Head coach Dana Holgorsen
DANA HOLGORSEN: I'm proud of our guys for just hanging in there for four quarters and finding a way to win there at the end. Hats off to Texas Tech. A lot of teams would have shut things down at halftime, being down 25 points, 35-10. We played a really good first half. I focused all week on starting fast. I guess I forgot to tell them there was a second half. But didn't finish very good. That's on me. We've got to evaluate it and see what went wrong.
But really, I give Kliff and his team a lot of credit for coming out in the second half with the new quarterback and playing their tail off, especially defensively. They shut us down, and they kept playing and gave themselves a chance there at the end.
Good teams find a way to win, especially on the road in the Big 12, so we're happy about that. We're thrilled to be 2-0 in the Big 12. Defense stepped up and hung in there, made a play at the end to get us some points on the board, which obviously we needed a few to win.
Excited about it and ready to get out of here.
Q. Offensively the first half you guys played so well. What was clicking then, and sort of the second half, drops, a couple penalties; just wasn't quite there, the same focus. What was it?
DANA HOLGORSEN: I don't know. We didn't -- maybe they made some halftime adjustments. I doubt it based on them running the same defense in the second half that they did in the first half. I give Gibby and Spav for Texas Tech credit for keeping their guys up. They're a good defense. The thing that group has been doing, they wore Oklahoma State out in the second half because they played hard, and they played harder than we did in the second half today. Being down 25 at halftime, that's a -- I commend their coaching staff for keeping them playing hard. Schematically we knew what they were going to do, we just didn't execute very well in the second half. We had too many drops. We didn't block them very good up front. I think it's probably just an old-fashioned relaxation situation. We relaxed because we were up 25, and they didn't quit, and they kept plugging away and gave themselves a chance at the end.
Q. Aside from some of those issues, is there anything that concerns you about what you saw offensively in the second half moving forward?
DANA HOLGORSEN: No. I think we're a pretty decent offense. We scored 35 points in the first half. It's probably going to be good for us. We didn't play very good in the second half. We'll watch it and probably learn from it. The Big 12 is -- we know as well as anybody, the Big 12 is like that. I'm surprised we didn't need 49 points to win this game. But just been in it a long time and understand that teams can score quick.
You know, nothing that happened is surprising. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't play as hard as I thought we could have in the second half. It's human nature, and it falls on me. We've got to do a better job of getting them going regardless of the score is. I didn't particularly like how we finished the game against Kansas State. We were pretty inept on offense in the fourth quarter. We've got to handle success better. We've got to be able to play better and play smarter when we're winning.
I think we've got a good football team, and if we're winning, then that can't dictate how we play. We've got to keep playing because we're going to have to keep scoring at times.
Q. Another 100-plus yard day for Marcus Simms. Why is he playing at such a high level on a consistent basis this season?
DANA HOLGORSEN: Well, he's just practiced well. He's shown flashes of it in the past, and he's been inconsistent practice-wise. In spring he was inconsistent. Camp he was really consistent. He's just practiced well all camp, and this is three weeks in a row that he's played better. The better he plays, the more he's going to get targeted. He's arguably our top wide out right now. I think we've got a couple of pretty good ones.
Happy for him, and he's doing a good job. It's just all about consistency. We've got to get some other guys to play consistently like that.
Q. How difficult is it to adjust on the fly when a quarterback like Duffey comes in mid-stream with a different skill set?
DANA HOLGORSEN: It's hard because we didn't have any information on him. I mean, we knew he could run around. Kid made some good plays now. We just didn't have a whole lot of information on him. I was talking with Gibby towards the end of the second quarter, when they put him in, I said, we've got to time-out, and he's like, I don't know what to expect, so if we need a time-out, we need to change personnel, we will. We didn't have any idea what they were going to do. But yeah, it's difficult. I was impressed with him. He went in in a difficult situation and made some plays, which is not surprising just based on Kliff doing a good job of coaching whoever the dang quarterback is, you know.
Q. How happy are you with how your corners played together?
DANA HOLGORSEN: Pretty good, yeah. Just all of them. We've got four of them. They're going to keep getting better. We've got competition. Hated to see Norwood get ejected like that. We can learn from that. But they're all four playing pretty good. A game like this and that kind of a deal, you're going to need all of them to step up and play good, and I was happy with how they all did.
Q. Can you talk on the fast start? It's about as good as you could have expected, I'm sure.
DANA HOLGORSEN: Yeah, we talked about it a lot. These guys have always started fast. They got up on us last year. They were up 17 in the third quarter and we overcame that. But this stadium and these guys have traditionally started fast. I was a part of it for a long time. So we talked about it a lot and learned from last year because we got down so much.
Was happy with that, but like I said, you've got to finish, as well, and we didn't do as good a job of finishing as I wanted to.
Q. With a veteran team like this, do you like having the second half to kind of look at with them the next few days and drill stuff and not let them get too high?
DANA HOLGORSEN: As soon as my headache goes away, I'm going to be okay with it. Right now my head hurts because it was very stressful. But I made reference at one point this week that we do have good senior leadership, and I'm thankful for that. I'm curious to see how these guys respond in an adverse situation. It was our first one of the year, and it was stressful. Those guys came back, and they had all the momentum. I think we're going to be able to learn a lot moving forward from what happened in the second half. If we're as good a team as I think we can be, then we will make some improvements based on what happened.
Q. The pick six, you said it was stressful. Would you sum it up like that?
DANA HOLGORSEN: Yeah, I would say. And then our kickoff team didn't do their job. That's on me. We had a substitution situation. They got one out for the first time all year, and we were offsides. I mean, we can learn from that. But yeah, it relieved some stress, and it made the clock really important, obviously, for us. He made a great play. What did we have, three picks? So that was huge. That's why we won the game.
Redshirt senior quarterback Will Grier
WILL GRIER: We got the win. It's tough to win in this league, and that's our goal every week is winning. Happy to get out of here with a win.
Q. Was there a little bit of a letdown when the lid came off in the third quarter, especially after the defense got the first stop? You moved the ball some, but there weren't any finishes, any kill shots, I guess.
WILL GRIER: Oh, absolutely. We hurt ourselves. It's going to need to be corrected going forward, but came out with a win, and that's all that matters right now.
Q. How much of it was in your mind execution and how much of it was just energy or just mental --
WILL GRIER: A lot of it was energy and where guys were at, and I put that on me and the other leaders of keeping everybody in it, making sure that just when we get up, there shouldn't be any letup. We talk about it, we say it. We obviously said it at halftime. Third quarter we talked about it. But there's a difference. I don't think there was -- I think it was about just executing and finishing plays, finishing the block, finishing the run, finishing the catch, and then I missed a couple things, and that's not okay at any point in the game, whether we're down, up. Those are things that have to be corrected.
But like I said, what's great about this team is we played team football, and our defense played outstanding, and we won the game.
Q. How about that first quarter execution? It was there.
WILL GRIER: Yeah, we executed. That's what -- we were playing hard. We were finishing blocks. We were finishing catches and making the right reads, and that's how we need to play football for all four quarters, I think. It was a great start, a great first quarter, even second quarter I thought we were doing good things. But like I said, we won, but we've got to get better, and that's part of the season. I talked a lot throughout the week about getting better every game, and we're going to go watch this film and make corrections. I think energy, like I said, has something to do with it, but it's also just playing a complete game of football and executing like we did in the first quarter for an entire game.
Q. Can that lack of energy lead to physical mistakes, a drop, an overthrow, a missed block, whatever?
WILL GRIER: I think so, and like I said, I don't think our energy was terrible. There was a lot of guys talking, like I said, we were talking about it. We knew there was a crucial point to keep the energy up, keep everybody in it. But like I said, we hurt ourselves on some things, and I don't think we were going as hard as we were in the first quarter. These are things, like I said, that we've got to correct.
Q. The continuity between you and Marcus is so much better this year, but why is it so much better?
WILL GRIER: I mean, he's playing really well. He's playing at a really high level. He's winning in man press coverage. He makes really tough catches, 3rd down tough catches that move the chains, really trustworthy guy to go to. He makes tough catches. His hands are great. He gets to the right spot. He understands where to be, and he's doing a great job for us right now. When you build that trust, it's easy to look for him out there.
Q. RPOs, you really hit them hard in the first half. What did they do to take that away in the second half?
WILL GRIER: I think we were hurting ourselves more than anything and just getting in -- there was certain things, we weren't just finishing plays, I think. We didn't come in here trying to hit a bunch of RPOs. That wasn't the game plan to just throw a bunch of RPOs. The way the game played out, we did hit some, but at the same time, we wouldn't be able to establish the run game real well and pass the ball well. There's things that I'm reading out there and I see openings and run situations, but that wasn't the game plan at halftime.
I think that it really was more us hurting ourselves and not executing and not finishing every play, not executing as well as we should.
Q. It looked like the second half Texas Tech said we're just coming out --
WILL GRIER: They blitzed us a couple times, and like I said, I think there's just things we've got to clean up execution-wise. We've got to -- there's things that we've got to do a better job of making calls, and I've got to do a good job of getting the ball out of my hands. They hit a couple blitzes, and that's going to happen sometimes, but like I said, it comes down to us playing a complete game. That could have happened at any point. It comes down to us making the right call, getting a hat for a hat and making tough catches.
Q. Seemed like the one to Gary was so close, just right off his hands.
WILL GRIER: Yeah.
Q. Was that frustrating a little bit?
WILL GRIER: Yeah, it's frustrating when you miss a couple things. I missed one to Marcus that he was open. It was very similar to the one we hit in the first quarter, and I just missed it, and that's not okay, and we've got to correct it, and I've got to do a better job of getting our guys the ball when they get open like that.
Q. When there's no juice like that, what do you have to do to change --
WILL GRIER: Grind it out, man. That's part of football, and you've got to be the team that when stuff is not always going your way, and it speaks to adversity, deals with adversity. I just thought we were a different team in the first half than we were in the second half from an execution and drive standpoint, and like I said, I'll put that on myself, and we've got to correct it throughout the week and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Q. To be able to absorb that lesson in a conference road win has got to be pretty encouraging.
WILL GRIER: No doubt. That's the thing we've got to keep coming back to. It's not easy, like I said, to win at all, to learn from what we did today and still come out with a win and correct it for next week. Like I said, it's a long season, and you have to continue to get better. Those are the teams that end up winning championships and being remembered are the teams that play well in November and December, so we've got to continue to play better as the season goes and learn from things like that. It was great to come out with a win. That's a good football team that we just played.
Redshirt junior cornerback Keith Washington Jr.
KEITH WASHINGTON: You trust your teammates and your coaches, you can play a lot better and more free.
Q. Did it change a little bit when obviously Bowman went out and Duffey came in, more of a runner type? Did it change a little bit for you guys?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, we kept the same mentality. It didn't matter which quarterback they put in, we just wanted to go out there and execute the game plan and do our job.
Q. Was the heat bothering you a little bit?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, I'm from down south, so it didn't matter.
Q. Some of the guys it looked like the number of plays, whatever it was, 80 or whatever it was, is that taking its toll a little bit maybe?
KEITH WASHINGTON: You know, I don't think. I think this team is very conditioned. Our strength staff does a good job keeping us in shape, so I don't think that was an issue.
Q. What about the battle you had all day long with Antoine Wesley.
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, he's a good player. I loved that match-up. I'm a competitor, he's a competitor, so I loved that.
Q. The play you made at the goal line or the end zone to knock that ball away on 3rd down and force a field goal, can you walk me through it?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Coach just called a good play. I followed my technique that Coach Belk showed me and just made a play on the ball.
Q. Were you on the field for that crazy tipped pass that caught at the 2-yard line?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yes, sir.
Q. Did you think that ball was getting in there?
KEITH WASHINGTON: You know, I just tried my best to make a play on it, but he's in a DI college, as well, so he made a good play.
Q. Did you have to watch the replay to figure out what happened?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, I didn't even think about it. Just on to the next play.
Q. The interception for touchdown, first of all, you see the ball coming to you, what goes through your mind?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Oh, it's natural. I've been playing this game since I was six years old, so just made a play.
Q. When you looked up and there's nothing but green in front of you, what goes through your mind?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Just get in the end zone.
Q. Did you have time to put on the coal miner hat?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, I put it on.
Q. It fits you better than it fit Robinson because he's got too much stuff up top.
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, a lot of guys, they joke on me calling Little Head. But that was fun, a cool experience, and hopefully we can do it some more this season.
Q. Do you get to autograph that after this?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Oh, yeah, of course, everybody that puts it on gets to autograph it.
Q. Any nerves in your first start?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, sir, not nervous at all. I've been doing this all since spring ball. Like I said, just trusting my coaches, trusting my teammates, and just doing our job.
Q. Once that ball bounces off your back there, that's just a bad luck play. Is that any additional motivation to come back and was that truly you were putting that one away?
KEITH WASHINGTON: You put it away, but at the same time, you always think I've got to make up for it. But that's just a DB mentality. Receivers are going to make plays.
Q. When their quarterback went out and got the stop the first series of the third quarter, was there a defensive letdown? Did you sense that any?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, sir, not at all. Like I said, it's the same game plan no matter which quarterback was in, just going to follow Coach's game plan, and everybody was out there trying to execute.
Q. He can scramble more, though; did that put more pressure on you guys to step up for that compared to what you were ready for?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Oh, yeah, of course we had to make some minor adjustments, but it's the same thing no matter who's in there.
Q. When did you find out you were starting?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Probably two days before the game.
Q. Who told you, Coach Belk or Coach Gibby?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, Coach Belk told me.
DANA HOLGORSEN: I'm proud of our guys for just hanging in there for four quarters and finding a way to win there at the end. Hats off to Texas Tech. A lot of teams would have shut things down at halftime, being down 25 points, 35-10. We played a really good first half. I focused all week on starting fast. I guess I forgot to tell them there was a second half. But didn't finish very good. That's on me. We've got to evaluate it and see what went wrong.
But really, I give Kliff and his team a lot of credit for coming out in the second half with the new quarterback and playing their tail off, especially defensively. They shut us down, and they kept playing and gave themselves a chance there at the end.
Good teams find a way to win, especially on the road in the Big 12, so we're happy about that. We're thrilled to be 2-0 in the Big 12. Defense stepped up and hung in there, made a play at the end to get us some points on the board, which obviously we needed a few to win.
Excited about it and ready to get out of here.
Q. Offensively the first half you guys played so well. What was clicking then, and sort of the second half, drops, a couple penalties; just wasn't quite there, the same focus. What was it?
DANA HOLGORSEN: I don't know. We didn't -- maybe they made some halftime adjustments. I doubt it based on them running the same defense in the second half that they did in the first half. I give Gibby and Spav for Texas Tech credit for keeping their guys up. They're a good defense. The thing that group has been doing, they wore Oklahoma State out in the second half because they played hard, and they played harder than we did in the second half today. Being down 25 at halftime, that's a -- I commend their coaching staff for keeping them playing hard. Schematically we knew what they were going to do, we just didn't execute very well in the second half. We had too many drops. We didn't block them very good up front. I think it's probably just an old-fashioned relaxation situation. We relaxed because we were up 25, and they didn't quit, and they kept plugging away and gave themselves a chance at the end.
Q. Aside from some of those issues, is there anything that concerns you about what you saw offensively in the second half moving forward?
DANA HOLGORSEN: No. I think we're a pretty decent offense. We scored 35 points in the first half. It's probably going to be good for us. We didn't play very good in the second half. We'll watch it and probably learn from it. The Big 12 is -- we know as well as anybody, the Big 12 is like that. I'm surprised we didn't need 49 points to win this game. But just been in it a long time and understand that teams can score quick.
You know, nothing that happened is surprising. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't play as hard as I thought we could have in the second half. It's human nature, and it falls on me. We've got to do a better job of getting them going regardless of the score is. I didn't particularly like how we finished the game against Kansas State. We were pretty inept on offense in the fourth quarter. We've got to handle success better. We've got to be able to play better and play smarter when we're winning.
I think we've got a good football team, and if we're winning, then that can't dictate how we play. We've got to keep playing because we're going to have to keep scoring at times.
Q. Another 100-plus yard day for Marcus Simms. Why is he playing at such a high level on a consistent basis this season?
DANA HOLGORSEN: Well, he's just practiced well. He's shown flashes of it in the past, and he's been inconsistent practice-wise. In spring he was inconsistent. Camp he was really consistent. He's just practiced well all camp, and this is three weeks in a row that he's played better. The better he plays, the more he's going to get targeted. He's arguably our top wide out right now. I think we've got a couple of pretty good ones.
Happy for him, and he's doing a good job. It's just all about consistency. We've got to get some other guys to play consistently like that.
Q. How difficult is it to adjust on the fly when a quarterback like Duffey comes in mid-stream with a different skill set?
DANA HOLGORSEN: It's hard because we didn't have any information on him. I mean, we knew he could run around. Kid made some good plays now. We just didn't have a whole lot of information on him. I was talking with Gibby towards the end of the second quarter, when they put him in, I said, we've got to time-out, and he's like, I don't know what to expect, so if we need a time-out, we need to change personnel, we will. We didn't have any idea what they were going to do. But yeah, it's difficult. I was impressed with him. He went in in a difficult situation and made some plays, which is not surprising just based on Kliff doing a good job of coaching whoever the dang quarterback is, you know.
Q. How happy are you with how your corners played together?
DANA HOLGORSEN: Pretty good, yeah. Just all of them. We've got four of them. They're going to keep getting better. We've got competition. Hated to see Norwood get ejected like that. We can learn from that. But they're all four playing pretty good. A game like this and that kind of a deal, you're going to need all of them to step up and play good, and I was happy with how they all did.
Q. Can you talk on the fast start? It's about as good as you could have expected, I'm sure.
DANA HOLGORSEN: Yeah, we talked about it a lot. These guys have always started fast. They got up on us last year. They were up 17 in the third quarter and we overcame that. But this stadium and these guys have traditionally started fast. I was a part of it for a long time. So we talked about it a lot and learned from last year because we got down so much.
Was happy with that, but like I said, you've got to finish, as well, and we didn't do as good a job of finishing as I wanted to.
Q. With a veteran team like this, do you like having the second half to kind of look at with them the next few days and drill stuff and not let them get too high?
DANA HOLGORSEN: As soon as my headache goes away, I'm going to be okay with it. Right now my head hurts because it was very stressful. But I made reference at one point this week that we do have good senior leadership, and I'm thankful for that. I'm curious to see how these guys respond in an adverse situation. It was our first one of the year, and it was stressful. Those guys came back, and they had all the momentum. I think we're going to be able to learn a lot moving forward from what happened in the second half. If we're as good a team as I think we can be, then we will make some improvements based on what happened.
Q. The pick six, you said it was stressful. Would you sum it up like that?
DANA HOLGORSEN: Yeah, I would say. And then our kickoff team didn't do their job. That's on me. We had a substitution situation. They got one out for the first time all year, and we were offsides. I mean, we can learn from that. But yeah, it relieved some stress, and it made the clock really important, obviously, for us. He made a great play. What did we have, three picks? So that was huge. That's why we won the game.
Redshirt senior quarterback Will Grier
WILL GRIER: We got the win. It's tough to win in this league, and that's our goal every week is winning. Happy to get out of here with a win.
Q. Was there a little bit of a letdown when the lid came off in the third quarter, especially after the defense got the first stop? You moved the ball some, but there weren't any finishes, any kill shots, I guess.
WILL GRIER: Oh, absolutely. We hurt ourselves. It's going to need to be corrected going forward, but came out with a win, and that's all that matters right now.
Q. How much of it was in your mind execution and how much of it was just energy or just mental --
WILL GRIER: A lot of it was energy and where guys were at, and I put that on me and the other leaders of keeping everybody in it, making sure that just when we get up, there shouldn't be any letup. We talk about it, we say it. We obviously said it at halftime. Third quarter we talked about it. But there's a difference. I don't think there was -- I think it was about just executing and finishing plays, finishing the block, finishing the run, finishing the catch, and then I missed a couple things, and that's not okay at any point in the game, whether we're down, up. Those are things that have to be corrected.
But like I said, what's great about this team is we played team football, and our defense played outstanding, and we won the game.
Q. How about that first quarter execution? It was there.
WILL GRIER: Yeah, we executed. That's what -- we were playing hard. We were finishing blocks. We were finishing catches and making the right reads, and that's how we need to play football for all four quarters, I think. It was a great start, a great first quarter, even second quarter I thought we were doing good things. But like I said, we won, but we've got to get better, and that's part of the season. I talked a lot throughout the week about getting better every game, and we're going to go watch this film and make corrections. I think energy, like I said, has something to do with it, but it's also just playing a complete game of football and executing like we did in the first quarter for an entire game.
Q. Can that lack of energy lead to physical mistakes, a drop, an overthrow, a missed block, whatever?
WILL GRIER: I think so, and like I said, I don't think our energy was terrible. There was a lot of guys talking, like I said, we were talking about it. We knew there was a crucial point to keep the energy up, keep everybody in it. But like I said, we hurt ourselves on some things, and I don't think we were going as hard as we were in the first quarter. These are things, like I said, that we've got to correct.
Q. The continuity between you and Marcus is so much better this year, but why is it so much better?
WILL GRIER: I mean, he's playing really well. He's playing at a really high level. He's winning in man press coverage. He makes really tough catches, 3rd down tough catches that move the chains, really trustworthy guy to go to. He makes tough catches. His hands are great. He gets to the right spot. He understands where to be, and he's doing a great job for us right now. When you build that trust, it's easy to look for him out there.
Q. RPOs, you really hit them hard in the first half. What did they do to take that away in the second half?
WILL GRIER: I think we were hurting ourselves more than anything and just getting in -- there was certain things, we weren't just finishing plays, I think. We didn't come in here trying to hit a bunch of RPOs. That wasn't the game plan to just throw a bunch of RPOs. The way the game played out, we did hit some, but at the same time, we wouldn't be able to establish the run game real well and pass the ball well. There's things that I'm reading out there and I see openings and run situations, but that wasn't the game plan at halftime.
I think that it really was more us hurting ourselves and not executing and not finishing every play, not executing as well as we should.
Q. It looked like the second half Texas Tech said we're just coming out --
WILL GRIER: They blitzed us a couple times, and like I said, I think there's just things we've got to clean up execution-wise. We've got to -- there's things that we've got to do a better job of making calls, and I've got to do a good job of getting the ball out of my hands. They hit a couple blitzes, and that's going to happen sometimes, but like I said, it comes down to us playing a complete game. That could have happened at any point. It comes down to us making the right call, getting a hat for a hat and making tough catches.
Q. Seemed like the one to Gary was so close, just right off his hands.
WILL GRIER: Yeah.
Q. Was that frustrating a little bit?
WILL GRIER: Yeah, it's frustrating when you miss a couple things. I missed one to Marcus that he was open. It was very similar to the one we hit in the first quarter, and I just missed it, and that's not okay, and we've got to correct it, and I've got to do a better job of getting our guys the ball when they get open like that.
Q. When there's no juice like that, what do you have to do to change --
WILL GRIER: Grind it out, man. That's part of football, and you've got to be the team that when stuff is not always going your way, and it speaks to adversity, deals with adversity. I just thought we were a different team in the first half than we were in the second half from an execution and drive standpoint, and like I said, I'll put that on myself, and we've got to correct it throughout the week and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Q. To be able to absorb that lesson in a conference road win has got to be pretty encouraging.
WILL GRIER: No doubt. That's the thing we've got to keep coming back to. It's not easy, like I said, to win at all, to learn from what we did today and still come out with a win and correct it for next week. Like I said, it's a long season, and you have to continue to get better. Those are the teams that end up winning championships and being remembered are the teams that play well in November and December, so we've got to continue to play better as the season goes and learn from things like that. It was great to come out with a win. That's a good football team that we just played.
Redshirt junior cornerback Keith Washington Jr.
KEITH WASHINGTON: You trust your teammates and your coaches, you can play a lot better and more free.
Q. Did it change a little bit when obviously Bowman went out and Duffey came in, more of a runner type? Did it change a little bit for you guys?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, we kept the same mentality. It didn't matter which quarterback they put in, we just wanted to go out there and execute the game plan and do our job.
Q. Was the heat bothering you a little bit?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, I'm from down south, so it didn't matter.
Q. Some of the guys it looked like the number of plays, whatever it was, 80 or whatever it was, is that taking its toll a little bit maybe?
KEITH WASHINGTON: You know, I don't think. I think this team is very conditioned. Our strength staff does a good job keeping us in shape, so I don't think that was an issue.
Q. What about the battle you had all day long with Antoine Wesley.
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, he's a good player. I loved that match-up. I'm a competitor, he's a competitor, so I loved that.
Q. The play you made at the goal line or the end zone to knock that ball away on 3rd down and force a field goal, can you walk me through it?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Coach just called a good play. I followed my technique that Coach Belk showed me and just made a play on the ball.
Q. Were you on the field for that crazy tipped pass that caught at the 2-yard line?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yes, sir.
Q. Did you think that ball was getting in there?
KEITH WASHINGTON: You know, I just tried my best to make a play on it, but he's in a DI college, as well, so he made a good play.
Q. Did you have to watch the replay to figure out what happened?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, I didn't even think about it. Just on to the next play.
Q. The interception for touchdown, first of all, you see the ball coming to you, what goes through your mind?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Oh, it's natural. I've been playing this game since I was six years old, so just made a play.
Q. When you looked up and there's nothing but green in front of you, what goes through your mind?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Just get in the end zone.
Q. Did you have time to put on the coal miner hat?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, I put it on.
Q. It fits you better than it fit Robinson because he's got too much stuff up top.
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, a lot of guys, they joke on me calling Little Head. But that was fun, a cool experience, and hopefully we can do it some more this season.
Q. Do you get to autograph that after this?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Oh, yeah, of course, everybody that puts it on gets to autograph it.
Q. Any nerves in your first start?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, sir, not nervous at all. I've been doing this all since spring ball. Like I said, just trusting my coaches, trusting my teammates, and just doing our job.
Q. Once that ball bounces off your back there, that's just a bad luck play. Is that any additional motivation to come back and was that truly you were putting that one away?
KEITH WASHINGTON: You put it away, but at the same time, you always think I've got to make up for it. But that's just a DB mentality. Receivers are going to make plays.
Q. When their quarterback went out and got the stop the first series of the third quarter, was there a defensive letdown? Did you sense that any?
KEITH WASHINGTON: No, sir, not at all. Like I said, it's the same game plan no matter which quarterback was in, just going to follow Coach's game plan, and everybody was out there trying to execute.
Q. He can scramble more, though; did that put more pressure on you guys to step up for that compared to what you were ready for?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Oh, yeah, of course we had to make some minor adjustments, but it's the same thing no matter who's in there.
Q. When did you find out you were starting?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Probably two days before the game.
Q. Who told you, Coach Belk or Coach Gibby?
KEITH WASHINGTON: Yeah, Coach Belk told me.
