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University of Oklahoma Athletics
OU Focuses on Home Finale vs. Texas Tech
November 09, 2010 | Football
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View video from the press conference by clicking the links to the right. Quotes are available below.
The Sooners (7-2, 3-2) and Red Raiders (5-4, 3-4) kick off at 2:30 p.m. (CT) Saturday on ABC.
Festivities surrounding the game include Senior Day, a reunion of the 1950 and '55 national championship teams, Bennie Owen and Bud Wilkinson statue unveilings, and recognition of Bob Barry. More >>
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 last week's game at Texas A&M, after watching it all of Sunday and reviewing it, it's really much like I thought after the game. Of course we started off in a very poor way with the positioning of the football during the kickoff return and the penalty and the first snap is over our head for a safety. We come back on defense and give up two big plays, the ball is on the one-yard line and they score, so you start off down 9-0. You really put yourself in a hole which charges their team up and their crowd.
"Then we battle back and make some plays, have a great third quarter and get ourselves back in position, 19-17. Even before then there were too many missed opportunities where we had chances to make plays with a wide open receiver, the fake field goal and multiple opportunities inside the one-yard line to score. With the accumulation of all those, we just weren't able to hold up. If we make those plays, we have a chance to change the game. The bottom line is we didn't make them. The bottom line is Texas A&M stopped us on the goal line.
"Then in the fourth quarter we battled back, even with all of what went wrong. We still had the issue on offense of not being able to get the ball across the goal line and defensively we give up one touchdown. The run game was the main issue on the one drive and then we're in the coverage and just squeeze on the underneath people. We should have two guys deep and we end up with a receiver running beneath everybody. Just poor defense in that regard. Together, that's what results in a loss. Also, their kickoff return right out of the half was a big blow because it's 12-0, we end up scoring on our first drive that could've made it 12-7, but they have the touchdown that made it 19. That's poor execution on our part.
"That brings us to this week with another tough game for us against Texas Tech, a team that has a lot of people coming back and just coming off of an excellent win against Missouri. They have a lot of players back from a team that beat us a year ago down there. We have to have a great week of work in preparing and correcting some of our mistakes, being more disciplined then what we're doing and we'll have a chance to win. This team, again, had an excellent win last week coming from behind to Missouri and came back and won. Really played well. (Taylor) Potts, like always, is throwing the football really well. Good, solid football team right now when you see the way they're playing."
On what the problem was against Texas A&M:
"I believe it's execution. In the end, I can sit here and say all kinds of things, but they don't matter. They're just excuses or reasons. I'm not much on that. You guys can give them all out there, whether it's inexperience, whether it's 'Well, they're on the road, they're not focused.' In the end, our guys practice well, they're attentive in meetings, they work hard at it. So, I'm just not much for throwing those out there. We didn't execute very well. I think it's obvious that we had plenty of opportunities to make plays. And you have to make them. If you drop the ball or overshoot a guy, those kind of things. Or when you can't get it in inside the one, you're not going to win in a lot of occasions. We had multiple opportunities you didn't convert."
On if this was a step back:
"I don't think that at all. We didn't turn the ball over, we didn't have a bunch of dumb penalties, we fought back, I thought our offense was charging the whole time. I don't see that."
On Landry Jones' performance:
"Kind of like the rest, inconsistent at times. What I was really excited about was starting off not so hot, obviously, and in the second half really responding. I thought in the second half he played really well in just about all cases. That's good. Sometimes quarterbacks can get down on themselves and maybe a year ago he would've. He wouldn't have been able to respond back after starting off struggling. Everyone grouped and they came back and played really well, which also shows some growth and maturity."
On Texas Tech:
"Their defense played really well and offensively they're very similar to other teams. As you see a lot of Tech's offense from a year ago, they're executing it well. I think every part of the game, you can see as the year has gone on, they're improving play."
On the run defense struggles:
"Some of it is technique, like I said we had some issues there with some bend-back plays where we should be in position to make them. There were a few occasions where some of it is mental. If you line up in the wrong position you give them a major advantage."
On why he chose to run the ball on the goal line late in the fourth quarter:
"Just cause you feel you're going to get it in there on that one play and you're not going to have to do it again. That's what it is."
On his outlook on the rest of the season:
"We're nine weeks in and 7-2. We have three conference games left. All that matters to us is Tech and that we play well. That possibility (of making a BCS bowl) is there. If we're able to win (our games), make improvement and win them there are opportunities to do some of the things we've been doing around here for a long time."
On his frustrations with the team's performance:
"I'm not going to sit here publicly and express what my frustration is or isn't. In the end, we need to play better. Simple as that. We had a lot of opportunities the other day to make plays. We didn't quite make them. If we lost more at home it wouldn't be an issue. It's fair to say a year ago with all that happened to us with the injuries and the inexperience we started with that we're pretty fortunate to have done what we did."
On why OU is so good at home:
"It's real simple, we play better. And on the road we need to play better. Now a lot goes into that but it isn't like we're sitting here and just naively walking onto the field. We have methods in how we prepare and get ready and meetings and practice and all of those. They've been consistent for a long time."
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Senior OL Eric Mensik |
On Texas A&M's goal line stand:
"We can't go into someone else's house and not score on the one-foot line. We can't do that. We've got to be able to punch that in. We were down there three times and didn't get it in. So Coach [Kevin] Wilson and Coach [James] Patton [and us] looked at it pretty heavily yesterday on film and we've got to fix that, so that's what we've been working on.
"You've got to practice. You have to have the mindset to get it done. I guess we didn't have that mindset. In the first half, we came out stale. The second half, we came out and I think out of the first three drives, we either scored or got field goals. In the second half, it just didn't work out."
On OU's fourth quarter struggles:
"I guess it's just one of those freak things. We've talked about it every week. We've got to win the fourth quarter; we've got to win the fourth quarter. It's just one of those deals that we haven't just put our finger on it and got to it yet."
On OU's road struggles:
"It's very frustrating. You practice all week long. It's not like we're going out there not to win. We want to win, we want to do good. Everybody wants do good, but then when you go on the road and don't win, it's really frustrating. Watching film, we left so many points out there. We left so many mistakes; it's really unsettling to see."
On refocusing on the Big 12 Championship:
"We've got to take it one game at a time. This week, we're going to focus on [Texas] Tech. Coach [Bob] Stoops has said there's a chance we could still play for the Big 12 title, so that's kind of what we're going to work towards, but that's long term. We still have several games left, so we're just going to take it game by game."
On Texas Tech:
"Last time we played them, we went to their house and they put a whooping on us. You can't go and play some team thinking you're going to win. No, it's not like that. You've got to prepare and you've got to be sound and that's what we're going to work on. They're coming here, so that's also helping, but we've got to do our part."
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Senior DT Adrian Taylor |
On what he's learned from looking at the tape against A&M:
"I saw 11 guys flying around giving everything they had and I saw another team who just beat us on that day. They are a good team, they are a Division One school too and some teams are going to beat you sometimes and you've got to give them credit. But I saw effort from my team and I felt it."
On being double teamed against A&M:
"I got quite a bit of double teams, but I can't use that as an excuse. I guess I've done a decent job to demand a double team, but with that said we've still have to push through, whether I get triple teamed or double teamed I have to keep pushing through. The season isn't over in my eyes and some people may have given up but we haven't."
On the fourth quarter against A&M:
"It was just one of those days, you never saw a lack of effort from our team, they just had a better day than us that day. We missed out on some opportunities that we could have taken advantage of but we didn't and that's really the bottom line, give them credit."
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Junior DB Jamell Fleming |
On the defense forcing turnovers:
" I want to do better. Last week even though we did have a couple, we left about three extra interceptions from ourselves and we're working hard to correct those mistakes."
On the current mindset of the team:
"We're just trying to get another win, we play at home and we've got great fans and crowd, so we'll be ready to play."
On the team goals can still be reached:
"We've just got to take it one game at a time. Texas Tech, we've got to win this game. We just need to make it happen."
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