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SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL: IOWA VS USCDecember 27, 2019Nate StanleyIhmir Smith-MarsetteA.J. EspenesaSan Diego, California Iowa 49, USC 24 THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Ihmir, was the game plan for you to be that involved at every different level of the game? IHMIR SMITH-MARSETTE: No, not particularly just me. We got a lot of plays set up for a lot of different people. The game plan was to go out there and attack early. Myself was in the game plan because we had plays scripted for everybody, I was just playing my game. Nate did a great job of getting it out there for me, my blockers on kickoff return. I just did my job, played within myself, handled everything how I handled it. Q. Nate, regarding his comments, can you elaborate more on how Ihmir was involved in the game plan, his performance. NATE STANLEY: Yeah, we always have plays dialed up. In a media timeout, really before the game, we decided, one, that the pass he threw was going to be a call that we had up if we got in that situation. It's really just if those situations come up on whether those plays get called. He got into a lot of those situations today. Like Ihmir said, there's a lot of plays scripted for specific people. Depending on the situations that come up, those plays get called. Ihmir got the lucky draw today, had a lot of those plays called for him. Q. A.J., do you think USC respected or at least expected the team speed you guys had on both sides of the ball, given they're Pac-12, you are Big Ten? A.J. ESPENESA: Yeah, I think so. I mean, those guys came out ready to play. They were attacking the line of scrimmage in the middle of the game. As the game went on, you could tell we were starting to wear them out a little bit. Those guys competed hard, played hard, they're a really good team. They're a name brand school, USC Trojans. To be able to come out and play like we did, to win the game, it's a good feeling. I think they respected us so... Q. (No microphone.) A.J. ESPENESA: Foot speed? Q. Yes. A.J. ESPENESA: I think so. I mean, they have film of us going against good receivers. They have film of us going against good players. They know what we're capable of. I have no doubt they knew what they were in for. Q. Nate, I believe your the second Iowa quarterback to be 3-0 in bowl games. What does that mean for you? NATE STANLEY: Extremely special, to be up there with Stanzi. Just goes to show the work that this team has put in. 3-0 in those bowl games wouldn't happen without my teammates, especially the defense. Last year against Mississippi State, our defense played great. They played great today. All three of those bowl games were truly team wins. I can't thank my teammates enough for allowing me to be in that position. Q. Ihmir, the jet sweep seemed to really work tonight. Is this something you saw on film in the early stages of planning? Is this something you wanted to attack? IHMIR SMITH-MARSETTE: Most definitely. We watched film a lot. Depending on the coverages we did, what we get on defense, how they play things, being able to use misdirection with the reverse move, then the sweep, being able to motion back and forth, get them unbalanced out of their positions, definitely huge for us in preparation. Just going out there and executing at a high level with the tight ends blocking, incredible blocks out there, being able to shut that corner out, Nate following up after that. It's definitely something big, something we saw on film early, thought we could take control over. NATE STANLEY: A lot of teams had success. BYU, Utah in particular. That's something that the coach does a great job of. Like Ihmir said, we put in a lot of time and we see that they had some problems defending those. We were able to exploit those weaknesses as well. Q. Nate, 10-win season, bowl win. How do you assess what your team was able to do? NATE STANLEY: Yeah, just a true team win today. Our defense played great, our offense played great, our special teams obviously with the kick return. Our kick coverage did a great job. It's just awesome to end the season with a win. Momentum into the off-season is huge. Our goal of a Big Ten championship was taken. We didn't play well enough in a couple games to put ourselves in that position. When we knew that goal was off the table, we set our sights on a new goal. Everybody bought in. Everybody was bought in from January. Every single person bought into what we wanted to do. Every single one of those 19 seniors showed a great example of what to do and how to get there. Everybody responded. This team is probably one of the closest teams that I've been on in my four years here. It's just extremely special to reap the harvest really. When you can go out and win with your teammates, especially against USC, in a prime time game in a place like this, it's extremely special. Q. Ihmir, Media Day you predicted not one kick return this year for a touchdown, but two. What does it mean to accomplish that? IHMIR SMITH-MARSETTE: To be able to accomplish that, I could say I'm a man of my word. You can hold me to it. Just being able to go out there, battle with the other 10 guys on that unit throughout the season. All credit to them. They work their ass off to go out there, sacrifice they body for me. Just being able to run behind them is incredible. They set me up perfectly tonight. All I did was follow my blockers. Credit to them. Q. A.J., in the second half they have a minute drive, go down and score. You are probably figuring out what the heck happened. On-side kick, going back out. How big was that that you get the stop there? A.J. ESPENESA: It's no different than any other difficult situation. You don't ask who started the fire, you just put it out. That's our mentality on the field no matter where we're at. Play your hardest. The goal is three-and-out. We want to get the offense back on the field to score points. Q. (No microphone.) A.J. ESPENESA: I guess a little bit. They caught us by surprise. We had no idea an on-side kick was coming. That's exactly what you practice for. What's it called, the change? NATE STANLEY: Sudden change. A.J. ESPENESA: Yeah, sudden change. We just got on to the bench, talking about the last drive. Like you said, bam, we're back on the field. We practice for situations like that. We were prepared for it. Q. (No microphone.) NATE STANLEY: A tradition that Coach Fry had. We felt to honor him we would do that. IHMIR SMITH-MARSETTE: I walked in pretty late. I was outside. Just being able to walk in, the seniors usually bring it up after big wins. I thought we were going to senior fight song, then you hear, Put your right foot in. Like Nate said, it's a tradition. Special being able to have everybody in the locker room contribute to it. It's a special thing. Q. A.J., walk us through the play where you injured Slovis. Are you going for the sack? Any news on the NFL? A.J. ESPENESA: That play, I mean, it was a pass down. I had been doing some stuff earlier in the game, some power moves, some stuff. I was able to get him with the speed rushing, getting him to be able to lean a little bit. He's right handed, I'm on the blindside. He didn't see me coming. I was going for the ball, wanted to get the ball back to the offense. I'm glad they ruled it a fumble, but there was no loss of yardage or anything. It was basically just second down I think was the end thing. But they counted it as a sack. I think he dropped a potential interception there, didn't he? We ended up finishing that series, getting off the field, getting offense back out. Q. Ihmir, if you could think back to the kick return, what yardline did you realize you could take it to the house? IHMIR SMITH-MARSETTE: So I caught it about the two yard line. Set up to go to the left. They had an issue with that all season. I had one guy down at my legs, I did a mini hurdle. After that there was only one blocker. He was getting blocked already. I gave him the inside move. I said it before, I'm not going to let no kicker catch me. Don't let the kicker catch me, the last guy. Just using my speed, got to the end zone. Turned around, thanked all my teammates. Q. Nate, you were standing alone on the sidelines for a little while. Were you gathering your thoughts? You started dishing up the hugs. What was going through your mind? NATE STANLEY: Just kind of taking in the moment. Yeah, I mean, just taking in the moment. He is a pretty good friend of mine. Extremely special for him to make that play. Initially I thought at the end of the game, get down, but saw him taking it to the house, it was pretty special. Taking in the moment, just kind of reflecting on the game, this season a little bit. Q. All three of you, what does this mean to be able to do this for Kirk Ferentz? A.J. ESPENESA: I know it was a big deal. Coach Fry was a mentor for Coach Ferentz. I mean, the legacy he left on the University of Iowa is unmatched by anybody. You think of Iowa, you think of Hayden Fry and Dan Gable and people like that. To be able to have a man like that just touch a program so much in that way, it makes you feel good to be part of a program like this and to be a part of a team coached by Coach Ferentz. IHMIR SMITH-MARSETTE: Yeah, it's definitely special just being able to come out here, execute at a high level, play a name brand team, play the way we did, put the points up the way we did. We were able to separate at a high level, especially we wanted to get this win for him, Coach Fry was a big factor in Coach Ferentz' life. That loss hit him hard. Just being able to come out here and get the win for him, celebrate with him afterwards, shake him, give him a hug, let him know we here for him. NATE STANLEY: Just the legacy that Bump and Coach Fry left, I think it's only right that we honor them, play our best, play our hardest, kind of try to honor them through the way that we play. I think coach wouldn't have had it any other way, for us to be able to come out and honor them by playing this style of football that they kind of set forth for the Iowa Hawkeyes, that's the best way to honor them and their legacy. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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