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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: OHIO STATE v TEXAS

January 5, 2009

GLENDALE, ARIZONA

COACH BROWN: First, let me thank Fiesta Bowl, Valley of the Sun, Tostitos for doing such a great job, Frito Lay. This week has been an unbelievable week for us.
I also want to congratulate Jim Tressel and Ohio State on the great football team they've got. We knew with the pride they've got and the tough games that they've had in the BCS the last couple of years they would come in and play hard and play great.
We knew our guys had a tremendous amount of pressure on them and they just didn't quit. It has been the way this team started. It is the way they have worked throughout the year.
Things weren't easy tonight. Ohio State's defense was really good. Terrelle Pryor played an unbelievable game, the best one I have seen him. And I think that's a preview of what we will see in him for the future.
And it was just a great -- a classic really between Texas and Ohio State and the way it should be.

Q. You seem to be the tale of two halves. The first half and second half were very different. Were there some adjustments made at halftime?
COACH BROWN: They blitzed about 49 percent of the time anyway, but we were using a lot of empty set. We had a drive right before the end that didn't end up well. But we thought we turned it going into halftime and Terrelle Pryor made two or three plays with his feet on third and long. Robiskie made the great play on third and long. We had a penalty on third and 9.
So give Ohio State credit; they made the third downs in the second half. Colt and the offense settled down and started handling the blitz much better and we mixed the run in better the second half and made some plays.
I thought Greg Davis and the offensive staff did a great job with the up-tempo and got them on their heels a couple of times. We had opportunities to get more time for Colt.

Q. What is it about Colt that allows him to get beat up for three quarters and kind of even struggle in there at the start of the fourth quarter, and yet when the game is on the line he really came through?
COACH BROWN: He has been raised right. He has been raised by a coach. His dad, Brad, he has tremendous faith. He is very strong. He is strong-willed and he is a guy that's very confident and he never thinks he is going to lose and very few times in his life has he lost.
It is really funny that his career kind of started with Ohio State. In Austin we had three tremendous games with them now. He has another year to break punt records. There is very few left that he can break. But I thought tonight under a tremendous amount of pressure, he played as well as any quarterback can possibly play, especially the last drive. I mean, to me that's a Heisman-type drive.

Q. Coach, it looked like Terrelle, the Vince clone, might do you in. Just address that feeling that you had watching that, and also it may not have been for the crystal ball, but did it have a similar feeling as when you left the Rose Bowl?
COACH BROWN: First, Terrelle did -- we weren't tackling him well. We lost some contain in the first half. We thought we corrected that at halftime and then he would run up inside. We took an inside angle on him some and we tackled him sometimes in the second half, but he threw the ball better tonight. There is no doubt at some point he has a chance to lead them to a national championship which I said during the week.
He will be a guy that's in a Heisman race and it may be sooner than we think because he is a leader. He played with poise today. You saw him against Penn State where he had the fumble in short yardage. He didn't do that tonight. He took them down to win the game, and Colt just came back. We had a little bit too much time left on the clock.
As far as the feeling -- what you want to do, you want to compete and you want to win. This team has done that. It doesn't get any better than to come from behind and win. We were behind all night and that's the hardest thing to do in sports. That's why I am so proud of these guys.

Q. Talk about what a special ending this was for the seniors, especially for Quan to make the final touchdown and for Brian to get the final sack.
COACH BROWN: It has been special because those guys are special. They have played well for the four and five years they have been here. B-Orak played in the in the championship game. To play in three BCS games, to be around for five years and play Michigan, USC and Ohio State is about as good as it gets when you are at the University of Texas.
Quan hasn't dropped a pass in four years, and that's just amazing to see what he did time and time again. He nearly made a tremendous catch right before that.
The other thing that Quan does not get credit for is the way he runs. He is so strong in his legs that he pulled through the arms of the defensive back at the end of the game, but he did it through the game. And some of the shorter passes he caught, he makes a fabulous catch when Colt gets hit on the third down conversion that led to the first field goal. Quan is a super player and he and Brian both had unbelievable answers at Texas.
BRIAN ORAKPO: It was a dream come true. When you are a kid, you dream of making big plays towards the fourth quarter. That's what you lean on. Quan made a great catch. Colt made a great throw. They put us in the position to win the game. We had to finish the deal.
Me, Roy and the rest of the gang had some adversity. We had to hang in there, make some huge plays, and my hat is off to the team. I love this team. We worked so hard and so many doubts coming into the season. Man, it is a story you can write in a book about this 2008 University of Texas team.
QUAN COSBY: Oh, man, of course giving glory to God, because there is not too many people that can experience a night like this. We are very fortunate to do so. Again, our defense kept us in it all night long. We were struggling at first. Give credit to Ohio State's defense who were very good also, probably the best we played this year, and then of course Colt making a great throw.
We had talked about it a little bit the first half. When they bring everyone, let's go ahead and do it, and it happened of course him believing in me and then of course our defense kept us in it all night and finished it.
That's just the way it's been. Man, this team, we work together. We love each other. I think last year's Bowl game started it and we just have been rolling ever since.

Q. Colt, can you talk about Quan and the impact he had on the offense and the last play, what you saw out there?
COLT MCCOY: It is unbelievable what Quan does. He just leaned over and told me he had 14 catches tonight which is unbelievable. He is the MVP in my mind. I know he is a go-to guy. On that last play when they brought everybody, he kind of said over and over, If I catch the same look, give me a slant, give me a slant behind the linebacker. If he comes, you just make that miss, we will score. We had confidence in each other. We have done that all year long. I gave him a good ball and he made the play.
Give credit to the offensive line too. They played tremendous all night.
QUAN COSBY: Yeah.
COLT MCCOY: Those guys are big, strong, physical, the best defense we have faced all year. They were coming after us especially in crunch time when the crowd is so loud. I can't explain the feeling that we have right now because to have the faith and the confidence in each other like we do, that was -- man, that was awesome.

Q. For Colt, can you talk about what was going through your mind going out there on that final drive, I guess there was a 1:20, a 1:56 left?
COLT MCCOY: I can't think of a better place to be at that point. I want to be in the last drive, going down for a championship. I thank God for the opportunity. I thank my teammates, coaches, Coach Davis called some great plays. On the fourth down we felt we were going to get man-to-man and James made a great catch. We got a great spot.
It just all worked out. When you have a guy like Quan and a guy like Shipley, guys you can throw the ball to, and an offensive line that can protect, things will work out for you.
COACH BROWN: I think there was 2:05 left when they kicked off. We had two timeouts left and for our offense that's a lot of time, especially when you are four downs.
COLT MCCOY: We felt pretty confident because we did the same thing the first half. I made a bone-headed mistake. I threw off my back foot and I had the guy open. I shouldn't have done that. Luckily it didn't cost us, but that shows the character of this team. We could have easily hung our hats because we gave everything we could the first half and weren't getting anything going. But that's not us. We are going to fight to the end and we proved that tonight.

Q. Colt, what did you say to Gibson? It seemed like he was mad at you all day long, when he kept getting the penalties against you.
COLT MCCOY: I don't know. He was angry with me for some reason. I don't know. He is a tremendous player. Going into the game, we had to know where he was. We were sliding our protection either way that he was and he was still finding ways to get back there. He is a great player.

Q. For the defense when they were switching out quarterbacks, were you guys ready for that? It said in the media they were going to do that. Were you prepared or did it bother you?
ROY MILLER: Coach Muschamp does a great job with that. All year we have been preparing for those different quarterbacks. Definitely with the mentality that he helped to develop in us, we were just ready. The thing that Coach Muschamp preaches is being diverse. It showed tonight we do everything that Coach Muschamp asks of us; we listen to him, we do great.
COACH BROWN: We felt like that they would try to run the ball. I think we looked up with 7:33 left in the first half and we had three snaps. Roy dominated the line of scrimmage and took over the running game in the second half. I don't think I have seen him play better.

Q. Can you talk about the last first down where you got spun around and managed to reach out?
QUAN COSBY: Coach Davis always has a saying. He says get the first for Texas and the rest for your family and everyone. That's basically what I was trying to do. Colt put the ball there. I was trying to get a first for Texas. They have been great to us and we just try to give a little bit back.

Q. Quan, I know it happened real quick. What was that final play like for you when you know you are behind the defense and you know you are going to score? Was that a tribute to your baseball days with a slide into the end zone?
QUAN COSBY: Like Colt mentioned, we had talked a little bit earlier. We knew they would bring a lot. So I told them, he told me, if they bring them, just get behind them and break a tackle and see what happens.
That dive, honestly, seriously, it was no one is going to stop me from getting in this end zone, and that's what it was. By no means was I trying to be unsportsmanlike or anything. I was just trying to ensure that we got in the end zone.
COACH BROWN: He knew it was man coverage and he was trying to get deep in the end zone.

End of FastScripts

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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: OHIO STATE v TEXAS

January 5, 2009

Mack Brown

Quan Cosby

Colt McCoy

Roy Miller

Brian Orakpo