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ROSE BOWL GAME: OREGON v FLORIDA STATEDecember 30, 2014Royce FreemanScott FrostByron MarshallPASADENA, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We are joined today by members of the Oregon's offense side of their team. Sitting next to me we have offensive coordinator Scott Frost. Next to Coach Frost we have wide receiver Byron Marshall. Marshall is a junior from San Jose, California, and was the second leading Ducks All‑Purpose Player with 1,217 yards. He leads the Ducks in receptions with 61 and in receiving yards. Marshall has seven career 100‑yard rushing games and five multiple touchdown games. Next to Marshall, we have running back Royce Freeman. Freeman is a freshman from Imperial, California, and was an impact player for Oregon and their Pac‑12 Freshman Offensive Player Of The Year honors. He's the first true freshman to account for 1,000 yards rushing, entering the Rose Bowl with 1,299 yards. He's the fourth Duck to win the freshman honor following in the footsteps of three outstanding players in LaMichael James, De'Anthony Thomas, and Marcus Mariota. Q. Coach Frost, can you talk about why tempo is so important for your team in this game. How do you re‑establish that with a four‑week break since the Pac‑12 Championship? COACH FROST: Tempo has always been a big part of what we do. Since Chip took over the program, we've used tempo as a weapon. I think this team's been great utilizing that. It's always an important part of our game. So I expect it to be an important part of this game. I don't think the layoff is going to hurt us at all. The guys are in good shape. In fact, the rest will probably help them. The only thing different about this game than other games is there's four more media time‑outs. Playing in these games before, there's been a lot of standing and waiting for a series to start, which kind of gives both teams more of a chance to rest. So that will be the biggest difference in this one. Q. This is for both Royce and Byron. How has Coach Scott's experience playing and coaching on both sides of the ball helped you in not only playing your position but in anticipating how defenses are going to react? ROYCE FREEMAN: I feel, since he has experience on both sides of the ball, that it gives our offense an advantage because he sees things that maybe other coordinators couldn't see out there. He's helping each position group excel and pick out the little advantages that will help our team. BYRON MARSHALL: I guess more specifically, he takes time out with each one of us just to kind of go over the plays. We'll be out there doing walk‑throughs. He just takes time with each player individually: You need to do this, you need to do this, because the defense might react this way. Just a lot of times you know he's educated and knows what he's talking about. So we just go with it. Q. Scott, I think over the last several years Oregon's had to fight this reputation of being a finesse team, and I would say that beating Stanford is one of those things that's enabled you to sort of change perception. From a coaching standpoint, can you just talk about how you reflect on that discussion and maybe talk about how you attribute changing the perception. COACH FROST: First of all, I'd say we don't care what perception is at Oregon. We do what we do. We trust our process. I love it when people say we're not tough enough, because it motivates our kids. People have said that after we've lost the few games that we've lost in the last five years, trying to pick out some weakness, some chink in the armor, and that's fine. I feel like we played several very physical defenses this year. Michigan State is one of the best defenses in the country. Stanford has had a great defense for the past four or five years. Arizona had a great defense. I thought UCLA was really talented on defense. Utah was one of the best defenses we played. All those teams were physical. We're getting ready to play another physical team, another big team, but the more people say that we struggle against physical teams, I think the more motivated our kids will be and the better we'll play. Q. Scott, can you just talk about what's allowed Royce to come in and make such an impact so quickly. COACH FROST: Well, he's wearing a loose sweatshirt, but if he wasn't, you could see his biceps. You know, the biggest factor in a guy coming in and playing early at our place, probably others too, is their maturity. That's one thing that's really impressed me about Royce from the day he got to campus. A kid has to be mature to handle the emotional ups and downs of playing, to be mature enough to learn the Xs and Os in time to play, and all of that on top of being physically mature enough to handle the load. Royce came in with the right attitude, and his maturity has really shown through right from the beginning when he set foot on campus. He looks and acts like a 22‑year‑old, and that's the way he plays too. Q. Byron and Royce, Scott just talked about when teams or people in the media say that you aren't a physical team and you can't handle physical defense, it motivates you. How does it motivate you when you hear talk of that nature? BYRON MARSHALL: I mean, I don't know where y'all are getting your facts from. We go out there, and we play with the best of teams. We only lost one game this year. I don't think that takes away from the fact that we're not physical. I think we just lost the game. They played better than we did that day, plain and simple. When we go out there, we dominate teams at the line of scrimmage in the pass game and the run game on defense. Where all this talk is from, oh, they're not physical, they're a finesse team, like we're fast and we spread out, but we can play with anybody. I don't know where you guys are coming up with this. ROYCE FREEMAN: Yeah, just to kind of reiterate what Byron said, it's just something that people resort to when we lose, something they pick at, trying to say we're a finesse team, things like that. Ultimately, I don't think that of our team at all. We have a lot of tough guys out there, and we play really tough out there. Q. Scott, are there some tangible ways that you can tell us that Coach Helfrich has changed in year two compared to his rookie season? COACH FROST: One of the things I really appreciate about working for Mark is he's the same guy every day when you come to work. We have an environment that I think is unique that we take our job seriously but we don't take ourselves seriously. I think there's more enjoyment and laughing in our football building than almost any football building in the country. So every day you show up, you're going to get the same Coach Helfrich. We've altered a few things this year. I think probably the biggest thing that's been altered other than evolving offenses and defenses is Coach Helfrich has done a good job this year making sure the guys are rested. We practice really hard and really fast, and I think in years past we might have worked them a little too hard and had a tired team at the end of the year.  We really focused on trying to give them a break and keeping them fresh this year. Our team has played its best football at the end of the season. Q. Coach, how's college football changed since you made your National Championship run with Nebraska? COACH FROST: Well, college football changes every year. The way teams approach the game are changing. Offense has changed. Defense has changed. I think Oregon's done as much to change what college football looks like as any team in the country, and it's been fun to be a part of that. That being said, some things stay the same. I've said this before, I think every year there's 8 to 12 teams that are probably good enough to compete for a national title, and the ball's got to bounce right for you to get there and for you to win it. I think this playoff's going to show that there's four teams that are in this. There are probably more that could win against any of these teams on any given day. Now with these four teams in it, things are going to have to go right. You're going to have to play well, and you might have to catch a couple bounces. All you can do as a team is try to put yourself in this situation where you have a chance. Q. Scott, when you see film of Jameis Winston, does he look like a different quarterback late in games than he does early in games? As a followup to that, how do you think he projects at the next level? COACH FROST: Well, to be honest with you, I don't watch Jameis Winston on tape. I haven't watched one snap of Florida State's offense on tape. I'm worried about their "D." I've got a lot of respect for Jameis Winston as a football player, but other than that, I don't get to watch him. I could answer a lot of questions for you about their defense. Q. For Scott and Royce, what has Coach Campbell's stability and experience meant to the program, and specifically, Royce, to you? ROYCE FREEMAN: Just to me as a player, being my first year under Coach Cam, he's taught me a lot. Just seeing him more as also a father figure to me, just a lot of trust that I have in him, and seeing the results in Byron here beside me. The things he taught me, the things he stressed, it just really means a lot as a player because I just want to play hard for him out there, and I know he's got my back. COACH FROST: With the running backs that we've had at Oregon, Coach Cam deserves a ton of credit for that. The guys he's recruited, from Jonathan Stewart to Michael James, De'Anthony Thomas, these two guys sitting next to me, Thomas Tyner, and even going forward. Coach Cam is the type of guy that's a father figure, in my opinion, to his players, and guys want to play for him, and he gets the best out of them. Q. Scott, we've seen a lot about Marcus' 38‑2 touchdown‑interception ratio. As a former quarterback or as an offensive coordinator, I know it has a lot to do with decision‑making, but can you put into context how staggering that number is, because it's like nothing else we've seen with quarterbacks? COACH FROST: It's hard for me to relate. I didn't throw enough to have 38 touchdowns in 20 years. I'll go back to this. I think he's as good a decision‑maker as I've ever seen on a football field. It speaks to his intellect. It speaks to how quick he can process things. I think that's his best asset, aside from everything else he does, is how quick he recognizes and reacts. There's times I'm watching as a coach, either behind him in practice or from the box on the field, and I look at what the defense is doing and see him react and then decide that's where the ball should go, and it's already there. He continues to amaze me in that way. I'm sure there's some good fortune involved with that. He's only really had one or two plays where a ball's gotten tipped or, in one case, thrown back inbounds for an interception. It's very rare that he's going to put the ball in the wrong spot. He's accurate. He thinks well, processes fast, and makes the right decision all the time. Q. (Off microphone.) Do you get tired of hearing that? COACH FROST: No team's going to win every game. It does upset us some when we hear we're not physical. We do spread it out and run it, but just because you don't have two tight ends and three fullbacks in the football game at one time doesn't mean you can't be physical. Every time we've won a game against a physical team, not much is said about it. The few games we've lost in the last five or six years, everybody seems to find something to point toward and points toward that. Like I said, our players take that as a challenge whenever they hear it. Q. (Off microphone)? COACH FROST: Well, they've got a lot of guys that can run and make plays. I think that's going to be typical of any team, Florida State team or any team down that direction. They have a lot of athletes they can choose from, and they recruit some of the best. That being said, we've played a lot of good ones too. These guys are definitely among the best players that we've seen on defense. I think this is a fast group. Really impressed with No.8. He can really run. He's long, disrupts a lot of things, makes plays, batting balls, making tackles, been really impressed with him. I think P.J., the one corner, is as fast a player as we've played in the secondary. Other corner, No.3, both safeties that play‑‑ there's not really a weak link in the secondary. We have good players too. It's just going to come down to executing and playing well, and we'll try to put our players in the best position we can to make those plays. Q. When you turned the film on the first time, what was the first thing you noticed? COACH FROST: They've got a bunch of athletes. That's the first thing you notice. I think they're sound in their scheme, for the most part, in what they do. To me one of the big keys to this game is we need to be able to dictate‑‑ sometimes as an offensive coordinator, you can sit and try to see what they're doing and figure out what our answer is to that. If we're reacting to what they do, then we're not at our best. We need to do what we do and try to make them react to what we do. Q. What does that mean to you guys getting first and second downs? COACH FROST: I think first downs are key. These guys are stout up front. I imagine we're going to try to run the ball early. Hopefully, as the game goes along, that will get a little easier. Give a ton of credit to their defensive staff and their players. They do a good job on defense, do a great job in all phases. So the game will be slowed down a little bit more than we're used to because of these time‑outs, and we're really going to have to try to stay on the field with offense and get some first downs to get the game where we want it. Q. Do they remind you of anybody athletically? COACH FROST: It's hard to compare defenses. I think athletically these guys are as good as we've faced. Michigan State was really athletic, but maybe not quite to the level of these guys. Like I said, we've played some really good defenses. Statistically, Stanford and Utah and Michigan State, some of those teams rank up there with the best in the country. I think Florida State might be more talented than some of those teams, but we're ready for whatever challenge is thrown at us. We played some really good defenses, and we're looking forward to this one. Q. How do you help your offensive line? COACH FROST: The offensive line, it's been patchwork all year. Coach Greatwood has done a good job. Guys that were called on that didn't expect to play have done a great job. Early on, when they were thrown in, they've had struggles, but those guys have really matured and developed as the year's gone along. We've got more guys healthy right now than we've had almost the entire season. We're facing a good front, and we've got to be ready. Q. How you've been sort of integrating practices to get ready? COACH FROST: Hroniss is on the fast track right now. He's been out there all week going full. We're hoping he's as close to 100 percent as we can possibly get him for the game. Hroniss is a fighter, one of the best kids I've ever been around. He'll be ready to play. Hroniss has exceptional character. That's the one thing that I'm most proud of about our team is the character of our football team. We go out of our way to recruit good character guys. I think this team, more than any other that I've been a part of at Oregon, exhibits what we want an Oregon team to look like. Our guys are truly men of Oregon. When you get those kids, it's easy for those guys to put team ahead of themselves, and this group has really bonded as well as any Oregon team that I've been a part of. Q. (Off microphone)? COACH FROST: Yeah, we've had to move some guys. I think what's helped us with that is having a lot of guys with experience. Hamani's played a lot. He's a fifth‑year senior. Hamani is probably one of the most improved players on our football team this year. He's had an exceptional year, probably exceeded what we expected from him. And when he stepped in at center, we didn't miss a beat in the championship game. Jake Fisher has a ton of experience. Hroniss has a ton of experience. Cameron Hunt, even though he's a sophomore, played as lot as a true freshman. Matt Pierson has been in the program for a long time, and he can play pretty much all five spots. So having some of those guys that can move around has helped us through some of these injury issues. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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