|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BRIDGEPOINT EDUCATION HOLIDAY BOWL: CALIFORNIA v TEXASDecember 28, 2011Emmanuel AchoDavid AshMack BrownMarquise GoodwinJackson JeffcoatKeenan RobinsonJaxon ShipleyKenny VaccaroSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA Texas: 21 THE MODERATOR: It's all you, Coach. MACK BROWN: We're excited to win. There is a huge difference in 8‑5 and 7‑6, I wanted to congratulate Mack Brown and Cal, I thought they played great, they've got a great team, the difference in this ballgame were the turnovers and we didn't take advantage of those during the first part of the game. We didn't score a field goal, we didn't score a couple of times after turnovers, but we came back and two significant things that happened, defense played great, forced turnovers, our defense did not play well the first drive of the second half, Cal had a great drive. We stopped them going in before the half and that was huge but they drove right down and scored and then the offense answer and had after that the defense took over and I thought Coach Diaz called a great game, these guys had so many sacks, I thought I heard 7, I don't know how many there were but it was very, very difficult for them to get the ball down the field. And then we were able to‑‑ I thought our offensive and defensive staff did some‑‑ made good adjustments at halftime and we made some plays offensively. David made some plays, Brian put us in a good position on a couple of plays in the second half and even the latter part of the second quarter. But when we force at least two turnovers and have not turned the ball over more than twice we have won eight times this year and that's been the difference in the football games and our defense has been patient to hang in there and let the offense grow up and work its magic at the end to make a play or two to win the game because we weren't an offense to run up and down the field but I thought David played well, Marquise made the great place and these two linebackers are going to be missed next year because they played great all year. We had a holding penalty on the third and 4 where we had a first down right before the half, we have a fake punt that's a 20‑yard gain and we had a misalignment, so we had too many penalties in the first half, but I was proud of the guys, all we needed to do was win, proud of the way they hung in there, we said there would be a lot of adversity in this ballgame and they handled that and proud of them and helps us with momentum going into spring. First he assaulted me on the field. Q. Were you thinking at all about Joey Harrington and the pass to David Ash? MACK BROWN: We're so stupid we hired Joey, he work for the Longhorn network so every time I see him I have to think of that, Brian grew up in the Boise system and that's the stuff that Jeff did with Oregon back in the early 2000's, and that's one of the reasons I hired Brian he believes in running the football and being physical but he's got enough toys in his pocket that he's going to take advantage of things when he can and if you're not moving the ball he's got enough different things, imagination in the offense to make a play. Q. Mack, could you talk about Goodwin's progress, it took him a while after he came back. MACK BROWN: What Goodwin has done this year is unbelievable, he didn't go through spring practice, wasn't here for summer workouts, wasn't in a position meeting, he didn't go through two‑a‑days, so to come back and show his passion for playing after the long jump in the world games has been unbelievable. Actually in the first part of the year they were telling him what to do leaving the huddle and they would say come over here and run a hitch, or "run a corner" and I think he's saved us because it hasn't been a year where we were healthy at wide out and deep and each week he's gotten better and better and he can change a game like he did tonight with his speed even with the reverse that we ran, there was nothing there and he made 20 yards out of it because of his great speed. David and I talked about it if David keeps him in bounds he's got another touchdown that's probably a 95‑yard touchdown because we were trying to get off the goal line and the field position got huge. Another one Goodwin got shoved out‑of‑bounds and didn't fight to stay in and makes a great catch but they ruled that he ran out of bounds on his own so there were two or three opportunities that we didn't cash in on even above what Marquise and David did tonight. You've got to have a "go to" guy and we've got to improve our passing game and that started tonight. Q. David can you talk about the opportunity tonight and what it meant, what it was like? I know there were some tough moments out there but some good moments, too, and you get the win. DAVID ASH: I thought Coach called a great game, put us in a position to make great plays and I can't credit my team enough for hanging in there even though the game was sometimes sloppy and making plays and ultimately pulling out the "W" so that was good. Q. After not starting for a couple of games were you rusty, nervous? Seemed like you settled in as the game went on after a tough start. How were you feeling early and then as the game progressed? DAVID ASH: I got play in during practice and the coaches had me well prepared for the game and I department to settle in and make sure we started out with things right and we have a great defense and we're going to use that and not make any dumb mistakes early so settled into the game. MACK BROWN: I thought Cal's defense played great early they were all over the place, we didn't block them, we couldn't run the ball and when we started runnin' it, a little better second quarter, it enabled us to throw the ball deep and they started‑‑ they came into the game obviously to keep our backs from being able to run the ball and David and Jaxson hit a couple of balls down field. Q. David when did you find out that you were starting and did you know that you were going to be playing the full game no matter what at any point? DAVID ASH: Um, I can't remember, I guess it was probably the week before we came to San Diego that I started getting rep and figured it was my time to start the game. MACK BROWN: When he played good it assured that he stayed in. Q. David what do you think about an 8‑5 season? Is that pleasing to you? DAVID ASH: Well it's not‑‑ we like 13‑0, that would be ideal. You know, it is what it is, and we grew from it and we won a Holiday Bowl and there is a lot of good things that happened but we're on the way up and that's what we're excited about at Texas. MACK BROWN: There will only be 16 champions in 38 bowl games and that's all we could accomplish tonight and that was our goal and the guys are happy. Q. You started the season with a lot of young players, rebuilding, what's it mean to you to finish strong win the Holiday Bowl? MACK BROWN: It means a lot because David said it, these seniors finished third in the country and had a tough deal with the BCS competitors in their first year, they lose a national championship game, finish second in the country the second is year, last year I didn't do a very good job and got off track so we had a chance to win at home against Kansas State we hold them to 127 yards and we didn't win the game, we had the chance to win the last game against Baylor and we played poorly, so all the sudden all you've got left is to give your seniors a win and send them out whether we like it or not you all write better about 8‑5 than you do 7‑6, you write better when you're 13‑0 than 8‑5, I've been doing this a long time, but the guys can walk outta here with their heads up, we're not jumping up and down screaming, but this was a pivotal game to let the seniors go out and show that they have us headed back up the hill where he want to be. We played in the Holiday Bowl in '03, won a BCS in '04 and won a championship in '05. We lost the national championship in '09 so hopefully this is a step forward and we want to make sure that's what the seniors did is make sure we were headed in the right direction. Q. Keenan, how over the top are you about the defensive effort with all the sacks and the turnovers, just a tremendous job by the entire defense, how happy were you about that? KEENAN ROBINSON: It goes with the scheme we had. Someone asked me what did you guys do leading up to here for the first two and a half weeks we focus on Texas, spring ball, doing little things right and I think that held tonight because we were back to fund mentals and back to playing Texas way, and that helped tonight because we were able to stop the run and when third downs came around we got sacks and turnovers because we put the quarterback under pressure and we executed the game plan perfectly. Q. Mack, can you speaking with to the decision to start David and what went into that. MACK BROWN: We could have played either, Case has played well, both have done good things and both have struggled some and we felt like Cal is a west coast team didn't see option much and Clancy Pendergrass is‑‑ his roots from the envelope coaching with the cowboys and the Cardinals and they have one of the best front fours that we have seen all year and we knew we weren't going to block 'em all the time so we felt like David's strength and his ability to run the option give us a few opportunities early. Q. Mack, David's performance, does that set up anything going into next year? MACK BROWN: We'll have a great spring, David was kind of like Goodwin with his progress, he got very few snaps in the string because we had three older guys with Case and Connor and Gary, so those guys took about all the snaps and in the summer I asked David and the receivers how much did David get 7‑on‑7, and they said none, though three quarterbacks wouldn't let him have any so to be a high school senior out here doing what he did tonight is special and it will give Brian an opportunity to Coach both Case and David a chance to Coach them in the spring and we want to progress offensively and we want to do the things that Boise has done offensively civil, and they have a great scheme and offense and we're so close to that I can see where we're going and I'm excited about it. I thought Brian did a great job tonight of showing patience, he had more than I did and hanging in there and waiting for his opportunities because the defense was playing so well and not forcing turnovers, and I thought he and David were on it, and I noticed there were the most punts in any Holiday Bowl game all together and that won't be in the score, doesn't matter, we didn't turn it over ask we won the game and that's a great credit as a team win. Q. Mack, any way you will get Goodwin to stick around for spring? MACK BROWN: Marquise is getting so much better every day and we just get him half a year so what he's learned to do is he and Coach Wyatt have a great relationship, he will be around us some, be able to work some, be able to work in the white room some and we want him to win the Olympics, so we're pulling him in a lot of directions but he's matured and grown up and I'm glad he came back this year and I think we see the fruit‑‑ what he's done tonight through the year and what is out there for us for next year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach Brown. Q. Marquise, the way they loaded up their defense on the run did you notice that and how did it help you? MARQUISE GOODWIN: I didn't get the question. Q. The way they loaded up the defense for the run, how did that help and you what did you see back there? MARQUISE GOODWIN: When they loaded up the box it opened up a lot outside for us to be able to pass the ball. Like Coach Brown said we couldn't get the running game started at the beginning but toward the end of the second quarter toward the second half, you know, we were able to start moving the ball down the field. Q. Manny and Keenan you guys gave up points on the first drive of the game and the first drive in the second half can you talk about the adjustments made or the differences that went on between those drives and the rest of the game? EMMANUEL ACHO: Cal executed pretty well and the first drive of the game that's how Bowl games are, we had to get the flow and get into the rhythm of things and get into the flow from there. KEENAN ROBINSON: That's one of the things we needed to key in on, the field goal is fine but we like to have points, the touchdown is unacceptable, especially since they drove the length of the field and they had big plays on third down that they were able to execute, at the same time we have higher standards and that's where pretty much the rest of the game we made those changes and we had to stop them on third down getting off the field in third down. Q. Marquise, you guys talked about all week how important winning this game was for next season. Now that you've won it, talk about why it was and what kind of momentum‑‑ help it is for going into next season. MARQUISE GOODWIN: Basically the plan was to win this game and send our seniors out on a good note, you don't want to send them out with a bad taste in their mouth and this win is great for the team and it gives us some momentum headin' into the off‑season, training with each other and getting better. Get us moving back in the right direction toward where we want to be and where we need to be. Q. Marquise where has David grown up the most throughout the year? MARQUISE GOODWIN: David has matured a lot, since I first met him when I came summertime, or after the first game. He's matured mentally and physically, he's managed to handle pressure well, and he's a fighter. He's been grindin' it out every day, working hard. I commend him for the things he's done because he's a young guy coming in and it's hard to have the pressure on his shoulders so he did a great job of handling it well. Q. Manny, turnovers, you get 5 of those and then you throw in those sacks, how pleased are you with the performance of the defense? EMMANUEL ACHO: Like you said, I'm so pleased, if we forced more than two turnovers, we have won every game so knowing that we played to the odds and we were able to come out and force the turnovers, the offense did a great job of limiting them and if you have five turn overs, you should win the game so defense did a great job and the ball rolled our way finally. Q. David you started the season alternating as quarterback, and tell me about your season, what it meant to you and when you start and finish the Holiday Bowl. DAVID ASH: Can you repeat the question? Q. What I meant to ask is tell me about your season and starting as a quarterback for the Holiday Bowl for Texas and winning? DAVID ASH: Starting off the season I guess looking back on it, you know, there was a lot of up's and down's and thankfully I have a strong base, my family, my faith, and coaches are great and these players have encouraged me throughout the whole year, a lot of times wherever it was hard because, you know, I felt like I let down my team during a certain portion of the year and felt like we could have won more games had I played better but to get through all that and come out and get a great Bowl win versus Cal, it's been a long journey, and great to finish on that. Q. David, what are you going to remember more from this game, the touchdown pass or the catch? DAVID ASH: Um, I don't know, probably just remember them both equally. Q. Manny or Keenan, did Cal do anything tonight that you hadn't seen in practice or even watchin' them on TV or anything like that during the year? EMMANUEL ACHO: Not necessarily, we had three weeks to study for them, our GA's and our Coach, Coach Diaz did a great job of preparing us, the line backing corp is intelligent so when you give us that amount of time I think we should have the game mastered, and credit to Keenan and others, they caught us off guard but when they started to be who they were all season we started to get a feel for it. Q. Marquise with the passing up's and down's you've had was it worthwhile after that touchdown pass? MARQUISE GOODWIN: Most definitely, we haven't been able to execute on the passing end of the offense and we started off as a run and we progressed a lot during the season and ending on the touchdown I feel privileged to be here today. Q. Marquise what happened on that play, did you put a move on him? MARQUISE GOODWIN: He was man'd up and he was playing me outside and I knew he was going to jump outside so I gave him a move and went inside and got back outside and David threw a perfect ball and I caught it. Q. Was No. 2 a casualty of the game plan or did you guys kinda notice he was doing different things during the game? DAVID ASH: I was going to Quise, I wasn't trying to pick on anybody, we were trying to get Marquise the ball he's a playmaker. MARQUISE GOODWIN: I was trying to make plays out there, we wasn't quing on one person it just happened to be him. All we needed to do was make plays and that's what we did. Q. Keenan, and Emmanuel, Cal didn't score except the first drive of each half how did you guys improve as those two halves went on? KEENAN ROBINSON: Basically we played our ball, we stopped them from running it on first down, second down it was either pass or run, we just did a great job of doing the third downs and making sure we put 'em in pressure where it's third and long, third and 7 plus so when we did that they gave us time for our D linemen whoever is on blitz to get to the quarterback and we wanted to make plays. Q. Did you feel like there was something they were trying to‑‑ QUANDRE DIGGS: I'm a freshman, you've got to live with it, make plays and make 'em not look at that side of the field. I have great guys up there, getting a great pass rush and that helped a lot so I want to thank those guys but it's going to happen, been happening all year which doesn't bother me. Q. Jackson, talk about the effort tonight. JACKSON JEFFCOAT: We had something to prove and we didn't play the way we wanted to play against Baylor so the three weeks we had to prepare for Cal, we said that we were going to come out and have a dominating performance. Q. What was the key to forcing turnovers tonight? KENNY VACCARO: I think we just work off each other and fry to make plays. Q. Kenny, what would go into your decision over the next however long it takes to decide whether you stay or go? KENNY VACCARO: I actually tweeted that. Q. What did you say? KENNY VACCARO: Go read it. Q. You can't‑‑ JAXON SHIPLEY: Y'all already followed him? KENNY VACCARO: I'll be back next year. Q. What went into the decision? KENNY VACCARO: I want to win the Thorpe, that's it, and I want to go to South Beach, that's where the Orange Bowl is. Q. Kenny, so you are coming back. What did tonight's win mean working toward next season? That was something you guys talked about over the course of the last week or two that you wanted to get this to build for next year, what does win No. 8 mean and finishing the year with a win? KENNY VACCARO: I think it's momentum for our team next year and as far as me and Jaxon, even younger guys being leaders, it's a stepping stone toward next year and that's all guys making plays, my boy "Tank" and other guys makin' plays and hopefully this will trend off of next year, y'all saw the slide show about Holiday Bowl, BCS, national championship, hopefully we can skip that and go to South Beach. Q. Who showed the slide show? KENNY VACCARO: Our camera guy, there is like a trend from the last 6 years. Q. Jaxon can you talk about what David did over the last couple of weeks? JAXON SHIPLEY: Over all we're exited for him next year. Q. Where have you seen him grow up the most over the course of the year. JAXON SHIPLEY: When he first got his starts, toward the middle of the season, I think that's when he started to grow up a lot more whenever he realized that this could be his team and he need to do step up and make plays but it's one of those seasons where we were switching the quarterback and it was hard for our quarterbacks to find a groove and hopefully we will have a quarterback next year and everything will be settled down and we will go from there. Q. Do you think you guys need one quarterback to be consistent? JAXON SHIPLEY: I think that would help, everybody knows that having one quarterback and not switching from one to the other definitely would help with the consistency but we got to do what we got to do and if we need to play both we'll do that and I think both of 'em do a great job and they're both good in their own little areas and we'll use them at what they're best at. Q. What about David's progress just in this game, at the beginning he misfired on a couple of flows, whether it was nerves, rust, whatever. JAXON SHIPLEY: Like you said beginning of the game he had balls he didn't throw too great but as the game went on he made plays even running the ball he made some plays and like I said that ball to Marquise was good and the touchdown pass that he caught was good so I feel like he progressed throughout the game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|