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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY BOWL: NEBRASKA v SOUTHERN CALIFORNIADecember 26, 2014Steve SarkisianSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We will have an opening statement from Coach. COACH SARKISIAN: Well, obviously, this is my second time down at the Holiday Bowl, and it's an honor to represent the Pac 12 Conference, it's an honor to represent USC. We have a tremendous opponent in Nebraska and the Big Ten, the National University Holiday Bowl in my opinion growing up in Southern California has always been one of those bowls that has just been known for and it feels like, across the country, everybody seems to follow this game and watch this game and be part of this game, so we're fortunate to be part of it. All of the red coats have just been fantastic and their hospitality and how they've treated us. This is going to be a great game. I said this to our team when the game got chosen and you started to look at the film, this is the best football team we've played this year. For a variety of reasons, we could say the same thing, Nebraska is a couple plays away from being an 11‑1 football team and playing for a conference championship, and we know we have our work cut out for us, there's a tremendous team, they're very well coached on all three phases and we're fortunate for the opportunity on a national stage in a wonderful city. It was Christmas Day yesterday, 75 degrees in San Diego, that's about as good as it gets! We're lucky to be here and looking forward to the opportunity to put our best foot forward tomorrow night. Q. Coach, you played Nebraska now three times with Washington, twice when you were at USC before. What's your familiarity level with playing Nebraska, this will be your sixth time playing against them as a coach. COACH SARKISIAN: They're going to play hard. They're going to play hard, you know, and Barney kind of exemplifies all that, you know? There's a really proud group of individuals. When you put on this helmet just like when you put on our helmet there is a lot of pride that overcomes you. We have no doubt we're going to get amazing effort, we have no doubt we're going to get an unbelievable shot from Nebraska and we have to absorb all of that. So I've lived it five times, here comes my sixth! I've won a couple, lost a few. The end of the day it's going to be a heck of a game, two very proud fan bases that are going to be there in full spirit, and should be a heck of a night! Q. Sark, what makes Nebraska the best team you've played all year? COACH SARKISIAN: Well, I think when you put all three phases together. You look at the running game, you look at Armstrong and Abdullah, every run you can think of, they have, Barney, just so you know! Every run you can think of, whether it's the fly sweep, whether it's a designed quarterback runs, whether it's the traditional run game, and they do it with tempo. Makes it really, really difficult‑‑ makes it hard! You look at the defensive side of the football, Bo's an excellent football coach and they know what they're doing. They're very well coached. It starts up front, Randy Gregory, those guys up front, what they do and then to defend the pass game and then you start talking about the number one punt returner in the country. You put all that together, it's hard! That's‑‑ shoot, for us to be in this game against this team, it's an awesome opportunity, but, man, this is a very good football team! Q. Sark, a lot of attention is obviously being paid to Randy Gregory and Ameer Abdullah, justifiably so but you got a guy back there in Nate Gerry who causes problems for opposing teams in the passing game. What does Cody Kessler need to do to avoid finding himself getting caught off guard by a guy like Gary? COACH SARKISIAN: Well, I think this. I know this: I've known Bo for quite some time. His specialty is the back end. His specialty is the secondary. They do an amazing job matching routes, they do an amazing job of recognizing splits and formations and different things to fit those route combinations. When I was here the first time in the Holiday Bowl, the only pass we completed in the first half was the running back, back to the quarterback on the first play of the game. So they make it difficult. Nate Gerry a guy who understands the system, recognize things really well and then goes and makes plays. That's why he has all the interceptions that he has and he's the player that he is. We have our work cutout for us to make sure we execute at a high level and that Cody understands what we're trying to get accomplished, that's the most important thing, that he understands what we're trying to get done and getting the ball out on time to the right people. Q. You alluded to De'Mornay Pierson‑El now earlier with the return game. USC has had high's and low's in their return game this we're. What do you need to do to keep a guy like that contained senior? COACH SARKISIAN: First of all, our punter has to do a good job of punting the ball where it's supposed to go. You get in trouble when the ball doesn't go where it's supposed to go and the coverage unit is going one direction and the ball is going in another. That's the first thing. The second thing with this kid, you better tackle him. You better go tackle him, because if you stand around and look at him, which other teams have done, sooner or later he's going to get loose and make people miss and go make plays. So one, we need to put the ball where it needs to go and two, we need to go with the intent to make the tackle not just be in position to make the tackle. Those are really critical for us. Q. Coach, what's it mean to your program to play in the Holiday Bowl? COACH SARKISIAN: It's awesome, first time USChas ever been here, if you can believe it. Two hours down the road, we took the bus down, it's awesome. For our kids, what an amazing opportunity! There's a lot of places you can go, it's cold, wet, rainy, whatever it is. This is a fabulous city, the city of San Diego, and like Nebraska we're fortunate to have the facilities that we're in at the Hilton right across the street. So for our guys, one, what an awesome opportunity to come to the bowl. Two, you couple that with playing a team like Nebraska. This is a great opportunity and we're fortunate to be here. We're laying a foundation for a program of where we want to continue to build and grow and become. This is a great opportunity for us to come and play one more football game, and we're thankful for that. Q. Sark, do you have any memories of this particular Holiday Bowl? You played at BYU. This is really where BYU made its name and I know you didn't play here but do you have any memories? What's this particular game growing up mean to you? COACH SARKISIAN: You know, I have to say, I played quarterback at BYU, and I have a vivid memory of Ty Detmer playing Texas A&M this game, separating his left shoulder and continuing to battle and compete until he separated his right shoulder and they had to take him out of the game. To me, I grew fond of Ty in that game, and ultimately that was part of my decision to go to BYU, man, what a tough customer this guy was against an amazing defense. I ended up going to BYU and playing. We weren't fortunate enough to come to this game but I remember that game. And I remember Jim McMahon throwing a Hail Mary and all that cool stuff. I remember Barry Sanders running for a million yards against Wyoming, and a lot of great games, believe me, unbelievable! When you think about the Holiday Bowl, everybody watches because, geez, here it comes again, you never know what's coming. But I have a few vivid memories as a kid that have helped hopefully kind of put things into perspective for me of what I was trying to achieve, and that game with Ty was one that stands out to me because of the grit that he showed, even when it wasn't perfect, he was trying to fight through it. Q. Steve, this is the first year that the Pac 12 and the Big Ten will be playing each other in the Holiday Bowl. It's the traditional Rose Bowl alignment and the Rose Bowl with the new playoff system isn't going to have that. Do you see this as a mini Rose Bowl? COACH SARKISIAN: Well, if I'm the Holiday Bowl, I'm pretty ecstatic that I've got USC and Nebraska in this game. Two Top‑25 teams in America, that have traditional programs that have won Heisman Trophies, National Championships and a bunch of other accolades, this is a heck of a game. Moving forward you start thinking about other programs that could potentially about in this game, what a wonderful opportunity for this game to continue to grow and become one of the elite bowl games, which I think is deservingly so. To the Holiday Bowl's credit I think they have tried to step up in a level of saying, hey, we want these two conferences to butt heads year in, year out, and we happen to be fortunate enough to be part of the Inaugural game with Nebraska, and it's an unbelievable opportunity for the Holiday Bowl to make that happen.  Q. Coach, Antwaun Woods went out last week and isn't going to play in this game. How have you seen your defensive line react to that or how do you anticipate filling that hole tomorrow? COACH SARKISIAN: Antwaun was a heck of a football player for us and he's been a starter consecutively for us throughout the year. We're fortunate we've got pretty good depth on the defensive front. Delvon Simmons is a guy that can slide over from a defensive end spot to play the nose tackle. Cody Temple a very good back‑up for us that can step in and play as well. We're going to have to rely on more bodies. Antwaun was a guy that gave us 50 and 60 snaps a game and so now we're going to have to replace him, but I think we have the people in place to make that happen. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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