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Washington State receiver Vince Mayle spoke to the media at Monday's football press conference. The video is courtesy of WSU athletics and some highlights of the interview are transcribed after the jump.

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(Have you seen improvement from this team?)

 

We make improvement, we just don't show it in the games. We show it in spurts in the games. In practice we see it all the time. That's why Tuesday's our most competitive day against the defense and I really go hard against them so they get a look and they improve. They're able to counter some moves that I give them and it's just about showing it in a game.

 

(How important is confidence in football?)

 

It's very important. If you're not confident and you're just looking at the guy across from you and you feel he's going to do his job better than you're going to do your job than you've already lost. Confidence is key.

 

(Do you think maybe that played a role on Saturday?)

 

It could have. We went in with a lot of younger guys. We've got to stop telling them that they're freshmen – they're football players. Because there are freshmen across the country that have played like that all year.

(Is building confidence more important than any X's and O's fixes you could do?)

 

They believe in themselves. It's just a different a environment when you get in the game. It's not controlled, it's more freelancing. Your coach can't stop the play. So I feel like they're ready and the X's and O's are there. They just really have to get their confidence up.

 

(Does last year's win help you at all in this game?)

 

Yes, their school has history but their history's not going to beat you. You've got to play them now.

 

(Can you elaborate on your relationship with Connor?)

 

What helped us get our relationship better was we roomed with each other throughout fall camp and every time we travel we're roommates. So we've developed a relationship from being around each other and seeing how we are with each other. We hang out with each other outside of football so … he's more open and if he wasn't happy with a play with me he can yell at me, and we can yell at each back but we know how we really feel about each other so he's more understanding.

 

(Maybe younger guys don't take that as well?)

 

They don't understand how passionate Connor is about it. When he's yelling at them he's not trying to bring them down, he's trying to get them going.

 

(Do some players need to learn to take criticism better?)

 

For the younger players I think it's about playing not to make mistakes, just going out there and playing on how they got here. You're here for a reason so let's see you make the plays that you made before you got here.

 

(Do you look at the big picture of needing to win out to make a bowl game?)

 

Honestly, my mind is on beating USC. I try not to get too ahead of myself because that's when I make mistakes on my own so I just want to take one game a week and make the best out of each game.

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