Stoops and Franchione on Tilt in Norman

NORMAN, Okla. -- Read quotes from Big 12 head football coaches including Bob Stoops and Dennis Franchione as they participate in the weekly teleconference for the media.

Stoops and Franchione review the past week and look ahead to Saturday's game in Norman. Oklahoma (5-3 overall, 4-1 Big 12) hosts the Texas A&M Aggies (5-4 overall, 3-3 Big 12) at Owen Field with kickoff scheduled for shortly after 11 a.m.

The 38th consecutive TV game for the Sooners will be broadcast regionally by ABC Sports. Sooner Gameday Central provides complete broadcast options, important information for fans attending the game and detailed team comparisons.

Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops
"The off week was really good for us, and (RB) Adrian Peterson is getting better every day. (WR) Travis Wilson returned to practice last week, and we're getting some other people back. It will be good to have Texas A&M at home. I still see Texas A&M averaging over 400 yards a game in Big 12 play, and they are still a dangerous team. I know they have had trouble defensively some games, but they have an outstanding team. We need to be smarter and sharper in some cases, and last year we had a fake punt against us by A&M go for a 70-yard touchdown and a fake field goal for another score. We need to be ready for anything. I was very fortunate to have played for four years and coached under Hayden Fry at Iowa, and the thing that I remember the most is that he wanted things done the right way. It was a great deal for me. He was a great presence in the office and on the field for all of us. I don't know that Steve Spurrier changed college football nationally with the way he has done things. He gets a lot of media attention and does things his way, but he has been successful. When you are undefeated, it can be a bit of a grind, and you just can't take anything for granted when you are in that situation. You have to have focus."

Texas A&M Coach Dennis Franchione
"We just ran into a really fine Texas Tech team that was on a roll in the second half and plays very well offensively. We need to prepare well, and I'm sure it probably will be the case that Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma will have his high ankle sprain behind him by Saturday. He's obviously a very special player, and he adds to their confidence on offense. Their quarterback (Rhett) Bomar is gaining more confidence weekly, especially when Peterson is in there and with the development of Oklahoma's offensive line. We only had (safety) Jaxson Appel for nine plays Saturday against Tech and hope he'll be back for Oklahoma. Again, Oklahoma is playing its best football of the year and coming off an open date. It will certainly be a tough game. We make our players aware that we have an opportunity to go to a bowl and to beat two of the better teams in the country. I think our players have the mindset to get prepared for these types of games, and we need to make some improvements. It's not just one thing that we're doing in any phase. The level of opposition has been very good for the last several weeks, and it doesn't get any easier. We need to be ready for a very tough opponent on the road on television Saturday at Oklahoma."

Baylor Coach Guy Morriss
"Going into the game and now that we've played them, Texas lived up to its billing. We just got mashed and are trying to get re-focused and get ready for Missouri. We're on different ground than we have been here in recent years at Baylor since we are entering the 10th game of the season and still in position to get six wins and a bowl bid. I think we'll bounce back and get ready for Missouri. Emotion is something we keep an eye on all the time, and sometimes this type of loss is easier to get over than a double overtime loss. Our kids will get past the Texas loss and know they can reach our goals. We played a pretty doggone football team Saturday, and we know they are rolling. We are trying to get our program fixed. It would mean a lot to us to win these last two. It would help us in recruiting and help us to close the season on a good note. It's something we need to do in our program. We're right there at the door with most teams in this conference and just need to kick down the door. We don't have anyone on our squad now who has ever played in a bowl. Playing time is one of the most important things to kid these days, and that's a good motivation to have people follow rules. The negative thing about that is that it hurts people around you. Sometimes steps have to be taken."

Colorado Coach Gary Barnett
"We played a complete game against Missouri. This is a very big game for both teams at Iowa State Saturday. Iowa State is in the Top Five in all Big 12 statistical categories, has a veteran defense, great corners, Stevie Hicks means a great deal to them when he's healthy, and they have no apparent weaknesses. We have four teams that are bowl eligible and no Big 12 teams that are ineligible for a bowl at this point, and that says a lot about the strength of the conference. The last four years the North and South Divisions have split Big 12 championships. We beat Texas in 2001, and Kansas State defeated Oklahoma in 2003. That tells you how equal things have become. I don't think I'll have to say a lot to our team about the importance of this game, and it is great to become bowl eligible. I don't think I've ever been around a kicker like Mason Crosby. He's a once-in-a-lifetime kicker, and I would want to have him as our kicker on any level. He could play anywhere. We laugh sometimes when he misses a 43-yarder and say that he missed a chip shot for him. We're fortunate to have the kind of kicking game that Mason and John Torp give to us. It's a great thing to have those guys."

Iowa State Coach Dan McCarney
"We are very appreciative of the Big 12 honoring (RB) Stevie Hicks as offensive player of the week. It was a great win for the Iowa State program over a tremendous Kansas State team, and I was proud for our coaches and players after that win. We have a very great challenge hosting Colorado on Senior Day at Iowa State Saturday night. It depends on who is voting whether Texas is No. 1 and No. 2, but that's the only loss Colorado has had in the conference. Coach Gary Barnett has done a tremendous job up there and has a talented and well-coached football team. Yes, we have accomplished one of our goals by getting bowl eligible, and there's no such thing as a bad bowl. Ninety-nine percent of my time this week will be preparing for Colorado, but I'll get with our AD Jamie Pollard this week and make sure we're on the same page as far as the bowl game possibilities. We're getting better, and we have played our best football of the season the last three weeks. We have to keep playing at a high level, and we're getting closer to the team we wanted to be. We have been consistent defensively most of the year. The most ridiculous thing about Saturday's win was the penalties - we had been the least-penalized team in the Big 12 prior to last week. We have to get that fixed."

Kansas Coach Mark Mangino
"Certainly, Saturday was a team effort in defeating Nebraska. Our offense was very balanced with over 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing. Our defense continues to play well and held Nebraska to 21 net yards rushing. We even scored on special teams on a blocked punt as well as Kevin Kane's interception return for a touchdown. We now look forward to going down to Austin, Texas. I'm a Big 12 coach, and I really believe that Texas is the No. 1 team in the country. They have an excellent team, and I don't know of another team in the country that utilizes its quarterback as well as Texas does Vince Young. Plus, he has a great supporting cast. We're definitely looking forward to the challenge of going down and facing the best team in the nation in Texas. We did have a mass of humanity on the field after the Nebraska game, and Charles Gordon got dinged up a little and was looked at by the trainers. He's going to be okay. I'm going to make another public appeal to our fans. We love our fans, but we really want them to stay in the stands to cheer. It would be a tragedy to get a big win like we had against Nebraska and then have someone get hurt in the crush after the game. (QB) Jason Swanson has come on strongly for us, and he has the mental toughness to come back from adversity and make the plays for us. He throws a tight spiral and is a determined young man."

Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder
"I really didn't have to look at the tape of our game with Iowa State to realize that Iowa State had the type of team we knew we would face. After falling behind 17-0, we came back to make it 17-10 and then all of the sudden it was 38-10. That has been our M.O. (modus operandi) for the last several games, except we shot ourselves in both feet this time. Nebraska is a tough place to play, and we have to keep from getting off to the slow start again. If I had the answer to that question, we would have the answer to the problems we have been having. I have been asked if we tried to emphasize the poor early starts too much to our players, and we have tried things like coming out earlier for warm-ups or if we have been too emotional before games. You have to look at team motivation and how much the captains are leading the team and see what the situation warrants. With junior college recruits, it is different for virtually every program. Sometimes you look for youngsters who can come in and play immediately, and then other players have three years of eligibility remaining and you try to help them grow. In those cases, it becomes a three-to-get-two-years' situation, and it really varies by players."

Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel
"I think it was very obvious that Colorado has an exceptional football team, and I'm disappointed we didn't play better. We still have a lot out there, and we just need to spend the week practicing and preparing for Baylor Saturday. We had a good week of practice in the last two weeks, and I don't know if we're trying too hard and putting too much pressure on ourselves. We want to win those big games badly, and I know we worked hard to get ready. I take responsibility for the last two games as head coach. Guy (Morriss) has built a great program at Baylor, and they play tremendous defense. You have to compliment them on great improvement. (Stephone) Robinson at Colorado is going to be an impact player and made some big plays for them Saturday. I can't say enough good things about (QB) Brad Smith and his impact on the Missouri program. He's a true student-athlete and his accomplishments and numbers speak for themselves. I know he wants to finish his career on a winning note. (QB) Chase Daniel has been playing in the first half in our last 5-6 games, and he just came into fall training with a great performance. We knew we would have to play him after the talent he showed in preseason, and he has handled himself well. He had a great game against Iowa State after Brad Smith was knocked out for part of the day."

Nebraska Coach Bill Callahan
"Not to diminish anything what a very good Kansas team did to win the game, but we did some things to beat ourselves Saturday. We are a very determined and focused football team, and we have done it the last three weeks but haven't done it on the scoreboard. We went back into the tape room and showed our players several things yesterday (Sunday), and we know we can improve on these mistakes in practice this week. We're at a stage where we need to get to a winning season, get our confidence and get into a bowl game. It would mean extra practices and a postseason reward that our team needs. We have a young offensive tackle named Chris Patrick who was limited because of shoulder surgery in the spring, and he's going to be a player of the future. It's tough to put a young kid in that position on the road, and he's still working hard. When we won our five games and were 5-1, I cautioned our fans and the media that we had some tough challenges ahead. Our pass protection earlier was a concern, but we can't use injuries as an excuse for the last few games. Kansas' defense needs to complimented and what they have accomplished. (Coach) Mark Mangino told me before the game that he had most of the defensive players for 4-5 years, and they have top-flight pass rushers. They are talented and experienced."

Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy
"Our players are excited about the opportunity to play a nationally-ranked team in Texas Tech. We have played several games recently against teams that have dual threat quarterbacks, so this will be a new experience for us. Tech really throws the ball downfield well, and we have a brand new challenge in preparing for that great passing attack. It will be a challenge to defend, and we have done a great deal of work on offense and defense in practice and have tried to improve on both sides. (QB) Bobby Reid has practiced off and on with us and then has some swelling in his leg area. We'll have to wait and see what his status is. (QB) Al Pena has played a lot of football for us this year and played his best game against Texas. (SS) Donovan Woods was our starting quarterback and has shifted gears very well. He's playing 70-80 plays a game for us at safety and doing a great job on special teams. Against Texas, our offense was able to keep the ball and allow our defense to stay off the field and play physically and fresh. It's hard to tell how the open date after our good performance against Texas, but we had three good days of practice last week. We don't want to wear out the team at this point in the season, and we are trying to stay in a routine."

Texas Coach Mack Brown
"We were really excited about our win at Waco. It is difficult to win up there, and we didn't play well early the previous week at Oklahoma State. We know the good job that Guy Morriss has done at Baylor and what they have accomplished. Kansas has as good a defense as any team in the country. They have seven seniors and a bunch of pro prospects, and they play really hard. We need to tackle a little better, get better on kickoff coverage and stop fumbling to become a total team. When we had several people go down to injury at running back, Ramonce Taylor had played tailback throughout the spring, and he had been at wide receiver throughout the fall season. We didn't know how many healthy backs we would have for Saturday, so we moved Ramonce back to tailback. He responded well. We know that Kansas played us closest of any team besides Michigan in the current 16-game winning streak, and our players are well aware of the kind of team that KU has. We'll have the No. 5 and 6 defenses in the country going at it in Austin Saturday. We play at (D.K. Royal) Memorial Stadium, and it's our Veteran's Day observance, so that makes this game even more meaningful. The fans will be in for a real treat with the level of competition."

Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach
"I was pleased with our performance, especially in the second half, against Texas A&M, and we have started our preparation for Oklahoma State and are looking forward to the next game. At this point, we can't be concerned about which bowl game we'll be attending. For the older players, it's a reward and for the younger kids it's like spring training. The biggest thing is getting there, regardless of the recruiting advantage, and playing well in a bowl. We try to practice every day to try and improve, and the last two years the experience factor has been big in our level of play. We package our offense after a lot of styles of offense. Some of it is like BYU, other parts are like the San Francisco 49ers, and we just try to spread the ball all over the field and get it to a lot of people. I think our defense has played very well the last several weeks. We have our older, more assertive guys giving us a lot of leadership. Our offensive line has stepped up and given the team some leadership and motivational attitude. On defense, the linebackers give us leadership, and some people have helped motivate us simply by example. Last week was a funny game. We probably got less points than we deserved in the first half and more in the second half. When Dwayne Slay and Vincent Meeks hit Jorvorskie Lane and he fumbled was a big turning point in the second half."

- Quotes courtesy Big 12 Conference Media Relations

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Stoops and Franchione on Tilt in Norman

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