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NCAA DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: NORTH DAKOTA STATE v SAM HOUSTON STATEDecember 28, 2011Craig BohlFRISCO, TEXAS J.D. HAMILTON: Coach Bohl, we welcome you to the call. At this time, if you could give us an opening statement. COACH CRAIG BOHL: On behalf of Bison football and NDSU, we're excited to play in the NCAA championship game. My initial impressions of the staging, how the NCAA has set the game up is outstanding. I'm a big supporter of the playoff system. I think we have two great football teams that are going to score off on the gridiron. Got a great deal of respect for Sam Houston State. We have a good football team also so it should be an exciting ballgame. J.D. HAMILTON: Thank you, coach. At this time we'll open it up for questions. Q. Talk about the benefits and disadvantages you see from having such a long break between the semifinal and championship game. COACH CRAIG BOHL: Well, certainly the advantage, both us and Sam Houston, have gone through a pretty grueling process getting to this championship game. I know we played three really competitive games, and they did also. From our perspective, some time to get the bumps and bruises healed up. There have been a couple guys that are going to be able to join us for the championship game that were not able to play in a couple of these other games. There's certainly an advantage on that part. I think you can become a little bit more familiar with your opponent. The disadvantage is at times football players will lose their level of execution. Football is a complicated game. So when you marginalize some of your activities and you're not out doing activities at a high level, you lose some of that edge. So the challenge for us is to maintain our strength and conditioning and our execution at a high level during this period and still maintain a great focus. Q. Sam Houston has a unique offense. Is that an advantage for you to be able to have the extra time to look at that formation on film? COACH CRAIG BOHL: Well, it's certainly helpful. Defensive teams, the more familiar you are to an opponent's offense, the better advantage you have. However, it's difficult to replicate their speed, explosion, throwing ability. That will be the challenge we have. But the schemes that we've seen and the film we've broken down, we'd like to think we've taken advantage of the time we've had. Q. When you look at the attendance we've seen so far, talk about what you see from this playoff run for the state of this level of football. COACH CRAIG BOHL: I think you're seeing an emerging product with FCS football. We had a huge outpouring of support during the playoff run. We sold out all our home games. The national recognition that NDSU received was outstanding. I think it's an exclamation point when you go in, it's three weeks out, and a game like this is already sold out. I think that gives a great deal of credence and how important this ballgame is to a lot of people. So we're certainly excited about it. I know that both athletic directors are clambering for more tickets. Could have been played at a larger venue. But the venue we have is a great venue and we're excited about it. Q. Two questions about common dominators with the two programs. The defenses are ranked one and two in the country. You both will be making your first appearance in the title game. Can you talk about whether you think the defenses are going to dictate what happens and whether both teams will be in the same shape in terms of handling this environment for the first time? COACH CRAIG BOHL: I think both teams will be in the same shape going into a championship game with a three‑week period where you're not playing. It's unchartered waters for both of us. As far as both defenses, I think both defenses are extremely explosive. They've been excellent at creating takeaways. I really think that's going to be the balance of the game, is the turnover margin. Without question, everybody says offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. We're going to find out who wins the championship here. Q. On the other side of the ball, Warren Holloway, what has he brought to the team and how exciting is it to be able to go back to his home state to play in his final game for the title? COACH CRAIG BOHL: He's certainly excited about it. Warren has been a great explosive weapon that we've not had for a couple years. We've been basically a ground‑dominated offense. What Warren gives us is a deep‑play receiver. He's got excellent body position when he's going up for a football and he's had many, many big plays. What that does is it forces defenses to loosen up their defense a little bit and allowed us to actually run the ball a little bit better. So the two feed off one another. He's a fifth‑year senior. Anytime you have a person, a student‑athlete from the state of Texas, to be able to go home and have an opportunity to show their skills and their program off to their relatives and friends, I think it's extremely important. Q. You talked a minute ago about the exposure your program has been getting through this run, then to be able to go to the title game, be on national TV. What kind of doors does that open for recruiting for you? Are there doors to the South that can be opened through this? COACH CRAIG BOHL: We have recruited specifically the greater Houston area. That's where our Texans are from. Not specifically Texas, but I think in the upper Midwest, in our footprint of recruiting in a geographical area, the Missouri Valley, I think it sets our program up on a different level. Also this game is going to fare well against some of the other FBS bowl games. You're seeing two high‑quality teams playing at a high level with a sold‑out stadium right now. I think it's great exposure for FCS football and it's great exposure for Bison football. Q. Given the three‑week layoff, can you take it back to the last playoff victory, could you say you were playing your best football at that point? COACH CRAIG BOHL: Yes, I think our Georgia Southern game was probably one of the best games we've played since I've been our head coach. We certainly had some challenges. I know Georgia Southern did, as well, with some players that probably were not at 100%. We operated at a high level, played well on offense, defense and the kicking game. Our challenge will be to see if we can get our team back up and actually exceed that performance because that's what it's going to take to beat Sam Houston. Q. You play indoors, on the artificial turf. How many times have you played on natural grass? Does it impact the game that much? COACH CRAIG BOHL: Well, I think it does make a difference. You're right, we played inside a lot. We played on natural grass once this year. The field probably wasn't anywhere close to the quality of field that we'll play on in Frisco. I had an opportunity to go down to Frisco and observe their field. I can tell you I've had an opportunity to coach in the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl and the Orange Bowl. By far, this is the best field I've been on. I think the quality of play will be excellent and the field really is going to be an advantage to both teams. It's a great, great, fast track. Q. Both teams played Western Illinois. Can you take anything from the game film playing a similar team? COACH CRAIG BOHL: I think you can take some things. At that juncture in the season, it was very early. Football teams change. We've looked at that team extensively. I'm sure they've looked at our game. We've looked at other teams. We take a look at it.  It gives us an idea. We're going to go out and see how we match up come kickoff. Q. Coach, what are you expecting from your fans? Do you have a number from your administration as far as how many fans you're expecting to be there and your ticket allotment? COACH CRAIG BOHL: I know our ticket allotment was 4,000. We went way, way past that. I think we could have sold 10,000 tickets. I was in our ticket office today. I don't know how many of our fans went online and purchased tickets before the outcome of our game was decided. I know a lot did. I know there's a lot of tickets being sold on a secondary market. I know we'll have at least 4,000, and we'd anticipate a significantly larger number than that. Q. Has there been a pretty good buzz about this game coming up around town? COACH CRAIG BOHL: I would not only say around town, but I would say in the state and the region. This is a big event for NDSU football. Like I mentioned earlier, those tickets sold out as fast as they went online.  I think it is great for FCS football. You'll have a strong contingent of North Dakota State people. I know there's a lot of them bringing their buses down to tailgate. It will be a great collegiate atmosphere. J.D. HAMILTON: Coach, thank you and good luck. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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