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Opening Statement:
“Getting into week two here, creating some routine as far as just a normal game week and normal prep. Obviously, now it's getting into the rhythm of the season, where you have a week to get ready and so forth. So be good for our team this week to experience that.”
“Excited about being back at home. Obviously disappointed with our outcome last week, but proud of the effort and a lot of the things that were on tape that I know lead to winning games, and excited to just be back at home this week. So it'll be a beautiful day, hopefully, in the Valley, and I look forward to welcoming Troy.”
On Troy:
“This is a school I've got a ton of respect for. When I think of Troy, I think about a university that's got some amazing tradition. I mean, they've won national championships. Then as they advanced their program and grew their football program and invested, they have invested in facilities.”
“They're different when you think of Troy, as far as style of play—they're different. In years past, you think of Troy, man, they're four and five wides, and they're flying, and they're slinging the ball all over the field. That ain't what you see when you turn the tape on with these dudes. This is—they'll probably have more personnel groupings than anybody we play.”
On Antonio Williams and Khalil Barnes:
“I'll tell you, Antonio Williams is day-to-day, as Khalil Barnes—having the same thing.”
On the conversations with Garrett Riley:
“We talk about a lot, watch the tape. We gotta make the plays that are there. That's easy stuff, nothing complicated. We didn't do the routine stuff well and our best player—the biggest issue in that game was that our best player didn't play well. If that's the biggest issue coming out of that game, sign me up for that because No. 2 will respond, promise you.”
“We did not—didn't get the result we wanted. But I know more about my team now than I did before. I got more confirmation than doubt. I've got a lot of confirmation on who our football team is. And I'd rather have this feeling in this situation than if we won 50–3 against somebody. I've got a lot more confirmation on who our team is and what they're gonna be—not what they can be, what they're gonna be.”
On how Cade has responded:
“He knows the game. He just went right back to work. So that's what he'll do, he'll respond, he'll bounce back. He had a bad day to have a bad day, but he'll respond.”
On how much not attempting to run the ball puts more pressure on the quarterback:
“We didn't do a good job helping him. That's the area that Garrett's gotta do a better job in. Gotta help him. Gotta do a better job and I gotta do a better job making sure that it gets done.”
On if LSU surprised them with any looks:
“No, they didn't do anything we didn't expect. They didn't. He created a lot of the pressure, because he held the ball. He had a bad day. There ain't no other way to say it. I mean, like, we gotta—if No. 2 ain't a dude, we ain't winning. Dudes gotta be dudes. This is big boy football. So, I mean, that's just the way it is.”
On the play of Stephiylan Green:
“Played well. All them guys. Capehart was disruptive. He showed up. Again, that's a tough, physical team. Man, Tom Allen—he's a difference-maker for us. A lot of narratives in the offseason. The only one that held up was Tom Allen and that D-line and them linebackers. The rest of them—nah, none of them held up. All these great wideouts we got—hey, great wideouts make them contested plays to win the game. If you're a Heisman quarterback and all that and first pick in the draft and all that crap—hey, you don't show up and play like that. So, the only narrative that held up was Tom Allen and that D-line and them linebackers.”
We’ve got good corners. We had a couple penalties. That's the only narrative that held up. That's it. The rest of them—everybody can just start throwing mud now. Just bring it on. Say we suck again. Tell everybody we suck. Coaches suck, Cade stinks, y'all start writing that again. Bring that on. Maybe y'all write that stuff.”
On if there is a lesson in human nature when you spend all offseason hearing how great you are:
“Sure. I mean, I think, again, none of that stuff matters. But these are young people, right? These are kids. They're not robots. I know we have so much talk about Arch, right? Arch Manning is gonna be a freaking superstar. People that don't believe that—they're just stupid. He's gonna be a superstar. They're crazy. What's been put on this kid—I mean, it's unbelievable. And all of a sudden now, it's like, okay, you make a bad play. I mean, the guy's just playing. It's the same thing with our guy. He's the worst quarterback in the history of football. Then he goes to—now he's a Heisman guy. Now he sucks again, all right? So that's football, but you just have to learn how to manage that stuff. It's all part of it. This is what you sign up for, because this is what we do. This is our world. You fail in front of everybody, and you succeed in front of everybody. You’ve gotta be able to handle both of those things.”
On Brent Venables giving $1,000,000 back to Oklahoma for NIL purposes and if he would give a million dollars back:
“I've given a million dollars more to this university already. I've given more than that to the university. Did that a long time ago, before I was making a lot of money, too. So, I hope I've always given back to this university. Hopefully, I've given more than I've received in my 17 years as a head coach here. Some things you can quantify, some things you can't.Hopefully I've given a lot. Given a lot to the community. We use our platform in a lot of ways to make a difference.”
On if he felt bad for Bill Belichick as TCU hammered North Carolina 48-7:
“Did I feel bad for him? I mean, yeah, it was a tough—I had it on while I was in the office last night. It's a tough opener, but he'll be all right. I mean, he's Bill Belichick. Look, he's got a bunch of new players—it's an opener—you know, they'll get better. They'll get better. I promise you they'll get better.”
