OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL SEPT. 5, 2015 OKLAHOMA 41, AKRON 3 BOB STOOPS QUOTES. Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops

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1 SEPT. 5, 2015 OKLAHOMA 41, AKRON 3 BOB STOOPS QUOTES Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops On the offense improving throughout the game... The execution was a little better. We didn t hurt ourselves as much. We had a couple of penalties. When you have a holding penalty, all of a sudden it s first and 25 or first and 20 and it s just hard to overcome. So, we had a few bad plays like that where we hurt ourselves and we ve got to play smarter and with better discipline. We did that as time went on and started executing with some rhythm and made a few big plays. On Oklahoma s defense... Definitely. All across the board. Anytime you keep someone under 200 yards I thought they did a great job. What happens sometimes, regardless of who you are playing, you have a missed assignment. The guys were very good with their communication and adjustments. I thought they played really accurate and the other guys, when they did try to pass, there wasn t a lot of room so that was positive. When you re doing everything right and you re making people beat you, that s a good thing. On freshman kicker/punter Austin Seibert... With 49 yards in his first go at it with six punts, that s pretty good. We have been seeing this [in practice] and that s why he s our guy. He was consistent through camp, very cool. He did a nice job for his first time out there. On if Sterling Shepard will remain on punt returns... Yeah, it will be Sterling again. I m sure as time goes, depending on how Joe [Mixon] keeps improving, Joe can be pretty special there, too. On how he feels about the team going into next week... We need a lot of improvement. I think the guys have done everything we have asked of them through the spring and summer but we ve got to make a big jump from now to next Saturday. I think as much as anything, starting better. But it s been a good group in how they practice and we ll realize some of the things when we watch tape that we can improve on with some of the foolish penalties. We ve got to eliminate those and play in a smarter, better way next week. On LB Dominique Alexander... Dominique is a great player. I think he led the team again tonight and was excellent. Very solid, very good. All those guys those linebackers I thought were excellent. On not being on headphones as much today... Yeah, I was talking to Coach [Barry] Switzer about it and he said sometimes he liked it better and had a better feel for the game when he wasn t listening to everybody. The way we are signaling now, I can get a call without having to hear it. So, I ll experiment with it, but I kind of liked it. I would have never experimented with it until I talked to Coach about it.

2 SEPT. 5, 2015 OKLAHOMA 41, AKRON 3 OU COORDINATOR QUOTES Oklahoma associate head coach/defensive coordinator Mike Stoops On the play of the secondary... Kerry [Cooks] has done a great job at getting our secondary ready to play and reorganized. We weren t really tested [tonight]. Going against our team daily for the last thirty days helps your pass defense. We weren t really tested tonight though. They wanted to come in here and run the football. I was just really proud of our guys early in the game. We were trying to find our footing with the offense, but the defense kept us in it in the first quarter. We really never gave them anything big. Our offense got their footing and we got rolling. That part was important for us, keeping the game where we could control it. On the play of the defensive line... We are getting better. Coach [Diron] Reynolds has really done well with getting those guys ready to play up front. It is better competition. We need to get more production up front. We need to be more violent at the point of attack. We need to be on edge. Those guys need to come out of their hips and get penetration. Those are all important elements. We went in with a very vanilla plan. We were very generic. The only thing that caught us off guard was the quarterback-run game. On calling the game from the press box.. Not really. It doesn t affect the way I call the game or anything. On the play of PJ Mbanasor... For PJ to start as a true freshman was important. He really did a nice job in the first quarter. JT (Jordan Thomas) needs and will continue to be important to what we are doing on the corners. We can never have enough of them. On what he told his offense after the first quarter Just to hang in there. We knew stuff was there. You never want to get off to a start like that. That is something that we talked a lot about throughout the week, that you never know exactly what s going to happen. Everyone has time to dream up coming out with a bang and having a great first game. Sometimes when you don t do it, you can lose confidence in what you re doing. Guys can start trying to do their own thing. Then, that s when it really gets bad. Our guys hung in there and remained confident in what they were doing. I liked their demeanor the whole time. It wasn t anything magical I said. They agreed to trust in what we were doing, and because they did that we were eventually able to get things going. On the offense spreading the ball around to multiple receivers We know our run game is going to continue to develop. We know that with the backs that we have that we are going to be able to run the football. If we can go attack people that try to stop it like Akron did tonight, make plays down the field, than we feel like we can be tough to handle. There is still a lot of growing we can do and learn from the mistakes that we haven t made in weeks, but that s what you get in the first game. When I first got here, I said I was going to put together something that we can win, regardless of what [our opponents] are doing. On Baker Mayfield s play You don t set records here every day. There have been some good offenses around here. That s great and I was happy he settled in. I knew he would be pretty amped and I was proud that he didn t try to make too much happen, even when we struggled early. I thought he, like the rest of the offense, hung in there and I was happy how he finished the game. Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley On the offense s slow start to the game It took us a while to get settled in. Some nerves probably more than anything. We played a lot of freshmen and/or new guys. It just took us a little while to settle down. We had some things there early, they [Akron] did some things differently, which you always see in that first game. It took us a while to get adjusted to it. I thought our kids really hung in there and really trusted what we were doing, even though we didn t have the results we wanted in the beginning. We kept saying, Flood gates are going to open, just stay with it. I was proud that it was the first game and our guys were able to trust in it and that s one of the hardest things to do. They did that, and they finally did overcome it. On the play of Joe Mixon He has a dynamic skill-set. There are a lot of things you can do with a guy like that. Like everybody, and I could see it with him early, a lot of nerves. It was just about getting these guys all settled in. Once he was able to do that, I think everyone was able to see the kind of talent he has.

3 SEPT. 5, 2015 OKLAHOMA 41, AKRON 3 OU PLAYER QUOTES WR Durron Neal On how it feels to get the first win... It feels good to get the first win out of the gates. We re trying to get our feet wet to the season and have some confidence going in to the next one. On the receivers making big plays despite being doubted in the offseason... It feels really great. We take a lot of pride in this group [of receivers]. We re the playmakers for this team and [the team] is counting on us to be the playmakers and we hold each other accountable, whether it s making a big run or a big run after a catch or a big block. We want to do little things that are going to lead to big things. On Baker Mayfield s first start... Great job. Baker looked relaxed. He had fun out there. He s our leader and we go as he goes. When things weren t going well in the first half, he kept a positive attitude and rallied the guys together. Coach Riley always says once the floodgates open, there s no stopping it. On what he takes away from this first game... When adversity hits, stay calm. No matter what goes on, trust the system. Coach Riley says if you trust the system, good things will start happening and the flood gates will start opening. There s no stopping this offense. RB Samaje Perine On what they saw from Akron... They came out hotter than we did. They came out strong and we came out flat. It took us a while to get going, but once we did, once we got the little things right, it was all good from there. On the offensive line... We all started off slow; offensive line, skill players, everybody started off slow, but once they got settled in and got going, they played fine. We all played fine in the second half. On the new offense... We still have a lot to work on, but we just got a glimpse of what this offense can be for us. We re going to work hard to be ready for Tennessee and be ready for whatever they throw at us and be hot. OL Ty Darlington On the offensive line s performance tonight... Obviously we have to get a lot better. I m proud of the guys coming out. We had three guys making their first career start. I m proud of those guys and Dru stepping in as a true freshman and starting his first game was huge. I know we did some good things, but I know we have to get a lot better. The jump from game one to game two has to be significant. On the offense starting to roll after the first touchdown... Coach Riley always says to trust the system. We have to have the same mentality every time we get the ball, whether we re running them off the field or it s a struggle. When you re struggling at the beginning, unable to get the ball rolling, we have to trust it. On the freshman linemen who started today... I m really proud of those guys. Orlando making a huge jump from even last spring. Last year, when he got here, he s unrecognizable as a player now and from the spring [he] made a huge jump. Dru coming in through the summer and improving like he did and improving through camp, he played in front of 85,000 at the University of Oklahoma as a true freshman starting your first game, not many guys have done that, especially as a tackle here. QB Baker Mayfield On the slow start... The first five drives, we didn t have any movement. The first two were penalties. The next two were basic mistakes that we don t normally make; blocking assignments and dropping the ball. It happens first game when you get the jitters. It took a little bit to settle down, but Coach Riley talks about it, when we settle down, the flood gates open. It happened late and we like for it to happen early. On getting the offense going... That s something Coach Riley talks about, just trust the system, don t to do too much. That s what won me the job in the first place. I wasn t trying to do too much. Trust the basic stuff, drop the ball down, get completions, get the guys going. Once we get going, once we get the first down, it s a freight train coming. On Mixon s big catch and Perine s block on the play... It s a play-action, roll-out. Samaje starts the tone with the backer, getting the block off the edge. Really, our route s backside. We re supposed to take the guys out. They did a great job and Joe got the ball. He was wide open, but it wouldn t have finished without Dede Westbrook. He made a huge block down-field and he was 70 yards down-field so that s huge to see those guys playing for each other. On playing his first game in two years... It was a little different. Just getting back in to the game preparation mode all week, just getting focused back in to it. Once I got settled back in to it, through practice and scouting stuff, it wasn t any different. I was back in my regular routine. On having Jarvis Baxter back... He s a quick guy, good speed. He ll go out and make plays. He plays a lot bigger than his size. He made some good blocking plays for us, too. It s exciting to see him go out and lay his body on the line for us. He s a playmaker. He cares about it. K Austin Seibert On his first collegiate game... I loved it; everything about it. It was really fun like a dream come true, honestly. Just the environment and playing in front of that many people, it really was a dream come true. On his performance: I just did my job, did what I ve been doing in practice. Doing what I m supposed to do. On handling both kicking and punting duties: I felt fine the whole game. I ve been doing it kicking and punting my whole life, so I m used to the wear and tear. On Baker s performance... I thought Baker played great. He was calm and composed and obviously his personality - he gets fired up when we make big plays. I love having him out there. I m proud of him and the way he played and the passion that he played with today.

4 SEPT. 5, 2015 OKLAHOMA 41, AKRON 3 OU PLAYER QUOTES OL Dru Samia On his first collegiate game... It was an amazing experience. Everyone always talks about 85,000 fans, but there is no way to put it into words. On when he found out he was going to get the start... Coach [Bill Bedenbaugh] doesn t really say anything, what will go down, so it s kind of implied throughout the week. On his play... I felt pretty nervous at first, but as the game went on and we got into the later quarters I settled down and felt a little bit better. CB PJ Mbanasor On when he found out he would be a starter... It was a coaching decision. Whatever happens between the coaches in the meeting room, it s what they decide. They came up to me mid-week and asked me if I was ready, and I said yes. They put me in a position to be successful and make plays and I took advantage of it. On if he felt ready to get the start... There was never a time when I had any guesses or doubted myself. I m here for a reason, I was recruited for a reason, I m on scholarship for a reason, so it s my job to live up to the expectations for coaches and teammates have for me. On other DB s helping him during the process... Jordan [Thomas] has helped me since I got here. If I ever have a question, it s Jordan, Zack [Sanchez], Coach [Kerry] Cooks those are my reference people and they don t shy away from helping me out.

5 SEPT. 5, 2015 OKLAHOMA 41, AKRON 3 AKRON QUOTES Akron head coach Terry Bowden Opening Statement... My hat s off to Oklahoma. They stuck with their plan and overwhelmed us in the second half and the end of the first half. They re just a better football team, but our players came to play. They believed they could win. They came out and had a plan. They prepared themselves, and the way we came out is the way we came to play. We came to win and did the best we could do. We stopped them time and again on defense. We committed to the running game against a team who was top 10 against the run last year. We could have just said we will pass since nobody ran against them last year, but that s what we made a commitment to do even though they re really good at it. We stayed with it. We ran out of gas. They finally got the speed of their offense clicking and made big plays. The only thing we could have done in the first half, we had a first and five on the 5-yard-line with a chance to go ahead, and we came away with zero points. That would have kept it more interesting at halftime. I don t know that we could have lasted with them in the second half. Most people know in games where there is a one-sided game, the longer you can keep the game close, the more tension amounts on the home team. Once they got up to about 17 or 24 the tension subsided. They began to relax and go deep and do things they wanted to do. That s where they took the game over. They have a fine staff and a fine team. This is a pretty good little program here, as we all know. I m proud of these guys and the way they played. On what could have happened if his team scored in the first half: A game like this, and I ve been on both sides of the coin in these types of games, the longer you can keep it close the more tension is created in the mindset of the stronger team. They start thinking, What if? What if? Oh my goodness, things shouldn t be this close. We should be blowing this team out. If we do that, it gives us a chance and it could have been at that point. They would have overpowered us eventually, the way the game was going. They got everything going. The longer you can take these games into the second half, the better chance you have to keep it interesting. There are a lot of nonconference teams who have come into Norman, Okla. and not won over the last 100 years. On his team s defensive performance: The strength of our team is the front seven. That s our strength and it starts there for us. Our secondary has gotten a lot better. Offensively, we re doing some new things, and we ran up a pretty good defense against the run. I thought our defense tested them pretty good. We don t have this kind of weather. Even though it got cooler as it got dark this is still weather we don t have. We had to sub a lot, and when you take a program like Oklahoma and you start subbing, the difference in the talent level really starts to show when you talk about the quality of your 85. Overall, I think our defense, you could see some of the things they can do when they play well. Kyle Pohl, QB About what worked well and what didn t... Like Coach (Bowden)said, we re really working the run game, so that s what we re pushing, and we stuck to it. I guess, from what we ve been doing, it s a little different. It showed a lot of promise, you know, we missed a couple things, but we broke a few. That s [Oklahoma] a great team; it s a good front seven they ve got over there. We showed some promise, I think, with how we got a couple to pop and then we were able to get over top a couple times. I think if we could have hit a couple more of those shots, it would have changed the game a little bit. About staying competitive in the first half... That s always good. I think me and Tray [Tra Von Chapman] know best out of anybody in the nation how good our defense is because we see them every day. They give us fits day in and day out, so we know they re going to keep us in the game, especially early on when we re all fired up and we have fresh legs. It was an adjustment coming in with this offense and being in the huddle, and I think we adjusted well and we did some good things, but we were a little slow. I wish we would have started a little faster and got a few more big plays early and kept our defense off the field, give them some more time to rest before we put them back out there. But, I think we re going to watch this film and see some good things, as bad as this loss might taste. Tra Von Chapman, QB About what worked well and what didn t... I feel the same way [as Kyle Pohl]. [We] came into this game saying we were going to run the football, and change the offense, that s what we re dedicated to, so we stuck with it. It didn t work early, but defense held their part and eventually those runs, they sprung out a little more. Like Kyle said, we missed some shots deep, but that s a part of this offense. You run the ball, you run and pound it, and you re going to take a couple shots. We capitalized on a couple of them, we didn t hit a couple of them, and that s that.