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POINSETTIA BOWL: BYU VS WYOMING

December 20, 2016

Craig Bohl

San Diego, California

COACH BOHL: It's hard to follow Coach Sitake and we're pleased on behalf of the University of Wyoming to play in this ball game. The red coats have been phenomenal, our players and coaches and wives have really soaked in the moment. As Kalani was mentioning it's important to celebrate. The bowl games when they first were started were an opportunity for a team to celebrate a great year and go into community and embrace that community and this has been a special treat for us and for me personally.

About halfway through the year we began to prove the pundits wrong, some of my friends out here in the room, we were picked last in our division, unanimously last, but I felt like we were going to have an opportunity to be a pretty good football team. Then you saw some of the match-ups so when you say BYU, for me as a fairly experienced football coach I always have great respect and admiration for Brigham Young. Coach Sitake talked about LaVell Edwards. He was a guy who I always held great esteem for and I thought Kalani had a great statement there that, to me coming from Coach Osborne and him coming from Coach LaVell it's kind of how these two teams were matched up and it's going to be a great football game.

I didn't mean that as a crack to the fellows out here. We have a football team that overachieved for a lot of people. Certainly coming into the year there were question marks. We had a great returning running back, Brian Hill, didn't have a lot of other offensive production. We had some challenges on defense. We have a small senior class but I want to say, that senior class has really been special and the performances that they have had this year have been super and I think Brian Hill has answered the bell, rushed for over 1700 yards this year against good competition. He really is a competitive player.

He runs with a relentless attitude and that's added a lot and Josh Allen has been not so much a surprise to us, but I think a surprise to a lot of people around the country. Josh is -- I think he's grown a little bit, he's 6-5 plus and does have good mobility, got a strong arm and he's a fearless competitor. Sometimes I would like to bring him back a little bit, sometimes he takes off because he feels like he has an "S" on his chest. You want that in a quarterback. We're pleased with the season and to have an opportunity to cap it off against a great program.

You talk about teams -- this is a great program and for us to have an opportunity to reengage these two institutions on the Gridiron is truly special. Much has been asked about the rivalry. I did not have an opportunity, when the two schools competed -- a lot of our fan base in the state since the proximity of the two institutions is so close there is a lot of crossover and I think that adds another flavor to the program. I believe this, if you go down the different bowl match-ups, this one is going to enjoy national recognition and you have two great programs that are going to strap it on Wednesday night.

Q. You mentioned match-ups. Where are the most critical match-ups in this game between the two teams in your mind?
COACH BOHL: Kind of like Coach Sitake, I'm an old defensive coach. There are tremendous skill players and I'm going to talk about BYU skill players, but this game is a man's game played by men. It starts up front and when I look at their defensive front, really imposing. I would like to return the compliment. I watch technique and defensive linemen and I watch other defensive guys play and they have finished really strong. Their guys are always in the right spot, they establish the line of scrimmage, there are always new players coming in, so a tremendous amount of depth. That's a real challenge right there.

For us to be able to challenge the line of scrimmage and win the line of scrimmage on both sides, I see that as being a real challenge. I see Tanner as a great quarterback and he was able to accomplish so much. It says so much about his character when you are out there under the bright lights and achieving at a high level and then come in and take a supportive role. That tells me a lot about a guy. For him to be leading that offense and he's got a great arm, then the other challenge that I see with BYU, between Williams and Tanner and the receivers, their balanced now. They were balanced before, but that always poses a problem. I'm an old defensive coach and when you're going against an offense like that, you just picture yourself and there's a dam and you've got three holes and two corks and it does make it a challenge. That's why I have no hair, Kalani, a little hair on the sides!

The other thing, too, attitudes do count. We've got an emerging football team. We believe that the future is really bright, but the bedrock of a foundation has been gone for quite some time.

This is the first winning year we've had in quite some time. I think BYU's players, their expectation, Robert, is to win. So how they handle themselves and adversity, that's a sign of a great program. We're striving for national recognition and to return Cowboy football back to national prominence and this game has given us another opportunity.

Q. Coach, you mentioned the senior class before the season without fail they mentioned a bowl game as being a big goal for the end of the season. I know the goal has changed, but tell us how much this means to those seniors.
COACH BOHL: It means a tremendous amount because that's kind of a step that a lot of -- I don't want to say a right of passage, but a lot of players -- what is so special about these guys. I'm an old college football buff. I said this time and time again we put signs up in our indoor practice facilities that those who stay will be champions and that's an old Bo Schembechler saying but it's true. This senior class, those guys who have stayed and bought in and then for them to be able to cap it off and go out as a senior and play in a great bowl game against a great opponent, I think it's going to be something that they will always remember.

I will always be indebted to them, I look forward to one of those class reunions 20 years from now because these guys are going to be special.

They've been a great joy to be around. I will be sad that this would be the last opportunity I have to coach them.

Q. How grateful are you for the fact that the Wyoming fan base is growing each week?
COACH BOHL: Well, it's been exciting to see, because Kalani talked about some of our games. I remember we played Boise a couple of years ago and I had our DFO take a picture because there weren't a lot of people there. Granted it was a cold night but Memorial Stadium has flipped. Our students have become engaged, they have rushed the field, Tim has had to bail me out a couple times.

One thing about Wyoming that I have appreciated. We're a large, geographic state, but your population base is relatively small so something that goes on in Cheyenne, somebody in Cody knows about it and we have one school and those people wear brown and gold with a great deal of pride. A lot of our fans have shown up and they are Cowboy tough. Our state has gone through challenges with the energy industry but we have tough, resilient people and tough times don't last but tough people do. It's been great to see that football team rally our state around that.

Q. Coach, in the Mountain West Championship game, Josh got rattled around quite a bit. What steps do you take to prevent that Wednesday?
COACH BOHL: Therein lies the challenge as I talked about the defensive front that BYU has. They're an imposing team and they're able to rotate a lot of guys and they're fresh. Josh is a resilient player and intense competitor, he got hit way too much, he kept bouncing back. It was good fortune that we weren't playing BYU the next week because you could play him but he was sore.

Certainly we're going to need to establish a line of scrimmage through the running game and that always helps. If you're able to run the football that opens up so many things and takes pressure off our quarterback. That's going to be important.

And Josh has to make sure he's making good decisions, too, you know, like I said, he -- and I appreciate this about him. He threw what would have been a pick six and I have seen a lot of other quarterbacks kind of veer off. He went and hunted the guy down and lit him up and the ball got fumbled and it was a touchback. That's good! The bad part is he came out and he had blood on his lip and his eye was all messed up so I would like him not be tackling very much this game.

Q. Coach, what's it mean to you and your program, specifically for recruiting on the west coast to play in the Poinsettia Bowl?
COACH BOHL: Well, it's been another step within our program. We've been very focused. Recruiting is so important. Coach Sitake will tell you good players make good coaches. We have worked extremely hard during the course of the year, but high school prospects and junior college prospects, they want an opportunity to play in Poinsettia Bowl. That's been a barrier for us. A lot of people say we like the program but are you ever going to go to a bowl game. We've accomplished that and to go to a place like San Diego, this bowl game enjoys a great national reputation. We've gotten into more homes and I can't get into the specifics of who we have verbally committed right now, but that list has grown and a lot of the guys who we targeted as our top recruits on our evaluation, we have been able to have a big, big impact with. So this is a big step for us.

Q. Coach, I will be the first to admit that real men do cry. I just want to say this season, you can see it in your face and your eyes when you are talking about this team you see that emotion take over you.
COACH BOHL: Uh-huh.

Q. Where does that stem from? What has hit that note with you with this team this year?
COACH BOHL: Well, you're right. Football is an emotional game and when you have a passion, both Kalani and I will say we probably haven't gone to work a day in our lives yet. To be around young people and see them mature and get committed all together, you know, it strikes a chord in your heart. I don't apologize for being emotional.

I think it's just part of who I am, and that sends a message to the players that you do love them and you do care. That's an X-factor that -- you can have very, very talented teams and we have talent and BYU has talent but to get to here you've got to have more than talent.

Passion and love for the game and love for one another, I think that's an X-factor that you can't quantify. Thanks for noting that, though.

Q. You mentioned early on that obviously a lot of guys didn't know much about this rivalry since they haven't been a part of it but being around former players in this bowl setting they might pick some up. Since that time do you think they have a feel for what this rivalry used to be?
COACH BOHL: We've been looking at programs that played many years ago and I keep on saying I think BYU probably has a lot of rivals out there. We have a great deal of respect for them. I know our former players, and Randy Welniak is on our staff, talked about the great games that they have had. It was a while ago. To have an opportunity to step on the Gridiron and strap it on, these are fun games! Many times I'll get asked "Coach, are you nervous?" We're really not. These are games that you want to be in that you work really hard to get to and this is why we play the game. Our players recognize that they heard about this from former players, but quite frankly as Coach said, it's a whole generation ago. Our players know a lot about BYU, but I do know this, bunch of old guys who played college football come up to me in the hotel and it's a big deal for them. Thank you very much.

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