STILLWATER – The No. 18 Oklahoma State Cowboys are set to get back into Big 12 play this week as they play host to UCF for the first time since the Knights joined the Big 12.
Head coach Eric Morris met with the media on Tuesday to discuss Saturday’s 11 a.m. CT match up on ESPN 2.
"It's the age old question for a coach, I think. Obviously right now we're riding the momentum that we have. Super important for us to keep the momentum. We want to keep our guys fresh and make sure that we're sharp. We practiced three days. We practiced last Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Shortened them down a little bit, and then there's a couple guys that are vets and they needed some vet days. So, we took it easy on a couple of those guys that are performing at a high level for us. But then let the young guys play. This is always gonna be a developmental organization that we have here. That's what I believe in, is the way we develop players over the course of the years that I've been coaching. So, we were able to put the pads on and get some tackling in with our young bucks and even some guys that haven't played a ton of snaps so far this year, just for them to get an opportunity to continue to grow.
"Then obviously I thought it was really important for us to get some rest over the weekend, but a hard reset because we got a really good UCF team coming in. I think our program is not there yet to where if we start taking it easy and looking ahead, and I thought today was kind of that way in practice. I thought we practiced, and I told the guys this, I thought it was like a .500 team, a team that's winning six or seven games. But we're really close to moving over the edge right now, and so challenged a lot of people in that group. I think we got some people healthy throughout the course of these last couple days where we've been able to rest them.
"But really good program here. A lot of respect for Coach (Scott) Frost. Interesting our first two games in conference are both vs. a coach who had been there previously and he's back for a second stint. But ton of respect for what they do, especially for Coach (Alex) Grinch. He's a guy that was at Washington State with Mike Leach. Never coached with him, but a lot of familiarity. Their defense has been playing at a really high level. Not many people have been able to stop them. I think they're really good up front, been able to establish the line of scrimmage on the defensive line. Big challenge in front of us. Excited for us to get back in Boone Pickens. Early morning game, which we've talked about that before, like, we practice in the mornings, so it's just something our kids are used to getting up and going, so excited to get back in action."
