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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: STANFORD v WISCONSINDecember 29, 2012Mike TaylorPASADENA, CALIFORNIAS Q. Some of the guys were talking that they've never seen a defensive coach that upbeat. They're usually beaten down. What's it like having such an optimistic defensive coach? MIKE TAYLOR: It's fun. He keep it's fun. Practices, meetings, it's just fun to be in those meetings and practices. He's always thinking on the positive side and it keeps us motivated. Q. What's he do in the meetings Shelton was telling me some of your strength and conditioning guys sneak in because it's like the best entertainment. MIKE TAYLOR: He's a little goofy. He asks questions, and we respond. He just keeps it funny and easy going. It's just fun to be part of. Q. What about as a position coach and technique‑wise, what's he done this year to be effective? MIKE TAYLOR: I think it's a mix of everything. He came in, and you know, we've had two previous coaches. When you get a new coach, you put all these things together and he teaches something new and keeps some from the old coaches and you learn something new. Then you put it all together. Q. How has he handled the last couple of weeks? He takes the couch out, but he's still here with you guys trying to help you win. How has he handled that? MIKE TAYLOR: Very well. All of the coaches want to coach for us. They're a part of this team. They want to see us go out on top. That's why they stay. That's why they want to coach this game is to see us succeed and do well. Q. How big a challenge is it‑‑ I mean, who is the best tight end you've faced this year? MIKE TAYLOR: Tight end? I know there were a few. I can't think right now off the top of my head. But I know the Stanford tight ends, they have two tall ends that can catch and block, and they'll give us a good challenge. Q. I'm a Pac‑12 guy, so they have made a living, the defensive safety or linebackers right there. MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, they're tall guys. They're quarterbacking in the ball whether they're covering or not. They can throw high and go up and grab it. Q. You've had some pretty Heated battles with Chris Borland at the Ping‑Pong table. How has that evolved? How do you stack up against Chris Borland? MIKE TAYLOR: I don't know if it's a battle when you lose. Chris loses most of the time. But he tries hard. He's got a lot of spirit. He works hard. But it's unfortunate that Chris can't win very many games. Q. Do you kind of feel bad for him and give him some pointers? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, you try to help him out. You try to take him under your wing. He's like a little brother to me. Just try to guide him in the right direction, and hopefully he'll learn. Q. Where did you become such a good Ping‑Pong player? MIKE TAYLOR: Growing up, we had a table in our basement. With two brothers, that's kind of what we did. We just played Ping‑Pong, yeah. Q. How important is it for you guys to have that game room as a way to unwind? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, it's real fun. There is not much to do before practices. So you go in there and have a fun time, relieve some stress. It's just a fun time. Q. Have you tried to hustle at Ping‑Pong and fly under the radar and catch people off guard with your skills? MIKE TAYLOR: No, I wouldn't say I'm that good. There are some guys on our team that are really good. Joel Stave is a pretty good Ping‑Pong player. You might want to talk to him. Q. Is it because he's tall and has a great reach? MIKE TAYLOR: He's just got it all. He's got a backhand, forehand. He's an all‑around good player. He's got the hair; he can do it all. Q. How many steaks did you put away at the Beef Bowl last night? MIKE TAYLOR: Just one. One filled me up pretty good, so just one. Q. Is it important for the D‑line to have more steaks to take up more room so you can shoot the gaps? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, I think so. If you can beef those guys up good and heavy, and take on those double teams, like you said, that's good. Q. How much tradition, like the Beef Bowl, how important is it to the whole week's experience? MIKE TAYLOR: It's really important. That's what we look forward to when we come out here. That and Disneyland, just being here in California and taking it all in, being part of the Rose Bowl for so long and to be part of the tradition and all of that is fun. Q. In general, how do you feel practice has gone so far? MIKE TAYLOR: Practice has gone really well. The first few days, getting acclimated to the new climate, getting your legs back. It's kind of a feel for the grass and all of that. But practice has gone well and fast, to the point. Not a lot of wasted time, and we're doing well so far. Q. Is it different knowing a lot of these coaches will be back next year? Or do you have this one and done feeling or mentality? MIKE TAYLOR: Being a senior, it's different for me. It's my last year, so regardless of coaches staying or leaving, it's my last time with them. But as far as the coaches they're handling it well. They're coaching for us. They're motivated, and they want to see us win; and they want to win too. Q. This is your third Rose Bowl. Is it different with Coach Alvarez at the whistle? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, I'd say so. At Wisconsin, that's what you see on TV. You see Coach Alvarez on the side lines coaching guys up. You think of the Rose Bowl, and you think of Coach Alvarez and vice versa. On Tuesday, it's going to be a fun time. Q. Has he done anything different routine‑wise than you've done the past two years? Did you go into a new place or do things differently? MIKE TAYLOR: Not really. He does some things different, but for the most part, practices have been the same. Q. (Indiscernible)? MIKE TAYLOR: I think it's something new. We've started to play around with the later part of the season. We're just trying to get the offensive lineup a little bit, and bring something new that they haven't seen yet. We've had some success with it. I think we're going to ask them to keep doing it, and see what happens. Q. (Indiscernible)? MIKE TAYLOR: I think it was Nebraska that was the fifth game. We got one sack off of it, and I think we used it once or twice in that game. As the season went on, we've been using it more. Q. (Indiscernible)? MIKE TAYLOR: Maybe. Q. It's really hard for the offensive line to figure out who is coming. So I was wondering, was there ever anything from your point of view? MIKE TAYLOR: It's basically four. Just getting to the quarterback, messing around with the O‑line schemes a little bit. But if you're in pass coverage as a linebacker and you have to drop out of different pass coverages it could screw you up. But I don't think‑‑ that's just what we do. When the ball is snapped, we have to go out there quick and get to our pass coverage responsibility. It could happen where someone's open a little quicker. But hopefully the guys rushing the scheme will get to the quarterback. Q. What do you see from Stepfan Taylor? You see Montee Ball and the other tailbacks at practice all the time, how do you think Taylor compares to Montee? MIKE TAYLOR: They're similar, shifty guys, they use their feet well. They have good feet. They're good at avoiding tackles. You've got to be patient when you're tackling Stanford's running back. Every running back is different. You've got to get a feel for what they do, and how they like to run. When you get close in as a tackle, what do they like to try to avoid? Do they like to spin? Do they lower the shoulder, side cut, jump cut, all that stuff? So as the game goes on, you get more familiar with every running back. That's what it's going to take getting familiar with how he runs, how he likes to get tackled, how he breaks tackles. Q. Most people are looking at this game as being two really smash mouth, running offenses. But I assume that there's a lot more to it than that. What do you think this game is going to boil down to? What's going to decide it? MIKE TAYLOR: Doing your job, taking advantage of the plays, big opportunities. If you've got a big play opportunity, you better make it. On defense, it's doing your job, fitting up the runs correctly. You're not biting on play action, just playing sound football. Q. Your spot is opposite the tight end; is that correct? MIKE TAYLOR: Mostly to the tight end. Q. So will you have the tight end? MIKE TAYLOR: It depends on the defensive call. There will be plays where me and Ethan are covering the tight end. There will be plays where Chris is covering the tight end. It all just depends on the call. Q. They do a lot of stuff with the tight ends, what do you think is the challenge there? MIKE TAYLOR: They've got two good tight ends. They're tall, they're big, they can run, they can catch. Like I said, when it's run, they're going to be blocking you good. You've got to play hard. When it's play action, you have to see who those guys are, because they're tall and they can catch the ball? Q. What is the intensity like for the team coming in, third year in a row? What's the chemistry and focus? MIKE TAYLOR: It's good. We've been here the past two years. It's been fun coming to LA and doing all of these things, Disneyland, the Beef Bowl, just getting familiar with these things. All of these things, getting used to it. What it all comes down to to is the game. That's what we're here for. We have a week to enjoy ourselves. But we've got to keep in mind staying focused on the game, and that's what we're doing. We're doing a good job of it practicing‑wise. Guys are on point, playing hard, playing fast. It should be a good game on Tuesday. Q. Let me ask you this, since this is your third year coming up, there's got to be some type of experiential benefit for you to be here playing Stanford. Talk about that. MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, every game you play you get a little wiser, you get more experience, and every game counts. Obviously, we've never played Stanford before. But watching them on film, they're a tough, physical group. They've got tight ends that can a catch. They've got a good running back, good O‑line, they've got good plays that will mess with us a little bit. But that's what we're here to do. We're here to practice and get these things down and try our hardest. Like I said, on Tuesday it will be a great game. It's going to be about fitting into run plays. Doing your job. Offensively we've got to take advantage of the plays. We've got to run the ball. Defensively, they're going to run the ball. We've got to stop the run. They try to play action, and we've got to respond to it. Q. Talk about a comparison analysis. You guys played TCU, and after that was Oregon. Any comparisons between those games compared to the Stanford team or any team that maybe you played this season that you can maybe learn from to defend against? MIKE TAYLOR: I'd say Stanford's different from the previous two Rose Bowls. They're more, like you said, they're more like us. They like to run the ball, play‑action, they've got good O‑line. They can put a lot of guys on the line of scrimmage. They like to run, run, throw the ball, run, run, throw the ball. So, yeah, it's going to be different for us. We've played a lot of spread teams this year. It's going to be like playing against ourselves. That's kind of what we've been doing in practice. Q. Talk about personal enrichment. What have you taken besides just the fact of playing football? What do you get from this as a personal enrichment from the whole experience? MIKE TAYLOR: Just coming in here and seeing a different way of life, if you will, the palm trees and the sun and the ocean and the California life, the smog, the traffic, just everything. Seeing what it's like. Not just seeing it in the movies, but seeing what it's like in real life. It's been fun to be out here to take it all in. It's been an experience. It's something that you'll always remember to be out here for a week and to enjoy it, to play the game, to do Disneyland, and the Beef Bowl, and hang with your teammates. It's fun. Q. You talk about coming out here. But this is your third year doing this. So do you feel like that almost worked to your advantage, the familiarity of this kind of routine by now? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, you could say so. But I mean, it's football. When it comes down to the games, Stanford has played just as many games as us. It's the Rose Bowl game that we've been in the last two years. But it's the game of football, and they know what they're doing. We know what we're doing. To say we've been here the last two years, yeah. We're used to the thing that's go on and how things work. But I mean, it's football. Stanford's trying to win. We're trying to win. They're preparing, and we're preparing. It's going to be a good game. Q. Last Tuesday you had a full scrimmage, correct? MIKE TAYLOR: Yep. Q. Obviously you have absolute faith and trust in Coach Alvarez. But when he tells you you're going to scrimmage a week before the game, what's going through your head? MIKE TAYLOR: I mean, that's just what you do. That's what football is. Since the Nebraska game, it's been almost a month. I think it's a good thing. Just to get back into games and get used to tackling again, and see what it's really like on game day. There are some games where you're not really, you know in it right away. It takes a while to get those hits and get those tackles in. When you wait three weeks, it makes it even worse. By doing that, you kind of just stay in it, and you get ready for it on game day. Q. Are you still feeling fresh though? MIKE TAYLOR: Oh, yeah, definitely. Practice has been shorter, less reps, still we're getting everything done that we need to get done. It's been good so far. Q. Talk about the week? MIKE TAYLOR: It's been fun. Everybody's been practicing well. Practice just seems more easy going, but again, we're still getting a lot of work in in shorter amount of time. I think everyone's just responding to it well, to the transition. It's definitely been different, but I think it's been better. Q. How has it been better? MIKE TAYLOR: Everything I just said. It's just cleaner, faster guys have a little more upbeat tempo to it. We've responded well playing for Coach Alvarez. That in itself gets you going. Q. Obviously you're not there with the behind the scenes stuff with the coach and media. But how much has he done? Does he do everything the way Bret would have done? MIKE TAYLOR: He's been more laid back. He's kind of letting the assistant coaches maybe do their job, take control of it. But then again he's still the boss. He's in control of running practices and all of that. But our assistant coaches are doing a great job doing their jobs. Like I said, it's been an easy flowing feel, but still going to get a lot of hard work in. We've been scrimmaging, and it's been a good balance between a good feeling and actually doing good work, and hard work. Q. Is he giving the assistant coaches more? MIKE TAYLOR: No, I wouldn't say they're doing more. It's all been the same. It's just he's been there. He's been observing. He's been the head coach. He's telling them what he wants. But it's an easy flow. It's not necessarily him telling coaches how to do their job. He's letting them take care of things. Q. Obviously Wisconsin has the most losses of a team going to the Rose Bowl. And you wouldn't be here if the two teams ahead of you hadn't been ineligible. How do you defend yourself? How do you explain, hey, we're good, we deserve to be here even though we've had five losses? MIKE TAYLOR: I mean, we've done what we had to do to get here. It's unfortunate that for Ohio State, Penn State, they were ineligible. But that's just‑‑ ineligible. But that's just the way the cookie crumbles. That's how it was. We knew the rules at the beginning of the year, that if you go to the Big Ten Championship game and you win that game, you go to the Rose Bowl. Yes, we've had five losses. It never feels good to lose, but it's five losses. They've all been close. It's not like we've been blown out or shut out or totally destroyed. We've been in every game. We've fought hard in every game. I wouldn't say we're undeserving. Obviously, I think we're a well‑prepared team that plays hard, and we'll give every team a good game. We beat Nebraska fairly well in the championship game. They're a good team. So to say we're undeserving or not deserving, I mean, obviously, we lost five games. But we've done everything we need to do to get here. Q. What do you need to do to win on Tuesday? MIKE TAYLOR: We just need to do our job, take advantage of the plays when they come to you. If you've got an opportunity to take advantage of it. You've got to catch the ball. You've got to run the ball. On defense you've got to make the tackles. If you've got an opportunity to make a interception or anything like that, you've got to do your job and take advantage of what's in front of you. Q. Looking back at everything that's happened, at the beginning of the year there were such high expectations for you guys, then the coaching changes and the kind of unexpected situations. Is it strange to look back and think of all the things that have happened to you guys this year? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah. To start out with the coaches, the transition to one of our coaches being let go, five losses, coaches leaving at the end of the year, Coach Alvarez coming in. It's a pretty adverse season. But we've handled it well and responded well. Like I said, we've been in every game this year, losses and wins. They've all been good games. It's definitely been a fun year. Playing with all these guys, it's just been fun. Q. How important has it been to your guys' leadership? It's a pretty small senior class, how important has that been this year? MIKE TAYLOR: Very important. Being seniors and showing everyone leading the way. But then again, we've got a lot of juniors that are leaders and can lead by example. Had a lot of playing time, can play big roles on this team. I think that's just the way it is here. There's not necessarily one guy that everyone follows or one leader. It's a group of guys. Seniors that are good leader that's can lead this team. Q. Was there ever a moment of doubt that despite Penn State and Ohio State being ineligible? Was there ever a moment where you thought it's not possible? MIKE TAYLOR: You never really think that way. You just think of what you do, what you can do. Obviously every game, two teams can win. You can always lose, but you never think about losing. You always go into practice thinking you're going to win and preparing to win. Obviously, when you don't win, it feels bad, but you've got to recover and go into the next week and think positive. Q. Obviously, you're a part of bringing Coach Alvarez in to coach this game. Can you talk about that? The players coming together that you guys decided to reach out to? MIKE TAYLOR: I think it was just kind of‑‑ no one really talked about it. It was kind of a feeling that needed to happen. I always remember seeing Coach Alvarez on the sidelines growing up as a kid. Playing football, and Pee Wee football and seeing him coach for Wisconsin. Him being a head coach, it's something you've always wanted to do was play for him. When the chance came to call him and ask him if he wanted to coach, it just seemed like a no‑brainer, that he was the one to coach us. Q. (Indiscernible)? MIKE TAYLOR: It helps us a lot. I mean, we practice against our team. Every day we go up against the one offense, and that helps us too. I think Stanford and our offense have a lot of things in common. They like to run the ball, play‑action. You know, that's what we prepare for. That's what we practice for. We go up against our offense in practice, and that's probably the main thing that prepares us. Q. Is it an advantage having someone like Montee Ball? MIKE TAYLOR: Definitely. They're similar backs, but they're different. Montee runs hard, and Stanford runs hard too. He's shifty. He's got bigger legs. He runs hard. You know, you never know what he's like until they actually get in the game and try to tackle. So, you know, you've got to wait until the game to see how he runs and how he breaks tackles. You've just got to feel them out on game day. Q. Can you talk about the roller coaster ride you guys have been on this season? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, obviously, a lot of things have happened, coaches, and losses, it all shapes us. It all makes us better. It puts you in those situations where you know how to respond and how to react. It builds you and makes you a better player. Q. What is the better way to describe what you guys are trying to do? MIKE TAYLOR: I would say just sound, smart players that take coaching well and do their job. They like to have fun. They play for each other. When you add all of those together, it creates a good defense. Q. Do you think you'll go down in history now as the guy that got the offense (Indiscernible)? MIKE TAYLOR: I don't. I think Coach Alvarez, there is a part of him that wanted to coach. I just gave him a little push over the hill to let him know that we wanted him to coach us. Q. There is a lot of talk about this team or to the teams being very similar. Do you see that? MIKE TAYLOR: I haven't really watched their defense, but I know they have a great defense, a good run stopping defense. They have great players. But you know, they're good at stopping the run, and that's what every defense has to do is stop the run first. If can you take care of the run, that sets you up on defense. Q. The offense has had a lot of tension in the way you played the past game. How has this defense progressed? MIKE TAYLOR: To start the year off, we couldn't get a turnover. But as the season goes on, you get into a rhythm. You get into your groove. You just get familiar. You get used to what you're doing, what your job is. You just grow as a player and as a team, as a defense. I mean, as the season goes on, you obviously get more familiar with things. Q. Nothing new installed? Nothing that's changed? MIKE TAYLOR: We haven't really installed anything new much all year. We stick to a few calls, and they seem to work well for us. I think the less you have to think about, the more you can play, and it helps. Q. How much leverage do you guys face on pressure? (Indiscernible)? MIKE TAYLOR: Definitely. Any time you can disrupt the pass, things can happen. You can force fumbles, you can get interceptions, you can get sacks, and those are big plays. So any time you can do that, it helps you win. Q. Are you seeing a change on the college level with more pressure up front now? Certainly in the NFL, you're seeing defensive linemen getting up. Are you seeing that change in college as well? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, and I think it all starts with J.J. Watt. We saw it at Wisconsin. He's got his hands up and knocked passes down. He's doing it in the NFL, and he did it in college. But if he can't get to the quarterback, you can't physically tackle him. The next thing can you do is get your hands up, and hopefully knock the ball down. Q. I know you're excited. Every player we talked to today said, "Let's just get to the game." All of these things are great, but I know you're ready to play? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, definitely. It's been a long time since we've played football. To play at the Rose Bowl, it doesn't take much motivation. Everyone's really excited, obviously. It will be a good game on Tuesday. But for now, we've just got to get prepared, stay focused on the game, and on Tuesday, hopefully we're ready. Q. Right across the way, Barry Alvarez was kidding around about it. I know you guys are excited back for a third time. This is a guy with three Rose Bowl wins and now a chance to be basically the leader of this crowd. I know you guys want to win it for him as well? MIKE TAYLOR: I always say growing up in Wisconsin as a kid, watching Wisconsin play, it was Coach Alvarez and all the games he's won, you think of the Rose Bowl and vice versa, and to be able to play for him, my last game as a senior at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, it's great. Q. What about the emotion? You heard the name Barry Alvarez being our coach, from an emotional standpoint, it can't get much better. MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, Coach B. said he was leaving, obviously, we were all surprised. But you've just got to move on. The logical thought was for Coach Alvarez to come back and coach. It seemed like the only thing that could happen. It was the logical idea for coach. We're all excited. Like we said, going to the Rose Bowl in the last game, we can play a good game, and it should be fun. Q. The style of play should be more suited, I would think, to the way you guys liked it? MIKE TAYLOR: Yeah, that's what we go against in practice. That's what our forte is playing these running offenses with two backs and hand the ball off on each side, pulling guards and all that stuff. Obviously, Stanford's different. They run a few plays. They have a different scheme, and that's going to take a while to get used to it. But that's what we're used to. Like I said, it will be fun. Q. We talked to Chris Borland, and he had that look in his eye like it's time. You've got the same thing? MIKE TAYLOR: It is time. It's been a long time. It's been since December 1st. I think the guys are just excited to play again. Sick of playing against each other. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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