STILLWATER – Oklahoma State interim head coach Doug Meacham and several players met with the media ahead of Saturday’s homecoming matchup against Cincinnati. Some of their comments:

Oklahoma State Interim Head Coach Doug Meacham Opening Statement:

“Well, it’s homecoming week. We got a lot of reminiscing, bringing your kids up, trying to relive the time from when you were here before. Hopefully, we can give those guys something to be proud of and something they enjoy. So, we’ll forge ahead and keep working.”

On if anything stood out after watching the film from Saturday’s contest:

“No, we’re just looking forward to getting back in it and seeing how much improvement we can make at quarterback, and get Sam (Jackson V) going, and just overall. I think that we may have played our best game (on Saturday), and hopefully that’ll happen again this week.”

On how beneficial it is for Sam Jackson V to have a full game film at quarterback to study:

“Yeah, you can talk about it and draw it all up and all that stuff, but once you watch yourself do it, it expediates all of that stuff. You sit there from all the film angles that we have, it may slow the game down a little bit, and see some of the rotations and coverage stuff. Maybe some of the things that he should’ve done with the football, where his eyes should’ve been a couple times, a couple times where things broke down, maybe there were some other alternatives to what he did. But anytime you watch yourself do it, for a lot of the kids, and me included, once you see yourself do it, you can pay attention a little bit more. I think it resonates a lot more once you see yourself doing it. For him to watch himself in a full game, it’s just going to make him better and hopefully play a little bit closer to what he’s capable of doing.”

On Jackson’s maturity level to decide to still play quarterback this season:

“I appreciate that he would do that for his teammates. I know he loves playing quarterback, but I think he feels like moving forward, if he has a chance at the next level, it would probably be as a return guy or a slot receiver. He’s making a sacrifice, as well. He’s put a few games on tape that demonstrate the ability to be a slot receiver or a return guy. I know that there are a lot of opinions coming at him, and I just appreciate him doing what we need as a team, and that’s what he’s doing. He’s a good teammate, a good kid, and I’m glad we have him right now.”

On the difficulty of dealing with a robber- safety coverage:

“There are times you have to put it in the equation, in terms of the offensive line play, they have to factor him in and put him to a point to account for him. It looks like a four or fiveman box, but it’s actually a six-man box, with him included. So, you have to pre-set that look a bit, he’s (the robber safety) a little bit lower at times than the other guys, he’s a little bit higher. You have to gauge whether or not you want to put him in the equation in terms of who you target, which is the center’s job primarily. Then you have to find ways to RPO the guy, play-action him, stuff like that. It looks like a super light box, but it’s really not. Originally, a guy was making nine million tackles, and he’s not even factored into the running equation; he’s basically like a middle linebacker coming down. So, it’s the RPO game and capitalizing on the run game and play-action.”

On homecoming, the fanbase, and the shirtless section:

“It’s awesome. That’s the beauty of this college; with the majority of this fan base having gone here, it’s awesome to see that. I want to bring up the shirtless guy. It’s amazing to see that played back. It’s one guy, it’s two, two more show up and then it’s just went big. That was pretty cool. I probably need to get his number and see if he wants to come out to practice and hang out with us for a day.”

On players helping Sam Jackson adjust to quarterback:

“They’ll hook up sometimes after practice and get some extra throws in just to see how a guy runs an out route, stride length, and how the guy breaks it could be the same route, and there’s a little bit of difference between guy to guy. So, Sam’s got to figure out who’s going to be in the right spot. He’s got to read the coverage the way he does and get the right spots.

Defensive Lineman Landon Dean On the adversity he has faced over the years: “I think it’ll make me stronger. It’s all part of life. Not everything works out for a reason, and I’m just going to continue working hard and see what happens.”

On Coach Bowen’s teaching philosophy regarding the fundamentals:

“It was a little different at first, just a sudden change of him coming in, but he’s been with us now for a few weeks, and everyone’s starting to understand what he’s looking for. And get better at what he’s looking for, too.”

On Coach Bowen’s expectations for the defense:

“Coach Bowen started with some new things and told us what he wanted to do. Tackling’s a big thing and running to the ball. It took us a while, but I think now that he’s been with us for a few weeks, we’re all getting better at that and understand what he’s looking for.”

Offensive Lineman Austin Kawecki On things the offense can do to get better: “Starting fast; not getting behind the chains, I think that’s a big thing. Just try to get little chunks, don’t have to get it all in one play, but just try to keep the ball moving forward, reduce the penalties. Anything going backward is not good for us.”

On the trick plays the offense has been running:

“They’re pretty exciting. It’s always fun to run those plays that you don’t really normally get to run, and when they work out, it’s a good feeling. I love them, but you don’t want to rely on that completely. I think just having those in the game plan can be good, just to keep them on their toes. I like them a lot.”

Next Event

OSU takes on Cincinnati at home for homecoming on Oct 18 (Sat) Game is set to start at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN.