OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL OU QUOTES • HEAD COACH OKLAHOMA 30, TCU 29 • NOV. 21, 2015

Opening Statement: On Samaje Perine’s injury followed by a 72-yard run: “I’ll first start off by complimenting TCU, Coach Patterson, the team and “He had a slight ankle sprain, and it hurt him initially. Once he gets the staff for another hard fought, tough football game. Their team really on the sideline, they tape it again, he gets to moving on it again, then hung in there and made plays there down at the end to give them a he trusts that it’s okay. It’s an ankle sprain; it’s not a high one, which is chance to win, and fortunately, we came up with enough plays to win good. Hopefully he’ll heal up well.” the football game. I’m really proud that Steven Parker came up with a huge play there at the end. I guess to recap the game just overall, On tonight’s performance despite having better finishes in the offensively, I really thought going into half time, compliment TCU forced past: us on some red zone areas to come up with some field goals instead “If you look around the country every week, for everyone, is it ever of . I knew it would be difficult moving the ball overall, perfect? It’s tough. Gary’s sitting over there with a team that hasn’t but I felt like we had a chance to catch a rhythm… Of course, Baker, lost but three times in two years. Regardless of who’s playing for them, just to be sure that everyone understands, our trainers and doctors they’re a good football team, and I knew they would be. Rarely is it were constantly with each series, every time Baker was off, checking perfect. We’ve had a lot of excellent games, and we’re due for one that him, asking him questions, making sure he was okay. Everything was maybe isn’t. You can win when you’re still not at your best.” checking out fine, and then at halftime they approached him again, wanting to go over some things, and Baker admitted to having a On Zack Sanchez’s performance coming back from an ankle headache, and that’s when our doctors said we’re not going to have injury: him play any more. I’m sure there was more to it than that, I’m not part “Zack was great again. The were huge, and the onside of the whole testing situation and everything that they do. I know our kick. Fortunately he didn’t re-hurt it at all, but he’s still favoring that doctors are incredibly thorough and always err on the safe side, and ankle, but he’s still fighting through it.” once we did find a symptom, that’s when they made sure he was pulled. Of course, that threw us off in the second half when we weren’t very On going into next week’s game and their chances of securing a consistent at all. Defensively, I thought in the first half, it basically got playoff spot: to two plays, two pass plays on one drive were really all that we gave “A lot happened this week, a lot will happen next week. When you up the whole first half… Then, the same thing happens in the second can not be at your best and win, it’s always a positive against a ranked half—we’re playing great defense—and one guy gets beat in coverage team… We’ve been in four National Championship games where they and they get a big play and a , and all of a sudden they’re pick two, and in three of them, we had a loss. A lot’s going to continue juiced up, and again, when the defense isn’t able to do anything, they’re to happen.” constantly kicking it back to them in three-downs or turning it over and giving it to them with field position, it’s tough to hang on, and that’s how the game got tight by the end. Again, fortunately we were able to come up with a big play there at the end on the two-point play to win it. It puts it in a position now with one game remaining in the regular season to go to Oklahoma State and hopefully have a chance to win the championship.”

On Steven Parker’s play during the two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter: “That was a huge play. On the sideline, it looked like he was up there, like he could have dunked it on a 12-foot rim. He was way up there. It was a great play by him.” OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL OU QUOTES • COORDINATORS OKLAHOMA 30, TCU 29 • NOV. 21, 2015

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR LINCOLN RILEY DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE STOOPS On changing and how it changed the offense: On the last play: “We didn’t have to change much. We just didn’t play as good in the second “We played a quarter concept across and just were able to cover them. We half. I felt like in the first half we were close to blowing it wide open. were in kind of the same defense as when they threw the touchdown. We We started to get into a little bit of a rhythm, but any time you change were in a pretty good call for what they were trying to do. I thought we had quarterbacks it’s going to take time to get in a rhythm. I didn’t call a very it covered, and we did. The initial coverage was pretty good, then we lost good second half at all. We just had some small breakdowns here and contain. It was all kind of a blur to me.” there. I don’t think any position group played super well in the second half; On when TCU changed quarterbacks in the third quarter: we were just okay. We were just one step away. We played a lot of nine and “They ran a concept there for the deep post that’s a beater against that 10-man football the second half, and when you do that against a really coverage. We weren’t far enough inside and didn’t have the right leverage. good team and a defense like the one run by Gary Patterson, you’re not That gave them hope with eight-and-a-half minutes to go. We were pretty going to play as well. At the end of the year… this is our eighth-straight much doing what we needed to do to secure the game, regardless of what was [win]. It’s gutty. You look across the country… we got a chance to watch going on. We were in a good rhythm. We were stopping the run. We were good the Ohio State vs. Michigan State game. It’s a lot of ‘ugly’ games. That’s on third down. We just gave up that play. You could just feel that things were what the end of the year is about. You’re going to have some adversity and starting to change.” both teams did today. Give our team credit because we found a way to win it.” On the defense’s overall effort:

On mistakes he made calling plays: “We had four turnovers again. We’re doing a lot of good things. It took a little “We weren’t aggressive enough. We got away from who we are offensively. bit away, but give TCU credit. To knock the champ out, you have to fight. It’s That’s my fault. That can’t happen. We were playing so well defensively. I going to be a fist fight. We were just hanging on. We couldn’t make a play. We felt like we had the game under control for a while. We got away from that, overran the football. We made good calls. We just lost momentum. We had to and me doing that took away from our kids playing football. It’s unfair of make a play. We just felt like we were going to make one to win the game. It me to ask them to play one way and me not bring that same approach. got to that point, and we were able to do it.” I brought them down by doing that. I can’t do that. That’s why we’ve gotten to where we’ve gotten and had whatever success that we’ve had On if he was surprised by the two-point conversion call: offensively is because of that mentality, and I got away from that and it “I was (surprised). The way their defense was playing… in the second half, showed in our kids.” both teams had backup quarterbacks, so I was surprised just because they were in such good rhythm defensively. On the road, they say go for the win On Trevor Knight’s ability: and we made a play when we needed to. For our guys, I thought, for 52 “I don’t worry about anything before, I go off what I see in practice. There’s minutes we controlled the game and just lost it there down the stretch. I not anything in this offense he can’t do. This is a guy that came as close wish we would’ve finished better, but winning championships is never easy. as it could be to starting the season as a starter and a guy that’s won a Beating a team like Baylor, you have to earn it. That’s what our players have to lot of games, a lot of major games. I had full confidence in him. I let the realize. We can finish better and we need to learn from this experience, but we game situation, the fact that we had some different combinations of guys came out on top, but we need to play better. I didn’t think our rush game was throughout get banged up, I let that get to me and took away from who great. We didn’t pressure enough. There’s some things we have to get better at we are.” before we go up to Stillwater next week.”

On if he’s ever been worried that could get hurt: On if they win at OSU, do they deserve a playoff spot: “It’s a dangerous game. I don’t know that I’ve ever worried they’re going “I got no idea. We’ve played some awfully good football. Losing Baker to get hurt. You don’t ever want it to happen, but you can’t approach [Mayfield] hurt us. He’s our team. He’s our leader. He inspires us in a lot of it like that. That’s part of that game. That’s why we have three good ways. We’re going to need to play better as a team. That situation doesn’t [quarterbacks]. You never want it to happen, but you have to turn loose present itself if we don’t start playing better. It’s not going to be easy under and play.” any circumstances. OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL OU QUOTES • PLAYERS OKLAHOMA 30, TCU 29 • NOV. 21, 2015 SENIOR CENTER On Steven Parker’s play: “Big time players make big time plays in big time games. And this On Perine’s run and performance: was a big time game, a big time moment, and he got it done. And “It’s definitely a good feeling when we work something like that all that’s why he’s out there on the field, to get it done. It was an awesome week in practice and it happens exactly like it’s supposed to. We need moment.” him big time. Down the stretch, we’ve been rushing the ball well, playing decently. He played a big part. Samaje has been a huge key to SOPHOMORE SAFETY STEVEN PARKER our success and he’s going to continue to need to be if we’re going to continue to win games.” On the two-point conversion: “Basically just had a hard decision on whether to stay with my receiver On Sterling Shepard: or go after the quarter back. I knew that the route was going to be “He always makes plays. He finds a way to make plays in whatever double-draft seven and come and get the . I just played in capacity that he can. He made some plays tonight and we’ve got to be between and kind of play dummy to it. Then from there just time my able to protect them, whoever is back there, so he can have more time jump right.” to find Shep down the field.” On if they predicted the route: On the effort tonight: “On the two-point conversion you usually know just on how they align. “I feel pretty confident in the group. We were playing good football and I basically just know that it was going to be double-draft seven with this probably wasn’t our best performance today, but still we found a three receivers and to back away. That was my first thought and knew way to win. That gives you a certain level of confidence in our ability to that I already had help inside.” gut it out. Sometimes you need that.” On if he was surprised that they went for two: REDSHIRT JUNIOR QUARTERBACK TREVOR KNIGHT “No, I wasn’t surprised at all. They are a team that wants to win just like we do. They felt like they were on the verge of punching it in and our On how it felt getting into the game: defense just stayed strong.” “It felt good. Obviously we didn’t play as well as we wanted to there in the second half, but end all be all, we get a W, and that’s what matters. On if he has ever felt better about a play: We’re going into the last game of the year with everything we want still “I can’t really say I have. That was probably my favorite memory of my right in front of us, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.” football career.”

On going into Bedlam: On what made him go after the quarterback: “That’s how you want to draw it up. You dream about going into the last “I just knew that if I stayed on the guy, the quarterback was going to game with everything right there in front of you. And it’s going to be an run it in with ease. If I attacked him, I knew he was going to throw it electric atmosphere next Saturday, and I can’t wait for it.” because he was behind the line. My thing was to kind of slow play it and basically make the decision for me. I used to play basketball, so to On sending the seniors out with a win: me it was almost like a jump-trap type of move. As soon as you know “It’s huge. Just the way the defense stepped up to make that happen, he is going you just have to time your jump. He has to go through your you’ll remember this one forever. Those guys will remember this one hands if your hands are up.” forever. You know you’d like it to be a little more at ease, maybe their hearts were pumping a little bit too much, but they left with a win, they went undefeated at home as seniors and that’s pretty special.” OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL REDSHIRT JUNIOR CORNER ZACK SANCHEZ On Frank Shannon getting the start on senior night… “It meant a lot. Every senior wants to go out with a bang and being able On his interceptions: to start for his last game in front of his parents and all of his family, I am “They’re plays the defense puts me in a position to make. The only play I sure it meant a lot to him.” can think about is the last touchdown I gave up on. I’ve got to do better.” On whether or not he was unhappy to see Oklahoma State lose On TCU in the second half: (to Baylor) tonight… “I don’t think anything went wrong, I think they just had a lot of “I am not too focused on what they are doing, but it would have momentum. Obviously we needed to stop them. We needed a big play. probably helped us a little bit if they were undefeated. But we can only It’s not always going to be as pretty as we like. It’s something we’ll get control what we can control, so we have to go out next game and get a back to work with on Monday.” W.”

SENIOR STERLING SHEPARD On what Brian Bosworth gave him tonight: “He gave me a magazine, it was a Sooners Illustrated magazine with On not having Baker (Mayfield) out on the field in the second dad on the front cover and the whole 85’ team signed it for me. He just half: told me that he was proud of me and that he loved me, so that was a “Trevor (Knight) gets as many reps as Baker does, maybe a little bit less great deal.” than he does, but we had to just put our trust in him and come out with that win.” On whether or not he saw anything different with Baker (Mayfield) after the hit: On how big Samaje Perine was tonight: “He didn’t see anything different. I guess it is just a precautionary deal “Samaje is a great running back, as everyone knows. We just have to do where they have to sit him out if he has any symptoms, and I guess he our jobs as wide-outs down the field and get those blocks and get those had some. But I didn’t notice anything different.” secondary blocks for him and he’s going to spring them.” SENIOR LINEBACKER ERIC STRIKER On his attitude going into to the Bedlam game: “We set goals at the beginning of the season, we’re one step away from On Steven Parker stopping the two-point conversion: achieving those goals. I feel like guys will be locked in and ready to roll “That was clutch. That was really big and as a senior, I really appreciate for next weekend.” it.”

On the offensive struggles in the second half: On the memorable finale for him: “It was what it was, we didn’t execute and that is what it comes down “Yes, really memorable. I came in thinking I’m just going to give it my to. We will get in the film room and we’ll fix those deals.” all and try to do my best for my team. I just tried to get a good jump on the ball, have the best blitzes of my life tonight. Senior year, it’s a big On winning a game that big: game, and we’ve got something good going. “ “It’s been a while since the defense has had to make a play for us. We haven’t had to make up for the defense. It’s been kind of even and we On how this year was different when it comes to winning close have all been doing well, so they (defense) definitely had our backs games: tonight.” “Minimizing those turnovers late in the game, defense being on their P’s and Q’s in tight games like that. It’s important not giving up big plays On what was going through his mind during the two-point at the end like that. That’s been really helpful this year.” conversion: “Just get a stop. I had trust in my defense though, I go against them On Samaje Perine’s performance: every day and I know how tough they are. I had faith in them.” “That was big. He fought through the pain. There’s a lot of guys that are OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL like that. Zach (Sanchez) is like that. He’s out there a little nicked up, out were in different meeting rooms and things weren’t working out with there making plays. There are a lot of guys out there that are fighting miscommunications and things like that. Now we are together and through for the greater good of the team. You see that as a warrior, and more of a family now, too. We aren’t just playing for a win, we are you’ve got to take your hat off to them.” playing for each other.”

SENIOR DEFENSIVE END CHARLES TAPPER On the up and down night for the secondary: “Yeah we played good, but there is always something that we have to On the defensive performance: be better at; open field tackling or whatever it may be. They got some “We went out there and we started off really good. The first three yards that they didn’t deserve on missed tackles. We just have to keep quarters were pretty good, the fourth quarter had a little fall-off. working.” But it’s like we knew adversity was going to happen at some point in time. It happens every game, it’s part of the game. So we knew we had to keep fighting and then Steven went and made the biggest play probably in his life right now. “

On it coming down to the defense at the end of the game: “Because we’re competitive guys, we always want the last play of the game. We want to be the side of the ball that makes that big play at the end of the game. Last week it was the offense that made the big play, this week the defense made the big play. If we keep playing like that, we can go a long way and the Sooner Magic is going to keep rolling.”

On going out with a win as a senior: “With it being Senior Night, the last game on this field, for me and (Eric) Striker, this game meant a lot to both of us and the whole defense. The whole defense and the whole team, they love the seniors and they wanted to send us out with a bang. And we surely went out with a bang.”

JUNIOR SAFETY AHMAD THOMAS

On what was the key to stopping them late in the second half: “Just to keep executing. Just keep executing as a team. We just had to be ready for whatever that they had for us. We all had to do our jobs and no one else’s.”

On what was going through his mind on the two-point conversion stop: “I was just happy for the team. I was happy for him [Steven Parker]. It was a huge play in the game.”

On how much coach Kerry Cooks has helped this defense: “We had to come together first to be how we are first. At first we OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL TCU QUOTES • HEAD COACH GARY PATTERSON OKLAHOMA 30, TCU 29 • NOV. 21, 2015

Opening Statement: On what he and Bob (Stoops) talked about after the game and “First off, you’ve got to give Oklahoma credit. They found a way to stop the game overall: us at the end. People always ask, ‘why do you go for two?’ Our rule “Every ballgame we’ve had against each other in the last five years has has always been to go get the win on the road. To be honest, if he (OU been close. We talked about it being a great battle. He told me it was Safety Steven Parker) doesn’t knock it down, there’s a guy open in the a gutsy decision to go for two. He’s a good man and I like him and his back of the end zone to catch it. If there was a mistake, it was us going team a lot. You know so many of these kids on the other team through for two early on in the first half. So you have to give Coach Stoops and recruiting, and one of the things I’ve noticed is that there’s never any his staff and kids a lot of credit, and you have to give our team credit bad blood between Oklahoma and TCU. There’s been heavy competition, too, it was a great ballgame. Now, we have to get ready for Baylor.” but never bad blood, which is exactly what I think is supposed to be about.” On TCU’s turnovers (three interceptions, one fumble): “You can’t turn the ball over. But our kids fought back and played the way they needed to. They played without their All-American quarterback (Trevone Boykin) and All-American wide receiver (Josh Doctson) and a lot of other guys who were already down, so I give credit to my kids and my staff.”

On going for two: “I didn’t go for the tie at West Virginia last season and wouldn’t do it again tonight on the road. They had no timeouts left, and if we make it, they only have 50 seconds and a long way to go. We have a ballgame next Friday, so if you go to three overtimes, you’ve got no chance to win that game next week. I’m the hero at West Virginia, and I’m the goat in Norman. There’s not anybody on our sideline that wanted to go for one. We didn’t come here to hang around, we came here to win.”

On third-string QB Bram Kohlhausen’s performance: “I was very excited about it. Here’s something nobody knows – two weeks ago, Bram’s dad passed away. I said, ‘stay home as long as you want,’ and guess what, he’s back on Tuesday. I have a coach going through cancer treatment that nobody knows about. I told him to take a leave an absence and he said, ‘nope, I’m here for the long haul.’ The bottom line is, this team and this staff have fought their tails off all year.”

On the amount of injuries his team has suffered: “You saw me tweet out today that I’ve gotten tired of people making excuses. TCU doesn’t make excuses. We came here to win, and I said, ‘let the chips fall as they may’, and that’s exactly how it all went down. Our kids battled and did what they needed to do, and I was proud of them.” OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL TCU QUOTES • PLAYERS OKLAHOMA 30, TCU 29 • NOV. 21, 2015 JUNIOR DEFENSIVE END JOSH CARRAWAY SENIOR TAILBACK AARON GREEN

On the defense’s energy in the second half: On having a chance to win the game: “I think we found our confidence. I think sometimes it takes a while to “It’s what we do -- we fight. We fight back no matter who’s on the field. build our confidence, and you can’t do that with great teams. You have We just gave it our all. That’s what we’ve been taught to do. That’s what to come out and have confidence right away.” we’ve been trained to do, coached to do, and that’s what we did. We just laid it all out there, and unfortunately we came up short.” On what gave them their confidence: “We just started working together and getting stops and making big On his pride in his team: plays. [That] just really starts to build your confidence and the offense “I wouldn’t rather be on any other team. These guys, my teammates, my started playing better.” brothers, they make this experience, my last year, that much sweeter for me. I’m just happy and fortunate to be here.” On his pride in his team: “I’ll remember this forever. These are my brothers and it was an On injuries and their team as a whole: emotional game… It was awesome that we were able to fight back like “We just came together, even closer. We have each other’s back no that being down so many guys and nobody giving us a chance.” matter what … good play, bad play. We just fight.”

On adversity making him stronger as a player/person: “I feel like you have to go through something to actually grow. It’s made me appreciate the game much more. It’s made me appreciate my team much more.”