Mark Stoops part one
Opening statement:
That is just how we draw it up. [Laughter] It was really a great night. I could not be more proud of this football team the way they hung in there and played a hard-fought game. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Just the overall day, that is the big thing. Let’s not kid ourselves, we have been building for this moment for a couple of years with the stadium and the anticipation and the fans and just an improved football team. We are an improved football team. I know it didn't always show out there tonight, but that's why you play. It's an opener. It's a start. There's going to be so many opportunities for us to learn from this. But just very proud of everybody involved.
Again, I thought that, since the moment I arrived on campus, that it was going to take a big commitment from a lot of people to have us be successful. It was evident that there was very much support from a lot of people tonight. The people that have worked on this stadium, Mitch Barnhart, Russ Pear, and just all the coaches and support staff and people that have volunteered to help and put in all this hard work and just have this environment.
Special thanks to the fans. To have a sellout I've asked them to come, and they did. And the catwalk, walking in here, and the atmosphere this afternoon, late this afternoon and this evening, when we walked in here, the atmosphere on that catwalk was amazing. Believe me, that is a building block for our program. That kind of passion, that kind of energy from our fan base will do nothing but help us, help build this program, help attract top quality athletes, and inspire the players that we have here right now.
So I thank them from the bottom of my heart. We felt a big obligation to play a good football game and win this game. So I'm not going to let the fact that it got a little sloppy in the second half take away from that. It's a victory. We're always going to be grateful for victories. It was a good start. But I'm just proud of everybody and just appreciative of everybody's support.
It's been a long time coming. We are going to work. We're going to enjoy this tonight. We're going back to work, and we're going to become a good football team. So that's a good starting point.
How much was the game plan to go deep early with Patrick (Towles)? It seemed like in the first half especially, you hit a bunch of those passes.
We did hit some, and then we started missing them. As we started missing them, they started daring us to gang up on the run and load the box and making us throw it downfield, and we started missing them.
We always have the approach, if they're taking things away, if they're loading it up, we have to be able to get the ball down the field. If we make people play with numbers, then we have to take some shots and hit them, and we did that.
Again, all the credit to Louisiana, but we have some other shots that we missed, and we've just got to make them.
Mark, how did you feel Patrick played overall?
I'm sure he did some very good things, but I'm sure there's a lot of plays we need to improve on. I think he got a little out of sync when he maybe overthrew a couple early, and then he started under throwing it and just got off a little bit.
But it's not all on him. He'll improve. It's a good starting point. You know what, it's good to be in a tough game like that and let him go through some adversity and some tough plays and then come back and do what we have to do to win.
How much did you sense you're down a couple key linebackers tonight. There were some plays that got away from you. Could you tell you missed those guys?
Yeah, it did. I told you all along I was anxious and excited to watch some young guys play. There were some moments out there where it was difficult to watch. So we need to improve, but that's why you play.
We have some we have some young guys. We have some freshmen that were put in a position that we needed them to win this game, and they did some good things, and they did some things we need to do a lot better.
Mark, you recruited a big back. Is that what you expect out of him?
Absolutely. The run by Mikel (Horton) at the end of the game there was impressive. He had a great desire to get in the end zone. We felt like we were close on the play before and came back, and we even ran the same play. I think it was the same play. We made him come back with power. We hit it, and then he finished off the last guy and got in the end zone. That was great.
You guys have talked to him about that. Don't try to run like a little guy, run like a big guy. He really lowered his shoulder.
He did. Lowered his shoulder, and he finished the run. The thing that's a little bit nice and deceiving about him is that he is light on his feet and he does have good vision. If you noticed, he got through there, and then he finished the run.
Yeah, there's a time for all of it because he really can be a complete back. It was certainly great to see him finish like that.
Opening statement:
That is just how we draw it up. [Laughter] It was really a great night. I could not be more proud of this football team the way they hung in there and played a hard-fought game. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Just the overall day, that is the big thing. Let’s not kid ourselves, we have been building for this moment for a couple of years with the stadium and the anticipation and the fans and just an improved football team. We are an improved football team. I know it didn't always show out there tonight, but that's why you play. It's an opener. It's a start. There's going to be so many opportunities for us to learn from this. But just very proud of everybody involved.
Again, I thought that, since the moment I arrived on campus, that it was going to take a big commitment from a lot of people to have us be successful. It was evident that there was very much support from a lot of people tonight. The people that have worked on this stadium, Mitch Barnhart, Russ Pear, and just all the coaches and support staff and people that have volunteered to help and put in all this hard work and just have this environment.
Special thanks to the fans. To have a sellout I've asked them to come, and they did. And the catwalk, walking in here, and the atmosphere this afternoon, late this afternoon and this evening, when we walked in here, the atmosphere on that catwalk was amazing. Believe me, that is a building block for our program. That kind of passion, that kind of energy from our fan base will do nothing but help us, help build this program, help attract top quality athletes, and inspire the players that we have here right now.
So I thank them from the bottom of my heart. We felt a big obligation to play a good football game and win this game. So I'm not going to let the fact that it got a little sloppy in the second half take away from that. It's a victory. We're always going to be grateful for victories. It was a good start. But I'm just proud of everybody and just appreciative of everybody's support.
It's been a long time coming. We are going to work. We're going to enjoy this tonight. We're going back to work, and we're going to become a good football team. So that's a good starting point.
How much was the game plan to go deep early with Patrick (Towles)? It seemed like in the first half especially, you hit a bunch of those passes.
We did hit some, and then we started missing them. As we started missing them, they started daring us to gang up on the run and load the box and making us throw it downfield, and we started missing them.
We always have the approach, if they're taking things away, if they're loading it up, we have to be able to get the ball down the field. If we make people play with numbers, then we have to take some shots and hit them, and we did that.
Again, all the credit to Louisiana, but we have some other shots that we missed, and we've just got to make them.
Mark, how did you feel Patrick played overall?
I'm sure he did some very good things, but I'm sure there's a lot of plays we need to improve on. I think he got a little out of sync when he maybe overthrew a couple early, and then he started under throwing it and just got off a little bit.
But it's not all on him. He'll improve. It's a good starting point. You know what, it's good to be in a tough game like that and let him go through some adversity and some tough plays and then come back and do what we have to do to win.
How much did you sense you're down a couple key linebackers tonight. There were some plays that got away from you. Could you tell you missed those guys?
Yeah, it did. I told you all along I was anxious and excited to watch some young guys play. There were some moments out there where it was difficult to watch. So we need to improve, but that's why you play.
We have some we have some young guys. We have some freshmen that were put in a position that we needed them to win this game, and they did some good things, and they did some things we need to do a lot better.
Mark, you recruited a big back. Is that what you expect out of him?
Absolutely. The run by Mikel (Horton) at the end of the game there was impressive. He had a great desire to get in the end zone. We felt like we were close on the play before and came back, and we even ran the same play. I think it was the same play. We made him come back with power. We hit it, and then he finished off the last guy and got in the end zone. That was great.
You guys have talked to him about that. Don't try to run like a little guy, run like a big guy. He really lowered his shoulder.
He did. Lowered his shoulder, and he finished the run. The thing that's a little bit nice and deceiving about him is that he is light on his feet and he does have good vision. If you noticed, he got through there, and then he finished the run.
Yeah, there's a time for all of it because he really can be a complete back. It was certainly great to see him finish like that.
