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CITI BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: TEXAS v ALABAMA

January 5, 2010

Greg McElroy

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

Q. Leading up to getting here, you waited about a month to play this game. Is it a drain?
GREG McELROY: It's not mentally draining. I think we're all prepared, and I think maybe the exterior factors don't -- we don't pay attention to them as much. We're staying out here in Costa Mesa. We're kind of away from the limelight, I guess. But it's mentally, I think, tough, just the fact that we've waited so long and it's finally here, and I think just the excitement and the things like that can take its toll on a person if you're not mentally prepared for it. Coaches did a great job of getting us prepared mentally and physically.

Q. Being a starter in a National Championship game, what will you expect out of yourself Thursday?
GREG McELROY: Well, I can't expect much, considering this is my first experience. I expect myself to go out there and execute the plays that are called, because this game, if you make it bigger than it is, often times it'll have a negative effect on you. You know, as a player I just want to go out there and pressure like every other game, go through my preparation, my checks, be on the same page with my wideouts and be on the same page with Coach McElwain. Usually when we do that we have a lot of success on the offense and score a lot of points.

Q. Your connection with the Dallas Cowboys, has that helped you to take more of a pro approach to games?
GREG McELROY: I'd like to think so. I've just been around sports, whether they be professional or high school or college, my whole life. I've never known anything other than professional sports, I guess. Just because if you think about it, my dad has been a part of three championship -- been a part of three championship teams that have gone to the championships, the LA Kings and the Dallas Stars twice. He has won the Stanley Cup ring for the '99 Dallas Stars season, so I think I've just been around championships and I've followed them and I've taken them more personally than your average fan just because of what's at stake. I'd like to think that I have a better understanding because of that, but it's difficult to say.
I mean, I can't really answer that without -- I really don't know, I'm sorry.

Q. What will Will Muschamp's defense bring going into the football game, any surprises at all?
GREG McELROY: Well, I mean, I'm sure they'll have a few wrinkles; it's just what great coaches do, make good adjustments. We expect to see some different things. But Coach Muschamp being Coach Muschamp and having the success that they've had this year, they really don't have a lot of reason to change it up, just because their scheme is very successful against the run and the pass, and they play in a great league, so I don't see why they'd want to change anything up. They will have maybe a couple new blitzes and maybe some personnel mix-ups and things like that. We'll have to be on our -- best prepared by just studying the film and knowing the personnel inside and out.

Q. Is one of the wrinkles that Coach Muschamp and Coach Saban know each other so well?
GREG McELROY: I think that has a lot to do with it. The fact that we go against a similar defense every day in practice should help us and Texas. I think the constant repetitions against those guys can help us prepare for this game. The same calls, basically having the same blitz schemes. You know, Coach Saban's blitz schemes are a little bit crazier, but as far as Coach Muschamp, they're very gap sound, so it's a lot like playing our defense.
Obviously our defense is havoc against an offense. So we're going to have to be very prepared, and I think the fact that they know each other should play into both offenses' favor.

Q. Personality-wise they're both a bowl of laughs, aren't they?
GREG McELROY: I mean, I guess. I don't laugh at them. They scare me.

Q. When you were growing up was this a game and a stadium that you dreamed of playing in?
GREG McELROY: It was obviously a stadium I dreamed of playing in for sure. I don't have a lot of ties to the Rose Bowl. I've actually never been there. I've been to the Coliseum many times, been to Dodger Stadium many times. I feel like I've been to every stadium in the LA area, but not the Rose Bowl. It's definitely something you dream about. I think every quarterback does because you see the quarterbacks that have played there in the past, the Drew Brees, Jake Plummer, Vince Young, Leinart, all those guys, and they all went on to do bigger and better things.
I think just the fact that the pageantry and the tradition that comes with the Rose Bowl, I think it's only fitting that two teams like Texas and Alabama are playing in it. It's definitely a dream come true for me, and I'm definitely excited to have my opportunity to make a splash on Thursday.

Q. Were you a Texas fan growing up?
GREG McELROY: No, I was actually a Texas Tech fan. I just never really had a lot of love for the Longhorns. I had a lot of respect for them, but I was a Red Raider.

Q. Were you recruited by them?
GREG McELROY: I was. I was recruited a little bit, and they never offered me a scholarship. Like I told the guys back in Alabama, I got a good look from them, but I got a good enough look to make them decide they didn't want me. I just don't think I was really fast enough to play for them.

Q. Does that stick with you at all? Obviously it turned out okay for you.
GREG McELROY: No, not really. They went with who they went with, and I ended up here, so how can either one of us complain? I'm very happy where I'm at, and it's a dream come true to play at Alabama.

Q. You guys have been in the Costa Mesa area all week. How anxious are you to even see the Rose Bowl?
GREG McELROY: We were talking about that on the bus ride over, like, "I'm so ready to get out of here." "We're in California, how can you say that?" Just the fact that we've been in the same area and we've been doing the same things, it's kind of getting monotonous.
It's been a blast, nonetheless, but we came here to win a football game, and that's just the bottom line, and we're excited to do that. We're excited to have the opportunity to do that. We're just ready for our opportunity to get out there and show the world what we're all about.

Q. How different is what you're being asked to do now compared to what you came up in?
GREG McELROY: It's really different, it really is. A lot of the same route combinations, obviously the same idea. I think now so much of our offense is predicated on explosive plays and not turning the ball over. Whether those explosive plays be through the pass or the run, it doesn't matter. Explosive play is defined as a 15-yard pass or a 12-yard run. We've had our fair share of those this year, so we've been very fortunate. So I think obviously that being the goal, I think those things were relatively similar throughout my high school experience and my college experience. But as far as the scheme I played in, I don't think they could be any more different.

Q. Was football always your sport or was it not until you got to Texas?
GREG McELROY: I was actually a baseball player kind of all the way through. That was kind of my love. I loved baseball. I just couldn't hit a curve ball. I wasn't very good, so football just kind of worked out for me.
I really fell in love with football when I moved to Texas. I was always at Dallas Cowboy fan from birth because obviously LA doesn't have a football team, so getting out to Texas and Washington firsthand and becoming the die hard that I am, I think that kind of led to my love for football and my wealth of knowledge about football.

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