Oct. 18, 2009
Offensive coordinator Greg Davis
On the Oklahoma game: What a great venue. It’s one of the really neat ballgames in the country each year. I thought it was an outstanding day, two great football teams. We came out in the second half and we scored on the first two drives of the second half. At halftime, we told the players we need to just settle down. It was a one-possession game. We needed to stay with the running game. We took the opening drive; Fozzy Whittaker gave us a couple of big runs. We were able to go down and get three points. The second drive of the third quarter, same thing - we were able to mix it up between the run and the pass. Big play in the ballgame obviously, maybe one of the key plays in the game was Colt to Marquise Goodwin.
On WR Marquise Goodwin: Marquise is a very unique freshman. He’s a guy who has triple jumped all over the country, all over the world. He does not get excited about big games. He just goes out and plays. He has been coming on with the season. He really did a nice job in the ballgame. Not only the touchdown catch, but he made a big play on our sideline where he had to layout and catch the ball. I’m really excited about him. He has a bright future.
On how hard-fought the game was: I was excited about how hard the kids played. It was a game that was not as pretty as some games. We turned the ball over more times than we’d like. We just kept hanging in there, kept fighting. You’ve got to be excited. We rushed the ball for 141 yards; they rushed the ball for minus-16. We had three turnovers, but our defense got five. In this ballgame, over the last couple of years, the team that wins the turnover margin has won the ballgame, and that’s the way it was. It was two teams fighting it out into the fourth quarter. Our team fought harder, longer and that’s why we came away with the victory.
On Fozzy Whittaker and Colt McCoy in the running game: Fozzy Whittaker is finally healthy. Fozzy came out and really gave us a spark in the run game. He’s a guy that has done this in the past, but we haven’t been able to keep him healthy. With Vondrell nursing a shoulder with Tre Newton with a concussion, it was really important that Fozzy come out and play the way he did and he came up big. Also in this ballgame, we had more called runs for Colt, more designed runs for the quarterback. As we had gone through the first five ballgames, we’d kind of tried to protect him, tried to be smart with the amount of carries we asked him to take. In this ballgame, we told him on Monday we needed him to run the ball. Being the champion he is he said, “Coach just dial them up. I’m ready to go.”
On Missouri: We come back after this emotional ballgame, we have to go on the road to Missouri. It will be an important ballgame because it’s the next ballgame. Playing Missouri there at night at 7 (p.m.), it will be a packed house. They’re very explosive on offense. Their defense is a defense that really challenges. Last year we were able to get the best of their defense. You look for them this year to come back and play extremely hard. It’s another road test in the Big 12, and those are extremely tough.
Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp
On Saturday’s game: I’m really proud of the effort of our football team and our players. They persevered through a lot of adversity. In the first half, things weren’t exactly going our way. Our kids kept playing. They didn’t blink. It’s been two years in a row; especially defensively we started a little slow and didn’t have things happen the way we wanted them to happen, but our players continued to play. We told them it was going to be a 60 minute game. They bought into that fact at halftime; we had great morale as far as our football team was concerned. We came out in the second half and really dominated.
On holding Oklahoma to negative 16 rushing yards: Football is a line of scrimmage game. I always say that and we always talk about that to our kids. We preach that several factors were going to decide this game and that was going to be the line of scrimmage, affecting the quarterback and converting third downs and playing well in the red area. We held them to two field goals in the red area. That was outstanding. We dominated the line of scrimmage with negative rushing yardage. We affected the quarterback, and we were really good on third down other than two penalties in the first half.
On the two interceptions: Aaron’s interception was a third-and-six. We called deny the ball, what we call cover one, our man coverage outside of the rat in the hole. He just made a phenomenal play. I think the quarterback was trying to throw the ball out of bounds. He went up and showed I think he has about a 36 or 38 inch vertical. He just made a phenomenal interception. He’s got great ball skills. He’s played well for us all year. He hasn’t had a whole lot happen for him. He missed a tackle the series before. We just told him you’ve got to make up for it. You’ve got to go make a play for the Longhorns, which he did. Earl was in a man under situation pushing everything high to the safety. I think the quarterback made a good decision trying to get the ball in, but Earl accelerated and made a great interception like he’s done all year. He’s made an awful lot of plays for the Longhorns, and we’re real proud of his effort.
On the defensive backs making tackles in the backfield: When you play a team like Oklahoma that wants to get in a two-back and run the ball, you’ve got to gain and get into an eight and nine man box at times. A lot of times that figures the secondary getting involved. Controlling the line of scrimmage was going to be huge in the game, and we did a great job of doing that. Tackles for loss, giving them negative plays, that’s why you saw a lot of third and longs. We were able to get them on second-and-12, and they were trying to manage the game for second down or third down late in the game. We did a better job of denying the ball in those situations.
On the forced fumbles: Turnovers are huge. You can look at all the stats you want to look at. The bottom line is turnovers and big plays. We’ve got to eliminate the big plays. The screen pass was poor to start the game for us to get behind the eight ball a little bit. The turnovers were the difference in the ballgame, getting possession and putting Colt McCoy back on the field.
On Missouri: Missouri is an outstanding offensive football team. Blaine Gabbert has got really big arm talent. He’s a guy that I’ve enjoyed watching on TV when we haven’t been playing. He really can spin the ball well. They do a great job of spreading the field, creating a lot of space plays. We’re going to have to tackle well in space, leverage the formations. Washington is a good back. They’ve done a good job of moving the football and scoring points against most everybody. They’re a little different to get ready for because of their style offensively.
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