Jeff Lebby SMU Postgame Interview 9-9-23
Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby speaks to the media following the Sooners' 28-11 victory over SMU.
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00:00 Normally, you love to take chances and go for 50/50 balls.
00:05 >> Yeah. >> You didn't get many of those today
00:06 at all.
00:07 >> No, I got a little conservative there in the middle part of the game.
00:11 Playing great defense, wanted to find ways to sustain and chew up clock and
00:18 continue to put our defense in a good position.
00:20 But had a couple chances to take some shots and didn't.
00:24 And then really proud of our guys for just continuing to play, man, and
00:27 being able to score those last two drives.
00:30 Only had four opportunities in the second half, so
00:32 proud of our guys for continuing to play.
00:35 >> Did something change, though?
00:36 I mean, it looked like you opened things up a little bit in the last two.
00:39 >> I needed to get back and be more aggressive.
00:41 >> A little bit about Tommy's game, especially that second drive.
00:45 I think he had 59 of the rushing yard during that second left down drive.
00:48 What is this, his aggressiveness and his physicality?
00:50 >> Just toughness, edge, physicality,
00:52 doing whatever he can possibly do to help his football team win.
00:54 That's who he's been, and been great to see.
00:58 Happy for him and the success he had tonight.
01:00 >> What's been your challenge for these running backs as they're really trying to
01:03 establish themselves in this league?
01:05 >> Again, it's by committee right now.
01:08 We're gonna go with guys that got the hot hand.
01:10 We've gotta continue to take care of the football regardless of who's in there and
01:14 put ourselves in good shape to be able to go score points.
01:17 >> Going back to that second touchdown, was it kind of a focus going to that drive
01:21 to establish the run game a little bit more, or is it something that just came?
01:26 >> No, we're always trying to establish the run game in everything we're doing.
01:29 >> How hard is it to get the running backs, I mean, as deep as you are,
01:33 how hard is it to get them all quality snaps throughout the week?
01:37 >> Yeah, it's constant, finding ways to get those guys in at the right time,
01:42 making sure the guys are warm when they get in.
01:45 So that's a big part of the conversation in between series,
01:48 understanding the things that we're starting with,
01:50 what we're thinking about coming with, and having the right guys on the field.
01:53 >> Jeff, the pass to Major, that's a great call.
01:56 Could you talk about how you set that up and why that play made you do a great job?
02:01 >> Just felt like I had an opportunity to get him in the flat with some of the things
02:05 that we were seeing on third and medium.
02:08 He made a great catch, really good job by Drake and
02:11 then Andrell down there being able to strain and finish and
02:13 get us in the end zone to go cap it off.
02:16 >> You talked about establishing the run, but
02:18 especially in that first series, you guys were mixing it up pretty well.
02:22 How much of that was coming off RPO versus how much of that was design calls?
02:27 >> Yeah, a little bit of it was both.
02:28 We had the big negative on first and ten, made a second and
02:32 13 when we kind of threw the running back out to the field there.
02:36 And that put us behind the sticks, which created an issue in us not converting
02:40 there on that first drive.
02:41 >> A little bit about Jackson's packages and
02:44 what he was able to do to kind of mix things up, change the dynamic.
02:47 >> Yeah, obviously we wanted to convert on that fourth and
02:49 one not being able to do that is a critical part in the game.
02:53 We put together, I think that drive was maybe nine or
02:55 11 plays where we chew up a ton of clock.
02:58 I'm being a little more conservative than I probably need to be and
03:01 we're not able to pick up that fourth and one.
03:04 It's invaluable for him to be able to get that rep and get that work.
03:07 A great teaching moment for us and for him.
03:10 So proud of him and his toughness in that.
03:13 >> Jeff, did you guys tighten up the receiver rotation?
03:15 It seemed like especially in the second half,
03:17 it's not a lot of same guys, but that's just a product of some guys were playing well.
03:20 >> Yeah, I think part of it is we only had four series.
03:23 That was part of it.
03:24 So our opportunities were a little bit limited, so
03:27 that's probably why that happened more than anything.
03:29 >> You guys are looking at Andre all a lot.
03:31 Is that something that you went into the game thinking or
03:33 did that kind of just show itself?
03:35 >> No, we wanna continue to give him the opportunity to make plays, but
03:39 other guys as well.
03:41 LV was in on one and had a chance to make a play on a third down where we had
03:45 a chance to convert and didn't.
03:46 But a bunch of these guys are gonna continue to get opportunities.
03:51 >> Jeff, when you guys won this game a year ago, did you think-
03:54 >> We won it today.
03:56 So that's kind of what I'm concerned with.
03:57 I do think that, man, sitting up there watching our defense fly around,
04:01 how fast we played, how physical we were.
04:04 Man, it gave us an opportunity offensively to go through some things and
04:08 play maybe a little more conservative.
04:11 And be able to chew it up, but just proud of our guys.
04:14 >> Jeff, how did you feel when Flurry played?
04:17 >> I thought he played well.
04:17 It took care of the football, no turnovers, four touchdowns, obviously.
04:22 Didn't take early down sacks, so really proud of him for how he played, played
04:25 clean.
04:26 >> Did you reach out to Arch Biles and invite him onto the sideline tonight?
04:32 >> That's my father-in-law.
04:33 Yeah, so he's my father-in-law.
04:35 That's the grandfather to my two kids.
04:37 So he was down with our entire family after the game.
04:41 Well after the game, but he was down there and with the entire family.
04:45 >> I think there's gonna be people that have trouble squaring that a little bit
04:47 because of his- >> Yeah, well, again,
04:49 he's with his entire family.
04:51 That's my father-in-law.
04:52 That's the grandfather to my two kids.
04:54 >> The name, Brent was asking about the package,
05:00 Jackson Arnold, and you both say it's a package,
05:05 nothing creative or anything like that.
05:08 Do you all have a name for it in the offense?
05:09 >> No, we don't.
05:10 We're just getting to a specific personnel grouping.
05:12 >> All right, thanks, Jeff.
05:15 >> Thank you all.
05:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]