Completed Event: Football versus Illinois State on August 30, 2025 , Win , 35, to, 3
Final
Football
35
vs Illinois State
3
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooners Anxious to Get Back on the Field
October 12, 2010 | Football
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View video from the press conference by clicking the links to the right. Quotes are available below.
The No. 6 Sooners (5-0, 1-0) welcome the Cyclones (3-3, 1-1) to Owen Field Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT). The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net.
For complete coverage throughout the week, details on attending the game and broadcast options for following the Sooners from around the world, visit Sooner Gameday Central.
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Head Coach Bob Stoops |
Opening statement:
"Of course, there's no game to review from last week, being that we had the off week. We had a week of practice last week, we went Monday through Thursday. We got a lot of work done in some different areas and extra work on Iowa State. We gave the weekend off to the players on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They all were back Monday in practice. We started the week off like we always do and had a good Monday practice.
"Leading into the homecoming game with Iowa State, a team that a year ago was in a bowl game. I think that Paul Rhoads and his staff are doing an excellent job. Last week's game was not indicative of how they've played the last couple of years. Just a week before they had an excellent win over Texas Tech at home. We're very aware of how capable and good this team can be. I think they have an excellent quarterback and some good, skilled guys around him. They're very solid in their schemes and structure defensively.
"Our main focus really has to be, and is, making improvement from last week, this week and being the best we can be in all areas of the game and continue to make improvement. I talked about that a lot earlier in the season, that we're still a work in progress. Better teams, the teams that go on to win championships improve as the season goes on. That's really our challenge, to make sure that we're coming out this week improving and playing better. That's what we're working towards here this week."
On injuries:
"Rather than detail everyone, everyone practiced yesterday and is expected to play except Casey Walker and (Geneo) Grissom, a young freshman defensive end that hasn't played yet. He's running now and getting closer to be back on the field and is going to be an excellent player for us. Outside of that, everyone practiced yesterday and is scheduled to play."
On DeMarco Murray approaching the program's touchdown record:
"He's been very consistent and an excellent player for us for a long period of time here. Obviously when you look at breaking that record, with all of the great players we've had here and great running backs, DeMarco has consistently been a great worker, a big play guy for us. He's had a lot of success. I think too much has been talked about his unfortunate and odd injuries that he's had because he's had a lot of excellent seasons with it and a lot of success with it being that two of those injuries came at the end of the year. We're very proud of DeMarco and like I said, he's a great young guy in how he works, his attitude, everything that he does is what you want. We're just glad he continues to have a great year."
On whether good offense or bad defense is attributed to high scores in Big 12 games:
"When that's happening, usually it's a little bit of both. Whether it's good schemes and designs or quarterback play. And then sometimes too, maybe defenses from year to year aren't sometimes what they were the year before."
On not overlooking Iowa State:
"Well you just look a week before they beat a Big 12 team in the south here, Texas Tech, and put 50-some points on them. That gets their attention just two weeks ago. On top of it, as much as anything, we're not focused on the other team. We're focused on us, as good as we can be. How are we going to make improvement from week-to-week. We're really focused on that."
On Iowa State's defense:
"Your standard 4-3 football team in structure. They mix their structure with a variety of different coverages and are very sound in what they do. They pick their times when they're going to come after you. It's hard to have a lot of difference on defense, but in the end it's a structure that lines up similarly to what we do."
On South Carolina beating No. 1 Alabama:
"I have talked to Coach (Spurrier) and am pleased for him and all. He has a good football team. I think so much of a time, people want to put that certain teams can't be beat. When you're the one that's in it, you know that isn't true. There are other good football teams with good players with guys that are on scholarship that go to practice every day and quality coaches that when you get them at the right time are very capable of beating you. That's very true and true every week."
On the running back rotation:
"We anticipate Roy (Finch) playing, he practiced well yesterday. So we'll see, that's always something that's kind of fluid so we'll see how the game is going."
On if it's difficult to recruit a good kicker:
"Obviously for us it is. What you can't gage is when a guy gets out here and everything is happening with TV, 85,000 people, wind conditions and how they handle it all. We're going to continue to work with these guys, but we'll continue to look too at what other possibilities are there."
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Freshman DB Aaron Colvin |
On what he needs to improve on:
"There are some techniques and flaws that I had, and I think it was more adjustments in speed and just seeing that it's a different game, it's not just any regular game. Being out there in the Texas game it opened my eyes on what I needed to work on, just reading my keys better, just the little stuff."
On how the team used the bye week:
"We used it to work on our technique and on being together as a team, finishing games and just working harder in practice."
On if he is surprised with the playing team he's receiving:
"I can't say I'm surprised. I can say that I'm thankful and blessed, but I've always felt that I could play at this level. So I don't feel like I don't deserve it, because I feel that I've worked hard enough. But I'm just blessed to have this opportunity."
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Junior TE James Hanna |
On his chemistry with Landry Jones:
"He's actually one of my best friends and we are pretty close, so I guess that just works on the field too."
On the execution of the no-huddle offense:
"Well it's just all the guys, we're a year older, we've been around it longer, Landry has got more experience coordinating everybody and getting the linemen into place. It's just been quicker this year."
On the offense being physical:
"I think if we've got to do that, we could do it. I mean we've been using tempo to our advantage, but in certain situations we want to make sure we have a good play call and not jump into it too quickly so it won't slow us down."
On the Iowa State defense:
"As far as their schemes, it shouldn't be too much more complicated than what we are used to seeing. We've been preparing for them, we had a bye week, so we got some extra work on them and we're just trying to get ready."
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R-Freshman OL Gabe Ikard |
On the O-line against Texas:
"We played really hard and we ran off the ball really well. We did a good job getting the run game going, especially in the first quarter to establish our offense. I think that we're gaining each and every day at practice. We're getting better and better coming off the ball and trying to establish that run game to set up our play action."
On the bye week:
"We worked on being physical the most, we beat each other up. We had two really, really tough practices and two that weren't so bad, but we worked on us. The focus was getting more physical, playing harder, working on everything we do as a team and sharpening some things up. It was all about focusing on getting better fundamentally and getting more physical."
On the intensity turning up as the season goes on:
"We know we have the chance to have a great season, the coaches and players all know. We're trying to play as hard as we can. We're trying to have the right practice to get us ready for games. We have to win them all in order to reach our goals. We're just working hard. The intensity for Texas was just at a different level and it's just going to keep increasing throughout the season as we keep winning more games."
On Iowa State defensively:
"They're very good defensively. Their great middle linebacker makes a lot of plays and they have big d-linemen. They have a big, powerful three-technique and a nose guard that plays hard every play. They're not going to be anything we've seen. They're good players and we're going to have to bring our A-game and knock them off the ball or else we're going to have trouble."
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