Head coach Mike Stoops
On whether it was a moral victory: “”We didn’t play good enough to win. I don’t take anything more or anything less out of it. That’s all we take from the game. We’ve got to do things better in certain situations. Obviously, defensively we have to play better against Oregon State. … If you’re not into it against these guys, they’re going to make you pay and they made us pay. We had some fundamental breakdowns, very fundamental, and that’s disappointing.””
O-coordinator Sonny Dykes
On the offense’s performance: “”The fact that we fought back and had a chance to win really speaks a lot about the character of our kids and our teams, and I’m proud of them for doing that. We came here to win so there’s not any moral victories. I promise you we won’t feel good about anything, and I think we felt like we were going to win; we just couldn’t quite make enough plays down the stretch to get it done. They scored 55 (and) we needed to score 56.””
D-coordinator Mark Stoops
“”How many times do you give up 45 points and say you wouldn’t do it much different? I never have. Like I said, I have been wrong many times and always try to do it better and in different ways. We did nothing different in the second half, not one thing. … They just kicked our butts.
“”It was insanity. I don’t know, I don’t understand and I can’t explain it. … Obviously I did a horseshit job of getting them ready.””
Senior QB Willie Tuitama
On coming back from the early pick-6: “”You have to forget it. I have been here four years now and you have to know that once that play is over, I didn’t think about it for the rest of the game.””
Senior safety Cam Nelson
On what coaches told the team at halftime: “”Coach got on the people who have the most experience, mainly me and Nate (Ness), and felt like we didn’t do a good job of communicating, which we didn’t. … We just didn’t play like we’re supposed to. The game is won Monday through Friday, and our whole week of preparation wasn’t too good.””
Sophomore TE Rob Gronkowski
“”We should have been (awake). This game was huge, the stadium was crazy and (it was) a big game for both teams. We just weren’t into it, it looked like.””
Senior safety Nate Ness
On what went wrong in the first half: “”We were just making mental errors. … They didn’t do anything that we hadn’t seen or that we weren’t aware of, so that was on us, on the players’ part. The coaches gave us a good game plan, and we weren’t executing the game plan. … We just didn’t capitalize on our plays.””
Senior WR Mike Thomas:
“”Stats don’t mean anything when you lose the ball game. But statistically, it is kind of hurtful that you could put up those kind of stats and not get the win.””
– Compiled by Ari Wasserman and Brian Kimball
