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CITI BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: TEXAS v ALABAMA

January 5, 2010

Colt McCoy

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

COLT McCOY: This year we've had some guys go down and we've kind of adjusted and played to that this year, so our spread offense has been kind of what's worked for us, so we'll see what happens Thursday.

Q. How tough has it been without a tight end for much of the time?
COLT McCOY: Well, you know, we have tight ends. The ones that have been kind of slated to start the past two years have both been injured, so that's kind of key. Any time you have a position that gets injured over and over, especially at the tight end position, it's tough to overcome, but our team has done a great job and our coaches have done a great job of adjusting and finding ways to win. That's truly a tribute to our team and our coaches, to lose tight ends like that and to have some injuries but still find ways to win.

Q. What did you learn from Vince in this game four years ago?
COLT McCOY: I learned so much from Vince, not necessarily from this game, but in the whole year that I had of playing behind him, just the way that he led his team, the way the team responded to him, the way the team wanted the ball in his hands in the fourth quarter, the way that he handled everything outside of football. You know, I tried to soak that all in.
I think as a quarterback the most important position and the most important aspect of a position is that your team has to trust you. Your team has to want the ball in your hands the first time. That's something that I really learned from Vince.

Q. Have you heard from Vince this week?
COLT McCOY: I talked to him a little bit. We've stayed in touch over the past four years, so we have a good relationship.

Q. Do you have a relationship with Greg, and what are your impressions of him?
COLT McCOY: I met Greg this summer, really enjoyed the time we spent up at the Manning camp. That was a lot of fun, a lot of quarterbacks there. Just from experience, it's hard to go 13 and 0. It's hard to go undefeated in a season, and he's done that the first year that he played, so that's pretty impressive.

Q. Have you talked to Sam Bradford at all about the pressures of playing in this game?
COLT McCOY: Not about the pressures of this game, but I do keep in touch with Sam.

Q. Who's given you the best advice in terms of preparation for this?
COLT McCOY: Well, you know, you get advice from a lot of people, a lot of people who want to give advice that you don't want to listen to, and a lot of people that give advice that you need to listen to. I think Coach Brown said it best, that we need to come in here and have fun, and we've been doing it all year; don't make it bigger than what it is. That's kind of my mentality and our team's mentality. When we're out there focused and having fun, that's when we're playing to our best ability. That's exactly what we need to do headed into this game is have fun because we are focused, we are prepared, and just go out there and be the best that we can be.

Q. You mentioned last year's missed opportunity was the motivator in the off-season for your team. How did it personally motivate you?
COLT McCOY: Like I said, when I first came to school, playing at Texas you have the opportunity to play for a National Championship every year, and there's a lot of talent around you and lots of great coaches, and so that was a disappointment last year. So we went back to work and we understood, hey, we were one game away. We were one second away from playing in the National Championship. We wanted to do everything we could to get here.
A tribute to our seniors, our senior class did a great job of kind of bringing the under classmen up, making them work hard, making them prepare and understanding how important it was to us that we got here. It's been a special year.

Q. You've done so much this week. Outside of football, what's been the most fun?
COLT McCOY: Outside of football, the most fun so far -- I hate to single out anything because it's been a fun week, but me and my teammates really enjoyed Disneyland. We acted like little kids out there. We had a little escort, the Fast Pass to all the rides, and that was a fun time.

Q. You had fun on the rides then?
COLT McCOY: Yeah, California Scream, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones.

Q. Lamarr said he sat next to you, and he said he saw you once with your eyes closed screaming like a girl. Is that true?
COLT McCOY: Yeah, he was doing the same thing on the Tower of Terror. Ask him who he was holding onto. I felt like my arm was going to fall off he was squeezing so tight.

Q. What's the thing on the Bowl gift list you're looking forward to getting?
COLT McCOY: Bowl gifts? I think we'll do that today. I don't know if they have a Vizio. I'm kind of leaning toward the big lazy boy recliner.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COLT McCOY: You're talking about Jordan?

Q. Yeah.
COLT McCOY: Yeah, Jordan went through so much adversity his first two years. He came in, probably would have played his freshman year, probably would have started had he not torn his knee up. And then from that point on, he had two years of injuries that really set him back. Being his roommate, being his best friend, it was a challenge to really -- for him and me, as well, to really kind of work hard and get back in the game.
When guys go through injuries, it's real easy to just kind of question why it happens and to give up. It's a tribute to Jordan; he never did that. He worked so hard in rehab to get himself ready to go again, and he's playing so well now, you would have never known that he was ever injured.
That shows his character, how hard he works, and I think that's one of the reasons why he's so respected on our football team is because players see what he's gone through and how hard he's had to fight, and he's a pretty special player.

Q. When you talk about the connection between you guys, do you ever really go outside the playbook?
COLT McCOY: Yeah, we have that type of relationship. We've thrown the ball around so many times together in the off-season and in workouts, he kind of knows where to be when a play breaks. He'll find a way to get open. He just has a knack for playing the position. It's been a lot of fun.

Q. Did you ever fear that you would break down physically? In other words, you look at Tebow, for example, you can see how he's big enough to absorb a lot of hits. You've taken a lot of shots, and you're not really big --
COLT McCOY: Are you saying I'm small?

Q. I'm saying you're a lot smaller than he is.
COLT McCOY: I'll take it.

Q. But did you ever worry about that? You take a lot of shots.
COLT McCOY: You know, I've been lucky to stay healthy. For me as a quarterback, you understand you're going to take shots. I understand that the coaches need me to run the ball, so I bust my tail in the weight room. I work out as hard as I can. I work out three to four times a week really preparing my body for those shots that I take. I try to be in the best physical shape that I possibly can be. This is what God has given me and I'm going to use it the best I can.

Q. How do you prepare to take a hit? Some guys can take a hit and some guys can't.
COLT McCOY: Yeah, well, I think there's a way where you don't have to take the blowing hits to the head and all that stuff. Obviously it's going to happen sometimes because sometimes I'm a running back. You just have to prepare yourself. It's just one of those things.
I've played football for a long time, and I've been fortunate enough to stay healthy most of the time. I was hurt my freshman year, but I knew what it was like to play a little. I played my first year at 180 pounds, and now I'm playing at 215. It's been a lot of hard work and preparation to get to this point.

Q. Is it as much will as muscle? You can spend all the time in the weight room as you want, but if you get hit, you get hit.
COLT McCOY: You're going to get hit, you have to understand that. Coach Madden and our staff have done a great job of making sure I'm in shape, making sure I'm in the best can be that I can be in. I think there's a way to get hit where you're not having to fall on your shoulder or -- I don't know what to say. I guess it's just a knack to play the game.

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