September 26, 2000
Head Coach R.C. Slocum
Talk about getting Michael Jameson back and what that means to the secondary.
"I think it helps. That's the area where we're least experienced, and I think it will be comforting to those young guys just to have a guy out there on the field who can give them directions, correct a call or help them identify formations. I think it will be a tremendous help for us. Wes (Bautovich) has done a good job, but he's as inexperienced as any guy we have out there. I feel a lot better having him (Jameson) out there because they (Texas Tech) do put a lot of pressure on you. They give you a lot of different looks, and they're good at what they do. It will help having a guy out there who can get the secondary lined up."
The players seem more fired up this week than usual. Is that what you want?
"That's what I want. It's been a little frustrating for me that we've played this team every year, and it seems like one of those ho-hum kind of games. I think it's high-time we recognize they get fired up for games and they play to win. We need to have the same kind of resolve when we go out there. I hope they are fired up. I'm hoping we have a game where we go out and play with some intensity and focus."
It seems like a lot of the problems nagging the team last season started with the Texas Tech game.
"One thing about that game from my perspective is we jump out to a 10-0 lead and everything's going our way. We make a great interception down by the goal line, and we've been pretty much in control of the game on both sides of the ball at that time, and we get the ball on the one-yard line and don't get it out from there. Then we punt short and it started going downhill from that point on. I can't say we weren't ready to play. We jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but somewhere in there we lost our focus. We weren't effective offensively, and there was at least a quarter where we didn't tackle well on defense. They were fired up and they took advantage of that. We still drive down the field at the end of the game, and we're in position to kick a field goal to win the game. We wouldn't even be talking about this right now. But we got the holding call that takes us out of field goal range, and we lose a two-point game. I'm not sure most people who really study teams would have said we were a national championship caliber team last year, but all the talk after the game was we had somehow lost the national championship out there in Lubbock. I think that affected our team. It was a devastating loss. I think we lost our direction as a team after that game."
What do you expect from Mike Leach (Texas Tech head coach)?
"Last year, they had an open date to get ready for us and they threw in a few little wrinkles. This year, having two weeks to get ready for that kind of team is certainly a benefit to us. At the same time, it's a benefit to them as well. I think he's done an excellent job. My only knowledge is seeing him last year at Oklahoma. They did an excellent job in that ballgame, and his team is 4-0 right now. He's done a good job of going in there and installing a new offense and defense, and he's got his team undefeated right now, so I'd say he's doing a heckuva job."
Offensively, are they are a preview of what Oklahoma does?
"The schemes are very similar. I hate to say identical, but they're very close to the same scheme. If you look at it, they've got the (Kliff) Kingsbury kid who is a good thrower. He stepped into a situation where he had a built-in guy who could fit in that offense. "
Personnel-wise, how does their offense match up to Oklahoma? Do they have the type of guys who can run that system effectively?
"I think so. I've been impressed with the quarterback. I think he's pretty good running it. They've got some speed guys. When you look at Shaud Williams and Ricky Williams, they've got some guys who can catch and run, and jump out there and be a running back or a receiver. They've always had two or three guys who could be pretty good receivers. They've always had guys who could catch and run, and they play good defense."
How much of what OU did and what Tech will do is being able to recognize and see what they might be trying to do? If you play it enough times, do you know what your assignments are?
"The more you play these styles of offenses, the better you get at playing against them. When the wishbone first came, it was a novel thing and they just ripped people. Then, as more and more people got concerned about it, they studied it in the offseason and got better at defending it. It came to the point to whoever had the better players was going to win."
Does it seem a little bit different preparing this week with Spike (Dykes) not being over there?
"It does. Pretty much throughout my head coaching tenure, he's been the coach there. It is different. I always really respected the job he did. His teams were always well-prepared and played hard. He was a good guy about it. I probably had as close a relationship with him as anybody in the league. I have a respect for how he did things. I thought he was an honest guy. I thought he cared about kids and coaching and had some integrity about him. He was never arrogant about what he did or what they did. He was always very complimentary of our program."
Earlier this year, someone mentioned something about the home winning streak. Is there more to it than putting talent out on the field? How much of it is the aura of Kyle Field?
"I think there are a lot of things that enter into it. The players, the assistant coaches, Kyle Field, the 12th Man, the fans, and just having a belief. I've expected to win all those games. We've really taken some pride into this being our house. We haven't spent hardly any time talking about the streak. We talk more about the event, like the fact that there's going to be a bunch of people coming in here to see us play."