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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: OREGON v WISCONSINDecember 29, 2011Carson YorkPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. Do you hear this stuff or pay attention to it, whenever I watch ESPN or read stuff about games you guys have played against LSU this year, Auburn in the Bowl game last year, even Ohio State in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago, when they would try and explain why your offense wasn't as effective as it normally is (Inaudible)? CARSON YORK: I mean, they're really good defenses, first. But we have a lot of prep team‑‑ it's not like we're only out a week and everyone else is out a month. So it's on us. You know, hopefully we can shake that stuff. It is sort of weird, those are the only games really, minus Cal last year, that we haven't put up our normal 30s or 40s or 50s. I mean, I don't know. Q. Do you think there's any connection? Can you find any link between that Cal game which I remember seeing a little bit on TV and the other games? CARSON YORK: I mean, they're just really good, and they came out and threw us some stuff that we necessarily didn't have our stuff in to counter. And since then almost every team has tried to do the same thing they did, just sort of running‑‑ they're sort of man free, the free safety takes to sort of roaming the box. But we have stuff in the system, in the packages now that sort of deals with that, so since that game, playing us that way hasn't been as effective. But I mean, on top of that, they're just a really did defensive line, good linebackers. They had some good linebackers that are in the NFL now, plus they had Kendricks, who was the Defensive Player of the Year in their conference, plus they had a couple D‑linemen who are in the NFL now and a couple guys who will be, so it was a really good front seven. It probably fits a lot closer to that mold, just good defenses. But I think we're a good offense, too, so we need to counter that and step up. Q. Do you think those two turnovers turned out to be the biggest factor in that game, not only sealing the momentum for them but preventing you guys from being consistent? CARSON YORK: I sort of look back, our defense played their butts off and played really well. An offense can't just give them a free touchdown and give them a 30‑yard field twice, a couple fumbles inside our own 30‑yard line. Yeah, it's like‑‑ people say we out‑gained them, but part of the reason is just because we had to go full field the whole time and they didn't. It's sort of hard to say, look, we played better than they did, which is not necessarily true, it's just we had to go further than they did. I don't know. They were probably one of the best teams we've ever played, and we played some pretty good teams. You know, seeing where they are now and the teams they've beat and how they've beat them, you know, they're a pretty darn good football team. It's like playing an NFL defense out there. Q. What was the best they had, their front, their backers or their secondary? CARSON YORK: I don't deal with the secondary very much, but I think Darron threw the ball pretty well. Mister Brock is their D‑tackle, one of the biggest people I've ever seen in my life, and I'm reasonably certain that one of their linemen gave me a concussion on like the second play of the game. I don't know, I think the whole front seven and the secondary are all pretty good football players. Q. Sounds like you're still having flashbacks sometimes. CARSON YORK: On the second play of the game one of the linemen hit me in the head so hard that my chin strap tore in half, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my helmet, so I got to the sideline and realized all the stitching on the chin strap was all torn out, and that's never happened before. Q. Nick was in here talking about the whole time of possession thing, they were on the field so much because you guys score so quickly, and Nick says it is what it is, you just deal with it. What are your thoughts about that? CARSON YORK: I think we've driven the ball a little bit more this year than we have in the past. Last year it was bad. It was like three plays and Mo Michael is in the end zone, 70 yards or something like that, the defense is like, seriously, and they're back out there. But this year we probably put up close to the same points but we probably had a few more extended drives than last year. I don't know, the way our defense plays is really‑‑ they really suited themselves to the way our offense plays, and it's a testament to the coaching staff on defense to get that many‑‑ 25 players game ready every week, go out and there's no dropoff, they compete, and it really is like a hockey team, just the next line‑‑ lines and shifts, and from an offensive standpoint we had three weeks against them in fall camp, and every week we were trying to adjust to new things they were doing, and we have all kinds of calls and stuff that we make as an offensive line just to deal with our defense that we never made again. We went all fall camp trying to battle against that defense, and from a schematic point, by far the toughest thing we've had to deal with all year. On sort of an athlete to athlete point, there's some really, really good guys over there, and there's a couple team periods where we have match up against those guys. It's not our favorite period of the week. I know our offense gets a lot of pub, but those guys, yards per play, I think they're the best in the conference, and they‑‑ it's just sort of inspiring the way they play, because we really pride ourselves into hustling the ball, and when you watch film, there's eight, nine guys within five yards of the ball and there's only one guy from the other team. So I really feel like our offense feeds off the defense, and sort of when we get rolling and get the offense really going is when the defense gets three‑and‑outs and stops or big plays and that kind of stuff, so maybe more on the defense, I feel like when the defense is playing well that's when our offense really starts to get rolling. Q. What do you make of this theory or fact that when teams have had time to prepare for you, five out of six losses in the Kelly area teams have had more than a week. Is there something to somebody getting to study your offense for a period of time, weeks rather than days, that is a benefit? CARSON YORK: Yeah, it's an annoying little fact, isn't it? I think to a certain extent, we just really prey on people, is that we get lined up and play so fast and we're so used to it so we're so used to getting our assignments detailed to each other so quickly that when we come off the ball and have only eight seconds between a play or nine seconds we know what we're doing and we're all on the same page, and when defenses aren't used to that, often we spring those big plays and stuff they're not on the same page, so there's guys doing‑‑ guys not on assignment, guys that don't really know what they're supposed to be doing. I think part of it has to be when you have weeks and weeks to prepare that you start to know your assignments so well that it doesn't necessarily prey on that quite as much. And plus they're really good defenses, too. Q. I remember back a couple years ago Ohio State in particular, their defense seemed very disciplined where I remember the USC game years ago where they were just out of position. Ohio State was in lanes, they all stuck to their plan and it was effective, plus they're pretty good. Is there anything that you guys can do knowing that‑‑ can you counter that, do anything different, or are you just going to try to be who you are and hope it works? CARSON YORK: I think we can play better, I don't know. Yeah, I think we're going to be who we are. You know, we've got some really good guys, too. If we watch the Auburn film it's really frustrating because there's multiple times where you see that one block gets made or just another half a second that LaMichael or Darron are going 70 yards for a touchdown. We were in the red zone three times where we didn't score where you can point to the exact block where this that block Kenjon walks in, that ball gets made, Darron walks in, if that read gets made he walks in. I'm sure Auburn can do the same thing. Rightfully the score probably should have been probably 30 to 30 if each team had not make those stupid mistakes, sort of the like the dropped touchdown they had.  So that's frustrating to that an extent. So I just think we need to have better focus this year and make sure that we can‑‑ it's like we don't have to watch film and see would have, could have, should have. Q. Can you talk a little bit about how the shift has been from other coaches and how you guys are a little bit of a reflection of Chip's personality? CARSON YORK: Yeah, I think he's a no‑nonsense sort of business guy. I think to a certain extent as players we sort of respect that and appreciate that. Part of being a head coach is sort of having to be a little bit of a politician, so it sort of becomes a little disingenuous to the players, so when you have a guy who definitely interacts with the media different than interacts with you guys, you sort of start of‑‑ you sort of appreciate that he saves who he really is for you guys. This is his group of people. You know, he's a hard‑working guy, no nonsense, no‑BS kind of stuff. I think that's the same sort of stuff we do. And watching film, I feel like Wisconsin is really similar, a lot of blue collar guys who work really, really hard. So on the defense is sort of like our offensive line, a lot of no‑name guys that just play their butts off. So I feel like that sort of the no‑nonsense business style sort of applies to them, too. Q. What is he like when you guys screw up or when things are not going well at halftime like in the Stanford game last year, situations where somebody has screwed up? What's he like? CARSON YORK: I think he's very quick to let us know that he believes we're going to get it done. That's sort of‑‑ he likes to say things at halftime if we're doing, just go out and get caught in the act of being yourselves. I think the one time in my life or one time in my career here that he's sort of been a rah‑rah guy at halftime was Stanford this year. I don't think he's ever said more than a couple words to us at halftime before that. It's because we believe in what we do and we believe in our preparation. Not to take anything away from anybody else in the country, but I believe we practice harder and practice better than anybody else in the country. It hasn't always been that way. It's gotten better all three years that he's sort of been in charge, and it's going to be exciting to see the guys, the players who have been in this program for their entire career start to really rise to the top of the pack in this team and when they've been practicing this way for their whole life or their whole football career and this is sort of all they know, I think it's going to be a whole 'nother level of Oregon football is going to be possible. I'm going to be excited to sit back on the couch and watch that. Q. What are some things that Hroniss has done this year that stand out? CARSON YORK: Hroniss just an awesome kid first of all. He sort of has the thing that I don't. He's sort of unshakeable. Anything happens, he just sort of takes it and rolls off his shoulders and moves on and stays focused, where maybe part of the reason I'm successful in school and stuff is I get so focused and so detail oriented and so stressed out about different things that I wear myself out or work myself up about stuff. Hroniss just sort of takes everything with a smile and moves on and stays focused on what he's got to do. He's one of those kids that is sort of willing to work, willing to learn and willing to get better. And I have to pinch myself every once in a while and remember he's a freshman because all of a sudden they're talking about something and he reminds me he still has three more years here or something, and it's just because he's never really addressed anything as if he was 18 or 19 years old, whatever he is, 20. He's always sort of addressed things sort of like this is where he belongs, a whole lot better than I did when I was his age starting. I had Bo and Jordan sort of babying me along. I don't think we've ever really had to do that. I think Hroniss has sort of resented any time we've tried to hold his hand along. He's just a heck of a kid. Q. Have you seen him rattled? CARSON YORK: No, not really. Maybe the first couple games of the year when one of us would get mad at him and sort of get after him maybe a little bit. Q. I think LSU was his first game. CARSON YORK: Yeah, did really well, too. I think there was maybe a moment where all fall camp we'd sort of been trying to help him out making calls and stuff like that, and there was sort of a moment during LSU where maybe not exact words but sort of told us to shut up and let him get everything going. I think there was a little bit of a growing stage at the beginning of the year where we wouldn't all be on the same page all the time, too many chiefs and not enough Indians. But I think that's sort of worked its way out and we've gone through the year. I think through maybe each guy has had a personal moment with Hroniss where they've sort of stepped back and gone, okay, this guy has got it, and by now we sort of all just shut up and wait for him to make his calls and we work off that, and we all really trust him. Q. What did Chip say at halftime of the Stanford game? CARSON YORK: I think we'll save that for ourselves. Q. Can you think of a better guy to play hero last night than Mark? CARSON YORK: No, it's funny, we were just talking to Kim, one of our trainers. We started telling the story to her. Her sort of take on it was, if you had just told me what happened, I would have guessed it was Mark, and I would have guessed how he would have gone about it. Basically stands up, walks over, does it, goes back down, starts eating‑‑ keeps eating again before anybody can even thank him. And sort of does it calmly like it's no big deal. I don't know, he's sort of like a little dad for everybody. Afterward I was like‑‑ I was talking to my girlfriend on the phone about I need to take some first aid classes or something, figure out how to do the Heimlich. I can't let Mark steal all the thunder. Q. Are you guys kind of challenged in this game as a unit to really control their defensive line? CARSON YORK: Yeah, I mean‑‑ Q. After the last two BCS games? CARSON YORK: I think we're sort of challenged to do that every game. We don't succeed at that or don't succeed at least a little bit to let these two sort of sneak by, it gets ugly. I'd like to go back into sort of not being noticed. You guys are wonderful, but the only time we talk about us is when things go wrong. I'd like to go back to you guys talking about these two over here. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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