Stoops Insight Bowl Preps - KTUL.com - Tulsa, Oklahoma - News, Weather & Sports

Stoops Insight Bowl Preps

Opening comments:
"Going back over this past week, we have been preparing for it like a regular game week. We met on Friday to start preparing. We practiced Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will be practicing this week through Thursday before we give the guys a break before Christmas.

"The guys seem really excited for the upcoming bowl game. Since we have been treating this past week like a game week, their energy has been up and they seem more focused. We are excited to get to Arizona and play Iowa. This is special to me since it's my alma mater. I am sure that it will be nice to get back and get in touch with some of those people that I have not seen in a while. I am sure I would not be in the position I am today without having the opportunities that I had at Iowa. I am excited to get there and have that time with those people that I have not seen in a while."

On who is not going to Arizona:
"Ronnell Lewis will not be going to the Insight Bowl because of academic issues. It is probably fair to say that Ronnell has played his final game at the University of Oklahoma. We have discussed it and I have encouraged him to go on to the NFL. That should be it besides other players that are injured. Jaz Reynolds and Brandon Williams were injured and will not be playing. Brandon Williams asked for a release a while back, and he was granted this. Roy Finch, Brennan Clay and Trey Millard will be playing in the bowl game."

On the running game during the Oklahoma State game:
"I always believe you are at your best when you have an effective running game. It sets up the other in a good way. So, yes, we need to be able to run the ball effectively."

On if OSU's strategy hurt OU during Bedlam:
"What they did was nothing out of the ordinary. I look at it as execution. A busted assignment on the one and he fumbles the ball where they get a touchdown and the running back busted it. So I look at it as our execution."

On playing Tony Jefferson at safety against OSU:
"Tony did a good job. He has done well in that position. It's something that we can always do. Every team is different in the personnel groupings that they put on the field and their style of play, but he does do a good job back there."

On the team's secondary issues throughout the season:
"I think it's always a little bit of both, personnel issues you have to work through and what we are asking them to do as well. As we move forward we are looking at both. Again a different team and teams, and the way they play in college ball and our league it can be very different from game to game, so we are looking at it. Schemes and personnel is something that you are constantly critiquing and analyzing. It's fair to say through the years that we have been back and forth in what we do more or less of and what we are trying to do defensively. We are constantly looking at it."

On the value of a win at the Insight Bowl:
"It does not erase anything, but you feel good about winning another bowl game. You feel good about winning your 10th game, and this that and the other. It is still not going to give us a championship. In the end though, it is always a positive to end the year on a win. It's a good thing."

On how Frank Alexander is doing:
"He's a little banged up, but he is practicing. He has been improving."

On what he took from Hayden Fry:
"I think leadership. He was a great leader and projected such a confidence no matter where we went or who we played. Let's face it. I don't have the style that he has, but the white pants, the sunglasses. He would have the sunglasses on out there meeting with the media. He was great back then. He really projected a persona, a swagger and an attitude and it helped us. At that time we had 18 straight losing seasons so where were we going to get that confidence from? He just walked in with it everywhere you went. You loved Coach Fry. As I became the assistant coach, I learned that he was the good guy to us but in the meetings he was telling us to be the bad guy. He had a great way about him. He did a great job. I try and be the good cop when I can be."

On his brother Mike Stoops:
"I am currently happy with my staff, but anything can happen."