Postgame: Stoops, players talk rout of UT

Bob Stoops at the podium…

I guess I'd just start by complementing our players for their really excellent play today and their assistant coaches for really having a good plan and having them prepared to play and I really was just quite pleased to have them play so well in every facet of the game. I thought the kicking game was great and all our punt returns and kick returns got us field position and our guys all hit the ball well. Michael Hunnicutt hit the ball well all day and was great. Tress was good. The cover units were great and that was really great.

SCOOPHD: Players talk 63-21 win at podium

I guess offensively, Landry, again, was really on the mark. I think the big part of the game was being able to run the ball as well as we did and protection. I don't know, I'm not sure if there were any sacks or not, but he was protected really well the entire day. I thought our offensive line did a great job run blocking and protecting. Damien Williams and a host of guys really ran it well. Landry threw it well and a bunch of guys caught it well.

Justin Brown had a huge day and it was good that Jalen Saunders, a young guy that a lot of people haven't seen, got in there and made a couple of big pickups. Then defensively, they were great and they stoned the run all day. They were really physical up front in how we played. They tackled well, made all the adjustments they needed to make and they were where we needed to be all the time. Heck, when you can go up to 4:30 to go in the game and they hadn't surrendered a point. The two points come off the field goal, another six come off the interception.

Our twos and threes are learning how to play and they get out and give up a couple at the end that really didn't matter. The defense was incredible and I thought physical, tough on the run, covered well, got pressure and all the things you wanted to do. It was a complete game.

Q: On a day where everybody's going to talk about how many yards you put up, it really was the story of the day, wasn't it? The defense and two first downs in the first half and you totally take control of the game there?

Well, I don't know the story of the game. I would say both. It's fair to say the offense put up what they had at half and they weren't defensive touchdowns, so it was both. We played really well together. You're right, the defense was stoning them and giving us great field position and the offense kept capitalizing on it. Together we were going back and forth really well.

Q: A couple of week s ago I asked you if you thought this team was tough enough and you said…

Yeah, and I didn't like the question then. So.

Q: And you said you didn't know…

Because you're asking something because we had fumbled the ball twice and it had nothing to do with being tough. We played a good physical Kansas State team and we were there with them and you turn the ball over and you have a fourteen point swing and you're not going to win. I thought it was a dumb question and I still think it is.

Q: The question was about mental toughness at the time. Fumbles happen and it's often mental toughness as well…

Okay, in all your experience.

Q: I don't want to… The question is, you said that day that you don't know if we're good enough. We were both wrong apparently when we look at today. What changed between and now?

Well don't include me with you. It was our third game, we had only played three games. This was only our fifth game. Everybody wants to summarize after two games. That doesn't make any sense to me, or in the third game. And who knows what we'll do. We do that again and have turnovers and you'll be saying the same thing. In the end, I thought it was too early for anybody to be tough or not to be tough at that point. At this point, it showed, I guess, we're a little bit tough. How tough? I don't know. You guys can all throw your perceptions out there, because coming into this game, they weren't all accurate either.

Q: Thanks John. How tough? No, not how tough, sorry. Who is this team right now Bob because it doesn't look anything like the team that lost to K-State?

We'll see. We're a team that's 4-1 right now. We beat Texas, we beat Texas Tech in the league. That's it. We've got a long road to travel. This game, for my fourteen years, has never been the end-all on our season. It's a part of it, but we've got a long road ahead of us. We've got to keep getting better. I think we will.

BLAKE BELL, LANDRY JONES, DAMIEN WILLIAMS, TREY MILLARD, DAVID KING AVAILABLE AS WELL FOR QUESTIONS…

Q: Offensive line obviously had a couple of issues during the week. You patched it together and obviously had sore ankles early on. Can you talk about them and how strong they came out and performed?

They did a great job. We are thin there and they managed to battle throughout the whole game and really managed to do it in a really positive way. Look at the… they were awesome. I thought they did a great job.

Q: You had a lot of luck today with 20 and 30 personnel. Is that something that's gonna be an advantage all year or is that more of a Texas specific game plan today?

Well, we'll see. We don't tip our hand what we intend to do from game to game and what we threw out there today seemed to work pretty well.

Q: Bob, can you talk about the gameplan that Josh Heupel came up with this week?

Oh, I thought Josh and Jay Norvell both, our co-coordinators, and the whole offensive staff did a great job game planning and having our guys prepared and really capitalized to a degree on what they were doing.

Q: David, can you talk about the way you guys stuffed the Texas run game? They got nothing today.

Well for starters we did a good job of coming out from start to finish of controlling the line of scrimmage and you win the game up front. If you don't control that you lose the game. Across the board the two inside guys, Casey played real well for us and me R.J.and Chuka got after them on the outside.

Q: Bob, you've had some big wins over Texas. Is this as complete a win as you've had?

Well, it certainly ranks up there with the 63-14 and the 65-13. It's in the same ballpark because if we left our one defense out there I don't think the end would have been like it was. It would have been right there with those. Those are pretty special ones and this definitely is right there with them.

Q: Landry can you talk about how meaningful today is. I think you became only the fourth quarterback to win three (OU-TX) games as a starting quarterback and you're now the winningest quarterback in OU history?

Yeah, I mean, it's just been a blessing. It's been a ride and I got here in 2008 and I never thought I would have played this long around this place but just really blessed and I thank God I get to play at a university like this place. It's really special and there's so much tradition around this place. You look at it and you're really thankful you get to play.

Q: Blake can you talk about the opportunities you had today and you're probably stealing some touchdown passes from Landry, but the impact you're able to have inside the 10 and Texas didn't seem to defend it real well?

Yeah, obviously I've got to start with Landry and the O-Line getting the ball down inside the 10. If it wasn't for those guys I wouldn't be in there. Like I said, whenever I get in there, all I can do is do my best and try to get in the endzone.

Q: Landry what does it say for this team for you guys to come back from a loss and play so well in back-to-back games?

I think it just shows our toughness, shows our resiliency, our maturity. All of those things kind of clumped into one. I thought we did a really good job of just coming out ready to play. I think we were all excited and ready to have fun. That's what this thing is all about. You play loose, you play excited and you play tough. These are the kind of games that are open and capable to you.

Q: Damien, you seem to be making a habit of these cross country runs. Talk about the importance of the running game and also were you aware and did you see Kenny Stills come over and lay the big block for you?

I didn't see Kenny making the block but I knew somebody was. We practice it and we practice finishing and I felt like everybody was invested in the play and invested in what they were doing. All I could do is just take it forward for the guys.

Q: Trey, your hurdles. Can you talk about that?

I see a lot of guys and they start to go low and it's really easy to just jump over them because they're not expecting me to and I just took the opportunity when it was there and luckily I made a big play.

Q: David, The defense in general. They had two first downs in first half, stats, stats, did you guys coming off the Tech win expect to have a defensive showing like you did today?

Our mindset all week was how are we going to prepare. I think we did a great job of preparation throughout the week and it showed today and it was just a total dominant half in the first half and we came out and it carried over to the second half and we just got after them.

Q: Bob, the block that Stills threw, how much did it set the tone?

He's not in the endzone without it. I saw Kenny coming and I was just hoping he'd get there and sure enough he's got great speed and he got there in the knick of time and knocked him off and that was it and I knew no one was catching him after that. It energizes the team when you can take something to the house like that. 95 yards is pretty special. It gets everybody gassed up.

Q: Bob, talk about your defense gaining steam. Just seems like guys are playing at a higher level than we've seen in a while?

They are. They're playing very disciplined throughout the year. If you take away points that aren't from the defense, we're probably leading the league in scoring defense, if you take away the turnover or points the other way. They're playing great. We're playing physical, we're tackling, we're not giving up big plays and we haven't through the last three games, or very few. We're building on it and hopefully it will continue. I believe it will. Those guys are doing a good job up there and the back end, all across the board. It's been very strong.