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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 5, 2019

Mike Gundy

Lubbock, Texas

Texas Tech - 45, Oklahoma State - 35

MIKE GUNDY: Okay, so we -- obviously we didn't play very well, and if you just say what are the key points, you have five turnovers, they don't have any, and we're giving up big plays. Two things that we hadn't done, and we had actually done a good job of was not giving up big plays this year and taking care of the ball for the most part. But when you have five turnovers, particularly on the road, it's even worse, and then we gave up big plays on defense. That's really what it comes down to.

Like we were -- we held them to 2 of 13 on 3rd downs, but we gave up too many big plays on the other downs. And then the turnovers. I mean, really that's what took us out of the game. They made the plays, we didn't, and they forced us into turnovers, and we couldn't ever catch up.

Q. The first two interceptions just were bad decisions by Spencer --
MIKE GUNDY: You know, we didn't really protect very well, particularly the first quarter. And I would have to watch the tape, but I think that he had pressure they shouldn't have had pressure on. So before I'm going to go there, and I'm going to watch the tape, but I think he had a lot of pressure, we didn't play very good up front in my opinion.

Q. (Indiscernible.)
MIKE GUNDY: I think run blocking we were okay. I think from the outside looking in, I just don't think we protected very well. He had pressure from the beginning of the game, and that -- I think that had something to do with our interceptions.

Q. No matter how hard you work or how confident you go into a game, every first-year starting quarterback has to have a game like this --
MIKE GUNDY: Yeah, you know, I would say that's probably accurate. Again, I want to go back and watch and see how many of those throws he was pressured on. But I think sometimes when they're young like that, if it happens kind of like that early, they get a little flustered, you know. He really was okay on the sideline. I just think they got a lot of pressure on us. They had a good plan. They did a nice job coaching. Honestly, we got out-coached, and we got outplayed when it comes to the turnovers. Maybe I worked them too hard -- I worked them really hard this week. I've worked them really hard the last two weeks. We're in week 9 without a break, and I very well could have worked them too hard. It looked like we were a little bit flat up front on both sides of the ball. Maybe I worked them a little too hard.

Regardless of if that's true or not, you're 5-0 in turnovers. I mean, you just really don't have a chance. And then we gave up a couple big plays, which we hadn't really done that on defense.

Q. After a game like today, what do you tell Sanders?
MIKE GUNDY: The truth. Once we watch the tape. I mean, just exactly what happened. On this play, here's what should have happened, you did get some pressure, you need to do a better job of keeping two hands on the ball in the pocket, things like that. But just tell him the truth, exactly what happened. And if we didn't do a good job of protecting, then we let those guys up front know, and then we talk as a group. Look, it's difficult to move the ball and be consistent if you have something different happening at different times, and so this is how we bring it together. You know, and then as coaches we have to say, okay, maybe we have too much in. Maybe we didn't get enough reps on enough stuff, and we put them out there and didn't give them a chance for success.

You know, we all have to look in the mirror and try to come up with what the issues were, put a plan in place, and then gotta practice it.

Q. (Indiscernible) was back, last week he was out. What went into that?
MIKE GUNDY: What went into what?

Q. Some of the bad protections, like you said.
MIKE GUNDY: I would have to watch. As I said earlier, I'm going to say that we didn't protect very well, particularly in the first quarter. But I'd have to watch. It's hard for me to see from over there. Now, I hear what people are saying on the headphones up top, and that's why I was leaning toward -- I don't think we played very well up front, particularly from a protection standpoint early in the game.

Q. (Indiscernible) was protection the issue there?
MIKE GUNDY: A little bit, and you know, the majority of the time they cheated the safety over the top, so it was kind of a combination of both. When you're a play caller and you're having some protection problems and you know you're going to have to throw a 2-7 throw down the field, you get a little nervous. I'll be honest with you. I would say those two things contributed to what you just mentioned.

Q. Did this in any way feel like games at TCU or --
MIKE GUNDY: Felt just like it. I mentioned that on the headset. After we didn't get that second onside, I mentioned that exact thing that you just mentioned and said, I wish somebody would let me know how to avoid this from happening in a game because it's sure not a good feeling. It's not many times in our career where we're out of a game, we're onsiding to stay alive. That's really where we were today.

It felt just like that, and it's ironic that you brought that up because I said the same thing.

Q. Not to pile on, but it seemed like the defense at times --
MIKE GUNDY: You can pile on. We deserve to be piled on. Go ahead.

Q. The defense seemed to struggle today --
MIKE GUNDY: That's why I said, I might have worked them too hard because we missed tackles today that we haven't missed all year. They seem more crucial when you're behind, okay, when the game is going good or you're ahead, they're not as magnified like they were -- we had them in 2nd and 11 or something, and Jim fires backside in, and Brock has him wrapped up for a three-yard loss and lets him go, and we miss a tackle, miss a tackle, and he ends up getting something like 14 yards. As I think back to those things that happened in this game, there was three or four times that happened. We've been pretty good tacklers this year. We weren't good tacklers today. So maybe I worked them too hard. Maybe I gassed them out.

Q. Do you consider going with Brown today?
MIKE GUNDY: No, because we thought we were having some protection problems, so I want to say the first two interceptions were based on protection issues. If that's true, it's hard to blame him. Now, I might watch the tape and see differently, but that was my gut feeling.

Q. Are you concerned about his confidence going forward?
MIKE GUNDY: Oh, I mean, I hope not. It's part of football. We've all -- as quarterbacks we've had games where we've thrown interceptions. I go back to what I said at the beginning, was he sitting in the pocket and just had errant throws or bad reads, or was he pressured and it expedited everything and there was a contributing factor? I think we've got to look at all that. Even if he is to blame, then he has to learn from mistakes and develop as a young player, and if he leans or relies or puts everything out there on games that we've already played, then that would make for short careers for quarterbacks, particularly young. I'm hoping that he won't do that, and that's certainly the way that we would lead him.

Q. You had two touchdowns at halftime. Did you come out of halftime thinking you could still win the game?
MIKE GUNDY: Yeah, we were fine. We needed a stop; we didn't get a stop. We needed a big throw; we thought we had a big throw to the other side of the field. So we just swapped touchdowns. That's when we needed that other one. We had the ball going down to cut it to a one-score game, and I think it was 1st and 10 on the 30-something yard line, and we fumbled, I think. Is that where it was? That even makes it worse. And we couldn't get out of our own way. I mean, sometimes that happens, and we just -- we instigated a lot of it, but then being in a situation like that, we just couldn't get out of our own way. We're getting ready to make it a one-score game, but that didn't work out. That's the way it is.

Q. This quarterback has been pretty vulnerable, and he had a monster day today --
MIKE GUNDY: Yeah, we made him look real good. I think we got behind in the game and allowed them to open up their offense, and I think it allowed him to freelance and got very comfortable with what he was doing. Play callers and quarterbacks when they have a two-score lead generally play differently than when they're not, and I'm going to guess that's what happened. But he hit his throws. They did a good job of protecting. We didn't get enough pressure on him on 1st and 10. Sometimes that happens on three-down. And it looked like we didn't match the coverages good.

But he played fairly well today. I think he gained confidence as it went on, and we allowed that to happen.

Q. (Indiscernible).
MIKE GUNDY: Yeah, I mean, I know people say that, but this is a different team. Every year it's different. I'm not shocked because we turned the ball over five times and what have you, I'll be honest with you. And we gave up two huge plays. That's really what you have to avoid. That's who we are as a team right now. Every year you have a different group of guys, and you kind of have a plan for who you are as a team. We can't turn the ball over like that and give up big plays. Those are the two things that we need to eliminate, and we didn't do that today. So there were a lot of blame to be put around quarterbacks, offensive line, corners, coaches, everybody. But in the big picture, if you turn the ball over that many times, no matter what forced those turnovers, and if you give up big plays, it's difficult to win, and that's what we did today.

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