Bob Stoops
“First, I’ll start off by just saying congratulations to Coach Tom Herman, his staff and his team. They played an excellent, well-played game. We knew coming in that they were an excellent football team and they sure played that way today. About my team, not where we want to be. Nothing to do with coming in ready to play or playing hard, we didn’t play very smart. I thought some of the penalties, particularly on defense really hurt us. I thought the turnovers, fumbles on offense really hurt us. Probably a big turning point in the game, the field goal at the end of the half that they got and then the field goal returned for a touchdown. I thought those two plays were really big swings for us just momentum-wise. But, overall, you’ve got to give it to them today. They did a lot better job overall than we did. We’ve got to keep pushing this team and keep improving this team because we’ve got a heavy schedule coming. But I still have a strong belief in this team and we’re going to come out and be okay and continue to improve and still have a chance to have a great year.” – Opening Statement
“That’s where you have to credit. They made some big plays overall. Made great plays on third down, in particular. That was a big case and we couldn’t, and that’s the bottom line. For instance, we have Dimitri Flowers wide open for a touchdown and we don’t complete, we throw that about every day and complete it. We all get them down. That’s just an example of execution and get a chance to make a big play. It is their touchdown, we don’t make it and next play we fumble, we get stripped. That’s where they made the plays and we didn’t.” – On not making big plays
“I felt one time we were beaten quick off the line and were sacked. The other times, I felt they were more coverage sacks. I think too, it is fair to say, I think there is a couple of times, Baker (Mayfield) had something there and was waiting on something a little more downfield instead of taking what was there. Those are things I think can be worked out. I didn’t feel we got beat immediately where he didn’t have any time. I feel it was more coverage wise, other than the one I remember coming off the edge.” – On protecting the quarterback
“You know you have to cover it. The personnel on the field is the best coverage guys and that’s because the best coverage guys will be to protect the field goal. So, you are on a little bit of a dilemma. I don’t really second guess, I have seen Austin (Seibert) make that quite a few times. That’s what I meant, like the field goal at the end of the half; it got to where I felt it was, at the right time, he can make this. I was wrong. We did not do a good enough job covering.” – On the missed field goal returned for a touchdown
Baker Mayfield
“We just got away from what we were doing. The first half, I am pretty sure, we didn’t have an incompletion. They were running probably eight, nine yards a pop. We were staying ahead of the chains, when you do that you have success on offense. I think in the second half, we got a little greedy and tried to do too much and we got off track. The defense started playing well. That’s when we tried to get greedy and we were not doing the same things to keep the chains moving to stay ahead of the game. That’s when all kind of got off.” – On what changed with the offense
Jordan Evans
“Yeah, we just struggled today executing and making plays when the play came to you. I thought we had good calls. I thought we had the position. At the end of the day, you’ve just got to give them credit for them coming down with the ball and their quarterback making plays off his feet. It’s nothing that we can’t fix. Just got to go back this week and just get better.” – On Houston’s third down success
Game Notes
• With the loss, Oklahoma is now 15-3, under head coach Bob Stoops, in season openers.
• OU’s loss snapped a streak of six straight wins in season openers.
• The Sooners moved to 49-7 (.875) in September under Stoops.
• Oklahoma dropped to 55-29 (.655) vs. AP Top 25 teams in the Stoops era.
• OU fell to 2-1 all-time against Houston, and is now 1-1 under Stoops and 1-1 at neutral sites.
• Mark Andrew’s 64-yard touchdown in the second quarter was the longest reception of his career.
• Andrew’s fourth quarter touchdown was his second on the day and gives him 9 scores on just 22 career receptions.
• Baker Mayfield recorded 323 passing yards, helping move his career total offensive yards to 4,427 yards, placing him 10th in OU history. He passed Steve Owens, Joe Washington, Billy Sims, Steve Davis and Trevor Knight in the game.
• Joe Mixon’s 32 yard touchdown, in the first quarter, was his eighth career rushing score and his 12th overall career touchdown.
• Mixon’s 60-yard reception in the first quarter was his third reception of at least 60 yards in the last two years, the most by an FBS running back during that span.
• Will Johnson’s 10 tackles were both a career and team high.