|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
INSIGHT BOWL: IOWA v OKLAHOMADecember 30, 2011Frank AlexanderJamell FlemingLandry JonesBob StoopsTEMPE, ARIZONA Oklahoma – 31 COACH STOOPS: I want to compliment Iowa, Coach Ferentz's staff, the team, for a well‑played game, an exciting game down there into the fourth quarter. And I thought, again, they do an excellent job of making you work hard in different ways to beat them, to execute against them. I'm very proud of our players, the guys here, the guys that are in the locker room, to really play a pretty clean game. We took care of the football. Had very few penalties. Really executed, for the most part, pretty well. There are some things you would always like to do a little better. But, overall, they did an excellent job. I'm proud of them to be here winning our tenth game, finishing the season this way for some of the seniors to leave on a‑‑ their third straight Bowl win, and that gives‑‑ they kind of present then the team coming back with some momentum for the off‑season, and hopefully we can build on it. Q. Can you talk about your defense tonight, the game plan you had? Your linebackers blitzed a lot, you used a lot of things, but that also allowed you to stone the run. They only rushed for two yards a carry and you got pressure on the quarterback. COACH STOOPS: Yeah, I thought all our defensive coaches and Coach Venables did a nice job of ‑‑ they do such a good job on their offensive line of comboing people, double them for a while and then they climb up to your backers and whatnot that Coach Venables wanted to try and penetrate a little bit to get them off of those double teams quicker. Even if they pick you up, doesn't allow them to double certain people. So it worked out well, and I thought the guys did an excellent job up front, big Frank here and the guys, of being physical, getting off blocks, taking up space. Because you didn't see a lot of gash, the guys were where they needed to be. The secondary support off of it was really good. It worked out well. Q. You talk about a team win. I know there were a couple of hiccups on offense throughout the game. But your punter averages 50 yards per punt, flipping the field against an offense that's a little bit hamstrung. You get a field goal to clinch it. Special teams really stood out tonight and you had a couple of kick returns that almost went the distance. COACH STOOPS: They were really good. Special teams were great. Tress' punt was‑‑ in fact, now you say that, you guys, how did I miss giving him a game ball? I got to go back in the locker room and get him one. He did great. Our kickoff coverage was great, our kick returns were really good, and then Michael Hunnicutt comes out when he has to have it and kicks an excellent field goal. So all those guys did a really good job. Q. Talk about your decision to give Jamell Fleming Marvin McNutt at the receiver line one‑on‑one. COACH STOOPS: Jamell lines up into the boundary and he does a fair amount too. They go three by one, which a lot of people do. Meaning if you are going to do all these excellent coverages over to these three, we are going to go one‑on‑one with this guy, which a lot of people do with their really good receiver. I don't know that it was designed that it was just Jamell going to go cover him. When he was to the wide field, the other guys are covering him. But Jamell did a great job. So, long story, we didn't change what he does, but when he had them, back through the night, I thought Jamell had a great game the way he competed with them. He is a great receiver. I think he does a great job. Q. You had some candid comments earlier in the week about some of the things that had gone wrong this year and what you have done recently in the last month to take care of it or what you are going to do going forward. Did you think based on all that your team responded well in preparation and through this game tonight? COACH STOOPS: I really do. We've started some steps in what we've done and what we're doing as a program. And these guys have been awesome. I said that coming here, that I was really proud of the way they worked back home. And we gave them a good four days off. You guys had a pretty good Christmas break, didn't you? (Laughter). They came back and had four practices here. We didn't have a full week. But they were awesome. They really went hard and they prepared well. Q. Obviously the last six games something you used a lot was with Blake and Landry, the variation with those. How much did it mean to you tonight to have that option to drive with Landry and use Bell to pound it in? COACH STOOPS: There is just no denying anyone that uses the quarterback run game, when you go back to‑‑ you watch Oregon when they do it, Florida with Tebow when he was a young quarterback and then on and on, you get the extra blocker when the quarterback is running the ball. And it just makes a huge difference. You have a chance to have a body on a body and then you find space with it. So it's really through the whole year made a huge difference in our short‑yardage run game and our red zone run game. Let's face it, throwing the football, the tighter you get down there, there is less field, there is less space for the defense to cover. It's been a huge advantage for us to be able to implement that. And then the time it takes people to have to work on it. So now they've got to deal with that a good part of their practice not just zeroing in on the things that Landry is operating from. It has been a huge part of those two areas, the short yardage and‑‑ you know, again, it is just a lot of people know you are going to hand it off when it is third and one anyway. Now you got the extra blocker. You got somebody on everybody. Q. Can you talk about the play Jefferson at safety‑‑ the safety play you had tonight. You mentioned a little bit earlier that Jefferson really with his hitting ability and the physical play tonight looked like he set the tone back there too. COACH STOOPS: Yeah, he seemed to have a really good game. Looked like he tackled well and was in position really most of the night. So Tony and Aaron Colvin I thought really did a good job. Q. Talk to those who said this game didn't really mean a whole lot. I was watching your demeanor out there and your players, it was almost like a Big 12 championship. Explain that. COACH STOOPS: You would have to explain that to me. So if you are not in the national championship, it doesn't mean a lot? Where do start setting that gauge? I don't understand it. I'm not calling out at you. I'm just saying overall, so what is the big‑‑ why wouldn't it mean a lot? We're playing, right? So which Bowl game means a lot? So if someone else is playing for the national championship and you are playing for the Rose Bowl, that doesn't mean anything, right? Not going to be national champions, or does it? All these games mean a lot if you are the ones playing them? Right, Frank? FRANK ALEXANDER: Yes, sir. COACH STOOPS: You got to win them. Ask Frank. (Laughter). Q. I don't know if you saw any of the Baylor game last night. Did anything cross your mind at any point watching it thinking, I'm glad that's behind us? Nothing against Iowa and the BigTen, but the kind of quarterbacks and offenses you have been dealing with all year and tonight was a different kind of deal. COACH STOOPS: Well, it is. There is different styles. And I'm sure next year I know throughout our league there will be a whole mess more of them, you know, that you have to deal with all that type of schemes and spread the field the way they do with athletes, and quarterback run game is where it all begins. So we had a one‑night reprieve from it. Q. You had your brother Mike on the sideline tonight throughout the game. What was it like for you personally? Emotionally? I know you are tied up in the game, but he is by your side. Secondly, is it too much to read anything into that? Is he coming back to OU? COACH STOOPS: He was at the Tech game, too, and that didn't work out real well. Doesn't mean anything. It means he's my brother and he lives not too far away, why wouldn't he come to the game? And I see him plenty. I didn't have any extra emotion that he was sitting there next to me. We play‑‑ we have been in many big games together. Q. Landry, decision time. Is it getting closer? What will be the parameters? Do you have any thoughts on your future coming back to OU or declaring for the draft? LANDRY JONES: I think it is nice to just have this season kind of behind me where I can actually just sit down and not have another game on my mind while I make this decision. As far as right now, I don't really know what I want to do. Q. Frank and Jamell, can you talk about the pride that you played with tonight? A lot of people have said this is not a great defense or a good defense compared to what has been through the Stoops era again tonight. You showed everybody that you can play really good defense when you can get some things going. FRANK ALEXANDER: Coach has been stressing to us all week how it was going to be a physical matchup, and they were saying they was going to be beat us physically. As the D line, we stressed it the whole week. We got to be more physical than them. The team that's more physical and that lasts longer will win the game. Everybody came out there and we treated this just like a national championship, even though we didn't get to make it. This is our national championship. We wanted to finish strong. JAMELL FLEMING: This was a real important game, not just to us, to the Box family. This is the last year Box would have been able to play with us. It means something special for us and doing it for them. Q. On that one drive, Blake's second touchdown, you were sacked, you guys had a holding penalty. You did that slide where you got hit in the head. Looked like you hit your head twice. You still completed two third‑down passes. Talk about that drive and what it was like to fight through some things and overcome adversity. LANDRY JONES: Some of those things happen during a football game, and I think our guys did a great job of‑‑ regardless the down and distance, just kept playing ball, making plays. And we got a lot of good athletes on this team. You never know what's going to happen if you take a check down or anything like that. Someone makes a guy miss. I think we just kept our cool, kept playing ball and eventually put it in the end zone. Q. Blake, this might be the biggest story of the game. Media is talking about Landry, you outdid with him with MVP. Any reflections on that? BLAKE BELL: Not really. Landry is the one that gets me down there when I punch it in. So I give most of the credit to him. And Coach Stoops was saying the offensive line, and another hat out there. Those guys are getting on guys and it is making it easy for me to get in it. Q. Blake, I watched you walk off the field with that MVP trophy in your hands. I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time. What was that like for you? What did that feel like? It was obviously a huge game and a huge moment. BLAKE BELL: It was awesome. It is something you always dream about as a kid, coming to a big game and getting MVP. Like I said, it all starts up with the line. And coaching staff prepared us this week. And, like I said, Landry just getting it down. It is a team effort. And I'm happy for the seniors to go out on a win. Q. Landry, the hit you took in the first half, talk about that. Did you chip your tooth on T.V.? They were trying to say something about your tooth. LANDRY JONES: I think it was third sixth, third and seven, something like that. As I was running I checked toward the sidelines to see where I was at and I was a little short, so I knew I would have to take a hit. I tried to get down and lower my pads, and the guy got underneath me and gave me a good little shot. Yeah, I did chip some of my tooth. But it happens. In our offense we communicate through the offensive line. I usually don't wear a mouthpiece or anything like that. Sometimes that's the price you pay. Q. Blake, I wanted to ask you to take us back and tell us when the Bell Dozer or the package that you run evolved. One moment in time during the season you came out and played it and the rest of the year you scored 12, 13 touchdowns. Tell us how that evolved. Did you know that would happen at the start of the year? Just take us through that if you could. BLAKE BELL: Actually, it came up‑‑ it must have been the K‑State game the first time we ran it. It came up that week. So, no, that was the only time. And the Bell Dozer, the whole deal, I think the fans started that and they had a couple nicknames, and I think that one stuck. (Smiling). COACH STOOPS: Tell him how smooth you called that first play down there on the goal line at K‑state. BLAKE BELL: First play I called down there was‑‑ I don't even think‑‑ I was so nervous that I don't even think I got the first word out, so Coach Stoops was giving me a hard time of that at practice the next week. Q. Jamell, when you were matched up with Marvin, as a DB, is that something you relish? He was the best receiver. You are a good corner. Do you like that? JAMELL FLEMING: I feel like I'm the best DB. I want to be the best DB, so I'm going against a great receiver having that challenge, that's important to me. Q. Landry, a lot of the talk about Blake's touchdowns tonight, but you got into the end zone with one of your receivers for the first time in a while. Was there a sense and relief and excitement for you ending that drought? LANDRY JONES: Yeah, it's always fun throwing a touchdown, especially if you are a quarterback. It is a blessing whenever you get a chance to throw one in. And Rat did a good job of slipping past the corner and put it in the corner of the end zone for him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|