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CACTUS BOWL: KANSAS STATE VS UCLADecember 23, 2017Matthew McCranePhoenix, Arizona MATTHEW MCCRANE: ... more effort into it like any other state does, but it's just being from Texas and Texas pride. Texas people are very prideful and proud of their state. Q. One of those things like in the SEC -- MATTHEW MCCRANE: Probably the same type of deal. The tradition and Brownwood, where I'm from, has seven state championships. We just got beat by -- I'm trying to think where it was. There's a couple schools now that have eight state championships -- Brownwood was up there a while, small 3-A school, it's everything it's talked up to be. But the Friday Night Lights is what I would say. If you watch that TV show, you're experiencing Texas high school football. Q. So you're out here in the Cactus Bowl. What's the preparation like? MATTHEW MCCRANE: As a specialist probably a little bit different than the other guys. They watch a lot of film. They put a lot of time into it. They're down there in the hotel lobby or in the meeting rooms while the specialists are out playing golf tomorrow morning. But the facility is phenomenal. Gainey Ranch is really nice. The place we stayed at before, (inaudible) bowl, was nice too, two years ago. But coming into this one, being a lot closer to the activities and kind of the night life, the restaurants, that's kind of what we enjoy. Q. Special teams this year, seems like every guy has some kind of award, is going to a shrine game. How solid has this group been collectively all year? MATTHEW MCCRANE: Shows we put a lot of time into it. I always them the time and effort into it is what makes us successful. Our long snapper just got announced for the East-West Shrine Game. He probably spends more time at snapping a football than I've ever seen. That's why we're so good at it. He's consistent. I don't think he's had a failed snap over the five years he's been here, or four years he's played. And then kickoff return, punt return, we do a great job. Q. Are you guys going to be snapping and kicking together, do you know that, at the Shrine game? MATTHEW MCCRANE: I don't know. I would assume we'd be on the same side. But whoever gets in will be incredibly lucky, because I've watched some snappers around the conference and we have the best, I'll tell you that. Q. Attention to detail, special teams, do you have examples of something like that that sets the tone? MATTHEW MCCRANE: If we don't do it right during practice, we've got to do it again. If our kickoff return team doesn't take it for a touchdown, we come, back do it right the next time. And same thing for our long snapper Drew Scott, that's what I'm familiar with, that's what I watch every day. Sometimes as spectators of the sport you don't often notice the laces when he snaps the ball. If they're a quarter turn off, that throws off our holder. And it's crazy to think about that Drew knows how many rotations are in the football coming backing to the holder. And Mitch Lochbihler, who holds it, he knows the exact angle it needs to be at. And I've just got to trust and know that the ball will be there when I kick it. So they make it easy for me. Q. Takes the pressure off you; you don't have to worry about stuff like that? MATTHEW MCCRANE: For sure. If it's a bad snap, we work on -- Drew can change the ball in his hand to where he'll snap laces back at 6:00 to get me practice. He's that good at what he does. So we work on that, too. We work on bad holds, bad snaps, and I try to counteract that. Q. How does Sean set the tone (inaudible)? MATTHEW MCCRANE: I said it earlier, I think this year he's up for Special Teams Coordinator of the Year. Last year he got the award, or two years ago. Now in bowl prep, he's starting more to focus on these younger guys, which is good, because we've got three or four kickers that will be starting for the job next year. Our punters are all, what, four of us specialists are on scholarship and leaving. There's a lot of scholarships available. I'm excited for the young guys. But they put a lot of effort into it. Q. This is the last game for you, all the special teams guys, you could have -- MATTHEW MCCRANE: It's bittersweet, it is. I'll miss the players and the teammates and the experiences that I've had with them. But there's a lot of things I won't miss, offseason conditioning, things like that. As a kicker it's tough, but -- coach doesn't let up on it for sure. Q. (Inaudible)? MATTHEW MCCRANE: Because Manhattan is so cold; I think it was about 20 degrees, something when we left and probably colder right now than when we get back. So we've been kicking indoors the entire time that we've been in Manhattan. So I think we're used to that. The perception of the baseball field might be a little bit different. I think you see that in the basketball playoff games when they play in those big stadiums, the depth perception of the goal posts or the basketball hoops makes it tough. So we'll see how we adjust to that. Makes field goals look a little bit longer than they probably are. But I'm interested to see how the grass is. The grass at our practice facility is cut pretty short. It's really sandy. I'm looking forward to see what the grass is on the baseball field. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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