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POINSETTIA BOWL: BOISE STATE VS NORTHERN ILLINOIS

December 22, 2015

Rod Carey

San Diego, California

THE MODERATOR: Here is Coach Rod Carey from Northern Illinois University.

COACH CAREY: If I cough, you have to excuse me, because I caught a cold. I have no idea how you come to San Diego and catch a cold! Right? It's unbelievable. You should catch one back in DeKalb where it's cold, right?

It's been a great week. I echo coach's comments. Huge thank you to Mark and his staff and all the volunteers. This is our second time-out in three years, to this bowl game and it just keeps getting better, Mark, you just keep doing a great job. We appreciate it. Our guys have had fun, you know, and like Coach said, we've been -- we call it snapping in and snapping out. You gotta snap in when you're there for the football stuff and certainly want to snap out and enjoy the festivities and we certainly have. I think our guys have done a great job of that all week long. Really been proud of them.

With that, I will open it up for questions.

Q. What have you seen from Brett Rypien, Boise State's quarterback, as he prepared for this game?
COACH CAREY: Well, the things I've read on him as I was getting acquainted before we really turned the film on is he's going to be really good, he's going to do this, he's going to do that. I think they're all wrong; he is doing those things. I think he is already good!

I think, you know, he's probably mature beyond his years. Coach coaches him, so he knows better than I do, but looking at him, you see a guy that is playing to his not strengths and not getting himself in bad situations. He's a good football player.

Q. Coach, does the --
COACH CAREY: Where are you? That's weird!

Q. Does the 24-hour rule act differently because of a bowl game? You guys are coming off a two-game losing skid, but you've had three weeks since you last played your last game. How does that impact preparation and the mentality of a team?
COACH CAREY: You wish after a loss that you could get another week going because in 24-hours you flip the page and you play again. Unfortunately you can't.

I think the guys have done a good job of understanding what took place in the MAC Championship game and where our shortcomings were, and that probably took longer than 24 hours, to be honest. That one hurt a little bit.

But I think the guys are past it, the coaches are past it, and certainly as soon as we turned on the film of Boise, we all got past it really, really quick, okay? Because they will snap you in really quick with what you see on film.

Q. Coach, what's it mean to your program to play in Southern California, again, and then also to be in the Poinsettia Bowl?
COACH CAREY: Someone asked me that yesterday and we're practicing out at Mesa Community College, out there, and the head coach and I were talking, and I tell you, we're here in two or three years, we're probably going to have to come out here and start recruiting, is probably the first thing it means to us. We don't actively recruit out here, but certainly being out here, hopefully more to come in the future, that we will open up that door. It means a lot. The bowl game is exactly what you would think a bowl game would be. It's a reward. It's also a great opportunity to play against a great opponent in Boise.

Q. Coach, you mentioned that you were out here just a couple of years ago. What can we expect out of this team differently from that team? Obviously there is a national ranking situation you don't have this year. What are you going to do to have a different outcome for this year?
COACH CAREY: First, it was a completely different team, and opponent. You know, we had Jordan Lynch at the time and, you know, we were really, you know, ridin' him, and he had a great year. I don't think that we offensively played well in that game, and certainly could have and should have. So I think those are some of the things that happened, but what are we going to do different? Everything is different. We're a different team. We don't have those same players, we don't have Jimmie ward, and we don't have Jordan Lynch. So I don't think it's a matter of actively pursuing to do something different with the team, I think it just it because of who we are.

Now we have changed up some scheduling stuff, I can tell you that. We're practicing in the morning and then doing our events in the afternoon. What's that worth? Who knows, but we've done that, maybe it's because I'm superstitious, or something, I don't know.

Q. What have you seen from Graham as you've gotten him back out there and getting ready for the game and what should we expect out of him this week?
COACH CAREY: Well, you know, it's been good to get him back on the field. Tommy played his guts out in the championship game and is going to be a fine player for us.

But certainly it's been good to have Ryan back out there, but you have to understand Ryan is in the midst of his development as well. He only has really three starts, he only made it healthy through two of 'em. So we are seeing growth, a lot, in practice. That's what you like to see. The learning curve is steep for him right now; he's soaking it all in like a sponge. It's been good. His timing has gotten back to him, but there will be an adjustment in the game, game speed, because he didn't play in the MAC Championship, but there should be for everybody, too, because it's been about a month since either of us played.

Q. Could you tell me about his running back, Bouagnon, and maybe compare him with McNichols.
COACH CAREY: I think McNichols is a fantastic football player, I really do. He's got size, he's got vision he's got speed. His feet I think are the thing that separates him when you watch him on film. He has great feet, he can get himself out of trouble with his feet.

Joel has a lot of those same attributes, and I think that he does those things -- he's a bigger guy, so he's learned how to rundown behind his pads, and I think that along with the vision and feet and preparation that Joel puts in really learning how to run lower has been a big part of his game this year.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions?

COACH CAREY: Thanks, guys!

THE MODERATOR: Thank you guys for coming.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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