The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Oklahoma quotes
10.11.2008 | Football
Oct. 11, 2008
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Mack Brown
On the game: It's a shame that these two teams are in the same league, much less the same division, because we have to play this game early in the season. Those are two of the best football teams in the country. It was one and five and it's a shame either one of these teams had to lose. It was hard fought. The guys on both teams just left it out on the field and were totally exhausted at the end of the game. Both teams were in great shape out in that heat. It was a heavyweight fight that continued throughout the day. Everytime one would get up the other one would come back and vice-versa. Neither team gave up and neither team quit.
Usually in a college game like this, somebody gives up. As soon as we had the roughing the punter call, they got excited again. So it was a game where everytime somebody would make a play, the other team would get more excited. I think you've got to give their staff credit for trying to do things to win the game. You've got to give our staff credit for being aggressive and continuing to try to make the plays to win the game. Give those kids credit on both sides of the ball. I didn't see anybody loaf, I didn't see anybody give up. I thought it was one of the greatest football games I've ever seen.
On Oklahoma: I congratulate Oklahoma on a great game and the way they fought and at the same time I'm really proud of our guys. It was just a great football game from their stand point and this team has shown a lot of fight. They've shown the ability to come back time and time again. They've done everything they were supposed to do coming into this game, so we felt like they would do that. The fact that we won this game makes this next week's game with Missouri that much bigger. That puts us at a different place and now we're at a bigger goal.
On wide receivers Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby: Jordan couldn't make a big play except on the kickoff return without Colt (McCoy) and the offensive line. The kickoff return was an answer that really reset the tempo. We felt like we had to win the turnover ratio and we had to win the kicking game to have a chance to win the game. When Jordan broke loose, everybody has talked about speed. He and Quan (Cosby) have great speed and (Jordan) showed it on that play. Quan caught some balls deep, but I thought one more time in this game Colt answered the bell time and time again.
Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp
On carrying the performance into the rest of the season: What we've been counting on all year is our front seven playing well. We dominated the line of scrimmage, we played well up front, we rushed the passer with four guys rushing, we improved in coverage down the field. You just can't mistakes like we did in the first half and give them plays, and even in the second half, they had the first drive where they hit the jailbreak and did a good job of that.
We improved in the second half. We have to continue to take steps forward. When the game was on the line, we made plays to win the game. The kids kept playing. They overcame coaching, overcame situations in the game and I'm just really proud of their effort. I can't say enough about Greg Davis, Colt McCoy, our offense, the kicking game; it was a team win. We made plays defensively when we needed to at the end. It wasn't pretty but we got it done.
On the uniqueness of the Texas-Oklahoma game: Obviously, split 50-50, everybody is coming out of the same tunnel, you can feel the good, old-fashioned hatred. I think both programs have great respect and Oklahoma is an outstanding football team. Bob Stoops and his staff do a great job. You certainly can feel that in the game and I was excited the way our kids responded to some adverse situations.
On the Oklahoma's offense dictating the pace of the game with their no-huddle offense: They do a great job with it but we just have to do a better job of responding in those situations. We just made some stops and our kids made plays. When it came up and the game was on the line, we made plays. When the game was in jeaporday, we made plays. Our offense kept scoring and that was the key to the ballgame.
Offensive Coordinator Greg Davis
On the predominance of the four-receiver formation: We practice it during camp. We do some things in camp that sometimes you don't pull out until five or six weeks into the season. But we started on Tuesday with it, explained to the kids why we were doing it and they bought into it. Colt's so accurate that it allows you to use that as a run in many cases. Finally, we felt like if we stayed patient with the run, eventually we would pop some. Chris [Ogbonnaya] made a huge play in the fourth quarter on the long run.
I did it because I felt like the run game was going to be hard to come by early. So we wanted to use a lot of those little throws to Jordan like runs, to get us into 2nd-and-4, 2nd-and-3. Oklahoma is an unbelievable rush team, especially when they know it is a pass situation. We were trying to keep them out of the obvious pass situations by using that as much as we could, by using that like a run.
On the 37-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Shipley: They were in a three-down and they brought zone pressure, which most of there blitzes are. We had Jordan on a middle read where if nobody is in the middle, he was going to take it; if there was a safety he was going to cross the field. He crossed the field and Colt found him.
On Colt McCoy's decoy motions to the wide receivers before Chris Ogbonnaya's long run in the fourth quarter: He was just playing the game, talking to them. It was a run all the way. We do so much with our hands that you have to do it on runs as well as passes.
QB Colt McCoy
On running back Chris Ogbonnaya:
He is going to make plays because he is a playmaker. He runs great routes out of the backfield, picks up blitzes well. When his number is called, he is going to get you those tough hard-fought yards. They blitzed and blitzed all day and played their linebackers in tight, so that made us throw the ball a lot. Finally, they backed off, Chris popped two long runs, and that was the difference.
On Oklahoma's offense:
I watch defenses. I watched OU's defense all day, so I don't know what they do on offense. Sam Bradford is a great leader. I mean look at him today -- he ran them up and down the field. He is a special player and we knew coming in that they were going to score some points. I have to give credit to our defense, because they stopped them when they needed to. Coach (Greg) Davis had a great gameplan and we were able to execute it perfectly.
On his personal goals: The most important thing for me to do was to get a win. That was the main goal. To be able to execute Coach Davis' plan was awesome. We were able to attack and throw the ball, and we have to give credit to the offensive line. If there are any awards at the end of the season, they are team awards. I truly feel that way.
DE Brian Orakpo
On UT's defensive performance:
I really thought we had a good gameplan coming in with Coach (Will) Muschamp. They have a great offense, and these guys make huge plays. Sometimes we shot ourselves in the foot when it was third and long, but we did a great job of handling adversity. We started getting off the field when we needed to, and that's when the big plays started coming. The sacks and interceptions and big tackles really motivated our team. (Roddrick) Muckelroy is a tackling machine. There are games where I finish with two tackles because Muckelroy finished with 14. He is that type of guy. I felt that we did a great job and finished it off when it mattered in the second half.
On being able to pressure OU quarterback Sam Bradford: As far as blitzing and things go, give credit to their offensive line. Those guys are big. We have a good defensive front and Coach Muschamp felt that we could bring some pressure with just rushing four guys. That was the philosophy and gameplan coming in -- don't rush more if we don't need to, because they have great wide receivers and tight ends that make plays. We tried to do that all game, and we were somewhat successful with it.
LB Roddrick Muckelroy
On the young secondary's performance: Those guys aren't young anymore. This is the sixth game of the season, they're not young anymore. They know what to do back there. We just need to make sure everybody is on the same page, go out there and handle our business as a defensive unit.
On savoring the win ahead of another big game against Missouri next week: I'm going to enjoy until I wake up in the morning. Until we go to practice tomorrow, I'm going to enjoy this win right here. It's a great win. You get out there and you fight hard all day long, you've got to enjoy it for just a little while. Then you have to let it go.
On any halftime adjustments: [We] calmed down. We were out there still with our heads spinning, but once you calm down, focus and see what they're doing, you start to focus on the little things. Run to the ball and make plays, that's all we can do.
RB Chris Ogbonnaya
On chipping away at the Oklahoma run defense: I think our team just continues to fight. It's not just me, it's the whole team. We face a lot of adversity during the game and that's a credit to Oklahoma, they're a great team. But we just wanted to keep fighting, keep playing to our standard and we knew that if we gave ourselves the opportunity, we'd have a chance to come out with a win.
On playing better in the second half: Just execution. I think a lot of times, Oklahoma did a great job defensively of playing our offense but we wanted to just execute our scheme, continue to saw wood. It worked out for us. We're a very hard-working bunch and we want to just keep grinding, keep going to work. Every time we go out on the field, it's time to go back to work. We're never content. We can score every time we touch the ball and we have a very explosive offense. That's a credit to our offensive line. They're the anchor of our team and they do such a great job of blocking, protecting and cutting the guys down. I just want to give them credit because they deserve it.
On Oklahoma's quick start and coming back from an early deficit: What Coach Brown told us is that we've also done a great job in the first quarter and it was going to be a heavyweight matchup between two good football teams. We just wanted to play our game and execute our offense, our defense, and our special teams. At the end of the day, we knew we would have a chance to play great against them. We did that. We didn't play great in the whole game and nobody plays a perfect game. I think that's what the coaches keep telling us, no matter who play or what number they are, you're not going to play perfect against them. We just wanted to go back to work every time we were on offense, remain consistent and execute.
On his big run in the fourth quarter: I just kept telling the offensive line to remain patient, because I knew Colt (McCoy) was going to get me the ball. I knew that he was giving dummy signals with his hands because of all the time we have spent together over the last three years. The offensive line probably doesn't get as much credit as they deserve. The guys that were in there just kept grinding, and I told them that we just need to keep doing that. We ended up having the opportunity to break a couple of big ones, and I just wanted to thank them for that opportunity. A lot of times they are the unsung heroes of our team.
RB Cody Johnson
On sharing the load at running back: If he is the one that is going to impact the game, catching and running, he deserves to be in there. You just have to wait your turn go in there whenever you need to run the ball.
On having a clearer picture at running back: I think it's really good. It makes the competition a lot better. Our group is like a big family. It doesn't make a difference who's in the game, we're all happy as long as at the end of the game, we get the win.
On goal line situations: I'm pretty confident. With Roy [Miller at fullback] you're going to get in almost every time. He can intimidate people. I think I'm confident being behind Roy.
LB Sergio Kindle
On any halftime adjustments: They were watching our run defense and pass rushing, they figured they could slip some screens on us and they did. We had to adjust at halftime and play more conservative, more four-man rushes and try to keep some of our people in coverage instead of blitzing everybody and leaving open lanes.
On beating Oklahoma: It feels good, feels really good. But it feels even better because of the way we did it. Us being down by 11 going into the second quarter, 21-10, I'm pretty sure didn't believe. I heard something on TV saying if we got down to Oklahoma that it would be virtually impossible for us to come back. I guess we took that as motivation. It happened.
On playing strong at the end of the game: I just wanted to go out and do whatever it took to get the (win). For these seniors, it's their last go-round. Last year, they lost as juniors, so we wanted to get them a win for their last go-round.
OG Cedric Dockery
On beating Oklahoma: I just want to thank the O-line, the team, the defense for doing such a great job. The defense played great I thought. Even though (Oklahoma) scored points, it doesn't matter, they played a good game. I just want to thank Chris [Ogbonnaya], Colt McCoy for playing well today. They both led us to victory today offensively.
WR Quan Cosby
On beating Oklahoma: It's really hard to win out there. This team is really coming together, working hard together to get some really tough wins.
On winning 45-35: This team is focused on the team general. A lot of people counted us out, but we never did. We're very confident in our offense and even more now after putting up 45 points against Oklahoma's defense. They always have an amazing defense. Again, it says a lot about our total effort. Our defense made huge plays when needed, as did special teams.
On playing better in the second half: I think getting points right before the half really helped. It didn't seem like it when we came out but we kept our confidence and again, we always believed. We never stopped believing. On the sideline, our coaching staff was telling us keep believing, be patient, it's going to happen. We believed in it. Our offense made some huge plays, defense made some huge plays. It boils down to that, we never stopped believing.
WR Jordan Shipley
On savoring the win ahead of another big game against Missouri next week: You've got to enjoy it. This kind of thing doesn't happen every day. We're going to enjoy it as much as we can and when it's time to go back to work, we'll go back to work. We feel really fortunate to have gotten a win today.
DE Lamarr Houston
On having a good defensive performance and giving up 35 points: [You can't say that about] a whole a lot of games. OU is a good football team. They have a great offense and they have a really good offensive line. I was happy we didn't give up 55 or something like that.
On the Oklahoma offense: It's a good offense. They have a good scheme for themselves with the no-huddle. They force you to play some patient defense.
