Oklahoma-UTEP QuoteBook
The Oklahoma Sooners started Saturday off on the right foot. Brent Venables notched his first win as OU’s head coach, leading his team to a 45-13 demolition of UTEP.
After cruising to the first win of the season, players and coaches talked about what went well and what went wrong against the Miners.
Here are a few of the best quotes from Saturday’s postgame press conference.
“I thought it was really cool that we had seven guys start their first game out of our 22. We had Ethan Downs, Dillon Gabriel, Tyler Guyton, Jeffery Johnson, Jordan Kelley, McKade Mettauer and Danny Stutsman. For of them were transfers, and three of them were guys who were here. It's crazy Danny Stutsman never started a game. I know he was just a freshman last year, but he's a good player. No turnovers. That was a huge goal for us as a program. We want to watch on Tuesdays every team in college football that's in the top 10 in the country in turnover margins. We need to be one of those teams that's on the plus side of that.”
— HC Brent Venables
“I thought it was good. I thought our coverage and our pass rush played hand in hand. We talked about that a lot, playing what good coverage looks like. And hey when we call these certain ones, I promise you that quarterback is holding the ball. He's not gonna throw it on time. So I thought our guys -- and they max protected some, so the guys had to have a lot of fight to them because it's many times, it was seven-on-three in protection or seven-on-four. And it's hard to get there. But if they're gonna get three guys out, when you can get under and over all the eligibles you have an opportunity to make some disruptive plays. And so I liked how we complimented each other in the coverage and the pressure up front. But those guys, I thought they did a good job. I thought Todd (Bates) and Miguel (Chavis) put together a really good pass rush plan and really equipped those guys. And then our guys went out and executed what we wanted them to do.”
— Venables
“He missed a couple of things. He played his butt off, and we did some really good things, definitely missed some things we’re going to want back. But that’s the nature of position. AT the end of the day, man, we’re going to be aggressive. We started fast. Did some good things and got a ton of work to do and a ton of things to clean up, but glad with Dillon’s performance and where we’re at.”
— OC Jeff Lebby
“Wayna is going through some things that we're trying to help him through on and off the field. And hopefully in the next several days, hopefully we'll we'll get that, everything, buttoned up. So he's been practicing and working through some things. But I thought those guys did a nice job under the circumstances. Coach Bedenbaugh, he’s going to be wanting some more. You know, not satisfied with it. But I thought for the first game, I thought those guys did well. Tyler Guyton, his first start, you know, as a collegiate player, so that was cool to see as well. And good start for him.”
— Venables
“It was special, man, it was awesome. Being on the field, before the game, you’re thinking about all the former players. Don’t take it granted, not for a second. Me and Joe Jon Finley and Jon Cooper and Phil Loadholt, DeMarco Murray and Curtis Lofton and Rufus Alexander and Lance Mitchell, and the list goes on, man. But for us to be on that field in pregame together, pretty special. I don’t think there’s anybody that gets to share that ike we do, in the country. Again, appreciative and humbled by it. Glad we got the first goal out of the way.”
— Lebby
“Everybody in there got one. We gave them to Joe and Joe. I gave them to Joe and Joe for believing in me. This is Oklahoma. They didn't have to hire me. And I don't take that for granted at all. So we gave them a game ball after we gave one to every player and coach in there. So again, we've talked about this being team 128 and we want to celebrate success no matter how it looks. But, a special day. Certainly for our players in 2022. You know, where we want to go as a program, for me, you know, this is gonna be a date that we all remember, you know, for a long, long time. So, everybody got one.”
— Venables
“I was always confident and knew we could play to the best of our ability and be as good as we want to be if we just continue to work and have decisions daily that that are going to help the team out and I think we have a lot of selfless guys and guys who really want to just contribute to this team any way they can. And I think that's the beauty of that. And having a bunch of guys that can make a bunch of plays helps. So I'm really confident in our offense. We're gonna let our actions do the talking as always. We just got to continue to get better every single week.”
— QB Dillon Gabriel
“That man (Venables) can’t dance, but that’s OK cause he can really coach. I’m going to let this slide, but I love his intensity. I love everything about him. Seeing him after that game, I would do anything for this man. Anything he says, I would do for him. Theres all-in buy in from everybody on this team, and we’re just excited for everything he brings and everything he’s done and what we’re going to do in the future under Coach Venables.”
— LB Danny Stutsman
“Once I get the ball man it's just score — just try find a way to score. Use your speed to just score. When I got my cut up inside and got ear-holed and spun but I was still up. I kept running. I guess that was what was going through my head.”
— WR Gavin Freeman
“It was night and day. There was no more uncertainty. We were all playing clea-headed, and that allowed us to play free, and when you can play free, you can make plays, and I think that’s not even an offense and defense, but as a full team we did that today. So I couldn’t be more happy for the guys.”
— DE Reggie Grimes
