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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: CONNECTICUT v OKLAHOMA

January 1, 2011

Jordan Todman

GLENDALE, ARIZONA

Oklahoma Â– 48
UConn - 20

THE MODERATOR: We've been joined by Coach Randy Edsall, student-athletes Scott Lutrus, Kashif Moore. We'll be joined momentarily by Jordan Todman.
With your permission, Coach, we will go ahead and ask you to make an opening statement.
COACH EDSALL: Jordan will be here real shortly.
Well, it's disappointing when you play the game and you don't come out on top. But our kids battled the entire time. As I told them in the locker room, it is a game of inches. And we couldn't make enough of those inches today against an outstanding football team in Oklahoma.
And when you play a team like Oklahoma, you have to play perfectly. I mean, there was times out there that we were just this far away (indicating) from knocking a ball down, making a play. We had some dropped passes, third and one, fourth and inches. We just couldn't get that, but that's a credit to Oklahoma and how good they are.
Like I said, our kids had a great experience here. It is something now that they can strive for each and every year. They know what it takes. And I'm just proud of them for the way they've handled themselves and how they put themselves in this position because, again, that's the hardest part is getting yourself in this position and to be one of the ten teams competing in the BCS. Just says so much about them.
Like I said, give credit to Oklahoma because they are a very fine football team and they are extremely well coached and, you know, I thought our kids battled and, like I said, we couldn't just make enough plays in the end.

Q. Randy, you talked yesterday about you didn't want to get ambushed early in the game. And right off the bat, 14-0 right there, really put you in the hole.
COACH EDSALL: Yeah, you know, the tempo -- we just couldn't get make some plays. We had a chance to make some plays. You know, it's tough to get used to the speed. And then once we did, we settled down and came back. You know, we had a chance there, it was 7-0. I just felt that on the fourth and one or fourth and inches, I felt going there -- I knew we were going to need points and I knew we were going to need touchdowns.
So I didn't want to settle for a field goal and I thought we could get it and hopefully punch it in, but we couldn't. They did go up 14-0. We had a chance to at least if we got that first down, if it was longer, I might not have gone for it, but we could have gotten some points on the board. But we didn't.
Again, we came back and then you have two balls that are in people's hands and they're dropped for pick-sixes. That sure doesn't help.

Q. Kashif, wearing the No. 6 today. Can you talk about your decision to do that and what it means to be able to do so?
KASHIF MOORE: I want to thank Coach Edsall to wear it. It is good to honor, a fallen teammate and brother of ours in Jasper Howard. This would have been his last game. And I am sure he would have shined.
COACH EDSALL: I went running one day when we were back on campus during the Bowl preparation and just got a thought in my mind that how could we honor him and know that Jazz would want to play in this game.
And I just felt in my heart that we needed to do something. And I came back from running and we practiced that day and so I went up to Kashif while he was stretching and I just asked him. I said, I got a thought when I was running. I want to run something by you. I said, Would you want to wear No. 6 for the game? And he said absolutely. So that's how that all took place.

Q. Does the final score of this game really turn what could have been a positive into a real negative? What do you take away from this whole experience given the way the game played out?
COACH EDSALL: We didn't win the game, but there's nothing negative that comes from this. To be here and to compete the way these kids competed, I think that says it all.
Like I said, we're disappointed we didn't win. But we came out here and competed against the No. 7 team in the country and came up short. But I think this will help our kids understand that they can go and compete with anybody.
We don't make the mistakes, the score isn't what it is. But ultimately the score is what it is because we did have those situations come up.

Q. Jordan, can you talk about the defense and how hard it was to kind of move around out there for you?
JORDAN TODMAN: They're a talented defense and they are going to run to the ball and hit you also. They are well coached and have a good game plan. I feel like there was times when we could have done things to attack them better or just do better running the ball.
But I did my best, and I'm sure my offensive line did, the wideouts did, and the coaching staff, we all did -- we do what we can do. But we were going against tough competition, and they did pretty well.

Q. I was just wondering, coming in, what was your game plan regarding the slowing down of Landry Jones and just wasn't clicking in regards to him?
COACH EDSALL: Well, you know, there's more than Landry Jones that you have got to concern yourself with when it comes to Oklahoma. You got DeMarco Murray. You got to worry about him and Kenny Stills, you got to worry about him.
And then Ryan Broyles.
So they're talented, so they have the guy that can pull the trigger and they got the running back to go with it and they got really good wide receivers and good offensively.
We tried to do a couple different things. We tried to -- we wanted to play some two-deep against them and then we wanted to play some pressure against them.
But, again, if you feel like your matchups -- maybe you can go man-to-man. But the matchups aren't good for us to be able to go man-to-man all the time.
So, again, we had to switch some things up. But the one thing we weren't able to do, we weren't really able to get a whole lot of pressure on them. Their offensive line did a good job.
And then again, we had the opportunity to make a couple plays and we just didn't. Some third downs were real critical in the third quarter. If we could have just got off the field on third down, we would have been better off.

Q. Scott, thoughts on Dwayne Gratz' interception, kind of turned you guys around on the defense. Looked like it energized. But also overall how you guys fared against Oklahoma's offense out there?
SCOTT LUTRUS: Any time you get can a defensive touchdown or score, what Dwayne Gratz did, it's a huge lift for the team. It's the easiest way to score. The easiest play we can make on defense is score on touchdown. That was a hell of a play by him. He is a good player. Made a good read on it.
Oklahoma is the No. 7 team in the country for a reason. They got skilled guys all over the place. They are coached very well.
I am proud of everyone on this team, and this defense. We fought to the end. We gave up some big plays. Things didn't go out our way the whole time, but we didn't give up.

Q. Scott and Jordan, can you kind of go in a little more depth about that "never say die," that "never quit" attitude? You were down 14-0 quick and you came back and scored. You were down 24-10 and you came back and scored ten more points to make it a game. Can you just talk about that?
SCOTT LUTRUS: That's our mentality every game. Every game this season, we don't quit. That's what is great about this team. We want to win, we are competitive. The score might not be what we wanted it to be at the end, but we didn't give up. The entire game we played our butts off, everyone on the defense. I know this whole team played as hard as they could every single play.
It didn't work out, but it was a great effort.
JORDAN TODMAN: I agree. Our motto is play every play like it's our last, and I felt like we did. There were times we were down. And a lot of people would want to give up or just lay back and put their head down. I felt like we kept our heads up and we played every play like it was our last until the clock hit 0:00:00.
I'm proud of my teammates and my brothers and everybody out there competing and trying their best to win this game.

Q. Last game as a Husky, Fiesta Bowl, forget the score for a moment. What does it mean for you to get to this kind of a game in your last game as a husky?
SCOTT LUTRUS: I think it meant everything to this whole team. To go out, especially the seniors, to play in a BCS game, get that bid. Like I said before, it didn't go the way we wanted it to, but we couldn't have on a bigger stage and a bigger game.
Like I said, score didn't go our way. But we gave it our best.

Q. Randy, how close are you guys to being able to win a game like this and where do you have to get better?
COACH EDSALL: Well, we just have to keep recruiting. We just have to keep getting more players is what we need to do.
And that's not anything on our guys. I mean, every year we have been getting better. We have been getting better. These guys would tell you we are getting more talented each and every year. And that comes with the success of the program and it comes because of the guys sitting next to me and the contributions they've made.
And that's really what has to continue to happen. We just have to continue to get guys that can make more plays and have more depth of guys that can make plays. Kashif made a lot of plays tonight. Jordan made plays, Scott. We just have to get some guys that can make the big plays and change the game.
If we can do that, we are going to be okay.

Q. Jordan, what thought have you given to your future? I understand the loss is still raw. But do you have some thoughts on your future?
JORDAN TODMAN: I have some thoughts on my future. I sat down with my family and friends and did a lot of thinking. I think the best decision for me is to declare into the NFL Draft this year.

Q. What are some of the reasons and can you express a little more what went into the thought process?
JORDAN TODMAN: A lot of the reasons are personal but not really. At some point, I felt like it was the right time for me. And I stand pretty good with the competition this year. And I'm sure there is a lot of things in mind. I can go and talk on about this for half an hour. A few good reasons and me and my family decided and I think this is the right decision for me.
COACH EDSALL: I'm 100 percent behind him. We've talked and we've done research and given him the information that I received and what we received. Like I said, I'm 100 percent behind what he's doing. I think he'll do very, very well.
So congratulations to Jordan. He has made a difference in this program, made a huge different, just like Scott. And it is good to be able to see those guys go on and go further.
The one thing is, it is really neat for the program, is five of these guys are going to play -- the seniors are going to play in the East-West game and then the same five got invited to the Combine, too. So they will be going and I'm sure Jordan will be going. That's six guys going to the combine. I think that says a lot about the type of program that we've built here and what's taken place.
Thanks very much. I would like to thank the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and their John Junker and Duane for their people. We have had a wonderful week. The hospitality has been great. They run a first-class Bowl, and it was a first-class experience for our guys. We just came up a little bit short. Thanks.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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