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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 24, 2011

THE MODERATOR: We have Eric Stephens.

Q. What would you say the biggest play was in the second half?
ERIC STEPHENS: Probably the long run where I almost scored where I made the safety miss. I can't remember where Donnie was. I feel like that gave us some momentum.
It was after we had lost yardage on the false start penalty. I think that was a big play.

Q. What does a game like this do for momentum going into conference play?
ERIC STEPHENS: I think it's tremendous. Nevada is a great team. It is going to give us a lot of momentum rolling into conference play. Got to go to Kansas next week, get a good victory there in conference play.

Q. Coach called it a character-building type game. Talk about the team.
ERIC STEPHENS: I think it was a big thing for younger guys. A couple years ago I don't feel like we would have won this game. I think with all the younger guys playing, we did have a lot of them playing, I think they see how it's supposed to be done.
It's just going to help us in the future. It's just going to help us in the future whether it be road games or home games, when we're in tough situations, we know we can overcome.

Q. Talk about your touchdown in the fourth quarter. Were you surprised at that call?
ERIC STEPHENS: We practiced it a little bit this week. I wasn't really surprised. I know they are going to do whatever they think is best. Luckily it was me. I was close. Basically unblocked.

Q. Talk about the other guys picking up the slack for Darrin.
ERIC STEPHENS: Coach Brown always said when a guy go down, we can't lose a step. We got a lot of talented receivers, a lot of talented players in general. Somebody has to step up and make a play. That's the message that me and Seth and the rest of the guys were trying to send to the rest of the team when Darrin went down. He's a great player. Been doing great things for us in the first couple games. When he goes down, somebody else got to step up.

Q. Seth was fearless, wasn't he, those two big runs? Did that surprise you?
ERIC STEPHENS: No. Seth, he's a little faster than Pots was. He just don't run the ball as much. I know Seth can run the ball. He don't run enough if you ask me. If he would run some more, it would take some of the pressure off of me. He was supposed to throw the ball if he didn't give it to me. I look up and he's running down the middle of the defense. He got the job done.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Eric.
We'll bring in D.J. Johnson. Questions, please.

Q. Talk about that last stand there for the defense.
D.J. JOHNSON: I mean, it was a great stand. Like coach says, whether we win 56-57 or 2-0, as long as we get the job done, it's great. We went out there and fought hard. Kerry made a great play on fourth down. It was a defensive hole. That adversity, we fought through it.

Q. Could you talk about facing this Nevada offense, what was so difficult to defend?
D.J. JOHNSON: Really, I mean, it was more so just the option. You know what I mean? Just getting the eyes in the right spot. I made a lot of mistakes because my eyes were in the wrong spot, trying to see where the ball is going and I get lost. It's just a matter of doing your job.

Q. What kind of adjustments did you make at halftime or did you?
D.J. JOHNSON: Yeah, we made a few adjustments. Really I was supposed to fly, you know. They were running a pill play. They had me where I was more inside where I could play both the pill, which was to the opposite side of where I was, and play also I guess the lead or power, whatever, to my side. So, I mean, that was pretty much the biggest adjustment we made. We had our tackling be more aggressive trying to draw the double-team. Overall, at the halftime we made a great adjustment.

Q. Talk about being able to come back and win like this with such a young team.
D.J. JOHNSON: It's going to have a great effect. We've been through it now. There's no reason why we can't come back from adversity, or we can't look adversity in the face and defeat it. We did it today. There's no excuse if we're ever in a situation we can't get out of it.
For the young guys especially, for them to go through that so early in the season, I mean, now they know what to expect. Can't really get much worse than what was going on today, like coach said, being down three-quarters and 14 minutes or so.
It was a great experience for all of us.

Q. How big was missing Tre today?
D.J. JOHNSON: I feel like Neboh stepped up and did a tremendous job. He didn't even play at the boundary corner, he just started playing it this week. You know what I mean? For him to transition to that side, that was huge, that was great. I'm grateful he was able to step up and make that play.
I think whether Tre Porter was here or not, we would have performed. We would find a way to get the job done. We miss Tre, can't wait for him to get back out there. But I feel like Neboh did a great job.

Q. Can you talk about trying to keep the intensity up the second half.
D.J. JOHNSON: The main thing was, in the first half, the first couple of drives or whatever, we had no enthusiasm. We came out there and were kind of flat. We were excited to go out there. Once we got out there, it was after a play happened, nobody was really talking. We weren't enthusiastic about our performance and ready to play.
At one point, I mean, it was on a roll because we started becoming more enthusiastic. I tried to keep the team up. Neboh, Kerry Hyder started making plays. After that, we were on a roll. Third downs got us, not making or finishing the third downs. That's really what hurt us.
As far as getting on a roll, that's because of the enthusiasm, we were so pumped up and supporting each other.

Q. Talk about Kerry and those guys up front, how that helped you all?
D.J. JOHNSON: That was great, man. To see Kerry in there. I remember one time, the quarterback tried to keep it and he made I think Slug, I think it was Sam Eguavoen, made him miss. As soon as he made him miss, Kerry just tee'd off on him. That had me so excited to have our D-line be there. They weren't missing a beat. After a while, they were getting pressure, giving us a great chance to go make plays.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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