Bob Stoops
“I was pleased overall with our execution in the first half: controlling some of the things we can control, and that’s being smart with penalties, playing clean, playing smart, blocking the right people, being in the right positions on defense, taking care of the football… keeping it tight. Some of the things that we didn’t do so well the week before, we were better, so we showed some improvement again on our part on the things we can control. Baker, I thought, was really decisive and quick getting the ball out in a lot of spots, threw it really well. I thought our running backs really did an excellent job up the line again. I thought defensively, first half we were excellent for the most part. Second half, we had a couple breakdowns with some young guys. One on a third and long, one safety rotates the wrong way, just busted. The other corners, both were simple coverages that just let the tight end run past them. Those guys, when they get in, they have to be better. Those were two basic, fundamental coverages that we use a lot, and they messed them up, and it makes it look bad.” – Opening Statement
“As much as anything, keeping Baker healthy in a situation we’re in. Austin is a true freshman and needs to play, so it was as much as anything getting him quality snaps, and he got them, and he’ll grow from them. That was the biggest issue.” – On Playing Austin Kendall
“D.J. [Ward], he checked out in the x-rays here. It was a neck injury, and it all checked out fine to this point, but I’m sure they’ll take him up and do more to make sure it’s okay. Charles [Walker] just has a slight pull, so we just in the game decided to rest him, but it should be okay. Will Johnson will be back. He was close to playing this week, and we intentionally wanted to not play him.” – On Player Injuries
Lincoln Riley
“It was a totally different situation. It’s always important. It was important last week and it will be important next week and every week after. Joe and Samaje did well early. I thought we really did well up front. We had good balance offensively, which tells you there’s good things up front. I thought the rest of the guys played up to where the o-line played last week. We though the o-line played good enough for us to win the game last week. I thought our skill guys, as a whole, were better.” – On The Running Game
“We want to get him reps. He’s our second quarterback. He’s demonstrated in practice the ability to handle situations and being physically good enough to do it right now. We certainly want to get him reps when we can. I don’t know that we had a certain number, I think it’s more of a feeling. We felt like the game was good and we had pretty good control. It was great to get him an entire half. I thought other than the fumble, he did really, really good. I was proud of his play. He made a few mistakes but he hung in there. He made a lot of really nice throws.” – On Playing Austin Kendall
“I’m just happy with how our guys responded. We all were incredibly disappointed with our performance, especially in the second half, last week. We’ve got to make improvement. Whether we won that game in Houston or not, you have to make jumps if you’re going to be where you want to be at the end of the season and have a chance to play in some really meaningful games. Our group made a really great jump this week. They really responded to all the things we put forth. We coached them, not that we don’t always, but we coached them incredibly aggressive this week and they did a good job this week.” – On Coming Off Last Week’s Loss To Houston
Mike Stoops
“I think we always thought that in time we’d have depth and that’s why these games are so important. Getting players out there and seeing how they react. It was a difficult situation a week ago and we didn’t use many of our guys but these games can give our guys some confidence. We still have to cover better and get some hands on some balls and make some plays. We need some guys to come up and make some plays for us. That’s what this game is about. There’s only so many things you can do cover wise; we just need to play winning football. We’ll keep working and hopefully we’ll improve as the season goes on.” – On The Devensive Depth
Nick Basquine
“I just keep saying surreal. It’s kind of like your first varsity game, your first catch, your first touchdown. You really don’t know what you just did until you get on the sideline this has been my dream.” – On Catching His First Touchdown Pass
Caleb Kelly
“That stadium was live. I came for my official visit last year but I don’t remember it being that loud. It was really special having all the fans there including my family.” – On The Stadium
Game Notes
- Oklahoma is 75-15-4 in home openers at Memorial Stadium.
- OU’s 42 first-half points were the most it has scored in any half in a home game since 2009 against Texas A&M (also 42 points).
- OU finished with 459 yards in the first half. It marked the third time the Sooners have totaled at least 450 yards or more in a first half under offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley (466 yards against both Tulsa and Kansas in 2015).
- The Sooners are 5-0 all-time against Sun Belt teams.
- The Sooners are 50-7 (.877) in September under Bob Stoops.
- Twelve different Sooners caught a pass in the game, led by freshman Mykel Jones with a team-high six receptions.
- With his 39-yard TD catch on the first drive of the game, Mark Andrews upped his career TD total to 10 on 24 total receptions.
- Nick Basquine’s first career reception went for 62 yards and a TD early in the second quarter to put OU up 35-0. He recorded 80 yards receiving on three catches.
- Baker Mayfield threw three TD passes to move into fifth place in OU history with 41, passing Nate Hybl and Cale Gundy (40).
- Samaje Perine’s 1-yard rushing TD in the first quarter brought his career total to 38, tying him with Greg Pruitt for eighth in OU history. He then moved into a tie for seventh all-time with Joe Washington with his 39th career rushing TD, a 5-yard score late in the second quarter.
- With 3,151 total career rushing yards, Perine is now ninth in program history, passing Pruitt.