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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY BOWL: NEBRASKA v SOUTHERN CALIFORNIADecember 27, 2014Jake CottonBarney CottonJosh MitchellSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA USC – 45 THE MODERATOR: Barney Cotton, senior offensive guard, Jake Cotton, senior corner back, Josh Mitchell. Questions for Coach? Q. (No microphone.) COACH COTTON: Well, it was interesting. I kept waiting for Ron Browne to get in the game. I had planned on leading the team player but my talk ended up being the team prayer, basically a prayer of thanks for these guys and these coaches. Q. For both of you, thoughts on how you wrapped up, on your careers as a whole and the way the season ended? JAKE COTTON: It was fun, man! At times it could have got out of hand and at times it might have seemed like it did, but it was fun tonight, it was a battle. Kind of a microcosm of what the last five years have been like. Hasn't always been pretty, but it's been gritty. We've done it together. So really I couldn't ask anything more from the guys. The way we responded the last four weeks, fun! JOSH MITCHELL: It was fun! It was a ride! The best roller coaster I've been on. It doesn't get any better than this, this has been the best college experience I've ever had‑‑ the only one I've had, the best experience I've had, it can't get any better than this, it was fun! Q. (No microphone.) COACH COTTON: I think they were everything we thought they would be, they were physical and skilled. Big‑play offense, and a physical defense. I thought it was a good battle out there. Could have game down and went either way at the end. I was proud of the way our guys fought back and it was a heck of a football game! My goodness, 45‑42 and both teams fought to the end it was a 60‑minute football game. That's what we prepared our guys for and I think our guys showed their conditioning and their bowl prep the way they fought this thing to the end. Q. (No microphone.) COACH COTTON: We just wanted to play fast. We took what they gave us, we would like to run the ball effectively but on the other hand a lot of those passes were run pass options, they could have easily been hand‑offs, bullet they educational backgrounded up being throws. I don't think we went into the game thinking we were going to throw it as much as we did, but when they took away the run part of the run‑pass option you end up throwing it, and so that's kinda the way the ratio ended up because of that reason. What? Q. (No microphone.) COACH COTTON: I thought Tommy competed his rear‑end off. It wasn't always pretty at times. What I'm most proud of Tommy, in the second quarter he tried to do a little too much, he settled down the second half and came out the second half and played a completely new ballgame, like he did the first quarter. I was really, really excited about the way he reeled himself back in and competed and did so many things well in the second half. Q. What was your thinking right at the end, 30 yard line, third and three. Were you thinking about a field goal, thinking about going for a fourth‑‑ COACH COTTON: The idea was we were probably going to go for it because we were just outside the envelope of our field goal kicker. We had a line in the sand and we were outside of that line in the sand as far as kicking it. We had a chance there, we had a chance to hand it off, we had a chance to pull it, and we had a chance to throw it and we threw an incomplete pass. I don't question Tommy's decision, we needed to execute to keep the drive alive. It was great we had the opportunity to go for it the way we did. Q. The fourth down play? COACH COTTON: It was the same type of deal. We had an either/or type of deal on for our guys, and‑‑ the fourth down play, no, we had a chance to, you know, either throw a deeper ball or shorter ball and we threw a shorter ball and came up short. Maybe could have thrown it quicker but in the heat of the battle I'll take what Tommy did for us today any day. Q. (No microphone.) COACH COTTON: We were probably three or four yards away from that. Plus if it's third and three, we wanted to have a little confidence in our guys, we told them in the huddle out there, "Hey, we got two to get it!" Kicking a field goal at that point, it wasn't discussed. Q. Coach talk about your assessment of Abdullah, especially in the second half. COACH COTTON: I think you guys could tell he was more like his old self, maybe didn't have a 200‑yard rushing game but look what he did for us in the return game. He gritted out some yards that weren't there in the second half to keep drives alive, even in the passing game got some touches there. What a great competitor, a great person, what a great character guy. We're all probably a little better off be having not just Ameer on our football team but be around him as a young man. Q. (No microphone.)‑‑ what were your struggles about at that point and why did you get so much better in the fourth quarter senior? JOSH MITCHELL: We just had to make some adjustments, that was just the name of the game. They came out with things we weren't ready for and we just had to adjust to it and once we adjusted, we did fine. Q. Barney, what were you thinking 45‑27 and how the guys responded to that? How proud were you of that come‑back? COACH COTTON: I was very proud of them and the way they responded offensively because we didn't totally chuck our game plan, we just kept doing the same thing we started the game with, it wasn't a time to just say, "Hey, we gotta throw backdrop pass all the time." We stuck in some runs, we had some of those run/pass option plays and I'm glad we stuck with doing what we had done to get us there and we just came up a little short at the end. Q. (No microphone.) COACH COTTON: Well, we did have good field position. We did get some points out of it, we should have got more points out of it. But you're playing against a good defense, and, you know, when you look up at the scoreboard at the end of the game I think we were better executing‑‑ I wasn't so concerned about the first quarter that we didn't get more points I was more concerned about the 4, three and outs the second quarter, that's probably what we needed to fix more than anything and when we got out there in the second half seemed like we didn't have those issues, we changed the way we attacked them and it worked and I think our guys' conditioning showed as the game went on, too, our guys were getting after it in the first quarter. Q. (No microphone.) Can you expand on that? What do you mean by that, that this game was emblem mat particular of what you guys have gone though as a program? JAKE COTTON: You know, we've gone through a lot. We never quit. I think the last four weeks showed that we're not a group that quits. (AWAY FROM MIC) team doesn't quit, Coach Cotton team doesn't quit, offensively of the guys, Coach Els doesn't quit, everyone throughout the whole stadium, Coach Dobson, we don't quit. Sometimes it doesn't go the our way and tonight was one of those nights, but we never quit. Reminded me a lot of Michigan State or Minnesota where we have the ball and we have a chance to win at the end of the game and we had passes that have gone our way, 2012, this year it didn't come down to it, where it might be a mistake here or there, but we didn't quit. That's the proudest thing that I can hang my hat on is the way we responded. Q. Josh, your thoughts on the mentality during that come‑back at the end and what you guys showed? JOSH MITCHELL: Like Jake said, we don't quit. The guys in the locker room, it was a scrappy bunch, it's a feisty bunch, that's what we hang our hats on. We don't got the biggest and the fastest and the strongest unit out there, but we play hard, we play for our coaches and we play for each other. That's all you can ask for is play for the love of the game and the people around you. I think that showed. We were down 45‑27, and we ended up losing 45‑47 or 48? We're a greedy bunch. Q. Coach, can you tell me about playing against Adoree' Jackson and what he showed, your game plan against him? COACH COTTON: Tell me his number. Okay, obviously an explosive guy, and we have some explosive guys but if you don't wrap up early it's hard to wrap up late. He was able to get in some space there. Once they do that, you know, same thing with our guys when they get in space it's hard to make a play down the field. You need to make those plays near the line of scrimmage. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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