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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL MEDIA CONFERENCEDecember 8, 2013George O'LearyTHE MODERATOR: Coach O'Leary, we'll have you open up with a brief statement, then open it up to questions. COACH O'LEARY: UCF is very happy to accept the Fiesta Bowl bid, very anxious to get out there and get to Arizona and play a great team like we're playing as far as competition is concerned. I know our players, our fan base and everybody is excited for the invitation. Again, we can't wait to get out there. We're busy with finals right now. But once they're over, we'll be back to practice and getting things in order. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions. Q. There's been a lot of talk about Blake Bortles and the NFL. How do you keep that from being a distraction for him and the team? COACH O'LEARY: I met with the parents and Blake today specifically about him and the team and what our goals are as far as the season is concerned. He understands that we have a big bowl game coming up, that that's where his attention needs to be. His parents thoroughly understand that also. I don't think that will be a distraction at all knowing Blake and the type of person he is, just the way he addresses things, the way he handles himself. I was very pleased with the meeting. I don't think that will be a distraction at all with him. Q. Coach, with a little less than a month off before the next game, how do you plan to keep the intensity of this eight‑game winning streak up going into the bowl? COACH O'LEARY: We're basically in finals right now. They'll be off until the 15th of December, when we'll get back to practice, right up till Christmas Day, the day before Christmas. We run very intense practices. It will be like pre‑season for us as far as meetings and walk‑throughs and film work and getting on the field. I don't question the intensity. I think it's how you address it. I've been in enough bowl games. It's how you address practice and the tempo that you run it in. You have to remember as a coach, the bowl is a reward. I think you have to look at that when you're working your practices and players. Understand it's been a long season for us with three bye dates. It makes it a 15‑week season for us. I think I understand the tempo and what has to take place with our football team to win a game and to do the right things as far as getting the kids ready. Q. With this being UCF's 50th anniversary, can you make a statement as far as what this means to the school, getting their first BCS bid. COACH O'LEARY: I think it's something that everybody at UCF is very excited about, the administration, the fan base. I think anytime you have a first for anything, people get very excited, but especially when you're invited to a bowl like the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl is, people are excited. There's a lot of people that can't wait to get out there and back the team and support the team like they have all year. They're very excited at UCF about the first time. There's no doubt there's a lot of talk all around the area in central Florida about UCF. Q. What would you describe as your strengths and weaknesses? COACH O'LEARY: I think the strength is probably the chemistry of the football team. We've had a long season. I think we have a lot of skilled athletes on offense, a quarterback that can make plays. I think defensively, we're young on defense, but we keep people out of the end zone. That's what we have done. We've given up some yards, but I think we find a way to make a play when we have to make one. We play a full 60 minutes, which I think is a credit to the kids, as far as the ability to make plays on offense or defense at the right time. Q. You've been at UCF for 10 years now. You've had some ups and downs. What does it mean for you to be in this BCS bowl game? COACH O'LEARY: I think the big thing is with the change in conferences this year, going from Conference USA to the American Conference, the exposure that we've gotten from the TV, ESPN, has been outstanding. We've had an 11‑win season, a 10‑win season within that period of time. This is our third conference championship win. As far as myself is concerned, it's something you shoot for, to have the opportunity to play in a New Year's Day bowl, a BCS bowl. It's something as a coach is what you want to work to, be with the best and play with the best. That's what this game is about. Q. How different is it going to be playing in this BCS bowl game compared to the other bowls you've played in? COACH O'LEARY: It's like anybody else that plays in those bowl games, it's how you treat the bowl game. It will be a fun experience for our kids. But they'll understand it's a business trip. We're out there to be a competitive team. We're going out to win a bowl game. Our players thoroughly understand that. But I think just reading through the booklet on the Fiesta Bowl, they do so many good things for the kids, it's going to be well‑appreciated by everybody. I think basically they'll go out and do what they have to do on January 1st as far as the game is concerned. Q. Did you see this kind of season coming? COACH O'LEARY: I thought we were a year early. We only have seven seniors on the whole team. I think I was looking at next year as far as being a dominant team. We've run through a rash of injuries on defense. I think the big thing is that the kids kept coming back each week, playing with the effort they needed to play with. I think we're a year ahead as far as being a team that can go out and win on offense as well as defense. Q. You mentioned that you are a talent‑rich team, have some skilled players. How have you been able to successfully bring those players over to UCF as opposed to FSU? COACH O'LEARY: We're knocking on the same doors. I think we've been fortunate to have a bunch of kids in camp so that we can get a chance to look at them on the field. Especially in the skilled areas, it's difficult to take kids off the tape and film. To get a chance to watch them in the person in the camps we've run is good. The coaches have done a great job of securing talent in the areas we need to get things done. I've been pleased that way. It's only getting better and better each year. I think at UCF, we don't have a long tradition here. We're the second biggest school in the country behind Arizona State. We just don't have that long tradition as some of the other schools. Q. What are your early impressions of Baylor and how do you replicate the pace of their offense? COACH O'LEARY: First of all, I've seen them a couple of times as far as watching games. I think it's similar when Art was at Houston, they're very explosive on offense. I think Phil Bennett has them playing great defense, they run extremely well. It's like everything else, I work against ourselves more, UCF against UCF. It's like anything else, a lot of work by a lot of people. But everybody that's in that room going to the bowl game will have a role in what we have to do to win. Q. You won seven games by a touchdown or less. Talk about the resilience it takes to accomplish that. COACH O'LEARY: I tell you, it does take resilience. But it takes a team that has great poise and believes in themselves, has great confidence in the ability to make a play when they have to make it, to score a touchdown or kick a field goal, make a key stop on defense when they have to make it. I've been very pleased with that. That's something that you have to learn, to teach, to make sure they understand it. I think our senior class has done a great job of leadership. We don't have many of them, but collectively they've done a great job of corralling the young kids and making sure they understand what it takes to win and why we play for 60 minutes. I think that's one of the reasons why we've been so successful when it comes crunch time, is there's a belief that this game is our game, we're just waiting for the opportunity to make a play. That's what they believe. I think it comes true in the games we played, we were fortunate in a couple of them. Again, effort, I keep preaching that to them, great effort, good things will happen eventually. It has this year. Q. Despite the result of this game, how big and what does this mean for recruiting for UCF? COACH O'LEARY: I think anytime you make a BCS game, it's what you make of that game as far as recruiting is concerned. We have most of our players committed already as far as verbals. Again, there's some kids that that's basically what they're looking at, BCS games, how good that program can be. I think there's no question it's going to help nationally recruiting as far as our exposure. We spend most of our time obviously in Florida, Georgia, most of the southern states. We're getting a lot of recognition, a lot of interest right now from a lot of other areas of the country. Q. With the distance between Arizona and Orlando, are you worried there's not going to be a lot of UCF fans there? Do you think there's going to be a solid fan base? COACH O'LEARY: I think we travel very well as far as a fan base is concerned. I think it's something that our fan base will be at. It's the first time for a BCS bowl. How to get out there, finding all the information they can find, the hotels we're staying at, all those type things. Fan support is very critical to the success of the team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to having you here very soon. COACH O'LEARY: Thank you very much. Looking forward to getting out there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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