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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 3, 2017

Dylan Cantrell

Lubbock, Texas

Q. Dylan, how do you go about creating your own energy in a stadium that's probably not going to be easy?
DYLAN CANTRELL: Yeah, definitely, that's what we have to do is bring our own energy. I think we did a good job of doing that against Houston. Obviously they had a pretty good atmosphere and we had a lot of fans there. Probably won't have as many fans at the Kansas game, but that's exactly what we have to do is wake up early, get going, and bring our own energy.

Q. Four years ago you caught your first touchdown up there. What do you remember about that day as a true freshman?
DYLAN CANTRELL: Yeah, it seems like forever ago but Davis is the one that threw it to me. We still talk about that every now and then. It was a good day, good times. I just remember celebrating with my teammates.

Q. Four games in, how do you feel you guys as an offense and as leaders, how do you feel you've done so far?
DYLAN CANTRELL: We've done some good things. There is still a lot we need to get better at. One thing is we just have to start faster. For some reason we have been starting kind of slow, but once we get into the rhythm and get going, we do well, but we've got to start faster. Especially 11 a.m. kickoff, on the road, they've had two weeks to prepare for us so they're going to be ready. They're going to give us their best shots, so we've got to show up.

Q. Could you tell the difference the other night and yesterday in the team's attitude towards the loss compared to other years you've been there?
DYLAN CANTRELL: I mean, it hurt. Anytime you feel like we left some things out there and should have won that game, it's going to hurt coming down to the end like that. But we had our time to mourn a little bit and mope around. But we've got to move on.

We came in yesterday and we came in Sunday, had a great day of preparation, had an off day yesterday. So going to attack this Tuesday practice. But, yeah, like I said, it's time to move on and look forward to this next game.

Q. What do you think is causing the slow start?
DYLAN CANTRELL: I don't know. That's a good question. I think we've just got to focus on doing the little things right, making the routine plays, not trying to do too much. Just staying calm. We have a lot of guys with experience, and that's where that veteran leadership needs to step in. We've just got to stay calm and make the routine plays and get going.

Q. Do the slow starts start to snowball? Like here we go again? Next man up? We've just got to get this fixed?
DYLAN CANTRELL: Yeah, for sure. We have a lot of confidence in our offense and our depth and our play-making abilities. So, yeah. Any play we can take it that 70 yards and we know that. So, yeah, if we go 3 and out the first drive, it doesn't even faze us, I feel like, and we're ready to get out there the next series.

Q. What do you see from Kansas defensively?
DYLAN CANTRELL: They're going to play hard. They're going to walk down in your face, the play zone, they'll change it up. They're going to play hard. Like I've said, they had two weeks to watch film and prepare and get ready for us. So we're going to get their best shot.

Q. What was different for you guys when Keke went down on Saturday?
DYLAN CANTRELL: You know, next man up. He is a great playmaker and one of the weapons, probably one of the main weapons, obviously, on our team. But like I said, when injuries happen, we feel confident in our depth. Antoine came in and made some plays. But like I said, just next man up.

Q. (Indiscernible) for you guys to have even nine yards receiving. Is that something where you just say Oklahoma State is good players also, or did you feel frustrating that the receiving unit did not achieve what you had expected?
DYLAN CANTRELL: I mean, I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. They had a great defense. They make plays when they needed to make them. We didn't make plays when we needed to make them at times. That's how it goes sometimes.

Q. Did the offense hold the defense down last week?
DYLAN CANTRELL: They put us in a position to win. Stopping them, holding them to that field goal attempt at the end and they missed. We had a chance to go down, put points on the board and win the game. When we didn't, that's all we can ask of them is put us in a position to win, and we didn't get it done. So that's one thing that we have to work on moving forward.

Q. Talk about Nic through the first four games?
DYLAN CANTRELL: Yeah, he's doing a great job. Great leader, just a guy that, like I've said before, nothing phases him. It doesn't matter if he throws an interception. He's ready to get out there that next series. And it takes a lot, he puts a lot on himself. That's just the guy he is. He puts a lot on his shoulders and tries to do everything he can to put us in a position to win. I think he's done that this year and he'll continue to do that moving forward.

Q. Without giving any trade secret away, I'm not trying to break down a specific play, but is there a bread and butter play that you guys have in the playbook where you know nine times out of 10, 99 times out of 100 you can go to if you need three or four yards?
DYLAN CANTRELL: We have a couple plays that we work on throughout the year. That's just our base plays that we have a lot of confidence in. Every game we'll game prep and put in some plays that we like against that defense. Yeah, we definitely have some base plays that we like.

Q. Are the offensive struggles related to those not working?
DYLAN CANTRELL: I don't think so.

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