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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: OHIO STATE v TEXAS

January 2, 2009

James Laurinaitis

GLENDALE, ARIZONA

Q. You were talking about tweaking the preparation. Did you like the last 20 minutes of practice back in Ohio where you had a pop quiz?
JAMES LAURINAITIS: It made practice a lot more fun. Sometimes you are going out there and going through the motions. When you go out there and go live and knock other guys around, it makes the game more competitive.

Q. To try to put the last two years out of the people's minds back in Ohio, what do you think about that?
JAMES LAURINAITIS: It would be nice to win that big game. We know -- that's the thing. We know we can win these games. It is just the fact that we haven't won for different reasons. Whether it is not being mature enough to handle when things go wrong or a penalty or just lack of preparation. Maybe guys weren't where they should have been.
We are a lot more relaxed this time. Guys are focused in. It will be nice to go out there and see the talent matchup with Texas.

Q. Talk about from a senior's perspective, the ability to go out and maybe set a standard here, what that would mean.
JAMES LAURINAITIS: People will remember how you leave. If you look at the '05 class, they are remembered as a great class. Even though they had an off year, they lost two games their senior year. They won the last one, the BCS and the Bowl game at the Fiesta Bowl and everything.
We will be remembered about how this game comes out. It is just a real fact. The guys.

Q. Talk about the opportunity to go up against McCoy, as a linebacker, what are some of your responsibilities to help the team? Obviously you can't let him get loose and run the football.
JAMES LAURINAITIS: Your first responsibility is to stop the run as a linebacker. They have been successful to run the ball as well. But when it comes to the passing game, when you blitz, you got to be able to blitz under control. You can't run up and let him roll out and make unbelievable passes.
You got to be able to cover extremely skilled guys. Wide receivers, you have to work over the middle of the field. You got to be able to control it.

Q. You guys talk about this being an opportunity to get the program back to being -- not that you are not nationally respected anyways, but for the last couple years, the game against Florida and last year against LSU, is this an opportunity for you guys to gain that respect back?
JAMES LAURINAITIS: I think so. I think it is an opportunity to just show to other people -- we know we have a talent, but show people around the country this team has the talent the last few years but maybe didn't have the maturity, guys sort of lose their heads, personal fouls, penalties. There were a few call-back touchdowns and things start to unfold. Just a maturity thing, keep battling.
I think this team has grown a lot. If you look at the Wisconsin game, it was close. They scored late in the fourth quarter. The team just kind of folded and thought, Here we go again.
They were mentally tough and fought through it. We're really excited about the chance to go out there and chance to show what this team is truly capable of.
There are too many times we have been able to show it to the country, but to show it against a team like Texas is good.

Q. Do you feel like the squad has improved since the USC loss?
JAMES LAURINAITIS: We have played good teams. You saw the way Northwestern battled with Missouri. They were a great team. They battled on the road in cold winter conditions. We went to Illinois and the same thing. We won that game. Any time you play Michigan, no matter what, it will be a battle. So we handled some early adversity in that game.
I think we ended the season right. Obviously with the lay-off we got to be ready to go. You got to weather the storm and keep battling.

End of FastScripts

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