BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: TCU VS KANSAS STATE

December 3, 2022

Max Duggan

AT&T Stadium

TCU Horned Frogs

Postgame Press Conference

Kansas State - 31, TCU - 28.

Q. Max, obviously that was a very hard fought game out there. It's the first time, though, you guys have fallen short. What was the reaction like in the locker room today after this game?

MAX DUGGAN: I think guys are upset. We have a lot of emotion in the locker room.

(Crying.)

Sorry. I think Coach Sykes talked about we still have -- wherever we go, we still have a game to play. So it's going to hurt. Let it feel you. But we've got to get back to work.

Q. That touchdown that you guys tied it on, you had almost 90 rushing yards. Can you run us through that drive, what was going through your head, and specifically the touchdown run? It kind of looked like you only had maybe 50 percent energy, but you made it happen.

MAX DUGGAN: We knew what they were going to be in. We were down by eight at that point, I think. Time's kind of getting low, going down. So we were just trying to make a play, trying to give us a shot to maybe go to overtime, maybe get the ball back, go win it, things of that sort. So just trying to make a play.

Obviously I was a little tired, but I think everybody else was. I wasn't going to come out. I wasn't going to pout. I wasn't going to try to make it impact us because there were guys on our side giving it everything they've got.

Q. Not having a moment to catch your breath going into that two-point conversion, what was that feeling like?

MAX DUGGAN: You just go back to preparation. You don't let any emotion take over. I think the O-line did a tremendous job of getting me right, continuing to talk to me, and just playing that play. It comes down to preparation. We ran it so many times.

Be in the moment. Be where your two feet are.

Q. You guys talked earlier in the week about wanting to win and not have to worry about the what ifs. Now that you have not won, can you take me through your emotions and your thoughts about wanting to get into that College Football Playoff and not having the ability to control your own destiny?

MAX DUGGAN: We got beat today, and now it's out of our hands. That was something that we wanted to do is be in control. Big congrats to Kansas State. They earned it today. They won that game. They deserved it. They played well today.

Yeah, now it's out of our hands. So all we can do is kind of watch.

Q. Max, how are you physically? You got hit a lot, slow to get up a couple times. How are you doing?

MAX DUGGAN: I'm all right. I'll be all right. I'll be fine.

Q. Do you feel like you guys should be in the playoff?

MAX DUGGAN: I don't even know right now. I think, if we got in, we would give one heck of a fight, and I think our competitiveness would take over and things of that sort. I don't know. I wanted that one really bad.

Q. When you think about everything you've been through and this program's been through over the past few years, how much you love this school, what would it mean to get to bring TCU to the playoff?

MAX DUGGAN: A lot of pride, I think for our fan base, for our team if we were able to do that. There's nothing more that I want than to bring this school a championship.

Today we fell short. I didn't make enough plays to help us offensively that kind of put us in that spot. There's nothing more than I want for us than to get to a school championship.

Q. Max, first of all, did you think you had scored on the play down there at the end of the game? And also, did you want to try to score yourself when you all were down there in fourth down?

MAX DUGGAN: They didn't call me in, so I didn't score. At that point, I don't really care. I could be standing on the sideline. I just wanted to make sure we won.

Q. Max, I'm just kind of curious. The emotion that's pouring out with you right now, is it a product of that game, the uncertainty, the anxiety? Can you pinpoint where that's coming from?

MAX DUGGAN: I think since my four years I've been here, there's been a lot of lows in a football career, and to be so close to bringing this school, this university a championship, the guys, the seniors on this team, the guys have been through a lot.

I think that's where it hurts the most is that you've been so down before, so low. To get so close and it falls short, I think that's where it's coming from.

Q. Obviously this is an emotional time, but you still have more to play for. How do you bounce back from this and regroup as an individual and as a team?

MAX DUGGAN: It's going to hurt, but no one's going to feel sorry for us. I wouldn't expect anyone to feel sorry for us. Once we find out where we're going, we're going to erase this. It's going to hurt for a couple days, but we've got to erase it because no one else is going to care. No one cares that we got beat today.

Q. For anyone who hadn't seen this team play until today, what do you think they should have taken away from watching the effort that you and your teammates gave?

MAX DUGGAN: I think the love that we've got for each other, the love that we've got for this university, for this school to be proud of a team that's out there on the field. I know we came up short, but this team competes, they fight. They fight for each other. They fight for this university.

There's nothing more that we wanted for this team and this school, and we fell short. We're sorry for that.

Q. Are you the kind of guy that follows the rankings and sees where you're ranked and who you're battling with and those kinds of things?

MAX DUGGAN: I don't really care, especially at this moment. Wherever they tell us we're playing, that's where we'll go play.