HEAD COACH MIKE SHERMAN

"It was a great crowd. I thought we came out into the stadium and they were very much into the game, and we appreciate that. The student section was lively as you would expect it to be. It was nice to get back home and get that feeling again. I told the kids before the game, it doesn't look like we will win a championship this year but that doesn't mean you can't play like champions today. Show people what you're made of. And we played at a high level for most of the game. We were able to do things on both sides of the ball and also on special teams. I thought we had a really good team effort today."

On Cyrus Gray's status... "He bruised his shoulder in the second quarter. We're looking at it, and I held him out. (It will be) further evaluated, I don't have a final analysis on him yet."

Was it a difficult decision to pull the redshirt off Will Randolph?  "It's always difficult when you do that, but we talk to those guys every week and talk every morning before the ball game of potentials (redshirts) if certain situations arise. Without knowing Cyrus' status for the last week, I thought it was important he got reps in this ballgame. That's just part of it. That's what we had to do."

What does a blowout win do for you confidence-wise?  "I don't put a whole lot of stock in the last game as I do in the next game coming up. Each game is independent in my mind. You win, you lose, you shut it off and go on to the next one. It's a plus from the standpoint that we come in to work tomorrow as a staff and team and we come in with a pretty good frame of mind. But when you play Texas on Thanksgiving, the emotion, passion, history and tradition all play a part in that ballgame, and what happened the last week doesn't necessarily have a lot to do with it."

Can you comment on your offensive effort, scoring 61 points over about 14 minutes of possession?  "Well, I think you could go check Houston's stats and they probably do that on a regular basis. That's why time of possession is not always an indicator of what's going on. I've never had that little time of possession with that many points."

What are the emotions of Thursday's game against Texas going to be like, and how do you control that?  "You want to control some of it but not all of it. You don't want to peak on Sunday or Monday in preparing for this game. It's kind of like the state championship in high school football. That's such a big deal here in the state of Texas, this year it's the same thing on the collegiate level. We 're playing for the state championship. Kids on both sides are from Texas and know each other. It will be a heck of a contest, something I'm sure we'll all miss when it's not going on on a yearly basis."

Talk about the defensive effort... "Well, we tackled a lot better than we did against Missouri and other teams. I thought other than a few things we played pretty flawless defense. A young player that really stood out to me was Brandon Alexander. The defense as a whole played really well and played more downhill than maybe in the past. The whole conversation this week was to attack, attack, attack on both sides and special teams. Don't wait, go after it. And I thought they did."

On the decision to not start Jeff Fuller... "That's between Jeff and I. He and I have had a conversation that will remain between the two of us."

On Dustin Harris' effort in special teams... "I thought we blocked pretty well for him and there was a lot of separation between him and the coverage units. But he made some great moves, he's a heck of an athlete. He really brought a lot to the return game today. I don't think we have had that like that as consistently since I've been here. I thought he was extraordinary today. That was the third game in row where the wind was a major factor when you walk out on the field. We were able to handle that and he was a big part of that."

How much do you need Cyrus on Thursday night?  "We need everybody. I think that goes without saying. It will be a great ballgame and I would like to get everybody out there."

SENIOR QB RYAN TANNEHILL

At what point today did you start thinking about Texas? "As soon as we got out of the locker room."

How important was it to have a "feel good" win today?  "The three straight losses were tough for us in a lot of ways. We never gave up, we came to practice every day and we were fighting to get better. To go out there and have some success today was a lot of fun. It was great and it was fun to get to enjoy it."

How much do you need Cyrus Gray on Thursday? "He's big for us. He brings a lot of things to the table and he gets a lot of carries. He's a big player for us. We'll see how it goes. But Ben Malena is a big  player as well. He hasn't seen the reps but he's a solid running back. We see what he can do in practice every day. I think either way we have confidence."

Being the last Texas game what is it like getting ready for this game?  "It's going to be fun. It's exciting to be able to play in this game. This is an historic game for our school. We're excited. It's a big game for us first in this season. We need to get another win and we get to play another game. and the fact we get to play Texas at home, probably the last game between the schools, that's huge and we're excited for it."

JUNIOR DEFENSIVE BACK DUSTIN HARRIS

What's been your key over the last few weeks..."It's just coming out to practice with that will and that want to. We've been down the past few weeks and it was time. This week, we were just emphasizing attack-attack-attack. Coming out, we expected big plays and we knew we were going to need them on special teams. We talked about it before the game, and I got with the group and said if we can get some blocks in, we'll take one to the house. They worked with me and we got the touchdown."

So the Mohawk was just bad luck then..."I got some stuff for that at practice. When I cut it off, I was making plays. I was being who I am and who I was meant to be. Everyone said it was the Mohawk. I wanted to come out and play. I feel like the past few weeks I wasn't playing to my ability, and I had some teammates come lift me up, and they got me ready for this game."

It seemed like you were close on the first few punt returns..."We had been talking about it before the game. I got with the gunners and told them 'let's just go.' It was time for one. The first two, I felt like I had that step on everyone and got tripped up, it happens. I didn't want to leave this game with that one. When they kicked the ball."

On the game against Texas being the seniors' last game..."It's always emotional. We have to send our seniors out in a good mode. This is their last game at Kyle Field. I respect that, just like I respected it last year. It's emotional being that we won't play (Texas) again. We might as well go do what we do best, and that's play hard. Play with fanatic effort, leave it all on the field."

The defense struggled initially on third downs, then tightened up. What did you do to fix that..."I think we just wanted it more. We had trouble on third downs, and every team does. And as a defense we came together and said this can't keep happening throughout the rest of the game. And we bolted up and played to the level to where this wasn't going to happen again. We played with fanatical effort, getting hits. It was emotional, to see the seniors smiling after the game, knowing we have one game left."

JUNIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN PATRICK LEWIS

How good did it feel to get a win..."It feels real good. We knew this game was going to be important, we have some games left so we wanted to get this one under our belt and feel what it feels like to win again."

On dominating at the line of scrimmage..."We start playing in the start every game dominating the line of scrimmage. That's where it all starts, the line of scrimmage. The coaches preach that every game. But early in the game we felt like we were opening the holes for Cyrus and the other guys."

How have you guys clicked together, the starting five linemen..."It all started in practice. We did a lot of flip-flopping and we feel with Cedric we're more solidified at the guard position, so we're really stressing those five guys. We've been running the ball well and protecting Tannehill, and that's our job here at A&M."

SOPHOMORE OFFENSIVE LINEMAN LUKE JOECKEL

How important has it been to have an offensive line that gels together..."It's been huge for us. With an offensive line you have to have five guys gelling together. It's a team thing. When one guy messes up, the whole play is messed up. The last few games everyone has been doing a great job."

How does it make you feel when you see Cyrus running hard out there..."It definitely energizes us. That's what we play for. No one every sees us, they see the guy scoring the touch down. When I see those guys running free down the field out in the open, that's exciting."

On not allowing sacks and protecting Tannehill..."I think the biggest thing is communicating. We have to point out who we're going for, and know who they have and who we've got. Gelling together is important. Coach Turner has been doing a great job having us practice our technique, our footwork has been great."

On Ryan Swope's ability..."He's just a playmaker. One of those guys who makes plays for us and has done a great job all year, he's definitely doing a great job. Only time I get to see him is running down the field 40 yards, but he's a playmaker."

On playing Texas for possibly the last time..."It's definitely going to be emotional. It'll be exciting for sure. Playing Texas, one of the last times we'll play them for I don't know how long. I grew up with a bunch of those guys, it'll truly be exciting. We're excited about the challenge."

SENIOR DEFENSIVE LINEMAN TONY JEROD-EDDIE

How important is it going into Texas to have a "get-right" game..."It was big for our team. I don't think we weren't lacking any confidence, we knew we were good going into this season. But it felt good to go out and dominate for a full four quarters."

On playing well in the third quarter..."It felt good to watch those younger guys play and get some good reps in. We wish we could've kept a goose egg up there, but they did a good job."

On playing Texas in what could be the final time for the two teams..."Like everyone says, it'll be exciting and it's going to be emotional. I think the biggest thing is getting another win. The rivalry is big too, but getting another win to follow this one up is big."

SOPHOMORE LINEBACKER DAMONTRE MOORE

What's been the key to your play..."The key would be preparation and the older guys, like Tony Jerod-Eddie and Sean Porter mentoring how to develop my craft and watch film and see the weaknesses and do what I've been taught to do in practice."

How does it feel to get the win, with the last few weeks maybe playing well but walking away with an "L"..."It's a tremendous experience. I have people all the time saying good game, you played well, even though we got the loss. I did what I needed to do to keep my team in the game and get the win."

What does it mean that you see a lot of young guys stepping up and playing well..."It means a lot, because it shows a sign that we have hope next year. With our seniors leaving, we have guys behind them that are ready to contribute. We have a lot of people to step up and replace them and guys that give us solid play."

JUNIOR WIDE RECEIVER RYAN SWOPE

After the past three games, how good did this feel..."It was huge to get this one under our wing. There's so much character on this football team, we're a good team and it showed today. We came out and played together and fought for four quarters. Our defense gave us a lot of energy and we fed off of them. It was a very successful day for us."

When did you start thinking about the Texas game..."Right now. We were focused on Kansas, now we can enjoy this win. We'll start getting ready and take a look at the film, but we really got to focus up. It's going to be a tough game, it always is. Rankings never matter."

What happened on that touchdown pass where you got hit hard..."I knew we had been working that play a lot. I knew I was going to take a hit. I haven't really got to see what happened, it happened so fast. I got hit pretty hard and I kept my feet. It goes over to practice, working on little things and playing physical. I feel like our offensive line did that today and Ryan took control and did some good things."

How did it feel to get the win today..."We had a monkey on our back for the past three weeks. It's been tough to shake it off and to get that off our back was great. It gives us a lot of momentum and confidence going into Texas. We still have to prepare well in practice because Texas has great players a coaches."

Will you guys watch the Texas game tonight..."We'll go take a look, we'll watch their game and it's an early film session for us. We'll focus on them this week and prepare ourselves for a great football team."

KANSAS POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Turner Gill

"(It was a) Tough ballgame, our guys just didn't seem like they had the energy. We just didn't execute early on. A&M got on us pretty good, we got out-coached and out-played. You can't have turnovers against a good football team. On defense we weren't aggressive enough and didn't make the tackles we had to make. We have to put this behind and learn from it and get ready for the next one. (In) Every phase we got beat, their guys were better than our guys. You have to tip your hat to Texas A&M."

Senior LB Steven Johnson

"This game felt like a new low. This whole game is about life, when you get knocked down you got to keep fighting. We came out flat and everything went wrong. We had the opportunities to make plays we just didn't make them. We are going to have to end this season on a good note and bounce back and beat Missouri."

Sophomore RB James Sims