Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops Opening Statement: “Like always, I would like to compliment Texas Tech. I thought they had a well-played, hard fought, game. Kliff (Kingsbury), Matt Wallerstedt their defensive coordinator and all those guys over there are doing an excellent job. It was a really exciting, hard-played game. I’m really proud of our team to answer back a couple of different times during the game. On both sides of the ball we made some plays when we needed to have them. In particular, the offense answering back and scoring, the way we rushed the football I’m really pleased with. Blake (Bell) and his receivers made some critical third down plays that we needed. That’s part of the game. We were 8 of 15 on third and fourth downs. That was pretty good. Fortunately, offensively, we executed a little bit better and we made those plays. I thought we were obviously, again, poor in our awareness and reaction to some of the special teams plays. We have got to be more aware and alert and be in better position there. Again, I’m really excited about our team’s ability to win the game. Unfortunately, we lost Trey Millard. He has a bad knee injury. The anterior cruciate and another ligament. It will end his season. I’m sure it will take a few weeks before they operate on him. I’m just crushed by it. I hate it. He’s such a strong part of our football team. It will be tough to overcome that loss. Just an amazing young man. Hopefully, he can recover from it. He will be a guy that will have a bright NFL career and hopefully he can get past this and move on at some point. Outside of that, I will open it up for questions.” On responding to the onside kick and following touchdown: “That was huge. We come out and we have the momentum coming out of the half. Then they make all those plays and steal it back. I’m really excited about our resilience and our fight to keep coming back. Lacoltan (Bester) made a huge play. We were trying to get the ball out to Blake (Bell), they covered him, so LaColtan pulled it down and made a play. Jalen Saunders had a great block on that play to spring it.” On if the long touchdown pass to Jalen Saunders in the second quarter sparked the offense: “We need to get some chunks and it did spark us to get some big plays and to get a chunk like that is a huge play in the game. It’s a great throw by Blake and a great job by Jalen by running it down and making that play. On if the first touchdown drive gave the offense confidence: “Yeah, it did. I thought that drive was really good whenever you can use eight minutes. I’m not really sure how long it was but it was a lot. You get a bunch of plays and you stick it in the end zone it makes a big difference.” On being able to run the clock down and win the game late: “Yeah, we burned probably five or six minutes off the clock at the end of the game being physical and running the football. I’m really excited about our offensive line to go through a game and rush for I think it was 277 and no sacks. We also had Aaron Ripkowski and Trey Millard out there blocking. Damien Williams had a great game running the ball as did Roy (Finch). Roy made some nice plays again.” On how Blake Bell threw the ball today: “I know at times it’s not as consistent as it needs to be but Blake is throwing the ball well. Usually, when we are off a little bit it’s not always him. Usually it’s not him. In the end he’s a good thrower and we have got to keep getting it better with players around him and some of the plays we are going to and all of that I think we can keep improving on.” On Blake Bell’s throw to Damien Williams: “Those are things I think that as the more he plays I think those will even smooth out some where he can buy some extra time and find someone late to get it to like he did on that play.” On if he saw the offense coming around despite the slow start: “Yeah, you know I’d rather us not start off slow. We just have to come out and execute better. A lot of the plays that were working in the second and third quarter were some plays that were also called in the first quarter. They blocked cleaner and executed better and that’s what we have to keep working for.” On being able to run the ball when they needed to: “Primarily, in the fourth quarter, one of the drives we took it down and handed it off the whole way and put it in the end zone. I guess that was in the third quarter. When you’re blocking it that way and running it that way you have got to keep calling it until they can stop it. Fortunately, we were able to do it well enough to get some points and win.” On having multiple backs that can carry the ball: “It shows why we need to have two or three backs. Everybody wants to have one guy in the whole time but those guys are running hard. They need a spell. To go down and have a 10 or 12-play drive you’re going to have a few different guys carrying the ball. I thought they complimented each other really well.” On going up-tempo: “We’re still picking and choosing when we have our opportunities to go up-tempo. It worked today when we did. I was really proud, defensively, we were set all of the time and had very few mistakes with alignments and that sort of thing. Compliments to two true freshmen out there at linebacker playing the whole way. Jordan Evans knocked some balls down and really did a good job as did Dominique (Alexander). Two young guys. I’m unsure of what Frank’s (Shannon) situation will be. I thought those guys, again, young true freshmen in a big game like this did an excellent job.” On Jalen Saunders’ performance: “We just have to keep trying to find opportunities for him to get those chunks. He’s a great receiver, great quickness, great route runner and we just have to keep finding his spots.” On if he went into this game thinking it was a critical game: “Obviously. Same with next week and the week after that. It is. Did I go into the week knowing that? Oh yeah. I may look dumb but I’m not.” On what flipping the momentum today says about this team: “They’re resilient. We don’t get down. Our guys stayed positive and kept fighting. We knew we were capable of making our plays and we do and we steal momentum back. I’ve got to compliment our fans, student body and fans, they jumped in when they were able to and that helps charge the players’ energy. All of it together we able to make the plays to get people charged up and get back the momentum that we did lose.” On the role Blake Bell played in getting momentum back: “The quarterback has his hand in it sure. Sometimes guys are getting open and I thought our protection was good all day but the guys around him to need to execute. A quarterback is always a major part of that by getting the momentuum back and making big plays.” On the upcoming game against Baylor: “I feel good about what we’re doing. I think defensively the way we play gives ourselves a really good chance to win games. We got great pressure today and forced turnovers. They had seven at half and you don’t see much of that from them (Texas Tech). We’re playing together really well, defense, offense, and the way we ran the football. I said that early in the week but that’s a big part of it in this game and I think we complimented each other really well that way. Offense keeping them off the field and defense getting their stops. I feel good. I’m excited, we’re excited. We don’t have a true off week because we will practice on a Saturday like we would a Monday practice because we play on Thursday. We’re going to give them Thursday and Friday off this week just to relax and practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday leading into the Baylor game.” On how Trey Millard’s injury will affect the running game: “We’ll see. We have got some other guys in there. Brannon Green did a good job in some our bigger sets and Aaron Ripkowski continues to. We’ll see. That’s tough because Trey is so versatile. We don’t have anybody else like that nor does anybody else. He’s pretty unique.” On how they handled the weather delay: “We talked about it earlier in the week and we talked about it Thursday. Regardless of the weather we need to come out ready to play. I thought our people here handled the best way that they could and the right way. Instead of letting us go out and warm up for 10 minutes, get us off the field and have an hour and a half break and warm up again they got word that there was lightning around and there’s no sense in going out there for 10 minutes and then having to do it again. For them and us. You already have your pads loaded up and your already out there and by the time you get out there you’re sititng for an hour and a half. So having us sit ahead of that was really smart by everyone involved in that decision and we went out and did our thing when it was time to go. Last time it was late at night and our situations were a little different. We did make our players aware of it Thursday and earlier today. We told them that this is what happened two years ago and how we handled it. We need to handle it the right way and be ready to go when they say go.” On if he still has a fresh team: “Yeah, I love our team and their attitude and the way they work and the way they’re willing to be coached. Obviously, I have to mention the key pieces that we don’t have now. They were all great players, a couple of captains, so are we in great shape? No. Am I excited about our team? Yeah, and our opportunity and willingness to fight and all of that, I am.” On making interceptions as opposed to dropping them last week: “Yeah. There’s a lot of batted balls and guys competing for them and we did make some nice interceptions and I thought our guys did a nice job of competing that way.” On if Blake Bell’s performance today is the sign of a young quarterback maturing: “I think it can be. I think he is more and more comfortable every week. Hopefully it is.” On kicking the field goal instead of going for it at the end: “If it was fourth and one I probably would have gone for it to finish the game. It was fourth and two and we had just run a play that didn’t get anything and I figured they have to get a touchdown and we had already stopped a two-point conversion so they would have had to get into the endzone twice. I felt it was the right thing to do. On how his players responded to Texas Tech’s aggressive playcalling: “I thought they did an excellent job, they got us on a couple of things. Primarily, our special teams plays we have to be more alert. The rest of it, for the most part, I thought our guys handled it pretty well.” On the long punt return by Texas Tech: “It was designed. They did a nice job of returning a decoy and they’re running down the field getting all of their blocks and locating the return man. One guy is trailing outside, trailing the ball and seeing if anyone is covering the ball. I said on the sidelines ‘Hey, that’s pretty good I haven’t seen that’.” On if he feels okay after the shot he took from Aaron Colvin: “Yeah, I didn’t even go all the way down. Did you see me spin out of it? My right knee is hurting. That old football injury and not having that anterior cruciate in my knee right now. I’m having some episodes where it’s moving on me. I might be like (local broadcaster & former OU quarterback) Dean (Blevins) and have to get a replacement.”
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 01:35:53 +0000
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