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MOTEL 6 CACTUS BOWL: BAYLOR VS BOISE STATE

December 4, 2016

Phoenix, Arizona

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon to everyone. On behalf of the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl, we look forward to welcoming Baylor and Boise State to Glendale later this month.

We'll move right into our call. To make best use of our time we'll get started with an opening statement first with Coach Grobe, then open it up for questions. After that, we will move on to Boise State.

Coach, please give us an opening statement to get started.

COACH GROBE: We are very excited to have the opportunity to play in the Cactus Bowl. We know that we're going to be going against a great football team in Boise State, one of the great programs in the country. So our challenge is great, but we're really, really fortunate and excited to have the opportunity.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.

We'll open the floor for questions.

Q. Coach, what has it been like for you this year at Baylor, taking on the responsibility there, having this game be the last one? What are the emotions like?
COACH GROBE: Well, actually I'm really excited that our players have a chance to play in a bowl game this year. I think we've certainly had some challenges this year, but we've got a wonderful group of young men that I've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with.

We've had some adversity, losing our quarterback, losing Seth Russell was certainly tough on our football team. But I've been really excited about Zach Smith, our freshman quarterback. He's got three games under his belt right now and he's improved every week. I'm excited to have the opportunity for a lot of these young football players especially to have the opportunity to play another game.

We certainly know we have a great challenge in Boise State. For us, it's been an exciting season. We've had a lot of good things happen to us. We've had some tough losses. But this is a football team that has a lot of great kids on it. I'm really excited for them.

Q. Coach, have you had a chance to see Boise State play at all this year? Your thoughts on the matchup. You start 6-0, then finish 6-6. What have the last six games been like and why do you feel confident you can get it turned around for this game?
COACH GROBE: It's going to be a tough game for us. I don't think there's anybody doing a better job than Bryan Harsin and his staff and players. You're talking about a 10-2 Boise State team that's just really, really close to being undefeated.

We know they're great traditioned. They're a fantastic football team. That's going to be really tough for us.

We've been getting a little bit better. As I mentioned earlier, one of the problems, we lost Seth Russell, who was our senior leader at quarterback, against Oklahoma. Really I thought had a chance to finish strong.

Plugging in a freshman quarterback in Zach Smith who I absolutely love and think is going to be a really great quarterback here at Baylor, has been a challenge. He had really very little experience. He's got three games under his belt right now. He's improved every week. We've had a few injuries. Hopefully we're going to get some people healthy for the bowl game.

We know we have a great challenge in Boise State. For our football team, it's all about competing, having another chance to go out and play, see if we can't get it right.

Q. With everything that's gone on off the field at Baylor, how much has that affected the team? How have you tried to deal with that as a staff?
COACH GROBE: I think we handled things pretty well through the first part of the season. We got a little bit off focus I think right before Texas, right before TCU. We kind of got our feet back on the ground and started getting it back together a little bit. Then we lost Seth Russell, our quarterback, had to throw Zach Smith into the fire.

It's been tough. I thought we had a couple games where we didn't play our best football. Then with Zach having to take over at quarterback, I thought we played really, really hard, but we just needed some experience for our quarterback. He's gotten that over the last three weeks.

We got to continue to get him to do a better job taking care of the football. But it's been a challenge. We have had a lot of different challenges this year. But we have a lot of wonderful kids playing for us, kids that play really, really hard, that deserve another opportunity, deserve the opportunity to play in a bowl game.

I'm just hopeful we can continue to improve.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, that concludes the caller questions we have available. We appreciate your time today and look forward to having you, your team, your fans join us in Glendale later this year.

COACH GROBE: We're excited to get down there. Thank you all so much.

THE MODERATOR: At this time we welcome Coach Harsin on the line.

Coach, we'd ask that you provide us with an opening statement.

COACH HARSIN: Exciting day for us to figure out where we were going, who we were playing. We're really excited to be playing in this bowl game. To be playing in Arizona again, we have some familiarity with that. Got several players and coaches on our staff that are from that area. We're looking forward to playing a quality team like Baylor, getting a chance to go out there and finish our season off.

Fully expect, from being down there in the other bowl games we've had, an exciting time, a great turnout with the fans, and certainly a very good bowl game.

We were just happy to know where we're going, who we're playing, and in this game right here, we're looking forward to it.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. When you were down at Texas, you were aware of Baylor. Your thoughts on them? Been a strange year for that program.
COACH HARSIN: When I was at Texas, again, a very strong program, seeing Baylor at that time emerge into the program they are now. Those games were big-time battles with a very good to be team that you could see was getting better and better.

They've made big strides over the last couple of seasons in particular. They were able to build a new facility, which I haven't seen but have heard is fantastic.

Texas football, Baylor, the players that they've got there, the type of success they've had, it's exciting for us to be able to play them.

Obviously I know there's been changes and things that have happened at the program and all that. But still, they've got a very good football team, very good players. They've won at a very high level. I know their kids will be extremely competitive and excited to play in this game.

Q. Coach, Brett Rypien, what he's meant to this program, his success over the last couple years.
COACH HARSIN: Brett, when he came in as a true freshman and had to play, I don't think that's ever something that anybody wants. You hope that you have depth at a quarterback position, particularly that you can redshirt a guy. Unfortunately it didn't happen. We had an injury. He was able to come in.

For a young player to handle the things that we asked him to do, he's done a fantastic job. He's developed that into being a better leader, a better player, where he is right now.

He's still a young player, in my opinion, even though he's a sophomore, going to be a junior. He's still young without that redshirt year. Certainly excited about these bowl practices, so he can keep prepping himself, preparing him receive to improve at that position.

But he's been a consistent player for us and one that's getting better. The thing you like about him is he's got that desire to want to continue to compete, want to continue to improve, really push himself to be a better, more complete quarterback.

Q. Have you had a chance to look at Baylor at all yet?
COACH HARSIN: No. We actually had a banquet today and just got the announcement while we were at it.

Had a little bit of a hint. I've looked at Baylor from my time at Texas. Now, that is a different group of players. Some of the coaches during that time were there. We're going to have to start from scratch. We'll completely dive into it tonight as far as breaking them down. We're not going to practice right away 'cause our guys have classes and finals they have to finish up. As we get into the weekend, we'll have a pretty good idea of structure, what they do, who they are, and we've got to start preparing that way.

Q. Curious about the options you have in front of you. I know the Vegas Bowl was talked about against Houston maybe. How do you think it all played out with the matchup here against Baylor, the fact you get to play a Power 5 school which you have done well against?
COACH HARSIN: The Vegas Bowl and this bowl, like everybody else, I never know, it's the same speculation that everybody gets. We had been in the Vegas Bowl. The only reason there was talk about that is because we had been there before a few times.

Either way we weren't quite sure what was going to happen. The Cactus Bowl, in Arizona, we're excited about that. Fiesta Bowl folks put that on. We understand how that will function and operate, which is exciting for us.

To have an opponent like Baylor, that is one thing. You get to play a Power 5 team. Baylor is a very good football team. I don't know that much about them this entire season, but I know about the history of their program. From being in Texas, in that conference, understanding what they've been able to accomplish.

That's exciting for our kids to play in that type of bowl game against that type of opponent. To me, that's exciting. I think the guys tonight when they found out about it, too, were excited.

Q. A tough one. Reports are that you interviewed with Oregon. I wanted to ask if that was correct and if there was any interest on your part?
COACH HARSIN: This is really about the bowl game. That's the main focus right now. We just got this information. We're processing all that. That's really all the focus at this point.

Our coaches are prepared to go out on the road and recruit again. That's really the next step for us. That's really all we're talking about today. I want to make sure that everybody knows how excited we are to go play Baylor.

Q. For you to be able to play a Power 5 team, did that factor in the excitement level?
COACH HARSIN: Well, it's certainly exciting. We've had connections in Texas with our coaching staff. It's not like you don't know what Baylor's accomplished, you don't know what Baylor's done.

We don't know their players like we're about to learn. But, yeah, that's exciting. For our players, too. Baylor has done a tremendous job. They've got a very good football team. We know that conference, as well, because of recruiting in Texas. You understand the Big 12, know what that means. You know that recruiting, the type of battles that you're facing to get those type of players to come to Boise State.

It's exciting for everybody. The one thing, too, what a matchup. I don't think any of our players are sitting there going that we're ever going to have Baylor on our schedule. That's the cool thing about these bowl games, is they match these types of teams up. Now you have a Boise State and a Baylor. How awesome is that?

Kind of the unknown and the opportunities you wouldn't get in the regular season you're going to get in this bowl game, and I think it's going to be fantastic.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, that concludes our questions. Again, we congratulate you and appreciate your time and look forward to having you in Phoenix at Chase Field later in the year.

COACH HARSIN: Awesome. Thank you, guys. We're looking forward to it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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MOTEL 6 CACTUS BOWL: BAYLOR VS BOISE STATE

December 4, 2016

Jim Grobe

Bryan Harsin