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DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: JAMES MADISON VS NORTH DAKOTA STATE

December 28, 2017

Mike Houston

Frisco, Texas

THE MODERATOR: Coach Houston, if you could give us an opening statement, and talk about the preparation coming back to Frisco, and then we'll take questions.

MIKE HOUSTON: Well, obviously it's an extreme honor to have the opportunity to be back down at Frisco, Texas, again this year and compete for the opportunity to win another National Championship. It's something our program has set as its goal, and we've worked very, very hard from the first day that we got here to do the things that we need to do to build a program that can compete at this level.

The players are very excited returning back from Christmas break on Tuesday, had our first practice yesterday, getting ready to have our second practice today.

Everybody is excited and motivated and looking forward to being back down in Frisco, Texas.

Q. Can you tell us what the Dukes maybe drew out of that game at the Fargodome last year that will help this year?
MIKE HOUSTON: Well, I think probably a couple things. I think number one is certainly a respect for the level of program that North Dakota State is. They've been the top team in FCS for many years, and I think that after that match-up last year I'm sure that all the coaches just like me and all the players come away with a tremendous amount of respect just for the way they play and the level of program that they are.

Probably the second thing we bring out of that is the confidence that our program is at that level as well. So I think those are probably the two biggest things that we took out of that game.

Q. When you played last year against Youngstown State, JMU supporters were about three quarters of the stands it looked like. Do you have any hope that something like that could be replicated with the support that North Dakota State has?
MIKE HOUSTON: I don't know. It's a fight right now for every ticket there is out there. So I think they're going to start selling standing room-only tickets in a couple days, and I'm sure those are going to go pretty quick as well.

I think it's a battle right now who is going to get the tickets. I think no matter what happens there, you're going to see two tremendous fan bases, and you'll see an ocean of green and gold, and you'll see an ocean of purple and gold.

So it's going to be a great setting for a really fantastic match-up.

Q. Just as you and your staff have game planned and prepped, what have you taken away from that game last year, and how much stock do you put into it from what you did against North Dakota State last year? Good, bad, tendencies, plays, I know the personnel has changed, but do you take anything from it?
MIKE HOUSTON: I think we have some familiarity with some of their returning players, just like they do with us. At the end of the day, that's last year. Every year is a new year. Every team is a new team. That's for us and North Dakota State. Certainly we've both overcome a lot of adversity this year, and played very, very well down the stretch to get to this game.

I think it's a situation where we have the two best teams in the country matched up. I think it's one where it's going to be a pretty intense, heated ballgame, I'm sure. There is starting to become a little bit of a rivalry between the two schools.

Q. As you've coached Bryan through a couple of postseasons now, obviously his postseason numbers are pretty silly with the 21 total touchdowns to just four interceptions. What do you see he's done to elevate his play in the playoffs?
MIKE HOUSTON: I think he kind of plays within himself. He doesn't let the stage or the atmosphere or anything like that rattle him. He just stays true to who Bryan Schor is. When he's operating smoothly and efficiently and leading our team, he's pretty impressive.

So I think it's just the ability to handle the moment, handle the stage, and stay true to who he is.

Q. Both Riley Stapleton and Marcus Marshall have been on a tear in the postseason so far. Did you see that coming from the way they practiced or the way they closed out the regular season?
MIKE HOUSTON: I think we had these expectations from the summer coming into fall. We had expected both of them to be playmakers for us on the offensive side of the football. For one reason or another, whether it's injury or getting acclimated to the system or whatever, they didn't make quite the impact early in the year that they have late in the year.

But I think what you're seeing now is two very talented athletes that have confidence in themselves, and their teammates have confidence in that are going out there, they're executing at a very high level and playing within our system.

Q. Injuries have kind of been a theme for both of these teams. What do you see about the way both of you guys have NDSU have been able to step up player after player when guys are going down?
MIKE HOUSTON: I think it probably speaks to two things. Number one, it speaks to the really solid job in recruiting that both coaching staffs have done to build the depth on our rosters to be able to handle the significant injuries that both of us have had. I think that says a lot about the two institutions as well because we are able to recruit enough high-caliber players to be able to withstand that.

I think the second thing, and maybe more importantly, is I think it speaks to the culture within both programs. I think both programs probably have a similar mindset as it's a team-oriented, unified group where everybody understands that the success of the team is the most important thing. Everybody's going to be ready for the day when their number is called. Everybody's important, everybody has value, everybody's a contributor.

When somebody does go down with an injury, it's got to be the next-man-up mentality. But we have confidence in the next-man-up, and they've done the work to prepare themselves to play.

Obviously both of those factors are probably key deals for both football programs.

Q. Follow-up to Bryan Schor. Is he a great athlete, or mentally just a great player, or both? How would you describe him?
MIKE HOUSTON: I think he's a good athlete. I think he is the consummate leader. He is a driven competitor that we have, and I don't care what you're talking about, whether it's in the weight room, on the practice field or in game settings. I think he's a very smart player, he's a very smart student. He's like having a coach on the field.

But I think it is all the intangibles that are what make him special. Yet he has the ability to make plays when the stakes are the highest. He has the ability to make the accurate throws when there's tight coverage or when there's a lot of pressure around him. He has the ability to extend plays and does a pretty good job of ball security.

So I think he's a good player with a lot of great intangibles that make him a complete quarterback.

Q. I asked Coach Klieman this question. You guys have won 98% of your games this year, yet there are no FBS jobs coming at you right now or that we've heard about, plus you signed a ten-year contract. Is there a grass is not necessarily greener thing out there for you?
MIKE HOUSTON: You know, I'm sure Chris went through the same thing. There have been opportunities, and when you look at those opportunities and you look at just everything that is JMU, and it's a pretty special place, and I'm sure North Dakota State is as well, it will take a very special job to ever leave here.

There's a lot more to it than just the football. There is a lot. The community here. There's a lot to the institution, there's a lot to the people that work at the institution, the way they treat you and the way you can go about your daily life here.

So I think there's just a lot of intangibles there that make this a pretty special place that will be tough to ever leave.

Q. Because last year your team went through a 15-game season, and you knew what to expect this year, how have you learned as a program to manage that grind and the injuries throughout a season?
MIKE HOUSTON: Well, I think that's a real key to it is knowing when to push and when to back off, knowing how to manage players and how to manage your roster. It's something I went through a few years ago when I was at Lenoir-Rhyne. We had a 14-game season, and now having a 15-game season back-to-back, certainly I think it's something that we're conscientious of, and we understand that there's going to be certain things that you're not going to do late in the year that you may do early in the season or during preseason.

But I think at the same time, we've built a confidence in the way we approach things and the way we do things that everybody's on the same page and everybody understands. So when we're adamant about it, we're not taking people to the ground today, our players are conscientious of that and we respect that. But at the same time, they can still practice at a fast pace.

So I think that's just learning how to practice in postseason play has been important.

Q. Both conferences, the CAA, Missouri Valley, both conferences the coaches and players like to say they're in the best conference in the FCS.
MIKE HOUSTON: Right.

Q. Is this game decided for this year?
MIKE HOUSTON: Oh, I don't know, it certainly goes a long way. But I think that both conferences probably have a right to declare that. I think there's certainly plenty of evidence that both conferences have to say those things. But certainly the winner of this game, just like last year, will have a little more bragging rights going into the off-season.

Q. You've counted on a number of younger guys this year to be key contributors in certain roles for your team. How have you used your senior leadership or the guys that were in this position last year to counsel these younger guys along the way for what they're going to be going through, through the playoffs and now heading into the National Championship?
MIKE HOUSTON: That's something we've talked about ever since the young guys got here back during the summer. We try to ease them into the roster. We keep them separate for a little while during the summer before we start migrating them in with the older players. I think that they're -- the older players here understand that we need the younger players, and the ones that are ready to play, they accept them almost as peers immediately and really try to be there for them and coach them up and encourage them throughout the season.

Our leadership council I rely on heavily. That group, each week we talk about different factors, and one of the big themes going into the postseason was preparing the younger players for postseason play and what it's like and what kind of focus is needed on a daily basis. It's a "win or go home" stakes. So you've got to be ready to play each week.

I think all those factors that went into having some of these young guys play at such a high level.

Q. If you addressed this earlier, I apologize, but the run game for North Dakota State is key to driving their offense. They're so effective in what they do. When you break them down, you've seen a lot of runs this year. How different or how much stronger in certain areas are they than some of the folks you saw along the way this year?
MIKE HOUSTON: They're a very physical, run-oriented, offensive attack. Certainly they've been extremely successful throwing off of that.

But it's their ability to get downhill and really come at you and attack you at the point of contact is what makes them so good. You watch the way their linemen come off the ball. You watch the way their ball carriers attack the line of scrimmage. It really takes a great effort to slow them down.

That's what they rely on. They rely on you having to go all out to try to slow down their run game. They do such a great job with the play-action pass game that you look up and you've got guys with nobody within 20 yards of them.

It happens every single week. It's been really prevalent throughout the playoffs. So it's going to be something we've got to contend with, and it's going to take a pretty special effort to slow them down.

Q. Lastly, you've had a couple opportunities to get your team away, the bye week, and the bye week heading into the playoffs. They've always returned with an acute focus. Was there any difference in how they returned coming off the Christmas break?
MIKE HOUSTON: I think they're very motivated. We had a very energetic first practices back yesterday. Older players, especially. They understand just how rare it is to get here. We talked about that today in the team meeting. For the red-shirt seniors, what they went through the last five years. They understand this is a special opportunity and you've got to take advantage of that.

So I think there is a lot of motivation, there is a lot of energy, there is a lot of excitement. That will only intensify as we get closer to game day.

Q. Talk about the layoff, having the last few weeks off. Is that one thing you as a coach are afraid of, is a letdown from you've been playing every day, practice into August, playing playoff games all the way up to Christmastime? Are you afraid of that letdown or that rust and all that stuff?
MIKE HOUSTON: No, I think it's probably needed. I would say probably the same thing for North Dakota State. When you go through a 14-game run, we did have the two bye weeks, but that's consistently really having to go after it and attack it.

I think the mental and physical break is really, really positive for our roster. I think it allows you to maybe prepare a little more in depth for your opponent.

So I think that's why you see I thought we had a pretty good practice yesterday. There was a little rust. I think you'll see us have a very short practice today.

Q. Talk about the third quarter in the game against South Dakota State. You guys just hit halftime and you just ran the football, and Marshall ran a great 75-yarder and 80-yarder. Talk about his development. I know his father went there. What does he bring for you guys that you know you have somebody that can hang up the football in the back field?
MIKE HOUSTON: Well, I think Marcus is a gifted athlete, and he's certainly a home run threat anytime he touches the football. I think you're seeing him finally come into the zone understanding how to play in the scheme.

Certainly that was a huge quarter for us there. We had a good lead at halftime. But to come out, we scored right out of the gate. We get the ball back and score immediately again. I think we force a turnover, and scored a third time.

So you saw us turn it from a competitive game with a good lead to a game that was getting away from him pretty quick with his big playability.

So I think it's a big time of the year for him to be hitting his stride. He'll certainly be challenged greatly in the championship game by a very stout North Dakota State defense.

Q. Earlier Coach Klieman compared Easton Stick with Bryan Schor and their style of play, what they do well. I was wondering if you feel the same about that comparison? Does it ever frustrate you that guys like this don't get high-end, All-American honors?
MIKE HOUSTON: Yeah, I don't know what Chris said about the two. But I think both are proven winners. They've both had a tremendous amount of success in their careers. I think they both do a great job of playing within the system. They do what their team needs on a daily basis to win football games.

Sometimes that means they've got to be a little bit unselfish. But I'd say both of them are probably the same. They could careless about the stats. What matters to them is winning. For a guy like Bryan Schor who put up huge numbers again this year, he's lost one ballgame in the last two years, for a guy like that not to be on All-American teams is a little absurd.

I do think that people get a little spoiled and that they don't really appreciate some achievements when someone achieves at an extremely high level on such a regular basis.

I don't agree with that because I sit here and I've watched all the adversity that Bryan has had to lead that offensive unit through. We've got four offensive linemen out, our top running back out. We've played without our top two tight ends for most of the year. It's a situation where he's had just a revolving door as far as a cast out there at wide receiver.

So to have all of that and for him to lead this offense to produce at the high level that they have, to me that speaks even more about his play this year than the record-setting year last year.

He's very deserving of any award he gets postseason. I would Easton Stick, Chris probably feels exactly the same way about him.

Q. Those players you mentioned, do you expect any of them back for the playoff game?
MIKE HOUSTON: We'll have a few back.

Q. Can you be specific, or not?
MIKE HOUSTON: No, there's no chance.

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