By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Each week, Big 12 coaches have their weekly meetings with the media at their press conferences during the college football season. Because of the bye, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda will not be available until Saturday. Rankings are from the AP Poll. Here are some highlights elsewhere in the league. Quotes and notes are taken from those pressers if not specified elsewhere. All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.
Lance Leipold, Kansas – The No. 19 Jayhawks (5-0, 2-0) play host to TCU: With GameDay coming to Lawrence Saturday, everything is different. “Based on what everyone thought where this program was going to be this year, yeah (this start feels different),’’ Leipold said. “But you gotta finish the story. We’ve got seven games to go. We've only been here 16 months and focusing on how we can improve, but I'm so happy for them because we can see what it does in the community, the stands, togetherness and these are great things to build upon."
Brent Venables, Oklahoma – The Sooners (3-2, 0-2) play Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas: QB Dillon Gabriel’s (concussion) situation is unknown for Saturday against Texas. OC Jeff Lebby addressed that and the possibility of Davis Beville starting. Beville finished Saturday at TCU. “With Davis moving forward, it’s our job as coaches to put guys in position for success regardless of who’s out there,” Lebby said. “We’ve talked a bunch about that as a unit and as a staff. Regardless of who’s playing, man, our expectation is to play well and play cleaner and play better.”
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State – The No, 7 Cowboys (4-0, 1-0) play host to Texas Tech: Gundy gave his assessment on how his OL competed against Baylor’s defensive line. "We were good, not great. But we were certainly better than the (Big 12) Championship Game. And that's one thing I mentioned after the game, we talked about as as offensive staff after the game that that was our fault. That was my fault, that was the offensive staff's fault that we weren't better prepared for that. We had a plan, but we didn't give enough credit to how good they were up front. And so that was a mistake. And what we said was, 'Try not to let that happen again.' And we were better in this game against a good front. They're really difficult, in my opinion, to handle between the tackles. So, I was pleased with our improvement in that area."
Neal Brown, West Virginia – The Mountaineers (2-3, 0-2) have a bye: Brown’s program got some good news when freshman RB CJ Donaldson was cleared to return with the team following the 38-20 loss to Texas. Donaldson was carted off on a stretcher following a blow to the head. Meanwhile, the rumblings of Brown’s job status’ resurfaced after this blowout loss that wasn’t as close as the final indicated.
Chris Klieman, Kansas State – The No. 20 Wildcats (4-1, 2-0) play at Iowa State: All Big 12 defensive lineman Felix Anudike-Uzomah is off to a great start. He leads the conference in sacks (5.5), leads in solo TFL (7.0) and has forced two fumbles. "He's relentless right now,’’ Klieman said. “He is really relentless and it's fun to watch him go to work and I think he appreciated Khalid being out there with him because I think it took a little bit of heat off of him. When both those two kids are coming, sometimes we had them on opposite sides sometimes we had them on the same side, and those two together are pretty dang good.”
Matt Campbell, Iowa State – The Cyclones (3-2, 0-2) play host to Kansas State: A rough day for PK Jace Gilbert (1-4) cost ISU a chance to tie late or even win at KU. “You know, I hated that some of those things came down to some young guys. Obviously, the kicking needs to be better. We have great faith in Jace, and he had gotten off to a really great start, and you’ve got to keep moving forward. So, we’ll continue to grow from this.
“It sucks, that you’ve got to grow with a loss, where you learn your lessons in some of those areas. But, I love Jace so much and who he is, and I’ve got complete faith in his response.”
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech – The Red Raiders (3-2, 1-1) play at Oklahoma State: McGuire knows that QB Donovan Smith has felt the brunt of criticism. "I think the tough thing, I talked to Donovan Saturday night, I gave him a call, because he's down, man," McGuire said. "That kid wants to win and he's a great kid. He has very high character. I told him, 'there's no position that will get more praise unwarranted than the quarterback position and the head coach position and there will be no position that gets more criticism unwarranted than the starting quarterback. That's just the nature of the beast and you chose to play quarterback.
Sonny Dykes, TCU – The No. 18 Horned Frogs (4-0, 1-0) play at Kansas: Dykes put into perspective the resounding 55-24 thrashing of Oklahoma. “They are one of the blue bloods against college football. Anytime you have a chance to play against those guys, you are going to be excited about that and see it as an opportunity to make a name for yourself and take a step (as a program). I certainly think we did that today. We were not outclassed. ... Our guys felt like they belonged and really had a desire to want to play hard and show people what we were capable of.”
Steve Sarkisian, Texas – The Longhorns (3-2, 1-1) play Oklahoma in Dallas: Will Hudson Card get the start at the Cotton Bowl? Is Quinn Ewers ready to take back the job? Sarkisian wasn’t ready to make any kind of declaration. It may not be known until the first offensive series. "We got two good players. We'll get to a decision here at some point, but I won't be surprised if we don't need both these guys at some point in the season to help us win a championship."
Publisher
Each week, Big 12 coaches have their weekly meetings with the media at their press conferences during the college football season. Because of the bye, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda will not be available until Saturday. Rankings are from the AP Poll. Here are some highlights elsewhere in the league. Quotes and notes are taken from those pressers if not specified elsewhere. All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.
Lance Leipold, Kansas – The No. 19 Jayhawks (5-0, 2-0) play host to TCU: With GameDay coming to Lawrence Saturday, everything is different. “Based on what everyone thought where this program was going to be this year, yeah (this start feels different),’’ Leipold said. “But you gotta finish the story. We’ve got seven games to go. We've only been here 16 months and focusing on how we can improve, but I'm so happy for them because we can see what it does in the community, the stands, togetherness and these are great things to build upon."
Brent Venables, Oklahoma – The Sooners (3-2, 0-2) play Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas: QB Dillon Gabriel’s (concussion) situation is unknown for Saturday against Texas. OC Jeff Lebby addressed that and the possibility of Davis Beville starting. Beville finished Saturday at TCU. “With Davis moving forward, it’s our job as coaches to put guys in position for success regardless of who’s out there,” Lebby said. “We’ve talked a bunch about that as a unit and as a staff. Regardless of who’s playing, man, our expectation is to play well and play cleaner and play better.”
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State – The No, 7 Cowboys (4-0, 1-0) play host to Texas Tech: Gundy gave his assessment on how his OL competed against Baylor’s defensive line. "We were good, not great. But we were certainly better than the (Big 12) Championship Game. And that's one thing I mentioned after the game, we talked about as as offensive staff after the game that that was our fault. That was my fault, that was the offensive staff's fault that we weren't better prepared for that. We had a plan, but we didn't give enough credit to how good they were up front. And so that was a mistake. And what we said was, 'Try not to let that happen again.' And we were better in this game against a good front. They're really difficult, in my opinion, to handle between the tackles. So, I was pleased with our improvement in that area."
Neal Brown, West Virginia – The Mountaineers (2-3, 0-2) have a bye: Brown’s program got some good news when freshman RB CJ Donaldson was cleared to return with the team following the 38-20 loss to Texas. Donaldson was carted off on a stretcher following a blow to the head. Meanwhile, the rumblings of Brown’s job status’ resurfaced after this blowout loss that wasn’t as close as the final indicated.
Chris Klieman, Kansas State – The No. 20 Wildcats (4-1, 2-0) play at Iowa State: All Big 12 defensive lineman Felix Anudike-Uzomah is off to a great start. He leads the conference in sacks (5.5), leads in solo TFL (7.0) and has forced two fumbles. "He's relentless right now,’’ Klieman said. “He is really relentless and it's fun to watch him go to work and I think he appreciated Khalid being out there with him because I think it took a little bit of heat off of him. When both those two kids are coming, sometimes we had them on opposite sides sometimes we had them on the same side, and those two together are pretty dang good.”
Matt Campbell, Iowa State – The Cyclones (3-2, 0-2) play host to Kansas State: A rough day for PK Jace Gilbert (1-4) cost ISU a chance to tie late or even win at KU. “You know, I hated that some of those things came down to some young guys. Obviously, the kicking needs to be better. We have great faith in Jace, and he had gotten off to a really great start, and you’ve got to keep moving forward. So, we’ll continue to grow from this.
“It sucks, that you’ve got to grow with a loss, where you learn your lessons in some of those areas. But, I love Jace so much and who he is, and I’ve got complete faith in his response.”
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech – The Red Raiders (3-2, 1-1) play at Oklahoma State: McGuire knows that QB Donovan Smith has felt the brunt of criticism. "I think the tough thing, I talked to Donovan Saturday night, I gave him a call, because he's down, man," McGuire said. "That kid wants to win and he's a great kid. He has very high character. I told him, 'there's no position that will get more praise unwarranted than the quarterback position and the head coach position and there will be no position that gets more criticism unwarranted than the starting quarterback. That's just the nature of the beast and you chose to play quarterback.
Sonny Dykes, TCU – The No. 18 Horned Frogs (4-0, 1-0) play at Kansas: Dykes put into perspective the resounding 55-24 thrashing of Oklahoma. “They are one of the blue bloods against college football. Anytime you have a chance to play against those guys, you are going to be excited about that and see it as an opportunity to make a name for yourself and take a step (as a program). I certainly think we did that today. We were not outclassed. ... Our guys felt like they belonged and really had a desire to want to play hard and show people what we were capable of.”
Steve Sarkisian, Texas – The Longhorns (3-2, 1-1) play Oklahoma in Dallas: Will Hudson Card get the start at the Cotton Bowl? Is Quinn Ewers ready to take back the job? Sarkisian wasn’t ready to make any kind of declaration. It may not be known until the first offensive series. "We got two good players. We'll get to a decision here at some point, but I won't be surprised if we don't need both these guys at some point in the season to help us win a championship."
