Dec. 21, 2005
– ON UTAH: — “They have a lot of good football players, but a lot of people in this part of the country don’t hear about those players as much. They have some very good skill players, they have some excellent defensive linemen, especially their two interior defensive linemen. They are probably one of the better tackling teams. [Eric] Weddle is a defensive back that has made a ton of plays for them this year. He’s played corner, he’s played nickel and he’s played strong safety. It sounds like he’s going to play corner against us.
“I have been watching the tape, and they were leading in four of the five games that they lost before something happened and they ended up losing. So they could have won nine or ten games easily. They are a very strong football team. They lost some players from last year, but they are still a strong football team. It will be a challenge for us to go out and win the game.”
ON COMPARING UTAH’S OFFENSE TO A TEAM IN THE ACC: — “Really they are a lot more wide open offensively than any team that we played. They probably would have mirrored Maryland a little bit if we had played Maryland. They use all their weapons — motion, different personnel groupings, they do a lot of things with their people offensively. Defensively, they are a pretty active team. They like to play a lot of man, which is very similar to North Carolina State. You have to beat everything. They make you win offensively. They don’t take chances and give up the big play. They make you earn it all the way down the field.”
ON Reggie Ball’s PLAY IN LAST YEAR’S BOWL GAME SETTING THE TONE FOR THIS YEAR: — “I think that gave him a great deal of confidence going into the offseason. It did make a difference in his season this year. And I think it gave us a lot of confidence as a staff that he could do that. I think that was a big part of his season, the way that he played in that ball game.
ON BALL’S CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT: — “You can always get better. We have the opportunity to go take another stride as a team, and he does individually. If everybody takes a step us as an individual, then our team should be better.”
ON PLAYING IN SAN FRANCISCO: — “I think that we’re excited about the destination. Most of our guys have never been to San Francisco. It will be a new experience for them. And this is a reward. You want it to be a reward and for them to have a good time and enjoy where they are. We have a game to play and we realize the importance of that. But I want them to enjoy the experience.
“There was some initial disappointment because it’s so much tougher for our families and fans to get to the game. I don’t think that it was this bowl or San Francisco, I think it was the thought of having to travel so far.”
ON THE SENIOR CLASS: — “This senior group has seen a lot in their four years. About three-fourths went through a coaching change on top of that. It has been an interesting run for them. But my hat is off to them.
“I’m one of those people who believe that anyone can lead on gameday. But these guys started leading last February. They started leading then, and they led us through the offseason, spring practice, summer workouts and allowed us to be successful this season. This is a very special group, for what they have endured and what they stand for, and for how many of them walked across the stage [at graduation last week] and have walked previously. It is a special group.”
“This group had a great belief in winning. And it spread to the other members of the team.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING THE BOWL GAME AND FINISHING IN THE FINAL TOP 20: — “Our guys are talking about that. Nothing is guaranteed, but coming from the NFL to college – where you are ranked in the preseason in the NFL matters not. It’s how you play that year and get to the playoffs and go from there. I’ve found in college that where you rank in the preseason makes a difference because it gives you an easier platform to continue to move up. I’m not sure that I agree with that but that’s the way that it is. You have to talk about finishing strong and getting into the top 20, and then seeing where you start next year because we have a pretty good team coming back. This game has a bearing on the future.”
“I would hate to say that if this game doesn’t turn out how we want it to, that this team didn’t accomplish a great deal and more than most people thought they would. They had some tremendous games, and some tremendous wins. I would hate to put one game and say that is going to define who we are.”
ON BEING AMAZED AT THE SENIOR CLASS’ ABILITY TO HANDLE ADVERSITY: — “Amazed is a pretty good word. I’m not shocked, but I’m amazed. You don’t expect 20, 21 and 22-year-olds guys to handle that with as much strength as they handled the off-field issues with. You just don’t expect that, it’s not the norm. I am amazed at how they handled it and dealt with whatever was thrown in their face. I give them a ton of credit for how they handled things.”
ON TECH’S STREAK OF NINE STRAIGHT BOWL GAMES: — “I think that it’s pretty good company that we are in, and there’s a lot of really good programs that can’t say it.”
ON UTAH DB ERIC WEDDLE: — “He’s much more of a scrapper. He’s a physical player. He plays with smarts and grit. He’s a good blitzer, and he reads routes well.”
ON UTAH’S OFFENSE: — “Maryland does a few things like they do, and that’s from what I have seen on film, but not exactly. North Carolina State has all the formations and the motions, Wake Forest is going to run the option stuff. It’s a lot of stuff to get ready for. I could see that if you had one week to get ready for this stuff how it would just blow your mind as a defensive coach.”
ON TRAVELING TO SAN FRANCISCO BEING SPECIAL FOR LB Gerris Wilkinson, AN OAKLAND NATIVE: — “Knowing Gerris I think that it is really special. But he would never get up and say that. He would never even insinuate it. He’s just that kind of guy.”
