Oklahoma-Baylor QuoteBook: The Best of What They Said

Oklahoma's positive momentum came to a crushing halt on Saturday.

NORMAN — Oklahoma dropped its fourth game of the season on Saturday, losing 38-35 at home to Baylor. It was a disappointing afternoon for the Sooners, as Brent Venables' team was plagued by penalties and turnovers.

After three first-half interceptions led to a field goal deficit at halftime, it seemed like Oklahoma was playing catch-up the rest of the game. The Sooners' offense came alive at times, and the defense did too, but the two never quite clicked together. 

The Sooners needed stops late in the fourth quarter but came up empty, bumping Oklahoma's record to 5-4 on the season.

Here are the best quotes from Saturday's postgame press conference:

"We lost all the critical areas from a statistical standpoint that you gotta win. Out-rushing, they out-rushed us. They had less penalties than us. They forced more turnovers. They were better on fourth down. And again, in the red zone, we weren’t good enough on defense in the red zone."

— Head coach Brent Venables

"It’s a pretty short story for us, offensively. Three turnovers, fourth-down non-conversion, that’s four series in the first half where we put the defense in a bad position and we get no points. At the end of it, that’s the story."

— Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby

“The details matter. You think about those three turnovers. You think about a fourth-and-1 where we didn't convert. Those are four drives just in the first half. You're turning the ball over to the defense. And like coach said, they scored 10 points on those turnovers and we scored zero on our turnovers. So basically, the score was 10 to zero. So in a game like that those details matter. You got to convert. You got to take advantage of your opportunities.”

— Running back Eric Gray

"It’s a little frustrating. We know who we have offensively, we know the type of group we have. We know Coach Lebby’s a great offensive coordinator, one of the best in the game. Sometimes we just don’t keep growing on the momentum we have, especially today. There’s times we’re doing whatever we want. We couldn’t be stopped. Then there’s other times we shoot ourselves in the foot. It hurts not just us but the defense also.”

— Wide receiver Marvin Mims

"Our offense was good in the red zone, but so were they. We needed to force more field goals, first drive of the second half we had a couple of penalties we had a couple of penalties down in the red zone. One of ‘em after making a great play, we get a hands to the facemask. Again, that was really how we played today.

"We couldn’t get out of our own way at the right times. Consistently, couldn’t sustain the momentum that we had. We can’t go three straight drives and play good clean football right now. At least we weren’t today. So again, Baylor had something to do with that, and so did we."

— Venables

"They’re happening at the most inopportune times. We have to play with better discipline. We have to be a disciplined football team. You have to make better decisions. Put yourself in better situations. Don’t panic in the most critical moments. There’s bunch of different situational things.

"You have to have a focused intensity about you. This is an intense, passionate game, but you have to have great focus. With it’s false starts or holding or hands to the face or (pass interference), all those things add up. Those things punish you."

— Venables on the team's penalties

"I was really trying to make a tackle. I seen the quarterback throwing it and I didn’t know if I could get to the ball or not, so I was really trying to make the tackle. Then it went straight through his hands, and I caught it."

— Safety Billy Bowman on his interception

"Yeah, it’s hard. Because it’s an opportunity to get off the field, and when Baylor goes 3-for-3 on fourth downs, it really – we really had to sit back and reflect on ourselves. Like, we need to make an emphasis to get off the field when we can. So holding them for four straight downs, that’s already hard enough, so we just need to do it again. I mean, we gotta get off the field at the end of the day."

— Bowman

“The guy has been amazing all year. You have a couple of drops, it’s not an indictment. Sometimes it’s the game of football. Sometimes you execute and sometimes you don’t. We can’t expect anybody to play perfect. I think he, for the most part, is as close to perfect as you can be. So now the bar's through the roof, unfairly, everyone deserves some grace. So again, Marvin today was who he’s been virtually for the entire season. He made a bunch of plays and had 120 yards receiving. He had 112 in the first half, which is just outstanding.”

— Venables on Marvin Mims

"Those were the biggest plays of the game. Have to get off the field and where they decide to go for it. We should be foaming at the mouth sort of deal to get our offense there. We just have to execute, get off the field and give the ball to our offense."

— Linebacker DaShaun White

"We have to be more disciplined. I’ve been talking about discipline for 11 months and being a more disciplined football team. It starts with coaches getting the players to play with more discipline and then the players in the moment playing with more discipline.

"I’ve seen moments where we’ve played with great discipline. Today, there were plenty of situations where we didn’t."

— Venables