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TICKETCITY CACTUS BOWL: WASHINGTON v OKLAHOMA STATEDecember 7, 2014Mike GundyChris PetersenTEMPE, ARIZONA JENNIFER JEPSON: Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to this evening's call. Today we have the Vizio Fiesta Bowl and TicketCity Cactus Bowl executive director Mike Nealy with us, along with our two head coaches, Coach Mike Gundy of Oklahoma State and Chris Petersen of the University of Washington. We will start the call with an opening statement from Mike before remarks from our two coaches, then open it up for questions. We'll turn it over to Vizio Fiesta Bowl and TicketCity Cactus Bowl Mike Nealy. MIKE NEALY: Thank you for everybody joining us on today's call. A special congratulations to Mike Gundy of Oklahoma State and Chris Petersen of the University of Washington. Great to see you are in that spot in the 2015 TicketCity Cactus Bowl, this of course being the first year with our arrangement with the PAC‑12 and Big 12. We're glad to see both conferences are represented well. Also we welcome back Oklahoma State. They've been to Tempe before. Welcome back to you. We also welcome a first timer in the University of Washington. Gentlemen, we're looking forward to hosting both of you. I know Oklahoma State comes into the game with a 6‑6 regular‑season record, coming off a very big win against Oklahoma last night, while the University of Washington has an impressive 8‑5 overall record. We're looking forward to hosting two great teams. This year's game will be played on Friday, January 2nd, televised by ESPN at 8:15 p.m. local mountain standard time. JENNIFER JEPSON: At this time we'll turn it over to the coaches for brief remarks before opening it up for questions. First, coach Mike Gundy from Oklahoma State. COACH GUNDY: On behalf of Oklahoma State University and our entire coaching staff and football team, we're very excited to be in the bowl. We're looking forward to heading back out to Tempe. We're up for a great challenge with Washington and Coach Petersen. I've done a little research on him when I figured out which bowl we were going to. Met coach when he visited Stillwater a few years ago. Have a lot of respect for coach and what he's accomplished during his career. Have always had a lot of respect for Washington. I know our fan base and our players will be very excited to play in the TicketCity Cactus Bowl. Looking forward to arriving out there after Christmas. JENNIFER JEPSON: Coach Chris Petersen. COACH PETERSEN: Like Coach Gundy, we're thrilled to be coming to Arizona. This time of year, to come out to beautiful Arizona is what I think most people would hope for. To get to play a program and a coaching staff that Oklahoma State has, that's a bonus. I think everybody really wants a good matchup, to play a good opponent. I know we have that. We're extremely excited to be coming to the Cactus Bowl. Our players, we haven't had a chance to really talk to them yet. They're all kind of meandering in, and everybody is excited and buzzing about it. On behalf of the University of Washington, we really want to thank you guys for selecting us. We're anxious and excited to be coming your way. JENNIFER JEPSON: We'll open it up for questions. Q. I think we've gone through an era where the two of your names have been mentioned quite a lot. I'm guessing about the same age. Both of you have built your programs during a similar era. Interesting the two of you have never coached against each other. Talk about that aspect of it. Mike, you briefly mentioned what you knew about Coach Petersen. Coach Petersen, talk about making a stop in Stillwater. COACH PETERSEN: I certainly did. As a coach you're always keeping your eyes and ears open looking to hear about who is doing really good things. Your time is so darn limited, there's a lot of places you'd like to go, a lot of coaches you'd like to talk to, but you really have to be selective. A couple years ago I got a chance to slide out there and talk to Coach Gundy and watch them practice a little bit. I think that just tells you right there how impressed I've been with him, watching him from afar. Always good. He's built that program. When you think of Oklahoma State, you think of Coach Gundy, you really do. They got tremendous football players out there, do a great job of recruiting. They just do a great job from top to bottom. I was interested and thankful that he let me slide by. A lot of respect for those guys, without question. COACH GUNDY: The same goes for us. I think most coaches, I've been able to follow Coach Petersen, he's been on the West Coast for a long time, so many of his games were late at night, and also they played a lot of Thursday night games. I would always run the TV back and write down plays. I keep a Big Chief notebook and a crayon next to my chair and write down certain plays. We're really excited. Coach mentioned that I think we all look for good matchups. We want to play quality opponents. It's always nice to be in a bowl game where you know the coaching staffs and the head coach runs a first‑class program and the players can enjoy the competition of the game. Q. Mike, apparently Stillwater went crazy last night. What was the reception like when you got back to town? Did all your guys get through the night without any issues? COACH GUNDY: They haven't told me of any yet. We have our banquet tonight, starts here in about an hour. The parking lot was full at the stadium. I don't know how many people are there. Could have been several thousand. But it was certainly a warm welcome for the players. We had had a tough stretch there for a little while. For them to compete, win a big game, then the crowd and fans to respond was nice for the team. Q. Mike, with what you accomplished yesterday, does it really change everything for the guys on your roster in terms of energy, self‑esteem, maybe better practices? Does it take them to a different place? COACH GUNDY: Well, I mentioned last night that our team had practiced well. Their enthusiasm, their effort, the way they responded, I was proud of that. Sometimes wins and losses don't always describe the attitude of the team. But been doing this for a long time. It certainly helps to win. Winning creates a positive attitude. I'm sure the guys will be excited to get back to practice in about a week. Q. Chris, Coach Gundy's team had a huge win yesterday knocking off Oklahoma. You finished your season a week ago also with a state rival. What kind of momentum do you feel your team is carrying into the bowl season? Address your quarterback situation as best you can, what that might be. COACH PETERSEN: Well, I thought the last month of the season our guys started playing better, with more energy, kind of getting dialed in to some of the things we're really trying to get accomplished here. Coach Gundy has been there for a while at Oklahoma State. When you're at a place for a while, there's things you can do, you can even take for granted, the guys just get it. When you're new, it takes time. It does. To get guys all dialed into aspects of practice, lifting, all kinds of things. It's taken us a while, but the last month has been good. Kids have been playing with really good energy. I think playing our rival, going over to cold Pullman, Washington, a late‑night game. They played really well, high level, tough conditions. We were proud of them. I think our quarterback, Cyler Miles, is getting better. I think, again, he's a guy that in the last month, may not have seen it, the fan from the stands, but we certainly have as a coaching staff, just some things we really want him to do at that quarterback position, play that position and hang in the pocket, throw the ball like we know he can. We've seen him start to do a better job of that. Q.  Mike, what are some of your thoughts about your offensive line play after last night? You're going up against a Washington team that ranks among the nation's best in rushing the passer. Do you feel you can continue to see some progress with the guys up front? COACH GUNDY: I haven't watched the tape. We still had some things to do today and have not got to that with recruiting. Probably be able to comment on that a little bit at a later time. Q. Mike, were you a bit surprised today when the Big 12 wasn't represented in the final four of the Playoff? You didn't speak much about it last week. Does it make you rethink about what a conference championship game would mean for this league moving forward with this system? COACH GUNDY: It's a little too much for me at this time to really comprehend. I was surprised. Will have to study a little bit tomorrow. Obviously I'll be on a plane a few times. I'll study a little more before I make some sort of fairer comment at a later date. Q. As a 6‑6 team, you beat Alabama at a bowl, and Indiana in a bowl. Do you still now even consider those to have been significant building blocks in what you've built at Oklahoma State? COACH GUNDY: Well, I think every bowl team, if you coach a team, it gives you a chance to get 10, 12, 14 practices in, obviously spend time with your players, reward the seniors. It just makes for a positive setting to be in a bowl game. When you play against teams like Washington, a team that played very well as of late, already won eight football games, I quickly scanned, they lost five games, and I think all five of those teams were ranked. We're certainly going to have our hands full. Anytime you get into a game like this in the bowl season, it's always unique which teams are willing to compete and practice hard and enjoy themselves and play in the bowl game. A lot of times it has to do with the teams that are excited to be there. I'm sure Washington is excited to be there. I know our players are excited to be there. It's good for our football program. Q. Your defense got a bunch of stops after halftime yesterday. That seemed to be the most overlooked aspect of what happened yesterday. COACH GUNDY: I thought we made some good adjustments at halftime. Our players started attacking the line of scrimmage better. Oklahoma is very big and physical up front. They do a really good job of running the football. Had some positive stops that allowed us to get back on the field and make some plays late in the game. Q.  Mike, your bowl experience, you were out there in this same bowl under a different sponsor and name when you beat Indiana, then the BCS trip to the Fiesta Bowl against Stanford. Seeing your teams out there, Arizona was a very comfortable place for your team to go bowling. Is that kind of good for the staff, a familiar place? COACH GUNDY: Well, as Coach Petersen mentioned earlier, who wouldn't want to go to Arizona the last week in December? It's just a beautiful place. The weather, the setting, the accommodations, the practice facilities, the stadium we get to play in, in most cases the weather on game day or night traditionally has been very good. Best I remember, it was a very relaxed bowl setting where there was plenty to do for the team, but there wasn't a lot of commitments to take up a lot of the time of the coaches and players. I think that's important for free time. I can't imagine that it won't be a great experience for both teams. JENNIFER JEPSON: Thank you, everyone, for being on the call tonight, especially Coach Gundy and Coach Petersen. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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