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SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL: MICHIGAN STATE VS WASHINGTON STATEDecember 13, 2017Mark DantonioSan Diego, California RICK SCHLOSS: We welcome Mark Dantonio from Michigan State. MARK DANTONIO: Thank you. We're excited to be here at the Holiday Bowl. First time for us here in this bowl game. Came in today. I think they're getting seven to ten inches back home, 17 degrees. Out here on the sunny West Coast is great for us. Not much on opening statements, as well. I'll take questions and we'll go from there. Q. Coach, like Coach Leach, how do you see this matchup playing out? Do you see more of a low-scoring game or high-scoring game? MARK DANTONIO: Two quality opponents, both top 20 type football teams, well-coached football teams. When you look at them, you see a team that understands what they're doing conceptually on both sides of the ball. Beat the two conference champions in the Pac-12. How do I see it playing out? Who knows. I don't know. We sort of had the same types of scenarios. We've outscored some people and had some other games that have been a little bit tight. We've gone back and forth as well. But we're going to find out. Q. When you have a team that's been off for a month preparing for a bowl, does it take a little something to get going once the kickoff starts? MARK DANTONIO: No, our guys will be ready to play. I think we're focused on that. We had a tough year last year. Our thought process was to make it back and change things back to the way they had been. We've always come ready to play. That's the one thing that I think we pride ourselves in, that we will come ready to play. There's preparation with that. There's a mindset. We'll get ourselves going. Q. Is there sometimes disappointment with where you end up when the team is on track for maybe a different bowl, coming here? Is that something that players had to deal with? MARK DANTONIO: I think everybody goes through that. I think that's part of it. That's sort of old news to me. We've been focused on the Holiday Bowl since we've been invited. Our guys are very, very excited to come out here. We've got a lot of guys that have never been to the West Coast. To come out here, see this part of the country, we have a large alumni base in Southern California, out in Arizona, as well. We'll represent that in great fashion. I think our guys are going to be excited. I've heard nothing but outstanding things about the Holiday Bowl throughout my coaching career. I think Mark Hollis was assistant commissioner maybe for the WAC or someone, at some point came to six of these bowl games, had great things to say about it. Q. What does Washington State's offense present that maybe you haven't seen before, or have you seen a similar offense? MARK DANTONIO: I think everybody takes something from somebody, so we've seen components of it. Seen the mesh route. I think they're the pioneers in that area, maybe the people that are the ones that do it the best certainly. Play no-huddle offenses, passing game. They're going to spread you horizontally and vertically. Conceptually they're very well tied together. Very good players, players that play extremely well in space. We're going to have to play well in space on defense. Always how you affect the quarterback usually affects the football game. Very good football team. Very well-coached. He's turned programs around, has done this other times. We played against Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl back in I think it was 2009. We've at least had some experience versus that offense. It goes all the way back to 2002. I had my 2002 notes out the other day from when I was at Ohio State. It's one of the things coaches do. You keep coaching. I think at the end of the day it's about execution, to be honest with you. Q. Coach Leach mentioned his wife went to high school here. Do you have any San Diego ties we should know about? MARK DANTONIO: Not that you should know about (laughter). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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