FEDEX ORANGE BOWL: SOUTHERN CAROLINA v OKLAHOMA

January 2, 2005

Dan Cody

DAN CODY: Yeah, I think there's a lot of truth to this just because they're so balanced on how they can run the ball, make the big play and how they can throw the ball, it's almost like a triple threat, the two good running backs. But the biggest thing is the way we prepare, the way we get ready for teams can't change. The way we've been winning games all year has been in a good style, in a good way. We don't want to change that and look at them any different than anybody else.

DAN CODY: Yeah, the same feelings, and our confidence level, how our guys feel and how we're prepared, but it's a different kind of game. It's a different time of year. We win that Big-12 Championship, it wasn't about redeeming last year, but we all felt like that was a chapter in our lives that we needed to close and get that behind us so we could move on to this.

DAN CODY: I don't think that's the particular case. For us to be able to create blitz opportunities we've got to get them at 3rd and long. We can't be coming out of nowhere with it. We've got to set up our blitz package the way we have all year. They're not used to being at 3rd and long. We've got to get them at 3rd and long. We have to get guys sitting back in the pocket, and it gives us opportunities to do things with the way we blitz and the way we're covered.

DAN CODY: Absolutely. You don't want to let him get in any kind of rhythm. Once they start popping big plays and run the screen and run the draw, and once they get in that kind of rhythm where they're doing different things, that's where you want to get on their heels and we want to take the attack them to them.

DAN CODY: We give them quite a bit of respect. As much as they throw the ball and protect the way they have and given up as few sacks as they have, I think that speaks a lot of words right there. When they're max protecting like that and they have extra guys in the box and that kind of prohibits us from doing a few things, but the key is we have to get those extra guys split out where they can get the ball down the field.

DAN CODY: I don't know if they compare to anybody in the Big 12 in their type of offense, the type of plays they run, but it's hard to tell what the team is all about until you've played them. There's a lot to truth to that. You don't know what they're about until you get on the field with them. There's no way of telling. Obviously the impression I have on film, generally the guys we thought were impressive on film played well in the game, and generally that holds true for these guys or they wouldn't be where they are right now.

DAN CODY: Well, you go against guys like that in practice, but the speed is never the same. He is a big play threat. That's a big part of their offense, what he does, and that's going to be a big key to stopping them is getting on him before he makes a big play. You know, he gets the ball, runs a few yards past the line of scrimmage and turns it into 70-, 80-yard plays. That's what we can't let happen.

DAN CODY: Yeah, their front seven is really good. It's comparable to our front seven. You know, we do a lot of the same things in the way we play. I know Sean Cody personally. I've had a couple of opportunities to hang out with him, and I know the caliber of player he is and the type of player he is, and I know that he's a leader and a guy that those people look up to. That's their style of play is going to be kind of after what he does, and them being in all those type of categories reflects what he's about, being that leader on defense. That's going to be a big challenge for our offense. I think a lot of times both our defenses might get overshadowed by the offenses because of what they do and how high-powered they are, and that shouldn't take any credit away from their D because that speaks a lot of words, especially when they run the ball as much as we do.

DAN CODY: We've seen so many different things from so many different teams this year, trying to stop the dual threat offense, I think our guys feel pretty comfortable and confident being able to handle what they're going to do, just because we've seen so many different types of defenses and so many different teams have tried to take them in so many different ways. Obviously they haven't seen anything, but they should feel prepared and confident in what they're going to do.