UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS QUOTES Saturday, October 14, 2017

Head Coach

Opening statement: Not the outcome that we expected nor hoped for. I was extremely proud — the issues are not effort. And that's a start.

To be down 20-0 against one of the best teams in the country and battle back to be within 10 at halftime and then take the lead 24-23 in the fourth quarter says a lot about this team and where we're headed. Again, much like week three, there's no moral victories, especially when it's against these guys.

But extremely proud of the effort, the enthusiasm, the belief and the fortitude of our guys, extremely proud of our defense to hold one if not the best offenses in the country to three field goals, to allow us to chip away on offense and take the lead. We knew they were going to make some plays. An offense like that, with the best player in the country at , they're going to make some plays.

But our defense continued to go out and battle and hold them to field goals. And our offense got untracked there for a few drives and made some things happen. We've got to find a better way to run the football with our running backs. And we've got to find a better way offensively to protect, but also get guys open on passing situations.

But our effort was great. I told our guys that it definitely hurts a little bit more because of who this loss is to. We're not going to deny that. But we can't let Oklahoma beat us twice. And we're 2-1 in the Big 12, and we've got a really good Oklahoma State team coming into Austin, Texas next week that we've got to get ready for starting tomorrow.

On whether both sides of the ball were playing off each other during the comeback: Yeah, I think that's been the hallmark of our team right now is when one side of the ball is struggling a little bit, the other side picks them up and vice versa.

And I couldn't be prouder of the way that we handled the adversity and responded. We were, whatever it was, six and a half, seven minutes away from the biggest comeback, at least for our side of the ledger, in the history of this rivalry. But we've got to finish. And we didn't today.

On why the offense was slow in the first half, and what changed in the second half: Well, I think we were a bit stubborn in the run game. And that's my fault. I was trying to keep our defense off the field. They had played — I mean the time of possession, the number of plays and total offense in the first quarter was completely lopsided.

And then we realized that's not who we are, that's not how we're going to be able to move the ball. So obviously we started throwing it a little bit more and mixing in some different formations and found a little bit of a rhythm there.

On involving the running backs through passing plays: It opened up a little bit because of how they were playing us. Again, this is a defense that does a really good job of giving you something different each and every week. And so to see the four down, a lot of four-down front on first and second down, which it had been predominantly an odd front and a lot of man coverage with corners behind it — what we call four man — we knew then we could get the running backs involved because a lot of times the guys that have them in man coverage get lost when you either screen or throw the ball to them out of the backfield.

On why the defense got down early, and whether Oklahoma showed them something they hadn’t expected: No, I think we were getting out of gaps a little bit early. They were hurting us with the counterplay, which we had repped but it wasn't a huge staple in terms of — I mean, they'd run it a bunch, but we didn't think out of that formation and personnel grouping that we'd see it. And some of our blitzes were getting out of gaps and "D" linemen not sliding to the right place.

That was the thing that was, we knew we needed to get fixed was when you're running a middle blitz and they run inside zone and it creases you, that's not a good thing. And so we got it fixed and our guys did a lot better.

On Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield being the first to approach him after the game: Baker is obviously an incredible player. He wouldn't be on the Heisman watch if he wasn't. He does incredible things with the football, and the way he gets his team to get up and go is incredible. We just told each other good game and paid respect to each other. He's an excellent football player.

On the last Oklahoma touchdown to Oklahoma tight end Mark Andrews: I don't know exactly, because it was on the other side of the field and I couldn't see exactly. But my understanding is they ran a post to occupy the corner and then ran kind of an out-and-up with him. And we didn't carry what we call the wheel route correctly.

On what he saw from sophomore quarterback , and whether he was 100 percent: No, he's not 100 percent. He's still gimping around a little bit on that ankle. But there's no deer-in-the-headlights look. It was, ‘Let's go, I'm ready.’ He had been on the headset all game long and dialed into what was going on. Just needed to get him warmed up a little bit.

On whether he considered leaving Buechele in for the rest of the drive after Ehlinger sat out: There was, but I think when guys played three and a half quarters and is in the rhythm that he's in, if he's cleared, you're going to put him back in the ballgame.

On whether he gave any thought to kicking a 45-yard in the third quarter: We were against the wind. And with our kicking woes recently, it was down by whatever we were, down by six at the time, and, no, I mean that was — didn't feel good about it being into the wind. Had we been going the other direction probably would have jogged the field goal team out.

On what Ehlinger showed him: Oh, he showed me all he needed to show me in Los Angeles. He's a tough dude. He doesn't get rattled. He's competitive as all get out. And, yeah, there was no — he didn't need to show me anything in this game. I've seen everything I need to see from Sam Ehlinger.

On whether he anticipates sticking with Ehlinger after Buechele is fully healthy: I mean, I would think so at this point. But I don't know. Sam's got to practice really good and we’ve got to see when that occurs that Shane is 100 percent.

On coaching in his first game against Oklahoma: Definitely expected a down- to-the-last-possession. I think for the rest of our schedule, you know, we're going to get everybody's ‘A’ game, and we've got to expect games like that.

For me, it was exciting. I don't know that you have time to soak it all in or reminisce or anything like that. You've got a singular-ness of focus that prohibits that a little bit. But it is a really unique experience and one that I'm looking forward to each and every year.

Freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger

On the extent of his injury when he sat out in the fourth quarter: I wasn't ever confused where I was at all. It was a hard hit. My head hit the ground pretty hard. And they were just taking precaution. I told them immediately I could go back in. I felt fine. They just took me into the tent to make sure everything was okay, go through the protocol and send me back out there.

On how the option game started working in the second half, and how badly he wanted the win: Obviously we all wanted it really bad. This is a big game. Rivalry game. I think in the second half we did a great job up front getting the push. The receivers had great downfield blocking. We just ran our offense. We got comfortable and started doing what we do.

On what direction Texas is going: I think we’re going to come together as a team. We’re going to translate this pain of losing into next week so we can be the best we can be moving forward.

On what changed for the team in the second half: I think we just started playing Texas football and doing what we do. Once we got rolling we did a really good job.

On what the difference was in the one-possession game: I think I need to watch the film. Obviously, this rivalry game is always going to be like this. It’s always a really good game with a lot of momentum swings. It’s a great rivalry.

On if he feels good about getting the vote of confidence from the coaches: I’m going to go into it with same mentality that I do every week — be the best that I can be for my teammates. That will never change.

On playing in his first Texas-Oklahoma game: Incredible. Obviously we'd like to get the win. Been dreaming about this for a long time. But the atmosphere was incredible. The atmosphere was incredible. Losing the game is not incredible. I'm looking forward to the next three years.

Junior linebacker

On whether he felt like they had the game in the third quarter: We were just trying to focus on making sure that we were just playing physical and as physical as possible as we could. We had a couple of struggles towards the end when they got the long touchdown on us. But I think we got just distracted a little bit. We should have just gone down and played, play by play.

On having difficulty sacking Baker Mayfield: He's a very good player. He's very good with his feet, and he knew where to step whenever I was blitzing. I got chipped by the running back and he got a good piece of me. So, he was able to scramble out. So that's something I'm pretty sure I'll be working on.

And Charles (Omenihu), he knew he had to get that sack. He got overexcited and he just has to play it to the ground and make sure he gets him to the ground next time.

Sophomore defensive back Brandon Jones

On how close he thinks this team is to turning the corner: I think we’re definitely right there. Like I said, there’s always room for improvement. We can’t let Oklahoma beat us twice. We have to learn from this game and bring it out to next week.

On the highs and lows of this game: For all of the stuff that we’ve been through, from the winter off-season through fall camp, we learned to not give up. We know we have each other’s back and it really plays a big part in the way we play. We learned to never quit.

Senior linebacker Naashon Hughes

On the emotional rollercoaster for the defense: Basically together as a defense, we have the same mentality going into each and every play, so ‘1-0’ mentality means you're going to play each play to the best of your potential. And the past is the past, so don't remember it.

So going into the third and then to the fourth quarter, I think we had the momentum on our side, and I think we felt that as a defense. We tried to impose that on them.

Freshman Reggie Hemphill-Mapps:

On the offense picking up in the second half: It's just executing. We've got to execute better. If we executed better in the first half then it could have been a different game.

On the mindset after being down 20-0: We just knew we had to help the defense out. We weren't really thinking about being down. We just wanted to go out there and play every play.

On the rollercoaster of emotions after being down and then getting the lead: You always think you're going to win. You just have to finish the game. That's one thing we didn't do tonight. We didn't finish and we have to do that next time.

On being frustrated about not being able to finish the game: It just shows that we have to work harder in practice. It's just the little things.

On what Oklahoma did to slow down the offense in the first half: I couldn't tell you. I have one perspective out there so I couldn't tell you. They were pretty physical but football is a physical game.

On what started working in the second half: It was just momentum. It's guys believing each other. We believed in each other in the first and second half but we just knew that we had practiced hard all week and everything just started clicking for us.

On Sam Ehlinger's performance: It's like I said: Sam's a dog. He made big plays. He made mistakes but we're all going to make mistakes. But he's a great football player. He's got that go-getter attitude. He's always hype. He's never down on himself. He always ready to go for the next play.

Junior defensive back P.J. Locke:

On his thoughts of the game: It felt like something we trained for all summer and ever since the coaches got here. At halftime, there were no heads held down or anything like that. It was just a matter of time. Of course, the finished outcome is going to cut a little deeper because of the opponent. We just have to learn that when we come back that we have to land knockout punches to finish it out.

On this being a moral victory: There are no moral victories. You win or you lose There are some things in the game that we did great and there are still some things that we have to tighten up on. We came out kind of sluggish on defense and we started to get up at the end. But the end result, some of the plays of the plays that we had mistakes on showed up at the end. We just have to learn how to finish on defense. We'll take it from there. You live and you learn. We have to go back to the drawing board and make sure that Oklahoma doesn't beat us twice.

On the growth of Sam Ehlinger: Me and Sam are pretty close. I talk to him all the time after games. After the USC game, Sam really beat himself up. I just told him that's adversity and it matters how you respond to it. And you guys have seen how he's responded to it. I'm just so proud of him. He's going to keep progressing and keep growing. Sam's not complacent at all and he's slowly becoming a leader and he's always looking to get better.

On feeling like the game was Texas' to take: I feel like the game is always ours to take. Like I said, there was never a point in time where we had our heads down. We trained for this. We train for fourth-and-inches everyday. We were down 20-0 early but we never had our heads down. We were just looking at it as it was just a matter of time until we would strike. And after halftime we struck but we just have to finish those critical plays at the end.

Junior offensive lineman Patrick Vahe:

On how difficult the loss was: It's a really tough loss, knowing the opponent and the tradition of this game. But it's something we can learn from and use to move forward.

On his thoughts on the line play: It's just the same mentality that we always talk about. Man-down, Man-up. I'm proud of the guys coming in and playing the way he did. Regardless of what happens, I'm' proud of the offensive line for going out there and sticking it all the way out until the very end.

On Sam Ehlinger's performance: I said earlier, if it were up to me I would give him the 'Iron Man' award. He went out there and played his butt off. No offensive lineman could ask any more from that guy. He made our job a lot easier. In the back of my head I was thinking that's not something he should be having to do on his own. But it's something that we have to work on. I'm proud of my guy, I'm proud of our side of the ball and I'm proud of the defense going out there and playing their butts off again.

On the difference between the offense in the first and second halves: We're just trying to make sure that we stay poised as an offensive unit, regardless of what happens or whatever adversity comes our way. I'm just proud of my guys. They went out there and played their butts off and played until the final second.

On how to improve the running game: Practice. Just practice. We have to go out there and practice one degree higher and make sure that we stay together as a team.

On Coach Herman influencing the team's mindset and resolve: Coach Herman just told us to go out there and give it all we got. We had nothing to hold back. We just have to make sure that we're always playing for each other. We're playing for our guys on our left and our right. We're playing for our loved ones in the stands and watching at home.

On Coach Herman's message after the game: I'm going to keep that in the locker room.

On using this loss as a positive: We just have to stay together. That's the big emphasis. In my opinion, it's just something that we have to learn from and move forward with, knowing that we have another good team next week.