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BAYLOR UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 12, 2019

Matt Wells

Waco, Texas

Baylor-33, Texas Tech-30

MATT WELLS: Proud of our guys, thought they fought. They spilled their hearts and guts out on that field. Tremendous effort by both teams. Very well-coached Baylor team. They do a great job.

It's a program that I think is on the rise, but our guys went toe-to-toe with them. We matched every punch, we countered every punch. I thought our guys played their butts off. For that I'm so proud of them.

The only area we didn't show up as the winner is that final score obviously. But that doesn't take away my pride in the effort that our players played with. I thought they played their tails off.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. In a game like that, obviously you can look back on what ifs. What kind of sticks out at you as the main thing you're kicking yourself over?
MATT WELLS: I'm sure as I go back and look at the tape, we'll find some stuff. It's easy to second guess in a close game, both sides.

But nothing really sticks out immediately right here at this moment. If you have something in mind, go ahead and mention it.

Q. Here is one thing. You had the ball three times inside the 25 with no points. Other than that, I can't remember. You missed some opportunities there.
MATT WELLS: Got to play better in the red zone. Got to come away with touchdowns.

Q. Was there ever a thought in the first overtime to go for two?
MATT WELLS: No, not for the first one. I thought we were playing pretty good on offense. I thought our D-line got a little stronger. I liked the way they played in the beginning of the first overtime before they hit the shot over the middle after the fumble, whatever it was, the second play there. They got down there.

No, kick the extra point, get the second overtime, keep playing ball.

Q. This is your first time playing at McLane Stadium. How do you think the crowd impacted?
MATT WELLS: Good crowd. Good support. We had a lot of red and black. Proud of our Raider Nation, thankful there for the attendance and presence. We could hear them, too. I think they contributed to this atmosphere, as well.

Q. On the fumble in overtime, what explanation did you get?
MATT WELLS: Not much of one. I can't wait to get one from the league as we get going. I know I'm going to have to be real professional right here, but I can't wait to see and hear. I've already seen it to be honest with you. There's going to have to be a lot of explanation. A lot of people have seen it. I saw it walking on the way in here.

Was told it was an illegal snap. I'll kind of leave it at that.

Q. Reading between the lines...
MATT WELLS: Depends on the call. If they shut it down, it's illegal snap, it's a dead ball. If that was not an illegal snap, thought the QB was under the center, the ball hits the ground, it is a live football recovered by the Red Raiders first and 10, here we go.

Q. You thought it was the latter, I assume?
MATT WELLS: I absolutely did. I just watched the replay on two phones. We'll just leave it at that.

Q. Talk about the fight in this team.
MATT WELLS: Six games into year one, it's exactly what you want. I look back two weeks ago, we took a big step last week. One can argue that we didn't win this game, maybe you didn't take a step. I think we did.

Appreciate and respect the effort of our guys. We were down a few guys. Thought Jett played well again. Thought our O-line protected him good at times. Then we had some breakdowns. That's a really good D-line. 90 is good. Those guys inside are really good. That's a senior-dominated defense. That's where I want us to get to.

Eight seniors starting, three came back in the game in the third quarter, eight seniors on that defense. They're big and strong. That's what I'd like to get ours to at some point.

We matched blow for blow. To take that drive at the end of the game with Jett and the crowd and the noise, I mean, it was precision. They threw and caught the ball. SaRodorick picked up some good blitzes. We made plays all the way down the field to send the thing into overtime. Really proud of our guys.

Q. (No microphone.)
MATT WELLS: Yeah, probably so.

Q. SaRodorick have the hot hand?
MATT WELLS: He's been banged up a little bit the last couple weeks. SaRodorick was the hot hand. We continued to saddle him up, let's ride him.

Q. What makes theirs such a good quarterback?
MATT WELLS: I tell you, the guy's got some moxy. He was coached really well in high school. I have a lot of respect for his high school coaches. Poise, patience in the pocket. Then he just slithers out. If you don't have a contained rush... We had a spy on him for a little bit in the game. Sometimes the spy got caught up.

The guy, he's elusive and he throws it very well on the run once he gets out of the pocket.

Q. What can you say about R.J. showing up?
MATT WELLS: I thought he had some big-time catches. Proud of him. Probably his biggest moment so far in six games as a Red Raider. I thought 2 showed up really good.

Q. Your defense, at the end not what they wanted...
MATT WELLS: That was probably the biggest stop, forcing that field goal, huge. Made a couple plays right there on first and second down. Broderick played the whole game. I thought the play by Jordan and Doug, those seniors, they played well. Doug showed up again. He continues to do that.

We obviously got to clean some things up. We have to have some tighter coverage. We had a couple breakdowns on the edge in the run game. There will be plenty to clean up from this tape moving forward.

Q. You get SaRodorick's touchdown, take the lead with a minute and a half left. In the sequence where they go down, get the field goal to tie it, as you replay that, what happened?
MATT WELLS: I don't know. That seems a little bit like a blur to me right now. The sack, we're down inside the two, three. A breakdown in coverage. I can't tell you right now where it came from. You're feeling pretty good on second down right there.

Q. No interceptions before this game, but three today.
MATT WELLS: The ball, we wanted to come in here and win the turnover margin. We knew we had to get some pressure on him. I thought there was some pressure early that was effective. We didn't land some sacks, but we got some hits on him. That may have caused something there, I don't know. Maybe a rush.

I think our front seven got some good pressure in the game on him. That was a big plan in the game.

Q. What does it say about the mentality of Jett? He struggled early, threw a couple picks, but to come back.
MATT WELLS: He really only threw one bad pick, the one he was late. He was scanning obviously. He took his coaching, came right back. The last drive was really pretty. You just see him operate, the O-line protected him, made some big catches, made some competitive catches. T.J., R.J. right on the sidelines, Eric had one.

I thought, again, two weeks in a row our wideouts showed up and played well.

Q. How long big a challenge is it to you and your staff to get this team back up after losing like this?
MATT WELLS: It's a challenge. But last week was a challenge, too. I think our staff will rise to the occasion. I think we've had that challenge two weeks in a row, coming off an embarrassing loss in Norman, then getting our guys back up and ready to play and rallying together, having a big home win, getting a patted on the back all weekend.

New in this culture and program is how do you handle success, defeat. This will be a new challenge, an emotional defeat right at the end of the game. I'm confident that it's not just our staff but our seniors are going to have to do it.

Those three seniors on defense, Broderick, Doug, Jordan, Steele on offense, Donta Thompson, those guys got to get us going again.

I expect us to get right back off the mat and learn from this, go right back to work on Monday. That's going to be part of this whole first year, is building this culture, how do we grind every single week.

I got no question right now sitting here today coming off this game that our guys will do it again on Monday.

Q. (No microphone.)
MATT WELLS: Team violation.

Q. What did Henry have?
MATT WELLS: Some personal issues during the week, so he didn't practice. He should be up next week.

Q. (Indiscernible) see him go more aggressively north and south?
MATT WELLS: Depends on where the rush lanes open up. Sometimes the rush lanes are unpredictable. As you step up in the pocket, you can usually do a little bit better damage if they rush the quarterback for width, a little harder, no matter how talented you are.

The pick in the first half, he had a good week of practice. We need him down the stretch to play well.

Q. What happened to Donta Thompson's jersey?
MATT WELLS: An accident. We actually left it at home. It's not a big deal. Happens at every level. It was an accident. Let's not make a big deal about it, please. He didn't. I thought he played really good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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