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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 22, 2016

Bob Stoops

Oklahoma - 66, Texas Tech - 59

COACH STOOPS: I'd start off, just first, by complimenting Coach Kingsbury, their staff, group of players, their players, fan base. It's a great environment tonight. You know to -- we feel fortunate to come in and play the way we did and to come out with the win.

And again, just well-played, hard-fought game, just overall. I say well-played, well-played by the offenses. Not so much by the defenses.

But anyway, we did what we needed to do to win. Made enough plays to win. Frustrated by just the defense's ability to make plays, in particular on third down and on some scramble plays, to finish a sack or to finish a ball that's thrown up, a jump ball, to be able to defend something.

Now, that's on us, just not good enough. But sure elated with our offensive performance, Coach Riley, the staff and the players, just their execution.

I thought Joe Mixon just had a game for the ages. Just incredible the way he played -- run, pass, everything.

And then again Baker was just sensational with his deep balls and precision, everywhere across the board. His checks at the line, just great. Dede Westbrook, another huge game. So anyway, we're fortunate to be able to come away with a win here away from home at night.

Q. In a game like that, you're having to count on your offense every time, talk about the emotional -- I heard you guys talk to your guys -- way to hang in there after the defensive.
COACH STOOPS: You've got to come up with the stop. Probably the keys to the game were the turnovers in the first half. And just our execution on third down just wasn't good enough to be able to come up with the play.

It's so frustrating how many times it looks like we're ready to get a sack and can't finish it. So we've got to be able to do that. And the same thing with coverage, we just weren't able to contest and break up enough balls.

Q. The obvious, you had to answer every time, because as it turned out, if you don't punch one in, you're sitting there with a chance to lose a football game.
COACH STOOPS: I was there. Yeah.

Q. I'm just asking --
COACH STOOPS: So what's your question?

Q. The pressure on the offense.
COACH STOOPS: Yeah, they responded. Man, they were great. And, again, I just shake my head at Joe's -- what Joe was able to do was just incredible. And Baker. Baker's execution was just outstanding -- short passes, long passes, checks at the line of scrimmage.

You know, those two guys were monsters tonight. I say monsters in a positive way, obviously.

Q. (Question off microphone)?
COACH STOOPS: It doesn't matter. Injuries, being thin, none of that matters. In the end, like I said, we were several times in a position to get sacks. We've got to be able to get them. Other times we're in a position to break up some balls or some jump balls that are there. We're in position, we've got to be able to break it up.

So those guys just gotta -- they've gotta do a better job competing in some instances to finish plays. And I thought the biggest part of it was third downs. Those are money downs to get off the field and we couldn't get it done.

Q. Did you see Baker using his emotions and channelling that into positive execution tonight?
COACH STOOPS: I don't see emotions allowing him to execute. I see a talented guy that's disciplined in his fundamentals executing.

Q. Dede was once again tremendous. Talk about a go-to receiver you have now. You had to have him tonight (indiscernible)?
COACH STOOPS: The guy's great. He's great hands, as sure-handed as anyone we've ever had. And he can get behind people. And so he showed it again today.

Q. The touchdown right before the half, 37 seconds you get a touchdown at 20 seconds. That was huge.
COACH STOOPS: It was big. And when you have that kind of confidence in Baker and Dede to get it done.

Q. Defensively, some of your veteran guys, whether it's Jordan Thomas or Ahmad Thomas or Jordan Evans had some of the biggest issues. How fixable is this defense when your guys that have less experience --
COACH STOOPS: Yeah, that is unfortunate that some of our players were in position to make some plays and didn't make them. So I believe in these guys. They have pride. It will bother them. And we've made some of these plays through the year. We've just been terribly inconsistent with it.

So I thought we were starting to turn a corner here in the last few weeks, and obviously it didn't look like that out there tonight. But I do believe we'll be able to improve from it.

Q. Would you talk about the improvement in the last two weeks -- TCU, Texas -- stretches where you're pretty dominant on defense. Just have to make big plays. Tonight (indiscernible) seemed like all night.
COACH STOOPS: Right.

Q. Could you tell early this wasn't going well and the consistency you had seen was gone?
COACH STOOPS: I just saw early it was going to be a struggle, just our ability to stay, to cover with them and, in particular, their five wide set. And so it's something that we'll just have to continue to work and get, hopefully get some guys back here next week. We'll see.

Q. What did you think of Patrick Mahomes?
COACH STOOPS: I thought he was excellent. But he always is.

Q. Did you go into the game tonight thinking it was going to be the shootout it was?
COACH STOOPS: I knew it was going to be tough. I knew it was going to be a big challenge. They've scored a lot of points and put up a lot of yards on everybody, other than last week. And I'm sure they heard about that all week as well.

Q. (Indiscernible) the extra point, how much did that put you behind?
COACH STOOPS: You know, it seems like it did. It's like that point is haunting you the entire game. And it always seems like it does. But I was -- I'm glad we went for it there in the fourth quarter for two, and they executed a good play -- we did on offense. And it was -- anyway, it was the right thing to do, I thought.

Q. You got beat up a little bit. But did you lose anyone?
COACH STOOPS: I don't know. Matt's out. Romar, elbow, was out for part of the first half. I don't think they're too bad. But we'll see.

Q. What about Mead?
COACH STOOPS: I'm sure.

Q. Offensive line seemed to step up tonight, especially when Baker and (indiscernible)?
COACH STOOPS: The O line was great. Just executed really well, run and pass. Baker wasn't pressured too much. When he was, he was holding on to it, scrambling, waiting for something to happen.

I thought the run blocking, of course, was great. And they're a good group.

Q. You said Monday that you thought Joe would really embrace the moment this week. Practicing, did you see it leading up to tonight?
COACH STOOPS: Yeah, Joe -- I see Joe every day at practice. He loves it. He's a guy that, he's one of those that that's the best part of his day, to be able to go out there, run around and talk to his buddies and play and compete.

Q. I had the count, I lost it, but as many plays as you played tonight, how worried are you moving forward for the guys -- how worried are you playing as many plays as guys played tonight moving forward?
COACH STOOPS: It takes a lot out of them. We'll have to watch how we play next week for that reason. There's fewer guys to rotate in some cases.

Q. And you've got the Thursday night game.
COACH STOOPS: We have Kansas first. And I pay attention to it. And we track, with the GPSes how much, and so we'll know which guys are overloaded, and do our best hopefully to find a way to get the work done this week and still get their legs back.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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