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 Look to Bounce Back vs. Buffaloes
October 26, 2010 | Football
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View video of Coach Stoops, freshman RB Roy Finch and sophomore DB Demontre Hurst by clicking the links to the right. Quotes from the press conference are available below.
After suffering its first loss of the season at Missouri, the Sooners return to Owen Field this weekend to defend the nation's longest home win streak (currently at 34 games). OU and Colorado kick off at 8:15 p.m. (CT) Saturday night. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
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 comments:
"Reviewing and going through the Missouri game, again, all the credit goes to Missouri for playing an excellent game and really forcing some plays. We talk about the mistakes we feel we made but you give Missouri a hand in forcing turnovers, a big issue in that game for us. You go on the road into a game like that with another undefeated team and you have three opportunities inside the 15-yard line and come away with zero points. One interception, one fumble and one missed field goal and then you open the game with a kickoff return for a touchdown. You've really jeopardized your opportunity to have a chance to win. They have a hand in that. We feel we have somewhat of a hand in that too, being able to protect the football, those kinds of things are an issue too. You're able to fight your way back, to a degree. Both sides of the ball were an issue.
"There's no denying that through and through this year we've had trouble in the fourth quarter. In this game it was our worst one. Offensively, we go three-and-out, interception, we have the short field for a touchdown and then three-and-out. We had the ball for less than two minutes in the fourth quarter with no production offensively. Defensively, we give up around 98 yards rushing in the fourth quarter and 16 points where in the three quarters prior to that the defense is giving up 13 points. Schemes didn't change, they were running the same offense; we were still trying to mix up our defense, they executed. Give Missouri the credit, they made plays in the fourth quarter in their execution as a team and how they played and we did not. They earned a good victory.
"For us, those were issues. People want to ask about the fourth quarter. We'll try and change up some of our practice and with some of the good-on-good stuff that we do. We'll try to emphasize more at the end of practice just to promote that kind of emphasis at the end of the game. Playing better, playing our best, those kind of things. And in the end, just be able to go out in the fourth quarter and do it. We'll try and make some adjustments in practice just to emphasize it more.
"Some guys that played well offensively: Gabe Ikard, up front, had a nice game. Trey Millard at fullback was outstanding. Ryan Broyles, even though he was gimped up with both ankles and only practiced one day last week, had another excellent game over 100 yards. Roy Finch came in and really added a lot and had some really good runs. Defensively, Jeremy Beal up front had a good game. Quinton Carter was really solid in the secondary and outside of that the rest of the defense was just ok.
"That brings us to Colorado back here at home and a team that, even though they're 3-4, is very obvious when you watch them play that they're a much better football team than that. The last two losses they've had were very tight, close games against Texas Tech and Baylor. Cody Hawkins at quarterback is a guy that, as a freshman four years ago, beat us. We're very aware of what he's capable of and how he plays. They're a team whose offense is good and balanced, good running backs, good schemes. Defensively, very aggressive in how they've played. They've always played quite well. When you look back defensively and how they've been playing and how they are this year, we know we have to make some improvements. We have to be able to take care of the football and play like we have before this last game and not making the mistakes that really put us in a hole and not give us much of a chance to win. Hopefully we can make some improvement here this week."
On the kicking game:
"We have four scholarship kickers. We have three on scholarship, a punter on scholarship and one promised for mid-year. We have invested in kickers, more so than anybody. It is frustrating. We've evaluated and we've offered and we continue to. It's really frustrating with what our commitment has been and then you look around the country and how many guys that aren't on scholarship do so well. I never find it very attractive to sit here and get on young people. They're trying hard, they're working, they put the time in at practice and we'll just keep working with them. It has been frustrating."
On the defensive line:
"They didn't play their best or maybe as well as they have in the past. Missouri blocked us and did a good job with protection. It wasn't a very good game for our defensive guys up front."
On the decision to go for the two point conversion:
"I felt, at the time, that you have to have it. If you miss it late or miss it then, either way you're not going to win. And I felt maybe you get them not on point, where they still have a comfort zone as opposed to the end of the game where you know you have to have it, that kind of thing. So in the end I felt go for it now and have the opportunity to get it within seven."
On if he regretted going for two:
"You know you can, but the bottom line is the way you doubt it is if you feel the outcome would've been different later. In the end, we had the play drawn up. It was a play we were going to call whether later or then. When it doesn't work you shouldn't have done it.
"In the end, if you don't make it, you're still not going to win and you're still going to have to do something different. The other side is, time wise, if you wait till the end of the game and you get the same result you have no chance to do something different. I get it. In the end, it's not what the book says, you're in a bad situation at that point. The ball hit Kenny (Stills) in the shoulder and he has great hands and Ryan (Broyles) is within an inch of the deflection and it just didn't work out."
On how the kicking performance will affect future fourth-down decisions:
"I'm very aware of our consistency and inconsistency kicking the ball. It's in my mind and definitely will be the rest of the year."
On Roy Finch:
"He'll continue to get more and more opportunities. We want to continue to get him on the field more and more and get him more touches."
On the team's goals:
"It's still a long year. The true message is that we have Colorado this week, our last north division team, and then four south division teams from there. There's still a ton in front of us. But not only us, everybody. You look at everyone playing across the country it's pretty balanced everywhere. In our conference I think it's pretty obvious that anybody can beat anybody. We have to be ready to play and have to do our work this week to be as good as we can be."
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Freshman RB Roy Finch |
On his performance against Missouri:
"I felt more comfortable with it personally. I felt that it was a really big game, a pressure game. I feel like I contributed well."
On fitting in the offense:
"Coach (Cale) Gundy really emphasizes watching film and really paying attention in the film room so when it's time to go out to practice, it's kind of easy for you. So I just try to really focus on film and he really gets on us.
"Every week they're building me up, they're progressing [me]. They're just trying to see how much I can handle each week. I've been learning every week and doing a good job of just trying to soak everything in."
On the younger guys bouncing back:
"We've really been taken under the wings of the older guys, the juniors and seniors. A lot of the freshmen we kind of had our heads down because we never had really lost a game since Missouri. We're just trying to stay under the older guys and they tell us just to keep our heads up, to keep fighting."
On his health:
"I would say I'm 85-90 percent. It still kind of bothers me whenever I'm on the field, but whenever you're playing you don't really think about it. You don't feel it until after the game."
On the offense before getting hurt:
"Fall camp was pretty tough for me out on offense, I'm not going to lie. It was a lot of different sets and different reads and just pass protection was pretty tough for me. I think getting hurt was the best thing for me. Just learning the offense and just getting in the film room early on, I came up with the plan of while I was hurt. I was really going to watch film and learn as much as I can so whenever I came back, I was ready to play."
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Sophomore DB Demontre Hurst |
On what the team learned from the Missouri game:
"We learned a lot, we made a lot of common mistakes that we can work on in practice. We just didn't come out prepared and they came out ready to play. We just weren't ready to play that game and it was a tough loss. Now we need to get better, learn from it and try to progress throughout the season."
On if the defensive struggles are fixable:
"Yes, it's just tackling and coverages. Things like that, nothing too big. Just things that we can control in ourselves and at practice, we just have to get better at."
On the mood of the team after the loss:
"We're a little disappointed, but we know we're much better than that and more capable. Now we have a chip on our shoulder and we just want to get better. We have to move on throughout the season, try to get better and learn from that game. It was our first loss of the season so it was a little bit of a let-down, but now we're picking it back up.
"As far as yesterday at practice, we were back and energetic and we have confidence in ourselves. It's going to be a little bit tougher road now, but we can do it, we still have faith and we've got to get better and progress."
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