I talked to Kole McKamey, Ryan Cook and Brandon Payne this week and originally wanted to present those interviews to you earlier this week. This week turned out busier than usual so I never got around to doing that (much to the disappointment of Bandito, "C'mon dude, write something!")  So here I will recap their words, which the more I thought about what they said, the more impressed I became.

I asked Kole what was the difference between the first game and second as far as his approach. He said it was huge. The first game he said he was more excited about his first start more than the opponent.

 Against Texas Tech the "thrill was gone", about starting, which allowed him to think more about the important things like reading the Tech defense and taking care of the ball. You could tell he was hurt by those giveaways vs. Washington State and there was no way he was going to let that happen against Tech.

 Kole also spoke about spreading the ball around more and involving all his wide receivers. The kid is learning with every snap and appears to be a quick study.

 Ryan Cook said he liked the way the new line is coming together. He said he was impressed how quickly Terrence Pennington and Fred Tucker have stepped in and how well Claude Terrell has done in his new position

Cookie said the line was disappointed they didn't get the job done in one third and two situation against Tech and were anxious for the next opportunity.

 Payne has been outstanding in the defensive backfield this year. He talked about the defensive backfield playing together with one mindset-Stop the opposition. He pointed to Gabriel Fullbright's pick against the Red Raiders as a product of a good read and a great play.

 Brandon said that after facing the Tech pass-crazy attack they were ready almost anything.

Had an interesting conversion with Wes Zunker also. I asked Wes what he thought about during the two time-outs called to ice him before he booted the game-winner last Saturday. He said well…nothing. He tries to think of nothing at all. Clears his mind, I guess.

 He said he appreciated the confidence Rocky Long has in him. Said Long knows he worked extremely hard for the last four years and that he can get the job done.

All were confident in heading to Oregon State and are comfortable trading punches (figuratively) with their third consecutive BCS opponent.

 I believe the Lobos can and will beat Oregon State this weekend. Rain is in the forecast. That means maybe the running game becomes more important and the Lobos rushing offense matches well against the Oregon State run defense.

Mix in a big play or three from Hank Baskett and the continued outstanding run defense and overall play from the "D" and the unthinkable, for both the Lobos with a rood win over a Pac-10 school, and for Oregon State, an 0-3 start, could happen.

Lobos 24-20.