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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 17, 2011

Alex Torres

Q. First just talk about your game. You had quite a game Saturday night. Caught 12 balls, I think. Was it just one of those nights where you just saw everything and caught everything?
ALEX TORRES: Yeah, going into last week our whole mentality, our kind of motto for that week was "Count on Me." I really took that to heart. I wanted to be dependable for my teammates. I knew it was a big game. I just had some opportunities out there that I wanted to take advantage of. I felt like a lot of the guys in our room did the same thing. We had some guys that played really well, and unfortunately just as a unit together, we just didn't do enough.

Q. How tough was it to get beyond that game?
ALEX TORRES: It was really tough. Especially for me. Like Seth was talking about, we've got a really close group here. We really do mean it when we say we're like a family because we spend so much time together and everything. With how much everyone on this team cares about it, it's -- we take losses a lot harder than we ever have before.
I mean, shoot, Sunday you came in here and it looked like someone had just died. We got through all that film, and it really hurt us. The past two weeks have been rough.
The one thing I'm really proud of our group about is we're resilient and we're going to keep fighting. So like Doege said, as soon as we got done with that film and we put that in the past, we went out there and had a great Sunday practice. We went out there focused and everyone pretty banged up. We got out there, ran around, got to see some different looks.
I mean, people were really starting to prepare last night for OU by watching some film and getting ready for what we're going to face this week.

Q. Alex, how much difference does it make for you being on the outside?
ALEX TORRES: Yeah, it's a lot of it is just based on what kind of looks they get and Doege going through his progression. The outside receivers, it seems in our progression they've been the ones who we've been able to expose a little bit more and moving outside.
I was just trying to do whatever it took to give our team the best chance to win. I'll stay out there as long as they need me and hopefully with getting guys back from injuries, we'll see where I end up and everything.
But, overall, me personally I'd rather have a W on our schedule than 12 catches with a loss.
Regardless, I'm more than happy to do my job wherever it is, and that's the only thing I look forward to. Whether it be inside or outside, I'm going to do my job. If the ball comes my way, I'm going to try to make a play. If not, I'm going to get up the field and block my butt off if that gives us a chance to win.

Q. Do you feel more comfortable on either one?
ALEX TORRES: By this time now, no. Bouncing around and getting as much practice as I have at both inside and outside, I feel a lot more -- I feel comfortable at either position.

Q. How good is OU (Indiscernible)?
ALEX TORRES: They're really good. We're going to be watching last year's film and see the way things turned out last year. For me, it was embarrassing, and that is something that we're not going to let happen this year.
Like Doege said, we really feel we can play with anyone on our schedule, and there is no game that we -- if we went in with the mentality that there's no way we could win a game, we might as well not even play.
Every week we feel we can beat any opponent on our schedule. Like you said, they're a great -- they have a great defense. They're returning a lot of guys. It's going to be a challenge playing up there and everything that's going on.
But one of the things that I talked about before is we have a really resilient team. We have a lot of fight in us. I don't see us losing any game that it's not a fight. It's a battle to the end. Playing a team like this, we've got to be prepared for that.
It's got to be a battle to the end, no matter what goes wrong or what the situation is in the game, we're going to be fighting the whole game. Whether we're on top or we're trailing.
It's one of those things that we have a resilient bunch and we're just going to continue to fight. Playing in an atmosphere like that, we can already see that, and that's one thing we're going to start preparing for immediately.

Q. Can you talk about this three-game stretch?
ALEX TORRES: Yeah, I know Doege kind of touched on that. To us it's just another game on the schedule. Obviously the Big 12 right now has some great teams, and we feel that not only do we feel we can compete with anyone in this league.
We feel there are going to be upsets. There are going to be all kinds of crazy things that happen in the Big 12. People win that aren't supposed to win. People lose that aren't supposed to lose. We know it's going to be a fight every week.
We kind of saw this coming starting in our first few games seeing the way everyone was playing and how everything was working out. We knew this was going to be a tough conference this year. We're excited for it. To be in a conference like this, this is what you dream as a little kid to play the top teams in the nation and be in a conference that's so strong, and be able to say you've played with the best and really see what you're made of when it comes down to stuff like this, playing three ranked opponents. Like, what you say, it is arguably the No. 1 team in the nation right now.

Q. Two close losses, and if you had those, you'd be 6-0 and bowl eligible. Any conversation going around about, gosh, we've got to get two more wins?
ALEX TORRES: No, not at all. If you ask me personally, I feel there is no question. Those two wins are going to come. There is no question in my mind. I don't have one doubt. Around the locker room I feel like the majority of our team has the same mentality as us. We're confident. We know we have a good team. We know we can play well. We've seen some of the mistakes, we've learned from some, and we continue to make some.
I think after this week, really exposing those mistakes two weeks in a row has really got some people motivated to really correct their stuff.
Last week's motto was "Count on Me." Some of us that made mistakes, those mistakes hurt more than any time before just because our whole mentality that week was for us to be accountable.
So when you see one play where you let your teammates down, and with as close as we are, I mean, that one mistake stays in your mind and it hurts more than anything else. You just really want to get out there and practice and fix that one thing so that that never happens again.

Q. Since y'all have lost two close games, how much do you tell yourselves you could be 6-0 in the rankings?
ALEX TORRES: I would say Sunday we were kicking ourselves quite a bit, especially going through that film. Each play was harder and harder, because we already knew what the outcome was. So seeing the little mistakes that we made, it was rough.
But as soon as we got done with that film, it was a different kind of motivation in the locker room and walking out to that Sunday practice that I felt was really good. Because as much as we kicked ourselves, it's those little things that remind us of how much it hurt it hurt to make those mistakes and how much we don't want them to happen again.
So when you have that motivation, it really pushes you to do some good things at practice which will replicate itself on the field.

Q. As down as you guys were on Sunday, how far could a win this weekend go toward correcting all of that?
ALEX TORRES: It will be huge. With playing probably the best team in our conference right now and ones that have proven themselves week by week, this will be a huge game for us, a big win. But just like every other game that's on our schedule, this is our game this week. So, of course, it's the biggest one because that's the only one we can control.
So a win this week would be really good for our mentality. Really good for our motivation and everything. That's one thing that we're going to strive for. Because we know what we're capable of, and it's awful to come in here and see the little things that we could have done differently that could have been the difference in the game. That's kind of what pushes us to really work hard out there and go out to practice with a chip on our shoulder.

Q. Are your back issues behind you now or do you ever have any flare-ups at all?
ALEX TORRES: No, I've stayed really healthy. I've stayed on top of it working with Arnold and you're training staff here. They've helped me out tremendously doing my exercises and staying on top of it to prevent things like that from happening.
That's one thing I'm going to continue to do because my health was an issue last year. It really made me realize how much -- how little time or how little play can make a difference, and how much I need to stay on top of something like that.

Q. What was the issue?
ALEX TORRES: Shoot, I still don't know the exact terms or whatever it was. All I know is what I would feel is my back would lock up, and I couldn't move like I wanted to. I couldn't cut. I couldn't get separation from DBs. I just couldn't run well. And as a receiver, if you can't do that, you're pretty much shooting yourself in the foot. So that was a big issue. I just couldn't move as well as I'd like to.

Q. Can you compare this road game, the first two games were early and this one a late game. Do you consider this the toughest test you'll face?
ALEX TORRES: Up to this point, I agree. I think this is our toughest road game that we've seen this year so far. We're preparing for it as if it is. This is a big week for us and we'll do everything we can to win.
Like Doege said, we have some young guys that are doing some big things. I truly feel like they don't even believe they're young anymore. They're six games into it. They know what they're facing. They know what good talent is, and they know what they're going to have do to prepare for these games.
In a way, we're not young anymore. I feel like that started -- that kind of mentality started from those younger guys saying I've been here. I've played some great teams. I've seen some great opponents. I feel like this being a tough challenge just motivates us that much more.
We realize it's going to be the toughest away game we face this year, and we're preparing like it is.

Q. Do you feel like you were just there?
ALEX TORRES: Yeah, especially looking back at that film and seeing some of the things that happened last year. It feels like it was just yesterday. For me, that's a good thing because if I could have gone the following week to go and play again to replace that embarrassment that we had last year, I would have done it. To have that kind of feeling, that chip on my shoulder, about how we just went over there and laid an egg and didn't play the way we wanted to and got embarrassed like that. That's the motivation that we need to really go back out there and not let that happen again.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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