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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 19, 2017

Nic Shimonek

Lubbock, Texas

Q. Talk about what you've seen from the Houston defense so far.
NIC SHIMONEK: They have a great defensive line. I've watched a couple games from last year, but there's a lot of new guys, so I haven't really dug into 2017 film yet. But I plan on doing that here in the next day or so.

Q. I know you probably saw a lot of Ed Oliver in that video from last year. Your thoughts on him?
NIC SHIMONEK: You know, he's a great player. Obviously respect what he's been doing. At the same time, I mean, he gets up and comes to work every day just like us, so there's no reason to be afraid or intimidated. Obviously he's one of the best defensive players, defensive linemen without a doubt in the country. Nothing but respect for him. But at the same time, like I said, he's just like one of us, so we've got to prepare that way.

Q. I know you said you're a perfectionist or you told us that at Media Day several weeks ago. Through two games, how do you think you played, the offense has run through two games? What have you done well?
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, obviously like I mentioned after the Eastern Washington game, whether you go 10 for 40 or 40 for 40, there's always stuff I can get better at. I had a deep pass to Keke this last week, a post, and I felt like I kind of underthrew it, so I was pretty upset with myself right there. Still got the completion, but yeah, just little things. Like I told you, Coach Kingsbury is going to coach me to perfection, and then we're going to settle for greatness. That's a big coaching point for him, and I feed off of that well.

Q. Did you tell the fellas anything before that game-winning drive?
NIC SHIMONEK: Just relax. We have to score, but relax. We've got plenty of time. That's what we do, we score on a majority of our possessions, so it's not anything out of the ordinary that we have to do, just be ourselves and everything will take care of itself.

Q. You're obviously more confident in your performance. You were chomping at the bit for this opportunity, but at the same time, as smoothly as things are going for you the first couple of weeks, has that helped you settle in?
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, like I told y'all before the season started, I'm a very confident person, and yeah, things have gone smooth so far, but I also understand that at some point there's going to be a few hiccups, a few bumps in the road. It's not going to be like this for 12 straight games. I mean, I hope it is, but I don't think it will be.

But yeah, you know, obviously each game you get a little more experience, a little more comfortable out there. But I'm having a great time, having fun with these guys, and that's really all I can ask for.

Q. How much help is it in the transition when you have guys like Keke and Cameron, guys you can get the ball to for six-yard gains and 70-yard gains?
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, I've touched on that before. It's such a blessing to have those guys, Keke and Cam, to be able to throw it even behind the line of scrimmage and it go for a touchdown, and then have guys like Dylan and Derrick, where if I'm in a sticky situation I can kind of put it in their area, and I'm confident they're going to come down with it. And then even the running backs, you know, Stock played his tail off this past game, Nisby did some good things. The guys up front, the offensive line, all those guys played a great game.

You know, it's not just the receivers, it's all 10 other guys that are on the field, even if it's the backups. I'm confident in all those guys, so we'll just keep getting better and keep moving forward.

Q. How big is it that you were able pull out a close game already this year that maybe you wouldn't have won last year?
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, I was talking to I believe Coach Whitt yesterday. It would have been nice to win that game like we should have won it, up 21-3 with all the momentum. We could have easily won by three, four, five touchdowns if we'd have kept rolling. But at the same time, to get a win like that this early in the year, I think it's going to be good for us moving forward because, I mean, it's college football. That situation is going to arise again sometime in the next 10 games.

Like you said, it was a big confidence builder to get that type of win in that situation early in the year.

Q. One thing that's been spoken positively about, about you, is you're taking care of the ball and when it's not there you're throwing it away. Is it something that comes easy for you? Seems like you're making good decisions.
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, it's just playing the game. He emphasizes on all the time protect the ball and defense take the ball away. If we can do that, if we can win the turnover margin, aside from yards, aside from all that, if you can win the turnover margin and not shoot yourself in the foot with penalties, you're going to put yourself in position to win. So yeah, like you said, just being smart, throwing the ball away, not taking sacks, working field position. Even if we're not going to score, trying to flip field position a little bit. It's just part of playing the game. Just trying to do what I'm coached to do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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