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INSIGHT BOWL: MINNESOTA v IOWA STATEDecember 30, 2009Nate FrerePaul RhoadsReggie StephensTEMPE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tony Alba. I'm on staff at the Insight Bowl. On behalf of our chairman of the board, Mr. Alan Young; our team selection chairman, Mr. Steve Whiteman; our President and C.E.O. Mr. John Junker; and most importantly our 3,000 volunteers I would like to welcome you to today's media session with the Iowa State Cyclones. Our format for today is Coach Rhoads will make an opening statement. We'll throw it open for questions. Please wait for a microphone. COACH RHOADS: Thank you very much. We walked in here and Reggie here was behind me and he says, Whoa. I don't think he was expecting this extravagant of a press conference. I'm glad we're doing a walk-through at the stadium today so he can get his "whoas" out of him and see all the paint on the field and be ready to play tomorrow when we play the football game. I'm thrilled to be up here representing Iowa State University and our football program in the 2009 Insight Bowl. We have had a great week of preparation. We have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the hospitality that goes along with the Insight Bowl. Can't thank Insight Enterprises enough or Alan Young and John Junker and every single body involved with the Insight Bowl and the experience. It has certainly been a once-in-a-lifetime week for our players. And that's what the reward of college bowls is all about, and we are very thankful for that. THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the center, Reggie Stephens, and defensive lineman, Nate Frere. We will open it up for questions. Q. Paul, what's going to be the biggest key for you guys tomorrow if you are going to win this game? COACH RHOADS: Well, there is a number of keys, Bobby, certainly. And it always starts with being able to run a football and being able to stop the run. But I think in a game like this and what we feel is two very evenly matched teams, I believe a lot of times it comes down to turnovers and special teams. We have been pretty good at creating turnovers at times. At times we have protected the ball and at times we haven't. That will be a key factor in tomorrow night's game. Minnesota has a phenomenal kickoff return team. We have to keep them bottled up. They've had 22 kickoff returns past the 50-yard line in the last two seasons, and our kickoff coverage has to be excellent. We have to be able produce something in our return game, both with the kickoff return and the punt return. Q. Nate, preparing for both quarterbacks, you know where Weber is going to be. Same can't be said for Gray. Talk about what that brings as opposed to preparing for two different styles of quarterbacks. NATE FRERE: Yeah, it's going to be a challenge. One, you know, likes to throw; one likes to run. You can see one of them as kind of a wildcat kind of formation. It is something we have seen before. It is something we've had a month to prepare for, and it is something that we will be ready for. Q. You mentioned a "whoa" factor. This is your first time here. The Gophers have been here three times in four years. This is their second straight year. Does that affect the mix, that they may be more comfortable here and you are here for the first time? REGGIE STEPHENS: You know, I think if you ask their players, this is, you know, the first time for this team this year. We are both just taking in the experience and trying to enjoy it and going out there and trying to get a W for both of our teams. I don't think it is giving them any advantage, no. COACH RHOADS: And adding to that, we've approached it certainly as a game week and we have been through 12 games this season with this football team. Today is Friday of game week, and our routine is very normal. I think we go a little bit overboard in keeping our team informed every single step of the way, what exactly it is they're doing, why they're doing it and how long they're doing it for, et cetera, et cetera. I don't believe anything has caught our team off-guard this week in what they have had to do. I think we will roll into tomorrow night's game ready for kickoff just like we have for 12 previous games this season. Q. Paul or Nate, how did you prep for Gray in your scout team? Who played him on the scout team or their quarterbacks? Did you have two different quarterbacks in there? How did you do it? NATE FRERE: We had multiple people playing the role of Gray. Klacik was one of them. Who else played? REGGIE STEPHENS: I played a little bit. NATE FRERE: No, Reggie didn't play that part. (Laughter). But we had several guys, really fast guys back there that had the ability to run that offense, you know, run the option with him and run the quarterback power, stuff like that. So we've had a lot of good looks in the last month from just, you know, scout team guys back there playing that role. And I think it's given us a good look, and look forward to seeing how it goes in the game tomorrow. COACH RHOADS: I think Wally Burnham does a great job when there are unique situations like that, of forcing the kids to identify the separation of players. When you are playing this style of offense when they will have both of them on the field at the same time, he'll often use different-colored jerseys so they can identify them. Something has to click in their minds to know that they are defending something special at the time. That's one of the things he did in preparation for this game. Q. Coach, throughout your career, when you have been to bowls with different teams, have you been -- we hear a lot about teams not prepared to play or don't want to be there. How do you guard against that in the past? And could you tell that the team that you were coaching is not peaking at the right time on bowl week? COACH RHOADS: There are so many things that go into a bowl game and its outcome: the preparation all the way back in December and then game week once you arrive. Certainly this team is very thankful to be here. And our preparation, in my opinion, has been outstanding from the first day all the way through to our 16th workout today. This team has remained focused. There has been no lulls. Even when we were in practice No. 7 or 8 around finals time and the game was still a long ways off, they still practiced hard. I think you've got to be smart in your regimen and your preparation to be able to answer that. I don't think you can practice for two hours back on December 12th and get what you need out of it. So you've got to be smart with regard to your time that way. Believe me, you would be surprised in a bowl game how much it comes down to, well, they're eating a hot sandwich and we are eating a cold sandwich, or they have a long-sleeved sweatshirt and we have a short-sleeved T-shirt. It has a bearing on the mind-set and the preparation of your football team. So we've taken care of our kids. They've responded in kind. And I have little doubt that we will be ready to play at 4:00 tomorrow. Q. Coach, do you feel like they have a size advantage at all when it comes to the lines? And also, if one of the linemen can answer that, how do you think you match up just O line and D line against them in the trenches? COACH RHOADS: Well, besides Nate being as large as he is, we're not real big on the defensive front, and their offensive line is huge, but our offensive line is of good size also. I think the game overall is going to be a very physical matchup, and I think our guys, even though maybe not the stature that Minnesota's offensive line is, will do just fine and we're counting on our offensive line to be able to run the football and be as physical as they have been all season. Q. Guys, if you could talk about what the mind-set is with the team? And do you sense that you guys are just -- you're not happy just to be here, that it won't be complete if you don't win the game? How do you feel in that sense? REGGIE STEPHENS: I think our goal from the day Coach stepped on campus was to win a bowl game for this year. We've been working towards that all year. We're happy to be here, of course. But, you know, I think our preparation has been such that we are trying to win this game. That's definitely what we're trying to do. NATE FRERE: I agree wholeheartedly with that. You know, like he said, Coach set the bar high. He said it is a bowl win, not just to go to a bowl game. We are here and having fun and all. But at the end of the week, we have a game and we are not going to step on the field and try to lose it. We will go out there and play the best we can and come out with a win. Q. Nate, I was trying to get your thoughts if you feel like the line is a little bit undersized going against the Minnesota line and how do you think the matchup will play out in the end? NATE FRERE: I have heard that a lot over the course of the season, that we have an undersized line, this and that. We play a lot of big offensive lines in the Big 12 and, you know, we've played well at times. Minnesota's offensive line is huge; there is no doubt about that. It's going to come down to technique, and it is going to come down to heart. And I think we have a lot of heart on our D line, and I think we will be fine. Q. Reggie, going into Nebraska this year and playing, you know, the All-American Sioux, what did that mean for you guys? Was that like the defining moment of the season for you guys to come in and beat them? REGGIE STEPHENS: Sure. That game was a big improvement for us as far as the way the offensive line played. We came together as a team that week. We had to shore up some holes by players being injured or sick. You've heard all the stories about it. So that was definitely a key point for us in the season. We have just been trying to build on that since then. Q. Minnesota's offense has been struggling. They have had only had one touchdown -- actually, they don't have an offensive touchdown in the last two games of the season including the Iowa game where they were shut out. Do you see that as an advantage, the way you guys play defense? You have been able to -- obviously the Nebraska game was one to hold teams down this year? COACH RHOADS: I think a lot has been said about that and made of it. I don't think there is really relevance to it at this point with so much time and preparation for this game, so much time to improve, so much time to make adjustments. Our defensive numbers are well towards the bottom of the Big 12, but we keep people off the scoreboard by giving up in the low 20s and we turn the ball over. If anything, I would think their offense maybe has confidence going into it saying look at these numbers. We have a chance of being successful and moving the football. Q. Reggie, Alexander is healthy for the first time in a long time. What is having a healthy A-Rob add to the offense? REGGIE STEPHENS: We like to give A-Rob the ball, try to get him going in the run game. Just get him space. He does a lot for our offense. Having him healthy for the first time in a long time should be good for us. COACH RHOADS: Don't give away the game plan. (Smiling). REGGIE STEPHENS: Okay, sorry. Q. Paul, do you have any comments on Mike Leach on that situation since it is your conference, you coach against him? COACH RHOADS: No. I couldn't tell you what's going on in the world other than the fact that I know he has been suspended. I haven't seen a newspaper or a news channel. Quite honestly, I haven't had the T.V. turned on once in my room because we have been going so much. I don't have a very good understanding of what's taken place to comment. Q. Coach, what would a win mean for the program in general coming off five wins in two years and having a winning season this year with a win? COACH RHOADS: We've already accomplished a great deal, but as has been said, the expectations of this football team were to win a bowl game in 2009. So we've tried not to let that pressure mount or rise as we've gone through this preparation. But everybody in our locker room, everybody that's on the bus understands that's what we're working for. It would elevate the credibility of all our hard work and be a huge boost as we head into the 2010 season and the off-season work that begins in January. Q. It seems that Iowa State may have a little advantage when it comes to the amount of fans that will be here. I know the pep rally is a little bit later tonight. Do you feel like the fans really have shown up? Are you looking forward to seeing the turnout tonight at the rally and then tomorrow during the game? NATE FRERE: Of course. Cyclone Nation travels well. They are the best fans in the world. We love them to death and we can't wait to see them tonight at the pep rally. It is going to be fun. Q. You guys seem pretty loose up there. Are you ready to play? I mean, is it getting to the point where you're kind of tired of going through the routine day-to-day and you want to get out there? REGGIE STEPHENS: Yes, we are ready to play. Like Coach said, we've taken this as a game week and so this is our Friday. When we go through the walk-through, we will be more focused. When it comes Saturday before the game, we will be a lot more focused. But as for answering questions, I think we can be a little more loose up here. Yeah, we're ready to play. NATE FRERE: I'm tired of practicing. I just want to play. (Smiling). THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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