BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: BAYLOR VS OKLAHOMA STATE

December 4, 2021

Terrel Bernard

AT&T Stadium

Baylor Bears

Postgame Press Conference

Baylor 21, Oklahoma State 16

Q. Terrel, what does this mean to you to finish your career here with a Big 12 Championship?

TERREL BERNARD: Man, it means everything. I've been sitting in there just thinking the past five years and what a grind it's been, how fun it's been, and everything that we've been through, the ups, the downs and everything in between, man. It's been worth it.

This moment here is something they can never take away. We worked so hard to get here, and I'm glad it's finally being seen.

Q. What was your view of that last play with McVea? Were you nervous? Did you think he had the angle? Did you think Jairon had it all the way there?

TERREL BERNARD: Yeah, man, it was crazy. 4th and 1 situation, Big 12 Championship on the line, we figured they were going to run the ball, so we called a run blitz, so everything kind of got clogged up in the middle and I just see the running back sprinting out to the sideline towards the end zone and only see Jairon running him down. He was making plays all day, and he ran him down, and I think he tackled him at like the half-yard line, so it was a crazy way to end the game.

Q. Terrel, 2-7 last season and now you're a part of the first ever Baylor championship from a title game. Coach Aranda coming in last year there were a lot of questions, now this year winning a championship, what does Dave Aranda mean to you and this team?

TERREL BERNARD: Means everything, man. He came in, did the dirty work early, changed a lot of things within the program for the better, and it's awesome to see the success he's having this year. I've said this before, but he is the most humble, one of the hardest working guys that I know, a man of integrity, a man of faith, and we all want to give our all for him. We respect him so much, and he'll never take the credit, but a lot of credit is due to him.

Man, I can't say enough good things about Coach Aranda. I'm so happy for him.

Q. Terrel, y'all had four picks today, a Big 12 record for this game. What makes you guys such a magnet for the ball in these type of situations?

TERREL BERNARD: I think coming in, part of it's scheme, part of it is how we practice. We attack the ball every single day, and we were getting pressure on the quarterback, forcing him to make kind of contested throws and try to fit things into tight spaces, and we were in the right place at the right time sometimes, came up with it, and I think that changed the game.

Q. Terrel, that last sequence, yes, Jairon made the play at the end, but they had three or four shots at it. Talk about the way the defense stood up in that moment.

TERREL BERNARD: Yeah, man. We had did it earlier in the game, so we knew we could do it, and we had the right calls in. We knew that they were going to try to run the ball. They took a shot kind of later on and Pitre broke up the play at the back of the end zone. Just physicality, toughness, and bowing our necks once we got down there. We weren't going to give up. We weren't going to just let them walk in. Big 12 Championship was on the line, and we came up huge at the end and were able to keep them out.

Q. Just in terms of you talked about that two-win season last year; realistically at what point did you think we actually can do what you guys just did, win 11 games?

TERREL BERNARD: I mean, we had a good team last year. A lot of times the games are decided by a score or less. We just couldn't put it together.

I think the work throughout the off-season that we did, building a bond, just being around each other every single day, I think that played a huge role into it, and we were able to just play for each other throughout the whole season, and it's crazy to think how far we've come in just one year. It's been an amazing experience.

Q. Baylor is the first team since 2014 to kind of beat out Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championship. What does that mean for the program now and what does it mean heading forward especially with sort of this new Big 12 coming out? What do you think it means for the program?

TERREL BERNARD: Man, I think it's just a start. We can beat whoever every single week if we come in and put the work in, do all of our things right during the week.

I think more than anything, we kind of showed the young guys how to work and how to get here, how to get to this point, and that's something that Coach Aranda had talked to a lot of us with, a lot of the older guys, is leaving a legacy and kind of paving the way. It's crazy to see all that come to fruition now.

Q. I know Coach Aranda is pretty outwardly consistent, but how did you kind of see him change in his philosophy and himself from year one to year two and who he was bringing to Baylor?

TERREL BERNARD: I don't think he changed. I think he got more comfortable and more confident, and the player buy-in I think throughout the off-season and the summer, we had a lot of talks. We had a lot of meetings and things of that nature. We fully committed and just went 100 percent all in, and what he was teaching and what he preached to us, I think it trickled down to the younger guys. Once you have a team you can do whatever you want.

I think everybody coming together and believing in one message moving forward, I think that's what sparked the change.

Q. Terrel, saw a picture of you and Jalen I think it was back in the locker room. I think the last time we talked I asked you about kind of the group as a whole. You and Jalen in particular and the ups and the downs and all that, to go from two years ago playing in this game and the heartbreak and then last year was tough and then now to be here, y'all's final run, can you put it into words?

TERREL BERNARD: Man, that's my best friend in the entire world. We've been through everything together. Our first year here as true freshmen, going 1-11, all the way up to 2019, losing here together. A rough season last year, going 2-7, and it all coming back full circle and finishing out, I couldn't be more happy for him. All the work that he's put in behind the scenes is finally coming out into the light this year, and man, I can't say enough good things about him. He's one of the people that has held me together and kept me going when I didn't think I could go, and he's done that for a lot of people on the team.

Him being a leader and the person that he is, I think he's one of the biggest pieces of this team getting to the point that we're at right now.