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CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: FLORIDA VS VIRGINIA

December 27, 2019

Eli Hanback

Miami Gardens, Florida

ELI HANBACK: It would be great for this program and for the morale of the team.

Q. And the unbroken growth every year, improving in terms of win totals and things like that, do you feel like the unbroken growth is still there even if the team loses this game?
ELI HANBACK: Yeah. I think -- I mean, last year we only won, including bowl games, eight games. We won nine this year, we have nine, that's already a growth compared to last year. That's not what we want. We want to end on a win, obviously, but I would -- no matter what happens, we've had a great season. Nine wins, beat Virginia Tech. But we're not looking at that like that's enough. We came here to play a football game. At the end of the day, thank you to the Orange Bowl for giving us this opportunity to be able to play here, but we're here to play a football game, and that's how we're looking at it.

Q. Looking back at the Clemson game, what needs to change in this game? Is there anything mindset wise or just execution that needs to be better?
ELI HANBACK: Yeah, I think from a defensive standpoint, mindset and execution. This is a big stage against a great opponent, and we played a great opponent at Clemson. We didn't play our best game, and we had to play our best game against one of the best teams, defending national champions. That's something we've focused on, and really just focusing on doing your 1/11th, your one job, your one assignment for whatever position you're playing, and for us to be successful, each guy, all 11 guys have to do their job and not focusing on anything else. We think if we do that, we'll be successful.

Q. Down here we talk about this game. Florida kids talk about this game. In Virginia is the Orange Bowl a big deal? When you guys found out you were coming here, how big of a moment is that? The significance of being in a game like this?
ELI HANBACK: I think it's huge. For any big football fan, college football fan, you know about the Orange Bowl. This is a New Year's Six. There's been National Championships played here. I mean, this is -- when you talk about bowl games, this is as big as it gets really.

So for me personally, and I think for any real football fan, this is a big deal and it's a big deal for us. It's a big deal for me. I know the magnitude of this game, and I know the magnitude of our opponent.

Q. What have you learned from the Clemson game? How much better did you guys get coming out of that?
ELI HANBACK: Yeah, I think it was almost a reality check for us, where we needed to be and how to play an opponent like that, of that caliber. Like I said, that's a very good football team and they won the National Championship last year, they could compete and win another National Championship this year in a couple days. I think it really just almost opened our eyes where we need to be at and how we need to play and how we need to prepare. We did not play our best game against them. Credit to them, they played amazing, obviously, played an amazing game. All best of luck to them in their next endeavors, but we knew we needed to be better. We needed to prepare for. Like I've been saying earlier, just do your 1/11th, that's the way we look at it. Do your one job. Don't worry about anything else, and the pieces will fall as they may.

Q. You're in Florida, playing Florida. This isn't Gainesville but there's a lot of Gator alumni down here. It might be a little bit of a road atmosphere for you guys. How much are you going to embrace that?
ELI HANBACK: Yeah, we've known that. We've been talking about that all week. We're right down the road, Florida's backyard basically. We play a lot of music during the team periods like we can't hear anything, so that's something we're ready for and we've expected. I've said a couple times before, we've played Miami twice at Hard Rock, so we know what that environment can be like and what it's like to play in that stadium. So that's something that we've been preparing for and we're ready for.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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