Postgame Quotes
Oct. 24, 2009
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 13, Oklahoma 35
Oct. 24, 2009 – Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas Head Coach Mark Mangino
On Kansas’ turnovers:
“Certainly, the turnovers set the tempo of the game and put us in a hole early. We had to play catch-up football. We can’t do that to ourselves. We’ve done it two weeks in a row, and it’s not because of any ineptitude, but kids are just not making plays. We turned the ball over a couple of times, one of them was a great play. Give credit to Oklahoma because they did a great job of jumping the off route (on the interception). We just put ourselves behind early, and you can’t do that against Oklahoma or anyone else. We have to learn from these experiences and understand that if you’re playing from behind, it changes the way you approach things.”
On Kansas’ defense:
“We made some improvements on defense. I think you take the drive at the beginning at the third quarter that hurt us and we got some penalties that hurt us. Our defense was not bad at all. We’re much improved (from the past two weeks), but we have areas that need work. We have things that need to be corrected. We played the run very, very well today.”
On Kansas’ special teams:
“The special teams were respectable. The kick by (Jacob) Branstetter, obviously, was outstanding. We still have things to work on, but special teams were not a big factor in the game. We had a chance to make a couple plays and we just didn’t. Dezmon (Briscoe) got that pass in the middle of the field, and if we were able to hold on to that, he would’ve scored. That’s why it’s called a game of inches. We just didn’t make enough plays when we had to.”
On what his message to the team is:
“We have to get ready for Texas Tech. Tech is a great football team. We lost today, we have to learn from the game and we have to study ourselves. We have to be critical of ourselves as players and coaches when we watch the tape. What can we do to play better and what can we do to coach better? Out players are disappointed because they wanted to beat Oklahoma today, but they are not discouraged.”
Kansas freshman running back Toben Opurum
On the game:
“I believe that a lot of our problems were ones that we made on offense, so we will improve off of that.”
On the three Todd Reesing interceptions:
“It put us back a bit, but were are supposed to bounce back from stuff like that. We are going to have to face adversity no matter what.”
On where this puts the Jayhawks:
“As far as I know this puts us 5-2. (It’s) not where we expected to be right now and clearly not where we expected to be. We have a lot of football left ahead of us and I think that we can still achieve the goals that we set at the beginning of the year.”
Kansas sophomore corner back Ryan Murphy
On the game:
“It definitely was a disappointing loss being at home. We already were coming off a loss and we knew that this would be a big win for us. Playing Oklahoma is always one of those games that you get up for. We tried to come out and beat them, but unfortunately it did not come out that way. It was a tough loss.”
On the play of the defense in the second half:
“They were just making plays on offense. We have got to come out there stand them up and keep them off of the field as much as possible.”
On losing two games in a row:
“It is tough. But we are going to get in tomorrow, watch film, and get things corrected so we can come out next week and get it done in Lubbock.
Kansas junior defensive end Jake Laptad
On the positives he saw on the defense:
“(Our) defense went out there and got some three and outs. We just need to build on that.”
On what the defense did well:
“We gave up less yardage on the first two plays so that left them third and long and got our pass rush going.”
Kansas senior safety Darrell Stuckey
On the turnovers:
“From a defensive standpoint it gave us an opportunity to go out and make a big play and make something happen and get the ball back to our offense. It’s one of those things where as a defense you cannot focus on what the offense is doing wrong you have to focus on what you can do right to get the ball back into the offense’s hands.”
Kansas junior kicker Jacob Branstetter
On his 57 yard field goal:
“I knew I had enough leg on it when I hit it. I was just hoping it would stay inside the uprights. That was the craziest feeling I’ve ever had. When I hit it I thought I hit it far enough. When it stayed in the upright, I went nuts.”
On his kick being a momentum booster:
“At the time I really thought it would be a big momentum boost and that’s kind of what I was hoping for. It’s a little disappointing that we didn’t play better in the second half and get the win.”
Kansas sophomore offensive lineman Jeremiah Hatch
On the feeling at halftime:
“In the locker room we felt good. We kept trying to stay positive. We thought we were in it.”
On running the football in the first half:
“We did pretty good coming off the ball as a unit. We just have to continue to do well in all quarters of the game, but we did pretty well in the first half.”
On Oklahoma’s defensive line:
“It was a big challenge. We were going against one of the best (units). But we played as a team and we’ve got to play as a team no matter who we’re going up against. But they were good.”
Kansas senior running back Jake Sharp
On coming back from big deficits:
“Anytime in college football, especially in the Big 12, if you get down like that it’s hard to come back. You certainly don’t want to do that.”
On OU’s defense:
“I was very impressed with them. They definitely have a great defense and a great line. They play hard and they are coached well.”
On how he feels overall:
“I feel like I get better every week. I’m out here to help the team and I’m excited to be back and playing. Hopefully I’ll be able to help us get this thing back on
Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops
On the game:
“I’m just really proud of our football team and the way they played against a very good Kansas team that’s been playing well. I really respect what Mark Mangino and his staff have done here over the last several years. They haven’t lost many games here, so I’m proud of our guys to come here and play so well and have a great performance overall. I thought defensively, we were just really special – outstanding in how we played. Ryan Jackson had a huge game going nose-to-nose against Dezmon Briscoe. He’s a great receiver and did a great job – came up with big turnovers, pressure and sacks. We’ve been in some tough situations where our defense got us out of it. Offensively, we struggled a little bit in the first half, but really came together in the third quarter with the wind and made some really big plays and had some good drives, which put the game in a good position to leave it up to the defense. So, overall it was a good game.”
On what got the team going offensively in the second half:
“Again, it’s just some execution. Coach Wilson and the staff always go back and review one of our better plays to see what we can take advantage of. Some of it is just that you run some of the same plays and you execute them better – or you don’t drop the ball. We made some nice catches in the second half and that was good to see. I think the guys played a lot better in the second half.”
On executing against strong offensive teams:
“These are explosive offenses that we have to try and respect. Ed Wariner, the offensive coordinator here, does an excellent job – just look at the points and yards they’re putting up (against) everybody. Fortunately, our guys really played well. I thought (defensive coordinator) Brett Venables and our defensive guys had a great plan. We were very aggressive in how we played. The players made a lot of good plays. They covered well and pressured blitzes and kind of took them out of their rhythm.”
Oklahoma freshman quarterback Landry Jones:
On the performance of the offense:
“We came out and struggled to start off. The second half we came out there and executed the way that this offense can execute. We got the running game going when we needed to – and obviously, our receivers were out there making plays, and helping me out when I wasn’t as accurate as I needed to be.”
On the offensive line:
“Our line played great, like I said, they got the run going.”
On second half adjustments:
“We made a few adjustments. When they were pressuring us, we got some plays going that we knew. The second half we just came out there and executed like we needed to.”
On the offense helping out the defense:
“We needed to come out here and play a good game. I was really proud of our offense with the way we played. The line played good, the receivers caught the ball – and our running backs ran hard today.”
Oklahoma senior linebacker Travis Lewis
On the performance of the defense:
“I think the overall defense has been playing pretty consistently the last few weeks. To come in here on an away game with a great offense like Kansas, and to hold them to 13 points, it’s huge for us.”
On confusing Todd Reesing:
“On the opposite side, we were pretty confused, too. We had to switch on the coverage a lot – show them something and have them think something else; it was pretty confusing on both sides. I’m glad we got the victory.”
On the interception return for touchdown:
“We almost had two. We thought we were going to score on that second one if he would have caught it. That was a big play, so I’m not surprised, it was just good to see us score.”
On last year’s team compared to this year:
“We just really took it personally this year. We didn’t really play good defense at all last year. (Last year) they were able to run the ball, they were able to throw the ball – they were able to do anything they wanted. We made a point to come in here and make a statement. We’ve been playing good defense all year. Our goal is to get better every week.”
Oklahoma offensive guard Brody Eldridge
On starting the game strong:
“That was a big thing for us, not the way we finish. We were able to go out there and run the ball well – we’ve been missing that. We were able to run the ball a lot better today.”
On the receiving core:
“We executed very well today. That’s the biggest thing we’ve been missing. We’ve been playing hard, but we haven’t been executing.”
