FEDEX ORANGE BOWL: SOUTHERN CAROLINA v OKLAHOMA

January 4, 2005

Bob Stoops

Jason White

COACH BOB STOOPS: Thanks, John. My compliments and congratulations to USC, who played a great game. They really executed, made the plays that counted. Their staff did a great job having them prepared, so again, nothing you can say outside that we just got whipped. You know, I feel overall that -- all the responsibility comes to me first, and we didn't get it done. I feel we were capable of playing better, and when you turn the ball over four times in the first half, you make it pretty difficult to win, and then if you allow people to get behind you, as well, give up some big plays, that really felt like the second quarter really pretty much took us out of it. But again, compliments to SC for -- my compliments for a great, great game. I'm still proud of our players, every one of them, to be in this position. I'm not -- I can't say that I'm proud of the way we played today, but their work through an entire year, I don't take that for granted. These young men work hard, and I appreciate their efforts. I compliment them for the hard work in the Big-12 Championship in getting to this position. I wish we could have done a better job and played better today. That didn't happen, and again, SC is to be given the credit for that.

JASON WHITE: As far as offensively for us, we turned the ball over, and that killed us the first half, and we were playing catch-up the rest of the time. You've got to give them credit. They played a great game, very well coached, have great athletes and they made great plays tonight on both sides of the ball. They were prepared to play and they came out to play and we didn't.

JASON WHITE: They didn't do much different to stop the run. Like we said all week, they have a great front four. Their team speed is extremely fast, and they were coached to stop the run, and they did that. We tried to take advantage of it passing-wise, and we did the first drive, but after that we didn't make plays.

COACH BOB STOOPS: Well, I told them that first and foremost, SC deserves the credit. There's nothing you can say about that, and take it. Two, just to learn from it, guys, that we're coming back. You can't get in these big games and make mistakes like we did. You know, the turnovers early in a big game like this, you can't have them, you know, and also, you can't give up big plays. In the end, that was it. That was the biggest part of it. I'd like to think we can take care of some of that. It wasn't real complicated to do so, and we didn't get it done. So you've got to rise to the moment and play your best in these situations, and we didn't do that, and so I just wanted the guys to learn from it. And then I complimented the seniors and then I complimented the team for fighting through a tough year getting to this point. I don't take that for granted as a coach. I appreciate their efforts. Again, I'm not sitting here boasting or proud of what we did today, but it's a long year, and they've worked hard, and we didn't get it done tonight.

COACH BOB STOOPS: No, that's what -- you search. You really soul search as a coach how this could happen, and sometimes they get on -- being in this situation they can get on a roll like that where they're good enough as it is and then you're contributing to it with your own turnovers and mistakes, and you give them the ball at the 5, you give them the ball at the 10, those kind of situations. You let a guy run by you and you're in a safe -- should be a protected, safe coverage and someone is behind you, then it happens quickly, and again, it does not take much for it to happen.

COACH BOB STOOPS: I think they're great, but I don't know if that's a surprise to anybody. We felt that way a week ago, and they sure, again, proved it today. I think they're an excellent team, and they play great as a team. You look at them today, they have no turnovers, just really executed in a great way, and they made the plays that counted, even on some tight coverage they came up with some nice catches, and then their defensive backs made some plays. They made the plays where it really mattered.

COACH BOB STOOPS: Were we? I have no idea why Mark would have done that. You know, of course. I was as shocked as everybody in the stadium. How do you explain that? I don't know. That goes back to Pop Warner football. Mark should have made a better decision. I'm not going to sit here and go any further in front of the whole media, but it's as bad as play as there is.

COACH BOB STOOPS: Hopefully we can get in it again next year and have a shot to win. That's what happened a year ago, and there weren't any far-reaching effects. We got it back this year and weren't good enough to get it done tonight.

JASON WHITE: Disappointed, embarrassed, you name it. You know, you play both seasons so well and you make it all the way to the end to what you really want, and you don't get it, and you know you left everything you had out there. I'm just disappointed and embarrassed. I think the whole team would say the same thing. We also know that we had a pretty good run this year. That's something we're going to keep our heads up about.

JASON WHITE: It was a horrible decision on my part. I should have just threw the ball away, and I didn't. I just tried to make a play and tried to throw it out so one of the receivers to jump up and get it, but it was stupid on my part and I should have just thrown it away.

JASON WHITE: It's a roller coaster. You know, sometimes you're high, sometimes you're low. Right now it's at a low point. There's nothing I can do to go back and change it. It's not like I can come back next year and make up for it. It's at a low point, but I'll be all right. I just have to fight through and the sun will come up tomorrow.

COACH BOB STOOPS: No, I don't believe there was any -- there was frustration. I couldn't believe it had actually happened, that he tried to make the play that he did, but that made it 14-7. We had so much time left to play, I don't know if there was anything that was anxious; it was more just really disappointed that Mark tried to do what he did.

COACH BOB STOOPS: Could be, I guess. They've had an entire month and they really played well, played well as a team. That's what you noticed, discipline, and they were sharp and made the plays, as I said before, when it counted.

COACH BOB STOOPS: Well, the way they played up front, they played well. Really it isn't just the front four, it's backers and secondary, the way they fit the run game, and they tackled well. They had guys getting to the football, more than one guy were there quite often.

COACH BOB STOOPS: I don't know how to say that. The bar is pretty high for everybody. They're a great team and have excellent talent, but I think year in and year out, you have stretches in time where there are other people who have done it, and there are other people who have talent, as well. There's a lot of great players out there around the country.

COACH BOB STOOPS: No, they ran their structure like they really have all year. As you saw, they rarely blitzed and ran their base structure that they have the entire year. They outplayed us, outcompeted, whether it be for the ball, and tackled well on the run. So structure-wise, was there anything, no. It was really about what they did the entire year.