Stoops: "We can't beat anybody until we stop beating ourselves"

Mark Stoops met with the media this morning to discuss his team's embarrassing loss to Florida and look ahead to Saturday's game vs. New Mexico State. Nick and Freddie were in the building to cover the presser firsthand, but I turned on the stream as well to gather some quick hitters (and screencaps) to tide you over. As one would expect, Stoops opened by expressing his disappointment about the blowout in Gainesville, and delivered this message to fans. "We've shown that we can play some good football," Stoops said. "We know -- we've already been down that road, it's not acceptable to not play four quarters -- but our team will play with that passion and that energy that our fanbase wants to see. We will do that, I promise you that. This team has some character, we will get back at it today. We fundamentally need to go back and be better. We can't beat anybody until we stop beating ourselves." Step one? Simplifying...everything. "We need to play better and we will. It starts with simplifying some things," Stoops said. "The first thing is to fundamentally play better football. I think we've got to simplify things on both sides of the football to make sure we can execute it and we need to play with that passion and energy our fans want to see." Attendance could be very, very low on Saturday. Stoops finished his opening remarks with this plea to fans to not give up on the squad. "I believe in these players and I hope our fans do as well."