UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 29, 2022

Justin Wright

Keylon Stokes

Press Conference

SMU 45, Tulsa 34

Q. Obviously that's got to be a disappointing game. Talk about how much it hurts to let this one go.

JUSTIN WRIGHT: It hurts. We knew going into this game it could be a close one. You never want it to, but we always play SMU pretty good and they put up a good fight against us, we put up a good fight against them.

I'm not happy with the outcome. I'm glad the way the defense stepped up when they needed to. Offense stepped up. Got to get back to work in practice and fix obvious mess-ups and get better.

Q. (Regarding the first play.)

JUSTIN WRIGHT: You know, at this point our defense is ready for anything. Did it hurt? Yeah. I mean, obviously as a defense you don't want to see that the first play. We came out there and we did our best. We attacked and we grinded and stuff happens, miscommunication. We'll get better.

Q. Take me back to the missed sack and then you then end up getting the fumble recovery. How the heck did you pull that one off? I mean, that was just the typical -- the way you play where you never give up I guess. Describe it a little bit to me.

JUSTIN WRIGHT: Obviously I wanted the sack, but we got a takeaway from it. Am I happy with the takeaway? Absolutely. Much rather have a takeaway and be selfish and have a sack, whatnot.

At the same time, I need to make that play regardless. I mean, yes, I got lucky and it ended well, but I need to be better as a captain. As a veteran on this defense, I need to make that play every time.

Q. Talk about the offense and how you guys managed to claw back into this game and kept fighting.

KEYLON STOKES: I mean, that's just whole part of this offense right here. We always going to fight, do what we got to do to try to win the game or win the game.

We kind of started off slow which we got to stop doing that. Always puts us behind the eight ball. But, I mean, we definitely came out the second half and definitely was pushing the ball, doing what we got to do, putting the ball in the end zone, trying to give our defense another opportunity to go out there and make another stop so we can get the ball and keep scoring and scoring.

The second half we got to bring that to the first half and just keep doing it every day, every day, every game.

Q. What can you say about Davis? He got hurt on that touchdown run and didn't come back, but that's kind of the play you want to see out of your quarterback, isn't it?

KEYLON STOKES: Yeah, definitely the play I want to see. I was kind of upset he took them hits like that. He's a tough guy, so he got right back up. He scored on the play. You just got to love that. That's a straight dog mentality. Just wanted it.

I was kind of upset to see him go down, but we have another quarterback that's just as talented, so he went in and made a lot of plays for the team. I mean, that's just how our offense is. One goes down, we got someone else to pick it up.

Q. You both, I believe, have been kind of on both sides of this rivalry. Obviously last two years you won it; lost the year before that. How does this kind of compare to that game I guess three years ago now?

KEYLON STOKES: I mean, it kind of compares multiple ways, because kind of like three years ago they got up on us but we came back. I mean, it's just always been a dogfight between us two. Always been a rivalry. It's something that we take personal.

I mean, the outcome wasn't what we wanted. Just going to get back into the lab and just keep working.

JUSTIN WRIGHT: Piggyback off that. I think a lot of our mistakes that defensively we made, I think a lot that can be fixed in practice. You know, obviously we wanted to win that game, and we're going to get better.

I would say the rivalry between us and SMU, you know, you want to win that game every single time, but we're going to get better. That's all I can say. I mean...

Q. On that note, what was Coach's message to you following this game and what it really kind of means for the rest of the season, and how do you take that message and basically personalize it to what it means for you day-to-day from here on out?

JUSTIN WRIGHT: So every time Monte talks to us before the game, he wants us to be fast, physical, don't hesitate. We try to approach that every play, every game and whatnot. I think we did a great, great job of being physical, more physical than them I would say.

It's just we gave up some small mistakes, and in football, in this great game, those small mistakes matter. We got to get better.

KEYLON STOKES: Yeah, the message, I mean, he tells us before every game just go out there and dominate, play fast, sound football. Everyone has a job so everyone needs to do their job. I feel like this game, since it was so -- such rivalry game, a lot of people, their minds was on a different task, let's just go out there and be as dominant as possible, but then again we also got to play smart.

It's just things like that that we got to take into hand, take into nature. We got to go out there and play smart but still play physical. We came out -- I mean, first play, yeah, it wasn't what we expected, but, I mean, we never stopped fighting, so...

Q. For both of you, Keylon, you guys know this is your last ride. Margin of error is paper thin the rest of the way. How do you get the team dialed in so you can say we're going to go to a bowl game, being that this is it for the both of your guys?

KEYLON STOKES: I mean, we just got to keep going back into the lab and keep dialing it in, going hard every day in practice for the next opponent. It's time to go out there and dominate them.

Yeah, we lost this game, but this game is already behind us. We're going to watch film and learn from it and move on to the next. Just got keep getting better and better every week.

JUSTIN WRIGHT: I agree with that. Being in Tulsa the past five seasons it's really taught me that we know how to fight. Ya'll know this. We don't want it to be a close game, but it might be, you know. If it needs to be, I mean, so be it.

We're going to fight regardless. The people on our defense, on our offense, we're going to find a way. If we don't, we're going to try our hardest to.

So I don't think anything changes mentality-wise. I think we're going to enter tomorrow's film session with a fire under our butt, and I think -- I mean, all around I think we're going to get better this week. I know we're going to get better.

Just keep going out there and make less and less mistakes than we did tonight.

Q. Keylon, I notice there was pretty much a steady stream of trash talking between you and the defense. Does that kind of thing get you fired up more or just talk about how that evolved?

KEYLON STOKES: I mean, just in-game things. You know, when you're so focused in the game and you love football the way that we love football, things will be said. I mean, it wasn't nothing too major. I mean, we were actually laughing about it. So it's just stuff, things you say you just keep going on, play the next play.