OU 31, UT 26 - Postgame Quotes - University of Oklahoma

Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops

Opening Statement:
“I would first like to, again, compliment Coach (Charlie) Strong, his staff and the Texas football team. They played a really hard-fought game today. It was an exciting game. We made our plays and they made their plays. I think Charlie is doing an excellent job there. I'm excited and pleased to have won the game. I thought overall that it was a good team win in that we scored on special teams, had a defensive touchdown, offense gets a touchdown in the second half when we needed it. I'm pleased that we were able to run the ball on them and run the clock out at the end of the game when we needed it. Those kinds of things were all positives. Everybody had a hand in it. Again, there are some parts of it that we need to improve on, but any time you come down here and win it's a positive for us and we will try to keep building on it.”

On why teams kick to Alex Ross:
“It's not easy. Where you are going to kick it, out of bounds? Or are you going to kick it high and give it to us on the 40 or the 30? I get that. We have been in that predicament before. It's just not that easy. You have to kick it somewhere. If you are not able and you're not into the wind it's hard to force a fair catch. Then someone catches it on the 30, tucks the ball away, and the ball is on the 40-yard line. You can't do that every time either. Fortunately, Alex had a huge day.”

On if the third down pass to Samaje Perine late in the fourth quarter was the ideal call:
“It was. The coverage they were in, they were in man coverage, and they didn't key on the back so Samaje did a great job there and Trevor (Knight) put a nice ball on him and picked up a third down there when we had to.”

On making plays in the second half:
“We're resilient. The group has a great attitude and great team chemistry. We just have to keep fighting. We made some mistakes and bad plays throughout the game but you have to keep after it and make other plays to make up for it. We did that.”

On Sterling Shepard:
“Sterling continues to make big plays in every game and like I said, he's special.”

On how he felt going into halftime:
“I was a little bit frustrated. You have to remember that a little bit of that, the rhythm of it, you lose offensive possessions when you get a pick for a touchdown. The offense loses a possession. You return a kick for a touchdown and the offense loses a possession. That contributed a little bit to being off rhythm. I'm not complaining about the touchdowns, but it does throw you off a little bit. It can throw you off a little bit.”

On what the defense did in the third quarter to stop Texas:
“We didn't bust. We still have mental errors that we shouldn't have. A lot of it, again, Texas made some nice plays that took advantage of some of our mistakes. It's a guy not containing on a run that bounces around everybody. I could go out there and still do it. Or our coverage breaks down and the safety isn't in the right spot on the field and therefore, the middle of the field is open. We have to do a better job coaching and they have to do a better job of paying attention to the things that we have covered and make sure that it gets done. We have just been inconsistent.”

On if the complete game they displayed in the third quarter is what they are looking for and expect:
“Yeah, we're going to try to get better, improve, and be more consistent in everything we are doing. We did it well enough to win the game. I am always pleased when the defense makes plays and gets a touchdown, we get a special teams touchdown, and the offense got it together in the second half and got a nice drive when we needed it. When you play another good team, they are going to have their times too. Fortunately, we made more.”

On if the time of possession discrepancy in the first half concerned him about his defense:
“I was a little bit. Again, like I kind of said earlier, you lose possession time when you have a kick return for a touchdown, or an interception for a touchdown. You're eliminating a series for your offense. It wasn't too hot out there, so I wasn't concerned. It wasn't a tough day as far as temperatures go.”

On what it says about Samaje Perine as a true freshman that they can rely on him late in games:
“Samaje is mature beyond his years in everything that he does. The way he handles himself off the field and in the classroom, the way he works. Physically, the power that he has for a young person, he's different. You feel good giving him the ball late because he takes care of the ball too. He has great timing to hit his holes and run through people.”

On if they have regressed the last two games or if it was a step up in competition:
“Well, you have to give people that you are playing credit. They were good football teams. I feel like we are improving as a team. Do I like everything that happened today? No. We have a lot to work on. That's obvious. It feels good when you win and didn't play very well and you know you have things to correct. Again, don't take anything away from Texas; I meant what I said earlier. Charlie (Strong) is doing an excellent job and they have a lot of good football players on that team. They played well. They are going to have their spots too.”

Oklahoma Defensive Coordinator Mike Stoops

On the defense:
“The second and fourth quarter, some things could have gone better. I think the second quarter we had a mental breakdown and some wrong rotations in the secondary. We have some young guys playing and not being able to execute on third down is not good. In the fourth quarter, we had them third and long three times in a row. That's what happens, you start playing below and you lose momentum. We just couldn't come up with a play. It's the little things and execution that we are not doing as well as we need to be; as we should be.”

On Devonte Bond:
“Devonte has been progressing in our systems. He had a bad ankle injury coming [into the season], which really prohibited from being ready, coming onto his first year from a junior college. You could see he was starting to give us something a little different out there and he has really worked hard to get on the field and split time with Geneo [Grissom]. He has had some great plays and understands our concepts and what we are trying to do. He has really improved as a player. He is a big, strong and fast guy that is starting to really grasp our concepts and what we are trying to do.”

Oklahoma Offensive Coordinator Josh Heupel

On Sterling Shepard:
“We had planned on getting him the ball early in the ball game but we really weren't able to get him involved and using his hands. Obviously, he has been a big playmaker for us in this first half of the season and we want to give him the ball.”

On problems in the first half:
“I mean when you go 1-for-11 on third downs you are not going to have a very efficient offense during the day. We were going third-and-long early. We were not running it very efficiently on first and second downs. We were more efficient during the second half, but obviously want to be more efficient all the time. We did not play the way we are capable of or want to.”

On defense and special teams scoring:
“The kick return was huge that early in the ball game and at that time it made it 7-3. That was a huge play in the ball game. Obviously, the defensive touchdown was another momentum [swing]. I think in the first half, you are struggling.”

On different formation for the third-and-complete to Samaje Perine:
“We are a highly connected, 11-person offense and at the timeout we got a chance to see where things were and how a different formation would change up what we were doing.”

Oklahoma's Trevor Knight

On getting momentum in Sterling Shepard's touchdown drive:
“We got some momentum going there. We got some plays in quickly and got the momentum going. We hurried it up a little bit and kept driving down the field. When we're in a rhythm and playing well and everybody's doing what they're supposed to do, things are going to happen for us. We sputtered there in the first half. We just couldn't get things going. It's about finding that momentum and starting off that way. We want to start fast on offense, and we didn't do that today, but I felt like there in the second half we picked it up and I'm just really proud of our guys for doing that. We got some big scores down the stretch.”

On Samaje Perine:
“We trust him with the ball in his hands. Things happen when the ball is in his hands, so we're going to continue throwing to him. He continues finding ways to get open and make those big plays so we feel confident in him.”

On third down conversions:
“We haven't been able to be on the plus sides of those things. Today we got ourselves in third and long and you're not going to pick up a lot of those percentage-wise. We have to do a better job on first and second job on getting some yards in those types of situations.”

On if the team was frustrated:
“I think there is some frustration involved when you're not running up and down the field like you want to. I think we did a good job of responding to that on the sidelines, just keeping the guys fired up. It doesn't always turn out that way on the field, but I think our guys were ready for each and every series, especially in the second half. We may have been a little frustrated, if we didn't pick up a third down or something like that, but overall we had positive energy on the sidelines.”

Oklahoma's Chuka Ndulue

On Alex Ross's kickoff return:
“It was a great boost. Coach always says to snatch the momentum, and that was great to take one to the house. It got the crowd into it and got us into it and we came out and played Sooner football.”

Oklahoma's Alex Ross

On his kickoff return for a touchdown:
“Actually we didn't expect the kickoff return this week, but by God's grace we received one. Just read the blocks and took it to the house. When you play with speed like that, good things happen.

Oklahoma's Zack Sanchez

On how the secondary prepared for Texas:
“This week was just getting back to the basics. A lot of things with technique and just mental reps, not physical. That's something that we attacked this week, just getting in our playbooks more. Knowing what they were going to throw at us. But the other thing, the shoulder is 100 percent now so it's not an issue any more.”

Oklahoma's Sterling Shepard

On the special teams and Alex Ross:
“I feel like we knew what type of game it was going to be going into it, but the special teams helped us out a lot. Thanks to Alex (Ross) for getting us that kickoff return. It helped us out a lot. It helped us get the win.”

Texas Head Coach Charlie Strong

Opening Statement:
“Yes, I love the way our team came out today, and loved the way we competed and how hard we played. In the first half it was the penalties, it was the kickoff return, the kicking game, the interception for the touchdown, the mistakes that we made. As you watch we are down 17 to 3. We battled back to get it to 17-13 after half. Then we come back after halftime and we get some plays and battle back. We get a fight back and get it to a two-point conversion. The have the ball there and we just need to make a third down conversion. Overall, just very pleased with the way we played today. We just can't give away opportunities against a good football team… We will just continue to build on this one and get back to work and get ready for Iowa State next weekend.”

On the difference in Oklahoma in the two halves:
“Well like I said, our offense held the football, and we were able to keep their offense off the field. Then we just got a third down and we were able to get off the field. In the second half we were not able to keep the ball away from them. Then our drives were stopping. They were able to get a throw there on a wheel route.”

On the third quarter for Texas:
“We just have to be consistent, and offensively we have to get first downs and execute. We didn't execute. We dropped a ball or two. We had some opportunities to make it happen, and we just did not make it happen.”

On how Tyrone Swoopes can build on this game:
“Well, you would love to see the whole team build on it, not just Tyrone. You look at it so that on defense, I think they ran fourteen plays in the first half. I don't know what they had yardage wise. Just the whole team, you look at special teams we need to get better. Tyrone had a good game, and you look all around, our offensive line played really well. We had to target (Eric) Striker. I think he might have gotten some pressure, and a sack or two. We knew what we had to do. We established the run game and did a good job of pounding that football.”

On Alex Ross' kickoff return:
“The wind didn't contribute at all. You look at it and the ball was kicked with the wind in the second half. We had two guys just fall down. They have to get up off the ground and go make a tackle. He just ran right past them.”

On the environment of the Red River Showdown:
“Well it is a great environment and when you come into the stadium and see all the fans lined up. And just like the way our team went out and competed, this is one of those games were record really doesn't matter, you put the records aside. And I knew this that we were a step quicker and a step faster and we were.”

On the play of the defense:
“It's not so much offense or defense, we just have to get better at all three phases. We have to get better offensively and have to get better defensively and with the kicking game. So all three contributed, it wasn't just the defense we know we played well and can get better. Reason why we played well in the first half is because the offense held the football. Just look at the numbers they put up in the first half. So when you have that and your offense is playing well, which is good to have, defensively we can sit there and rest. In the second half we needed to go out and make stops and play better defense.”

On if a bowl game still seems realistic:
“Well, we are just looking at it one game a week and not looking to much into the end. We are just going to be ready for the next one. “