No. 24 Oklahoma (4-2, 3-2 Big 12) defeated Texas Tech (2-4, 1-4), 62-28, Saturday night in Lubbock, Texas.
Grinch's defense forced three turnovers, and also got a big boost from junior defensive lineman Ronnie Perkins and redshirt junior Tre Norwood. Perkins had two tackles for loss, and Norwood had two interceptions in his first start in two seasons.
Grinch has harped on turnovers since his arrival to OU, and the Sooners have been delivering, with six turnovers in their past three games.
Here' what Grinch said after the game:
On Ronnie Perkins Impact on defense
“It's huge. You see the impact that he otherwise could have had for us earlier in the season. We're thrilled to have him back. It's one of those things as he gets into the plan more, and we have a plan that he's in the plan as much as anything. We expect big things from him. I know he expects big things from himself and so in any event, no, hopefully just the just beginning for him.”
On Tre Norwood’s performance
“Excited for Tre, it's been almost two years since he started a football game. Obviously, he's played for us this year and I just think you continue to see a more confident football player, coming back off of an injury you miss all that time. What would have been a critical offseason for him to get back in the mix, and spring football and summer and all that stuff.
Obviously, you don't have that available to you. So, again, coming off an injury, I don't want to say it extended the injury, but it just creates a little different plan for him in terms of getting ready because all of a sudden you think your real football is going to start in March and all of a sudden you don't get a chance to do it until August. So now I've been pleased and we're excited to have him back and is a guy that’ll continue to have an impact for us.”
On the turnovers being a message to the defense
“I guess it's proof that it's possible. Sometimes you feel like when you talk about something so much and you end up not getting it, it's almost like it's fantasy land, the teams that do and we just are one of those that doesn't. That's obviously not reality. It's not like someone else has a monopoly on takeaways that we were not in on the secret type of deal. It's week by week, obviously has a huge impact, it had an incredible impact on the momentum of this game. We've been on the other side of that this year from a momentum standpoint. Critical plays and the message is you don't get credit for these next week, you have to go create them again.”
On the defense’s performance after the opening drive
“I think one of the least predictive things as you look at a football game or any sport is that first drive, that somehow it’s going to be indicative of what takes place the rest of the game. I always use an example, if we get a three and out, no one's gonna be naive enough to think that every series is going to be a three and out after that. There's a psychology behind this thing. Give them credit. There's a good chance we did something wrong in that first series. You get punished when you do things wrong in sports and so obviously, we did. I think also, credit goes to them.
That's a good coaching staff. They stress you in every which way with their RPO game and it's something that one mistake can turn into an explosive play and you saw that a couple times tonight. I think there is a positive in that, because that one series did not turn into two. I could say it shouldn't happen, but it doesn't mean it can't happen. There's some messaging going on that hopefully, you have a little bit more proof as to why it's important to not take too much stock in one play or one drive.”
On defense improving
“I think that it is important. I think, And maybe we've talked about before, better can be a trap, where you just start patting each other on the back all the time and say we're better, you're better by what standard? It is something that we continue to battle not being satisfied with some of those things. And I use the example with our guys, you don't get credit for what you do on Tuesday unless you go do it on Saturday, but how critical Tuesday is to your Saturday.
And so all of this stems from becoming a better practice team, better practice defense, taking more of an ownership and how you compete and how you play over the week preceding the game and that's a huge thing now ... then it carries over on a Saturday, and you stack enough good plays together and you get some takeaways and then you find a way to get off the field on third downs. You’re disappointed when we subbed in some guys that had opportunities that now again, I had opportunities (that) gave us a chance to coach them. So I gotta be, I gotta be a big boy about that too. And be glad they got in and some guys got their first action.”
