Troy University Athletics
Oklahoma State Quotes
Troy Head Coach Larry Blakeney
Opening Statement
"We made enough mistakes tonight to lose about six or eight ballgames in one, and they did too, and that's the only thing that made it 41-38 instead of one of us winning by a larger margin. We got a chance playing against a team like Oklahoma State. They're a young football team; we're a young football team. We battled hard against each other and we came out on the short end of the stick. It was kicking game woes, it was turnovers. We couldn't stop the deep ball. We've got so many things we've got to work on, but I think we have a chance to be a decent team."
On kickoff coverage trouble
"I can't attribute it to nothing. We work on it all the time. We've got a pretty good kicker. He kicks it pretty much where we want him to kick it. We're just not getting it done. We can't keep changing people because we've already made some changes of personnel, but we've got to get better at it and find a way to kick the ball deep. We can't be pooching it all season."
On Jerrel Jernigan's kick return touchdown
"He's a dynamic kid; dynamic football player and can do so many things. It helps our football team. He was probably a little frustrated because the guy was kicking it so deep into the endzone, but he caught one about two yards deep and decided to bring it out and we actually got on some people and laid some pretty good blocks and created a crease and he popped through it. He's hard to deal with when he gets into the open field with a crease and an opportunity to score."
On what he told his team at halftime
"27-20, I knew it probably wasn't going to end that way; I had a pretty good idea it wasn't. We talked about trying to eliminate some mistakes and play 30 minutes and not beat ourselves. We could win if we played well. It didn't turn out that way, but this football team has a chance. We need to do what it takes to correct those errors and those flaws."
Corey Robinson - QB
On almost pulling out the win
"I really wish I could get that last play back on offense. I feel a little different about the call, but that's how it goes sometimes. They're a great team, Big 12 football, always tough out there, big, physical guys. We showed we've got potential. We're a rather young team in some areas, but I feel when you get close to beating a big school like that, (it) shows we've got potential to be good this year."
On if Troy proved something about their team after losing many starters from last year
"You have to ride the highs and the lows, doesn't matter what guys you have out there except when you have guys like Jerrel (Jernigan) who make plays all over the place. I felt like we made a statement, some people said we were going to get blown out, but we did ok."
On what went through his mind before their last offensive possession of the game
"Just getting completions, getting it to my guys and out of my hands. We tried to get a big chunk of yards on the first play and held the ball a little too long. I felt different about the call, but like I said, that's how it goes sometimes. I tried to throw it downfield the first play and it didn't work out for us."
On what happened on the fumbled snap
"It was all me. I thought I had it and just took my eyes off of it, stupid stuff like that has messed us up these first two weeks, but that was me all the way. Even that last fumble was me, should've gotten it out quicker."
Jerrel Jernigan - WR/KR
On what he thought of the game
"Tough loss, we had a chance when we got the ball back at the end, like Corey (Robinson) said, I thought his hand was going forward but calls can't go our way all the time."
On what happened on his first fumble as he was about to score
"On the first one, I was trying to fight for extra yards and the corner hit me, spun off it and the guy came from behind and hit it out as I was trying to fight for extra yards. Both the fumbles are my fault, They're on me, so I've got to work on ball security."
On the 100-yard kickoff return
"He'd been kicking it deep all night and Coach Wadsden said he's going to mess around eventually and give me a chance, so when he kicked it I thought about keeping it in but I saw my men blocking their guys up front so I took it on out. The kickoff team did a great job blocking, it's all them, I just run on through so they did a great job blocking."
On how in previous years Troy would've been content with a loss but now they're not
"This program is rising year by year and this is the type of game we expect to win in these close games, but we just didn't get it done. We have to continue to fight every game in every year until eventually we get it done."
OSU Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement
"Obviously, anybody that paid the price of admission got their money's worth tonight. Anybody that had a heart condition probably struggled through the game. It was a very interesting game. We talked last week about Troy. They're very athletic. They've got skill guys that can make plays. We did not tackle very well in open field tonight. I was disappointed with that. I was disappointed with our special teams even though I thought coach Deforest made a great adjustment on the punt where we put two returners back. It gave us a chance to field it and make a play worked out well for us. I was very disappointed in the penalties. I see we had 12 penalties for 139 yards and that's unacceptable. That's our fault as coaches. That's on us and the players buying in. We will get that corrected and we won't give them 139 yards. They had 67 so that's 70-yards of advantage in penalties. That's very poor coaching on our part. We'll get that corrected. Overall, I was very proud of how the defense played the fourth quarter. Offensively, it was an interesting evening in the fact that unless we penalized it or turned it over, there weren't many times when we didn't move the ball; and move it very well. But, obviously if you're penalized it counts and if you turn it over it counts. We need to correct those mistakes. A win is a win, but we've got a lot of things to work on and make ourselves a better team. The talent in the games will get more difficult as we progress through the season. I'm looking forward to getting back in here tomorrow morning and getting ready to play the next team."
On Troy's offense
"They do enough on offense; they're very well coached and they have enough skill guys that if you give them an opportunity, they're going to move the ball."
On OSU's last fumble
"I haven't seen that in 25 years; 24 to be exact. I've never seen that happen. It's a great example of things that we talk about in everyday life and we talk about as coaches. Don't take anything for granted and that's what we did. The center's only role in life on that play is to make sure he makes a good snap. He has nothing else to do. The quarterback needs to sit up in there and he needs to go straight down and it's over. The good thing is that we can talk about and kind of giggle a little bit, but it's really not funny because we put out defense in a very, very difficult position. They only needed three. They had a timeout and 49 seconds and with that style of offense that could be seven plays. They only needed to get about 40 yards to get a field goal and there field goal kicker had been hitting it pretty good. I have not ever seen that in a long, long time [in football]. What I was encouraged about and I told the team, `I didn't see anybody on defense hanging there head. I didn't see anybody that had poor body language and a bad attitude and act like, "How'd that happen?"'" It was one of two reasons. Either they were stunned like me and they couldn't react or they've grown up a little bit and said, `Hey we're going to find a way to get it done.' Hopefully it's the latter, but there wasn't much emotion for me because I was stunned."
On the halftime adjustments
"All the mistakes we mistakes we made in the return game and with the turnovers and we were only down seven. The adjustments were, `Look, let's run our offense. Let's continue to play our defense and defend the vertical passing game better and let's tackle. We needed to tackle better so that's what we talked about at halftime."
On Josh Cooper
"I thought he played very well and it was really a nice run on the punt return. He made a lot of guys miss and they have some athletic guys out there and he did a good job. I was a little worried about his ball skills. On that third cut he kind of got it [away from his body] a little bit and it kind of made me nervous. Josh has been around here for three years or so and what happens is guys he stay around here; they continue to work hard and stay in the program and fight through little injuries; they become good football players. That's kind of where we're at right now."
Dana Holgorsen, OSU Offensive Coordinator
On the game as a whole
"Time will tell. I need to go back and look at the tape to see. We made some plays, scored some points. It is the complete opposite of last week as far as turnovers and penalties. That is one of the things we stress if we want to get to where we want to be, we can't have turnovers, we can't have penalties. Other than that we hung in there and we were able to move the ball some and score. A win is a win."
On if they adjusted things after halftime
"We moved the ball fine in the first half. We had a couple of key penalties and a couple of key turnovers. If you don't convert of a third down, and you turn the ball over you know you are going to struggle. But we were able to make some plays in the mean time."
On Josh Cooper
"He did a good job. He was one of the guys going in that we felt like we could count on. He put the ball on the ground in the first quarter. Some kids are the kind of kids that get down about that, but he is one of those that you motivate him and he was anxious to go out there and make some more plays and he did."
Bill Young, OSU Defensive Coordinator
On Jerrel Jernigan
"We watched every game that they played last year. He is a sensational player. He is very similar to guys that play for Ole Miss that we played against in the bowl game. We knew going in that he was going to be at us every single play."
On the young players playing on defense
"Cooper Bassett played hard. We just had a ton of guys play. We had some injuries at corner and Devin Hedgepath was able to step up."
On Jamie Blatnick playing
"Jamie is an excellent player and a veteran guy so it was great to have him out there and have him make some plays."
Justin Blackmon, OSU Wide Receiver
On the new offense
"Its a lot of fun. Winning is fun, and as long as we are doing that then we will have a lot of fun."
On the locker room at halftime
"We knew that if we came out and made some plays we could come back out and come out on top. Everyone was confident knew that if we converted on turnovers and made plays we would win this game."
On the defense
"The defense came out and did their thing. We put them in some bad binds and they came out of it on top so we thank them for that."
On his late touchdown catch
"It was something we just drew up on the sidelines and made the adjustments on the sideline. Weeden put the ball out there and I caught it."
Brandon Weeden, OSU Quarterback
On the offense's performance
"I shouldn't be disappointed. Anytime you get a win you shouldn't be disappointed, but I am hard on myself and hard on this offense. We tried to do anything we could to get into this football game, but teams like Troy are so athletic and were a good sound football team so we need to do better"
On the interceptions
"There were some tough breaks, they played great on that side of the ball. They were fast and shut things down quick. We knew they were going to put some pressure on us, but overall I think we did enough to win."
On the late fumble during a kneel
"It was just elementary stuff, stuff you learn in elementary P.E. I was pretty upset with myself on the bottom of that pile."
Josh Cooper, Wide Receiver
On his punt return
"I was just trying to make a play, make something happen. I have been waiting all week to make some returns back there so it was a pretty good adjustment."
On playing after his fumble
"Troy was making some good plays and we were forced to make good plays as well. I tried to put it out of my head and move onto the next play and make some plays for our team."
Opening Statement
"We made enough mistakes tonight to lose about six or eight ballgames in one, and they did too, and that's the only thing that made it 41-38 instead of one of us winning by a larger margin. We got a chance playing against a team like Oklahoma State. They're a young football team; we're a young football team. We battled hard against each other and we came out on the short end of the stick. It was kicking game woes, it was turnovers. We couldn't stop the deep ball. We've got so many things we've got to work on, but I think we have a chance to be a decent team."
On kickoff coverage trouble
"I can't attribute it to nothing. We work on it all the time. We've got a pretty good kicker. He kicks it pretty much where we want him to kick it. We're just not getting it done. We can't keep changing people because we've already made some changes of personnel, but we've got to get better at it and find a way to kick the ball deep. We can't be pooching it all season."
On Jerrel Jernigan's kick return touchdown
"He's a dynamic kid; dynamic football player and can do so many things. It helps our football team. He was probably a little frustrated because the guy was kicking it so deep into the endzone, but he caught one about two yards deep and decided to bring it out and we actually got on some people and laid some pretty good blocks and created a crease and he popped through it. He's hard to deal with when he gets into the open field with a crease and an opportunity to score."
On what he told his team at halftime
"27-20, I knew it probably wasn't going to end that way; I had a pretty good idea it wasn't. We talked about trying to eliminate some mistakes and play 30 minutes and not beat ourselves. We could win if we played well. It didn't turn out that way, but this football team has a chance. We need to do what it takes to correct those errors and those flaws."
Corey Robinson - QB
On almost pulling out the win
"I really wish I could get that last play back on offense. I feel a little different about the call, but that's how it goes sometimes. They're a great team, Big 12 football, always tough out there, big, physical guys. We showed we've got potential. We're a rather young team in some areas, but I feel when you get close to beating a big school like that, (it) shows we've got potential to be good this year."
On if Troy proved something about their team after losing many starters from last year
"You have to ride the highs and the lows, doesn't matter what guys you have out there except when you have guys like Jerrel (Jernigan) who make plays all over the place. I felt like we made a statement, some people said we were going to get blown out, but we did ok."
On what went through his mind before their last offensive possession of the game
"Just getting completions, getting it to my guys and out of my hands. We tried to get a big chunk of yards on the first play and held the ball a little too long. I felt different about the call, but like I said, that's how it goes sometimes. I tried to throw it downfield the first play and it didn't work out for us."
On what happened on the fumbled snap
"It was all me. I thought I had it and just took my eyes off of it, stupid stuff like that has messed us up these first two weeks, but that was me all the way. Even that last fumble was me, should've gotten it out quicker."
Jerrel Jernigan - WR/KR
On what he thought of the game
"Tough loss, we had a chance when we got the ball back at the end, like Corey (Robinson) said, I thought his hand was going forward but calls can't go our way all the time."
On what happened on his first fumble as he was about to score
"On the first one, I was trying to fight for extra yards and the corner hit me, spun off it and the guy came from behind and hit it out as I was trying to fight for extra yards. Both the fumbles are my fault, They're on me, so I've got to work on ball security."
On the 100-yard kickoff return
"He'd been kicking it deep all night and Coach Wadsden said he's going to mess around eventually and give me a chance, so when he kicked it I thought about keeping it in but I saw my men blocking their guys up front so I took it on out. The kickoff team did a great job blocking, it's all them, I just run on through so they did a great job blocking."
On how in previous years Troy would've been content with a loss but now they're not
"This program is rising year by year and this is the type of game we expect to win in these close games, but we just didn't get it done. We have to continue to fight every game in every year until eventually we get it done."
OSU Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement
"Obviously, anybody that paid the price of admission got their money's worth tonight. Anybody that had a heart condition probably struggled through the game. It was a very interesting game. We talked last week about Troy. They're very athletic. They've got skill guys that can make plays. We did not tackle very well in open field tonight. I was disappointed with that. I was disappointed with our special teams even though I thought coach Deforest made a great adjustment on the punt where we put two returners back. It gave us a chance to field it and make a play worked out well for us. I was very disappointed in the penalties. I see we had 12 penalties for 139 yards and that's unacceptable. That's our fault as coaches. That's on us and the players buying in. We will get that corrected and we won't give them 139 yards. They had 67 so that's 70-yards of advantage in penalties. That's very poor coaching on our part. We'll get that corrected. Overall, I was very proud of how the defense played the fourth quarter. Offensively, it was an interesting evening in the fact that unless we penalized it or turned it over, there weren't many times when we didn't move the ball; and move it very well. But, obviously if you're penalized it counts and if you turn it over it counts. We need to correct those mistakes. A win is a win, but we've got a lot of things to work on and make ourselves a better team. The talent in the games will get more difficult as we progress through the season. I'm looking forward to getting back in here tomorrow morning and getting ready to play the next team."
On Troy's offense
"They do enough on offense; they're very well coached and they have enough skill guys that if you give them an opportunity, they're going to move the ball."
On OSU's last fumble
"I haven't seen that in 25 years; 24 to be exact. I've never seen that happen. It's a great example of things that we talk about in everyday life and we talk about as coaches. Don't take anything for granted and that's what we did. The center's only role in life on that play is to make sure he makes a good snap. He has nothing else to do. The quarterback needs to sit up in there and he needs to go straight down and it's over. The good thing is that we can talk about and kind of giggle a little bit, but it's really not funny because we put out defense in a very, very difficult position. They only needed three. They had a timeout and 49 seconds and with that style of offense that could be seven plays. They only needed to get about 40 yards to get a field goal and there field goal kicker had been hitting it pretty good. I have not ever seen that in a long, long time [in football]. What I was encouraged about and I told the team, `I didn't see anybody on defense hanging there head. I didn't see anybody that had poor body language and a bad attitude and act like, "How'd that happen?"'" It was one of two reasons. Either they were stunned like me and they couldn't react or they've grown up a little bit and said, `Hey we're going to find a way to get it done.' Hopefully it's the latter, but there wasn't much emotion for me because I was stunned."
On the halftime adjustments
"All the mistakes we mistakes we made in the return game and with the turnovers and we were only down seven. The adjustments were, `Look, let's run our offense. Let's continue to play our defense and defend the vertical passing game better and let's tackle. We needed to tackle better so that's what we talked about at halftime."
On Josh Cooper
"I thought he played very well and it was really a nice run on the punt return. He made a lot of guys miss and they have some athletic guys out there and he did a good job. I was a little worried about his ball skills. On that third cut he kind of got it [away from his body] a little bit and it kind of made me nervous. Josh has been around here for three years or so and what happens is guys he stay around here; they continue to work hard and stay in the program and fight through little injuries; they become good football players. That's kind of where we're at right now."
Dana Holgorsen, OSU Offensive Coordinator
On the game as a whole
"Time will tell. I need to go back and look at the tape to see. We made some plays, scored some points. It is the complete opposite of last week as far as turnovers and penalties. That is one of the things we stress if we want to get to where we want to be, we can't have turnovers, we can't have penalties. Other than that we hung in there and we were able to move the ball some and score. A win is a win."
On if they adjusted things after halftime
"We moved the ball fine in the first half. We had a couple of key penalties and a couple of key turnovers. If you don't convert of a third down, and you turn the ball over you know you are going to struggle. But we were able to make some plays in the mean time."
On Josh Cooper
"He did a good job. He was one of the guys going in that we felt like we could count on. He put the ball on the ground in the first quarter. Some kids are the kind of kids that get down about that, but he is one of those that you motivate him and he was anxious to go out there and make some more plays and he did."
Bill Young, OSU Defensive Coordinator
On Jerrel Jernigan
"We watched every game that they played last year. He is a sensational player. He is very similar to guys that play for Ole Miss that we played against in the bowl game. We knew going in that he was going to be at us every single play."
On the young players playing on defense
"Cooper Bassett played hard. We just had a ton of guys play. We had some injuries at corner and Devin Hedgepath was able to step up."
On Jamie Blatnick playing
"Jamie is an excellent player and a veteran guy so it was great to have him out there and have him make some plays."
Justin Blackmon, OSU Wide Receiver
On the new offense
"Its a lot of fun. Winning is fun, and as long as we are doing that then we will have a lot of fun."
On the locker room at halftime
"We knew that if we came out and made some plays we could come back out and come out on top. Everyone was confident knew that if we converted on turnovers and made plays we would win this game."
On the defense
"The defense came out and did their thing. We put them in some bad binds and they came out of it on top so we thank them for that."
On his late touchdown catch
"It was something we just drew up on the sidelines and made the adjustments on the sideline. Weeden put the ball out there and I caught it."
Brandon Weeden, OSU Quarterback
On the offense's performance
"I shouldn't be disappointed. Anytime you get a win you shouldn't be disappointed, but I am hard on myself and hard on this offense. We tried to do anything we could to get into this football game, but teams like Troy are so athletic and were a good sound football team so we need to do better"
On the interceptions
"There were some tough breaks, they played great on that side of the ball. They were fast and shut things down quick. We knew they were going to put some pressure on us, but overall I think we did enough to win."
On the late fumble during a kneel
"It was just elementary stuff, stuff you learn in elementary P.E. I was pretty upset with myself on the bottom of that pile."
Josh Cooper, Wide Receiver
On his punt return
"I was just trying to make a play, make something happen. I have been waiting all week to make some returns back there so it was a pretty good adjustment."
On playing after his fumble
"Troy was making some good plays and we were forced to make good plays as well. I tried to put it out of my head and move onto the next play and make some plays for our team."