Head Coach Jake Spavital Postgame Press Conference at Baylor
Sept. 17, 2022
 
Opening Statement
First off, I think Baylor, that is a very tough team to go up against. The physical nature of who they are, how big they are, the style of play, we challenged all week about going out and fighting because that is the style of play, and you have to fight to have success on this team. I went back in a deep rabbit hole on these guys for years to find anything like cheap yardage here or there to give our guys a chance. You know they are a well-sounded great team, and you have to give them credit cause Coach Aranda has done a really good job at they buy in, they play well together and don't make too many mistakes. I told with the team afterwards that I didn't think they batted an eye or were afraid by any means, they gave it their best shot from a physical standpoint, they made them earn a lot of things on defense that first half. Where it ended up going we didn't do the things, it's a three to five play deal that can affect the outcome of the game, but I thought it was three to five plays per person on the team and it felt like 'hey we got a guy wide open on the fourth and four by ten yards', and then we get a batted ball or we got great protection and then we have a dropped pass, and then at the end of the first half we get a personal foul and they get a pull-read, which we had a great call into it, we had a guy float a quarterback on that and runs for it long ways for touchdown and make it 21-7 going into halftime. Then we go out and start driving and fumble and then they capitalize on that to make it 28-7. We start driving again and we have two batted balls that could have been big really big plays for us and then it is 35-7 in the blink of an eye. I talked with out media about the complementary side of things versus good teams that you have to elevate play in terms of negative plays and circumstances you are in, they did that, we didn't.
 
 
"Third quarters have been a thorn in your side this season, what are some things you have taken away from your first three games that have happened in that quarter that you can adjust on?"
 
Going into this game, we said we were going to go for it on fourth down because field goals are not going to beat this team. That's why we were really aggressive with what we do, we play to win a game, we were aggressive with it and sometimes I thought that put us in a little bad spot in the third quarter late because we were trying to make it a competitive game. I don't know about how we started off in the third quarter, in this game I thought we hit a big play and had fumble, the batted balls that were wide open, I thought we were fine and there, but then they started hitting us with them plays, we ended up having personal issues in the back end, Tory Spears didn't make it for this game in terms of injury, we started losing guys here and there with D.J. Mask (out) and moving around, you got Peyton Tuggle out there playing extremely hard then did a great job for us but ended up having to change our game plan based on the personnel we had, and with Chris Mills being out as well. I can't tell you exactly what's going on with third quarters, but I'm going to look into it and see what we can fix but I feel like we were fighting and putting ourselves in positions, but we were making critical mistakes in critical moments.
 
"How significant was that play right before halftime, talk about how that play changed, you had the chance to be tied at halftime."
 
It's super tough, from defense it's hard to move the ball on them, they have done that to everyone they played. We knew we had to be aggressive with that, we did not think that when they were moving the ball and got to that fourth and one, we didn't think they were going to go for it right there. We had the right call into it, we knew exactly what play it was, we put two off the edge, one for the running back, one for the quarterback, and he made the guy miss and over pursued it. I'm sitting here looking at (defensive coordinator) Zac (Spavital) and it was the right call, he knew it was coming, we called it out and did the whole thing. That was a pivotal moment for us because it was so hard to move the ball on them, that we got it into a one-score game and with having the ball the second half and now down two scores going into it. We knew we needed to respond, and we came out the second half and moved the ball and had the fumble. That was when the landslide started to happen.
 
 
"Layne Hatcher started strong and started to hit some bumps towards the end of the game, but that first pass looked really good, what was your assessment of his performance and progression thought the first three games of the season?"
 
I thought he did pretty well. He put the ball into play, he was operating, checking, he was pretty accurate in this game. He had a few dropped balls in critical moments in third down, but he stayed in pocket and delivered them down the field. I got to help him out more, I thought we did a good job getting it on the perimeter, that's why Ashtyn (Hawkins) had a good game, the whole approach was that there was such a bog talented big D-line, that we wanted to get them moving lateral and, in their face as much as we could, but Layne handled it, he wasn't rattled at all. He was telling me this was the cleanest game he had seen for us, and he's operating and seeing it, knew exactly what was going on. There is always going to be some plays from quarterbacks that you want to take back, but for the most part Layne played extremely well at times.
 
 
"Layne seemed more comfortable in the scheme, but it seemed timing was an issue in some fourth-down plays, with that one pass to Hawkins where they were not in the right spot, do you think miscommunication was the issue?"
 
No, in that play they caught us in zero pressure, if he holds on to that for another second, he would have taken a shot on that. Ashtyn is good, we just have to understand and change the call when we recognize that, but they got us on that one. That was the one where I knew they had the right call. The one on the goal line was there, just have to be quicker with the timing. The one fourth and four with Ashtyn where he was wide open and gets batted, he might run for 40 or 50 yards on it. They ended up moving their big D-line and pushing the pile. I knew you were going to have to earn everything and go for it on fourth down a lot because that is the only way teams have success on them.
 
"You mention Ashtyn Hawkins, another great day for him, he set a Texas State record. What is going right with him?"
 
He is dynamic. He had 67 yards after the catch, that's pretty good. He is the guy that we always have to find a way to get a ball in space to him. He's got great ball skills and awareness of when he is about to get hit and protect himself in certain situations. I just love where that kid is at right now. He is going to keep getting better every week. He still hasn't played a lot of football, but he is very confident in what he is doing and getting creative with what we do with him. There will be a lot of teams trying to take him away, and they will take him away at time and try to bracket him and do some things, some other guys will open up there plays for one-on-ones, he's winning his one-on-one's right now.