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ROSE BOWL GAME: IOWA VS STANFORD

December 27, 2015

Aziz Shittu

Pasadena, California

Q. How bad does it want to make you be able to get to the finish?
AZIZ SHITTU: Oh, really bad, because at the end of the day if you dump the Gatorade on your coach, that means you got the win. So I think it's pretty cool.

Q. What did it feel like to win the Rose Bowl as a freshman, as opposed to losing it? You have both sides of it now.
AZIZ SHITTU: Yeah. It was great as a freshman. Like everybody is excited, and then when everybody is running out like all the confetti is falling down and everybody is trying to grab a hat and shirt. It was really cool. It was really cool. And then the next year is a little different. The confetti and all that stuff is still falling down, but you're on the way to the locker room and kind of in a bad mood, like you let down a load of guys, like the seniors and stuff like that. What could you have done more to come away from that game with a win? Definitely the better time is winning, winning against Wisconsin.

Q. Through your time at Stanford you've had some very highs, winning the Rose Bowl, losing a really tough championship game like the Rose Bowl and then you've had kind of a not so good season last year and now you're back at the Rose Bowl. How do those three combine do you think to shape this team heading into the Rose Bowl?
AZIZ SHITTU: This team's a lot different because a lot of guys have seen different situations, like only the seniors and the fifth-year seniors have really seen a Rose Bowl win. A lot of other guys like some of the sophomores have been to the Foster Farms Bowl. So like, being able to add different aspects of what the older guys have been through, like you show them you go to a bowl game, these are the bowl games you want to play in. The New Year's Six, like the Playoffs, like these are the bowl games you want to be in. No disrespect to the Foster Farms Bowl, but you want to be in the bigger games and all that.

So having guys like myself, Kevin Anderson, Blake [Martinez], having seen both sides and able to push guys, it's like this is what it needs to be. We've had it here for so long, why not keep it there? So getting back to the Rose Bowl this year was great, as a team as a whole.

Q. So this year you guys graduated several guys from the defensive line. Then you had some injuries early on. I'm wondering how hard it was to get through some of those early games and end the season banged up?
AZIZ SHITTU: It was tough. It was tough, but guys grinded. That's what the season is. We had a bye week at a very odd time to a week where we had a game on Thursday against UCLA. So we really didn't get that much of a bye week. Just being able to work with Coach through it, especially for the defensive line. We committed to like a different solid practice schedule than we've had in years past, especially kind of for the D line. It's tough to kind of get through and Coach [Shannon] Turley was huge to help us fight through the injuries and at the end guys had to suck it up and play. I had a couple of nagging injuries, but you just gotta keep going. It was bigger than just like myself. I had to do it for my teammates, like Brennan and all those guys kind of have to keep fighting. So pretty much what it was.

Q. [On facing off against Iowa...]
AZIZ SHITTU: A great football team. Overall offensively sound. They run the ball very well and they pass the ball very well and they're able to get first downs, move the chains. I don't know I'm not used to them but I think their motto is, three yards a pop gets you a first down. Those guys keep coming at you, running the ball. Physical offensive line.

Q. Do you guys play a 3-4?
AZIZ SHITTU: Yes.

Q. What's your role then in that?
AZIZ SHITTU: I play defensive end in 3-4, and if we go nickel, I'll play nose. I kind of play like five through (indiscernible) techniques.

Q. Okay. Because I noticed the other contact was for loss. Not as many sacks. But I figured you might play more inside.
AZIZ SHITTU: Yeah, I do. I play a fair amount inside. I mean, I'm 4 essentially inside.

Q. Okay. Iowa's not going as many 3-4s all year. So I guess against an offense like that, is 3-4 kind of more --
AZIZ SHITTU: They've had a couple teams play 3-4 on them. I think teams like Wisconsin. Those teams are 3-4. So we watched some film. I don't think it's very common in the Big Ten. Guys like Nebraska, they run 4-3. They're similar to our nickel front. So we play a fair amount of nickel as well.

Q. Sure. What sticks out, any offensive linemen or anyone on Iowa's offense that kind of jumped out on you on film?
AZIZ SHITTU: Just how the offensive line works so well together. I think they're a very good unit as a whole. The way they're able to stick on blocks, move guys off the ball. I know the Big Ten is a big physical league and the way they've been able to handle guys on film. Pretty impressive.

Q. Stanford is a renowned educational institution. I think I read in the notes you interned for a financial company?
AZIZ SHITTU: Yeah.

Q. That's pretty impressive. What was that like?
AZIZ SHITTU: I mean, it was great. I was an intern, so I'm not going to be handling anybody's financials. (Laughs). But it was great. Kind of had a mentor. I was working under him, trying to show me the ropes, kind of like how the stock market works, stuff like that. It was a really cool experience. I worked there for about a month and a half because summer is kind of short, and then we head back into fall camp.

But it was a great experience. Definitely had a great time learning so much from them.

Q. Yeah. I noticed from your depth chart you list college majors. You don't see that that often in depth charts. How much pride do you guys take in the academics side of things?
AZIZ SHITTU: That's huge. That's why we came here, graduate with a great degree and then get the chance to play great football. That's why we are here at the Rose Bowl. We take that part of our lives at Stanford so important.

Q. In basketball Duke's kind of an academic private school that everyone goes to. At Stanford, do you see them kind of becoming that in football or maybe you already are?
AZIZ SHITTU: I mean, it's always a work in progress. We've done very well in the last years. We've done very well. I'm going to leave that for somebody else to say. I think we're definitely doing a good job here, and if you get a chance to come to Stanford, I think you'd be pretty foolish not to take the opportunity.

Q. Is there something that Christian McCaffrey has done that has maybe made your jaw drop, in the weight room or anywhere?
AZIZ SHITTU: I remember, his freshman year, fall camp, like his third day here, I think he hit some sort of sweep, and he hits the edge and puts his foot in the ground and leaves the defender in the dust. I remember watching him I was like, okay, this kid has some juice. So that's kind of the moment I remember. Just him at a young age, I was like this guy is going to be the guy for us.

Q. It wasn't you, was it?
AZIZ SHITTU: Oh, no. I don't remember. It was one of our safeties back in the day. He was going against some of the younger guys at the time. And just the way he was able to move and make that cut it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous.

Q. Thank you very much. So Brennan over there told me he heavily implied that you were screaming like a girl on some of the rides. Do you have a comment on that?
AZIZ SHITTU: I plead the fifth. I plead the fifth. (Laughs). Shoot, roller coasters are not my forte.

Q. Did you not do them the last two times?
AZIZ SHITTU: I did. I get on them just so my teammates don't give me a hassle. I'm grimacing most of the time.

Q. Did you get some good pictures?
AZIZ SHITTU: Yeah. Got a couple of good pictures.

Q. He was telling me you were grabbing onto him and burying your face into his shoulder.
AZIZ SHITTU: (Laughs). Something like that, man. It was a little bit too much for my stomach.

Q. So he told me that Cam has been the scout team running back. What's it been like watching him tackle his brother around the field? Who wins that battle?
AZIZ SHITTU: I'm going to go with Brennan. Most of the time Brennan is going to win that battle. I know Cam, if he finds a crease he may bust a little play out of it. Cam will try to get going. I'm going to say Brennan is going to win most of those battles.

Q. Does Brennan hit extra hard when it's his brother?
AZIZ SHITTU: I've seen it a couple of times and they'll get up and have words. They'll push each other and get back into the huddle and do it again.

Q. What's the energy been like in practice because defensive line? You guys had a great game against USC. Has that energy carried through?
AZIZ SHITTU: Yeah, the energy has carried through. I think we got a pretty good game as a whole, as a unit. We're just looking forward to getting after this game one last time together and finishing it off right.

Q. What come together? That USC front is a pretty good one; you guys really took it to them that week.
AZIZ SHITTU: I think we're playing like that week in and week out. I don't want to speak to USC's preparation. We came out ready to go. We came out ready to go and that's what happened.

Q. Where do you think the Iowa front backs up against the front that you've faced this year?
AZIZ SHITTU: Probably one of the best fronts we've faced all year. Just their -- I wouldn't say one individual man is going to stick out but as a unit, they work so well together. It's one of the best units we've seen work together all season. So we're really excited to get after them.

Q. Would you say it's easier to diagram for a pro-style offense like Iowa versus some of the spreads you've seen this year?
AZIZ SHITTU: It's actually a little different with Iowa, because they're running the back from home. They can go left to right. In the spreads you can kind of tell where the ball is going to go in the run game and stuff like that. So it's going to be good to see what we can do when they're -- they don't run too many formations, but they're going to run different plays with the same formation, so it's going to be interesting to see how we handle that.

Q. What do they do so well?
AZIZ SHITTU: Probably one of the best-coached teams we've see on film. They're coming off the ball together in unison, able to get on guys and move them. You see line of scrimmages move on these guys all over film. So we're hoping to limit that -- we're hoping to not limit that; we're hoping to stop that all day. So we'll see what happens. It's going to be a great game though.

Q. Brennan was telling me it's a matter of you know what's coming, they just dare you to stop it. That's kind of like what Stanford likes to do over the last couple of years. What's it like to face a mirror image team?
AZIZ SHITTU: It's definitely going to be something I look forward to. It's going to come up, it's going to be smash-mouth football. Game is probably scheduled for three and a half hours; probably going to end in three the way both teams are going to run the ball. I think the first team to stop the run is going to be the team that comes out.

Q. Where do you think it matches up with the Michigan State front from a few years ago?
AZIZ SHITTU: Great team. Pretty similar. It's Big Ten style. Kind of run similar pro-style offenses. But I mean it's Iowa, but it's very similar.

Q. [On the Rose Bowl...]
AZIZ SHITTU: This is the granddaddy of them all. You can't get any better than the Rose Bowl unless you're obviously playing for a National Championship. But this is the game you want to be in.

We're playing to win the Rose Bowl. I don't know if it's a consolation prize. We want to beat Iowa bad. That's what we came out here for. We've had our fun and we're about to get after this game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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