K-State Weekly Football Press Conference
September 9, 2014
Head Coach Bill Snyder
On his perspective of Saturday’s game after watching film…
“Well, the game did not change. I saw what I saw; it didn’t change a great deal. There were certain things that I did not see during the course of the game that you see on video tape. Still, I do not know how pleasantly surprised I was. I think it does, on the positive side of things, have a meaningful impact on the quality and character of the young people in our program to come back, to stay in the ballgame, to win the ballgame and to overcome some issues and situations that occurred during the course of the ballgame. I thought what took a great deal of character is how we responded to things, and I thought that they responded quite well. I was pleased about that and that they did not give in. Visiting with them yesterday, I told them to take out their 16 goals card and look at that – there is probably not one on there that did not have some application to the outcome of that ballgame. That is a reasonably true statement. It was a character assessment that I thought was very positive from our young guys.”
On Jake Waters as a dual-threat quarterback…
“I do not think that we ever felt that he could not run the ball. That has never been on our plate. We always felt that he could. I have known all along, and I think all of us here in our program has known, that he has the capacity to do both. It did not surprise us, but it is a surprise to me that it is a surprise to anybody else.”
On concerns with the game’s physicality on Jake Waters…
“You have concern about every player that plays the game. If you are quarterback, you are going to get hit, whether you are running the ball or throwing it. Jake (Waters) has been a durable young guy, but how much, I do not know on a scale of 1-to-10 of how much it bothers me. You do have a great deal of concern about it just like you have great deal of concern about your running backs, your offensive linemen, and there are all sorts of guys that get banged up during a ballgame. It is a physical game at every position.”
On if something stuck out about Jake Waters’ performance during the offseason…
“I thought that Jake (Waters) would be better in everything that he did last season – not just running the ball. Just like he has said so many times and we have discussed it so many times, he feels more comfortable in the offense and has a better understanding of it. He has a better understanding of when to and when not to do anything and everything. It is just familiarity to create a more consistent performance-level for him, just as you would expect in any other player in the program to get better with time as you have the opportunity to play more and get more repetition in practice. That is what he does.”
On opportunity to play Auburn…
“It will be here in a heartbeat. There is no doubt about that. We have to be awfully careful about not putting things off. It is our intent to treat this week like it is game week as much as possible. I am sure with our players and my interest right now is correcting mistakes and making improvements by each individual in the program. That is exactly what I will do with them. I think the rest of it will be parceled out over a period of time. It is a tremendous opportunity for them, but at the end of the day the opportunity is immaterial if you do not correct the mistakes and work to make ourselves better.”
Senior Quarterback Jake Waters
On the postgame atmosphere at Iowa State…
“It was awesome being in there with the team after a win like that. We were so high on the win because we fought back. We knew we had mistakes and we could have played better. We were worried about that yesterday and after the game, but to come back the way we did, everyone was so confident and relieved in pulling it out. ”
On Coach Snyder wanting more emotion out of him…
“I do too. I need to, and coach expressed the way he felt to me, and that hit home that that’s how he wants me to play. I’ll do whatever it takes. That just kind of happened in the game. I didn’t tell myself, ‘Hey do this to win,’ that’s just how the game went. I’ve never expressed myself like that. I’m just so comfortable, and I knew that something needed to be done and that’s just the way it went.”
On being the first Big 12 QB to throw for 200 yards and rush for 100 yards since 2011…
“I didn’t know that. That’s definitely cool, but the most important thing is we won. We don’t really care about stats. I personally don’t, the guys don’t, we just care about the wins and losses. The most important thing is we won, but it’s definitely cool to have that.”
Sophomore Running Back Charles Jones
On what is so special about the atmosphere at Bill Snyder Family Stadium…
“I just feel like we have really great fans and we get really loud here. I am from Louisiana so I have been to a couple LSU games and it gets pretty loud there. I would say that we stack up to that because we get pretty loud here, and we have great fans.”
On if this game can show that the Big 12 can stack up to the SEC…
“I guess you can say that because they are in a good conference. A lot of people preach that they are the best and we are taking on one of the best in their conference. We would like to come out with a victory. That would be a good statement for our conference and as a team.”
Junior Offensive Lineman Boston Stiverson
On what it means to win a game on the road at Iowa State…
“I think it showed great toughness, resiliency. We came together as a team. That is a team-effort win. It shows that even if we are not playing well and making mistakes, we can fight through adversity and come out with a win.”
On the final drive at Iowa State and how it felt to win…
“First of all, it was very loud. We had to communicate really well, which we did. We executed really well. The guys on the field did their job. We came together as a unit. We did not panic. We executed every play that was called. We drove down the field and scored.”
On how he thinks the two running backs are fitting in…
“Both of them are doing a great job. They are both playing hard, hitting holes fast and hard. Both of them are running the ball hard and making us look better.”
Senior Offensive Lineman Drew Liddle
On playing Auburn…
“It is a great opportunity, but we are approaching it the same way we would every game. We are trying to get better every day and go out there and improve. We are trying to make it about ourselves and not our opponent.”
On the offensive line…
“There is always a lot of room for improvement. We are communicating well, and we are just a group of tough guys. The only way to go is up.”
On Jake Waters becoming a dual-threat quarterback…
“Jake has always had the ability to run even if it has not shown. He can be pretty elusive, and he is tough as nails. As long as you are tough, you can get those extra yards while you are running.”
Senior Defensive Tackle Valentino Coleman
On what he took from Saturday from a personal and collective standpoint…
“I think Saturday showed who we really are. We are a team that is never going to quit. We are a team that is never going to fight without everything we have. Iowa State came out really hard and aggressive. They beat us in the first half, but the second half we made a promise to each other and came together as a team. We did not want to let each other down. We just wanted to come out there and show that and try to get the win. That is what we did.”
On how he would describe their performance in the second half…
“Coach preaches all of the time about never giving up. I think that is just how we are, what we go by and what we stand for; Kansas State is about never giving up. We show no weakness. We just want to go out there and play hard and hope everything comes together.”
Junior Defensive Back Morgan Burns
On how tough it has been to not look to Auburn until now…
“It has been really important. People have been in our ears saying ‘Oh, you guys are going to play Auburn, you guys are going to play Auburn.’ It kind of feels good that we can finally give into it and start preparing for Auburn and put our emotions and energy into that game. I am excited.”
On having the crowd behind the team in a big Thursday-night matchup…
“Defensively it helps a ton because the quarterback cannot hear and the running back cannot hear. So that is huge for us because they get confused, cannot communicate and get flustered and rush things, so that helps the defense.”
————
RYAN LACKEY
Assistant Director | Athletics Communications
$3 for students in grades K-12. JCHS students with a valid ID are allowed to attend athletic events for free. JCHS students who do not have their ID will be required to pay normal student pricing for the event.
