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DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: JACKSONVILLE STATE VS NORTH DAKOTA STATE

January 4, 2016

John Grass

Frisco, Texas

THE MODERATOR: Coach Grass, we appreciate you joining us today for this call. Again, congratulations on you and your team Jacksonville State advancing to the 2016 NCAA Division I Football Championship game. At this time, if you could give us an opening statement and tell us how preparations are going and the excitement for coming to Frisco?

COACH GRASS: We're very excited to be coming to Frisco and playing in the championship game. Guys are just excited to be practicing. I'm excited to be practicing football this time of year. It's a great thing for our school and our program.

Preparation is going well. I'd say, three weeks is a long time. You've got time to really get to study your opponent inside and out. There is not a quick turnaround on that. So it's preparation is pretty well this far, and looking forward to getting out there on Wednesday and continuing to prepare for Saturday. It's a great venue and we're just glad to be a part of it and representing our university.

Q. Talk about the challenge of facing a team that's very familiar with Frisco and their appearance. What aspect does that play in the game or does it really play much into the game?
COACH GRASS: Well, I think it definitely plays into the game. They've been there before, done it several times. I have the utmost respect for their program. It's the first thing I did when I became a college coach and came here at this level of FCS, I watched the championship game. I wanted to see how the best did it, and they, at that time had won two in a row. Really had beaten Sam Houston, I think, for their second one. So I wanted to see where the bar was.

I studied that film inside and out and kind of see where the direction, where you needed to be at in recruiting and what type caliber athletes you needed to compete at this level, because they are the standard, so I do think it factors in. You've got to go through North Dakota State to win a National Championship. I think that's where the bar is at right now.

We're excited about an opportunity to play in this game and have the opportunity to play for a National Championship. Now as far as the game itself on Saturday, we play a faceless opponent every week. It don't really matter about who we play. It's about how we play. We preach that in our guys and I think our guys will be ready for the challenge and ready to go out and play ball and have fun doing it. It's going to be a great game. You look at it too, just really quality football teams. I think when you play them there is not a weakness anywhere. I think we've got a good football team as well.

So I think it's going to be a great match-up for a National Championship Game.

Q. Clearly they've done pretty well defensively in the playoffs, and I think your team had 18 rushing touchdowns, six each in the last six games. Talk about that and where that came from and facing that defense and what they've done so well over there at North Dakota State?
COACH GRASS: Well, I think they've lost a lot of guys defensively from the year before. So they were a little young when you look at them early in the year. They had another loss early in the season. So I think their defense has kind of seasoned as the year went on. Those guys are playing like veterans now.

Of course, you've got to give their program credit. When the playoffs get here, they know how to win games. They know the end all. They know where they've got to get to. So you see their guys up their level of play when the playoffs get there. When you watch their tape and the only thing you notice about the whole football team is they play extremely hard. They have great effort.

That is the first thing as a coach. You look at it and you can judge a team by they have great effort. That is the reason they have a great program. So I think defensively they have played really well in the playoffs and they've shut some folks down. We're playing really well, I think, in all three phases as they are. I think it will be a great game. But we have been running the football well. I think both of us want to do that is be able to run the football and establish a run game. So it's going to be a game that's going to be won in the trenches out there. Both of our teams have really good offense and defense. The lines do a tremendous job there I think of coaching those guys. We have great players. Both teams do. So I think you're going to see a war in the trenches on Saturday.

Q. Coach Klieman of North Dakota State left open the possibility that Carson might play for them. How does that affect your preparation? Are you preparing for both guys and talk about the difference between the two?
COACH GRASS: Well, I mean, definitely he is an NFL caliber quarterback. He'll go in the top 5 probably quarterbacks drafted in the draft. So it's definitely a factor. They're a different football team with him now. The other guys won eight games, so he can get the job done for sure. They're not a lot different either one of them. When you break the tapes down from last year and you look at this year with either one of them, they're not a whole lot different.

But definitely he throws the football much better. He's got the NFL arm. So we're preparing like he's playing and like I said, they don't skew your break downs a whole lot with either one of them in the game. But I would definitely think that he's playing in this game. He's had enough time to recover and play. And it's his last football game with his guys, so why wouldn't he play? We're definitely preparing as though he's playing.

But it's not a deal if he doesn't play that you don't prepare. He's really good. He's won eight ballgames already, so they're a solid football team. It doesn't matter who is under center. They've got guys who can get the job done.

Q. Looking back at that game against Auburn, what did that do in terms of showing you guys that you could play at a high level and maybe carry that momentum through the season?
COACH GRASS: Well, I think you definitely prepare like you're playing a faceless opponent. It doesn't matter the stage. And I think it kind of put an nail in the coffin of our guys that it doesn't matter who we're playing. It matters how we're playing. We played extremely well that day at a high level. I don't think any stage intimidates our guys or who we're playing intimidates our guys. They really don't look at that. It's all about us and how we play.

Really, when it boils down to it in the coaching world we all know that it really doesn't matter. It's how you play because it's the only thing you're actually in control of. You're not in control of who you're playing and how they play. You can only control your effort and how you play. So our guys have just bought in on that, and it put a nail on that coffin confirming that. Ultimately our guys went down and played that just like any other game. It was just comfortable in that game from the kickoff, first kickoff to the last one.

Unfortunately, didn't make enough plays in that game to win the game. I thought we were the better team. We had played well enough to win that game. The disappointing thing in that game was we didn't finish it off and get the win.

Q. Good afternoon, Coach. I want to focus on your D-line and how they factored into your success?
COACH GRASS: We start there on both sides of the football. We want to be good up front O-linewise, and we want to be good D-linewise. Those guys definitely, I think it starts up front with any great defense or any good defense. You've got good players up front D-linewise and you've got guys that have high motors. North Dakota State, they've got the same thing. They've got guys over there that are very talented. The defense is only as good as your D-line can be.

We started there up front recruiting and how we play the game. But our defense is built around our D-line. They have factored tremendously in our success defensively because you've got to know where those guys are. Were they able to get pressure on folks with those D-line guys and were we able to stop the run with those guys. It's definitely starts up front with us.

Q. Can you briefly discuss how the SEC transfers got to your school?
COACH GRASS: Well, I've got Allan Carson. He played for me in high school. That was a relationship thing. He transferred to Tennessee. We've got a lot of guys that just weren't playing enough where they were and chose. We've got a good location for picking guys up that are from around here, close to home, and able to get those guys.

But if anything, it's just recruiting, it's relationships, it's having good relationships with other college coaches and high school coaches. I think guys want to come play in a good program. I think Jacksonville State's a great place to come play the game and get a degree. It's a great school. So I think it's been an advantage for us.

Q. What factor about your team can you point out about your team that gets overlooked?
COACH GRASS: That gets overlooked? I would say what we do off the field, because a lot of people don't know that. We're winning games on the field and we do a lot of great things on the field. But our guys, how we put our community service hours up against any team in the country at any level. Our guys have bought into doing that. They're servants. They get out in the community and go to schools and do reading programs at elementary schools.

I'll give you an example. Over the break, over the Thanksgiving break we do some things in the off-season where we tally points for that type of stuff, just required stuff. We had probably half our team with elementary schools that week, and the last week before people got out for Christmas, visiting element tree schools because they like doing it. But that's the type guys we have.

We do a lot of different things. We went and helped pack meals to go to Honduras. We packed like 200,000 meals to go to Honduras. With Rainbow (Indiscernible) which is an adult handicap facility that we take a group every month to go do that. So we plugged into doing things like that. In the classroom our guys are second to none. I mean, we had a 3.08 last year accumulative GPA.

This semester we may have close to a 3.1. It's not official yet. But you take 121 guys and you have over a 3.0, almost a 3.1 with them is pretty impressive. So these guys are handling their business not just on the field but they handle it in such a class way off the field with the way they represent our university in everything that they do. So me, for myself, that's the most proud factor that I have about our team is that factor. There are good people that are good in the end. I appreciate the way that they do that.

But that would be something that everybody just wouldn't know walking around the street. Everybody says, hey, Jacksonville State's in the National Championship Game. But you wouldn't know what these guys stand for. As the year started, they've been a special group to watch play, and they've held true to that.

Q. Sure, you mentioned some of the similarities when you watch North Dakota State on tape. What stands out as the difference between the personnel of both teams?
COACH GRASS: Well, I'd say they're so equally matched. I think that both teams have good O-line, D-line. So we're good in the trenches. They've got really good team speed, and they're physical in the way they play the game. I think both of us try to play the game the same way. Play fast, play physical, and hang our hat on that. They do such a good job with their guys just blocking and tackling, which is what we want to do and the game's never gotten away from that for us. It's blocking and tackling.

I think you'll see two really fundamental football teams play on Saturday. That's the similarities that I see. There's not a lot of difference when you break the two down. Both teams have got great players, and both teams are very, very well coached.

Q. Obviously you haven't lost to an FCS team and you've only lost in overtime to Auburn. How has your team responded in adverse situations throughout the year? Can you point to one that's your favorite moment?
COACH GRASS: I think there's a couple. I think that we're on the road. We played two easy road games to start the year. We've got to go to Chattanooga who was ranked in the top eight to start the year, and then we've got to go to Auburn. So easy schedule in there, right?

We go to Chattanooga, so we're on the road. We get to -- we were up in the fourth quarter and then we had them return for a touchdown, and it put them up. We had about five minutes left to go in the game. Our guys were just very poised. They had to make a drive to go win the game, and they made a drive to go win the game.

They converted two fourth downs on that drive. It showed a lot of character and poise out of our team to go do that. Then we got a stop to win the game defensively and picked up the first down offensively to seal the deal.

I think where we're at in our program, we got late in the second round last year by Sam Houston, and just hungry to get another shot at it this year. You get in that second round game, then we're off a week and then off Chattanooga. They don't get beat on the road against Mercer during the season, they're probably a top 4 seed in the playoff bracket, and then we've got to play them second round. And it's a team you've already played.

They've been around football for a while. You know that they're so hard to beat somebody in this game and class in the same year. They played really well that day. We didn't play bad. They took us to overtime, and we had a chance at the end of the game that we could have gotten beat. We were down another drive again, so that's two points. And the Auburn game, the way we went out and played, that kind of, like I said, it helped a lot.

But like I said, there are so many factors during the year. The thing that's impressed me about this all year long is we pretty much played the same every week. You can't say that a lot of years where you play a team that you know you're better than. You have a letdown. That's where upsets happen. But we've just not had that game all year.

But I think it points to the leadership, the maturity on this football team that we have and the character of this team.

Q. Coach, Josh has probably been one of the most versatile and dynamic receivers in the country at this level. Can you talk about his development over the course since he's been starting after red-shirting? And why is he such a dynamic player? What do we not see on the field from him? What is he doing off the field to be such a good receiver?
COACH GRASS: Well, he's developed just a tremendous work ethic. He works a lot and he's a talented guy. He's deceptively fast. He's got great hands. His ball skills are just second to none. He's got great hands. He's just got a knack of getting open. He runs routes well and knows how to get open. So that is the skillset that he has, and I think he works on his game a lot.

Him and Eli have been playing together now for three seasons, and you can't replace the experience with those two positions together. So it's been a great ride to watch those two just blossom together and improve together. It was pretty good.

Q. Do you sense sometimes that because of the versatility that the offense has that because you're so explosive, that having him as another weapon makes it so much more difficult for defenses to scheme against you?
COACH GRASS: I think definitely it is. We try to be a balanced offense, and we try to load the box up and put enough in the box to run the ball. That's just kind of our philosophy. I think when you've got two guys on the outside like Barge and Gonzalez, it makes it kind of hard to crowd too much. So that's where we've been very effective. And Eli makes throws, when you've got a guy that can do that, plus the way we can run the football, I think it does make us a little different, a little harder to defend.

But the offense might execute, so it's about us continuing to take care of the football and protect the football. It's one of the things we've been able to do through the playoffs and hopefully we'll continue. We like to possess the ball as well. You give us four yards and we're going to take it. We've been able to be explosive during the playoffs in explosive games. We don't mind taking the football and driving it a 12, 15-play drive.

We take care of the ball well enough and don't have too many drive-killing penalties or sacks and things like that, so those are the things that we've got to continue to be able to do.

Q. First of all, congratulations. Two things, we've heard about a talented receiver certainly, but give us some attributes on Troymaine Pope and Eli Jenkins, coach. And just what makes those two guys tick? They've put up incredible numbers.
COACH GRASS: To start with, they've got everything, and those two guys I think they would tell you a story, and of course we have a lot of selfless guys on our team that are very humble. The first thing those two guys will tell you is they pat those guys on the back up front. I think they would tell you how much they've been on the offensive line and how good the offensive line is, and those guys all have a special bond. I think that's the first thing those two guys would tell you.

But Eli and Pope both have speed. When they get in open field that they can take distance and create explosive plays. Pope has just come into his own. Throughout the year he's been solid. He's played some great games all year long. He's really taken it to another level in the playoffs and he's played extremely well. I think Eli's a guy that can beat you with his legs, he can beat you with his arm, and his decision making. It's been fun to watch him mature into the quarterback he is now.

So both of those guys, up front-wise would tell you where the credit would go first. And like I said he has the skill set to do some special things himself.

Q. I know North Dakota State has returned two kickoffs for touchdowns this season in the playoffs. One punt return for a touchdown. You've utilized some short kicks against Sam Houston State, kind of set the tone and got the ball and momentum in your favor too. How big, you mentioned that this is going to be a war in the trenches. But just speak to how important special teams might play Saturday in this game?
COACH GRASS: I think it will be the difference. When you look at them, they're solid with what they do schematically special teams-wise, and they do a great job of blocking you. They do a great job on the coverage kicks to make tackles. You just don't get much there.

We've got to play at a high level special-teams wise. But talking about our kickoff situation, I think we're just going to onside kick at time and punt the ball out of bounds every time and not let them get a return. That sounds like a pretty good plan to me. You know, you maybe get the onside kicks.

Q. Three straight years of making postseason. What have you learned as a coach, and what has your team learned during that time as a program over the last few years to be able to make that final push to the championship game?
COACH GRASS: Well, I tell you, we lost that second-round game last year. Won in the first year making it to the quarterfinals gave this bunch an idea of, hey, we can win a playoff team. It's never been done at this level at this school. So it was just a mental thing with our guys of, hey, we're not worried about just winning the conference, we actually want to win playoff games and try to win a championship. So we won those first two that first year.

It opened these guys' eyes of, hey, we can really do this. Then you went into the off-season with that drive to get there. Then we had a lot of injuries from last year. We had 23 season-ending injuries. When we got to the end, we were limping a little bit. Sam Houston played really well. We didn't play bad, and we came up a little short in the second round game. Lost that game.

That just left, I think, a burning desire in this group's going into the off-season to get back to where we were and give ourselves that opportunity. That's what they've done thus far, and we're excited about playing in this game and not satisfied just to be here. I think they have an ultimate goal that they want to accomplish. They want to go out and perform well enough to give themselves that chance.

And it's going to be a great game on Saturday because I know North Dakota State knows how to get that done. So it's going to be a war. I think those are the things that we want to progress in our program, and that's kind of rock solid. Our guys know what to expect and they know what you're working for. Going into the off-season to get back to where we are this year.

Q. How much added pressure is there for the team going up against North Dakota State that's been to five or this will be the fifth one? They kind of know the whole system of playing in a championship game, considering you guys haven't had that opportunity yet?
COACH GRASS: We don't look at stuff as pressures. We go out and have fun and play ball. If there's any pressure, it would be on them. They've won four in a row. So to lose a streak, I'd hate to be the team that loses the streak. So this is our first rodeo.

We just look at things as another game. We're trying to Stick to our routine, exactly how we do things even this week, and not making this game bigger than the last game or the first game of the year. So we're a pretty routine bunch and we don't look at things that way. We want to take care of working hard this week and preparing so it allows us to play our best on Saturday to even have a chance to win for sure. They're a great program.

Q. What would a win on Saturday mean to this school, these players and you?
COACH GRASS: It would be huge. I mean, something you can never take away from them once you do it. It's huge to be able to do that. The playoff run has always brought a lot of notoriety to our university as a whole. So we're excited about that.

We're proud of what this season has been able to do for our university. And that's why we play is to be able to representative of our university to the best of our ability and this bunch has done a great job of doing that. We'll give it one more shot. It would be great to win this thing and have your name etched in the record books as National Championship this year. So that would be big for this group. They'd be very deserved and I'm very proud to have the opportunity to go play in the game.

Q. Coach Klieman has talked about this being a game that's a little bit different in that not only have you guys not played each other in recent years, but the level of common opponents as well. Can you talk about the disadvantages and maybe the advantages of playing in a game where the history in common opponents isn't something you can really fall back on?
COACH GRASS: I think three weeks to play somebody, there is nothing neither one of us are hiding from each other. So the way tape is readily available today and the break downs. I mean, we're very familiar with them, and I know they're very familiar with us though we have not played.

It's kind of funny the history of the deal. We won a National Championship in 1992, and in D-II and he come in and talked to the players today this morning before practice, and he just talked about you knew every year you had to go through North Dakota State to win a D-II National Championship.

I talked to guys on the '77 team that I think beat North Dakota State in the quarterfinals back then. So there's been a lot. North Dakota State is an historic program. We've got some pretty good things that we've done before in D-II. So there's old times for me there, anyway.

But I don't think that stuff matters to these players or will fix this game in any way. Like I said, you've got three weeks to get ready for somebody, you're going to be prepared and ready to play. Like I said, there's no surprises, I don't think, on either side of how you're going to play this game and being prepared to play it.

Q. One word that gets thrown around a lot in NDSU is culture. The way that you go to five consecutive National Championships is creating a culture of winning and a culture of a process and something that you do the same every year. How important you in your position at Jacksonville State, how important is it to establish a culture at your own program?
COACH GRASS: There is no doubt. I think we have a great environment at our place, I think that's why we're getting the guys recruited and into our program and this is the type of people we're able to place in our program. It's all about that. You can tell that they're, you know, in an environment, a culture that is really, really great just by watching their football team play and the way they carry themselves. They're the ones that play the game.

Like I said, it's been fun to break them down, and I've been breaking them down three years ago when I went back and watched them. So it's kind of a unique situation. You watch their fans, they're passionate about it. You watch their home games and they say that is the loudest place that you could ever play. You can tell their fans are very passionate about that program and how they play the game.

That's the thing that we'll get to. I think we led the FCS playoff attendance during the playoffs, and our fans are just at an all-time excitement (No microphone) for the game and what we're doing.

Like I said, I think it is a special environment to do it as many times as they've done it. Like I said, they've beaten some very good teams along the way every year. It speaks for itself. They're consistent in what they do. Hopefully we'll be able to continue the success we're having here now, and like I said, and created that similar-type environment.

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