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ROSE BOWL GAME: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA v MICHIGANJanuary 1, 2007Pete CarrollPASADENA, CALIFORNIA COACH PETE CARROLL: Really proud tonight for our football team and this program. Proud night to send ourselves out this fashion. Guys that have been -- we've heralded as our five time PAC-10 champions, to come back to the Rose Bowl and get a win and feel really good about it against a great Michigan team, was important for us. It was important for us to reconnect with who we are and what our program is all about and play big in a big game and do things right, and because we respect Michigan so much, we take such great pride in this win. It was a tremendous second half. We made -- obviously we totally adjusted what we were doing on offense. Did a fantastic job of calling the first half. We were trying to see if we could run the football. They were really, really good up-front. We decided to go after them throwing the football and Sark and Lane just put together the calls one right after another, and the way we mixed stuff just worked out beautifully. John David played a fantastic game from start to finish. Took advantage of the looks they were giving you. Had some big audibles, made some fantastic throws. Dwayne had an absolute memorable night. Making plays and looking like the great player that he is. Steve Smith on his senior night and having this chance to play big and came through again. And also the offensive line that protected the passing game, allowed us to do what we do. It was really cool. We got off to such a great start on defense. We were able to pressure them and keep them from getting the ball out and get going with their throwing game. The running game was in check throughout and they wound up getting some yards, but I think we really felt the control early in the game that we could do what we wanted to do on defense. We kept cutting the boys loose, and they kept rolling. It was big plays and turnovers and all the kinds of stuff that we're so proud of in the past, and we showed it tonight. Very proud night for us. Thank you. THE MODERATOR: If you have a question please raise your hand and one of the gentlemen in the black jackets will get you the microphone. Q. Pete, that's about as animated I've seen you on the sidelines throughout a whole game. Can you talk a little bit about that today? COACH PETE CARROLL: That's really important. Made a big deal to our team. I wanted everybody to contribute to these guys. Ninety, 100 guys dress in this game. Wanted them to be part of it. They felt it more than they might have otherwise. Like that maybe we had become a little too cool or something on the sidelines. So challenged those guys during the week, and then in the first half, it wasn't good enough. I made big deal about it by halftime. I figured if it's going to happen, I have to make sure and be the cheerleader. Wanted those guys to really feel a part of this game. There was no question that the energy that was generated from the farthest guy down the depth chart to Steve and Dwayne and John David was shared. Collectively we had great spirit about us tonight. We had a blast. We just had a blast. It was a really, really exciting night to see everybody have that much fun on a championship game. THE MODERATOR: Next question, please, raise your hand. Q. Pete, there was a time earlier in the season when the defense was having trouble getting to the quarterback. Tonight you guys were all over Chad. Talk about the progress the defense made into the course of season and from tonight. COACH PETE CARROLL: We just shifted gears from the Oregon State game. We just decided to cut our guys loose, trust in the young guys that we were playing with that had half season under their belt and see if they couldn't create more energy and productivity. They did. I go back to something, I said it before, about Kenny Norton. I asked him in kind of a quiet moment, "We don't feel the attitude enough as we're playing." He said, "Sometimes, you know, you got to give them a call, give them an opportunity to make a play and see if they can, and then when they do, you'll see them respond," which is exactly what's happened. Kenny had some real good sense looking at it from a coach's perspective and a player's perspective. Took the thought directly and did something about it. It's been different. We've played great defense the whole second half of the season. We've never taken a step back yards at any time. I'm really fired up about it. Every one of these guys, Dallas and Oscar are coming back. Q. Pete, this is such a young team. What kind of an emotional and psychological springboard does a performance like this? COACH PETE CARROLL: This is very important. Young team wondering about what it feels like to be a great team and what that sense is. We've had that sense over the years at times, and when you feel that strong about your teammates and what we're doing and the program, you're really hard to beat. We almost captured it. We almost had it in the zone. We didn't quite get it done. We missed our opportunity to take it all the way to the top. But it doesn't matter. It's all over with. We won a Rose Bowl and had a great night and did capture the feeling as we go into the off-season. We talked about that in the locker room just now, that this is the start of that, and so we're grateful for the guys that helped us, the seniors that leave, but really excited about the young guys come back to get this thing going again. Q. Pete, talk about the job that John David did especially in the second half today. COACH PETE CARROLL: Really John was waiting for us to give him the calls. He threw the ball well in the first half. He was 10 for 16 in the first half and threw a couple balls away. We were trying to mix a little balance in there. He looked at the game and it was kind of a dead game offensively on both sides, so we went into the locker room said, "Forget it. We ain't going that way anymore." John David, oh, just executed the calls. He did audible a couple times for beautiful checkoffs and got us a touchdown pass to Dwayne on one. He's really, really a great football player. He's played rock solid all year long, and I think was able to spread the ball to the talented guys that we had and really make a difference in this football game tonight, but he's been doing that all year long. I felt very strongly about his performance. This is just a great showcase opportunity for him leading into next year. THE MODERATOR: Please raise your hand if you have a good question. For those of you coming in, there's plenty of seats over here. COACH PETE CARROLL: Go ahead, Bill. Q. Given I know you won national championships and all this, how does this game rank even with what you had to deal with in the last month as far as the players and losing to UCLA? How would that rank this, how hard was it to coach them to get them going for this game? COACH PETE CARROLL: You guys thought it was hard. Every opportunity that the media could ask these guys questions, all they could ask about was how hard this was and how you going to find the motivation. Is this a letdown and all those terrible things leading into this game that you had to ask. I don't blame you for asking them, you had to do it. The guys kept putting a deaf ear to it. These two teams came out and played like crazy, played like a championship night and went for it. We had a fantastic effort, particularly in the second half as we had the opportunity to finish this game. That only comes from great input during the preparation that they've invested so much in the preparation that they action exploded with their effort and sheer excellence on this night. That couldn't have happened if they were where you thought they should be, if they were down and kicking their lip around and all that stuff. That's not what happened. We kept telling you that that's not what happened. That wasn't the environment that we were working in. Just hard for the people on the outside to understand that. It comes from having a mentality of refocusing. I know our program, and I'm sure Coach Carr has a way, too. Our program knows how to get refocused. We did it. The fact that we had our issue last time we were here, our guys know. That wasn't us. That wasn't what -- that was the game out of the last 65 games that stood out because it was so unusual and so different. We put it there for that reason and left it behind us and charged on started this really -- really this is an opportunity. I don't mind telling you, this was an opportunity to kickstart what's going on for this football team in the future. We captured the night and the this opportunity. I don't blame you guys for asking the questions. It was your issues, not the player's issues. THE MODERATOR: Please raise your hand if you've got a question. Q. Hey, Coach. Were you surprised you were able to contain Hart the way you did. COACH PETE CARROLL: Well, let me say this, we were happy that we did. We're proud that we were able to do that. We have very similar offenses. We had a chance to work really well against our own offense in getting prepared for this guy, and we really thought we could play like that if we played fast and played the game well. Just a couple place, you know, snuck out on us. I thought the guys did an excellent job. Coach Holt did a great job with his preparation. We took an offense. It's a great offense with great players and great schemes and all that stuff and really kept them in check all night. He's a really good football player and had a great season and night we were able to do that. It was a big part of the game. THE MODERATOR: Couple more questions. Please raise your hand. Q. As far as fulfilling victories for you, is this among your most fulfilling -- even though it's not a national championship, is this among your most as a coach? COACH PETE CARROLL: This is a Rose Bowl. It's huge. It's a huge win for our program. The great championship opportunity presented and you captured it. It's a great night for us. I think anytime that we've had these BCS games, they've been enormous and exciting. We had a ball getting prepared. We had fun the whole time doing it and the preparation. We worked really hard, and we got the rewards. This is a great accomplishment. I think knowing that we beat Michigan the way we beat them and knowing how close they played against Ohio State, our guys with feel it. I thought this feeling was much like the Orange Bowl when Carson was our quarterback. I felt that was a similar accomplishment, where we have this knowing about who we are and what we're all about as we get ready for whatever comes up as we start the next year's preparation. We feel very strong about who we are and what we're all about. I think in that regard, we can't do anything about what already happened. We have taken a great step for the future, and I think it's a very powerful statement for our team and the program, winning tonight. Q. Pete, your schedule including today gave you a look at some of the best teams in several conferences across the country, two of losses, of course, in the PAC-10. Is the PAC-10 the best conference in the country? COACH PETE CARROLL: I think when you march up -- from our standpoint we obviously had harder games in our conference than we had out of the conference. We had more difficult match-ups. I thought we had a very strong game in Arkansas, very strong game with Nebraska, and here we go against Michigan, and then we took on Notre Dame and felt as they represented independents or whatever, all of those games were more easily controlled than our PAC-10 games. And so if you look at it from that standpoint, I think our conference is a fantastic conference. I was shocked that we dropped a couple games here in the Bowl season as it started up. I think we're getting some wins now. I think we're so strong. The speed in this conference, the skill position, players that we play week in and week out, are best we see no matter who we go against. And when we play all those schemes that our coaches in this conference put forth, the problems and the challenges as we go against them, it's the best that we see. Just in that sense I think -- I don't know. I can't compare it. I don't play in the other conferences. When you compare those games and the rest of them, it's harder for us inconference than out of conference. Q. Pete, you alluded; to next season a little bit on the field. Is there any question you're going to be here next season? COACH PETE CARROLL: No, there's no question. I have no question. Q. Hundred percent? COACH PETE CARROLL: Where have you been, T J. You've been pretty quiet. This didn't happen the way you thought it was going to happen. Q. (Inaudible). COACH PETE CARROLL: You folded here. Okay. Good. Good. I was thinking about you and Plak (phonetic) Over here. You were wondering -- you guys were wondering. He was, too, don't let him kid you. Q. Are you going to be (inaudible). COACH PETE CARROLL: I hope so if they keep me around. Are we good? THE MODERATOR: Any final questions? Alright. Thanks, Coach. Congratulations. COACH PETE CARROLL: Thanks you, guys. End of FastScripts |
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