|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 31, 2009Baron BatchBrandon SharpeQ. How does it feel to get back on the winning track after last week? BARON BATCH: Well, first of all, I just want to thank God for giving me the opportunity. And just getting me out of another game healthy. So I just want to thank him for that. As far as getting back on the winning streak, you know, it feels good. We've had some tough losses, and I think this is one of my favorite teams I've ever played on. And we've got a lot of tough guys and a lot of guys that step up when we need them to. And that's what I love about this team. The guys step up. BRANDON SHARPE: Just what he said. Just going out there and having fun. Getting over all the things that's in the past and working on what's now instead of back on the basics on everything and just working hard. Q. Baron, what got into you in the fourth quarter there? BARON BATCH: Well, you know, honestly it wouldn't have mattered which running back was back there. The offensive line did a great job just opening things up for me, and they did a great job. If it would have been Harrison or Eric, any of those guys, they probably would have had the same night I did. But they did a great job stepping up when they got the opportunity to make plays. Q. Baron, what was the difference in the running game in the second half. In the first half you weren't getting much accomplished and in the second half it was lining everything completely opened up? BARON BATCH: I think in the first half we had a lot of guys hesitating, you know, myself included. Just being hesitant on certain things. O-linemen being hesitant. In the second half they just came out and played. I told them don't worry about making mistakes. Just go out and make plays. Do your job and good things will happen, and that's what happened. Q. Could you tell those last couple of touchdowns, on a couple of them didn't look like you got touched? BARON BATCH: Oh, man, those are some of the easiest touchdowns I've scored at Tech. Like I said, the offensive line did a great job just executing and just not hesitating. I think that was the biggest thing. They just didn't hesitate in the second half. They just went out and played and had fun. Q. It looked like you were getting some good blocks in the beginning of the line. Was there any particular play that y'all were going back to? BARON BATCH: You know, it was just our basic stuff, really. It's just, you know, I say this all the time. You know, this offense can't be stopped when people just execute. In the first half we weren't doing that. In the second half we came out and everybody just did their job. Q. Any win is a big win, but how big is this one going into the bye week? BRANDON SHARPE: Oh, man. It's just a great one to leave off on. Keep us positive and working hard for the game that's coming up after this bye. You know, for this bye probably just get the fundamentals down. And at practice just keep working hard. Q. Against A & M last week, there really wasn't much pass-rush at all. Just like the running game kicked on in the second half, the pass-rush just absolutely exploded today. Again, what was the difference? Why were you so much more effective today than against A&M? BRANDON SHARPE: Well, I guess last week I don't know, something just came up on me, you know. I don't know. It was like a little congestion and stuff. But I just treated myself better. Ate the right things before the game and just got ready to play. I was feeling it a little bit, but I just had to fight it off in this game. Just can't curl up when you're not feeling good. You have to go out there and play and work hard for your teammates. Q. How did it feel to rack up so many touchdowns today on a team that's kind of known for passing? BARON BATCH: I mean, it's nice, but the touchdowns I score is a reflection of everybody doing what they're supposed to. Receivers blocking down field. Linemen doing a great job blocking the quarterback. You know, Potts did a great job checking into those runs. I don't think many of those, maybe two of the plays that we scored on were called in the huddle. But every other run, pretty much, was checked into. That's a great job by Potts just doing what he's supposed to, and recognizing what they're giving us and being a smart player. Q. Can you take us into the huddle real quick when there is a quarterback change? What was that like for you guys? Do you just play on? How does that effect you guys at that point? BARON BATCH: Really Coach Leach always preaches just doing and taking care of what you can take care of. Doing your job and controlling what you can control. So as far as when Doege was in, you know, I'm going to do my job what I'm supposed to do. When Potts came in I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do. So the quarterback, whoever is in there doesn't really dictate what we do as players as far as receivers, O-linemen, running backs. We've just got to do what we do whoever's in there. Once we do that consistently play in and play out, we're going to make plays. Q. Did what happened last week have an effect on you guys just from a private standpoint, make you mad? Want to come back out there and show that you were a different team today? BRANDON SHARPE: Yes, I mean, any time you have a loss you have to just fight back and build yourself back up. You don't just sit there and wander on and pout about it. You just have to beat yourself up, go play hard, and comes in the morning. I just want to thank the D-line and the defense because we all work as a team. We make things happen. Q. Would you say this might be one of the better defensive games you guys have had considering you really only gave up one touchdown? BRANDON SHARPE: Yes, sir. This is one of the best ones we've had so far, you know. We come in. Just fighting through. He had a speech on Friday -- was it Friday night? About fighting. And don't be the one that's going to say you're going to fight and don't fight and run off. So we all just stood in there and fought with each other. Had fun. Even if it was just like in and out, in and out, you know, we just kept it up and worked as a team. We kept each other up. Q. I think you're up other to like 10 or 11 sacks now. How fulfilling is that for you as little as you've played before this year? BRANDON SHARPE: I'm just I thankful for all I'm blessed with. I just hope I can keep on playing hard and more to come, you know. Trying to just work hard. Q. How nice is it to know that you have a defense that can keep you in the game whenever the offense is struggling? BARON BATCH: I mean, it's nice. We pretty much gave up 14 points, you know. Just scored on ourselves, you know. The fumble recovery for the touchdown, then we fumbled with maybe a minute left and they get it back at like the 3. We're not putting our defense in a great position, but the whole game these guys fought hard. And hat's off to them because they played an outstanding game and played as a team. In the Big 12 in this conference that's what it takes week in and week out is to play as a team. If you have one side of the ball that's weak, you're going to lose. And I think that's what's kind of happened in the past. But the thing that pulled us through this game is everybody stepped up on all three sides of the ball and we made plays. Good things happen when you do that. Q. You remember who you guys were playing the last time you scored four touchdowns in a game? I know it was back in high school, right? BARON BATCH: Yeah it had to have been. I've never scored four touchdowns at Tech. But like I said, you know, touchdowns are just touchdowns. It's a reflection of everybody doing their job. You know, I'm thankful for that. That everybody's rallies and just does the right thing and does their job. You know, it could have been Detron or Torres or one of those guys getting four. That's just how it is in this offense. You know, it's nice to get those, but you know it's a team game. Q. For both of you, with that, Leach ties Spike. He's not going to talk a lot about that record and having the most wins for a coach at Tech. But what's that mean for y'all to give him that as players? BARON BATCH: It's nice. It's really nice, and it's a great accomplishment by him. You know, the thing about Tech, the reason I came here is because, you know, it's a winning program. We win. I think sometimes people take for granted just how good of a coach he is, and how much we win here. I think at times, you know, when we're not driving up-and-down the field on everybody people get disappointed. But that just shows how good of a coach Leach is, and people expect that from him. It's a great accomplishment. Awesome to be part of a team that's helped him get that. Q. I was going to ask you, Jamar came up with a pretty big hit out there. That fired you guys up. Do you have a nickname for that hit or something about that hit? BRANDON SHARPE: We'll talk about it later. I said something to him on the sideline I can't say. That hit fired us up. I told him I liked it a lot. Seeing something like that. It started from the highlight film, when we see some good hits like we did during the season and stuff. I was saying in my head I want to convert some of those into the game, and I guess some of the guys heard me thinking it and yeah. It was nice. I was trying to get the quarterback, too, but I liked that one. Q. I think it was the second play of the fourth quarter, you had that long 44-yard run. It just seemed to ignite things. Did you sense anything there? Did that get you going? Do you think that maybe got the offense going? BARON BATCH: I think the biggest thing we came in at halftime. You know, we sat down, and Leach said, look, just do your job. Don't worry about what other people are doing, just do what you're supposed to do. And honestly, this game was probably one of the games I wasn't, you know, as vocal as I usually am and just as fired up and jumping around. I really just said, you know, I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do. Do my job and trust that everybody else is going to. That's the mentality that everybody took. In the second half we're just going to go out there and take care of my job. You know, that's what happened in the second half. Just everybody doing what they're supposed to. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|