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NATIONAL FUNDING HOLIDAY BOWL: MINNESOTA VS WASHINGTON STATEDecember 27, 2016Adekunle AyindeTracy ClaeysMitch LeidnerRodney SmithDamarius TravisSan Diego, California Minnesota - 17, Washington State - 12 Q. Tracy, that defensive performance by your guys, did you expect that they would rise to the challenges? COACH TRACY: The only thing I know is you gotta go off practice and those kids have practiced awfully well. Jay Sawvel and his staff, they did a tremendous job, Adekunle and Damarius, they played their tail ends off and I just -- when you get in those situations and you're missing people, it all goes back to the next person has to step up and you ask them to do things that they're good at doing. I don't care, nobody is going to be successful if you ask them to do things they're not very good at, so I told our defensive staff to get our guys in a position to do things they're good at and they love love the game and they'll play hard for each other so great, great effort on their part. Q. Mitch, what do you think galvanized this team? People will be talking about the boycott and did you guys even want to be here and to see the effort that you guys gave once the game started? MITCH LEIDNER: I don't think it's a matter of nobody wanting to be here. It's just a matter of we wish our brothers would be better with us. Our coaches, you couldn't ask for a better way to go out, I'm proud of these guys, especially our defense, the way these guys played all night. Offensively, we knew they were probably going to score some points and we're going to have to keep answering, and it didn't end up that way at all. These guys played tremendous and this guy to the left of me, it's fun to be a part of. Q. Tracy, not to many teams have kept the Cougs from getting into a rhythm offensively like you guys did. Can you talk about what you guys do to slow them down? COACH TRACY: Like I say, I think we did a good job with forcing them to keep dumping the ball underneath without giving up the play or the top. It still goes back to some people they want to call it, bend don't break, but I think that's how you play that type of offense like that, so we -- if you're going to stop 'em, they've got awfully good players. You've got to tackle well in space, and that credit goes to the kids. We got them to dump the ball off in space and our guys ran and tackled extremely well. Q. Coach, what does it mean to you and to your program to win the Holiday Bowl and to your program and for recruiting? COACH TRACY: It's a great bowl. We were excited to be here. When we got picked and when you play in the upper level bowl games and represent the Big Ten conference, that's what we came out here to do. We played a tough team and every bowl win is a great. We have won two in a row now and before that I think they had not won one in a while. It just shows we're moving in the right direction in my opinion. We know we've got work to do. But we're going to enjoy this through the first of the year before we start working on those types of challenges. For these seniors, for the ones that are seniors, it puts another feather in their cap that the other senior classes haven't been able to do by getting to nine wins and then we got that guy there, No. 1, that we will start with next year and there is not a better player that we want to start going forward next year with. Excited and, you know, it's a simple saying but it's very true, winning solves a lot of problems. Q. Damarius, when you guys were prepping for the game, how much did you put on your shoulders and what was the scheme that Coach Sawvel used and then how did the guys step up today? DAMARIUS TRAVIS: We just know we had to practice really well and every day at practice you could see the passion that everybody was practicing with. In my opinion, like this whole bowl week and the whole time we had the best practices that we had. We had juice, we had people communicating and we did the right thing and it translated over to the game. Look at the results. Q. Damarius, what did you guys do defensively that kept them from getting into a rhythm on the offensive side of the ball? DAMARIUS TRAVIS: Just like Coach Claeys said we made 'em throw the short ball and didn't let them get the deep ball. Q. Damarius, they talked about their offense getting frantic, could you tell that on the field? DAMARIUS TRAVIS: You could tell that because whenever the QB was going through his progressions he didn't see what he wanted and he just threw the ball over someone's head and he didn't have the look that he wanted so you could definitely see that. Q. Did it feel like Washington State came out and underestimated your play in the backfield and your defense as a whole? DAMARIUS TRAVIS: For sure, play anybody they underestimate us, don't matter if it's Washington State or not, we've always been the underdogs. Q. Mitch, the numbers weren't gaudy, but the key to winning, was it avoiding turnovers, the usual, keeping the ball out of their hands? MITCH LEIDNER: Exactly, try and win the turnover margin, manage the game, give the ball to these stud running backs and let the O line do their thing up front, and at times we were able to open some things down field and hit deeper passes. Q. When Adekunle had that interception, goes for a pick six, it goes back, how excited were you guys for him to get that play, but then the offense putting it across the goal line at that point? RODNEY SMITH: I was excited. It's unfortunate that he has loose ankles and stepped out-of-bounds! (Laughter.) But the offense in that situation in the red zone, we practice that all the time. And Shannon started the drive. I thought he was going to score, but once he told me he was tired I was like, you know I'm going to score, right? I give credit to the offensive line. They did a great job. Matt Leidner hadn't played all year and he stepped in in a big-time situation and he performed. I'm happy, happy for the team, it meant a lot to get this ninth win. Q. Mitch, have you thrown many tipped touchdown passes in your career? MITCH LEIDNER: I usually end up on the wrong side of those. Q. When you did throw it were you thinking oh no? MITCH LEIDNER: I thought it would go out the back of the end zone. We were getting heated and I thought I would let it rip and let it be Shannon's ball or nobody's ball, but that guy played a good play and tipped it into Shannon's hands for me. Q. Mitch, 8-5 in the Big Ten, the Bowl win, how do you size up this season? MITCH LEIDNER: We're 9-4 aren't we? Q. Yeah, 9-4? MITCH LEIDNER: It's been a long time since this program has had nine wins so to be able to get that with this group of guys and the senior class, and the coaches we have on this team it's been very special, so much chemistry, we're so close as an entire time and I love every single one of these guys and I'm excited. Q. Tracy, Coney got hurt there. Can you tell us anything about the injury. You go to Zo and he makes, like, a saving tackle on the goal line there? COACH TRACY: Like I say, that's the job of a back-up player. I will say this. For Coach Leach and Washington State, it's not an easy offense to prepare for. It was nice to have 10 practices, I will say that, to do what we did. But, yeah, Zo, everybody we put in, you know, it shows you how much they prepared and as the guys talked about how well practice went. They were all in it and coaches kept saying how well meetings were going, so they were all in it and ready to go. It's a great reward for them and the entire state of Minnesota. I know they want to be in the Rose Bowl out here, but to come out to California and get a win in a bowl game that treated us so well and treated our fans so well, it's a great thing for everybody associated with the University of Minnesota. Q. How much do you relish in this victory given what you have gone through in the last couple of weeks and where things are and where they can go in the future? COACH TRACY: We relish 'em all! I don't think you understand, these guys, it's like that tipped pass, I told the guys on the offense after the tipped pass, we ain't apologizing for anything. We've had our fair share of close games, we've lost, we've had our instant replays that went against us, so just take whatever you can. I do believe good things happen to good people who worked hard and in the last two weeks, these guys have worked extremely hard. Q. Tracy, do you expect to sign a contract extension? COACH TRACY: I don't know. I don't like doing that in the media. That's not important. What's important is you walk in the locker room and you see the smiles on the kids' faces, that's what's important, because it's just as bad when you walk in there and we haven't won. I get great joy to sit here and Damarius and those guys sitting here smiling, I will sleep awfully good through the new year. Q. Have you shown that look where you have one down lineman with Steve this year? I know you have done it with two. COACH TRACY: You're going to have to ask Coach Sawvel, if that is one, when you get a team to where they've got to throw it, that we have messed around with, but him and the defensive staff have done a good job. I've been a four-man D-lineman most of my career when I was a defensive coach. We knew we needed to mix in the three-man and two-man defensive line stuff, because of where some of the offense was going. So when I got out of there, I didn't sit in on one meeting last spring when I took over, and I told the defensive coaches to go ahead and experiment. I just wanted to see it on film before I seen it in a game. I told them that. They've done a tremendous job and like I say, they did things that the kids were good at and I think that's what good coaches do. Q. Can you talk about the play calling? The play-action call seemed to work well in this game. COACH TRACY: It all rides on the strength of those backs. You've got Rodney and Shannon back there and even Mitch had a couple of big runs for us. That's the advantage of that type of offense, so when they commit to the run you've got to be able to make plays, especially play-action pass. Drew made a couple of big catches and Mitch put the ball where he needed to put it. That's who we are this year. Every year, every team is different and that's what we were good at, so in the second half that's the same thing, we're going to come out and do what we're good at and kids did a great job. Q. With the bowl win and getting the last word, what would you want somebody to know about the Minnesota program now that you have that platform with a bowl win like this? COACH TRACY: I will just tell you, our kids go to class, our GPA is above a 3.0, our kids graduate and they love playing the game of football. They want to be at the University of Minnesota. They've done a great job representing our football program, the kids did, on this trip. When you are dealing with 17 to 22 years old, there is always something that pops up every now and then and we'll deal with it. We do have good kids that play hard and go to class. As long as we're around, that's how it will always be. One big family. Q. Adekunle, just to confirm, that was your last game? You tweeted that before the game. Is that the end for you? ADEKUNLE AYINDE: I didn't tweet that. I still have another year. Q. I thought so. Can you sum up what this means for this team after all you've been through this year? ADEKUNLE AYINDE: It's a great way to send out our seniors. This whole week we were just preaching to play for those ten that weren't able to come here on this trip. It just shows how close we are as a team and how passionate we are about football. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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