---

Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops previews the Sooners’ season opener against Houston.

---

Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners took a beating in the College Football Playoff semifinal last season against Clemson, but the head coach said that isn’t in the back of his team’s mind going into the season opener against Houston.

“That’s a long time ago, man,” Stoops said during the Big 12 coaches teleconference on Monday. “We’re on to 2016. You want to win them all, and that is what you try to do at Oklahoma.”

Here are other quotes of note from Stoops. 

On defending Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr.

“He’s very difficult handle. One is the designed run plays, so usually you will have an extra hitter somewhere in the box. When the quarterback is running, they’re sort of outnumbering you with the quarterback run game. That’s always a challenge. Even when he goes back to throw, you can cover everybody and be in great position and then he’s tough to deal with in the pocket, escaping and running around and creating plays.”

On starting the season against Houston

“The attitude is that we’ve known all along that Houston is an excellent football team. [They are] extremely well coached, [have] a lot of great players running around making plays. We’ve known all year that we’ve got to be at our best when we go into the stadium there Saturday morning and we need to play our best.” 

On coaching staff remaining intact

“There’s no question that there’s more continuity. All the guys working together has just been smoother and feel like there’s a lot more carryover with [quarterback] Baker [Mayfield] and everyone else really. It’s just a lot different than it was a year ago.”

MORE: 2016 College Football Bowl Projections