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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooners Recognize Challenge vs. Air Force
September 14, 2010 | Football
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View video of Coach Stoops, senior DB Jonathan Nelson and freshman FB Trey Millard by clicking the links to the right. Quotes from the press conference are available below.
The No. 7 Sooners welcome the Falcons to Owen Field Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (CT). Fox Sports Net has the regional telecast.
View complete coverage throughout the week, details on attending the game and broadcast options for following the Sooners from around the globe, visit Sooner Gameday Central.
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Head Coach Bob Stoops |
Opening Statement
"Going back through last week's game, I thought it was really exciting to play so well in all phases of the game. I guess something not talked about too much in a positive way is how well and how strong the kicking game has been. Tress Way averages over 52 yards a punt, that's pretty special. Then on our kickoffs and kickoff coverage, Tress Way doing most of those was really solid with great coverage. We had them pinned inside the 20 on four or five different occasions. It really helps you field position wise to go out and play that way on special teams.
"Offensively, I thought Landry Jones had a special day, he and Ryan Broyles. Ryan Broyles had over 100 yards receiving and 12 catches. Other guys stepped up. It was exciting to see guys like Cameron Kenney step up and make some big plays. DeMarco Murray and Mossis Madu both ran hard. I thought our offensive line was sharp mostly all day, running and protecting. Taking care of the football is always a big issue. Landry had the one slip trying to get the ball out quick. I'm sure, again, there's still some learning process there for him to secure that ball. Overall, it was just a solid day with very few penalties. We only had one really foolish penalty, outside of that guys played really pretty clean.
"Defensively, (Florida State) did a nice job executing on the first drive. You really give them credit. You watch that drive, it took a long time and a lot of plays. They were working it and did a pretty good job of it. Then we settled in and played some things better execution wise. We really played well the next nine possessions to give ourselves a good strong lead. The coverage was great. We had great pressure to the quarterback. Our run defense was solid. The whole secondary had great games. Jamell Fleming was credited for having a special game, he and Jonathan Nelson. Travis Lewis had another great game. Up front, Jeremy Beal and Frank Alexander had good pressure. Adrian Taylor had an excellent game. Stacy McGee was also cited for having a really good game. It was good to play well in all phases in a big game against Florida State.
"That brings us to this week's game with Air Force. Another major challenge when you look at Air Force. Troy Calhoun has done an absolutely great, great job. They're coming off of a big bowl win and they're really rolling in their first two games of the year. They beat a good BYU team just a week ago in a strong way, 35-14. They're really a disciplined, excellent, executing football team. Everyone talks about their offense, but defensively a year ago they led the country in interceptions, I think with 20. They led the country in turnover margin. They're doing it well again this year, playing really good defense. Offensively, they present a different attack then you're used to seeing with the formations and all the different options and perimeter plays that they give you. So it'll be a big challenge, not only physically, but mentally to be able to execute against them in all parts of the game.
"I guess I'll chime in, I know I'm going to be asked, to brief on the entire controversy about "home of the brave" and not the Sooners. I am totally in agreement with our administration and most everybody that hopefully the people that will be singing "home of the brave" can surely be louder and stronger than anybody that's saying "the Sooners." I have great respect for these young men and all the academies for their service, their commitment, their sacrifice. You have to respect it and appreciate them. I'll never forget something that really means a lot to me when I was a young coach still in 2001 when we went up to play Air Force at Air Force. Fisher DeBerry, who I have always looked up to as a coach, you have to when you're in the coaching fraternity. A guy like Fisher DeBerry with his long tenure and success in doing it the right way and with such class. I'm only three years into it, even though we had won the National Championship, I'm going to play him. We had played a really good game and we recognized it as a big game for us because of how difficult they are to play and play well and we're celebrating after the game and the guys are on the field jumping around and Air Force's whole team goes over to the student section and starts singing their fight song. I really appreciated that all of our players got quiet and stopped celebrating and just kind of stood at attention and watched them out of respect as they sang with their student body singing their fight song. Fisher commented to me a little while after that he really appreciated the class we represented Oklahoma with, the class our players played with, the respect we showed his team afterward. That meant a lot to me, because again, I'm a guy that really looked up, and still does, to Fisher DeBerry and the way he coached. So anyway, hopefully with our people being here and Air Force coming here we'll surely be loud in singing home of the brave and nothing else. I would sure hope that would be the case."
On speaking to the crowd about singing "home of the brave":
"Well whatever our administration thinks is necessary. I'll be honest, once it comes time to play, my mind is a little bit everywhere with things other than the football field so that probably wouldn't be the best but I'll do whatever they want me to do and, of course, whatever opportunity I get this week I'll be sure to express my opinion."
On preparing for Air Force's unique offense:
"Well it interrupts your natural flow of playing more traditional pro-style offenses. We're all pro-style offenses but with all of the options and formations that they use it's just different. At the college level, you get a lot of variations of offense. You're constantly adjusting to the different nuances each team brings you."
On Trey Millard:
"You know I've been bragging about him a lot. The guy has just matured beyond his years, handles himself, matured beyond his years physically, everything. He's just a really powerful player and talented guy. For a guy that has that kind of size to him he has light feet, great hands. We're excited about Trey."
On Tony Jefferson:
"He's played great. He has graded out really well in both games. Tony has also been really good and disciplined for a young guy and really plays smart to understand positioning, understand alignments, to recognize formation, what's coming to him, all of that. He's played really well so far so it's exciting to see."
On Landry Jones:
"Landry played special and played like what we feel he's capable of. I can't say that we're all that surprised. We've watched Landry a lot and he has a great arm, talented. He's really a hard working guy that has good poise to him. Throughout the year he'll have some ups and downs but he's a steady guy. I think too, you'll recognize that guy needs support. If he's not protected, it's going to be tough. When guys drop balls, he's not going to look good. Guys made some nice catches for him too and blocked as well on the perimeter. In a lot of cases, he was supported well."
On Mossis Madu's usage compared to DeMarco Murray:
"It'll depend, I think, on how the game's going, how DeMarco's feeling and those kind of things. It'll always be fluid one way or another depending on how the game's going. He's always prepared to do what DeMarco's doing."
On the support of the entire offense:
"Tight ends stepped up and made some big plays. Other receivers stepped up, came in and helped. Both Mossis and DeMarco made some nice plays in different ways. You need that. I'm a big believer in multiple weapons and making the defense defend everybody and not just a few guys."
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Freshman FB Trey Millard |
On playing football at the University of Oklahoma:
"I've been living the dream. To start as a true freshman is every high-schooler's wish and this is the school that I wanted to come to. I'm just living the dream."
On his blocking:
"I think I'm getting there, I can still be better, you can always be better. I'm still continuing to work on it and I'm just going to try the best I can."
On the hardest transition from high school to college football:
"The speed, and for me it would be the blocking because I didn't do that as much in high school. Fullback blocking is a lot different for me than anything that I was used to. So blocking and the overall speed of the game, it is so much faster than high school."
On the offense starting strong in a game:
"We just try to come out early in games. We need to start strong and finish strong, that's a big part of it, getting that first drive and working from there."
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Senior DB Jonathan Nelson |
On defensive assignments against Air Force:
"It's really important. If you slip up one time, then they'll run those for 30 yards. One assignment that's not properly executed by one guy out of the 11, then that can kill you. It's not necessarily about them blowing people off the line, or this and that, it's more so about them getting a hat on a hat and they do that really well."
On the secondary against Florida State and Air Force:
"I'm just glad we could step up to the challenge. It's funny because these first games are great offenses and great challenges, and they're completely different offenses. To play a good game against Florida State meant a lot because they had a great quarterback and great weapons around him. Hopefully we do the same thing against Air Force. They're so fundamentally sound and they execute so well, so this will be a great challenge."
On the importance of wrapping up against Air Force:
"Tackling is going to be the biggest thing this week. I can't stress how much or how important tackling is in this game because what Air Force does. They have great running backs; they call them slots and full backs, but they're all running backs in my mind. They all break tackles and they all don't go down for the first guy and we have to make sure we make open-field tackles and that we can get them down without any extra yards after contact, because they're really good at that and that's what they bank on. If you watch film, they bounce off of defenders left and right and that's how they beat teams. So the biggest thing is tackling this week, that's the biggest by far."
On what the Sooners found after the Utah State game:
"I think we just found intensity and we were sort of humbled by Utah State. We realized that you have to come to work every single week. We're going to be preparing the exact same way that we prepared for Florida State. Air Force is really good and if anybody doesn't realize that, then they must not have watched the film, but Air Force, they're a legit team."
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