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ROSE BOWL GAME: OHIO STATE VS WASHINGTON

December 29, 2018

Jimmy Lake

Pasadena, California

Q. Obviously Ohio State comes in, Dwayne Haskins is a huge threat. What have you guys had to work on in the last couple of weeks here to neutralize that?
JIMMY LAKE: No, he's definitely the best quarterback we've faced all year long. Can really do it all. He can make all the throws. You see him coordinate the offense at the line of scrimmage. Strong arm. Athletic, big, hard to tackle. And so it's everything we wanted at the end of the year. If we're doing everything that we expect ourselves to do, we want to play in a big-time bowl game against a big-time opponent we got what we wanted.

Q. With that much time to study, do you look at every snap he's taken this year, Haskins?
JIMMY LAKE: We've had almost a month to prepare. So for sure, we've poured over the tape and we've had a lot of time to study what he does and what the offense likes to do.

But we know they're going to add wrinkles just like we're going to add wrinkles. I'm sure they've watched every ounce of tape they can watch on us. And that's what you do at this point. You prepare our guys as much as we can and see how it goes on the 1st.

Q. When you watch him, do you see the development as a first-year starter throughout the season?
JIMMY LAKE: You know, I didn't -- obviously we don't play those guys. I mean, to me looks like a three-year starter when I'm watching him. If you look at his numbers, the touchdowns he's thrown, the yards he's thrown for, the command of the offense, he does not look like a first-year starter to me at all.

Q. Obviously you guys played some good quarterbacks in the Pac-12. Anyone who compares to him at all that you feel like you guys have faced this year, even in past years?
JIMMY LAKE: In the Pac-12, I don't think so. Just with his size alone. The guy who reminds me that I coached against in the National Football League would be Ben Roethlisberger -- big, tall, strong, hard to tackle, can make all the throws. You see him checking plays at the line of scrimmage has a really good command of the offense.

So that's a guy I would think I would relate him to.

Q. Specific things you have to work with on your guys when you're going into a quarterback that big in terms of tackling, making sure you wrap up?
JIMMY LAKE: I mean, that's everything we teach. That's like our fundamentals of how we tackle. We just know he's going to be obviously a bigger guy that we have to make sure we gang tackle if he does pull some of the zone read stuff and try to run the football against us.

But really we have to stop his arm. That's his strength, is his arm. He's thrown obviously for a ton of yards. I think it's the second ranked pass offense in the country. So his arm is what we've really got to be worried about.

Q. Outside of Dwayne Haskins, who are some of the guys who stand out to you when you're studying Ohio State's offense?
JIMMY LAKE: First and foremost, the offensive line. That offensive line is huge. They're nasty. They're physical. Exactly what you would want on an offensive line. And they blow defensive lines off the ball. They're downhill running team. So I think the offensive line is an obvious strength.

But I do think what doesn't get a lot of publicity, for whatever reason, is their wide receiver corps. And I apologize, no disrespect, I know their jersey numbers because I've been seeing those guys in my sleep, and I know No. 21, No. 14, 83, 9, 1. There's a whole set of wide receivers that are as talented as anybody in the country.

And so I know Haskins gets all the print, but he is throwing to some future NFL wide receivers.

Q. They have six starters at receiver, they roll them in. How difficult is that?
JIMMY LAKE: It's very difficult. They're fresh, they're athletic. They're big, they're fast. The scheme is -- I love the scheme with Coach Ryan Day and obviously the head coach and the rest of their offensive staff does. You have to make sure you donate a lot of people to stop their run game. Two running backs that are similar in stature.

As soon as you do that, you have six, seven wide receivers that can hurt you with a big-time arm, talented quarterback. So this is going to be a tremendous test for our guys.

Q. In terms of their run game, what stands out about the run game for you?
JIMMY LAKE: Their run game starts with their offensive line. They're big, they're physical. They're nasty. You can tell they love to run block. They're coming at you downhill, blowing defensive linemen off the ball.

So I think that's the first thing you see is just how physical these guys are. They've got two running backs that can run up inside. They can bounce it outside. They're sturdy backs. I always like that size of running back, that 5'10", 5'11", low center of gravity, 210, 215 pounds. And they've got two of them, two of them that are electrifying. When one gets tired, they can put the other one on the field the other one get on the sideline and drink some water and get ready for the next rep. Two talented running backs, All-Conference running backs in our conference.

Q. Would you say this is your best offense you've ever faced in your time at Washington, maybe the offense will give you guys the most trouble?
JIMMY LAKE: Oh, boy. Over these last five years here, one of the ones was Southern Miss in the Zaxby's Bowl game in Dallas. The quarterback, he's now playing for the San Francisco 49ers, starter, Mullens. That was an offense that gave us some trouble. They did a nice job. As a quarterback, they can make all the throws again, very smart.

Very similar to this offense where it was a spread offense but they like to run the football, too. I think that was probably the most difficult challenge, just thinking off the top of my head.

Q. Fair to say that this is the best offense you guys will see in these five years?
JIMMY LAKE: I think so. This is for sure. With no -- Penn State was obviously really good last year. I just think from top to bottom, from the offensive line to the wide receiver corps, to the two running backs, to a quarterback who I'm guessing is going to be a top five, top ten pick, at least, this is for sure probably the most talented and the best schematically that we've seen.

Q. How much does it mean to this coaching staff to get this team into the Rose Bowl, considering it's been 18 years?
JIMMY LAKE: No, it's huge. This program we feel we should be here in the Rose Bowl Game, we should always be challenging to try to get into the Rose Bowl Game. For us to be here now, after 18 years. Obviously two years ago, if we were in the final four, we would have been in the Rose Bowl, but you take that final four game before the Rose Bowl.

But it's just awesome to watch this thing, when we took over and Chris Petersen took over, watch the culture change, watch the guys buy in every single year. I feel we've gotten better recruits in the building. Tim Socha, strength and conditioning coach, and their staff have got them bigger and faster.

Our program is looking more attractive to recruits around the country, and we're in this position because a lot of the hard work that Tim Socha and Chris Petersen has done and all these guys, all these young men that have bought in. Now we've got to go take care of some business and try to win one of these games.

Q. You have a pretty formidable (indiscernible) is that in terms of experience?
JIMMY LAKE: Very experienced. We returned everybody except one player, Ezekiel Turner, who's playing for the Arizona Cardinals now. This is probably the most experienced unit that we've had, and they all came back. And proud of those guys, how they executed our defense the whole year.

Q. They drive the defense, where most times (indiscernible)?
JIMMY LAKE: It takes all 11. Takes all 11. I think people say that because we play with a lot of DBs. Probably when you watch us, you see a lot of DBs the football field, because we usually at least play with five, if not six or seven at a time.

But we do obviously have some players that have made a lot of plays. But our D line, we're not going to do anything without Greg Gaines and Jaylen Johnson and Shane Bowman. I can go on and on. And Ben Burr-Kirven, who had a big-time year for us, and Tevis Bartlett, we're not doing anything if they're not up front rushing the passer, stopping the run.

Takes all 11. Really proud of the whole unit for how they played.

Q. Mentioned recruiting two Southern Cal guys, most of you guys -- like core of your roster, fifth-year roster, Southern California kids. How much of a premium do you place on recruiting kids out here? How much does Coach Petersen put a premium on that?
JIMMY LAKE: I'm not sure the exact of the percentage, I think it's almost 77 percent comes from California. It's obviously a huge recruiting hotbed for everybody in the country. After that it would be Texas and Florida.

But with proximity to Seattle, California makes sense. So we're down here all the time. I spend probably the majority of my time down here and Southern California and Northern California. A lot of big-time players.

It's very competitive. We get a lot of people across the country that are trying to come in here and take players out. And obviously you've got some big-time schools just down here trying to keep their players in state. It's a constant battle, but we're definitely lucky we pulled a few out of here.

Q. How have you been able to do that more recently, win some of those big battles?
JIMMY LAKE: Yeah, I think it's all about fit. It's all about fit for sure. I think we kind of show them who we are, what we think we'll be able to do for them, what they're going to be able to do for our program. Our school sells itself academically. Top 10 in the country as a public university.

Seattle sells itself, beautiful city. Beautiful place to live. It's a beautiful campus.

And then I think Chris Petersen has a lot to do with it. His program, his style, the staff that he brings in.

And once we get people up there to see the place, it's kind of hard to turn down. Now, if it's not the right fit, they want to go somewhere else, we get that. But there's a lot of guys that fit what we're trying to do.

Q. Talking about DBs, Cameron and Trent, couple comments on them?
JIMMY LAKE: Obviously we're happy we signed them. They came to meetings also and notebook in hand, ready to go. Yeah, taking notes, which I love. That means they're already getting ahead. And then they went out to practice notebook in hand, were taking notes there.

So that's what we love. We love football players. Guys that love football, breathe football, want to become the best at their position. And I think those three guys -- I think one's going to come today, Cam Williams, up from Bakersfield. So those three guys obviously I'm very happy that we signed.

Q. How good is Dwayne Haskins? What have you gleaned about him watching film for the last month?
JIMMY LAKE: Big-time quarterback. Best quarterback we've faced this year for sure. You can see his command of the offense, how you runs things at the line of scrimmage. The arm talent is easy for anybody to see. You don't have to be a football coach to realize this guy has arm talent. He's got accuracy.

And he's a big guy. He's hard to tackle when they do incorporate him in the run game. So that's another challenge.

Q. Can he be rattled at all?
JIMMY LAKE: Well, we'll hope so. We hope that happens, yeah. We'll see.

Q. I know you've compared him to Roethlisberger, but how important is it for your secondary, because of his elusiveness, ability to keep the play alive, that the secondary doesn't have any lapses when they think plays are over?
JIMMY LAKE: No question. No question. That's a big part of any game, is that second part of the play where the play breaks down, now the quarterback's keeping it alive. And Haskins does a really good job of that. It comes back to those receivers. We've got to make sure we're sticky and we stay on those guys so when he is moving around and trying to throw the ball downfield, we're ready to make a play on the football.

Q. With some of the throws he can make, you don't see many college quarterbacks make, do you have to game plan differently?
JIMMY LAKE: For sure. Every game plan it's going to be different based on who we're playing. And obviously with us playing one of the best quarterbacks we've faced all year long in the last couple of years, we definitely have to tweak some things.

Q. Coach Petersen is talking about tweaking things in practice this month and just looking, examining kind of the prep the last two Decembers. Do you feel that this week, has that paid off, or does that feel different in any way?
JIMMY LAKE: It does feel different. Coach Pete is good about changing things up. He doesn't like to keep things stale. It's not like, oh, we're going to do this because this is what we've done in the past. He does a really good job mixing it up, keeping coaches and players on their toes at all times.

I think it's really good. He keeps it fresh, not knowing what to expect. But at the same time we've still got to go to practice and everybody has to have that mindset we're going to get some stuff done here so we can make sure that carries over into a game.

Q. Two years ago, relatively young team. You were obviously new to the stage. Obviously being in the playoff and now coaching a big-time bowl game, is that a different feel in terms of we know what to expect, we've been here?
JIMMY LAKE: I think so. I really do. A lot of our roster was at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta in that final four game, so almost all our whole our coaching staff. So there is a lot of things we can look back on and kind of rely on those experiences, the good and the bad, and I think that is going to help us in this game and in our preparation.

Q. What were some of the biggest lessons from the last two years? Obviously every game is different, every trip is different, but is that something that can help you?
JIMMY LAKE: I think a big part of it was -- obviously it all comes down to recruiting. We have to make sure we have players at every single position to make sure we're competing at a national level.

So for sure after that game, we always want to get big-time players, but I think every year we feel we've gotten a better player that fits our program every year that we've been here.

And even with this class that we just signed, I'm ecstatic about. I think it's one of our best classes we've ever signed. So I think that was a big part of it, to compete at that national level, is making sure you're getting nationally elite-level type players, and I think we've done that.

Q. (Indiscernible) Eason, Scout Team Player --
JIMMY LAKE: He did. Scout Team Player of the Year. Got voted on by the players.

Q. What's it been like for your defense to face a guy like that day in, day out?
JIMMY LAKE: It's been awesome. It's been competitive. Our two hard work days of the week, our Tuesday, Wednesday-type practices, we let him go. Like he has the scout card, but it's like, Eason, let's go. Try to dice us up, try to beat us. Definitely made us better to have an elite quarterback like that to face week in, week out. And he really took the responsibility of -- he's been around. He's a veteran. So he's like: You know what? I know this is going to make our team better.

And sure enough, he made us better. He's a big-time talent. Great kid. Great command of the scout team. He watched all the tape from week to week, what we were expecting him to do, and he carried out those responsibilities.

Q. I know different athletes, but how much of a good look did he give you facing Haskins on Tuesday?
JIMMY LAKE: I think the arm talent for sure. Big guy, all those similarities are the same. Yeah, so obviously he's not down here with us right now, but he was back with us in Seattle when we were preparing for this game. So every single week it was just the arm talent alone and his command and being able to deliver the ball, where we wanted him to deliver the ball in the scout card, just like we know Haskins will deliver the ball where he's supposed to. That part of it alone is what made him make us work really hard to be better.

Q. Talked about signing (indiscernible) signing and then turning back and getting to prepare for the last game for a lot of your guys when it got -- you have the class with JoJo and Byron, sort of getting you to this high point, but elevating the program, then you get to turn around and sign a bunch of new talent guys. They were talking about what it was like just seeing that new class coming in, knowing what they have in store for them the next four years?
JIMMY LAKE: Oh, yeah, it's every year. Recruiting never stops. It doesn't matter. It's every year. These guys have been in it with us from the beginning. JoJo McIntosh has been here all five years that we've been here. He's seen it all. Seen all the bumps, the highs, the lows, and now to finish in a Rose Bowl Game, first time in 18 years for this program, it's awesome for him to see.

I think every year he's seen the type of players that we're bringing in on both sides of the ball and he sees that we're going in the right direction. We're signing bigger, better, faster guys. And he keeps getting better every single year, and that's what you want to do we want to continue to grow.

Q. How about reflecting on yourself, you how have you seen yourself grow?
JIMMY LAKE: I'll have to reflect more on that once the season comes to a close. Definitely proud of our whole staff and the players, how they've been able to handle some new wrinkles, new calls. Thankfully we do have a very veteran defense where we were able to add a lot of layers to our defense, a lot of checks maybe we would not have done in the past, few more personnel packages we weren't able to do in the past.

But very proud of our staff and our players for carrying out those new goals.

Q. How would you describe your defensive philosophy, as a coach, you personally?
JIMMY LAKE: I think we're really big into situational football, understanding situations, what we're going to get in certain situations, how we're going to play in certain situations during the game.

But first and foremost, we're going to play fast, we're going to play physical. We want to play a violent style of football. We want people to turn on our tape and say, okay, this team plays fast. They tackle really well. They hit properly in the strike zone. We really emphasize that of not leading with the head, make sure we're leading with our shoulder in the strike zone.

And a really smart defense. A defense that knows from situation to the clock, to the down and distance, to where they are on the field, what we're trying to give them to carry out their responsibility but also what the offense is going to do.

Q. Defense is pretty good, the class coming in. Talk about what stands out against some pretty big beefy dudes coming in?
JIMMY LAKE: That's probably what stands out. We have big guys, but they're also extremely athletic. Extremely athletic. And I can't be more excited about those guys. It's going to be able to make us do things at the back end, at linebacker, keep our linebackers clean when we have those type of guys up front just muddying it up.

So extremely excited about those guys. Coach Malloe did a really good job, and the rest of our staff, of pinpointing those guys, reeling them in at the end.

Q. The basketball game that you went to that made you feel like you were going to be his coach, do you remember that night?
JIMMY LAKE: I went to like three or four basketball games.

Q. Talk about what it meant him on the basketball court, what he's meant to the program?
JIMMY LAKE: Byron, oh, man, I can't say enough about Byron Murphy. When I first saw him in practice in spring football practice, it was the best ball skills I've ever seen. The kid was snatching the ball out of the sky, at DB, wide receiver. Then we started recruiting him, we offered him a scholarship.

But then went to a few basketball games. You could see his athleticism. Dunking the ball. Shooting the ball. Playing defense. Getting steals. Definitely a guy that if we didn't sign, I was going to be crying for a couple of days.

But thankfully he's here, and he's played some big-time football for us. And so excited for him to play in a big game like this.

Q. Obviously your defensive backs, your pass defense against Haskins and Ohio State's passing game, how much --
JIMMY LAKE: It's going to be a tremendous challenge and it's going to be awesome for our guys to go against one of the best pass offenses in the country. This is the second ranked pass offense in the country. We already faced the number one pass offense in the country; now we get to face number two.

I tell our guys our goal is to be the best in the country, the best DB crew in the country. And now we get to face the top two. We've already faced one; now we get to face two.

Q. With the guys that you have had come through the secondary this year, the way you guys have played, how do you set that standard of we want to be the best secondary in the country? Have you laid that foundation, and how do you get the next group of guys to buy into that?
JIMMY LAKE: Well, it all started with those younger guys, the older guys now, but the guys in the NFL right now, they really started, they laid that foundation. They started that standard, the Budda Bakers, the Kevin Kings, Sidney Jones, some of those guys that first came through here.

And we put a line on the board one day and said, okay, this is how we're playing. We're either playing at this level or higher. And every single year after that the guys really took ownership of playing at a higher level, studying more than the guys before them.

Our coaching staff has done a really good job of pinpointing some DBs we feel will play at a high level. We look for NFL DBs. That's what we're looking for when we look for high school recruits. And we've been able to find those guys and evaluate them, and they've been some of the best guys in our conference for sure.

Q. Do you find that in recruiting now that people realize that standard has been set at Washington? And when you go out and you're trying to sell a high school DB, they believe Washington is a place where I want to be?
JIMMY LAKE: I do believe that. And a lot of things in recruiting kind of just fluff and a lot of hype. But it's really cool when you can actually like show facts, and the facts are that -- I don't have the facts in front of me, but there are facts that we have a lot of DBs that have been drafted, a lot of DBs playing in the NFL right now, since we've been here, and we have a lot of DBs about to get drafted here in about four months.

So that's real easy to show recruits, show high school coaches, say, hey, if you want to get developed, want to go to the National Football League, want to play in a pro-style defense -- that's another huge point for these guys. We play in a pro-style defense.

A lot of these things that we do, I did in the NFL. It's easy for NFL teams who are looking for NFL players to see a scheme and go, okay, they're asking that corner, that guy to do exactly what we're asking him to do. So it's easy to find that on the tape.

Q. And not necessarily every team or every part of every team can do that, but when you can say we want to play great college football, but also we're going to sell that NFL component of this right now, we want you to be great with us, but we're going to help you get where you want to go eventually, how powerful is that?
JIMMY LAKE: I think it's very powerful. Very powerful. Also we have a big-time degree to offer also. I think the third component is our Built for Life program that Coach Pete does, that we do as the rest of our staff. That's what we show the recruits; that we're able to get you a big-time degree, develop you for the NFL, play in a big-time program, play in some games, and then, most importantly, after life, after football, the Built for Life program that Coach Pete instills in all of us.

Q. I think a lot of us are Ohio State reporters here; that people in Ohio aren't experts on Washington and they're not experts on Chris Petersen, but they know he has a really good record. How does he do it? Why does he do it why is he as good as he is?
JIMMY LAKE: I've been with him seven years -- two at Boise State, five here at Washington -- and if I could just probably sum it up real quick, I would say these are the most unified teams I've ever been on.

To a man, coaching staff, players, it is the tightest group. He makes sure that we all know each other; that we know each other not just from football but as a person. I think we all play harder, coach harder, make sure we carry out our responsibilities because we truly know that he has our best interests at heart.

Q. 2016, the two teams that lost the playoff semifinals were Ohio State and you guys. What does it do for a program when you lose in the semifinals, you're in the final four, only one of four teams that have a shot at the thing. But then maybe you don't play the way you want to play, doesn't go the way you want it to go. Is that a negative for the program, is it a positive? What happened to Washington after that Alabama loss?
JIMMY LAKE: I think it's how you react and how you grow from it. I think it has made us a tougher, more resilient team. Left a bad taste in our mouth, just like it left a bad taste in Ohio State's mouth after their game.

But it almost makes you go back and go, okay, how are we going to get past this to make sure this doesn't happen again. So I think it's all how you grow from it. I think we have grown from it.

We've recruited our tails off to get some big-time players in this program to get us back and close to getting back to the final four, which I think both programs were right on the cusp, a couple of games here or three. So it's really just how you grow from that the tragic loss.

Q. It stunk, though?
JIMMY LAKE: It does. Every loss stinks.

Q. Was it helpful in the sense that, okay, we thought we were there, but maybe we're not quite there, like this is what we have to do to get there?
JIMMY LAKE: I mean, I think you don't go into a game going: We're going to lose this. Don't go that route at all. I think we prepared like in all three phases to try to win the football game. Obviously Alabama had a great football team. They won it that year we weren't there yet to take the next step.

So I think since then we've done a good job of recruiting and changing things up in the weight room, changing our style on both sides of the ball, making tweaks here or there to try to get us back to that stage.

Q. You talked to these guys and they're very excited about the challenge of this Ohio State offense. What goes into shaping a group of guys who really just embrace and have that competitive nature?
JIMMY LAKE: It all comes back to recruiting. You've got to get guys that love it, breathe it, just as much as we do, coaches. And I think that's one of the -- the special things we try to do when we're recruiting is try to go find that player that truly loves football.

I think when you talk to these guys you can probably feel their passion. They watch a lot of film. They want to make sure they practice great so they play great in a game. If we can pinpoint those guys, then we're on the right track.

Q. They said you're the most competitive person they know. Would you agree with that?
JIMMY LAKE: I don't know. I will say this: I am a competitive person. My wife can attest to that. Probably in anything. If I meet her at a restaurant and I have to drive, my youngest son always gets in the car and says: I know you're going to beat Momma home. I might make a lane change to get in front of her to get to the garage first, and I'll talk trash that I made it home first.

I'm definitely very competitive. I don't know about the most competitive, but I'm very competitive.

Q. Early on, or where did you get that?
JIMMY LAKE: Whoo. I don't know. Well, you know what? I have a twin brother. I have a twin brother. We compete at everything. I guess I haven't really thought about that. But I know for sure him and I competed on everything at every level. So probably started back then when we were kids.

Q. Recruiting is competing. How important is this state? You've got over 30-plus guys on your roster from California. How important is it to get in this state?
JIMMY LAKE: It's huge. Recruiting is everything. Doesn't matter how much Xs and Os I know or Coach Hamdan, Coach Pete, it's truly we have to make sure we get some guys that love football, that are big, fast, tough, physical guys. For us to be on this stage obviously is huge. Makes us more of a national brand.

And of course out here on the West, playing this game out here in the West in front of our recruiting hotbed right here, our footprint is huge. And it could be even bigger if we get this thing done and get a W.

Q. I assume you don't know Urban Meyer.
JIMMY LAKE: I do not. I actually met him one time. I was in the NFL, and I was working out Reggie Nelson when he was -- the year he was in Florida. But that was it. That was about the only time our paths crossed.

Q. As somebody who doesn't know him, what has he meant to college football? What's his legacy?
JIMMY LAKE: Obviously a tough question for me being out here and not -- not -- not every single day. From what I can tell, everywhere he's been, he's won. I remember his Utah teams. I remember obviously his Florida teams. I was in the NFL at that time. And he had some prospects coming out -- Alex Smith, Reggie Nelson, like I mentioned from Florida, and a whole other list of guys.

From what I can tell, he's obviously a big-time coach that wins a lot of football games. Has done a really good job on the recruiting trail. They have a lot of NFL players year in, year out. And he also looks like a very competitive person and wants to win every matchup he's in.

Q. What do you feel like your fingerprint is, what do you feel like your identity is in play calling?
JIMMY LAKE: I have to probably revisit that after the year. I'm sure we're always going to tweak certain things here or there. What I love is that we have an amazing coaching staff where we can bounce ideas off of each other.

We have actually three former coordinators that are on staff. Coach Malloe has been a coordinator at Yale and Coach Kwiatkowski and Coach Gregory. I think we have an amazing staff that we all come together and come up with a plan.

Q. Has it been a fun challenge for you taking it on this year?
JIMMY LAKE: It's everything that I've been waiting for since I started coaching. I love schematics and stopping offenses. It's the reason I got into coaching it's a dream come true for me.

Q. I know a lot has been made about the fact that Washington hasn't been here in 18 years and Greg said in the locker room and other places you guys have gotten a chance to show them other Washington games, Rose Bowl games. So they've got a chance to see guys with bigger shoulder pads and the hitting is a little different and that kind of thing. Do you think there's an old-school component to this defense the way you guys -- I know it's nickel and everything else, there's a lot of new components to it, but do you feel there's an old-school feel sometimes to the way the offense or defense runs?
JIMMY LAKE: If old-school is really good tackling, big-time hits, playing sound football, then we're old school. I'll take that. I know Washington played great defense in the early '90s. That was back when I was in high school. I remember Steve Emtman and all those guys, it would be an honor to be related to those guys.

Q. Does it make you chuckle a little bit, though, seeing their reaction, seeing kind of the getups those guys wore and the way the game was played?
JIMMY LAKE: I've haven't really asked them. I think it's cool we've been running those games so they could see them. Just really we're going upstairs in the elevator and Coach Pete has them on a loop going on the TV. It's cool seeing the history of the program, really, for a lot of plays and games that I'm sure our guys don't even know that Washington played in.

Q. What about your perspective on all that, considering you have obviously more information than the players?
JIMMY LAKE: This is a dream come true for this program, for us as coaches. I think it's one of the biggest games we're coaching in. I had a great conversation with Keith Gilbertson, the former head coach here, former assistant here. He's coached in Super Bowls. And he said, Jimmy, this is going to be the best game you've ever coached in. I've coached in Super Bowls and other bowl games. Nothing gets better than the Rose Bowl.

Q. You played against Alabama, went down to Auburn. You've been on the big stage before. Do you sense that's helped these guys a little bit, they're not intimidated, they're more calm than they normally are?
JIMMY LAKE: Yeah, I do. We had a lot of guys at that game. We've been in this atmosphere now. That's still not going to help us win the game. We've got to prepare and go have some great practices, which we've been doing. But for sure, being on that stage already I think has helped our coaching staff and our players ready for this stage.

Q. I was asking Ben if Dwayne Haskins reminded him of anybody he's played over the years. He said the guy that probably came close was your scout team guy, Jacob Eason. How much has Jacob helped this past week?
JIMMY LAKE: Not just this past week. He's helped us this whole season, really stressed our defense out, making all the throws. And I think he really helped all of our freshmen offense, the receivers, tight ends, the "O" line, the way he conducted himself as a scout team player.

He made sure the play was correct. He delivered the ball on time. Obviously the arm talent is very similar to what we're about to face. So he definitely helped us.

Q. How does that change since he's not down here, in terms of your preparation?
JIMMY LAKE: Those other guys we have some other young guys that are good also that are also big, tall, big-arm-strength guys in Colson and Jacob Sirmon, those guys have done a really good job as well.

Eason obviously is just more seasoned in big football games. Probably has more of a presence and able to run the offense a little bit cleaner.

Q. I asked some of the Ohio State guys if there's any team they've played that are similar to what you're doing. They said probably the most is Michigan State. Does that ring true? Have you heard that --
JIMMY LAKE: I am. I'm familiar with a lot of the defenses we're doing. We study obviously how defenses attack our opponent. And so if that's a comparison, that's good. That's a really good defense. Good comparison.

Q. Can you tell me what guys like JoJo and Byron have meant to your program, that transition, you've had other guys that have been part of that, but now they're doing the same thing for you, carrying the torch?
JIMMY LAKE: Can't be prouder of those guys. That's pretty emotional for me to really go back and revisit everything that JoJo's done for us, Jordan Miller has done for us.

A lot of blood, sweat, tears they've laid down for this program. They've seen the ups and the downs. They've left this place better than they found it. And that's what you want to do. You want to leave a legacy and the role those guys definitely have.

Q. You're so immersed in the game plan, getting these guys ready. Can you pause at all and just kind of process and digest what they've done in four years and what they meant to you?
JIMMY LAKE: No, not just yet. I'll probably do it right at the end of this year. Can't say how proud I am of these guys, everything they've done. And now look at us, we're here at the Rose Bowl. First time in 18 years, and it's a lot of the work that these guys have done.

Q. I say Dwayne Haskins Jr., what's the first thing that comes to mind?
JIMMY LAKE: Big-time quarterback, top 10 pick.

Q. What's that mean in your mind?
JIMMY LAKE: Top 10 pick. An NFL team is going to want him starting on Monday.

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