Oklahoma coaches and players speak to the media following the Sooners' loss to Arizona in the Valero Alamo Bowl.
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00:00 I'll start with Eric.
00:02 Just want to say, first of all, just
00:06 to congratulate Arizona and Coach Fish and their team.
00:11 They've had a fantastic season.
00:15 They played their guts out today and certainly deserve to win.
00:22 I'm really proud of our football team,
00:23 and I'm so thankful for all of you guys up here.
00:28 Just, again, the guts, the fight, the belief,
00:32 the commitment, your body of work,
00:35 the young men that you are.
00:37 Just amazing people.
00:39 Fantastic football players, but amazing people.
00:43 Got everything that we could out of this group of guys,
00:47 and you guys have led the way.
00:51 And we squeezed all the juice out of it we could squeeze.
00:54 And so I just want to say how thankful I
00:58 am for all of our players and these guys
01:02 as leaders of the team.
01:03 And I'm disappointed for them that we
01:06 couldn't do a few things a little better
01:07 to have a chance to win.
01:09 And we certainly had a heck of a game
01:11 and came out on the wrong end of it,
01:15 but doesn't take away, again, how amazing these guys are.
01:21 The type of team that I believe that in the season that we had,
01:27 sure, there's some disappointment,
01:29 but there's a lot more to be thankful for than not.
01:32 So Drake is the one senior that's up here.
01:39 Man, this is a guy that he's made
01:41 every person in the Oklahoma program better.
01:45 And just, man, you've enriched all of our lives, man.
01:50 Just we're thankful.
01:51 Man, what an amazing example that you've been.
01:53 You've been an amazing player.
01:55 But how you do what you do, man, you're that dude.
01:59 So man, I just want to say thank you, man.
02:01 I love you and all you guys, man.
02:04 The guys playing, banged up.
02:06 And Jackson had many things tonight that was just fantastic.
02:13 He's going to have an amazing future.
02:15 And we got to be a little better around him to help him.
02:19 And I don't want to speak the obvious,
02:23 but obviously you're not going to win when you lose a turnover
02:27 margin 6 to 1.
02:28 That's the name of the game.
02:32 But again, it doesn't take away, again, the type of season
02:35 and the type of men that we have and what our future looks like.
02:40 Thank you.
02:40 Raise hands, Mike Hoge for come.
02:41 Go to second row.
02:42 Please direct your question specifically
02:44 to player or coach.
02:45 This is for Danny.
02:46 Danny, after the game, you talked to Jackson a little bit
02:50 and basically said something to the fact of you're all in
02:52 with him going to the SEC as the quarterback.
02:54 Kind of take us through your thought process
02:56 on why you decided to tell that to him after the game.
02:59 I mean, it's obvious.
03:00 Jackson's a baller.
03:01 We have full faith in him.
03:03 First career start, he played his heart out.
03:05 I mean, every time he runs that field,
03:06 now I have so much confidence in that offense, everything
03:09 that they do.
03:10 I love him to death.
03:11 He's a tremendous player.
03:12 I know now there's going to be some adversity,
03:13 but he needs to hang his head up high, higher than ever.
03:16 You know, Oklahoma has his back.
03:18 That entire locker room is with Jackson,
03:20 and this changes nothing.
03:22 Front.
03:25 Sort of a similar question for you, Brent.
03:27 I noticed late in the game, you were talking to Jackson,
03:30 I think, when Arizona went up there.
03:32 What were your words to him in that moment,
03:34 and also just throughout the game,
03:35 especially early when he had that shaky start?
03:39 We got your back.
03:42 Don't throw late, cross the middle.
03:44 And can't go broke taking a profit.
03:51 And you don't have to try to win the game all in one play.
03:54 But not that he did.
03:56 Just your normal coach speak stuff.
04:00 But he had some phenomenal moments tonight,
04:06 and gave us a chance going into fourth quarter,
04:08 having a chance to win.
04:09 To me, if we play a little better on defense,
04:12 when the game's tied up in second 17,
04:14 and we can't give up a conversion there
04:17 and expect to win.
04:17 In a game that's--
04:19 through all the adversity that's happened,
04:21 and the game's tied into second 17, we got to be better.
04:25 I got to be better.
04:26 I got to put him in a better position.
04:28 And we can't give them--
04:31 I think two plays later, they score a touchdown to go up.
04:34 So we got to be--
04:37 everybody around him got to be better
04:40 to help him be successful.
04:42 But I think it shows you don't have to play perfect.
04:46 Matter of fact, you can play far from perfect,
04:48 and still have a chance to beat a top 15 team.
04:52 And at the same time, the game will punish you
04:56 for turning the ball over.
05:00 Middle front, please.
05:02 [INAUDIBLE]
05:07 Ryan Aver from the Oklahoma Jackson.
05:10 I know it's really soon after the game,
05:12 but what do you feel like you learned tonight, especially
05:15 from the way that the game started
05:17 and the way you were able to settle in after that
05:20 until the end?
05:22 I'll say just a battle through adversity.
05:25 Our team chapter this morning, that was--
05:27 the main focus was battling through adversity,
05:29 because it's going to strike at some point.
05:31 And tonight, obviously, there's things I want back tonight,
05:35 but just learn to keep my head up
05:37 and just keep on playing through no matter what.
05:39 Something I take away from the night.
05:41 Front, please.
05:41 I've actually got two.
05:45 Jackson, if you could just talk a little bit about how
05:48 the night went with Seth, because obviously you're new,
05:51 but so is he, just how that communication went with you
05:54 all.
05:54 And then Brent, I'm wondering, Jackson
05:57 threw-- well, dropped back 50 times through 45 passes.
06:00 You guys hadn't attempted that many passes.
06:02 Was this just a night to see what
06:04 you got in this guy and the offense moving forward?
06:07 I loved what Coach Lachelle and Coach Finley did tonight.
06:14 I've got the utmost confidence in them
06:16 that they're going to call a great game,
06:18 and I believe they did.
06:20 Those mistakes were on me.
06:21 I'm going to take the full blame for that.
06:24 I've just got to be better.
06:25 I thought they put me in great positions to win tonight,
06:27 and just lack of execution was the problems
06:29 that we had tonight.
06:31 I thought we had good balance running and throwing,
06:34 and had a lot of opportunity throwing the ball,
06:37 threw it well a lot.
06:39 And so I think some of that was there.
06:41 And then some of it's RPO world, and that's just
06:44 decision by the quarterback, whether he pulls it out
06:47 of the belly or not.
06:49 But I thought we had really good balance.
06:53 Hard to stay in rhythm.
06:55 Again, when you have some of the things that were happening,
06:58 maybe whether it's penalties or again, turning the ball over.
07:02 But we continued to fight together,
07:05 and defense responded several times,
07:09 and offense would come right back.
07:11 And that's what I love, is just even in moments of adversity
07:15 or in things gone dreadfully wrong,
07:19 we can continue to respond in both sides of the ball.
07:22 But especially on offense and with Jackson
07:27 as the leader, just what he said, the chapel service today
07:31 was about handling adversity.
07:33 When you got the right stuff, it's just second nature.
07:35 And he does.
07:37 Shouldn't be a surprise to anybody,
07:39 but certainly not for us.
07:41 Back middle, please.
07:44 James Hale, CBS Sports Radio in Oklahoma City.
07:47 Brent, you ran a little bit of a different look
07:50 today in defense tonight.
07:51 Could you talk about that and how it went?
07:53 And Drake, if you could talk about the fight
07:56 that you guys had.
07:57 It's one of your biggest attributes,
07:59 is you just always fight until the last whistle.
08:02 You have a new quarterback things,
08:03 but you guys always look like you were fighting.
08:06 And so Brent, if you could tackle that, then Drake.
08:09 Again, we just thought that the style of their offense,
08:13 really good at skill.
08:16 They're either going to seven man, eight man protect,
08:19 and not let your four man rush get there
08:22 if you're rushing four.
08:24 Or their big screen game and then shot game down the field.
08:27 So just thought that having a little more speed on the field
08:31 would be important.
08:33 This is a really athletic offense, and really, again,
08:35 good skill.
08:36 And again, we give you a little more variety and coverage
08:41 and things of that nature.
08:42 And so some of it was really good, some of it not so good.
08:44 I think there was some disruptiveness that
08:50 took place.
08:52 I think we had five sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
08:55 And again, we got to get off the field a couple of other drives.
09:00 But I thought there was some good stuff that came out of it.
09:03 Yeah, just to speak on the fight of, you said the offense,
09:11 or just the whole team in general.
09:12 I'd say, in the end, we're a reflection of our head coach.
09:16 And that starts in the offseason and offseason training.
09:19 And you know who you got.
09:21 And like he said, we just got guys that have the right stuff.
09:24 And those are intangibles that can't be taught.
09:27 That's in you or it's not.
09:28 And we got guys with that.
09:30 And if there's time left on the clock, we're fighting.
09:34 We're clawing.
09:34 We're trying to win.
09:35 And if there's time on the clock, you had a chance.
09:37 And I think when you get a group of guys like that,
09:40 you're going to win a lot of games.
09:41 And the ones you don't, they're going to be close.
09:44 And we came up short tonight.
09:45 We didn't make enough plays to win.
09:46 But we're never going to stop fighting.
09:49 Front, middle, and then second row.
09:51 Dean Blevins, News 9.
09:58 To the defensive players, guys, it
10:00 seemed like it was either feast or famine.
10:03 They got off to such a good start.
10:05 But then for much of the game, you just throttled them.
10:08 I mean, it was like 520 yards to two something for so long.
10:12 And then they were able to spurt.
10:15 What was the reason for such good play
10:18 and then them having so much success at other times?
10:22 I mean, I think that's just how the game of football goes.
10:25 At times, we have momentum.
10:26 We're able to execute.
10:27 And they're going to make plays.
10:29 They have great players for the University of Arizona.
10:32 So they were able to get us on some play calls.
10:34 It's a game of chess.
10:35 We had them there.
10:35 They had us sometimes.
10:37 But I love the fight that the defense showed.
10:39 Every single time they made a play, we were hustling.
10:42 Kept fighting, kept clawing like what Drake was implying.
10:45 And I just love the fight this whole entire team has.
10:48 Billy, do you want to follow up?
10:49 I feel like we did a great job preparing for Arizona.
10:52 I feel like our coaches put us in the right stuff.
10:54 I just feel like tonight, Oklahoma will be Oklahoma.
10:56 And if you do that, you can't expect to win.
10:59 So I feel like we did a good job putting them behind the chains.
11:02 We just got to find a way to get off the field.
11:05 Second row, please.
11:06 Brent, you've been around the program long enough to know
11:13 the buildup, especially for the quarterback position,
11:17 and the tendency to parse everything
11:19 that he does every game.
11:21 And when you get a guy as anticipated as Jackson,
11:23 there's going to be a tendency to go one way or the other
11:25 tonight based on this one performance.
11:26 Your reaction to the possibility of that occurring based
11:30 off just one game sample size?
11:32 What's going to--
11:33 The fact that there's just so much
11:35 anticipation for a quarterback at Oklahoma, just period.
11:39 Then when you get someone like Jackson, who's so--
11:42 such a highly regarded kid, everyone's
11:45 been waiting for this night.
11:46 The reaction is going to be extreme one way or the other.
11:49 Your response to that?
11:50 It's always going to be extreme one way or the other.
11:52 And I just--
11:53 I mean, for me, I always--
11:57 I preach to these guys all the time, man, being inside out.
12:01 Whether they're really supporting you,
12:06 or they're throwing stones at you.
12:10 You get into this arena, that's what you sign up for.
12:13 But at the same time, man, that's
12:16 not how we're going to get our joy.
12:21 That's not what's going to define us, good or bad.
12:26 And for us to be just committed to what
12:30 it takes to be successful, do your part, one of 11.
12:33 Jackson and a quarterback at Oklahoma
12:39 is no different than any other player.
12:41 You're going to have some great moments.
12:45 You're off your scholarship at Oklahoma.
12:46 You must be pretty dang good.
12:48 And when you're the quarterback at the University of Oklahoma,
12:51 something that you do sign up for,
12:53 you're going to face, in many ways, the program.
12:56 But I know we got the right guy, and we
13:00 got the right group there.
13:01 And broad shoulders, level-headed,
13:05 incredibly humble, tough on himself, demanding of himself.
13:11 I don't ever worry about him having success
13:13 and going to his head.
13:14 And I certainly don't worry about if he's
13:19 fragile or a head case.
13:21 This is a strong dude that's very process-driven.
13:25 He's very committed.
13:26 He's relentless with his work ethic.
13:28 And he'll bring out the best in everybody.
13:30 He's a great, great leader and incredibly skilled.
13:34 So in many ways, we had a chance to, going into the fourth
13:39 quarter, win the game in his debut against a top 15 team.
13:43 And if we're-- yeah, you got to hold onto the ball
13:48 or get off the field on second and 17.
13:52 It's a team game, and everything matters.
13:54 So we had a chance going into the last half
13:59 of the fourth quarter to a chance to win the game.
14:01 So that's a lot of credit to all the great things
14:03 that Jackson and the team did as well.
14:06 Final question up front.
14:07 Yeah, for Gavin, how physical was the game?
14:13 And did that have anything to do with the three fumbles?
14:16 You guys-- interceptions happen in modern football.
14:19 But fumbles are generally the result of physicality.
14:24 Yeah, though, Oklahoma was-- or Arizona was a great team.
14:27 And they played hard.
14:28 They played physical.
14:29 And it's something that we knew watching film,
14:31 that they'd be physical.
14:32 But we got to take care of the ball.
14:33 And that starts with drills and practice,
14:36 making an emphasis to take care of the ball.
14:37 And like Coach Vindible says, you
14:39 can't win with the game with six to one turnover battles.
14:43 So you just got to be able to take care of that ball.
14:45 And that's the key to the game.
14:46 So we just got to be better in that aspect.
14:48 Thank you very much.
14:50 (sighs)