Quotes & video from A&M's SHSU press conference

Kevin Sumlin

On the 24-hour rule potentially being extended...

Sumlin: "I don't think so. We have Sundays off, which is good for them to be away from us and us to be away from them, win or lose. A lot of guys live close enough to get to go home if they want to. Family time, church time, whatever they want to do. 

"The only negative to that is we go over a game on Monday. We talk about what happened and how we can get better, mistakes and things like that. Go outside and work out for about an hour, then get ready for our next opponent."

On coming home to the crowd welcome...

Sumlin: "That was pretty great. As Coach Beaty would say, that was a 'neat deal.' We were coming down in the plane and somebody took their iPad and showed me and I said, 'Where is that?' They said, 'Right outside your office!' That's why I was so excited to come back here. Texas A&M is such a special place. Only place where you've got 30,000 people in the stands. 

"And then that ... I don't know how many people there were. But it was 10-11 at night and they hung around. They were just as happy, and that's a great feeling."

On the simplicity of the offense...

Sumlin: "The simpleness of what you're trying to do is all by design, building off of certain principles. The complexity comes in in execution. We'd rather have 11 guys knowing what they're supposed to do than two or three knowing exactly what they're supposed to do and it being fancy and complicated. College football is unique in that you can only have four hours with them a day, and that's eating, lifting, practice.

"That's opposed to the NFL, where it's a lot more time. You have to be able to utilize your time wisely, you have to have a plan that can be executed and guys can understand each other. The better your team is, the more a player understands everybody's positions on the field. It's hard to do that with a real thick playbook. I'd say that it's pretty easy to grasp. And that's a good thing. I'm glad [Malcome Kennedy] said that."

On how much Kliff Kingsbury has grown under him...

Sumlin: "He's continued to grow. I've said all along, he's a really, really dedicated, hard-working guy. One of the first guys in the office every day, always looking for new wrinkles, does a great job with the growth of all the quarterbacks. There's a lot of things that go into organization of a staff and there's different ways to do things. He's done a great job with our staff. There are guys in that room that have done a lot of things at all levels, but ultimately you've got one guy who's got to make some tough decisions.

"He's grown through that. You can't have a bigger stage than we've been on this year. He's continued to grow. You get a lot of credit and a lot of the blame, that's part of the job. The kids understand him, they get along with him. He's very critical, but guys understand what it takes to win football games. That's what leadership is all about. He's got the intangibles. He's going to be a great head coach one day."

On Johnny Manziel's growth...

Sumlin: "We get to see him in practice every day. There's a lot of plays out there that we see in practice that you guys never see. You think some of the ones we ran Saturday were kind of screwed up, you should see about 5-o'clock tonight. Some plays that'll never make it to the field.

"But Johnny's grown a lot. In the spring, he was extremely careless with the football. He's done a lot better job of taking care of the football and still creating offense. You look at a couple of those throws he made late in the game to Swope. Those were great throws, and things he's continued to develop mechanically. That's hard to do during a football season. The greatest jumps at that position are between seasons. It's hard as a young guy to get dramatically better week-to-week because of mechanics and those things.

"He has gotten better. Not only him, but I said going into the game last week, we're a different team in Week 10 than we were in Week 1. That's coaches too. You have to have a feel for what your players can do and what they can't do. That's hard to do as a new staff in two-a-days. You don't really know what anybody's going to do until the real bullets start flying, when pressure hits. Certain people will run from it, certain people will handle it.

"We've got a better feel for what guys will do over the course of the season. It's a coach's job, in my opinion, to put guys in positions to be successful. Our staff has done a good job of that."

On the Heisman hype...

Sumlin: "It's like anything else — it comes with winning. As you win, those things come. I was at the Home Depot Awards a couple years ago and didn't see many losing teams there. Winning and handling those types of things ... that comes with it."

On where Manziel ranks among QBs he's coached...

Sumlin: "They're all different. Johnny's completely different than any of those guys because of his ability to move around, create offense, extend plays. He can do it with his feet and his arm. He's really unique that way."

On what Manziel will look like when his game has 'matured'...

Sumlin: "We'll see where he is. We're going to continue to develop. He's gotten better since Week 1. We'll continue to work with him. One of his strengths is he's a heck of a competitor. He wants to be good. Because of that, I think he works at it."

On Sam Houston State...

Sumlin: "I have a lot of respect for what they've accomplished. Going to the championship game last year, it was a heck of a run. All you have to do is look at the video. They were ahead of Baylor at Baylor at halftime. They're not going to be awestruck when they come in here. They've got something to prove. Offensively they've been able to do just about what they want to people.

"Their attack is a bit different than what we've seen, maybe a combination of Mississippi State and Ole Miss with the ability to have shotgun runs, Wildcat, option principles. It'll be certainly different than what we saw last week. That's where our coaches have done a good job, particularly defensively, of adjusting to different styles of attack.

"We have a lot to play for. I met with the seniors yesterday and had a talk with them. We've been through a stretch, but they've got two more games on Kyle Field in their career. Nobody else will care more about these last two games. It was a good meeting. We need their leadership right now, this week, because we're still in the hunt for a lot of different things right now and just to get back home and play, our guys will be excited."

On creating turnovers...

Sumlin: "With our style of play, up-tempo, our big stats are third down efficiency offense and defense and turnover ratios. We were able to handle those. We're not big on time of possession because of our style of play, but surprisingly we were able to handle that too. Those things were big. The key point was that we didn't need to play a perfect game. We needed to play a complete game. And we did."

On Taylor Bertolet...

Sumlin: "He's got to get better. We'll continue to work with him. We'll also continue to try to develop some other guys. That's just the way it is. Until someone steps forward better than him or he loses his job, he's our guy. He's struggling at PATs and field goals, but he's certainly been a big factor in our wins from a kickoff standpoint with touchbacks. If you look at our statistics, we kick off more than anybody in this league because we score the most. That might be an issue too. 

"We'll continue to work with him and we'll work with the other players in our program. We don't give anything away — the best players play. If he gets beat out, he gets beat out. But that hasn't happened."

On when he started to learn about the team...

Sumlin: "I would say after the first game, when we played Florida, as frustrated as we were to lose, you come back and realize on Sunday that nobody knew it but, coming off the field, we thought Florida was a pretty good team and we were right. Certain guys handled it well, some guys didn't. Some guys gained confidence and some haven't seen the field since. You really don't know what a guy can do until he gets into the arena and things are at stake.

On the idea that the SHSU game is a no-win situation...

Sumlin: "...Somebody's got to win. The schedule is what it is. They're going to come in and think they can win here. I don't know what you're saying. At the end of the game, the clock will have zeroes and there'll be a winner."

On holding up in the second half...

Sumlin: "We let some people get behind us on a double-move route. That game was a fantastic game from our team's mental standpoint. I don't think I've been in a louder place than it was there in that last part of the game. It would have been easy — you talk about the four plays from the [red zone] — it wouldn't have happened if Toney Hurd didn't play with effort and get him on the ground.

"You talk about, 'The game isn't over.' Play hard. Toney Hurd makes the tackle and gets him on the ground, it ended up being the biggest play of the night even though he got beat. You never know. Make people snap at you instead of just giving it to them."

On Manziel as a high school prospect...

Sumlin: "It was one of those deals where everybody was talking about, 'You've got to see him.' I didn't get out to see him live but Kliff was out there to see him. I saw the video, just a highlight tape ... I didn't watch much of it, but you didn't have to watch much of it. There are a couple guys where coaches come back up the road and say, 'You have to see this.' And you say, 'Why did you even show this to me? You didn't offer the guy when you were there?' (Laughter.)

"He's been that kind of player, athletically. It's just the challenge of playing quarterback is difficult to do as a young guy. And do it well, and handle the pressure that comes with it. Unlike any other position, he touches the ball every play. The ability to make mistakes can go up dramatically, and when he does, they're critical."

On the national attention and the program's future...

Sumlin: "The reason I came here was the combination of Texas A&M's tradition, resources, game day atmosphere, location ... everything's in place. And moving to the SEC was the next piece. And our recruiting classes have reflected that. We closed out a class in December through February that was a good one. Some true freshmen are playing for us. And the one we have now is a good one.

"There were some guys sitting on the fence saying, 'Wait and see.' They had other schools telling them we were going to get our brains kicked in. We've answered those questions. We can handle it in this league. And recruiting is going to reflect that. People that were on the fence, our phones are ringing off the hook now. We have to make some critical decisions about who we're going to take.

"If we do that for the next three or four years and increase our talent level like I think we can, we can really do something on the national level."

On scheduling Sam Houston late...

Sumlin: "You have to remember that I'm the coach. I don't make those decisions. But you have to remember that with moving to the SEC, we had 12 months to find somebody to play. All I know is they made the schedule and we play it."

On Ryan Swope's toughness...

Sumlin: "He's been a great leader, plays with a lot of emotion. People watch him, what he does with the ball in traffic, catching the ball and running with it. But five or six weeks ago I said it's what he does without the ball that makes him who he is. Johnny's long runs are because of those receivers, Ryan Swope in particular. He's closer to the action. We're asking him to go in there and block linebackers, and he's handled it.

"One of the great moments of last Saturday and the last few Saturdays are seniors who are here like Porter and Ryan, guys I sat down and talked to when I first got here ... 'If you come back, it's going to be a real special year for you.' And it has been. That's why this week and next week are extremely important to those guys. What they've accomplished has put them in a position to do special things this year."

On Dustin Harris' big hit on third down on the last drive...

Sumlin: "There's another senior. Guys were flying around and I didn't know who that was until we got off the bus. I was like, 'Who was that that made that hit at the two-yard line?' Dustin said, 'It was me.' I looked at all 170 pounds of him like, 'Who would've thought?' That's how guys are playing. Johnny gets a lot of credit, but these seniors have made critical plays for us to be successful in ball games.

"With the transition, us being here, guys like him making plays, Nealy making plays in the backfield, Sean, Swope's making plays ... it's no coincidence that those are the guys making plays."

Kliff Kingsbury

On what he remembers of Johnny as a high school prospect...

Kingsbury: "You couldn't see what he could do as a quarterback on film, you could just see what he did athletically. If you went out to watch him throw, you'd say, 'This kid is the total package.'"

On how Swope does what he does and his physicality...

Kingsbury: "That's how he's played since he's been here. I was an admirer of his before I got here and more of a fan now that I'm here. We're lucky to have him."

On the offense's simplicity...

Kingsbury: "It goes way back to the Air Raid at Kentucky when Tim Couch was there, Mike Leach at Texas Tech ... if you get the guys playing faster and let them use their natural abilities as best as they can."

On whether there's a playbook...

Kingsbury: "There is, but it's top, top secret. The players don't look at it."

On what he likes best about Manziel...

Kingsbury: "The competitiveness. He's his own worst critic, and if he's not perfect on every throw, he wants it to be. You can't coach that into a kid, he's either got it or he doesn't."

On whether he feels Manziel deserves the Heisman...

Kingsbury: "That's y'all's discussion. I do have an opinion. I'm not going to share it."

On how Manziel's game will mature...

Kingsbury: "I hope he'll get better. That's up to him, whether he wants to get better. I anticipate he will."

On Manziel driving the Aggies down with the throws to Swope...

Kingsbury: "If you watch his footwork and balance and how smooth it was with the throws, that's what you want to see as a quarterbacks coach. To have that poise ... he made two great throws."

On when Kevin Sumlin began to trust him completely as a play-caller...

Kingsbury: "That's where I have to give him a lot of credit. He basically promoted me from quality control to an offensive coordinator and never sat in my meetings or questioned me from day one."

On whether his career ambitions are ahead of schedule...

Kingsbury: "I wanted to be a starting NFL quarterback (laughter). I got into this kind of by default. I saw the hours and the time [his dad] put in and the mood swings, but after a while I knew this is what I would do. I appreciate [Sumlin] saying [he'll be a great head coach one day]. Right now I'm just excited to be here."

On what to expect from Sam...

Kingsbury: "Really aggressive defense. They're top-five in every category in their division. They played for a championship last year and probably will again this year. They walk down in your face on every play and they've got two great corners."

On how fun this team is to coach...

Kingsbury: "The big thing with this team is watching them start to believe in themselves. All summer, to hear, 'You can't do this, can't do that' and then have success in this league is an amazing experience."

On having fun on the sidelines...

Kingsbury: "I try not to, it just comes out. After the whole butt-slap incident I tried to tone it down. It just comes out. It's how I played. I like seeing the players have success and it comes out. I only did [the butt-slap] because he tries to act so cool all the time. I was trying to get a reaction out of him but he blew me off (laughter).

"I've always been excited to play the game and I love seeing the players have success. I just don't like standing still. Moving back and forth and trying to figure out the next drive."

On whether SEC coaches will begin to copy A&M's offense...

Kingsbury: "I'm not sure. The top of the heap is still the LSUs and Alabamas. It's about the players, not the plays. People can say what they want, but if we didn't have these linemen and receivers and a quarterback playing well, we wouldn't be here."

On the doubters about the offense before the season...

Kingsbury: "I always thought it could work, so I never wanted to prove anybody wrong. I just wanted to go out there and do it."

Mark Snyder

On the secondary's play...

Snyder: "I thought our secondary played extremely well, probably their best game of the year. I thought they tackled a lot better, evaded some throws, and the thing I'm most proud of is the last play of the game. Since LA Tech, before they cancelled that game, at the end of every practice we'd have a two-point play. We'd run it to the flat, pick, pick, pick. In Week 5 we were still running it. Even if teams didn't run that play, we'd run that play.

"For the second week in the row, at Mississippi State, they put the ball on the hash and we got in our two-point defense and stopped it. On Saturday, they put the ball in the middle and we weren't in two-point. But then they motioned across the field and our DBs got in two-point mode."

On Howard Matthews...

Snyder: "He's trying to do what we're asking him. He's shown me he can be a good football player. The buy-in is there. He's become a better football player because of it."

On Deshazor Everett...

Snyder: "I thought [he made that first pick where his heel was out of bounds]. As the game went, you saw him gain more and more confidence. I'm just proud of him for recognizing the [last play] and jumping the route."

On Kirby Ennis...

Snyder: "Outstanding. We switched positions and wanted to put him on the quicker guy. We thought we were going to try and pound [Nealy], so we put Kirby over there. He was the MVP. He had his best game."

On the defense's play throughout the season...

Snyder: "We've gotten better each and every week and our confidence level has gotten better each week. I'm proud of the kids, the way we've had to piece together the puzzle each and every week."

On Sam Houston's offense...

Snyder: "As a defense you can't be too aggressive because they play option football. They're running for almost 300 yards a game. They're a good 1-AA team. This team is good. They're going to come in and try and beat us. We have to go play."

On having Brandon Williams and Tra Carson as scout team backs...

Snyder: "Tra Carson was a man this week. Eddie Lacy is a spin guy, and Tra watched film and came in and did it. I think it showed on Saturday night."

On Dustin Harris' tackle on third down...

Snyder: "It was huge. We had a couple guys miss and Dustin got him down, we got to see another down."

On Sam's option...

Snyder: "If you've watched Nevada-Reno, it's that type of offense. A lot of pistol-option, those kind of things."

On the Wildcat...

Snyder: "We've gotten a sprinkle of Wildcat from just about everyone we've played. It's a basic Wildcat package. And they run it well. They're running for over 300 yards a game."

On the D giving up big plays but coming back to make others...

Snyder: "That's maturity. That's maturity. I saw in the huddle during TV timeouts — not guys saying, 'Please don't come my way' — but 'Come my way so I can make a play.' Dustin Harris and other guys are starting to come on to lead a little bit, and you see that confidence going through the roof."

On the conditioning...

Snyder: "In my opinion, Larry Jackson has done a tremendous job. I have not seen us look fatigued yet."

Ryan Swope

On taking the big hit over the middle...

Swope: "I wasn't nervous at all. I think my adrenaline was going so much. On that play, I was watching Sunday, I could tell that I beat the safety and Johnny made a good throw and I just braced for it. I had to take one for the team. I got hit pretty good and I didn't think I was going to get up, but I told myself I had to and send a message to Bama. I knew we'd have to step up and make plays.

"[The yell] ... I watched it Sunday and could actually hear it on TV. It's one of those things, I guess emotion got the best of me. That's how you have to play out there."

On the Heisman...

Swope: "It's very interesting. We haven't had a guy do that in a long time around here. He's got to keep practicing hard, and he does that well. It'll be fun to see what he can do."

On the wheel route where he made his other big catch...

Swope: "First down and we came in the huddle and Coach Kingsbury called it. So glad he did, because it was a play we were repping all week in practice. I knew I had to step up and make a play and I think Johnny was thinking the same thing I was. He put it in stride, right in the right spot. When it was in the air I told myself, 'I'm not letting anybody catch this football but me.' It sparked our whole sideline and gave our team a lot of energy.

"We had been practicing it just that week. We had to get a feel for it in practice and we went out and executed it. It was good. It was a great throw. [Johnny] steps up in big moments and makes big plays, whether it's with his feet or hitting Malcome Kennedy in the end zone. Big time players make big time plays, they always say."

On the offense's simplicity...

Swope: "I think that it's all about just knowing the system. Every system is different. Every system you go about differently, whether you spend more time in the film room or with your coach. A lot of what it has to do with is preparation during the week, knowing the plays, watching film, knowing your opponent. 

"Is there a difference in terms of preparing for the offenses? No. You just have to be a smart football player and do things on your own to make the plays. It took me a while to learn [Sherman's] offense, but once you've got it down ... I will say this offense is easier to learn for a younger player. But then it's just about getting in the film room. We don't even have a playbook. It's pretty simple."

On putting Alabama behind the team...

Swope: "Most definitely. We're coming off of a high, but I'm not real worried about it. We have a great group of seniors that know what's in front of them and what we have to get accomplished. We know we have to come out and practice hard. We have to stay focused as a football team. That's what mature football teams do. We have to be a mature football team, and I believe we can do it."

On how expansion has impacted the SEC...

Swope: "Tremendously. Obviously we beat the No. 1 team in the country, who had beat LSU, and we lost to LSU. This conference has great coaches, great athletes, all the talent in the world. You always have to be ready to play with your best game."

On the offense succeeding in the SEC and whether teams will copy A&M...

Swope: "I'm not real sure. It's a hard question to answer. Every coach has their way of doing things. We just happen to be a spread offense. That's a question I can answer in five or 10 years. You never know. If we're very successful with the offense we have, you might see coaches making changes. But right now I feel the SEC is so strong with run games and the defense, it's a dominant conference and I don't see it changing any time soon."

On playing for Kliff Kingsbury...

Swope: "It's fun. He has a lot of energy, brings energy to our offense, makes it fun on Saturday and coaches with a ton of emotion. That's a fun guy to play for. He's going to go for the throat. We're practicing to have that confidence on the field. It's real fun playing for Coach Kingsbury."

On the future of the program...

Swope: "It's only the first year with these coaches. You are going to lose players like Sean Porter, but you've got Johnny and a lot of great players. I see a lot of great things happening at Texas A&M. I think it's just going to get better."

Malcome Kennedy

On his touchdown catch...

Kennedy: "It was exciting for me, because I get in every once in a while and to make a play like that ... any of our wide receivers could have made it, but I'm glad I was in there. It was [the same route Ryan Swope ran against Ole Miss]. It's just a corner route, just called 'Eight.' That's what we call it. Basic play."

On what the last couple days have been like...

Kennedy: "Crazy, but this is A&M. It's always hoppin' regardless of whether we win or not. But it's exciting, it's good to see students happy after a game like this. School spirit is always hoppin'. It's unreal."

On whether he could have imagined this in high school...

Kennedy: "No. Coming here was already a dream come true, and beating Alabama ... nobody expected us to even win five games. It's good to have everybody looking at us now. We always knew we could do it, and to have the national spotlight like this is amazing."

On the future of the program...

Kennedy: "It was a big win for the school, the conference and this program. I feel this program is going to revolutionize the SEC, this style of play. With Johnny Manziel and our defense, I feel people are going to have to start changing the way they recruit."

On the season's progression...

Kennedy: "It's fun to talk about because the coaches came in with a plan and told us how it would work. It's funny, because it worked exactly how they said it would work out. Defenses are tired against us with our tempo. We have a quarterback that can run and you have to watch him. We have tailbacks, one through three, and all the way down to our third-string receivers, everybody's good. It worked out just like they said it would."

On how long it took to feel comfortable in the offense...

Kennedy: "Oh my God, it took like ... four days. Coach Sherman had a very complex system, he used an NFL system. It would take players years to learn how to fit in places. But when Coach Sumlin and Coach Kingsbury came in and explained it, I swear we got it in about three or four days. Then it was just practicing tempo."

On returning to Kyle Field...

Kennedy: "It feels good, but we turn every stadium into our home place. We have a unique way of creating energy. We have great senior leadership. But to be back home in Kyle Field, it's about to be crazy because with the win in Alabama last week everybody's trying to come in. It's revitalizing to be back home."

On Ryan Swope...

Kennedy: "I've always looked up to Ryan Swope since I got here. I play right behind him. He's a beast. I look at the plays he makes and it makes me want to play the same way. After he leaves, our receivers have big shoes to fill. I felt bad for Alabama's defense for him to take that shot and pop back up. I think those two plays he made just changed the whole game."

On Johnny Manziel's reaction to the big plays he makes...

Kennedy: "He doesn't say anything. He just comes over ... he knows he's supposed to do that. We know what he can do. His ability to extend plays makes us that much more dangerous as an offense."

On Manziel's scrambling and rapport with receivers...

Kennedy: "Johnny's been working on staying in the pocket and being more comfortable. But we're No. 1 in the SEC in third down conversion and in offense. It shows that we're doing what we're supposed to do. He's become more comfortable back there. Sometimes broken plays are the best plays — defensive backs can't cover us that long, and we work scramble drills on how to break away. Johnny doing what he does makes it that much easier."

On the offense's simplicity...

Kennedy: "It makes it so much better because you don't have to think as much. You look at the coverage and what the quarterback gives us. Thinking really slows you down. You're supposed to go out there and just do it. It allows us to clear our thoughts."

On why the offense works...

Kennedy: "I just believe that the speed and tempo are so hard to get used to. It's so hard for defenses to match up to it. I feel like that's why it works."

Damontre Moore

On the aftermath from the win over Alabama...

"There has been a buzz around campus since we've been back. Overall, the experience was breathtaking. It doesn't happen that often and I think it did a lot of good for this program and this community. Overall we were excited and we're still in awe about it — the experience for the fans and the atmosphere around here. When we got back there were hundreds of people waiting on us in line and they had a walkway set up.

"It was like one of the biggest Spirit Walks we've ever had overall, just to see that late at night and to see everybody driving in from out of town. I heard people were driving from Austin, Houston and some other cities just to meet us and congratulate us. It was an overwhelming people. Today, just walking around campus you still have people acknowledging you and speaking to you. To see people acknowledge us like that was pretty exciting."

On making a statement in the SEC...

"We feel like we haven't made a statement yet. It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish. We're not looking at, 'OK we beat Alabama.' We're looking at how we can finish off the season. Let's finish strong. Don't get complacent. Don't look at anybody as a lesser opponent. Just keep doing what we're doing. It's not about the other team, it's about us."

On the A&M staff taking the team to new heights...

"They told us that they could. They told us to just believe them and do what they say, and things will take care of themselves. That's what we did and we're reaping some of those benefits. But like I said, it's not where you start, it's where you finish. We still have a lot of football left to play. If we keep doing what we're doing, it could be a good experience. Everything can come true like they predicted."

Spencer Nealy

On getting the three turnovers...

Nealy: "They made a huge difference, especially with the way Alabama had been playing throughout the year. I don't think McCarron had any interceptions. We hadn't been great at getting turnovers throughout the year, but to get three against Alabama came at a good time."

On switching him on to Barrett Jones...

Nealy: "The switch was made just off the scouting report. We thought they were going to try and double team the crap out of me, so we put a big body like Kirby Ennis or Jonathan Mathis there to try and wear them out and let me go against Jones. I actually watched the film and Kirby didn't get any double teams. I actually got more than him. He got pretty lucky. (Laughter)

"It was just one of those things where ... I had to get after those guys. There was a burning fire I had to get out. We had to beat them so bad. It feels so good just standing up here talking about it."

On the schedule preparing him for it...

Nealy: "Playing LA Tech later in the schedule was the biggest blessing for me. Playing Florida gave me a lot of confidence. LSU set me back a little bit. I hate the power scoop and that's what they ran a lot. I lost a bit of confidence and got in a funk, then Mississippi State came and I got it back a bit. It kept building up and building up. They could have triple teamed me. I tried to stay in there as long as I can — "Stew, make the tackle, hurry up! (laughter)"

On getting this big win, finally...

Nealy: "It's very satisfying. We've gone through a lot of adversity, a lot of tough games, especially last year losing pretty much every tough game we played. It was like, 'Give us a break.' Playing Florida and LSU, two great teams, so close ... we could not let this one go. I'm still smiling. I can't believe it. I'm still waiting to wake up from the dream. This isn't the most fun part of the dream, but I'm waiting to wake up next to Damontre snoring his brains out in the hotel."

On being sad to leave this coaching staff...

Nealy: "I'm so sad. Oh my God. After winning that game, Coach Price and I hugged ... if you hadn't known he was married and I like girls a lot... (mass laughter)

"It was just one of those things like, 'We did it.' Kirby, by the way, he had the game of his life. That sack ... you know ... he kind of fell on the guy, I'll give him that. I asked him, 'You liked that three-tech, didn't you?' But I would love to stay with these guys. I'm Coach Sumlin's biggest fan. I love that guy. He's so cool. He's confident. What I like is, he'll go into a game and tell us we're going to win. No. 1 team? Doesn't matter. 

"I definitely wish ... I mean, I've still got a redshirt year. Maybe we can pull some strings."

On being the son of an NBA player growing up...

Nealy: "Well, it would have been a lot cooler if I was older to go enjoy it. It's cool to talk about. I did have a Michael Jordan signed jersey until my house got broken into last year. It happened here, actually. I was supposed to host somebody on a recruiting trip but I love my mom too much and I said I was going to stay an extra day. To think, if I'd have come back, my house may not have gotten broken into.

"But it just goes to show how every decision you make affects things. Like beating Bama — we had our best week of practice."

On what bowl they're looking at...

Nealy: "We need to win our last two games and let the system decide. The system can be really nice or really mean, but hopefully it'll go in our favor."

On whether the 24-hour rule still applied after beating Bama...

Nealy: "'It's on to Sam Houston...' That's the socially acceptable thing to say. (Laughter.) We'll extend it to 48 hours."

On the SEC trips...

Nealy: "It's very rare to say you have a better away record than your home record, especially when you're playing at a place like Kyle Field. I feel like we're kind of letting our fans down. But the SEC fans are very polite. I was thanking Bama fans for being so kind. These stadiums, compared to the Big 12, will sit 80,000 and that'll be on the low end. It's pretty cool."

Jonathan Stewart

On how much responsibility the seniors take for not lingering on the win...

Stewart: "It's very important because you're hearing from outside sources that it was such a big win and now it's Sam Houston and you can just beat them. But they're a very good team and we need to prepare like it's Alabama. We need to play our brand of A&M football. The seniors have only two games left. We're going to truly cherish every moment on Kyle Field."

On setting the tone early on defense...

Stewart: "The offense getting out to that quick start had them on their heels and they didn't expect the defense to be as good as we are. They got back to playing their game in the second quarter and it became a battle of two good defenses and good offenses."

On the program's rise...

Stewart: "We need to finish out these two games or the program won't be rising, it'll be on the decline. After the season we can revisit how big a win it was. During the season it was just one win, and we need to focus on Sam Houston State."

On the final defensive stand...

Stewart: "Kirby Ennis on first down, Dustin Harris on third down and Deshazor on fourth down. When it was time, guys made plays."

On the defense getting back on the field after quick strikes...

Stewart: "In the spring we never knew how fast our offense could go. The first couple spring practices were tough, but Coach [Larry] Jackson got us in shape. When we're on the sideline now we're looking at the other defense out there dying and laughing."

On whether A&M's style will catch on...

Stewart: "We always thought our offense would have success because they can score points. A lot of SEC teams, if they can score 21 points in a game they'll win. Against us, if you score only 21 you're probably going to lose. This offense will have a lot of success in the SEC. Defenses have to isolate players and make one-on-one tackles numerous times throughout the game."

On forcing three turnovers...

Stewart: "Turnovers are huge. Three forced on defense and none on offense. T.J. Yeldon's fumble was huge, we were up six and they were driving. Deshazor's was the biggest of the game. Turnovers are huge. If we hadn't gotten them, we wouldn't have been as excited after the game."

On containing Manziel...

Stewart: "Me and Sean [Porter] have a couple ways of stopping Johnny, but we can't say because other people will know (laughter). Inside information."

On Sam Houston State...

Stewart: "They average about 290 yards a game running the ball. They'll do a lot of different things. It'll be something we haven't seen all season. We'll have to prepare hard to make sure nobody's missing their gap or their assignment. They can keep up with us if we don't do what we need to on the defensive side of the ball."

On A&M's offense...

Stewart: "Their playcalls and terminology are a lot simpler than the West Coast Offense that Sherman ran. Everything is much more simplistic than it was last year. They're going so fast on offense that on defense you can't listen to what they're saying on offense. You have to communicate your calls or you'll be giving up a lot of points on defense."

On having Brandon Williams and Tra Carson on scout team...

Stewart: "They've really helped us prepare, especially Tra. He goes hard on every play. He really helped us against Lacy, preparing for his spinning. Those guys are helping us a lot."

On getting back to Kyle Field...

Stewart: "I'm very excited. Those road wins were great. It's always great to hear a crowd shut up and hear that Aggie War Hymn after the game. But we love being in our own locker room. We want to finish out the right way."

On whether people back in Louisiana liked seeing Bama go down...

Stewart: "I'm sure they loved it. A lot of my friends from LSU texted me, 'Great job.' But we're not worried about that."

On whether his friends on the team have talked about bowl games...

Stewart: "We haven't talked about where we're hoping to go. We've just talked about the opportunity we have in the future. But we have to make sure we don't look past anyone. Sam Houston State, they're not Alabama or LSU, but we have to prepare and make sure we take care of each day we have to take care of. We can control what we have to control."

On the coaches' predictions to the team coming true...

Stewart: "Coach Sumlin is very confident. At the beginning of the season he told us we could beat anybody and we firmly believed it. In our two losses we had our chances, and against Bama we made more plays. The coaches have instilled a lot of confidence in us. We don't feel there's a task too tough. We feel we have just as good an opportunity to win as they do.

"Not all coaches do it. It's hard to pinpoint one specific thing. It's the overall feeling after a week of practice, saying, 'If we stop this they'll be short-handed.'"

Dustin Harris

On his third-down tackle of McCarron...

Harris: "We knew we had to cover as DBs and let the front seven do their job. It was making me mad because he was going everywhere. I came out of coverage because I knew he had already crossed the line [of scrimmage] and my goal was just to get him down and give us another chance on fourth down. This game was big for us and I didn't want to have the [Florida game] feeling again."

On whether it was the best game of his life...

Harris: "By far. By far. I went around hugging the seniors. We had been preparing for this all week."

On punt returns...

Harris: "It's trust. You have to have trust in your guys on punt return team to block and do what they have to do at that particular time. It's focused on getting the ball to the offense so they can do what they do best, what Johnny does best. Punt returns are just another fun play in the game, not holding things on your shoulders, relaxing and taking the play."

On playing Sam Houston and being from near Huntsville...

Harris: "It's going to be cool because some of my friends from back home are coming to the game. They've already bought tickets. It's going to be fun knowing that the crowd will be there for you, not just Aggies but buddies you've had for quite some time."

On not losing focus against Sam...

Harris: "We care more about this game, being seniors. Not that the other guys don't care, but these being our last two games."

On the D's ability against Bama to rebound from a bad play with a good play...

Harris: "With this team, we let things go a lot easier than we did in the past. In the past, when big plays happened we would dwell on it, hang our heads and it would get to us and even bigger plays would happen. This year, our defense as a group is one. If somebody gets down, there's always somebody there to pick us up. We just make sure it doesn't happen again.

"We went into that game knowing they were going to make big plays. They were No. 1 in the nation and they were there for a reason. We knew we had to go in there and try and contain their ability to make big plays. Hold them, and let our offense do what they do best."

On facing Tra Carson on scout team...

Harris: "Tra is a big back, just like Lacy was. Tra put on a performance in practice. His job is to make us look silly, I guess, in practice. He did to some level. It helped us a lot, because we have to wrap up and tackle. That's the big key we learned throughout the season. Missed tackles lead to big plays. The scout team preparing us for that game was big."

On Ryan Swope's toughness and how it must frustrate defenses...

Harris: "He frustrates us in practice. He's been one of the key guys for us. He frustrates a lot of defenses, and when you go back to watch it, it's just him being him. He's contributing a lot to this offense."

On returning to Kyle Field...

Harris: "It's very exciting just to be back in front of our fans. I'm very excited, especially it being Sam Houston State. They're close and, like I said, I'll have friends and family here. It's the routine of being in school, not having to leave classes early, getting to sit back and enjoy College Station."

On the seniors going out with a bang and teaching the young players...

Harris: "We know this is our last year, especially as seniors on the defense. We're trying to help the younger guys out and show them what they need to do. Show them that it's not all work and business. It's fun to be here. You don't have to go into every game worried about what's going to happen. Have fun. It's a game for kids. Play it and live it to the fullest. You only get one chance."