Oklahoma opened up the 2017 college football season with a 56-7 thrashing of UTEP. Here’s who said what following the game. For the full record of post game comments click here.
“I thought it took us a little bit to settle in, especially defensively there on the first drive but after that, I was really proud of how our kids responded. It was a complete effort. Offensively, we moved the ball well the majority of the day. We didn’t get the one fourth down, which was probably the big disappointment but I thought we did a good job at the line of scrimmage, thought we did a good job handling some of their pressure that they started to come at us with as the game went on and had a lot of young guys and first-timers make a lot of good plays, which I would say was probably the biggest positive. Defensively, had some chances right there on the first drive, a couple of third downs misaligned a few times. Again, there’s some young guys in there trying hard and I was really proud of the way they settled down. Our coaches did a great job of settling them down and they really settled in and played well defensively. Again, controlled the line of scrimmage, made competitive plays, didn’t allow another score after that which was huge for our team. Special teams were solid all day long. Were close to a couple returns that we thought were good but I was proud of the way our guys fielded the ball, proud of the way we covered on special teams, and probably the biggest thing – it’s fun to see this team get off to a great start, which has been a…very big point of emphasis for this group. We’ve really taken it personal the way we’ve played early in the year the last few years, so we know this is just one game and one start, but it’s a good start. I’m proud of the way we competed together and the way we finished the game.” – Lincoln Riley general game comments
BOOMER!#Sooners open the season with a 56-7 victory over UTEP. #OUDNA
Recap ➡️ https://t.co/i8PIRYbfeU pic.twitter.com/W73Qmh20gA
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) September 2, 2017
“You guys have heard me say it a million times in the last couple of months – that’s been a huge focus point for us, getting him settled in with those guys and you can’t get settled in if you don’t trust them. You’ve got to give them chances. Baker did that today and gave those guys chances and trusted them. Their confidence is going to grow, Baker’s confidence in them is going to grow and that’ll be, obviously, a good thing for us.” – Riley on Baker Mayfield’s chemistry with the receivers
“He played well. We felt like he was going to have a chance to be a big weapon for us. He’s grown a lot in the past few years from being an every-other-down type of guy to being out there and playing long stretches at a time. He played really well. I thought he was really good after the catch today. He’s been able to run away from some people in the past. I was excited today to see him run through some people and use not only that speed and quickness that he has and is very gifted with, but some power.” – Riley on TE Mark Andrews
“We think they’re all pretty good players. I thought they were steady, we had some big runs. I think those guys will grow to pop more big ones. When you get those first ones in the game, it takes some time. All the sudden you come out on the second level where you run through a couple of tackles and now the next step is hitting some of those big ones and I think you even saw the growth of that even in the previous years from Joe and Samaje. As they got more comfortable, older, more used to those situations, they got better at that. Our guys did a good job in pass pro, which is obviously always probably your number one concern with young backs… I thought they all ran hard, all ran well, all had some good runs and were all close to bumping a few. I think we have a deep room and we’ll continue to get a lot of competition.” – Riley on the running backs
“I don’t know what the roster says but he’s almost 260 (lbs.) and he’s moving well. He’s a guy that you look at the stat sheet and he’s got seven catches for 134 yards so I have to get him the ball. He’s going to make competitive plays. Him and Dimitri are going to play a big role for us this year. He’s part of the great leadership we have here so it was great to see him come out and have a good first game. It was good for him to come out and prove that we’re not going to just talk about it but we’re going to be about it.” – Baker Mayfield on Mark Andrews
“It was a little weird. It was like I was out there two days ago. it did not feel like I had not been out there in two years. I was comfortable. The guys were behind me, everybody played good; the line blocked good, the receivers did their job, and the running backs ran the ball so it was all good.” – Quarterback Kyler Murray on playing for the first time in two years
“It’s tough. You know there are so many guys that are explosive. There are a lot of young guys. I thought everyone stepped up. There were a lot of doubts about this receiving corps and I thought it was big for us to come out and catch the ball and play really well.” – Mark Andrews on the receiving corps
“Consistency is the key. You know I think that is what will put us in the Big 12 Championship contention. Obviously, for the playoff contention and for the National Championship. It being our first game, we’ve got 11 more that are definitely in the book but we got to wait until we get there. We have to get better everyday.” – Offensive lineman Orlando Brown on the performance of the offense
“That’s what a team leader does. He stepped up and set an example for how to keep them from scoring. That was great for Steven Parker, who’s a team captain and a great leader.” – Sophomore corner Parnell Motley on Steven Parker’s big hit in the first quarter