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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 21, 2017

Kliff Kingsbury

Lubbock, Texas

Iowa State - 31, Texas Tech - 13

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for coach.

Q. Could you talk about the strategy in the first half, maybe getting more away from what you normally do, usually do well, the decision to almost be exclusively on the run.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, it was more the looks we were getting. We felt like we could execute the run at a high level, and we didn't. Turned the ball over a couple times, got us off schedule. So weren't able to get first downs early. Couldn't get into our tempo stuff early. Just really squandered all the possessions.

Q. Was it a case where they were showing you a lot of box, you felt you needed five to block five?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, that was the looks. We felt like we had the numbers. We felt like watching them throughout the year, that was what we needed to do: when we had the looks, run the ball, run the football. Whether we were missing two up front, not seeing the cut, we squandered a bunch of those drives.

Q. What can you tell us about the status of Justin Stockton.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I was told he had some sort of head injury.

Q. We talked about this before, obviously if you had ideas, I'm sure you'd implement them. Seems like the teams that show you a lot of the box, drop a lot of guys in coverage, (indiscernible), how do you counteract that?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I felt today we had a good plan. I think you can't turn the ball over like that. We knew we wouldn't have a ton of possessions. We squandered them. Had some negative plays there on a couple of those drives early that set us back, and that plays into their hands with them dropping all those people.

Last week was a similar defense. Had success last week. We just weren't very good this week.

Q. Do you feel like after the second fumble, Here we go again, they didn't respond?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I thought throughout the first half we didn't respond. I thought the second half, guys played hard. We still didn't execute offensively. I thought defense, they gave us a chance to win the game. Offensively we never executed at a level we needed to. That's on me. I got to get those guys going.

Q. How do you feel about Shimonek's performance today?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I felt like he had some good -- I thought he fought the whole time. There was some tough sledding there at the end, where you are having to throw, they are dropping all those guys, you're playing right into their hands.

But, you know, handled himself well. I thought for the most part got us into the right plays. We were off offensively.

Q. Not being prolific in the passing game, when that has been the case, do you see that more receivers or what has been the tendency you've seen on film?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I mean, I felt like we've thrown the ball pretty well up until today. We knew that we wanted to run the football more, but we didn't get that done. That played into their hands. We were one-dimensional, throwing it. It was tough sledding when they knew we were going to throw it.

Q. Missed field goals from last week and today, what does that do to the thinking of the team?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I mean, you like to hit it obviously. We were very poor in the red zone. You'd like to kick that one, make it 24-16, make it a one-score ballgame. But we felt like we didn't think we could make that field goal. We went for it, and that was pretty deflating for our team.

Like I said, I thought defense continued to give us an opportunity to get back in that game. Offensively we didn't execute well the entire day.

Q. What can you tell us about the status of Clayton Hatfield?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I'm not sure. We're hoping he can return at some point this season.

Q. (Indiscernible) first option on that play?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: We had kind of two sides. Read, just best look side. Looked like he tried to bang it on Cam. Hopes he falls forward for the first down. I'll have to watch on film to see exactly what we had.

Q. Credit to Iowa State, the quarterback has played marvelously the last three weeks.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: He's playing well. He's getting to their play-makers. He's throwing the deep ball very well. Gets it high, those guys make plays. Great schemes, matchups they wanted. Executed at a high level. You have to give them a lot of credit offensively and defensively.

Q. Do you regret not mixing it up more in the first quarter? One quarter before a pass went beyond the line of scrimmage.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Our plan was to get the run game going early. We just weren't able to do it. We felt like we had what we wanted. We were going to force some runs with the looks they were giving us. We weren't able to execute. That was the game plan. I'll have to watch the tape and see why we weren't able to do that.

Q. What did you see on the interception?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: You know, I think we were trying to push up and block the linebacker. Looks like we didn't get there. Then at that point if it's that cloudy, we probably should just burn that football. First-and-10, play the next down.

I'll have to watch it. But the ball location didn't look great, and that guy made a really good play.

Q. (Indiscernible).
KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, just kind of a coach's decision.

Q. What do you do to get the X receiver position going?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I mean, not many of the receivers had many opportunities today. I think they're practicing hard. We just have to find a way to get them more involved.

Q. Talk about the message at halftime, maybe what you talked about in terms of the change of strategy. It seemed like you played at a much quicker pace in the third quarter. There was a bit of a shift at halftime.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we were able to excuse some plays. Went three-and-out to start, which wasn't ideal obviously coming out of the halftime. But we were able to get some first downs, which we really hadn't got in the first half, and play faster. Nic found some things, found some seams, we were able to get the ball going a little bit.

Q. (Question regarding Tre King).
KLIFF KINGSBURY: He ran tough. He's gotten better and better. I'm proud of his progress. He'll have a role moving forward, a major role moving forward.

Q. How big of a challenge is it to get back the momentum you had?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It's obviously a challenge. We came out flat to start this game. It was the first game I felt like we were flat. They executed at a high level and we didn't. We can't do that in this league.

We got to find a way to get back up. Got a big one next week. Obviously they're all big from here on out. Find a way to start fast again. That was really the first time I felt like we weren't really crisp early on in the game.

Q. That probably surprised you, because that has not been the earmark of this team.
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, it did. I felt like we were dragging for whatever reason, not getting it going. J.P. made that play early. You thought that would have got us going. But they came right back and scored. Then offensively we were sluggish the whole day.

Q. (Indiscernible).
KLIFF KINGSBURY: It appears that way. He does a good job with his presnap reads, knows where to go with the football, makes accurate throws. You have to give him a lot of credit. To be that prepared as a backup, you have to take your hat off to him.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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