Dave Aranda
The results tonight are disappointing and frustrating. I give a lot of credit to Coach (Chris) Klieman and Kansas State. They played physical, they executed. I thought they were really on-point tonight.
I want to say how appreciative I am, we are for the crowd that showed up tonight. Chilly night and all that, and it was a big crowd. To have that and to be able to play in front of that is not lost on us. Just disappointed and frustrated, just like you all just with our execution. A whole lot to learn from and improve on and our aim is to do that. I think with this team, every day of every week of every month has been a constant push and pull and really tug of war to get our best selves to show up. So, it continues on, and it’s a good fight to have. There is so much potential there, and there’s a greatness there that likes to stay hidden. And you really have to work to get brave enough to show up. So, we’re aiming to do that. Still a lot to play for these next two games.
(Difference in going against Will Howard) The attack is different when he’s in there. If it was a second-and-long, and he wasn’t in there, it would probably be a run. If it’s second-and-long and he is in there, it’s probably a pass. And then the types of passes, too, so there are some adjustments in that. And I give credit to them just for their execution. I think when we look at the film tonight and tomorrow in all of it, we’re going to see a lot of misalignments and everything by us. So, a fair amount of self-inflicted wounds by us, but not to take away from their part of it. I thought they did a great job.
(The players focused too much on the Big 12 Championship picture) I’m sure it did. And that was not a focus or an emphasis of ours. And if it did, which I would believe that it did, it would be on-par with this year. That goes back to the tug of war and the push and pull and just all of it. So, we will continue.
(Tell them in the locker room) That I still believe in them and that things like this hurt and that there’s a lot to learn and grow from this. I think that we’re still fighting to get out of our own way. You look at just what goes into a game and goes into a win, and starting Monday and through maybe a Thursday or Friday, practice week I thought there were a lot of good there were a lot of good things there in this particular one. You could even say it might have been our best week of just energy and effort and speeds and just all of it. And I don’t really have all the answers with it now, but to really look at the head space from Friday night to this is really where we have to improve, per the question prior (about players focusing on the Big 12 picture).
(Successful drives were up tempo, do you wish you would have gone to that more?)
Appreciate that. Yeah, I thought that there was some good momentum to start the game with our drive until they were able to make a play on us to take the ball away. And I just think in the past, we've been hit like that, and punched like that, maybe take something on the chin and we kind of get down on a knee and we kind of come back. And that did not happen tonight. As hard as it is to say that, it did not. And so, that's something that way needs to be addressed and needs to be kind of owned so that we can get up next time. You look ahead and we're going to take some punches for sure. And so, to be our best requires a rise. We're aiming to do that.
(What would you consider an appropriate response from your team to this loss)
I think playing with an energy that says when the game starts that “I want to be here.” That “this is nowhere else I'd rather be.” I think playing with an edge in the game, regardless of the outcome or the result that … I want to out hit you next time. Or my level of violence is only gonna rise regardless of (the) score or outcome. And then that I'm going to do my 1/11th, that there's an execution and that there's a trust in my teammates, to my left and right. That I can do my job in a violent manner, and they can do theirs. And I think that's what it's been from the beginning and we're still fighting for that.
(On Deuce, why was he so successful?)
I think it was – I appreciate that. So, Kansas State is (a) very strong gameplan outfit. And so, the talk for us throughout the week really. And then we have a staff meeting always prior to the game is that “hey we're going to see some stuff in the beginning, it's going to be their plan, we're going to have an idea of it, we need to make the adjustments.” And we got to have it drawn up and all of it, settle everybody down and kind of respond. Because I think some of it was for that, right? And then I think some of it was their level of execution and our inability to execute, after the wave. After, “hey, this is what's coming. Hey, this is what it is. Hey, notice how wide he is. Hey, last time it was the same thing.” And so, I think those are things … we've been in this before. And the standard is higher.
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