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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: STANFORD v WISCONSINDecember 28, 2012Mike TaylorPASADENA, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What is your strategy going into this Beef Bowl tonight? MIKE TAYLOR: I personally don't have a strategy. Just eat until I'm full. I'm sure other guys are going to try. Travis Frederick is trying to eat nine or 10 or whatever. Some of those guys like to have fun with it, stuff themselves. I don't think it's a good idea, so... Chris said, his roommate is Beau Allen, I'm sure he's going to eat five or six, maybe 16. Q. What did Travis do last year? MIKE TAYLOR: Nine or eight. But he said the Rose Bowl told him the record was eight or nine. The next year he asked about the record, they said it was 10. I don't know if they're trying to get him to eat more. It's funny. Q. Coach Ash, Coach Partridge are both going to be gone on Wednesday, the day after the game. What do you think, from your perspective, is their motivation knowing their lame duck status at Wisconsin right now? MIKE TAYLOR: I think both coaches, they're coaching for us. They want to see us do well. Coach P has been here for us for five years. Coach Ash, this is his third year. They get to know us and vice versa. Being a senior, you want to go out on top, you want to play for your coach, you want to play for your teammates. They want to go out on top and win with the players and get one last win together as a team. Q. Coach Buh is obviously going to be gone, too. What have you learned with three different coaches? MIKE TAYLOR: Every coach is different. Initially you got to get to know your coach, they got to get to know you. You have to understand and learn how they like to teach. They got to learn how to teach you, how to communicate, how to build a relationship. That's how it all starts, is building a relationship, trusting one another. From there you move on to coaching. I think as the season goes on, you build upon it. Initially when you meet a coach, you don't know how he's going to be. You can say he's a nice guy, but until the season starts, you don't know how he likes to coach, what he expects from you. The last three years, different coaches, you grab something that will stick with you, whether it be technique, fundamentals, eyes, stuff like that, being physical, how to move your body, certain techniques. You can grab a little bit of something from each coach. Q. A renewal of ideas to keep things fresh? MIKE TAYLOR: Exactly. It's like learning something from each coach and combining them to find the best way of you putting on the field. Q. Stanford does similar things to what the Wisconsin offense does. When they have guards pulling, how difficult is it to get around them? MIKE TAYLOR: That's the first thing you look for, when you see a play, power, a guard pulls, how he's going to attack you, whether you're going to attack him first. For both players, you don't know what is going to happen, is he going to block you, avoid you, go low, high. In my last five years, that's what you learn, is how to tackle, what to expect. When they come at your legs, you have to be ready for the cut. If they go high, you have to stay strong, keep the ball inside. Comes down to getting used to it, especially over a game, whether it be different plays, different players. Got to get familiar with what they're trying to do, get used to it and find out what you're going to do about it. Q. When do you take the initiative with a guard coming around? MIKE TAYLOR: Kind of depends, obviously, on the ball carrier, whether the ball is outside or inside. You can either wait a little bit and see where the ball's going, or attack the guy right away. There's positives and negatives of both things. If you wait, you'll get more yards, get pushed back. If you attack right away, you're not sure if the ball is going to bounce outside, because you're too heavy and thick on them, it can just bounce outside and you can lose contain. It's one of those relationships in the game where you have to feel it out and see what they're going to do. Q. It's more instinctual? MIKE TAYLOR: Yes. Q. You don't process all this stuff? MIKE TAYLOR: Every game is different. Every player is different. Every play is different. You just got to adjust out there on the field. Q. How would you say you have handled teams that use pull‑in guards? Michigan State is one, maybe Ohio State, Penn State. MIKE TAYLOR: It all starts in the beginning of the week, how we're going to fit plays up. The way we fit plays might change throughout the week, throughout the game depending on what they do, what we're good at, what they're good at. So far we've done a pretty good job. Obviously you can always do better. Whether your job is to stop the guard or go make the play, you have to do it full speed and make the decision quick. Q. I know players don't think this way, but as a senior, being here three straight years, have you thought at all about what a third loss would mean to your senior class? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, obviously you don't like to think that way. It's very possible that it could happen. The last two years, it's not like we didn't try to go out there and win. We gave everything we got. Unfortunately we lost. That's what the game of football is. Each team prepares hard. They want to go out there and win. There can only be one winner. The good teams, they get it done. They got to find a way to get it done. Last two games with TCU and Oregon have been close. This is going to come down to who plays harder, who fits their plays better on defense, big plays, stopping the run, things like that. Obviously both teams want to win, but only one can win. Q. When you look at your senior class, you have multiple All‑Americans, et cetera. If you were to lose this third game, do you think people would remember the fact you lost three straight Rose Bowls or that this was an awesome senior class with a lot of talent? MIKE TAYLOR: This year has been a different year. 7‑5 in the regular season, pulled out a big win against Nebraska to get here. I'm sure different people remember the season differently. There's a lot of things to remember. You can remember the five losses. You can remember the great wins. You can remember getting to the Rose Bowl three years. You can remember losing two straight Rose Bowls, but maybe we can win and make a great memory. Q. What would that memory be? MIKE TAYLOR: The cherry on the top of the last four years, especially all we've been through this year, five losses. If we could get a win, it would be great. Obviously Stanford wants to get a win, too. Both teams want to win. It would be a great game. Q. What would it mean for you to win this game? MIKE TAYLOR: It would mean everything. The last two games I remember walking off the field. The first game, we got here, we lost a close game. Obviously you're disappointed. You wanted to win. When you take a look around, we made it to the Rose Bowl. Surprised some people that we got there. The next year was the year we were supposed to do big things. But we lost. Walking off the field again, it was a bigger disappointment when we had that many good players. We were able to do some things, we did well. Last year, it all falls right back on top of you. To be able to walk off the field with a win, like I said, it would be the cherry on top. I'd walk off the field with a smile. I think everybody would be happy, obviously. That would be awesome. Q. I would assume it would feel validating with all you've been through. MIKE TAYLOR: It would. But this is Hollywood. It's not a movie. You got to go out there and do it yourself. It's sounds like a good way to go out. Stanford is a good opponent. We got to go out there and do a good job and get the win. Stanford is going to try to do the same thing. Q. Are you planning on pursuing an NFL career after that? MIKE TAYLOR: Hopefully. Q. How important is it to play well in these big games when it comes to that? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, I wouldn't say that's what it's really about for me. Obviously nothing's guaranteed. I'm not the type of player to really have, like, high draft stock. For me it's playing these games in college, enjoying the last game. Like I said, nothing is guaranteed after this. To go out with a win would be special. That's what we're thinking, winning for the team, for the coaches that are leaving, and them doing the same for us. It's kind of a special year regardless of our record. To go through what we've been through, come back and make it to the Rose Bowl, we'll see what happens. Q. (Question regarding Coach Bielema.) MIKE TAYLOR: I wouldn't say it overwhelms me. That's just what we do. No one told me to come here. No one could persuade me to go elsewhere. This is what you do growing up, let things unfold. On TV, watching Badgers football teams. That's what happens to kids in Wisconsin. You want to play Division I football. You want to come here, represent your state and win. Q. Did you have a lot of tackling in scrimmage yesterday? MIKE TAYLOR: Yes. Q. Did it catch you off guard? MIKE TAYLOR: No. We knew it was coming, I think it's good. It's been a while since we live tackled, it's been since December 1st. When you start to go a few weeks without tackling, you kind of get rusty. It takes a few plays in the game to get used to it again. I think that's a great way of keeping us normal, how to play football. Q. Taylor, is he like Montee at all? MIKE TAYLOR: I'd say they're different. Montee is more shifty. Not that Stepfan Taylor is not, but Montee is good at shifty, missing tackles, getting away from tackles. He can break some tackles obviously, too. Stanford's runningback is a little bigger, bigger legs, but still shifty. Every runningback is different. He can break tackles. Just the way he runs, you have to get familiar with them. You won't know until you play them. Some runningbacks have different stride lengths. If you're going to tackle their legs, you have to get familiar with how wide open your arms are to tackle, how wide their strides are, whether you're going to tackle him high. Montee, whether you tackle him high or low, he's hard to bring down. Just like every runningback, everyone is different. You kind of have to get a feel for them. I know last year Oregon's runningbacks were quick, shifty, you couldn't attack them. You have to go in there and get used to how they like to run, how close you can get to them before they actually try to put a move on you, all that. Q. You win this game if what? MIKE TAYLOR: If everything clicks, defense, offense. Q. Like what happened when you beat Nebraska? MIKE TAYLOR: Definitely. The offense was definitely clicking. Defense gave up some big plays, but overall the defense shut them down. That probably has something to do with the offense putting up points and making Nebraska throw the ball more, helping the defense get back in coverage. If everything clicks, if the offense can get first downs, score points, if we can stop the ball, get turnovers, put them in third‑and‑long, force them to punt. Then again, nothing's guaranteed. They're going to be trying. Obviously Stanford is a good team. They were able to get here. They got a great defense, a good offense. Like I say, we'll just see what happens. You never know until you go out there and play. Everyone thought Nebraska was going to roll. That's just what football is. You never know until you actually play the games, yeah. Q. When I asked you about boosting your NFL stock by playing in this game, you said that's not what it's about. Do you mean it's more about when you look at the trajectory of your career? MIKE TAYLOR: I mean, college is one. That is completely different. That's a totally different job. Like I say, nothing's guaranteed. All you have is right now, today. That's the only thing guaranteed. The only thing guaranteed is this game on January 1st. That's what it's all about. Q. This is your last game? MIKE TAYLOR: No, it's a weird feeling. I wouldn't say it as, Hit me. The focus is just going out last game and trying to get a win. Q. I wanted to ask you about your interim head coach. How is he doing? MIKE TAYLOR: He's doing well. Q. Is it like riding a bike? MIKE TAYLOR: That's exactly what it is. Q. Is he instant coach? MIKE TAYLOR: I don't think you can ever lose it. Coach Alvarez, he's done a very good job. Obviously he's in the Hall of Fame. It's just something that he has. I think it's what great coaches have, it's in them. They know what to do. They're good at motivating their players and getting guys ready to play in these big games. That's what he's good at, these big games. So, yeah. Practices have been going well. Cool to see him around at practices coaching being from Wisconsin, watching on TV. Q. Turning a switch? MIKE TAYLOR: I don't think he's ever lost it. He's always been a coach, helping the offense. He's always been coaching. Being a player, you watch NFL games. It's hard to sit back and try to watch the game, or other college games. Always seeing formations, what kind of plays. I'm sure it's for coaches that have been doing it longer, formations, all that. I'm sure it's always processing in your head. I think it's probably hard to relax from being a coach. Q. Why were you so adamant about wanting him to get you through this? MIKE TAYLOR: I think it was obvious. No one even really had to say anything about it. Just seemed like the logical thing to happen. You can't bring another guy in here and only give him a month to prepare. You can't take things away from the assistant coaches that have to prepare for these games as well, make them a head coach. They've done a great job. To take them away from preparation, I think it's the only logical thing that could happen. Q. I was reading the transcripts where he tells a story where you were calling him, he saw the number from Green Bay, didn't return your call. MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, I called him. I mean, I was nervous obviously to call him. Q. Really? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah. I think everybody would probably be nervous to call him, especially after an event like that, he was busy and all that. But I called him. He didn't answer. I think he ignored my call, which he said. I was hesitant to call again, not sure if I should. I called him again, left a message. He called back. I just told him the guys would be stoked and excited to play for him in the Rose Bowl. Q. What was his reaction? He said he was honored. MIKE TAYLOR: He was probably more excited than us (laughter). Yeah, I think it's probably on his mind. I just think he wanted validation that we wanted him to coach. Obviously everyone wanted him to coach for us. Q. Can I ask you about the wristband? MIKE TAYLOR: They say, I'm in and I'm on. What it stands for is guys can be in, they can want to win, they can show up, but you have to be on. You have to go out and do the work. You have to prepare, do your job. You got to do everything that they ask you to go out and get a win. Q. Have you had it on the whole time? MIKE TAYLOR: It was red and now it's white. I think it's a good saying. And it's true. Some guys can say they want to win. They can say they want to do all these big things. Some guys, they go out there, they go do it. They actually want it. That's the difference. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE TAYLOR: Maybe two weeks ago back in Madison. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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