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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2017

Kliff Kingsbury

Lubbock, Texas

Oklahoma State - 41, Texas Tech - 34

Q. What's your message after a game like this?
COACH KINGSBURY: We fought, played hard. Didn't play good enough. That's a good football team. They've got a lot of talented players and they got after us and made the plays there at the end when they had to. We had the ball with a chance to go win it and didn't get it done and they did. I thought we fought hard but we gotta play better.

Q. Did you make some adjustments at halftime offensively because looked like Oklahoma State was getting a pretty good push up front defensively, then you guys found some success?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, they pretty much dominated the game up front. We had to kick a couple of field goals inside the three. We couldn't move them. So you've got to give them credit.

But I was not very pleased with our run game and really our protection either. So we'll have to see what we can do better. They played a bunch of that three double cloud stuff and took away some quick throws. But I didn't think we ran the ball very well and I don't think we protected very well.

Q. The decision before the half to kick the field goal instead of go for it on fourth down, did you feel like that three was more important than giving them momentum of stopping you?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, we threw the back shoulder fade with, whatever, five seconds left. It was close enough so we felt like we took that shot and get the points and come away with some momentum.

Q. You guys made good plays with the momentum (indiscernible) also?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, at times we stood up when we needed to. We had the ball back with three minutes left to win it and didn't get it done. And that's all we can ask our defense to do. Like I said, a very good offense, the quarterback, all their wide receivers, the running back, the O line, very, very good offense. And we made plays defensively when we had to. Offensively we just didn't finish the deal.

Q. What was the word on Cantrell?
COACH KINGSBURY: I'm not sure, something with his leg. So I'll have to see how serious it is.

Q. Whenever a player leaves a game like that for the remainder of the game, does it shrink your play book?
COACH KINGSBURY: I don't know if it shrinks, but he's a dynamic guy. There's a lot of stuff we like to work to him over the middle of the field. And I thought Antoine stepped in and was ready to play, but that's a special talent.

Q. Aside from the loss, was that the disappointment tonight that you get the ball back and the game's tied and you're forced to punt it away?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, that's what we ask our defense to do to, just give us a chance at the end. And they hung in there because that was a barrage of offense coming at them with some really, really good players that are going to be playing on Sundays. And they kept fighting and at the end of the day we had the ball with the chance to go win it and we didn't get it done.

Q. There were a few times tonight where Oklahoma State would jump across the line, and Nic didn't have the ball snapped or whatever, try to draw the flag. Is that by design?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, we like to snap it. We just didn't get it done.

Q. Does it seem like there's a different kind of resiliency? In this game there were probably three or four portions where it seemed like maybe Oklahoma State could extend the margin (indiscernible)?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, we'll find out. Last year we didn't handle losses well at all. So we'll find out this week what we're made of. Last year when we came out with a couple disappointing losses the next week we had some bad let-downs. And so I like this team's mentality. I have so far.

And I expect them to fight back and get better this week. So we'll find out this week what we're made of really.

Q. Do you need more on-field leadership to get you through a week after a loss? Seems like there is only so much a coaching staff can do.
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think there's a lot of seniors who have played a lot of football and they want to end their career the right way. They know we've got a good football team, we've just got to play better and get better. So I expect them to lead us.

Q. Nic was really struggling tonight. That was a function of the protection, but can you speak about his performance a little bit tonight, just the way you kind of hung in there and battled?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, he fought and played hard. We couldn't run the ball. They're dropping a bunch of people, and even when they were rushing three they had a pretty good pass rush in his face.

I thought he hung in there, made some nice throws, made some plays when he had to. And he's a fighter, he's a competitor. And there was some adverse situations that he kept pushing, and that's all you can ask for in a quarterback.

Q. The decision to kick the onside kick, take us through that and why you did that at that point and obviously it worked for you.
COACH KINGSBURY: We did. Coach Robinson saw something and once we got that penalty tacked on we felt it was a great opportunity there and they executed perfectly. Barden hit a perfect kick, and those guys did a nice job getting it back.

Q. What do you think your defense's improvement starts? What are they doing well to give them a chance?
COACH KINGSBURY: They've been taking the ball away first off. You get that -- that big interception return was huge. And then just, they're just fighting for four quarters, they continue to fight.

Like I said, that was a very good offense coming at them and they never got their head down. They kept battling, kept battling, gave us big stops when we needed them.

Q. And then (indiscernible) performance might be a little bit of a surprise this season. Did you see it coming over the offseason?
COACH KINGSBURY: He just got better and better. He missed those first two years due to injuries. And every day we put him out there, he competes his tail off. A very athletic young man. He's still learning the corner position. But he's gotten better each day. And that's what we like to see.

Q. (Indiscernible) got the start tonight. Any reason for that?
COACH KINGSBURY: Who is that?

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah. We'll rotate them all through, just day to day, and have them all compete, but we feel comfortable with a lot of guys out there.

Q. Tanner also lost his dad last weekend. Any comment on that at all?
COACH KINGSBURY: We'll just keep that in-house.

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