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Baylor, Oklahoma Postgame Quotes

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Football 11/14/2016 12:00:00 AM
Nov. 14, 2016

Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery

9/9/11 OKLAHOMA (8-2, 7-0)à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ €  45, 25/25/NR BAYLORà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € (6-3, 3-3) 24
GAYLORD FAMILY -- OKLAHOMA MEMORIAL STADIUM - NORMAN, OKLA.
NOV. 12, 2016 - ATTENDANCE: 86,249

BAYLOR QUOTES - HEAD COACH Jim Grobe

On his emotions when seeing QB Seth Russell's injury:
"Heartbreaking. He's worked so hard to come back from the neck injury, and it's not about losing the talent and production at quarterback, it's more just like having one of your own children hurt. It breaks your heart to see a really, really good guy get hurt like that. The good news is that I think he'll heal up just fine, but the bad news is that I don't think he'll get back this year. Just really, really sad because you love the kid so much." On what he's said to Seth Russell: "Right when he was being taken off the field, I told him to get back in there and throw a Flintstone band aid on there and get back out - apparently band aids didn't do it. There's nothing you can do. You just hate to have a kid have an injury that will keep him out."

On his confidence with backup QB Zach Smith:
"I liked him. I really liked what he did against a really good football team and big crowd on the road. I thought he came in and was very comfortable and he made some great throws. I've felt really good about him all year."

On Zach Smith's confidence going forward:
"I know Zach Smith - he's really disappointed that Seth got hurt. There's no question about it. At the same time, it's his opportunity to step up, and he should be excited about that. Because of when it was that Seth got hurt, he got the opportunity to get enough snaps so that he shouldn't be too nervous next week when he takes the field." On running back Terrence Williams and Blake Lynch: "T-Dub [Williams] is just really sore. He's got a tendon problem, and he's just really sore. I thought he really showed some toughness in the second half when we needed him after J Mike [JaMychal Hasty] got dinged. He went out there and got the job done. Blake Lynch did some really nice things. I thought he did really, really well, and he'll be better with more repetitions I think."

On if he believes his team can be better than they have been:
"There's no question about it. I told the guys today, 'guys, we can be a really good football team, but we can't make all the mistakes we made today.' I want to give Oklahoma all the credit, first and foremost, and I think they are a really good football team and belong in the top 10. But, so many things we did today were self-inflicted - things that we did to ourselves that we need to clean up. We've got to clean those things up if we want to win. We can't play the way we did today - too many big plays on defense, too many penalties and too many opportunities where we came away with a field goal or no points. Those are just things you can't do if you're going to be a good football team."

FRESHMAN QB Zach Smith

On Seth Russell's injury:
"I was just kind of shocked. He's like a brother to me, the leader of this team. I was shocked and it just really hurt me for him, knowing what he's going through, what he went through last year to come all the way back here to compete and just getting hurt again - prayers out for him. Hopefully a strong recovery, fast recovery."

On his emotions when he went into the game:
"I'd prepared for it all season, fall camp, knowing it might happen with the situation last year. I've just prepped myself for that situation so, nerves were high as usual, but I'd prepped myself for it."

On his mentality now that he'll start at quarterback:
"I don't think it changes at all. Every time we go out there, we go out there to score points and win ballgames. That's our approach, so I don't think it changes at all."

On his performance:
"I think it's just getting in there and playing a little bit and calming my nerves down and getting used to the speed of the game. It's a lot different than practice and stuff like that - nerves are high. Nerves aren't high in practice. But you go out there and get some snaps in and everything calms down, slows down, and I've just got to get used to the speed of the game."

On the team's mood after three consecutive losses:
"We're obviously pretty upset about how we played and we've got to make a change to it and we've got to do it now. We're looking forward to next week and we're going to go out there and play a damn good ballgame."

SENIOR LB Aiavion Edwards

On Seth Russell's injury:
"I was hurt. I'm hurt for him. He's gone through a lot with the neck last year and this. You hate for a guy who works so hard and is such a great leader on the field to see something like that happen. He's positive right now about it but it's a big hit for our team."

On the team's plan to contain Joe Mixon:
"We made it a little bit simpler and focused on fitting where we needed to and not trying to do too much blitz-wise and I think it paid off for sure."

On the team's mood after three consecutive losses:
"We know that the team we've been putting on the field the last three weeks isn't the team that we are. We know we have to get better and it's something that we have to continue to focus on - eliminating the mistakes. Our coaches put is in a great position today but we didn't make the plays that we needed to when we needed to. I think it boils down to us just focusing a little more and being able to execute the game plan."

SENIOR CB Ryan Reid

On Seth Russell's injury:
"He's a leader. It hit us pretty hard. When one of our brothers goes down, it's going to hit us pretty hard. But we're going to have to keep playing."

On the team's mood after three consecutive losses:
"I don't really like to think negative. I like to keep everybody positive and moving on. I make a few jokes with everybody just to get them thinking of other stuff. But we haven't been feeling like the same Baylor team. When you take three losses, something's up. Something's going on. All I can do is keep pushing everybody to keep fighting."

On the defense's performance:
"We fought. We know Oklahoma is physical. They have great backs, great receiving core. Just take away a few mistakes and we're looking at trying to come back and win this game. Even the young guys that were in there, they played great. It just takes more mental focus."

On containing Dede Westbrook:
"They had to move him around. They had to get him away from me. They had to put him in different positions and try to get him one-on-one with somebody else. He almost had one on me but he didn't so, that's all that counts. But I feel like we did pretty good with their offense. Like I said, we just have to take away some of our mental errors."

JUNIOR TE Jordan Feuerbacher

On Russell's injury:
"It was just sad to see for him. The guy's done a lot for this program, especially after coming back from last year, he's a real leader on the team. More than anything, you just felt sick because you know how much he's put in and how dynamic and how much he means to our team, but at the same time, we had to focus our attention to helping Zach out and making sure he's comfortable in there and he was able to run the offense, I thought, pretty well."

On backup QB Zach Smith's performance:
"I think it helped out timing wise and I think it helped his confidence a lot. He threw some great balls and I thought he looked more mature than the true freshman he is. I think that gave him a lot of confidence in himself and I think it gave us a lot of confidence in him and it gave the coaches a lot of confidence in him and I think that'll go a long way for him."

On Baylor's performance as a whole:
"OU, they played a great game but on the flip side of that, we shot ourselves in the foot. We had three turnovers I think, and more penalties that really hurt drives, offensively, especially. We went into halftime with extremely confident. We were still in it, especially since we were receiving coming out of the half and then we just shot ourselves in the foot, which you can't do against good teams like Oklahoma."

RS FRESHMAN WR/RB Blake Lynch:

On transitioning from WR to RB:
"It wasn't completely unfamiliar to me. In high school, I kind of played quarterback and wildcat quarterback before transitioning to wide receiver when I got here. The coaches just told me to get the ball, follow the big boys and go."

On practicing RB during the week:
"I had some reps in it and I was comfortable. It was fun. It brought back some good memories, but I'm just doing whatever the team needs me to do. If they need me to run the ball, then I'll run the ball."

On his emotions after Seth Russell's injury:
"It's devastating. He had that neck injury last year and bounced back and has been pretty good. He's a senior, and these last few games meant a lot to him. We'll rally around him and make him feel better, but we've just got to keep pushing forward."

On what he brings as a running back:
"I think I just bring heart. I feel like if I get tackled by one person, I didn't do my job."

On how this game experience will help backup QB Zach Smith:
"I think it helps him a lot. He gets a lot of reps in practice, so I feel like he was completely comfortable. I feel like he's ready to step up."

On if he feels like he could play quarterback:
"I think I could. I don't know if the coaches think so, but I think I could."


OKLAHOMA QUOTES - HEAD COACH BOB STOOPS

Opening statement:
"I just want to compliment Coach Grobe and their staff and team at Baylor. Again, we knew it'd be a good football team, and it's still a really good football team in the way they've got a lot of a really good, talented players. They do a good job coaching them. I knew we would have to play well to give ourselves a chance to win. I'm pleased with the way we played really across the board. I thought in every part of the game, we did a really good job as a team complimenting one another. Special teams was solid. Offense and defense really together did a really good job. "Offensively, you kept chipping away at the run. I thought the whole first half, we were so close to breaking the run, breaking the run. Give them credit-they tackled and did a good job of not allowing us to. Eventually, Joe [Mixon] breaks it. Eventually, Samaje [Perine] breaks it. Eventually, it works. Two hundred yards rushing, that's an excellent job against, again, a defense that's been pretty good. Baker [Mayfield] was again great, took care of the football really well, but the one ball was unlike him. "Defensivelyà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦Jordan Evans was outstanding with some great, getting his hands on balls and intercepting. Had a chance for another one for a touchdown-JT [Jordan Thomas] dropped it. Came up with some good fourth-down stops. I thought the second half was really good other than one play. Again, credit them. They've got some really good players that are going to make plays really on everybody. I feel bad for their quarterback, Seth Russell. I hope he will heal up and that things will go well in how they manage that. Hated to see that happen. Hate to see that for any young man. But, really a win here later in the year that hopefully we can gain some momentum from it. Still missing some pieces. Still able to manage it with missing quite a few pieces, and hopefully we'll get somber in the next few weeks. Hopefully just adding some guys back if we're able to."

On the receivers:
"They had a great night. Competitive catches, and that's where with some of those catches we made, you've got to say to everyone, what do you tell the corner, the safeties? They're in great positions, and our guys made some tough, fighting-for-the-ball, competitive catches in key situations that really made a big difference."

On the defensive performance and making plays that weren't seen at the beginning of the year:
"Sometimes you get them in bunches. I've always said the other team has to help you a little bit, too. Fortunately, we were able to get quite a few turnovers. It was hard in that too, at a certain point, you can't just stop them on third down. We've got to stop them on fourth down, too, because they're behind or in a situation where they're just going to go for it anyway, so now you've got two possession downs you've got to stop people on. That kind of makes it a little bit harder, too, but we managed it and had some nice little down stops. I thought they did a good job."

On Jordan Evans:
"He didn't do anything different than he has. He made some nice plays, and every day is different. You play a different team every week. Different quarterback, different receivers, different schemes." "He's an excellent athlete: hands and rangy. He can play in space, and he did a really good job there today."

On the importance of turnovers:
"It's important. Again, I just said that we didn't change anything, just sometimes they come in bunches. Sometimes the other team helps you a little more than some other teams, and sometimes you do a better job getting in position like Jordan did, cutting the route, cutting in the space where he might not have been before, so it makes a big difference. I wish JT [Jordan Thomas] would have had the one for a touchdown, as well. Right to us, and that's where I say you've got to make the play. That's right at you, but he did a nice job covering all night. You've got to give him that, too. To handle their receivers, especially on that side of the ball, I thought JT had a great night. And Steven Parker. Steven challenged him deep on some things. He was great. Jordan Parker got some balls out, challenged some people as well, so I thought those guys did a really good job."

On playing in an emotionally charged game:
"It was a big emphasis, too, just to be fired up to play. The competitiveness in you and someone else, the other team, can challenge your backers, get chippy here and there, but we didn't have penalties, and that was a big deal that we had self control along with the emotion and competitiveness to play."

On the potential to frequently put together big plays:
"It's a big spark to always have that feeling that you're just about to create a big play. It's like several of those runs are just like, surely it's going to pop, and sure enough there goes Joe. Eventually it pops. There in the secondary, they're hardly dealing with what's in the secondary, so you do have that feeling a lot, that you're just on the cusp of cracking another big play."

On going to Morgantown next week:
"Always a challenge, an exciting challenge. They've always got a ruckus, a rowdy crowd at West Virginia. It's a challenging place to go play, but they're always exciting, too, when you're that way."

SENIOR LINEBACKER JORDAN EVANS

On his successful day:
"Coaches called some great calls and we had great preparation all week so the stuff they were doing we were familiar with and then it's just muscle memory. I got blessed with some of the stuff that came my way today."

On not getting a TD on his second interception:
"I thought I was going to jump over him but he ended up being real strong and took me down so I didn't get in but it was all good."

On his first interception on the goal line:
"I saw him pump-fake and knew just to sit back. Neville tipped that and he's a big guy so I told him I owe him dinner after that. He tipped it right to me so I made sure I caught it."

On the defensive improvement:
"Just making plays when plays come to you. I feel like guys are flying around and trying hard, trying to force things, and trying to make plays. When guys do that something good is going to come your way. Its championship November. Defense wins championships and our offense has been carrying us all year so I felt like if we do our part, we should steamroll through these last couple games."

On younger guys' improvement:
"I don't know if you can call them young guys anymore because they've been here and they're making plays out there like us older guys. Those younger guys have been doing a great job and been very productive and turning into playmakers."

RS JUNIOR QUARTERBACK BAKER MAYFIELD

On the intensity of the game:
"It's always fun to win. You can never take that for granted, especially against a good opponent like that. It's always chippy against Baylor and a top opponent in the Big 12. Right now it was the first step in getting through this three-game stretch and it was a good team win. Now we're on to next week."

On keeping the edge but not too excessive:
"You talk about it. You talk about having an edge. And our offense plays better in that mindset. Play physical against the guy across from you. You play with that and don't retaliate because the penalties hurt you. We've had a history of that against us so today to see the self-control and not get one of those penalties was great."

On playing West Virginia:
"We're in control of our own destiny right now and, like I said, it's on to the next one. But it's really exciting to go to Morgantown. They always bring it and it's going to be a great matchup. They're a top team in the Big 12, they bring it, they like to blitz, and they stick to their game plan and run with it. We need to know what we're getting into and it will be an exciting one."

On the receivers:
"Guys are continuing to get more reliable. Talk about Jeff Mead's catch, I put it in a tight window and just trusted him to make plays. Geno [Lewis] is a guy who I can throw it up for him and he loves to go get it. It's good to see him making competitive catches along with Mark [Andrews] and those bigger body type guys making plays."

On Samaje Perine:
"He's back in his rhythm. It's great to see him back out there and moving well. He's bouncing off of people and still being physical. It's great to have him and Joe back in the backfield at the same time."

SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER DEDE WESTBROOK

On his first touchdown:
"I noticed that it was a cover-2 corner which is what caused me to inside release. I wasn't expecting Baker [Mayfield] to throw that ball because he never does in practice. We connected on the play and I don't know what happened with the defender but I knew I never stepped out. I threw my hands up indicating a touchdown because I was sure. It was the most acrobatic touchdown of the night."

On the way defense targets him as a receiver and maximizing the opportunities he sees:
"I definitely have to maximize the chances I see. I noticed today in the beginning I was singled up with [Ryan] Reid. After the first touchdown is when I started getting a lot of double coverage."

On the diversity of the offense:
"It was the reason I came to the University of Oklahoma. I knew the team had a lot of play makers and by me coming here it added it. It makes us pretty unstoppable."

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Players Mentioned

Zach Smith

#8 Zach Smith

QB
6' 3"
Sophomore
Seth Russell

#17 Seth Russell

QB
6' 3"
Senior
Zach Smith

#4 Zach Smith

QB
6' 4"
Freshman
Blake Lynch

#2 Blake Lynch

WR
6' 3"
Freshman
Jordan Feuerbacher

#85 Jordan Feuerbacher

TE
6' 4"
Freshman
Aiavion Edwards

#20 Aiavion Edwards

LB
6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
Ryan Reid

#19 Ryan Reid

CB
5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
Seth Russell

#17 Seth Russell

QB
6' 3"
Redshirt Freshman

Players Mentioned

Zach Smith

#8 Zach Smith

6' 3"
Sophomore
QB
Seth Russell

#17 Seth Russell

6' 3"
Senior
QB
Zach Smith

#4 Zach Smith

6' 4"
Freshman
QB
Blake Lynch

#2 Blake Lynch

6' 3"
Freshman
WR
Jordan Feuerbacher

#85 Jordan Feuerbacher

6' 4"
Freshman
TE
Aiavion Edwards

#20 Aiavion Edwards

6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
LB
Ryan Reid

#19 Ryan Reid

5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
CB
Seth Russell

#17 Seth Russell

6' 3"
Redshirt Freshman
QB