CHEEZ-IT BOWL: OKLAHOMA STATE VS MIAMI

December 29, 2020

Kasey Dunn

Camping World Stadium

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Oklahoma State Cowboys 37, Miami Hurricanes 34

Q. Coach Dunn, how does it feel to be a Cheez-It Bowl champion?

KASEY DUNN: Feels pretty good. Going to Disney World.

Q. Tell me more about the game plan, your first 15 plays were pass plays. They worked great. After that, things settled down quite a bit, but you got off to that great start and Spencer seemed to play really well.

KASEY DUNN: You know, we just wanted to change it up just a little bit, and you know, get out, toss the ball around a little bit. We've had good success with our offensive line in protecting the quarterback as of late, so as a whole, as an offensive staff, we felt more comfortable in throwing the football.

We certainly had called more throws, more pure throws, but to be honest, there were some RPOs and twists in that, too. It was just by chance that they gave us -- actually we kind of anticipated it being a throw look a little bit because they were so much middle of the field close cover one man. Kind of thought it would go that direction, to be honest. 15 in a row, we didn't set that bar and said we wanted to get to 15 throws straight, but we definitely wanted to throw more.

Q. Brennen tonight obviously had a breakout game. What had you seen from him that gave you the idea that he could do this?

KASEY DUNN: Brennen's always been really from beginning, from early on, we knew that he was really going to be a good player for us.

He stuck behind at the time at the beginning of the year, and now injuries forced Dillon outside a little bit and today Landon got hurt, so he ended up playing some more. He's a great player. We knew that and I'm looking forward to working more the next couple years with the kid. He's got some things about him that are different.

Q. Tylan only played the first half. How much of that were you involved in the discussion ahead of time?

KASEY DUNN: Oh, 100 percent. I told the guys before the game started, you know, over at the hotel. I said, you know, I just want to get some younger guys in in the second half, and to be honest with you, Ty's good. He and his mom and everybody on his side of it, they see it, too. I want to protect that kid, for sure, you know, and I told him that early on when we were going into the Bowl. I said, "I'm going to protect you. I know you've got a future in this game."

So that's 100 percent on me as far as who played and when. I told him before the game even started, before he even left the hotel, that I wanted to see Tay in the second half and for Tylan to be prepared to sit that one out.

Yeah, 100 percent on me.

Q. Going forward you're going next year without Tylan and Dillon so you'll have to rely on some other guys. What's your confidence or what role do you see Brendan having for you next year and going forward?

KASEY DUNN: I see it as a huge role. We talked about it after the game; he need to be a great leader for us. We were fortunate to have in that receiver room three captains in this game, Dillon and Tylan and Landon Wolf took the field as captains.. and that's a great honor for our room, but at the same time, that's a big loss moving into 2021.

So he needs to step up and step into that role a little bit, and start taking some responsibility there.

The other thing is, you brought up, is moving into 2021, what are we going to do. Well, that's part of the reason I wanted to put Tay out there in the second half. The guy has got to get some bullets. The guy has not played enough football and if you didn't notice today, I moved his butt to Z. He's been playing X the whole year.

I slid him over to Z thinking what can you do for us at that position, you know, stepping in behind Tylan for the 2021 season. Based on test-driving No. 4, Tay Martin at that Z position today, versus a really good team and good corners to see what he could do, and you know, I'm pleasantly surprised. The kid made some good plays and I think that's a home for him. There's a method to the madness. Everybody is saying, why didn't Tylan play but you can put that on me for sure -- I wanted to see #4 play. That's kind of how it unfolded.

Q. What was your message to these seniors now that they have played their final game and they are moving on to that next level?

KASEY DUNN: There was no message after the game. It was before the game we talked about it and I said, hey, this is the end of one of your chapters and you're ready to start on with a new chapter but first things first, let's close this out the right way and do it the right way.

We talked a little bit about how a game ago against Baylor, one of my favorite parts of the season was the fact that we had a finished tape afterwards on Sunday night and we watched that finished tape and there were a lot of guys playing hard, getting knock downs and driving guys on big blocks out-of-bounds and running backs running hard and receivers blocking the O-Line, getting pancakes and the whole deal.

That was really the message was, you know, here is a closing to one chapter and beginning of another one and we want to honor you today. I think everybody went out there and did that. So really, really happy with how everybody played and can't wait to put on the tape.