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NOKIA SUGAR BOWL: WEST VIRGINIA v GEORGIA

January 3, 2006

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Q. Coach, in the big picture, what do you think last night's victory does for your program?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: Well, I think it makes the next couple of months feel better (smiling). And then it also probably gives us -- you know, the exposure itself, whether you win or lose is going to help recruiting and to get your name out a little bit. And an exciting game, probably will help us more in next year's recruiting more than this year's because this year is only about a month left. It certainly gives our players hopefully some confidence and our coaches some confidence and gets our fans and our supporters excited about the next couple of years, especially with some of the young guys that played so well for us this year.
Q. What's the biggest thing you want Steve to concentrate on from now until spring practice starts?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: Well, academics first. Steve will work hard, all of our guys do in our development -- see we call it the development season; the strength, conditioning aspect, getting bigger, stronger, all that. Some of the things that helped us in the last 15 practices is learning all of the ins and outs of our offense, where to press a block, when to cut, how to cut and the things that you learn somewhat as a freshman, but you know, the second year, you get more in tune with where we're trying to go with each play.
And that's what we're excited about, and not just Steve, but Pat and some of those other guys. I think they are eager to learn and humble enough to know that they can still get better.
Q. What were your plans, you were going to use Steve going into the game and how did it play out as the game went along?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: We've got a variety of formations but one of the plans coming in this game was to use more of the spread look and then go at a faster tempo early, which is harder to do when you're the main guy like Steve is and you're going to have to take a lot of reps and he has to be in great shape. That's one thing is Steve had some big runs and I don't know how many times he carried the ball, but Steve is in pretty good condition and that was the -- running out of the spread and running at a faster pace will test everybody's level of conditioning and he was able to handle it as did the rest of our offense.
Q. Do you think you finally reached the end of answering questions about how you prepare for Bowl games and whether your team is in the right frame of mind and those kind of things, or do you think that is a perennial thing?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: Well, you just asked one. (Laughing). I hope so. I think way too much is made out of that.
Again, the Bowl preparation for this year was not much different than last year, which was not much different from the year before. So again, I thought our guys were ready to play. I thought they were ready to play the last couple of years. We just played better getting out of the gates. I think that was the biggest difference between this game and the other Bowl games is we played better out of the gates and didn't dig ourselves a hole.
Hopefully you're right, hopefully that party won't have to worry about the more we concentrate on the opponent.
Q. Steve, have you ever thought growing up that you would break a record set by Tony Dorsett and what do you remember about him?
STEVE SLATON: No, not at all. I think it's a big compliment for me and also for my team.
Q. Can you talk about the reaction and what your cell phone has been doing since the victory and what kind of reaction you've gotten since the victory?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: It was neat. I think it was neat for our players. I had five messages, which is maybe not uncommon, but when they are 2:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the morning from various sources, friends and people in the athletic department, supporters, coaches I know throughout the country stayed up to watch the game. It was neat to go in the lobby last night and see our players getting pats on the back. And I want them to enjoy it, I want them to enjoy the experience of playing in a Bowl but it's even better to enjoy a winning experience.
It does mean a lot for our fans. West Virginia, we don't have a pro team and we have a lot of pride in the university and it's athletic programs. If it allows people to stick their chests out for a few minutes or a few days or a few months, then that's great.
Q. What were the last thoughts that went through your mind before you went to sleep last night and how did you feel this morning when you got up early?
STEVE SLATON: Still really didn't get much sleep. It's just a thrill, very excited and just everything that happened this whole week was just a great thing for me.
Q. Could you speak to the youth and the talent you have coming back at the skill positions and what that does for you coming up?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: Well, obviously we thought we had some talented guys this year, you don't know how fast they are going to learn. The exciting part is that their best football is way ahead of them.
One of the things that Steve and Pat and some of those guys have to do is remain hungry. I think a hungry football player you'll get better production from, he'll be a humble guy and he'll be like a sponge when he learns. I think that's the thing that we've got to continue to preach in our program is you've got to remain hungry, whether you're a guy that's established himself some like, this, like Steve or a guy that's still eager to prove himself.
I think once you prove yourself, that you can play at this level like Steve and Pat had, you want to prove that you're going to be the best in the league and if that goes, then to be one of the best in the country. There's always different ways we've got to challenge our players and that will be our focus starting in about a week.
Q. What do you think this victory will do for the Big East?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: You know, I talked a little bit about that last night. We've been getting hammered for a couple of years. I understand where some of it came from initially but it's almost been overboard. I've mentioned that a couple of times that, hey, we're a smaller league, eight teams, but I think that we are a lot better than what people assume.
And maybe in a small way, beating the SEC Champions, basically, in their home state will help diminish some of that Big East demise talk for just a little bit. We've still got a couple of years that we've got to continue to prove ourselves. As I mentioned to some focus folks last night, there's a lot of good football teams in the Big East and we had some very competitive battles with them and we'll continue to have those the next several years.
Q. Were you really supposed to leave at 6:00 this morning?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I was. I've got to get on Herb Hand, our recruiting coordinator. I'd already be on the plane to Florida, and I don't think he knew that we had a press conference at 8:00 if we won, so I had to reschedule. That's a good thing.
Q. Just alluded to it, I think a few weeks ago when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Coach Nelan (ph) said something, wondering whether or not the Big East champion will get a chance to play for a National Championship. One game doesn't make all of that go away as you were saying, but does it help next year as far as the perception?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: I would hope so. I would think if a Big East champion goes through their league undefeated and plays another champion from the league like the SEC, wins the game, certainly I think they are warranted of a National Championship. To go undefeated and beat another champion from a BCS conference, that's not done very often so, certainly I believe and I think most of the coaches in our league believe that you can win a National Championship in the Big East.
Q. This recruiting trip you have coming up, are you going to sell this pretty hard for any guy that's on the bubble?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: I hope. Again, I think some of that is a little bit overrated but I think some of it will help. The name recognition, if the guys stayed up last night to watch us. And most guys and Steve can probably allude to it more than I can is most guys coming out want to go to a program where they have had success, where they have had a chance to play in a BCS Bowl and to be in the national spotlight and that's one thing that I think we can sell.
Q. Is that the latest you've ever been up for a game or played in a game?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: It's the latest the game has ever ended, I guarantee you. And probably the latest I've ever gone to bed because I haven't went yet.
Q. Did you find yourself catching a look at the clock or how long the game was going on?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: I did look. In fact, we had so many time-outs, 4-5, 4-5, that I got bored because we were running some of the same plays. I thought, well, let me see what time this is and it's about 12:30 and we still had a lot of game left.
You've got to have those commercials to pay the bills. It was such a great atmosphere, both crowds were into it, both teams were playing hard. At least it went fast, I don't know if it went fast for you all but it went fast for me because it was a great example of what college football is all about.
Q. What was the biggest thing you carried out of the second half of the South Florida game that you were able to use last night?
STEVE SLATON: Just hitting the hole, not making too many moves, just respecting the team's speed.
Q. Could you tell early on from when you started watching Georgia's defense on tape that you could use your quickness to the advantage you did last night?
STEVE SLATON: Yeah, the line doing a great job, putting body on body, catching them off guard with my speed, it worked out.
Q. It's got to be great to be able to beat Georgia in their backyard, but was it any more meaningful if it had been played in New Orleans?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: It probably would have just been more meaningful from the standpoint that those folks have been through a lot. Obviously I spent a couple of years down there and I know what the Sugar Bowl means to the community. It's going to be great, I think that they will hopefully have it back down there next year and maybe sometime in the future we can go back down. You know, Atlanta did a great job hosting it and the Sugar Bowl people did a great job in a very short time of moving a BCS Bowl to another city and trying to organize it with another Bowl going off at the same time, it's a big task that they pulled it off really well. And I would have said that even if we would have lost, even though I would not have said it without the same enthusiasm. (Laughter).
Q. What plan did you have at the beginning of the season for Steve and maybe how that changed by the East Carolina game?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: Well, we were not sure because we had Jason Colson and Pernell Williams coming back and those guys were veterans in the system. You know, we simply did not know how fast Steve could learn. Watching them on film we know he can run, he's a fast guy and that was one thing we needed. And he learned pretty quickly in August, but in our minds he was not quite ready for a full-time role.
And then in the first three games, we kept saying to ourselves, we've got to give this guy a shot because in practice, he was the one guy that would give us a burst and had the capability of making a big play. The Virginia Tech game was the first team we said, listen, we have to quit talking about it, put him in there and if he makes a mistake he makes a mistake. He's got a certain explosiveness that could really be beneficial. He showed a lot in that game. From that game on, he's continued to get better and better. As I said, I think his best football is still ahead of him.
Q. How do you build on this freshman season, pretty high up right now, how do you build on it the next three years?
STEVE SLATON: I feel it's a miracle season for me and a big statement for me to come out for next year and hopefully the next few years I'll be better and improve.
Q. Do you feel knowing fans and how they react to this team, media as well, there will be expectations now; that now people will expect more?
COACH RODRIGUEZ: Oh, sure. We've dealt with them before. Steve has not because it's his first year, but we have, with the high expectations. Probably it will be higher next year. But that's okay.
The biggest thing is that for our guys to understand, again, staying hungry and knowing what they have got to do to achieve their goals. It's tougher to continue to do that. We still have a lot of things in our program that we can get better at and hopefully we'll address those over the next couple of months or the next year or two.
The biggest thing for us is we've got to continue to recruit fast guys that can play well and that will work hard and do what they need to do on and off the field. As the program continues to grow, there's a lot of things that as I mentioned before, that the Georgias and the Floridas and the USCs and Texases are doing that I would like to do at West Virginia.

End of FastScripts...

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NOKIA SUGAR BOWL: WEST VIRGINIA v GEORGIA

January 3, 2006

Rich Rodriguez

Steve Slaton