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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 21, 2011Blake GideonQ.  As a safety you've got to see everything in front of you. Where do you start with this A&M offense? BLAKE GIDEON: Very balanced. That's one thing we saw this morning in film. They have some tendencies like any offense. If we pay close attention and we really get in the film room this week and pay attention to receiver splits and different personnel, then they give some stuff away. But you know, like I said, that's only going to become apparent to us in the game if we spend a lot of time in the film room. Q. Of course their star player is an Austin guy. No surprise there, is it? BLAKE GIDEON: That's right, that's right. I've always said, the best football in Texas is played in central Texas. Q. And your impressions of Swope? BLAKE GIDEON: He's a great player. They use him in a lot of different ways, so they'll hand it to him on different routes and they'll use him as a lead blocker. He can be a physical player. Obviously runs great routes and catches the ball well. You can tell that Tannehill really trusts his hands and trusts his decision making as far as where to set down routes. They spend time together in the summer for sure being able to perfect that bond, I guess. Q. You said the best football in Texas is played in central Texas. BLAKE GIDEON: Absolutely. Q. What does it mean to you that this is the last game between you guys for a long time? BLAKE GIDEON: Right. Well, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's my senior year, to go out this way. Want to make sure we send those guys off right. So it's definitely been a discussion that this game will be remembered, the score will be remembered, just because it is the last one in a long series. We have talked about that, and we want to make sure that we do everything we can this week to make sure we do send those guys off right. Q. You're a football fan. Is it going to be weird not having this game to even watch in the future? BLAKE GIDEON: I think it will be weird. It's a game that I grew up watching, that all TVs turned to A&M versus Texas on Thanksgiving, and no matter who you are if you live in the state of Texas. It will be a change, but like I said, I'm glad that I have one more shot at them. Q. What has been your experience with this rivalry because it has been really intense? Does it seem to matter who is favored? And talk about going to Kyle Field. BLAKE GIDEON: Well, I think obviously Kyle Field plays a lot into that. They play very well at home. You know, the 12th man is very well advertised. I think they do a great job of making noise when they need to and really getting definitely quiet whenever they need to. It's a tough place to play, but if you're a college football fan then it's a great atmosphere, and if you're a competitor and you like that us‑against‑the‑world attitude, then it's a great place to play. Q. Do you say anything as offensive guys after the game or will you say anything this week? BLAKE GIDEON: Yeah, I told them that it's going to start to happen. I know that offense is different from defense in that offense relies so much on rhythm and timing, and everybody, all 11 guys, just clicking and on the same level. Defense you can make up for so many mistakes with effort and just being physical and running to the ball, but offense is a different story. I know with how those guys prepare every week and their expectations for themselves that it's going to start to happen eventually. They're going to light up the scoreboard eventually. Q. Do you have a favorite memory from growing up watching this game? BLAKE GIDEON: Probably the 2005 game whenever they won the National Championship. They really stole momentum, had the lead there for a little bit, and just how it was an undefeated season hanging in the balance, how all those guys really regained momentum with a blocked punt and everything, which by the way, Coach Akina shows us at every punt block meeting. It's one of those things that in this kind of game everything is remembered. This is where Longhorn heroes are made, so that's probably my favorite memory, that whole comeback. Q. Because the defense is a little further along than the offense, do you feel a need to play perfect? BLAKE GIDEON: We're always searching for the perfect game. Haven't seen it yet, haven't played one yet, but I think every competitor is searching for the perfect game. You know, there's not many people that believe it, but we went in and we watched film on Sunday, and there are things that we need to clean up, and we definitely feel like we could have prevented those 17 points, you know, at least 14 of them, just by small technique things and guys just maybe being a little bit hesitant or whatever, giving the quarterback a little bit of extra time, whatever it may be. We feel like there's always things that we can improve on, and it's just our job to hold offenses down to the least amount of points as possible, and we know those guys on our side of the ball are going to pick us up. Q. You've seen Cyrus Gray for four years now. Can you talk about him as a running back? Obviously he's a marked man this week. BLAKE GIDEON: Right. He runs hard. He's a tough guy. He's a good football player. There's a difference in being a fast guy or a good athlete and being a good football player, and he's definitely‑‑ he's the latter of that. He's a tough guy, he runs hard inside, runs fast outside, and he gets yards. He's a gamer. You know, people were trying to make a big deal about him leaving the game this past week, but there's no doubt in my mind he's going to be ready for us. He's a competitor. There's nothing more he wants than to play on the big stage, and that's what we want, so it's fun for us to play against guys that want to compete and play hard like that. Q. Is Quandre Diggs the next big thing around here, and what were your impressions of that body slam? BLAKE GIDEON: Quandre, he's definitely coming along. I think everybody has seen that this year. I think he's mature beyond his years. He's playing older than he is, playing bigger than he is, and he's a fun guy to be on the field with because the first thing you notice about Quandre from day one whenever he came in early is that he's not scared. He's not afraid of any challenge, whether it's being in one‑on‑ones or whether it be lining up against two tight ends and having to come force a sweep. Just because he's the smallest guy on the field, that means nothing to him. He feels like everybody is challenging him all the time, even if no one is. It's fun to play with a guy like that. Q. Is there any extra pressure on you (inaudible)? BLAKE GIDEON: Right, yeah, there's definitely going to be some situations in the game to where it's me and him or Vaccaro and him, Christian and him. We're going to have to do a great job this week of playing our technique and trusting our technique and knowing where help us in the coverage. He's a great player. We understand that whenever we play great players, they're going to make plays, and it's just about limiting those plays and not letting them stack up. You know, we need to understand that we need to have short memories and be able to go out and play every play and compete every play. Q. What has he been able to do against safeties for other teams? BLAKE GIDEON: I think it's just really his great route running. You know, a lot of guys even whenever they have him blanketed in routes, he's still able to adjust to the ball in flight. He's an athlete. He's a competitor. He goes up, and you can see plainly on film sometimes, he just out‑competes a guy for the ball. You know, like I said, we're looking forward to the challenge, and he's definitely put up the numbers for him to be worthy of all the praise he's getting. It's going to be a fun week for us. Q. Do you want to see him on your side of the field? BLAKE GIDEON: Sure, absolutely. Q. Do you think it's going to take you getting past this game maybe a few years down the road to kind of appreciate what this week means if they don't end up playing a game for a while, or do you think you can use that as motivation? BLAKE GIDEON: I think down the road I'll appreciate it in a different sense, but you know, especially after the Aggie supper we had last night with all the former lettermen coming back and really telling us what they thought of this rivalry and what they thought of this place and sacrifice at this place, a few guys telling us what they thought of the Aggies specifically, then I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what this rivalry is about. I don't want to let those guys down. There's a lot of tradition that goes into this rivalry and this series, and we want to make sure that we end it the right way. Q. Safe to say you can't really tell us much of what they said? BLAKE GIDEON: Yeah, safe to say. Q. Who were the speakers, without saying what they said? BLAKE GIDEON: The two main guys who spoke to us last night were Doug English and Aaron Humphries. Q. A short turnaround is always challenging. Is it harder coming off of a disappointing loss like you had this past weekend? BLAKE GIDEON: You know, it is tough. That was an emotional loss. There was a lot that went into that game. You know, it was a physical game, so more than just the bumps and bruises, just with how we lost it there seemingly in the last minutes, and that's tough to get over. But at the same time, we have to. There's games left to be played, and in a short week it's really not a 24‑hour rule, it's more like a 12‑hour rule. We had to come back Sunday morning and we were putting game plan in yesterday for A&M, so it's that quick of a turnaround with a short week like this. At this point in the season everybody is kind of bruised and banged up, so it's going to come down to mental toughness and who wants it more. Q. What was your favorite Thanksgiving meal growing up? BLAKE GIDEON: Favorite Thanksgiving food is probably going to be my grandmother's‑‑ probably her German sweet rise. We're a big German family. That and whatever sugared ham or whatever she made that year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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