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OSU Prepares for Homecoming Game vs Baylor

#3 Oklahoma State met with local media Monday in Stillwater, as the Cowboys prepare to host Baylor on Saturday.

OSU will be looking to win its 15th game in the last 16 tries against the Bears.

Here are select quotes from the day, courtesy of Oklahoma State Athletics:

Head Coach Mike Gundy

Opening Statement:

"On my conference call this morning, I mentioned our postgame thoughts were the same as we discussed in Columbia. Our backs played really well, our defense gave up some yards, but forced turnovers. Our offensive line played well, our quarterback threw the ball really well. Special teams were okay and we still need to improve in our punt return, but overall our coverage units were good, except for one play we didn't have a good punt, we had a line drive punt to put us in a difficult situation. On an injury update, there's really nothing to talk about except Hubert Anyiam is the only guy we don't expect to be with us on Saturday. The other players are improving, even the ones that didn't play in the game. They'll re-evaluate Justin Blackmon in the morning. It's unfortunate that we lost Hubert. I mentioned after the game, he's really come a long way, not just as a football player, but as a person. I hate to see a young man in his senior season not finish, and it's a tough loss for us. He plays extremely hard, he blocks really well, he's caught the ball and made some big plays for us in man coverage, so I was disappointed that we lost Hubert, not for the team, but for himself and for what he brought to the table. We have a great challenge this week, like every week. Baylor is very, very good on offense and their quarterback deserves all the recognition he's getting across the country. They have a couple of wideouts, and one in particular, who's making a lot of plays that everybody knows about. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. Our focus will be good practices for the next three days and try to maintain a high level of energy and perform at a high level on Saturday. I know with our coaching staff, that's a discussion that takes place moreso than X's and O's. We'll proceed and move forward from this point."

On if it is more difficult to defend Robert Griffin as a runner or passer:

"Passer. He's doesn't run the ball very much - he can. If you look at his career, he's gotten away from that because he's become such a good thrower."

On how much Griffin's passing has improved:

"The numbers speak for themselves. When you can perform in as many games as he has, it speaks for itself. His quarterback rating and his completion percentage - he went through five weeks where he had more touchdown passes than incompletions, I think that's correct. His numbers speak for themselves."

On Kendall Wright:

"I can speak for myself, you always feel comfortable when you have a player you know that you can go to in a crucial situation, and in a normal down and distance situation, you have a player you feel like can make a big play. I don't think there's any question Griffin relies on Kendall. We looked at Kendall and evaluated him coming out. We go back and look at our recruiting, and we were afraid that he would be as good as we thought, we just didn't have room at the time. Not that we would have gotten him, but he's turned out to be a very good player."

On keeping the team focused with the attention of being ranked No. 3 in the BCS poll:

"We're not going to play under pressure, we're not going to coach under pressure. We want the players to enjoy the experience they're going through. There's way too much pressure in college football now, and so I want them to put that to the side. I want them to not have any regrets on what they do Sunday through Thursday, and then not have any regrets on their attitudes and the effort they give the team on Saturday. They understand that, and so hopefully that's been instilled in them for enough weeks now that they'll go out and practice and have fun and go play on Saturdays."

Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken

On what he expects from Baylor's defense:

"Coach (Phil) Bennett has been coaching defense for 30 years. He's been doing the same thing. We've played him at Louisiana Tech and Kansas State and they were very similar. He has a belief in what they do, and that's why he's been successful. If he wavered in that and went three down, four down, mixed, matched - that's a gimmick, and he's not a gimmick guy. He's a play-hard, gap-sound guy. With that being said, if they change, it won't be what they installed in the spring, what they did in the fall and what they've done up to today and that means they couldn't be any good at it. They're going to have to do what they do and do it better and we're going to have to do what we do and do it better. They're in the process of his first year, and I think they're getting better. It won't show in the stats against A&M, but I thought they played better against A&M. They gave up some big plays, which killed them. Without those big plays, they really gave themselves a chance to win, but they came at some really inopportune times. I thought they played hard, I thought they were aggressive, they just gave up a few chunk plays that made the difference."

On scoring points off turnovers:

"That's a heck of a deal - I hope it keeps coming. As I've said before, the reason we're having success and a team will always have success is playing off each other and the emotions of the game and picking each other up at the right time. We've been fortunate enough that has happened just when we've needed it, our defense has picked us up. Since A&M, we haven't started off pedestrian and some of that was field position and some of it was penalties, but that's a part of it. We've been real lucky and hopefully it will continue that we won't turn it over and we'll continue to get turnovers."

On losing Hubert Anyiam:

"It doesn't help. The guy has started for us, he's earned that, he's a senior, there's a comfort level with what he brings. But with that, Isaiah Anderson has worked awfully hard and he's earned the opportunity. We'll move Mike Harrison over to 'X' and allow those two guys to work a little bit. I feel disappointed for Hubert. The work to come back - I thought he was really starting to keep coming. It only becomes a factor if you lose more. Jonathan Rush, how bad is that at left guard? Well, not that bad unless you lose others. We have good depth, but now that's being tested. With each guy you lose, that depth is being tested and stresses you just a little bit more."

Defensive Coordinator Bill Young

On Robert Griffin compared to other mobile quarterbacks OSU has faced this season:

"If you look at the Heisman Trophy race, he's right in the thick of it. The other two quarterbacks (David Ash and James Franklin) were young quarterbacks. They're going to be great down the road, but they're freshmen and sophomores and haven't really had the action Griffin has."

On Griffin's passing ability:

"He throws the ball unbelievably. It looks like tremendous improvement in his passing game. He has so much zip on the football, and when he throws it, it is just smoking."

On if playing mobile quarterbacks the past two weeks helps to prepare for playing against Griffin:

"It is a benefit. They run the same plays. They have very, very similar offenses and we've had some issues with some of those plays, and we've had to get right on it this week and make sure we make some corrections to make ourselves a little better position to make some plays."

Wide Receivers Coach Kasey Dunn

On Baylor's defense:

"They're aggressive. They play strong, their defensive backs are quick and fast to the football, they rally hard and it's not something where you're going to get a bunch a cheap plays out of them. They get in your face, play hard and aggressively. It's not so much like Missouri when they're back a little bit, but they're aggressive running to the football and they're an athletic unit."

On being ranked No. 3 in the BCS poll:

"Really, you can't get too caught up in thinking about that. We just have to go out there and go to work and let our kids play. I haven't heard our kids talking about it and they're through my office all the time. Nobody is running around with signs on their backs saying 'We're No. 3.' That's a good thing. We just have to be business as usual and keep playing and have fun and make sure that we handle our own business."

Safety Markelle Martin

On BCS rankings

"We're reminded every day. You've just got to put it behind you and keep rolling and keep being successful. Most of us seniors have been around long enough to know that the rankings can be here today and gone tomorrow. We have to keep the young guys focused. It's just a number. We have to continue to get out there and play."

On Homecoming

"Being a senior and understanding what it's about makes you kind of get into it more."

On the high number of difficult games still left on the schedule

"It shows us that we can't take anybody lightly. I think that helped us just looking ahead and looking at the rest of the schedule. Week in and week out, we're going to have to bring it."

On the OSU defense

"I think we're just physical. I think people forget how much defensive team speed we have. We've got some smaller guys running around so I think that's a big difference for us. We fly around and we just make plays. The style of defense we play, we want to force you to be perfect. We buy time and we know eventually you're going to make a mistake and we're going to capitalize on it. For us, if you take all day trying to score on us, you still have to match up with an offense putting up that many points. Eventually, you're going to run out of time. You're going to have to put the ball in the air and that's when we make our plays."

Cornerback Brodrick Brown

On containing Robert Griffin III

"We are just going to have to contain him and keep him in the pocket. When we have a sack we have to make the tackle. It is no different than any other opponent. We have to stay focused this week."

On giving up a lot of yards but still forcing turnovers

"That is our main objective, to create turnovers. No matter how many yards we give up, we can still create turnovers to give our offense the ball. As long as we force turnovers we will be successful."

On if giving up yards to opposing offenses hurts the team

"It has not hurt us yet. We continue to keep winning and forcing turnovers. If we do that we will be successful. Our goal is to get the ball to the offense because we know our offense is going to score if we get the ball back to them."

Wide Receiver Isaiah Anderson

On Baylor

"They're pretty good and they have a good secondary. Everybody talks about Robert Griffin because he is a good quarterback. So we are going to prepare for them like anybody else and stay focused."

On the receivers dropping multiple balls against Missouri

"It was weird seeing it at first. We were dropping balls that we normally don't drop. It is going to happen but it is more noticeable for us because we are a passing offense."

On why you wear the pink gloves, cleats, and wristbands

"Yes, I wear them for my mom. She had cancer my senior year of high school. Last year during homecoming I started wearing the pink cleats but I have the gloves and wristbands to go along with the pink cleats this year."

On replacing Hubert Anyiam this week

"It is going to be a challenge but I feel like I am ready for it. Last year we had a similar situation with injuries and I was prepared for it then."

Running back Joseph Randle

On being ranked 3^rd in the BCS rankings

"We are extremely confident in our ability to win games and we just want to continue doing what we do."

On preparing for Baylor

"We are going to prepare for Baylor the same way we would for anyone else."

On the running back duo of Jeremy Smith and Randle
"We both go out there and work hard. When the play is called we both just go out there and execute."