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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 3, 2018

Ruffin McNeill

Lubbock, Texas

Oklahoma - 51, Texas Tech - 46

Q. After Bowman was out of the game and Duffey came in seems like you had a chance to put the clamps on that game and then some penalties took the offense out of it. It just seemed like it kind of not fell apart, but it just got kind of ugly after that. Did you kind of feel you lost some momentum there in the second half that might have made this a prettier looking game for your defense?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: Well, I've always said from the beginning of this, having been in the league, this happens. Next on this offense, since the induction of it here in the Big-12, next when I came now, I talked about how Kliff and Lincoln and the family tree from this do a good job. So lot of respect to Kliff's football team. I was proud of our guys' fight. I probably tried to attack a little bit too much in the first half. They did a good job playing with the screens. That was on me. In the second half, we mixed in some zones and pass rush and a few little nuances. But my whole deal with winning, guys, 40 years, my whole motto has been win by one and let's get out of here. So I was grateful for the win and the team's happy. We knew what we were facing coming up here. I got a text from Brandon. He's like my son, Brandon Jones. And I said, hey, I already know where I'm going, who I'm playing, and what's going to be there. So we know. So my kudos goes to Kliff's team, but I'm really proud of our kids for hanging in there. There was some tough things that went on, make no excuses, but we can learn from them.

Q. Lincoln said after the game because of the, especially the turnovers early short fields bad position you were put in that he felt you guys played better defensively than maybe the stats indicated. Do you feel that way too?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: Oh, we have a motto and I appreciate boss for that. But sudden changes is opportunity for us to get on the field. So things like that happen. Again, give credit to Texas Tech defense, but no excuses on our part. We talk about points and we have the opportunity to go and have a chance to make some plays. They did some unusual things there on those first two drives. We knew that Kliff and Lincoln both are really good, very good at that. So they did a good job, and but no excuses. I think we felt like we should have points, we watched the film we felt like we could play better. And at the same time you give Texas Tech credit. But our players will not make excuses.

Q. What did you like and not like about your defense tonight?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: We talked about and worked on change-up plays, trick plays, we see them from our offense. They did a good job of that. I thought they made some earlier plays. They did what I had them doing in the first half. That's on me. I felt like pressuring and it wasn't all out pressure, but they had blocked angles on our guys and they did a better job executing their offense. So for our kids I watched the film, I saw some tackles we normally make, but that's fixable. Everything starts with me and how I can call the game better and how I can prepare the boys better. And my coaches do a great job. So continue to push, also evaluate myself when I watch the film tomorrow and find out and chart effective and ineffective and why were they effective and why were they ineffective. So I'll handle all that later.

Q. You mentioned tackling, I wondered, overall, if you felt you tackled well tonight and that was one area you've done a better job in and also your guys have seemed better organized in those first two games. How do you feel you were tonight in that area?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: We felt like with the pressure you had to sort of matchup a little bit and we have seen those running backs, I mentioned on that, what, that interview about they asked me about Texas Tech and we have done that, they have done that, we did it when we were here, they got some really, really quick running backs. And I've seen them make a lot of people miss in practice. Again like we have from the very beginning of the transition, we tackled every day and worked on that particular tackling. But that comes -- tackling will get you -- I thought it got better as the game went on there was some plays early that you had one-on-one and you got a good chance to have a miss, but I'm going to keep practicing and getting better at it and but I think that's the thing that you can always improve that and I will never ever neglect that in practice. So I just have to get better at that and keep showing them the looks that they have seen. Those blocking angles they saw, we do them in practice, so just got to keep working with the boys. They're very, they have a great eye, great ears, I'm very proud of them. So we'll work it out and get better.

Q. Since he's been back Jalen Redmond seems to be making a pretty big impact. How much has he helped you guys so far?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: Oh, good for depth, number one. We had a couple guys that got nicked up, couldn't play tonight, we had to get some guys to play. I was proud of those guys for stepping up. Broiles stepped you know and so did JP but Jalen's done a great job, you got to remember this is what third game? And he had the had to miss most of camp. So really the bye week was like a week training camp for him. And he learns quickly, he's going to get better and better at the game schematically, but he has the talent to really be a special player. He has a great attitude about it too. He goes between Coach Tibbs with some down line movement and down line technique but also Coach Bobby for some pass rush type things. So he and Perk have taken on that role very well.

Q. You mentioned Jordan Parker kind of stepping up and coming in and contributing. What were some of the things you thought that stood out that he did pretty well tonight?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: Well JP got hurt the very first game of last year if I remember on a punt return, a four down stop. Very first game of the season. He went to our bench, he was jamming a gunner on punt team and he hurt his knee. So he's been out for awhile and it was a bad one. But JP's a fighter and he got an opportunity today, he's been there, even though he didn't get as many reps before tonight, he's been the most encouraging, one of the most encouraging players we have on our team. He's also understands the communication on the back end. And when you're playing a hurry up offense that spread the field you have to be precise, they're good too and coached good too. So he did a good job of getting us lined up especially in the second half because for him he's still getting the feel for it, he hasn't played as much, but it was good to get him out there and he found out this week that he had the start, didn't back down from the challenge, so anxious to watch the film tomorrow.

Q. You always say the term FIDO for getting a drive on. Was that two point conversion there, was that kind of what you mean by that, by you give up a touchdown you come up with a two-point conversion?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: I think that I always keep perspective because if I hadn't been in this league and know what they have, I wouldn't know. But I do know that FIDO is needed. Like forget it and drive on or our next play, you can quit any time you want to, use that FIDO acronym to help remind the kids of something quick, but you got to play the next play. I thought we did a good job of that. There were some tough situations brought up earlier. No excuses. Play the next play. And I can hear the kids on the phone when I'm talking to the staff saying FIDO. Which that pleases an old guy like myself because they are listening. And the two-point play, both two-point plays you know were a good example of that, play the next play or FIDO. The pick by Rob and then the bat down -- was that by Rob too? I think so. Yeah, that's what it means. And as the defensive coordinator, would you like to, yes, I would, but I'm a team player and I just want to win, that's all it is with me. I want to win, I don't worry about anything else. And whatever you do on defense, whatever I can do to help the team win, I'm willing to do. FIDO is one of them.

Q. Is Robert Barnes playing better? He seems to be making a few plays.
RUFFIN MCNEILL: He is. The bye week and the way he focused on his fundamentals and little things, technique things, he really has, he's got length, really sharp, you can change things in the middle of the game, hey, Rob, I know we talked about doing it like this, but they're doing this. You got it, coach. We did it a couple times tonight and he was able to adjust. So I'm proud of Robert's progress and I would like to see him keep continuing. He can be as good as he wants to be.

Q. It seems like he's brought some physicality to your secondary how important was it for him to play that well in a game like this tonight that's more about open space and making tackles?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: Big, big. And with length, you got to be ready to make open field plays. When they spread you out like we do, even we do on offense, we see it every day, but still facing it you come here ready to make one-on-one's, open field is what we normally term it, we call them one-on-one's. And it's not a kill shot, it's just a secure shot, a secure tackle. Robert was very important on that. Able to fit on a run, we had some blitzes early we had to fit in the middle or fit down or spin down and I like when he spins down to help us on any of those blitzes and win games you but we had to, I'm proud of Robert.

Q. How do you feel you'll be going into the Bedlam game physically because you had a couple guys that were down before the game started and then you got a couple kind of nicked up, do you have a feel for where you'll be with that?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: Not yet. We got the staff and the guys I told the guys today, if you are banged up, you got injury, I'm not old school that way, where, hey, you play no matter what. No. I am tough on them, but I'll never play a young man if he's hurt. And I think of those young men as my sons or if somebody's coaching my daughter. So if those guys are banged up and can't play, that's okay, we'll get well, the next guy has got to go. If they are able to come back, man, we'll be glad to have them. But I will always refer back to Scott and the training staff and they have done a great job of getting them ready, but we'll know more tomorrow and Monday when we get out there rolling.

Q. What was it like for you coming back to Lubbock?
RUFFIN MCNEILL: You know, I didn't know until we walked through today. I gave my mom here in 2007. And I didn't realize, everybody kept asking that question, going back, coming back, coming back, and I didn't really realize until today we came on the field and I thought about Rachel. So that was 2007. So that was the biggest thing. But then see the progress and I saw Kliff and all the guys I coached and that, so yeah, it was good. Glad we won, boys.

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