Baylor 48, Oklahoma 14 Postgames Quotes

Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops

Opening Statement:
“First, congratulations to Baylor. They played an excellent, well-played football game. I thought, the way it went for us, the first half was kind of very similar or was reminding me a little bit of the Kansas State game where we were playing pretty well but had a turnover for a touchdown, missed a field goal, then we rough the punter. There were just some mistakes on our part that really hurt us. Roughing the punter, that's a poor decision. We need the ball back and they are punting into the wind. The second half, we come out and neither side of the ball can do anything very well. Defensively, we come out and they go right down the field. Offensively, we really didn't have much production at all. Again, third and short, fourth and short, couldn't get anything done at all. Again, just really poor on our part and a poor job by all of us.”

On if he was surprised by the first Baylor offensive drive in the second half:
“They came out with five wide receivers, we were blitzing playing man, and when we sat back and played zone we were going back and forth and they just executed it down the field. We missed some tackles. There weren't any breakdowns, there weren't any missed coverages, and they beat us a few times. We had a guy on a guy and he outruns us, gets behind us. That's what happened in some cases. In some cases, they just executed and got open where we weren't able to cover them.”

On if they were trying to keep the receivers in front of them:
“Well, again, all of that was perfect in the first half. You have a chance for it to be a 17-17 game at half. The second half, again, they got behind us even when we were off. We have to do a better job covering the deep ball and, again, they beat us on a few. Sometimes it was very effective and sometimes it wasn't.”

On when he knew WR Sterling Shepard wouldn't play and QB Trevor Knight's status:
“I don't have an update yet on Trevor (later announced that he left facility under his own power and would undergo further evaluation tonight). They are still evaluating. I knew Sterling, I saw it in warm ups, that he was grimacing and wasn't going to be able to go. He tried but it just wasn't comfortable enough. I don't believe he reinjured it trying to get ready. He just knew he couldn't open up and do what he needed to do. That's a big weapon you miss for sure.”

On if not having Shepard reminds him of 2011 without WR Ryan Broyles:
“Yeah, to a degree. I though (Michiah) Quick did an excellent job and so did Durron Neal. Hey, we managed the first quarter pretty well without him. The rest of it, not the case.”

On if he regrets not sticking with the running game:
“All situations are different. We also had three or four holding calls. You get long yardage, it's not as easy to run the football. You're not looking at all of the circumstances in the right context. Penalties, that really hurt us. It really put us behind the chains. Like I said, the roughing the kicker was huge.”

On if Baylor's defensive line gave them the checks to pass:
“At times. You don't consider a pass a bubble. The bubble screen that's off of the run game. Yeah, depending on what they do, you throw it out.”

On what they need to do to stop critical interceptions that kill momentum:
“Just execute better. You have to see the linebacker in the window. It's not hard to figure out. We have to execute better. Don't throw it to them.”

On if they wish they had adjusted more to Baylor's five receiver set:
“Well, we did. We blitzed it much like West Virginia did, but he was getting it out quicker than we were able to get there. We also adjusted and tried to work some zone coverages, Eric Striker comes free, and he misses it.”

On if he is happy with his players' effort in the second half:
“Effort, yeah. Our execution was poor. There wasn't anybody out there stopping, quitting, that wasn't the case. That is not the case. We didn't execute very well and got whipped.”

On how you take stock of your program after such a large defeat:
“It's a game. It's one game. We are in a situation where we have three more games. We're 6-3, much like a year ago. I was asked in the middle of the year where we were, and we were 5-2. Now we are 6-3 and have three games to play. That's where we're at.”

On if four of his captains making mistakes is reflective of their leadership:
“I'm not going to single players out as you did by name. They are all good kids. What happened, happened. They tried hard, they prepared well, it didn't come out so well.”

On if it is tougher for everyone when your leaders don't play well:
“Sure. You expect your leaders to have better games than that. Again, I'm not calling them out. You are. In the end, some of that happened.”

On if the short-yardage struggles were due to missed assignments:
“No, a couple of times today we got beat at the line of scrimmage.”

On sending the punt team out, then putting the offense back in on the play QB Trevor Knight got hurt:
“It was just the amount of time on the clock. You never know, you might give it one more try to see if you can close the gap a little and catch lightning in a bottle.”

On if he had a block on the roughing the punter call and if he should have been conservative with Baylor punting into the wind:
“That's always the case when you rough them. I said that was a mistake.”

On having QB Trevor Knight in late in the game:
“Yeah. It's a fair criticism. Again, there are still 10, 11, 12 minutes left in the game. Who knows? You catch lightning in a bottle, or all of a sudden you get a couple of big plays and you have some momentum. I guess I wasn't quite ready to give up on it yet. Obviously, that's why he was in there and I can't say that I regret that. In fact, I don't.”

On what level he takes responsibility for coaching:
“I take full responsibility. It all starts with me, so I didn't do a good enough job.”

On if he is angry:
“I'm a lot of things, but I'm not going to sit here and express them to you so you guys can have headlines and all of that. I don't feel I need to do that. No, I'm not happy at all. I'm very displeased.”

On if this is a group that can do something these last three games:
“I do. I think we have shown enough through the year that we will come out and compete again next week and we will be better.”

Offensive coordinator Josh Heupel

On the completion of plays:
“We had some plays down the field that were missed or that we weren't able to complete and it messed up our rhythm.”

On Sterling Shepard out:
“We were planning on having Sterling and thought he would be ready to play early in the week and through the middle of the week. Ultimately he couldn't go today. We had other guys who were in a position, had practiced enough. We should have been able to go out and execute and perform better than we did today and handle the adversity in a fickle situation. Ultimately we lost a playmaker who is versatile. We missed him today.”

On what is going through his head:
“Honestly today is an extremely disappointing game and at the same time when you look at the first quarter, the first drive didn't go well but we were quick to respond. There were some crucial plays in the game that we did not make and they did. We did not execute the way we were supposed to and we didn't handle the adversity the way you need to against a good football team. That's why the outcome is the way it is.”

On thoughts on game plan:
“Did I believe and did our kids believe in what we were doing going into that ball game? Yeah I do. Did they execute perfectly? No, but you never do. We responded to things in the first quarter. We made plays in the first quarter. I don't think we executed the way we needed to or handled the adversity the way we needed to. There are a few critical plays you have in a ball game and we were not on the right side of those plays.”

On coming back from third loss:
“First and foremost, don't pay attention to outside noise. At the end of the day, preseason predictions and where you are today, what you are going to be called today and next week, are things we don't have control over. What we have control over is on the field. This is something we talk, preach, to our players every single day. We are going to find out what we are made of.”

On being physically dominant early in the season:
“It is disappointing that in critical situations we have not executed. We have not performed, have not gotten first downs and that's why we weren't in the end zone.”

Defensive Coordinator Mike Stoops

On game:
“Well there is so much stress on your defense when you play Baylor. It is not only the scheme; it is the players who make the schemes. The matchups become very difficult and sometimes it is about which way would you like to die. Would you like to die slow or quick? I thought the first half went according to plan. We did what we wanted to do. We held them to 30 yards rushing and 180 passing. It is what we envisioned. Then they came out second half and went five wide. We tried to pressure but he did a great job getting the ball out and into guys' hands. They made plays and when we dropped we couldn't get there in time and they found holes in that. It is tough. They are good at what they do, at spacing the field. With a quarterback like that, you are vertically unstoppable. We couldn't do anything to disrupt them, from pressure or coverage. That is frustrating.”

On Julian Wilsons injury:
“He couldn't tackle. They throw a hitch out there and he (Wilson) missed him and the guy ran for another 20 yards. If you can't tackle you shouldn't be out there. He had a broken thumb. He had a cast on. He broke his thumb somewhere in the first half and they casted him up.”

On what went wrong:
“I think it is always a combination of things. Defensively, this league is going to exploit your weaknesses, there is too good of personnel across the board. The coaching philosophies are some of the best in the country. There is a reason they have 590 or 690 average yards, it is pretty ridiculous. That is the stress. Not being able to cover better is something that has hurt us at times. Being able to play tight coverage is something you have to be good at. It is something we have to look at. Like I said, they are going to exploit weaknesses.”

On ever thinking OU would have a loss this large:
“No. That is tough in a lot of ways. I give Baylor a ton of credit. The quarterback was really good and so were their receivers. We have to give our players better positions and play them in competitive plays.”

Sophomore safety Ahmad Thomas

On the loss:
“It's disappointing. We thought we prepared, but it showed on the field that we didn't.”

On giving up 45 straight points:
“Those points went unanswered. We just lost as a team. That's all I can say . . . They outplayed us.”

On moving forward:
“We're already just focusing on next week and what we need to do and correct . . . We just feel like we lost as a team and we need to get better . . . We've just got to stay positive and look on the bright side of everything.”

On Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty's short throws:
“It wasn't tough; we've just got to come up and make a tackle. Sometimes we missed, sometimes we made it.”

Sophomore linebacker Dominique Alexander

On the loss:
“It's tough. Losing is never fun. It's a tough loss. It's frustrating. It hurt.”

On Baylor's third-down conversion early in the third quarter:
“It was a big one . . . We had them stopped. We had a three and out, and then we ran into the punter, and then I guess they got the momentum from there.”

On the emotional nature of the game:
“It was fun at first. We were getting after them. We were talking and everyone was competing. And then it just started going downhill. Everybody was trying to stay positive and stick together, but it was tough. Losing was tough . . . That's why we've got to stick together as brothers in this locker room.”

On how to move forward:
“We've just got to keep balling. We're still the University of Oklahoma. We can't just lie down for anybody. We've just got to keep going out there and preparing the right way and get some wins.”

On Baylor's first drive of the second half:
“It was frustrating. It was tough. They were just doing whatever they wanted to. They were running the same play.”

On Trevor Knight:
“It was tough to see our starting quarterback go down like that, a team captain and a leader of the offense. It's tough to see him go down and not be able to come off on his own will. It's always tough to see one of your teammates. But I know he's going to be okay. God's got him.”

Freshman running back Samaje Perine

On the loss:
“I really can't speak for everybody on that. Me, personally, I would have liked to win, but we can't look at the past. We've got to do our best to keep going and get ready for (Texas) Tech.”

On Coach Stoops' postgame message:
“Just to take it as a learning experience and keep going. Not to put our heads down and keep our heads up and get ready for the next game.”

On offensive struggles:
“Obviously it's very frustrating. We can't point any fingers. We've got to do our best to keep it going and keep drives going on third downs, make the key plays and just keep pushing.”

On the team's confidence:
“The team's confidence is great. We came out in the first quarter ready to play . . . A couple of penalties hurt us there late in the game.”

Sophomore running back Keith Ford

On the struggles of the running game:
“Just one of those days. We need all 11 guys to do their jobs and if one doesn't, it just makes it hard for the offense, especially for the running game.”

On Coach Stoops' postgame message for the team:
“We played hard and fought. It just happens. Just one of those days, and it sucks for us to lose like this . . . but we've just got to move on from it and grow.”

On coming back:
“I was ready to come back. Adversity is one of the things you have to have to play this game. You just have to put it in your mind that it's an injury, but it heals. You've just got to go out there and be a hundred percent.”

On the state of the team:
“Just playing hard and being a good teammate and a good team. Just growing from it. Everything's a learning experience. That's what you've got to do in these tough times. You've got to learn from it.”

Freshman Receiver Michiah Quick

On the loss:
“I'm not too sure if we look at it as an embarrassing loss as a team because Baylor is a good team and we have to give them credit where it's due.”

On how to respond to the loss:
“We just have to shut everyone out and keep it positive in the locker room and come back hard on Monday.”

On the shift of emotions:
“It was hyped and then we tried to stay in it. The score kept going up for Baylor, but we're the University of Oklahoma. We don't give up at all.”

Redshirt Sophomore Cornerback Zack Sanchez

On what happened in the game:
“Every aspect of the game we got beat and it's not acceptable by any means, especially here. Something has to change and we have to fix a lot of things.”

On what the Baylor offense did well:
“Credit to their schemes. They have good players and we didn't execute properly on the back end. Those are just things we have to fix.”

On the shift in emotions:
“We gradually got flat. The energy was gone. Guys weren't hyped on the sideline and you try to do your best to hype your team up, but guys are just flat and not responding. That's another thing that can't happen. We've got to have the same energy for four quarters.”

Junior Receiver Durron Neal

On how to bounce back from the loss:
“We just have to come back next week and finish out this season. We have to get three more wins and get to a bowl game.”

On Sterling Shepard:
“We knew all week that he may not be able to go. He's a big play receiver and it's always fun having him out there and seeing him make all those plays for us, but I feel like as a receiving core we handled it well. We support him and we know he goes out there and balls hard every play. We just have to play for him.”

On if Baylor did anything new:
“They did everything that we knew they would do. They just made more plays than us. They're a good team.”

Baylor Head Coach Art Briles

Opening statement:
“I was just really proud of our football team. I thought we had a lot of guys that played up to their skill level. That is really what you look for in life, not just football. In whatever job you do, if you do the best that you can do and to the level that you were blessed with then that is being successful. I was proud of that. I knew we felt challenged coming in. This was the first time we had really felt challenged all year. I wish we had felt that way—differently—throughout the year, but we just didn't. This was the first time we came into a game and felt like we would have to play our best to have a chance to win. We talked about it all week and our guys rose to the challenge. I'm proud of them for that. They kind of have the heart of champion. So, I'm just humbled by the effort they gave today.”

On having a good week of practice leading to the game:
“I saw a lot of effort, especially from Bryce Petty. It is sometimes good for people to be doubted. He has gone through a little bit of that. He has done a lot of maturing and we knew that if the people around him played up to his determination that we would have a good day offensively.”

On the defensive performance:
“We played great of defense. Anytime you hold them to 14 points on their home floor, particularly with what they have been doing the past two or three weeks, it is a very impressive feat.”

On the momentum change after the interception:
“One hundred percent. You have to make plays like that to make a difference. The roughing the punter, the interception, that's 14 points. You have to have those. You have to use those and take advantage of them. We took advantage of the opportunities that we had on the football field. We were able to mix it up enough offensively to make some plays. Our whole deal was to attack. We didn't want to come in here fearful. We wanted to come in here fearless. Attack, attack, attack. That is what we did on both sides of the ball.”

On Bryce Petty's success in the second half:
“We got in that formation right before the first half and we kind of felt good about Bryce in that set. He did some checks at the line and made some good checks. He looked really calm and confident. It was a good matchup for us. We decided at half time that we would get back in it and see how it went. I think before half he was 4-for-4. Then he comes out and goes 9-for-9. He was really seeing the field and making good decisions. We have good players. So it worked out well.”

Baylor Quarterback Bryce Petty

On the significance of the OU game:
“There was just something about this game. Nothing against you guys, but this game, for me, was circled on the calendar. I don't like to make that public, just because every game is a big game. At the same time, I really wanted to win this game, being at Norman. I didn't even know 37 straight losses to top 25 teams. All the stuff that we unraveled, that's big. I really wanted to come out, especially for my teammates and my guys, and say, 'Men, this is what's going to happen. We're going to go out and win this game.' I thought we really, from a practice standpoint, had the best week since I have been here, which is a long time. I thought our guys did a great job and were just very determined.”

On being the first Baylor team to win in Norman:
“It really means everything. The coolest part about it is that, to me, it's just the tip of the iceberg for this team. It really is. People still say, 'You are still Baylor.' Yeah we are Baylor. This is different. This isn't the same team as the 90's or the 80's. You all are going to have to get that out of your minds. We love being part of this. We love being the underdog. We play so much better when we are mad and upset. We can't ever be happy, can't ever be satisfied. Coach Briles tells us that all the time. When we come out determined and ready to rock 'n roll it's going to be a good day for us.”

On his connection with Wide Receiver Corey Coleman against OU:
“It's really a pick your poison scenario. If you cover (KD Cannon) and cover (Antwan Goodley), then (Corey Coleman) is there. Corey's had a great week. They all have. We just kind of dinked and dunked and took what they gave us. The big shot down the left side there, that's what I told him, that kind of stuff sets up the deep ball. With him, he's so passionate that he wants it now. You just have to sit him down and tell him this will set it up. I thought he played his butt off, so did all those guys. They're outstanding. I love to play with them.”