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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: OKLAHOMA v BOISE STATEJanuary 1, 2007Rufus AlexanderAdrian PetersonBob StoopsPaul ThompsonGLENDALE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: We'll have an opening comment from Coach Stoops. COACH STOOPS: Okay, very proud of my football team. They've been a great group to work with the entire year. This game doesn't change that. It was a crazy, wild game. Felt early on, of course, we made too many major mistakes that really put us in a bad position. But I'm proud of the way the guys fought back, responded to give theirselves an opportunity to win. In the end, Boise made, you know, the big plays on some fourth downs and a two-point play. Give them, you know -- and they deserve it, the credit for making those plays. They did an excellent job. Again, very proud of these guys, my entire football team, for the way they competed, the way they've handled theirselves through the entire season. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. I interviewed Ian Johnson a few minutes ago, the fellow who they stopped the clock and looked at the possible fumble. He said on record that he fumbled the ball, that it was a bad call. In light of that, how frustrating is it for you because you know you can't go back and change it, the Oregon situation in mind, too? RUFUS ALEXANDER: I mean, you know, bad calls -- if that was a bad call, oh, well. We still had a chance to stop 'em later on in the game, even though that was a bad call. The defense had to step up and make stops, when we should have made them. Q. Bob, your comment? COACH STOOPS: I haven't seen it. In the end, if it is that way, it is. There's nothing I can do about it. It's unfortunate if it is. What am I going to say about it at this point? Q. After they get in the game with the hook and ladder play, after that are you expecting anything and everything at that point, gadget play or anything like that? COACH STOOPS: We've looked at many through our preparation. They're always looking for 'em. I want to give them credit because I thought they executed it in a really good way. But fourth and 19, you do get some things like that. We were in as conservative and as good a coverage as you can be in. They executed it. Their times just happened to be right. I think one of our inside backers slips, you know, as the ball is thrown. We can't get on the receiver quick enough before he can lateral. It's just the circumstances, the way it happened, they hit it perfect -- again, to their credit. Q. Adrian, obviously very emotional for you. The last time you may have touched the ball at the University of Oklahoma, you scored a touchdown. Your thoughts right now? ADRIAN PETERSON: I don't know, kind of -- I don't know, my head is just spinin' right now. I don't know, the play they ended in, it was a crazy play. I don't know. I don't know, man. My head is just spinin' right now, to be honest. Q. Coach, can you talk about your team coming back when you were down at the last, Marcus Walker's play, three two-point tries? What happened there? COACH STOOPS: Again, a lot happened. I'm proud. Everyone can make of this what they want. These guys are great to work with. Even though we made our mistakes, dug ourselves a hole, we dug out of it with those plays. I'm proud of 'em, the way they did, executed. You know, make two two-point conversions, Marcus makes a great play after giving up a big play early in the game to give ourselves an opportunity to win. Just wasn't meant to be. Q. Adrian, I know you said your head is spinning. What is your thought process as far as making your decision? How are you going to work that out? ADRIAN PETERSON: Well, I got a little time. So basically just sit back, you know, find some time to relax, think over everything. You know, then I'll make my decision. No rush. Q. Adrian, how did it feel to be back out on the field? I noticed at one point you got in the huddle, after a turnover you kind of got the guys fired up. Did it just come back naturally to you, feel good to be back on the field again? ADRIAN PETERSON: Exactly. It felt good to be back out with the guys. The guys, offensive line gelled, improved throughout the season. It was great to just get back out and play with the guys, so... Q. Paul, talk about your night. You had a couple of turnovers but you bounced back, had a storybook ending from an offensive standpoint, from your standpoint. PAUL THOMPSON: Yeah, started off a little rough, made some passes that I normally wouldn't make. I think I might have been trying to do too much, it being a big game. I wasn't really playing within myself. We were able to regroup. The guys did a great job staying focused towards the end of the game, never doubting ourselves, never not believing we could come back. Yeah, started off, it was definitely rough. Wasn't really nervous; just was trying to do too much really. Q. Coach, in the overtime, most of their plays were misdirection trickery. Was that two-point conversion, a time-out, can you tell me what you told the defense? COACH STOOPS: The two things we were looking for were a sprint to the trips guys out there. We made a special point to emphasize the backside. We call it the nub side away from the end over, to look for something, throw back something back to that side. We didn't do a very good job defending it. Q. Adrian, I know you haven't made your decision yet. Could you talk about the last sequence there, scoring on what may be the last play of your career, then what happened as you sat there and watched from the sidelines and couldn't do anything? ADRIAN PETERSON: You know, came out, knew the play was called. Basically just, you know, guys blocking, they were going to make a good cut to the inside, bounce it back out. Had great blocking by the receivers. Was able to get in the end zone. At that point I was, you know, excited. You know, I don't know, just ready for the defense to get out there, you know, and get the job done. Unfortunately, you know, it didn't happen that way. Q. Bob, if you could answer, a little bit of a two-parter. Your offense seemed to, when they got going with a faster tempo, execute well in the second half. Plus your defense was giving you opportunities. Tide turned in the second half, didn't it? COACH STOOPS: Well, sure. But the first half, again, defensively there's two plays, there's two big plays. I thought their quarterback on the second one just makes -- we're all over him. He swings it back out to their sideline. Other than that, though, we're playing good defensively. Offensively, I felt we didn't do -- we were pretty average to poor in the first half. Of course, you know, we didn't do a very good job running the football at all. Again, to their credit, they did a nice job taking it away. You know, the turnovers really, really hurt us. In the second half, we started executing a little bit better, making some plays. Q. Coach, you've played a number of top 20 teams this year. How would you rank Boise State in relation to the other teams you've played? COACH STOOPS: They're an excellent football team. Anybody that's covered us knows, I don't get into comparing teams. They're a really good football team. I knew that, we knew that all along. Their execution, the way they play, I think Coach Petersen, his staff, do an excellent job. They obviously deserve their ranking. They've had a great year. They've had a great number of years. We understood that coming in. They're a good football team. Q. Rufus, did you think at the end there that you guys were kind of wearing them down? Were you surprised by their trickery or whatever you want to call those plays they were able to execute? RUFUS ALEXANDER: I mean, the play they scored on for the two-point conversion, we actually seen it on tape. We kind of was like in awe the way he did the misdirection with the ball. I saw it when he kind of faked, had the ball in his backhand. I was going over the top. He kept stretching it out, thought he was going to cut back. They executed their plays, did a great job. Hats off to them. We didn't execute with the defense, play back when we should have. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. End of FastScripts |
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