read, and just tried to make a play happen at the end of the game trying to tie the ball game back up. Q. Your first read on that was? PATRICK MAHOMES: Giles. Q. Did you see Tony open in the end zone? PATRICK MAHOMES: That was my next read. I think he was open. I didn't see it personally, but I saw Cam and tried to put it on him, and he had made plays earlier in the game and I just threw it into a coverage that I shouldn't have thrown to. Q. Why do you feel like y'all struggled offensively today? PATRICK MAHOMES: Like I said, a lot of miscommunications in big moments, third downs, second downs and longs; we were hurting ourselves. They had a great game plan. They have a lot of great talent on that team, and you can't make that many mistakes and still win a game. Q. When you say "miscommunication" what do you mean? PATRICK MAHOMES: Running routes at the wrong time. If it was me not signaling the right plays exactly how they're supposed to be signaled, or if they're not picking up the signals the right way. I mean it just -- everything needs to be a unit for the system to work. Today we just weren't clicking on all cylinders. Q. In the first quarter you and the offense were. Did they change anything? Was it y'all's execution that changed? What was the difference? PATRICK MAHOMES: They definitely made adjustments, but like I said, our communication -- we just didn't really execute to the highest level we were at the beginning of the game. It's something where we just need to click for an entire game. I feel like we haven't yet, and we only have a few more left so we need to try and hurry up and fix it soon. Q. Is this as frustrated as you've been with the offense? PATRICK MAHOMES: I mean, more frustrated with just losing in general. A game that we had many chances to go tie the game, defense made a lot of big-time stops, and when they're doing that, and they've played great these last two games, and we haven't really shown up, I guess you would say, it is frustrating. Q. You mentioned sloppy footwork and miscommunications and stuff. Is that a product of not being able to go in practice the previous few weeks, and did you go all week this week? PATRICK MAHOMES: I actually went all week the last two weeks, and it's gotten better, but it just needs to be more consistent throughout the entire game. Just some plays I get into trying to make stuff happen, when I need to just go through the reads and take the running back check down or something like that. Q. How much was Texas also dropping coverage today? Somewhat like TCU did last week? PATRICK MAHOMES: To some extent. They were dropping a little bit, but they were blitzing four and five a lot of the game, and they were trying to contain me. Malik spotted me the entire game. He's a great athlete, so they were just trying to make me throw from the pocket, and throughout the entire game I didn't do a good enough job. Q. Did you feel a lot of pressure? There were a lot of times that you got out of the pocket a little early or was that just trying to get yourself some time? PATRICK MAHOMES: I think it was a mixture of me holding on to the ball too long and then them playing good coverage and having a good rush. They -- like I had they have a lot of talent. They can cover people so a lot of my reads, if I went to my reads and they weren't open, I tried to get out of the pocket and make something happen. Q. Pat, you've been hit a lot this year. Is that starting to play into this where maybe you're bailing too soon because you know you're going to get hit? PATRICK MAHOMES: Not necessarily. I have been a guy that kind of scrambles around a lot since the beginning. It's something that helps out a lot, and sometimes it hurts. I gotta find that line of when to do it, when not to. Q. With the number of times that y'all had third and 1, fourth and 1 -- (No microphone.) Going to the well once too often with that? PATRICK MAHOMES: Not necessarily. Anytime I have a chance to get a first down, I like having the sneak, and we've been good at that for the last two years, junior year and this year, sneaking that 1 yard, and I had full confidence I was going to get it, and we didn't get it in that instant. Q. In that situation do you have the option to check out of that if you see something else you like? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yes, but I mean, if we call it, I'm pretty much trusting that we're going to get it. Like I said, this last two years we've gotten 80 to 90% of those sneaks, so it's something that I trust in. Q. How much percentagewise would you say that you checked out of the playbook calls from the sidelines today? PATRICK MAHOMES: No more than usual. It was just a usual game of -- I try not to check out of a lot of stuff Coach calls. He knows what he's doing, so I trust in that, and if I see something that's easy still, I'll check it. Q. (No microphone.) PATRICK MAHOMES: I love Texas Tech, and I want to be here and win games. I have not thought about that at all. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Pat. Questions for Jah'Shawn. Q. Y'all stepped up fourth quarter time and time again. Y'all came up with stops and got the ball back to the offense. Was there something y'all did differently in the fourth quarter or was it just getting it done? JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: Just starting to get it done. Put a couple of stops together in the first half. We knew we had to get our offense back the ball with a chance to win the game so we had to step up and do our part. Q. Was it anything schematically or anything y'all changed? JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: No, sir. Same stuff. Q. Would you say over the last couple of weeks Coach Gibbs has simplified things for you guys? Were you not thinking as much as when y'all head to the line of scrimmage? JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: Same calls since he's been here. We have just been forced to execute the calls. If you're not executing, we will get someone else in there that will. Practice has been more intense the last few weeks, and it's definitely paid off since we've been out on the field. Q. How much has Douglas helped you guys in the last few games? JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: He's a huge help! He's a guy that came in and played a lot of offense in high school and had to learn the defense on the run, and he's done a tremendous job so far and he's just been taking advantage of his opportunities. Q. Turnovers have been tough to come by leading up to TCU, and you finally get one, and maybe the levy has broke a little bit, but how big were the turnovers today? Seemed like you got them at times where you had to have stops. JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: They were definitely big. Doug's turnover could have went either way. They could have called a touchdown for them, but ended up with our touchdown. He's been in a great position for the last two or three weeks now. When we went on the field, before the turnover we knew we had to get off the field somehow and some way and get offense back the ball, because we were down two scores at the time, so we knew we had to get off the field. Q. (No microphone.) That's something Wildcat-type formations were giving y'all trouble earlier. Is that manning up? JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: Just manning up, basically. We just played hard each snap, and we knew we had to get off the field and get them a chance. We definitely executed the calls that Coach Gibbs gave us and gave 'em a chance. Q. Anything that you saw up front that helped y'all to rally to the ball and stopped them on fourth down? JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: No, just playing our assignment and that's about it. Q. Do you feel like you guys were willing to gamble a little bit whenever they brought Tyrone Swoopes in thinking that 95% of the time he's going to run the football at us? JAH'SHAWN JOHNSON: It was definitely a run-heavy package. We definitely played a lot of cover zero to that package and clogging up gaps and hoping he will bounce the ball and things like that. I mean, Coach Gibbs put us in a great position and we made plays when he did. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Jah'Shawn. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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