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MOTEL 6 CACTUS BOWL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 6, 2015

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everyone, to this evening's teleconference call. On the line tonight we have Cactus Bowl executive director Mike Nealy along with our two head coaches, Dana Holgorsen of West Virginia and Todd Graham of Arizona State.
We'll start tonight with an opening statement from Mike.
MIKE NEALY: Thank you. First, thanks, everyone, for joining us on tonight's call, and a special congratulations to Coach Holgorsen, Coach Graham for earning your spots in our 2015 Motel 6 Cactus Bowl this year.
Excited to host two fantastic programs, West Virginia coming from the Big 12 of course, and Arizona State from the PAC‑12 conference. This game should be exciting. It will be played January 2nd with a kickoff time of 18:15 p.m.
West Virginia is making its second appearance in the Cactus Bowl and its first since 1998. This is only the second Cactus Bowl appearance for Arizona State. They currently hold the Cactus Bowl record for total net yards in Cactus Bowl history with 679.
Congratulations to both schools and both coaches and we look forward to hosting you on Saturday, January 2nd.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll turn it over to the coaches for brief remarks. First, Coach Holgorsen of West Virginia.
COACH HOLGORSEN: Excited to be a part of the Cactus Bowl here this year. A late game on the East Coast, it will be a late one. Going to need everybody to stay up for it.
Excited to be getting out to the West Coast. I've been a part of this game before several years ago when I was at Texas Tech. Great hospitality. Just wonderful people. Excited about being in the city of Scottsdale, and in addition to that being able to play on Chase Field.
Got a great relationship with Ken Kendrick, owner of the Diamondbacks, who is a West Virginia alum. It's going to be fantastic to be able to get out there and spend some time with him, as well.
THE MODERATOR: Coach Graham of Arizona State.
COACH GRAHAM: We want to thank the Cactus Bowl committee for selecting us. We're very excited to obviously participate in the Cactus Bowl here.
For our home fans, this group of seniors are a special group, and to get to play in front of our home fans here in the valley is a big deal for us. We want to thank the committee for selecting us because we're very, very excited about the opportunity to be here. Our fan base I know is going to be excited about it as well.
I want to congratulate West Virginia. They have a great program. Great respect for Coach Holgorsen, the job they do there. Man, I think it's going to be a heck of a matchup between two really good programs at a very unique setting. Chase Field, something exciting and a very unique setting for us to get the opportunity to play in. We're looking forward to it.
Want to thank everybody involved. Very gracious to be selected to play in the Cactus Bowl and looking forward to it.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open it up for questions.

Q. Todd, you have talked so much about the importance of these extra practices to your program. Can you dive into that a little bit more and talk specifically about why they're important and whether you do something different in these workouts than you do the rest of the season.
COACH GRAHAM: Obviously, it's for the development of your program. That really impacts your young players. We do, we obviously practice and get our veterans timing. We take a couple weeks off, obviously let them rest up. Then we go at it, almost like an additional spring training almost for your young guys.
It's just vital. This is our fourth year straight to get an opportunity to go to a bowl game. So, I mean, it's just vital to the development of your players fundamentally. It's something that has been a big part of helping us be successful.

Q. Do the young guys get to do more here than they do during the regular season?
COACH GRAHAM: No doubt. During the regular season, you're getting ready to play for a game. You only can rep one deep, a little bit with your twos. Our guys, our redshirt players, all that, they get a lot of reps, get basically an opportunity to really compete and develop fundamentally.
That's the key, is you're getting so many more guys fundamental reps that are vital to their development.

Q. Todd, as far as playing a game that's so close to your campus, what kind of advantage is that just as far as game prep goes? I assume you'll be practicing at ASU where you're pretty comfortable?
COACH GRAHAM: This is the bowl we wanted to be in. I know our players, our seniors, we're such a close‑knit group of guys that have meant so much to our program, getting to be here for their families. Obviously it's not a home game for us, but it's right here in our hometown. This is an advantage for us because this is the last opportunity for the seniors to be together, for their families, for our fan base. It's a pretty unique experience for them.

Q. Dana, how do you treat this bowl game because it is kind of a road atmosphere for you guys going to Arizona, playing Arizona State? Do you treat it like a road game?
COACH HOLGORSEN: Well, yeah, it's definitely going to probably be a home game. We played some road games in the Big 12, there's no question. We're going to go on the airplane, fly somewhere, get ready to play a game.
It will be a lot different. It will be a bowl game. There's no better place to go in the country than the Scottsdale area, the Phoenix area especially, the beginning part of January. It's just unbelievable weather. We'll treat it like a bowl game, there's no doubt.
But we're used to playing on the road in some hostile environments. I'm sure that Mountaineer Nation will bring some fans as well. It's going to be a fun, entertaining, exciting game. It's going to be fun. I would imagine a lot of Mountaineer fans will come out and support the game. Our kids will have a wonderful time out in Scottsdale, as well.

Q. Coach Holgorsen, have you reached out to Coach Patterson yet? How did that go?
COACH HOLGORSEN: No, I haven't reached out to KP. I'm sure he's excited about being able to reunite with some of the guys that he worked with for a while. Coach Graham has connections with West Virginia, as well. He was on West Virginia's staff for a couple years back when Rich Rodriguez was here. There's some connections and history.
It makes competing against each other fun. Especially bowl games, it makes it fun. There's going to be some opportunities to interact. When you're able to do that with some people that you know, some people that you like and respect, it always makes it that much better.

Q. You mentioned the late start to the game. In all the years of coaching, have you picked up any secrets to get teams ready for a really late start?
COACH HOLGORSEN: Yeah, we've done some different things. When I was at Texas Tech, working for Mike Leach, we played in some late night games. He's kind of a late night guy. We would practice later at night to try to get adjusted to it.
I think when you go to a bowl game, it gives you an opportunity to do it because you can get adjusted to it pretty easily just because you're going to be out there for four or five days, you're going to get used to the environment, you're going to get used to the time change. We'll probably practice later in the day than we're used to doing because we're going to be playing later at night.
The kids are resilient. They'll be able to adjust to just about anything.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, everyone, for being on tonight's call, especially Coach Holgorsen and Coach Graham. Have a great night.
COACH HOLGORSEN: Thank you.
COACH GRAHAM: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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