THE MODERATOR: We're being joined by Coach Art Briles from the Bears and Bryce Petty. Coach, your thoughts about this afternoon's game. COACH BRILES: Seriously? I'm proud of our football team. Any time you put so much into something for so long, like we do, like our players do, you know, it certainly is unpleasant when the outcome is a reality like what happened today. I feel like we had a really good opportunity to come out of here victoriously and had a couple of unfortunate things that happened down the stretch that prevented us from winning. Q. Coach mentioned the unfortunate things that happened at the end. Not taking anything away from Michigan State, but do you guys look at the mistakes that you made more than maybe the plays that they did? QB BRYCE PETTY: Yeah. I mean, I don't know how you don't, especially when they threw -- we were up 19 points, 42-21. You know, it's a tough deal, especially when you feel like you got the game, you know, in control. And then again, like Coach said, just had things go the other way. So, you know, momentum is a tough deal. When you got a team that's starting to build momentum, you got to shut it down and that's what we lacked, what we didn't do on offense when defense got the pick. So got to take care of that stuff. Q. For Collin, late in the game, made some turnovers, forced some turnovers but also gave it some big plays, what was it like just going through those emotion? NB COLLIN BRENCE: It was a roller coaster. Alfred Pullom comes in after Orion gets hurt, he makes a huge play. Started to gain momentum. We were able to end that with his pick. Same thing with Taylor Young's pick. So those are big-time plays by those guys. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make some of the plays that we should have down the stretch. And, you know, we just -- we were at times not in the right position. In the future, we have to be in the right position. And, you know, credit to Michigan State for taking advantage. But definitely it hurts because, you know, we left some plays on the field.
Q. Art, Collin mentioned that you get the two defensive turnovers. You stopped their momentum but you didn't score off of them. How big was that? COACH BRILES: It's huge. You know, I mean, we got the penalty on Taylor's interception return that took seven off the board. I think we had a field goal hit the upright on that drive. And then they're late. We got a first and goal, we think, with Corey and get an offensive facemask on the receiver with the ball, which, you know, moves us back. And we consequently get no points out of that with a blocked field goal, which is a nine-point lead with 1:28 left, whatever it was with them, no timeouts, would have been a pretty good situation to be in to come out victorious. But, I mean, we let some things get on the table, let some things get away from us. It's, quite honestly, an embarrassment to me as a coach. I feel bad for our players. I feel bad for our football team. And I feel bad for our university. Q. Art, this is for you or Bryce can answer it. But y'all had a horrible time running the ball. I think you ended up with negative maybe 30 yards. How much did that affect your play calling late? COACH BRILES: I'll take that. We felt like we certainly would have liked to run the ball better down the stretch, of course, when you have the lead and you have a chance to put it away. We were being fairly successful throwing the football. When we did attempt to run, we -- you know, we never really felt that we had the seams there that we wanted there to be able to sustain. So I think it was a combination. We should have run the ball better. You know, we didn't and it certainly hurt us down the stretch without question. Q. Bryce, you had a lot of success there with the one-on-one matchups. Did they do anything to take away -- take that away in the fourth quarter? QB BRYCE PETTY: No, I don't think so. I mean, they started blitzing quite a bit, which really I guess helped out with the one-on-one situations. We just didn't take advantage of it, you know? And that's on me.
At that point, you know, again, like I said, I guess it's 41-21. So that's 20 points if my math's right. But for that right there, I mean, that's where we got to ice the game. I mean, we got to put it in our hands, not their hands. That's not where it's supposed to be. That's not how we want to draw it up. So just missed opportunities here and there. And we let the game get close. Like I said, you got to kill momentum there when it starts to build for them. We didn't do that. Q. Bryce, Cotton Bowl record 550 yards. Is it pretty hard to appreciate that right now? QB BRYCE PETTY: We lost so yeah. Not to be a jerk, sorry. But, yeah, I mean, it's all for naught when you lose. Like I said, the whole goal going into this was finishing. You know, last year, it's a flashback. I'm sitting on the podium with coach and a couple guys again talking about would have, could have, should have. But that's never a spot you want to be when you got the game like we had it. So tough deal. Q. Art, how difficult is it to pull back as a play caller when you have a quarterback that's lighting it up like that even though you know that running the ball will kind of run the clock out? COACH BRILES: If you ever make positive yards, you run the ball. That's the whole deal. We were having pretty good success throwing the football, and Bryce was really accurate today. He was on. We felt like going into the game that we would need to throw the football to have an opportunity to win the game. They're a very good run-stop defense. But, yeah, that's -- you know, that's certainly something that you always would love to be able to hang your hat on, which we have been able to do most of the time. But you know, just didn't transpire that way. You know, today. Like I said, a couple plays here and there and we're sitting in here feeling a lot different. But it didn't work out that way.
Q. Coach, Bryce mentioned finishing two of the last three games -- the Texas Tech game, also a big lead -- evaporate in the fourth. Do you see any similarities between these two games and, if so, how do you address that in the off-season? COACH BRILES: You know, it's a 60-minute game. You got to play. You got to make plays when you're on the field. Like I said, you hate to "if" it. But if you don't hit the upright, if you don't get a field goal blocked, if you don't have an offensive, facemask penalty, we'd feel a lot better now. Those are points off the board in the fourth quarter when it gave us a chance to extend the lead. That's the reality of it. To me it's got nothing to do with a lead evaporating. It's just got to do with playing cleaner football. Play cleaner football, you win. Q. After not getting into the playoff, the disappointment there, and then the way things turned out today, how do you put into words the way the season ended for you guys? COACH BRILES: I feel fortunate that I'm being able to talk and maintain a sense of sensibility right now. And it's got nothing to do with the playoffs. It's just something to do with this football game. You know, we played a lot of really good games over the last seven seasons and won a lot of really good games. And this is one of the tougher non-wins that I've ever experienced quite honestly. So it's got nothing to do with the big picture. I mean, the small picture right now is letting a game get away from us today. Like I said, my hat is off to Michigan State. They came down the stretch and made some plays. Their quarterback did a good job. They converted fourth down and third down there late. And they consequently ended up feeling good, and we don't feel good. Q. Watching Michigan State today, did they do anything that you weren't expecting after watching film and looking at them? Anything new? Anything that they threw at you, sir? COACH BRILES: They played just like we thought they'd play. We thought they were a really good football team and a team that's got a lot of poise.
Coach Dantonio and his staff have done a good job. You're looking at a team that won 152 games in five years. Their last three losses were Oregon, Ohio State, and Notre Dame. They're a good team, and we got what we expected from them. Q. Coach, what changed defensively in that fourth quarter to let them come back? COACH BRILES: Defensively for them? Q. For you guys? COACH BRILES: When we were on defense? I think it's what I've said all along, you know, field position, turnovers, momentum. If you win those three ingredients, you're going to win the football game. I think there is no question that for some reason the last six to seven minutes of the football game, they created some momentum and sustained it a little bit. We had opportunities for an interception return for a potential touchdown. We had an opportunity and hit the slant and got first and goal at the half yard, you know. Got back and didn't convert. So to me, it's all about -- I think they maintained the momentum and we didn't, you know, keep it when we had a chance to get it. We let it get away by not being clean. Quotes by Caption Northwest, Inc.