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ROSE BOWL GAME: IOWA VS STANFORDDecember 29, 2015Kevin HoganPasadena, California Q. [On being at the Rose Bowl...] KEVIN HOGAN: I mean it's awesome. It's our goal to be here each year, and just trying to meet those goals, and to get back down here for a third time is remarkable. And just shows the guys we have on our team and coaches we have and the hard work we put in. Q. A lot of people might not know how tough the Pac-12 is. KEVIN HOGAN: Oh, it's the best conference. It's the deepest conference. We saw that night in and night out. To come out 9-1 in that conference is tremendous. We battled some adversity, but I think that improved our resumé that we're a very good team. Q. [On dealing with adversity...] KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. I mean, I've grown through some adversity in my life and along my journey, and it's about how you respond to it. And I feel like I've done a good job of handling it, and becoming the best player that I could be, best leader for this team that I can be. That's what my job is. I don't try and put too much on myself, and just kind of try and do my job to the best of my ability. Q. Is enjoying the game based on whether you win or lose? KEVIN HOGAN: I think if you had asked us after the Michigan State game, then I would have said there might have been a little bit of a carryover effect. The fact that we've come down here two years in a row and maybe had higher aspirations in terms of a National Championship, but having not come back down here last year, it really shows that you can't take the opportunity for granted. But we're going to enjoy this so much. I feel like this team is even more excited than even the 2012 team was, just because we felt last year the disappointment. And now that we have kind of reached our goal, and to have the opportunity in a Rose Bowl is awesome. Q. Was there more motivation after the Michigan State game and why was it different than other offseasons? KEVIN HOGAN: I don't necessarily know what the reasoning is, but I know that there's a difference between the off-season prior to this past year and then this past season. Coach Charlie just really got after us, put us in every situation possible to face adversity and see how we would react, and it really helped us grow as a team, helped us older guys grow. A lot of competition, a lot of putting our backs against the wall. And that really helped us. That's something that as a team we didn't handle as well last year. And you saw week one, we had a tough loss at Northwestern, and we could have laid down and accepted it, and we didn't. We fought back and got on a great run and ended up winning, I don't know, 11, 12 out of however many games we had left. So I think it just shows that this past off-season really prepared us for the journey that was ahead this year. Q. What was your feeling immediately after the game, the Northwestern game? KEVIN HOGAN: It was very disappointing, just because we knew we were such a better team than that. And we were playing a great Northwestern team, and there's a lot of things going against us that day, but we still feel like we could have executed better and worked our game plan better. And it was just disappointing knowing that you didn't put your best foot forward, and it was something we preached when we got back about how difficult it is to win a college football game. And we got a lot of young guys on this team, a lot of young guys who contribute. And we just have to reiterate that and keep everyone together and just get back to work, and that's what we did. Q. What's it like to have a running back like Christian? KEVIN HOGAN: It's awesome. It just gives you confidence as a quarterback knowing that you have a play-maker like him by your side. And he's just such a mismatch for defenses, to have him in the back field, have him out wide. And he can just do so much. So having a player like him and a teammate like him is awesome. Q. Is there any commonality, any theme to Big Ten defenses that you see? KEVIN HOGAN: I mean, I think that might be a good word for it is the defenses are so common. It's not a knock on their defenses. They do what they do really well. We've faced a lot of teams that will come out and try and show you a lot, but Notre Dames, the Arizona States of the world. They try and throw a lot at you and try and confuse you with how they lineup and what different blitzes they have. And a team like Iowa, the lineup, the same front, same coverage every time, they do their jobs really well. So that presents a lot of challenges for us. They'll try and lull you to sleep with their steam and have 25 cover 4, and then you see that three plays in a row. And then all of a sudden they'll three buzz with their cross-route splits in front of you. So they try and lull you to sleep and get you not thinking about what they're doing, and they do a really good job of that. Then they'll hit you with a blitz and try to get you out of your rhythm. Q. Is there anything more special about being a senior this time around compared to the first two times? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. I mean, I'm enjoying this with my senior class. So I think it shows all the work that we've put in through our four years that we've been through a lot. We've enjoyed success. We've suffered from defeat. And to come after having the disappointing season that we did last year, it's such a great feeling just knowing that we got back to work, we put in a great season, and we're back with the opportunity to reach our goals again. Q. From September afterwards, Coach Shaw said that he asked everybody who had been Pac-12 champion before to stand up in the locker room. Is that a moment that you guys felt that you were championship material? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. We knew we were championship material. We had a great camp leading into the first game, and even after the loss, we knew that that was -- we just didn't put our best foot forward. We didn't execute. So we knew that we had all the talent in the world. We knew it was an out-of-conference loss and our end goal was still in reach; we had no losses in conference. So when we pulled up before the last game, it kind of gave us a quiet confidence that we've been here, we've played in big games. The other team hasn't. So it gave us that confidence to go out and it didn't matter there were 90,000 people at the Coliseum, that we can play and play well. Q. And Coach said that the week of practice immediately after the Northwestern game was kind of where he saw the team come together. What do you remember from that week? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. I mean, I remember the captains gathered the team, a couple meetings on Monday afternoon, and we just kind of preached that we gotta have each other's back. We gotta get back to work. We talked about how difficult it is to win a college football game. I think that that's something that people have taken for granted with the preparation that goes into it. And we'd come off of a great camp, and we had a lot of adversity in our face, heading to Illinois to play Northwestern at nine in the morning. So we came back. We talked to the guys and really just said, we gotta get back to work. We can't lay down. Our goal is still in front of us. We still have a whole conference to play. And the guys bought in. It was total buy-in. Great leadership all around. And got back to work and put on a nice little streak there. Q. Third Rose Bowl in a short period of time. Not many teams in the history of college football ever get that opportunity. Having said that, is there any danger of getting stale, doing the same thing over and over again? How do you avoid that? KEVIN HOGAN: Not at all. It was avoided when we lost to Michigan State. We felt like we didn't do our best that year, and it left a horrible feeling. We felt to be up on that stage after winning a game, and then we felt going back to the locker room after losing. So it doesn't get stale. We're just excited to be down here this year, as the first time we came down. So we're extremely excited for the opportunity to play a great team, and I think we're ready. Q. Did the loss early had an effect on the team in general and you in particular, it seems like? KEVIN HOGAN: Just the whole team. I mean, we felt like we didn't play our best game. We felt like we could have been a lot better. I think we -- I don't want to say we took for granted the opportunity, but we'd come down here before. We had won the game the year before. And I think that team had higher aspirations, not to say that this wasn't a great team. But had two tough three-point losses or whatever it was that ruined the National Championship opportunity. And I think that that had an effect on us heading into the game. And that's not going to be the case this year. We had a couple close losses again this year, but we know that this is a great Iowa game. Both of us could be in the playoffs. Both of us could be playing for a National Championship. But there's not enough room for us, and we did that to ourselves. So we're going to enjoy this opportunity. We're going to go out. And we've been having a great week of practice. We're going to finish up today, tomorrow, Friday or whatever the days are. And then when kickoff comes on Friday, we're going to be ready to go. Q. Now you're going to be handing off the reins to Keller Chryst? KEVIN HOGAN: First of all, he's a great teammate. He's been a great help to me this year, last year, just being out there on the field. I have Ryan and Keller check out the DBs, and they always give me a report on the sideline of what they're doing. So they've been a great help for me, and just extra set of eyes. And he has all the talent in the world and a great work ethic, great character. He's always staying after practice with the young guys, getting extra reps. He's always asking questions in the meeting room. Learns the material unbelievably quickly. So he's been great with picking up the offense and not afraid to ask questions. I have no doubt that he or Ryan or whoever -- I've only been around those two guys for the past two years. So I've only seen them, but they have all the talent in the world, and I know Keller will be a professional player no matter what. Q. Coach had put you on the Mount Rushmore of Stanford quarterbacks. What's the No. 1 piece of advice you would give to one of those guys, whoever wins that job next season? KEVIN HOGAN: Just to go out and be yourself. Don't try and be me. Don't try and be Andrew Luck. I couldn't try and be Andrew. I'm not Andrew. They're going to be their own quarterback. And find what things they do great within our offense. There's not going to be pressure. I mean, they're great players. We have a great team, great coaching staff that's developed them and prepared them. So they're going to be great players, and I think whatever you want to call it, the Mount Rushmore, I think that you're going to see plenty of other quarterbacks that are of that caliber coming up. Q. Be prepared for guys like me to ask about Kevin Hogan the way that you're asked about Andrew Luck all the time. KEVIN HOGAN: That would be pretty cool. Q. Has it been distracting the events that go on? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. That's one of the nice things about being down here before is we've seen all the events and kind of know what we're getting ourselves into. So we've done a good job of staying focused. We know that we have a game to play, and it's a big one, and that's where all of our focus is. So it's easy to kind of enjoy the events that they have prepared for us, but then when it's time for meetings and practice, all of our efforts and attention has to be on that. We've got great leadership to kind of keep everyone motivated and going, and there's really not a need for motivation for this game, but just to keep that level of focus high. Q. Did you think about how the loss to Northwestern early in the year might have helped you guys get to this point here right now, mentally, on the field, off the field, how that kind of builds some character? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. We didn't feel like we put our best foot forward that week. The first game of the season, we felt like we could have done a lot of things better. We had come off of a great training camp where we did a lot of great things and knew that we were a very special team. So to have that opening loss where we just didn't execute and didn't play very well, it really hurt. And we just had to get back to work and express the importance of preparation and being all in, being entirely bought into the program and everything that we're about, the Stanford standard. And the young guys bought in, everyone else bought in. And we got back to work and went on a nice little streak there. Q. Christian McCaffrey, what he means to the team, how do you explain it? KEVIN HOGAN: He's incredible. He just does so much for this team, and to be the caliber of player that he is and still be as humble and as high character as he is is a testament to the person that he is, to the parents that he has, the way he was raised. And he's just such a special player. There's nothing that he can't do well. We kind of have a little beef going on right now, because he whipped my butt in ping pong and pool, and I'm pretty good at those. So I'm kind of upset that he's been whupping me in everything, every kind of competition there. So I gotta find something, maybe a hobby or something that I can beat him in. But he's the ultimate teammate. He's a great guy, gets along with everyone and can do it all. So he's a really special player, once-in-a-generation player, and in my opinion, I've seen a lot of players, and I think he's the best player in college football. Q. The Iowa defense is pretty straightforward. You know what the Hawkeyes are trying to do. What kind of challenges does that present as you prepare for that? KEVIN HOGAN: It's tough because they, like you said, they do a lot of the same things, but they do their jobs very well. They execute their scheme very well. They have great techniques, and trust in their coaching. And it's kind of like Oregon's offense, I'd say, where they don't do a whole lot, but they do what they do very well and kind of exploit the holes when they're there. And that's what this defense does is they line up in the same front, same coverage, and try and show you something and lull you to sleep, and get you under a rhythm thinking they're just going to just keep doing that, and then they're going to hit you with a blitz and different coverage and get you out of sync. So it's definitely a challenge where you have to not necessarily be looking for stuff presnap, but after the ball is snapped, you gotta see what they're doing. So it's going to be a lot of post-snap reads, a lot of adjustments after the ball is snapped. And yeah, I mean, they're just very good at what they do. As simple as it is, they're just very good at it. Q. You know a team is going to try to take McCaffrey away, how much does that even matter? KEVIN HOGAN: I don't know. I mean, I don't think teams have done a great job of that this year. I don't know what you can do to limit him, because it's not like we're just going to hand the ball off to him all game. We're going to split him out wide, put him on their linebackers, on their safeties and present mismatches. If teams have to send out different personnel matchings to match ours, and when we go big tight end sets with Christian out there and split him out wide, it's tough to cover him with linebackers and safeties. So I think we have a great game plan. If they try and limit us in one aspect, I think we're very comfortable with all aspects of our offense. Q. Did you have any idea what kind of career yours would turn into, especially coming off the heels of an Andrew Luck era at Stanford and here you are going out as a senior like this? KEVIN HOGAN: No. I don't think you can ever -- you dream about it. You definitely dream about it. But you can never assume that you're going to have success or as much success as we've had here at Stanford. And it just shows the hard work that we've put in, countless hours and fight that this team has. So I'm excited that as a senior we're able to get back to the Rose Bowl. I mean, this game means so much. It's the game that you dream about as a kid to play in, and I'm so glad that I'll be able to go out with this being my final game. Q. With your game planning against the Iowa pass defense, how much of a factor does Desmond King's ability have on where you're going to go with the ball? KEVIN HOGAN: I wouldn't say it's too much of a factor. I mean, he's a great player. He's definitely a great player, but we're not going to like shy away from him. We're going to go through our reads, go through our progressions, and they haven't seen a ^ receiving corps like ours all year. So it's going to be an exciting challenge. He does what is asked of him very well, and he creates a lot of turnovers, a lot of big plays for his team. We're not going to shy away from anyone. I'm going to take my guys any day. So it's going to be a lot of fun competing against them, and it should be a great game. Q. This is your third Rose Bowl in four years now. Are you still getting the same jitters as the first time you played it or is it starting to become like an everyday^ sort of thing now? KEVIN HOGAN: Oh, you can never treat this like an everyday thing. It's so special. It means so much. And just the history of this game. And yeah, we've been here a couple of times before, but I still have that same mindset of almost being a little kid on Christmas morning, being down here. And I'm a little bit more relaxed, just having gone through the process. And it's a good relaxed. It's not any complacency at all, not taking for granted this opportunity. I'm very excited. But I feel like I'm confident and in a good relaxed feeling. Q. So Blake was telling me how he feels like this team this year is a little different than most years, especially with Coach. He felt like he's more enthusiastic and he's like having fun. Can you kind of just speak to that and how you've seen Coach just kind of have fun this season? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. I think it began back in training camp. Whereas if there had been some chippiness at practice or maybe a little scuffle, which definitely happens in training camp, he might have gotten upset and stopped practice. And now it's like he's kind of one of us. He goes into practice with that competitive mindset and kind of allows us to be who we are. And it's all great. We all love each other. There's no negative feelings. But when you get out there and you're competing, there's some chippiness that goes on. And I think that he's been a lot more relaxed in allowing us to play with that passion and that competitiveness. And it shows on Saturdays. I've never seen him celebrating as much as he has before this year. And it's exciting to see that he's one of your teammates. He's on your side and has your back. And he trusts us so much, the amount of time he allowed us to go for it on fourth down this year, whereas previously we might have punted, it's been awesome. And just to know that the coach has your back really allows us to go out and play even extra hard for him. Q. Most of the talk has been about the offense, McCaffrey and your dominant offensive line. Can you talk a little bit about the defense because they did lose a lot of players last year. But you have to have defense to win games. Can you just speak to that side of the ball? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the defense has won games for us this year. And yeah, they lost a lot of talent to the NFL last year and graduation. But just goes to show what Coach Anderson has done on the defensive side. And the leadership that they have on the defensive side with Ronnie Harris, Blake Martinez, Kevin Anderson, all those guys have done a great job. We have a lot of young players playing over there. But these guys have been leading very well and kind of preaching the Stanford standard, and what is required here to be successful. And I have no doubt that they're going to keep that standard and that the young guys are going to carry it moving forward. Q. When Coach Harbaugh initially was recruiting you, what was that like? KEVIN HOGAN: Oh, wow. It's been a while. I just remember Coach being extremely fiery, and at the time I was being recruited by Coach Hamilton, and felt a great relationship with him. And then just coming out and, you know, he did a great job of selling Stanford. And yes, Stanford sells itself, but he got players out here. He got my class out here to come take visits. And it's something that Coach Shaw definitely carried over. Q. Harbaugh left in like December or January of that year and then David Shaw took over. Did David get ahold of you like right away or what was that like? KEVIN HOGAN: I don't remember exactly how we found out. I think it was shortly before -- Q. Do you ever wonder how things would have been if Harbaugh had stayed? KEVIN HOGAN: It's tough to say. I mean, we've had so much success here. And I was never around him as a player. Just heard stories from other guys. Q. Let me move on. How would you describe David Shaw as a head coach for people who don't know him? Does he ever surprise you? KEVIN HOGAN: I think that he's grown so much with his passion and showing it in the game. And no, he doesn't surprise us. He just shows how much preparation he puts in, and he watches so much film on his own and won't be there in meetings, but will be watching the entire season of the opponents that we're playing, in all three phases. And will then come out and share wisdom and kind of talk about what they do, and then just the adjustments that he and his staff make during games has been great. It's ben a great second-half team. Q. What have you seen from Iowa's corners? Everybody talks about Desmond King but what about Greg Mabin specifically? A lot of teams have been attacking him this year. KEVIN HOGAN: They're both very good players. They have a great secondary. They work well together. It's going to be a lot of fun going against those guys. Can't say anything but positive. They've had a great season. It's going to be a physical game, and their scheme allows them to do what they do very well. So I'm looking forward to the challenge. And both guys on both sides do and extremely well job. Q. A lot of teams have been attacking Mabin specifically. Is that something you read presnap to see where he is, especially with that defense on the other side? KEVIN HOGAN: Not at all. We're going to go through our reads, our progressions, take our matches or mismatches where we see them. So if I like a matchup on one side, I'll take that. And it doesn't matter who's out there at corner. I trust our guys. They haven't seen a receiving corps like ours or a tight end groups. So it's going to be a lot of fun and great challenge for us. Q. Coach Parker talked yesterday about keeping two safeties high. Is that something you've seen on film from Iowa? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah. They do that every time, but -- not every time. It allows their safeties to come down and help in the run game. Yeah, they line up in two high, which is primarily a pass prevention kind of defense, but it's quarter coverage so it allows their safeties to kind of read the line of scrimmage and see if it's pass-run. And they only cover a quarter of the field, so it allows them to come down and support in the run game, but also be over top if it's a pass game. Q. So Josh started out talking about the ogre position. What's ogre for you guys? KEVIN HOGAN: It's our extra lineman who is kind of a wing lineman, where we line up in our big personnel setting and formation, so he's just out there on the wing. It's usually a lineman lined up at the tight end position kind of deal. Q. Is that with you or is that just standard? KEVIN HOGAN: Oh, I think it's just for Stanford. I think it's kind of just a funny name that we gave to him because it's a lineman lining up out at tight end. It's a funny position name that guys take pride in. Q. Do you want to see another bowl? KEVIN HOGAN: It's exciting. It's our goal at the beginning of each year. So we're excited to be back. It's the best bowl there is, and to be able to have this as my last game. It's great. Q. Do you want to go to another bowl in another part of the country? KEVIN HOGAN: I mean, our goal at the beginning of each year is to win our conference, and that's what we did. And we're here, and we're just going to try and go out and get a win. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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