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FRANKLIN AMERICAN MORTGAGE MUSIC CITY BOWL: LOUISVILLE VS MISSISSIPPI STATE

December 29, 2019

Bob Shoop

Nashville, Tennessee

RONALD ROBERTS: Coach Shoop, we'll let you make a few comments, then open it up for questions.

BOB SHOOP: Like I say, it looks like some of the usual suspects. Ought to be painless.

First and foremost, a little off topic here because I haven't stopped thinking about it since I heard about it. As a brother of an SEC team, I want to give my heartfelt condolences to Coach Ensminger and his family. I couldn't even imagine what he must be going through. I don't know him personally, but I've obviously competed against him the last two years, LSU, have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a man and as a coach.

I do know Joe Brady very, very well. Congratulations to LSU football and Clemson, as well. I know I probably speak for everybody in the college football world, our thoughts and prayers go out to Coach Ensminger and his family.

Second, it's awesome to be here in Nashville, on a more positive note. I'm now one of the veterans on our staff at Mississippi State. I told Brad, if there's a page in the program or maybe something around the top of the stadium there where it says McNair, Eddie George, guys like that, maybe they ought to put the Bob Shoop name.

I've been to this bowl game now four times with four different programs. I think that's really hard to do. Under some different sponsorship and things like that. 2001, we were here when I was at Boston College, we beat Georgia. 2012, I was a coach for Vanderbilt, beat NC State. 2016, Tennessee Volunteers staff, beat the University of Nebraska.

This bowl is a great one. We love Nashville. It's the most hospitable city in the country. We're very, very excited to be a part of this game tomorrow against a great Louisville team.

That's my little spiel right there.

As far as the game, we're really excited. I mean, it's been a topsy-turvy, crazy kind of season. Obviously we got off to a pretty good start. Coach probably went over some of that stuff. In September we finished out 3-1. We had a rough month of October. We had to go on the road and play three really good teams, Auburn, Tennessee, Texas A&M. Didn't fare well. Had LSU come to our place.

We found ourselves heading into the month of November with a 3-5 record, a program that had gone to nine straight bowl games. We challenged the players, the leadership, we challenged the unit, we challenged our team how will we be defined and remembered is how we perform in the month of November.

We went out in the month of November, 3-1. Went to Arkansas, beat them. Lost to a good Alabama team. We did what we had to do against Abilene Christian, our rivalry game against Ole Miss. We finished the season obviously with enough wins to make bowl eligibility. We finished with a 4-3 record at home. We beat our most bitter of rivals. We're very, very excited to be here.

Our players have practiced really hard. One of the hidden benefits of a bowl game is to have 15 practice opportunities. As a young team, a team that has fought a lot of adversity this year with suspensions, whatnot, to get that whole crew together practicing at one time hasn't happened a lot during the year.

We did a really good job. Coach did a great job segmenting practice in what we term program development practices, almost like training camp or spring football where everybody got reps, you got to work with some of the young players maybe that you hadn't worked with a lot during the year.

Obviously you put your game plan in at home because as you get to the bowl site, there are distractions. It's not your normal routine. We practiced last Thursday, Friday and Saturday at home like a traditional game week. Then when we got here, it's been great. We got here Christmas night. Like Monday of game week. We had a normal Tuesday practice, normal Wednesday practice. Yesterday was like a normal Thursday practice. Today will be a Friday walk-through. Practiced at Vanderbilt's stadium. Today we'll work out in their indoor facility.

Appreciate what the bowl does for us. Great events. I know the welcome dinner at the Wild Horse Saloon the other night was outstanding. I thought our guys did a good job. Need to do a little better in the chicken eating contest. Didn't know they had a ringer. I thought our guys did a good job in the songwriting contest. I know our guys enjoyed the wrestling piece last night. Now it's time to get down to business. We have a game tomorrow at 3:00. That's that.

Q. Bob, looking at the numbers you have done some things with blitzing, pressure on the quarterback the last few weeks. What do you feel like you have done differently with the pass-rush? How much of that is just guys fitting in gaps? What do you see as the difference?
BOB SHOOP: I think our identity all along, each team has its own identity, the 2018 team had a unique identity, this team had one. Next year's team will.

It was hard to develop an identity with this team because when you have 10 players suspended for eight games, three of your most experienced players on defense, you're mixing and matching, putting parts in.

During the course of the year we had so much adversity. We have four contributors who had season-ending ACL injuries. Cam missed numerous games with a variety of injuries, obviously won't be here. I think coach addressed that this weekend.

Just trying to find an identity with this group. We have struggled a little bit with that. We're very young up front. We're inexperienced at some positions in the secondary. I think towards the end of the year, the Arkansas game gave us a little bit of confidence. Although we didn't play very well against Alabama, I thought the last two and a half quarters we stepped up and played a little bit better. We were able to have a really good plan versus Abilene Christian. I thought our guys really played, we don't call it a scheme, we call it our style of play. I thought we played to our style of play for about 59 minutes against Ole Miss. We certainly made it a little more exciting than it had to be at the end.

I thought our guys pressured hard, ran to the ball, and played like I think a Mississippi State defense should play for the majority of that game.

Bowls are funny because it's a month since the last game. Our guys have continued to practice hard, prepare hard. Half the battle in a bowl game is desire to be there. I think our guys have expressed and shown a desire to be here. Really excited about this opportunity to play together one more time.

Q. Bob, how much confidence do you have in the freshmen corners that may start tomorrow? First-time starter in Fred Peters?
BOB SHOOP: You look at our secondary right now, it's not the same group that started the season certainly. Came into the season, you thought you had maybe to replace some players, but some experience. C.J., Morgan is out with an injury. Mo Smitherman is out with an injury. Dantzler and Cole have chosen to pursue the next level. We certainly support them in that. That seems to be something that's happening more and more, not just at Mississippi State, but throughout college football.

Jarrian and Martin aren't freshmen any more. They demonstrated a maturity, they demonstrated a physical ability throughout the course of the year. They've been solid contributors. Between the two of those guys, Tyler Williams, we're very confident at the corner position.

You go back to the Abilene Christian game. Brian Cole played a majority of snaps at the nickel position for us. Fred played a fair amount. Fred is not your normal rookie because he's a junior college guy. Got high football IQ. I'm really excited. Fred was our most valuable defensive players for the Abilene Christian game. Had an interception, a strip sack, a tackle-for-loss. Fred has a maturity to him.

With what Louisville does, we'll have some different packages in there where we might have three linebackers in the game at certain times. Willie will do some of those things, with Erroll and Leo. We have some different packages. Fred won't have to bear the entirety of things right there. We're very confident with all the players that are here.

Q. You mentioned you've been to this bowl game with four different programs, which is unusual, but not atypical of a football coach's career path. How many homes have you owned? At one time, what was the most?
BOB SHOOP: Well, I mean, I have moved around a lot. I'm getting to the age now, I don't know how many homes I've owned. We've lived in a lot of different places. It's been quite a journey.

The way I'll answer that question is I'm very, very fortunate to have an incredible wife, two incredible sons. One son has played at Penn State, was a part of a Rose Bowl team, a Fiesta Bowl team, a team that played in the Gator Bowl, a team that played in last year the Citrus Bowl. My son at the University of Tennessee now, a junior there. Unfortunately they haven't gone to bowl games the last two years. He left last night to go to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.

They've done a great job, seen a lot of different things. When I come back to Nashville, it's funny we have a home in Starkville and a home in Nashville, Nashville is a great city. To be back to this bowl game right now, be in this city, is a real thrill for me and my family.

My wife actually stayed in our townhouse in Green Hills for the majority of the week rather than staying at the hotel with us. She rolled out of the bed, went to the Bluebird, met of the wives over there.

I'm not sure how many homes. I'm getting a little bit older now. Just like I said, I've enjoyed the opportunity that I've had to meet so many different people, hopefully impact the lives of so many young men. Really excited to be a part of this team this year and play one more game tomorrow in Nissan Stadium against Louisville.

RONALD ROBERTS: Thank you, Coach Shoop.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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