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BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL: ARMY v SOUTHERN METHODISTDecember 30, 2010Stephen AndersonRich EllersonDALLAS, TEXAS Army 16 THE MODERATOR: Coach Ellerson, if you could make an opening statement and talk about Stephen a little bit. COACH ELLERSON: Well, first, what a hard-fought football game that is and how fortunate we were to win. That's an awfully good football team we played. With respect to our guys, this is our football team represented by Stephen Anderson and this senior class. What I want to say to those guys is, you can't appreciate how much those guys have accomplished in their time here, because some of the big things they did, some of the things that will have the longest impact, longest legs, greatest impact over time, you can't see except for what happens out there between the white lines. I'm so happy for them that they had this day, that they got this seventh win. We've been saying, Bring winning football back for two years, and they did. So they've earned a place. We talk about the pantheon of great Army football teams. This senior class and this football team has earned a place with that pantheon of great Army football teams. They've brought something back to West Point that has been absent. It will flourish there because of the culture these guys have created for Army football. My point about Stephen is he's a great player. He loves to play the game. But the best things about Stephen aren't going to be left on the football field. The best things about Stephen are going to go with him in life. The best things about Stephen are going to be with him as a lieutenant next year, and it's going to continue to pay dividends for all of us. That's why we play football at West Point, so guys like Stephen have this developmental journey, because they're going to take it on and take it to another place, to another sphere where they have tremendous influence and responsibility for all of us. Stephen is one of these guys, but he represents who those guys are. You need to sleep well at night knowing these guys are out there. THE MODERATOR: Stephen, make a comment about your play today and the victory. STEPHEN ANDERSON: That's the position I'm in. I'm the Mike linebacker in the double eagle flex defense that's supposed to be a player that can run sideline to sideline and make plays. I don't try to deviate from the defensive scheme. I just try to do my job. We had 11 guys doing their job today. That's the best part about playing the game, you get to play next to your brothers who trust you to do your job, and of course you trust them to do their job. It's a great feeling. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Coach, you knew they were going to make that comeback in the fourth quarter. After they missed the field goal, you were driving down, it was third down, tell us about the timeout, the play that you called. COACH ELLERSON: Well, I'm doing a couple things in that moment. First, Ian and I are talking. We're saying, Okay, we converted the first third down with bootleg, so keep the ball in the quarterback's hands, stay in bounds. If we could get the first down, great. Well, we did. We go back to the well. It was the same thing. Okay, we're going to try this back to the wide side of the field, keep the ball in the quarterback's hands. If we don't get it, we'll keep the clock running. They're out of timeouts. Gonna take a delay of game. So I say, Okay, I'm going down the defense now. If they're gonna take a delay of game, we're gonna punt the ball if we don't get this. Sure enough, we come out and he throws it. My first thing was, Oh. So there was another discussion that took place after I switched over to the defensive side of the headset, apparently, or you never know. Again, we always tell those guys, If somebody is standing wide open, throw it to 'em. We've been known to miss wide-open guys before. We always take a deep breath in that situation. It's a combination of Ian and -- that play doesn't get made just in that moment. That play, we've been working on that for two years. We've been developing that kind of confidence, that kind of precision, that kind of poise. That's how things like that happen. Q. From a former cadet Army officer to a future officer, it seemed like your team responded so well. How proud are you of their performance? In today's world, a team that plays together as one, what does that mean to you, Stephen? STEPHEN ANDERSON: That's what we pride ourselves on. We're not just teammates. We're not just casual acquaintances. We're a brotherhood. When you have a team that believes in one another like we do, it's just a matter of having fun with our brothers. We all had fun with our brothers our entire lives, so that's something that having the opportunity to be in that situation, come out on the victorious end, is something that's very special to us. I mean, we're always going to remember it. Q. Stephen, you weren't shy about saying there was a lot on the line for this game. How sweet is it that this ends your career and you brought winning football back to West Point? STEPHEN ANDERSON: It's something we said back in prep school. We had a great prep school class. We weren't going into a very successful program. Guys were taking that opportunity to maybe shop around, maybe go somewhere else. We sat everybody down and said, Look, we have the team that can bring winning football back to West Point. It's just a matter of time. When you have a young team like that that buys into something like that and then you have Coach E bringing what we've always felt inside but just needed someone to push us a little more for it, it's just kind of like a dream come true. It's a pact we made. It's a decision. Human will is the strongest thing on this earth. When you make a decision, you have to believe in it. That's exactly what we did. Q. Talk about the importance of this win as far as beating a team with a winning record. Had this streak of 22 consecutive games. Now the monkey is off your back. COACH ELLERSON: Well, it had to happen this way. We talked about bringing winning football back. One of the things we talked about toward the end of the year, we felt like we were the next evolutionary step, the next obstacle, the next thing we had to realize was how to go on to a big stage against a quality team and play like we can, play as poised and precise and determined as we can. Frankly, there were some times this year when we stepped onto the stage that we didn't do that. That's not to say we would have run Notre Dame out of the stadium or anything like that. My point was, we wouldn't handle that situation the way we would expect an Army football team, that poised, precise football team to manage it. So that was going to have to happen if we were going to have that winning tradition back. This senior class can make that part of their legacy because they stepped onto a big stage. It was an uphill fight. They did the things that correlate with winning, and they did it with great poise, determination, and precision. As you say, you look at the stats here, the thing that stands out is the turnovers. We talk about how pivotal the turnovers are during the course of a football game. It's not about how many yards you rush for, it's those things. That's a belief system, and that was our key to victory, those were our keys to victory, throughout the season. We brought those keys to bear in a game against a quality opponent on a big stage. Again, that's a great legacy for this senior class. Q. Talk about getting the momentum quickly on the third play of the game, return the fumble for a touchdown, setting the momentum on your side for this game. COACH ELLERSON: Well, just in terms of the total outcome, when you score on defense, then offensively you don't turn the ball over. That was not a great day for us offensively in terms of yards up and down the field, but we didn't turn it over. We had some key first downs. You do that in a football game, you're going to be hard to beat. Frankly, it was going to take that today. They were hard to stop. The quarterback was hard to get to. He was hard to tackle when you did. They ran the ball. They obviously are really a proficient outfit. Defensively after a while we had our way with them for a little while, but as is the nature with an athletic defense like that, they adjust to the speed. All of a sudden it was hard to get a yard. We needed that fast start. We needed to take advantage of that moment in the game where we have a little bit of an advantage because of our uniqueness, and we did that. We did the rest of the things that win football games. Q. Stephen, talk about the last offensive drive. The defense had given up two touchdowns. Were you feeling pretty tired? STEPHEN ANDERSON: Yeah. I mean, we were winded a little bit. The beginning of the season, last year, having the 16th total defense in the nation, we had a lot of expectations out of our defense this year. Right before that missed field goal, Coach (indiscernible) brings us over and says, How perfect is it that a team that we talk about the defense being the strength of the team coming into the season, how great of an opportunity is it to stop them here and kind of give it back to our offense to run out the clock? That's what we expected. Stop there, our offense is going to run out the clock. A lot of the guys were excited about that moment. This game is so much easier to play when you're having fun. It kind of put it back into perspective that, hey, if we're having fun, good things are going to happen. You know, got the stop. Q. Coach, you talked about the importance of taking this step. Now that you've taken it, what's the next step you envision? COACH ELLERSON: There's another trophy we need to get to work on, that's the Commander and Chief Trophy. Q. How does it feel playing in this stadium? You were the visitors, but a lot of folks supporting you. COACH ELLERSON: That's what we expected. Thought it was a neutral field. We both had great crowds. It was an electric game. They got their money's worth. That's what a Bowl game should feel like. I don't feel like they had any special advantage in that environment. Of course, we have those guys at our back. When they did something good, people were excited. When we did something good, people were excited. It was a great day. Q. Now that you're going to be going on, how intensely will you be watching the next trophy? What kind of pride will you have? STEPHEN ANDERSON: Like Coach said, it's a legacy we leave behind. The last thing we want as a senior class is to have the young guys forget what this feeling was and how much better a Bowl win is with the Commander's trophy in our pocket. That's what we're going to have to do. As a senior class, our job is not over. We still have another semester with these guys. We're going to allow the young guys to take over the team, establish who the leaders are, remind them the next season begins the start of the year. Once we get back to school, these young guys are going to have to come in and make a decision, a team meeting, on what kind of year they're going to have. COACH ELLERSON: You notice I don't get a vote (laughter). STEPHEN ANDERSON: This win means a lot to our class. To know that we gave something to the younger guys to build on, it will mean even more when they take advantage of it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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