Danny Stutsman reveals motivation behind pregame speech versus Texas

The Red River Rivalry game was loaded with electric moments throughout the contest as Oklahoma pulled off the 34-30 upset win over rival Texas. But one of the most iconic moments came before the game, when Sooners’ linebacker Danny Stutsman delivered a pregame speech that could give any college football fan goosebumps.

Stutsman joined ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Thursday and was asked if the speech came from the top of his head, revealing he drew some inspiration from Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

“Yeah pretty much man, I feel like I kind of remembered that D-Hop clip of him talking about how he only fears God and I kind of took a part from that and then made it my own,” Stutsman said.

Hopkins famously told cornerback Deangelo Hall that he only fears God in an iconic clip documented by Hard Knocks during a joint practice at training camp before making him fall to the ground in an attempt to cover Hopkins.

Stustman remixed Hopkins’ signature line at the end of his speech, serving as an exclamation point to fire up his teammates in the locker room moments before kickoff which can be seen below.

Danny Stutsman with a pregame speech for the ages via @OU_Football:

“I'm certain about two things in f—ing life. I’m certain that one, Oklahoma only fears God. And No. 2 — Texas fears Oklahoma.” pic.twitter.com/Et4UYXyswn

— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) October 11, 2023

The Sooners’ linebacker also drew inspiration from an Oklahoma defender from the past, whose advice may have been the first domino to fall that pushed Stutsman towards delivering a moment his teammates will surely remember for a long time.

“Because I remember Dan Cody, another crazy defensive end that played at Oklahoma, told me you always gotta have a crazy speech, and so now I try to think of stuff to really get the guys going,” Stutsman explained.

Stutsman clearly got his guys going, as the Sooners kept their foot on the gas for the entire game on offense, defense, and special teams.

Oklahoma entered the matchup ranked nine spots below the Longhorns in the AP Top 25 Poll, with Texas favored to win by four points. But the Sooners’ defied the odds on their biggest stage of the season thus far and proved their doubters wrong, including McAfee himself.

“Kind of off the dome right there, you want to get the guys pumped obviously in a game like that at 11 a.m. A lot of emotion man, especially with a lot of people that didn’t believe in us like you yourself Pat, we saw the clip,” Stutsman said poking fun at McAfee for picking Texas to win. “But hey, it’s okay, that’s what we need.”

Stutsman ended the day with nine tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, but in regards to pregame speeches, he’ll have to wait a week to deliver another as the Sooners are on a bye before their October 21 showdown against UCF.