November 04, 1997
At the end of the third quarter the Aggies were horrible, but a quarter later they were about as good as you can get ...
"That's the way it goes when you win a game like that. We played very well at the end of the game. During the remainder of the game, there were plays and opportunities that we didn't take advantage of. We were playing a pretty good team I think. I have a lot of respect for that team. The earlier games ... I look and I think it's really interesting how you come out a game like Texas Tech and there are a lot of questions - what's wrong with offense, what about your schemes - Saturday in the hotel I watched Kansas State play Texas Tech and it looks like they have some of the same problems we have. They scored the exact number of points that we scored in the ballgame (against Texas Tech). So it's never as bad as some would have you believe. It wasn't a whole lot worse for us than it was for Kansas State. So, same thing, we haven't all the sudden turned into world-beaters. We did have a good comeback win on Saturday. We're still a team that will have to show up, play hard and protect the football to have a chance to win the ballgame. If you look at Baylor, they just beat the defending Big 12 Champions this past weekend. So certainly they have the capability to come in here and make this a real challenging weekend for us."
Talk about the drama of the OSU game, and how the loss would have essentially ended the conference race for A&M ...
"I think the real significance of all this is that you have a football team that goes on the road and has two disappointing losses. And then comes back home and has good practices and then gets in the game and gets down 22-7 but refuses to quit. In light of the previous two losses it would have been easy to throw in the towel, but this team didn't. They kept playing and plugging, and that's the thing that is most significant here. It's the thing I'm most proud of. I've said all year long that this team has a lot of character and a lot of chemistry, and I think they bore that out Saturday night by refusing to quit despite being down 22-7 after losing two tough games. You can build on that."
Did Stewart regain the team's confidence with the comeback?
"We created the situation where we allowed Branndon to build confidence in his teammates in him. Everyone in that lockeroom said if it wasn't for the play of Branndon we wouldn't have won that game. All the sudden, you have a guy who takes a big step forward in terms of assuming a leadership position - by his performance. That's how you'd like someone to become a leader. I can't make a leader, I can't stick him out there and say OK you're the leader. I can do that, but the leadership doesn't come until it's earned. There were lots of contributors to that win, but everybody knows the key ingredient was the quarterback. Now I'm pleased that he's had an opportunity to become a leader and he delivered. When I called him up to receive the game ball, I talked about all the flak he'd put up with that goes along with being in a leadership position. He didn't ask for all that. He didn't ask for all fanfare when he transferred here. He didn't ask for all the expectations. He never came out and said I'm going to do all this or all that. He didn't do all that. Other people did that to him. They put the expectations on him. He never did that at all. He's been a very unassuming guy since he's been here. I was really pleased when he received the ball, he was the same way. He didn't get up and say, 'See there, I told you guys I could do this.' The kids started chanting speech, speech, speech, so he said, 'The only thing I have to say is all the glory goes to God. He was with me during all the bad times and He was with me tonight. He was with the Oklahoma State guys too, but He wanted the Aggies to win.' True to form, he deflected all the credit. I admire the young man."
Will the comeback boost Stewart's confidence?
"It should give him some confidence and renewed assurance. Last year he was playing on a team with a new offense, a new team, very young receivers. All three of the main principles are sophomores. Leroy Hodge, Chris Cole and Matt Bumgardner those are all young players, so you can imagine what they were last year. It should give him some confidence that he can still get it done, and with a little help from a supporting staff he can make some big plays."
Your team was able to overcome some obstacles (inadvertent time-outs, false starts) ...
"You'd like for everything to be just absolute perfect, but it's not that way. If you watch the NFL they have the same problems. They have the same problems with veteran guys make millions to play the game. When you get in the heat of battle with guys yelling and the crowd going, and sometimes you misfire. Very good players have done that over the years. But the team did work through it. They came right back and made the plays they needed."
You started the game with five straight throws, was that the plan to spread out the field?
"By the way we had operated during the regular game, we had given them a lot to defend in the overtime. When you're down on the 25-yard line, do you play pass defense or run defense? What do you do? We had been successful throwing the football, especially during the fourth quarter, so they had a lot to defend. I think that allowed us to run the ball like we did."
"We didn't get much of the "Bear" coverage. We got them so concerned about everything we were doing and stretching their coverage that we got very little "Bear" as it went on, which allowed us to do some other things. It kind of got them out of the plan that they wanted. And that's what we wanted. I was convinced all week that we had to come out throwing the football. I wanted to open things up, spread it around and mix it up, do things that would get them off balance. They were sitting there wanting to line up in the "Bear" and go smack our tailback, but we weren't running the tailback. They had to scramble to change their defense. We were serving a purpose."
Does Baylor beating Texas help you motivate your team?
"It helps from a motivational standpoint, but it also helps them from a confidence standpoint that they just being the conference champions. They will come in here a more inspired team than if they had lost by two or three touchdowns.
Scouting report on Baylor ...
"I see a very talented team. I think if you check the recruiting lists over the past few years, Baylor has gotten credit for some very good recruiting years. If you look at the backs, and check the pedigrees of Jerod Douglas, Daryl Bush and Elijah Burkins, those guys had a bout a million yards between them in high school and college. You won't find a more heralded group of backs than those guys. If you look at the line and look at Derrick Fletcher and David Davis, those guys were as highly recruited as anybody can be recruited. They're big active guys. Jeff Watson is a four-year starter at quarterback. And the defense is about the same story. They are a very athletic football team, and they present a lot of problems. And you say their record isn't that good? Well, you have a new coach with a new system and new offense and defensive schemes and it takes a while for all that to happen. I think they had some injuries early in the season, and they played a tough schedule early in the season. You see them making some progress now, and that's to be expected with a new coach. Now he's three-fourths into the season and now the team is starting to catch on a little bit, so very concerned about the game."