Mike Stoops reviews LSU, looks forward

Mike Stoops had several interesting comments at his weekly press conference on Monday morning. Here are some highlights from Stoops, who addressed issues such as player injuries, questionable scheduling tactics and standouts against LSU.

Mike Stoops on 2006 Schedule:

"We have the chance to come out of non-conference with our best record, 2-1. We've never had that since we've been here. This hasn't been an easy schedule to gain a lot of confidence. I'm not going to use that as an excuse but it's just been hard. To play the quality of teams we've had to early has really been tough. It's tough on our team. We've got to learn some lessons from this experience to make us better."

Mike Stoops on scheduling difficult games such as the one at LSU:

"I'm not in favor of scheduling games like this. I think it's ridiculous to put our kids in that situation. Playing nine conference games, we're the only conference in America that does that. Looking at other schedules, it kind of bothers you. I have to do a better job of scheduling to give our kids the best chance to win once conference play starts."

Mike Stoops on Willie Tuitama:

"He'll probably be out (Monday) for sure. Hopefully we'll get him (Tuesday) or Wednesday. He'd be questionable if I had to list him. Probable to questionable, somewhere in there. I think we'll know something more definitive by the end of the week."

Mike Stoops on the play that gave Tuitama a concussion:

"It was the first hit that rattled him bad and the second hit … may have worsened it. I think he was fighting through it and never felt well after that first hit."

Mike Stoops on when he realized there was a problem with Tuitama:

"I asked him after what was going on - what the problems were. He was just a little bit out of it and I think that was after the second hit. He was a little bit groggy. He just wasn't doing things right. He's practiced well and he's prepared well and for him to come out and not see some things right tells you something was wrong. When it happened, I don't know."

Mike Stoops on the offensive line:

"I think we gave up two sacks on the first drive and one the rest of the game so I was happy with our protection. If there's anything we're doing well right now, it's protecting the quarterback. They had two sacks the first three plays and one the rest of the fifty and I thought that they didn't come close most of the night so we protected well."

Mike Stoops on the wide receivers:

"We just weren't getting guys open. They have a tremendous secondary and made it hard on our wide receivers. We should have moved our receivers more to give them a chance to get off all that press coverage we were seeing."

Mike Stoops on the players who stood out:

"I thought (Adam Austin) played really well and I thought Chris Jennings played well. I really liked the way our young linemen, all three of them, are competing and playing. I thought Eben Britton played a really good game. (Syndric Steptoe) played hard."

Mike Stoops on the status of Yaniv Barnett:

"He's probably questionable for Saturday. He hyper extended (his elbow). He played really well up until that point."

Mike Stoops on Chris Jennings' role against Stephen F. Austin:

"He'll split time with Chris (Henry). Chris Henry is our starter. I thought Chris Jennings made some really nice plays so he'll continue to get quality playing time."

Mike Stoops on the linebackers:

"I think they're playing well. They're playing more consistently. I thought Spencer again played really well; you can tell he's a much different player. Ronnie (Palmer) is still a little bit rusty getting back in a groove. Dane (Krogstad) played well and we're getting decent production out of all three."

Mike Stoops on Spencer Larsen:

"He's playing a lot faster. He's healthy, he's stronger and you can see the year he went through really helped him. He understands the defense a lot better and he really plays more explosively."

Mike Stoops on Mike Thomas:

"Mike hasn't been healthy. I think his ankle is getting closer. He's played but I don't think he's been 100% either of the two games."

Mike Stoops on Bobby McCoy:

"Bobby will practice this week with our offense and I think he will be available to play."

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