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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: TCU v WISCONSINDecember 30, 2010Jake KirkpatrickPASADENA, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. How has the experience been out here? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, man, we love it. I'm so interested in all the different areas of L.A. and California. I came when I was younger. This is the first time I actually spent time, though. We've been to China Town, Little Tokyo, Santa Monica. We get police escorts everywhere. They'll shut down the freeway. Yeah, it's been fun. It's been a lot of fun. Q. (Question regarding the color purple.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Fort Worth is covered in purple. It sets us apart. We embrace it all. We like being a little different, unique. We like being different. We like being the underdogs, like I've been the past few years. It's a fun place to be, fun place to play. Q. Did you see Wisconsin at all on TV this year? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah. We watched some of those games playing in the hotels. Q. (Question regarding the frog horn.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It's loud. I don't know if they're going to bring it to the Rose Bowl or not. They won't let them. It's really loud. Q. Do you notice the guy that wears the head thing, the mascot. Does that look like a horn frog? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Not really. He looks pretty goofy. I see him running around the sidelines some. All the kids like him and everything, so it's good for him to be out there. Q. Are you coming back next year? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I'm a senior. I'm hoping someone needs a center. Q. Cleveland. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Cleveland, yeah. I'll take anywhere they give me a chance. Hopefully someone needs a center. I'd like to play like San Diego. That would be good. New York. I think the Giants would be fun. Chicago, yeah. A little cold up there. Q. Did you see the one game they postponed on Sunday? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I couldn't believe they postponed it. Traveling over to the game, they couldn't get there. I couldn't believe they moved it. It's crazy. Q. The stadium in Minnesota. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, it collapsed. No joke. I don't know how they expected that to work, but... Q. Is this the matchup you've been waiting for. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I mean, definitely we've been looking forward to a game like this for a long time. The fact it's at the Rose Bowl makes it more special for us. Q. Last year was it disappointing they put you up against Boise State? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: No. I mean, it wasn't disappointing. We were a little surprised since we played them the year before. You know, wasn't disappointing. We got to play in the Fiesta Bowl. Unfortunately we didn't play as well as we would have hoped. We learned from it. Hopefully we'll play better this year. Q. Is this an opportunity on Saturday to show that the non-AQs belong in this whole system? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, I think it definitely does. People like us, Boise State, Utah, we've shown we can play with the big boys, the big schools. A game like this, a lot of people are going to be watching to see how the non-AQs do. We feel like it's our duty to show up for them. Q. I was talking to Tank. He said when you go to a school like TCU you play with an underdog mentality. You're ranked 3rd. You're the favorites. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: We always have a chip on our shoulder, even if we are ranked higher or are supposed to win. That's the mentality that Coach Patterson gives us, that we take on as a team. We always feel like the underdog. That's how we like to play. Q. (No microphone.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, like I said, Coach Patterson, it's his mentality. We don't even know we're favored. We are always feel like the underdog. Like I was telling him, that's how we like it. We never pay attention to whether we're supposed to win or not or the rankings. We show up with a little chip on our shoulder and hopefully play well. Q. (Question regarding Fiesta Bowl.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It was definitely a good learning experience for us. We had to handle the crowd, a couple situations on the sideline. But we didn't play well, you know. I think that game taught under the circumstances even when things aren't going our way, we have to find a way to win. We got an opportunity to play on that big stage last year, so I think it definitely helped us out this year, for what we're supposed to be looking for on Saturday. Q. What have you seen on film on Wisconsin? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: They definitely have some size. Their line gets credit for size. They definitely deserve that. They have some big guys that run around. Everybody has been asking me about that. I tell them it's going to be a physical game. They're going to come out and try to hit us in the mouth and we're going to have to try to give Andy some time to work. Should be fun to watch. Q. Any consolation not getting to that BCS championship? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: No, it's always a dream to play for the national championship. Someone asked me earlier. I told them Oregon and Auburn deserve it. They were able to hold onto those spots all year long. We're happy to be at the Rose Bowl. It's a dream come true for us. Q. What's at stake in this game? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: We don't look at what's at stake really. Obviously you want pride for your university, for the non-AQs like we were talking about earlier. Really for us we're focused on sending the seniors out on a good note. This is our last chance to get to play together with this team and we'd like to end on a good note. Q. You talked about playing for the non-AQ schools. Give you more motivation? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: We definitely look at it as more motivation. I was telling them earlier, you got all those teams, Boise and Utah, they played on the big stage before. We're the only one that made it through this year to the BCS. We're definitely going to try to stick up for those guys, show we can play with anyone in the country. Q. Is this speed versus power? Is that overstated? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: You can look at it like that if you want to. I think it's all about physicality. The most physical team is going to win I think. Taking care of the football and being physical, the name of the game. What's all that speed stuff anyway (laughter)? Q. Everybody has a piece of advice for you. What has been the best piece of advice that you've gotten so far this week? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Really the best piece we've gotten is to just stay within our element. We don't have to do anything extra. All we have to do is play how we've been playing all year. If we've been 12-0 this year, we don't need to do anything different this final game. Q. When you look at Wisconsin's defense, how would you characterize it? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I just say they're hard-working. They have some good motors on that side of the ball. We're going to have to shut them down, pick up what they throw at us. They definitely work hard and it shows on film. Q. Since there's about a month to prepare for this game, what is your key for the game? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: My key is taking care of the football. I think that and communication both on offensive and the defensive side of the ball. It's going to be loud. We have to be able to communicate. Taking over, forcing turnovers, being physical. We'll see where it goes from there. Q. Everybody in this room probably has a different motivation. What is the biggest motivator you keep falling back on this weekend? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Our biggest goal is to be the best team in the country. We set out goals at the beginning of the year. We built a pyramid. Top of that pyramid is to be No. 1. We're going to do everything in our power to be the best team. That means winning Saturday. Other than that, I'd like to go home to my family with a win, go out with these seniors on the top. Q. Most of the attention has been focused on Wisconsin's offensive line. Have you looked at tape, assessed them? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I've seen them a couple times. I met Gabe in Orlando, talked to him at Disneyland the other day. I was telling them they deserve all the credit they get. They're big, physical, smart, have good technique. But we like being the underdog. We're fine with them being talked about all the time. We're just going to show up and do our job. We don't need much praise. We're offensive linemen (laughter). Q. (No microphone.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Coach Patterson, he was in New Mexico before he came to TCU I think. He's been there for a little while. I'm sure one of our coaches has made a stop in Colorado, though. Those guys work everywhere, yeah. Q. Let's talk about the career, what it's meant to you, ending up here at the Rose Bowl. Satisfying? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, it's definitely satisfying, showing up here. I remember it was pretty cool for us coming in being ranked in the top 25, the last couple years getting to go to two BCS games, especially ending up at the Rose Bowl. You dream of getting to play in this game. It's a pretty special deal. Q. Do you ever pinch yourself, is this really happening? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I do it all the time. I feel so blessed to be here. I don't know why they gave me a chance. I only played one year of football. I'm thankful that they did, Coach Patterson, Coach Williamson, I guess they just trusted me. I feel like I owe them so much for giving me an opportunity. Q. Talk about the relationship with Coach Williamson. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I mean, he's like a dad. You've heard it from all of us. He's like a dad to us all. A lot of people think about him just on the field. I remember all the times talking to him off the field, traveling with him. He got to come out to the Lombardi in Houston. All those memories. Having a coach like that, I feel very blessed. Q. (No microphone.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I don't know. I told him yesterday if we win... We'll see. It's been good to me. Baby, Remington, Rose Bowl, it's been good. Q. (No microphone.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It's definitely special to me. It was a goal of mine. I tried to win it. I tell everyone it's not an individual award, it's an O-line award. I couldn't be able to get it without those guys. Q. (Question regarding the offensive line.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: We had one of our best guards go out with an ACL. Spencer Thompson stepped in, we didn't miss a beat. All that credit goes to Coach Williamson. Q. Your development as an offensive line, you do so many things. I imagine it makes it difficult. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It's definitely tough to learn all the different things. They put a lot on our shoulders. That's what we like. We like having all those options to throw at the defense, give them a tough time trying to stop us. Q. (No microphone.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It was definitely scary, especially when he's not on the sideline with us. He's doing a lot better now. Taking care of himself. Q. What was that like when you found out? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, I mean, every time we come off the field we meet with him about what just what happened. We came off the field, he wasn't there. Right away we knew something was up. It's definitely tough to play a game without your leader there. We went and visited him at the hospital. He was doing good. Q. (Question regarding the matchup with Wisconsin.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Everyone always calls us the little guys. We're fine with that. We just try to show up and play big, especially in big games. Q. Use that to your advantage a little bit? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: We like being the underdog, yeah. Q. Do you feel like one? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: We always feel like one. Anytime you play for Coach Patterson, you feel like the underdog. We like it like that. Gives us a chip on our shoulder. Q. Have you faced a defense schematically similar? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, we faced a couple teams throughout the Mountain West like that. They got a couple of hard-working guys on defense. We have a task on our hands. We have to give Andy some time back there. Q. Talk about your experience at TCU. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yeah, man, it's been incredible. Seems like yesterday all these guys came in together. Me, Andy, all those guys. Just to end up last year at the Fiesta Bowl, this year the Rose Bowl, it's a dream come true. Q. Special to be a part of this class? JAKE KIRKPATRICK: Yes. Q. In a BCS game. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: All that stuff, it's been fun to be a part of. Been pretty incredible. Q. (Question regarding Ohio State comment.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: We're used to that stuff. We thought it was funny. To hear a guy like that call us out, it just gave us more motivation. But we laughed at it. We were happy with Del Conte, what he had to say to him. We don't pay too much attention to it. Q. (No microphone.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: I mean, it would have been fun to play those guys. We're so happy to play Wisconsin. They're one of the hottest teams in the country right now. There's no better way to test our team and where we are right now. It will be fun. Q. Can you talk about this experience. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It's been awesome getting to hang out in L.A., go to all the different places. Been fun to be able to hang out with these guys. Pretty excited to get out to the Rose Bowl, get this ball on a roll. Q. Talk about the Wisconsin defense. JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It's going to be tough. They're going to be a load for us to stop. They have some big, physical guys out there. Have to give Andy some time, get the ball in the hands of our play-makers, see what happens from there. Q. (No microphone.) JAKE KIRKPATRICK: It's a great honor to be a part of that stuff, all that personal goals and everything is real nice. But, you know, I don't look at it as individual. I wouldn't be anywhere where I am today without my coach, Coach Williamson, any of the guys on the O-line. They make me look good, so... End of FastScripts |
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