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ROSE BOWL GAME: OREGON v FLORIDA STATEDecember 30, 2014Devon AllenJake FisherMarcus MariotaPASADENA, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Seated next to me is quarterback Marcus Mariota. Marcus is a junior from Honolulu, Hawaii, who had another superb season at the helm of the Ducks and thus earned the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and every First All‑American Team honor. Next to Marcus we have wide receiver Devon Allen. Devon is a freshman from Phoenix, Arizona, and had a great first season as a second leading Ducks receiver with 41 catches. He led all receivers with seven touchdowns and had two 100‑yard plus games. Offensive lineman Jake Fisher is next to Devon Allen. Jake is a senior from Traverse City, Michigan, and was one of the top offensive linemen in the nation as he was a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy. He earned First Team All Pac‑12 honors and was a First Team All‑American selection by the Football Writers. Q. Marcus, Coach Frost was saying earlier championship teams get a couple breaks during the season. When you look at the Utah play where you guys run back the would‑be touchdown for Utah and then your crossover dribble for yourself for the touchdown against UCLA, are there some plays you felt like, man, this could be a special season, a couple plays that stood out to you? MARCUS MARIOTA: Definitely. Those two plays, along with so many others‑‑ I wouldn't say defined our season, but they really helped us out. Coach Frost does talk about having a couple breaks here and there. For us, if we ever get a couple lucky breaks, we'll take it. Q. This is for each of you. Royce just‑‑ I asked what your New Year's resolution is for Coach Helfrich. He said that Coach needs to get his biceps up. I'd like to know what each of you think. JAKE FISHER: He needs to definitely get bigger, gain about 40 pounds, so he can fit in with the offensive linemen and see what he can do after that. DEVON ALLEN: I think after the football season, he'll come out there on the track with me. I'm going to teach him how to hurdle. And then he's going to do a few Masters Meets and see if he can break the Masters world record, yeah. MARCUS MARIOTA: I would just like to see those two things happen. I'll go with those. Q. Marcus, Coach Frost was just talking about how he marvels about how quick your decision‑making process is. Can you talk about the process you've gone through to evolve that, and, obviously, the by‑product of that is how few interceptions you have. MARCUS MARIOTA: It starts with the coaches. Coach Helfrich and Coach Frost have really helped my growth in understanding defenses and understanding where weak spots are in certain coverages and different fronts. So with those two guys, they've really helped me grow, and I wouldn't be where I'm at without them. Q. Since Jake came back from injury, you guys have been beating teams by an average of 25 points, a little more than that. What kind of impact has he had on that and the run that you guys made late in the season? MARCUS MARIOTA: He's provided such great leadership, provided such‑‑ another dynamic player for us, someone that we can rely on who's going to overcommunicate what he needs to do for the offensive line. So for us, to have him back has really helped us in terms of communication, has made us a better team, and we're looking forward to playing this game with him. DEVON ALLEN: I think that having Jake back is a big deal with having a few of those guys injured over the season, you can definitely tell it wasn't really the same. A lot of guys stepped up when needed, but I think getting those guys back, Hroniss and Jake, is a big deal and kind of helps our offense and kind of makes other guys excited to see them on the field, makes them ready to play. It's just nice to have those guys back. We're ready to go. Q. We'd love to hear from all three of you guys on this, starting with Jake. Not necessarily a popular topic, Jake. Coach Frost and the other guys in here earlier addressed this. When you hear the word "soft" associated with the program, what's your reaction? JAKE FISHER: Kind of that, just chuckle and laugh. You want to downplay our game, feel free, but we're still going to come out and we're still going to play our hardest. Sometimes that's not good enough, and we don't get the "W." The majority of the time it is. We'll guarantee you that we'll play hard. DEVON ALLEN: For me, it's a little bit different just because everybody calls me a track guy. So I'm automatically labeled as soft. But I don't think that really matters as long as you score more points than the other team. That's the only way to win. So I think we're going to go out there and score a lot of points, and maybe we can be soft, but as long as we score more points, we'll get the win. MARCUS MARIOTA: I mean, people are going to have their opinions. It is what it is. But if we end up winning the game, then that doesn't really matter. Q. Marcus, can you talk about the impact that Royce Freeman has had and what's made him so good this season. MARCUS MARIOTA: Royce has been incredible. From the moment he stepped on campus, he made certain that he was going to contribute. Even in seven‑on‑seven drills in the summer, his ability to pick up their offense, his ability to make plays, you could see that he was going to make a huge impact for us. With him at running back along with Thomas, it provides such a dynamic backfield and really allows us to get in good situations as an offense. Q. Marcus, can you take me through the process it's been over time to‑‑ obviously, you guys are up tempo, but to slow the game down for yourself to make the choices, make the decisions you make on the field. Obviously, the up‑tempo offense forces you guys to move at a quick pace. How do you‑‑ what's the process been for you to slow the game down for yourself in the decisions you need to make? MARCUS MARIOTA: I think it's such a preparation. If you understand where to go with the ball in certain situations, it makes the game a little more easier for you. But at the same time, we play so fast that sometimes defenses aren't really lined up, and if you can kind of spot that and figure out where the weakness is, then you can really slow the game down for you. So it really just starts with your preparation and kind of understanding where the weaknesses are in that defense. Q. This is a question for all you guys. Coach Helfrich has this perception as a happy‑go‑lucky guy. Do you think he's the most underappreciated coach maybe in this playoff this year? JAKE FISHER: The most underpaid, yes. DEVON ALLEN: I was going to say that, but I think he's definitely one of those guys that knows everything about football, and that's what you need in a football coach. He's one of those guys that can help your team win, and being the head guy, he's a big deal and a big part of our team. He's definitely the guy that I would want for the job for University of Oregon and one of those guys that is always going to help us win. MARCUS MARIOTA: Piggy‑backing off these guys, Coach‑‑ I think I can say this for all of us as a team, we love playing for Coach Helfrich. We have a lot of fun doing it, and he has the respect of all of us. When you have that kind of camaraderie as a team, you can play incredible football. Coach Helfrich has really gotten us to play the best that we can, and that's all you can really ask for out of a head coach. Q. Marcus, what's the first thing that jumps out to you when you put in a tape of FSU's defense? MARCUS MARIOTA: Very aggressive. They got a bunch of playmakers that will find ways to turn the ball over, and they're going to make their plays. They're athletic and dynamic. So we really have to be‑‑ we really have to understand our game plan and make sure we execute it and stay out of certain situations where they can really kind of pin their ears back. Q. Coach Frost previously, when you guys were in the other room, had mentioned that one thing he felt was different about this year was that Coach Helfrich had done a better job managing you guys and not sort of running you into the ground so that you were able to peak later in the season and not be as worn down. Is this something you guys noticed? If so, what changes were made in the process of the season to help you guys peak a little bit better late in the year? DEVON ALLEN: I think, first off, we have a great sports science program. A.J. does a great job. He does a great job at tracking our data. We wear GPS's in practice every day to see how much we're running, see how hard we're working. He relays that to Coach Helfrich. He can kind of say, hey, these guys are doing a lot. Maybe they need a day of rest. Maybe they need a few rest periods. Or maybe they need to get their legs back. I think every time that's happened, Coach Helfrich has understood that and cut down on practice and did something a little bit different. Because of that, we've stayed pretty healthy. We're starting to peak and starting to play like a really good football team. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: Huge. His versatility as a player has really helped us become a really good offense. His role as a running back/receiver has done so much for us as an offense. It's provided us different wrinkles in our offense, sort of say, and he's made such an impact out there for us. Q. He's admitted that he wants to be a running back. MARCUS MARIOTA: Yeah.  He was full go in the summer and is excited about it. But any running back that switches to receiver always wants to play running back. He understood that he can make a difference out there. He provided us such‑‑ another versatile player, another playmaker out there. He's had such an impact for us this year that it's been incredible really. Q. Do they remind you of anybody? MARCUS MARIOTA: Florida State? That's tough to say. They're so athletic. It would be kind of hard to pinpoint one Pac‑12 defense or out‑of‑conference team that we played. So for us, we're looking to try to execute, but it would be hard to kind of compare them to somebody else. Q. Four additional time‑outs in this game. Does that affect your timing a little bit? MARCUS MARIOTA: Coach Helfrich talked to us about it a little bit. It just means we're on the sideline before a drive a little bit longer, but other than that, we'll have certain times it will cut our drives down, but we can't worry about that. It's out of our control. All we can really do is play as fast as we can in between whistles. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: I don't know. You tell me. They're all over the place. They've got so many great athletes, it's going to be tough. There really isn't somewhere that I can pinpoint where they have a weakness. We'll try our best to execute to the best of our abilities. Q. (Off microphone) did you look at the film against Auburn? They seemed to struggle there. MARCUS MARIOTA: We looked at it. They didn't handle it well, but towards the end of the game, they figured it out and were able to get key stops. I think that's kind of been the telltale of their entire year this year, where they give up a couple big plays, but they're so athletic and they're so dynamic that, when the times‑‑ when it comes to crunch time, they're going to make the plays that they need to win the game. Q. How would you compare this Oregon to Auburn? MARCUS MARIOTA: That's tough to say. I don't watch a lot of Auburn. It would be tough to compare them. Q. Are you excited to be here? MARCUS MARIOTA: Definitely excited. It's the first time we've been back in the Rose Bowl in a couple of years. A lot of guys who have made huge impacts, it will be their first time in the Rose Bowl. They're excited. I think, to be part of this game, to be part of the tradition, it's going to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to it. Q. Talk about the emotion factor, as the game is approaching, getting closer and closer. How are you guys managing your emotions and taking everything in? MARCUS MARIOTA: Just taking each day one at a time. Not getting overhyped, overanything, and focus in on what we have to control for that day, whether it's practice, whether it's an event for the Rose Bowl. Just enjoying each moment and not getting too nervous or overhyped, since the game is still a couple days away. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: Having confidence in your abilities to go out there and make plays, having the confidence in your game plans, in the coaches to put you in good situations. I think that quiet confidence kind of seeps all the way through the team. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: I mean, he's Hroniss. I don't know how to explain it. He's the main guy. He's going to be the guy that sets the point, leads the communication for us. Hamani did a good job coming in and stepping up, but Hroniss is one of those types of players that can make a huge difference. We're looking forward to having him back. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: Yeah, for sure. Not to say I don't feel that way with Hamani, but Hroniss definitely‑‑ to have Hroniss back, I think, would give a lot of confidence to all the other offensive linemen. That's really what you need. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: Gosh, I have so many things to say. He's such a great leader. He finds ways to put us as players in the best situations possible. His relationship with us as players has been great. I think any team would love playing for him. He really gets the team motivated and find ways to get you to play the best. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: Each week we start our weeks with a Monday brief, which basically gives all the information on the team that we're playing. He always starts off with a little segment where he explains how we did the week before or what we have to look forward to this week. A lot of those Monday morning‑‑ or Monday afternoon speeches motivate the players for the whole week. It's each of those Monday afternoon meetings that gets us prepared for what we have in store for that week. Q. Marcus, doing the awards circuit and all of that this year, have you gained weight? MARCUS MARIOTA: I've lost weight, from about 219 to‑‑ yesterday we weighed in, and I weighed about 215. Not a huge amount of weight. Q. Is it just from the travel? MARCUS MARIOTA: I think so, yeah. I think a lot of it too might have been water weight. You travel, you get dehydrated. So I think maybe it was four pounds of water weight and just lost it over travel. Q. Feel pretty strong, though? MARCUS MARIOTA: Definitely. Q. You're trying to really enjoy the awards circuit, knowing the Rose Bowl is still ahead. MARCUS MARIOTA: My teammates and family really just said enjoy the moment. I think the best advice that I got was my parents, after the Heisman Award ceremony, was just like now you've got to focus on the Rose Bowl. For me, that's all that really matters. I was happy to go back and practice with the guys because this is a team game, and this Rose Bowl that we're in, it's something that we had a goal of ours this year. We're just excited to play in it. Q. Is your mom happy? MARCUS MARIOTA: Yes, she is. Q. Marcus, can you talk a little bit about what you gained from that loss (off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: Much hasn't changed. For the most part, we battled through a little adversity. Anyone will tell you, if you battle through adversity, it will make you stronger. For us I think that Arizona game was it for us. After that game, I think the mindset was still the same. Guys were just more‑‑ were focused to get back out on the field. Q. (Off microphone)? MARCUS MARIOTA: I don't have a Twitter. I wouldn't hashtag it. Q. Marcus, for all the awards you were named, what do you see the most in self‑evaluation? MARCUS MARIOTA: I'm a firm believer that you can always get better at everything. I like to think my footwork is something I can work on. I think I tend to put my body in positions where it's hard to make throws, and that's just based on the fact that my feet foundation wasn't set. So that's something that I would love to continue to work on and find a ways to make sure my body is in a good situation and that I can throw the ball in good and accurate body posture. Thank you. Have a good day. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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