BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL: AIR FORCE v RICE

December 29, 2012

David Bailiff

Driphus Jackson

Cameron Nwosu

Turner Petersen

Paul Porras

Jordan Taylor

Jared Williams

RICE – 33
AIR FORCE - 14

COACH BAILIFF:  First thing I want to talk about is Air Force Academy and Coach Calhoun, what super young men they are and what grit they played with today.  We love competing with them on the football field but we are so proud of what those young men are about to go do for this country.

It was a hard‑fought victory today.  Also want to take this time to thank John Garrison and Bell Helicopter, and Brant Ringler from Conference USA, the mayor of Fort Worth.  This was an unbelievable experience for the Rice Owls football team.  The citizens of Fort Worth were so hospitable everywhere we went, from Billy Bob\'s to Reata, they made us feel like a family this week.  This is a memory this football team will treasure.  The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl was an absolute great experience.  This football team, from our arrival, to our departure, our hat is off to the City of Fort Worth.

First half, defense was pretty solid in the first half, but we had all of that opportunity.  Offensively, we kept turning the ball on and we made a stupid penalty, even right there at the half.  We thought we would at least try to come away with a field goal and we didn\'t do that.

But we came out at the second half and made a couple adjustments and more importantly some attitude adjustments, not so much from coaching but from the team leaders.  We came out more determined to play the second half stronger.  The quarterback who got us into position gets hurt and Driphus Jackson comes in, redshirt freshman, has played a little this season, not extensively prior to the Houston game, comes in, no turnovers, very efficient running the offense.

We are proud of what we did defensively to hold them.  We made the plays and the opportunity was there.  We are thrilled and happy to be in this position.

Q.  Talk about bringing Driphus Jackson at quarterback.

COACH BAILIFF:  You could tell in his body language, swagger, the way he had the confidence, so we didn\'t have to move the offense at all the way he was continuing to work from inside the playbook.

Q.  Driphus Jackson, from his first performance in Houston, how different did he look today to you?

COACH BAILIFF:  In the Houston game, it was his first college start and we were trying somewhat to work with play calls.  You could tell that he was‑‑ in the pocket, he was quick to run.  I thought today he played like a seasoned veteran and like he was calling all the games this season, the decisions he made.  One of those stories of football.

Q.  Talk about Driphus Jackson coming into the game.

PAUL PORRAS:  Yeah, so proud of stepping up, he has not had a chance to play much, his first game since Houston.  He definitely proved himself and what a stage for him to come up, in a Bowl game, and be phenomenal.  And Jordan Taylor, give my hat off to him, no touchdowns this season and he scores three.

I\'m just really proud of our whole defense coming up the second half.  First half was a little sloppy, second quarter, and in the second half, we had zero punts and I\'m really proud of our front guys‑‑ ‑ we were ready and I was really excited to see him comeback, he missed majority of the season.

Q.  Cameron, talk about preparing for Air Force\'s offensive attack.

CAMERON NWOSU:  Preparation, gave us a chance to win.  Coach did a great job of calling the right plays and the practice‑‑ it\'s all about the practice going into the game and the attitude.  We had the right confidence and intensity coming out.  They like to run the ball a lot, it\'s like playing your first game.  Like coming in playing your first game, so it\'s preparation.

Q.  Cameron, talk about half‑time adjustments.

CAMERON NWOSU:  Yeah, head back into the locker room, so gather the defense together and said, hey, look, it\'s a four‑quarter game and everyone is going to remember how we performed in the second half.  I thought we did a great job on the offense and defense of creating turnovers and getting offense and they did a great job of getting time of possession and getting us down to the end zone.

Have to get everybody fired up and let them know that the whole world is watching us and watching how Rice is going to perform.  Coach did a great job of adjusting to what they are doing.  In the first half, they kind of killed us on the pass and the perimeter, so our D‑Line coach, he did a great job of putting us in position to go out there and dominate the second half.

Q.  Talk about wide receiver Jordan Taylor\'s performance today.

COACH BAILIFF:  He\'s ahead of his time, he\'s been the good‑to guy all season.  He\'s a legitimate passer, great hands.  I would say, too, the fact that we just ‑‑ didn\'t have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday to get ready for the option really does help. 

Q.  Inaudible.

COACH BAILIFF:  The coaches, we all talk, but when you have a self‑policing football team, when you have great leaders who will listen, it\'s always better.  It doesn\'t matter, no matter how much I rant and rave, those guys have heard it and it stings a little bit for them.  During the season‑‑ those guys have some courage.

Q.  Inaudible.

PAUL PORRAS:  A lot of guys were looking down on the season, here we go again.  And since I\'ve been here, it\'s my fourth year, we went 2‑10, 4‑8, 4‑8 and we were 1‑5 going into game seven.

And it was just unbelievable how our senior leadership all the way down to freshmen, we all came together as a family and we definitely just embraced each other, embraced the situation and we just were positive throughout the week going into game seven.  It\'s unbelievable going from 1‑5 to 5‑1 the second half of the season and going to a Bowl game.

Everyone is excited back in Houston and all our families.  We had a great fan section today and we were all excited and just glad we got this Bowl win.

DRIPHUS JACKSON:  A lot of these guys, the seniors, the foundation, all of the coaches and everyone we have coming to the game and part of it has to do with the way I was brought up and being confident, the way that I prepare, finish off the game.

Like I said these guys made it easy for me‑‑ made two spectacular catches and the defense got the stops.  It was a team effort and I can\'t take all the credit.

Q.  Were you more nervouscoming into the game?

DRIPHUS JACKSON:  Not really.  I don\'t want to come off as conceited.  After that first game ‑‑ I had an idea how to manage the game but didn\'t know exactlyor how we were going to figure it out or anything.

Q.  Jordan, talk about your performance today.

JORDAN TAYLOR:  Well, obviously I have a little confidence in myself being this tall but I\'m just ready and when they need me to make a play I do my best to try to do that.  I thought Driphus did an excellent job of coming in when Connor got hurt and stepped up and made a lot of plays.

Q.  Talk about your defensive performance today.

JARED WILLIAMS:  I think the second half is how we responded all season, a lot of great leadership on the team.  We come into the locker room, second half is a new game for us 0‑0, came out, executed and got the job done.

Q.  What does it mean to win a Bowl game?

JORDAN TAYLOR:  Well my first Bowl game to play in, so it\'s pretty surreal, it\'s an awesome feeling it really is.

JARED WILLIAMS:  For me it\'s my second Bowl win, first one I can really say that I feel a part of it, so it\'s great for me, it\'s my last game as a Rice Owl so to go out like this‑‑

DRIPHUS JACKSON:  For me it was a great experience, playing for‑‑ made my family and people supporting me proud.  It was a surreal moment.

TURNER PETERSEN:  End of the year and just had our up‑and‑downs, partly them‑‑ to finish, what, five straight now, it means the world.  The team really came together at the end, things were getting tough and trying to get some wins and really just makes it all worth it, all the hard times we went through together.  A great group of guys and proud of the way we played together.

Q.  Turner, talk about your performance today?

TURNER PETERSEN:  Trying to execute just like that, they run a big old up front with the noseguard and he disappeared to the back side, which kind of made my job pretty easy.  Went back and they slipped off and just on the outside line.

Q.  Driphus, talk about your confidence in the second half.

DRIPHUS JACKSON:  It was just a matter of knowing that, first of all, these guys kept me up, I didn\'t get too down.  So these guys, they had all the confidence in the world in me.  And in the second half, I kind of sat myself down and I was able to‑‑ like I said, these guys made it easy.  All I had to do was just get the ball to them.

Q.  Jordan, talk about having a career performance today.

JORDAN TAYLOR:  It\'s unbelievable, especially growing up and playing in front of a hometown crowd and a lot of people, it\'s an awesome feeling and feels great.  I can\'t express how much it means to me to play with this team and the camaraderie that we have throughout the season.  Just the way would he ever came things.

Q.  Driphus, talk about coming in off the bench.

DRIPHUS JACKSON:  As far as preparing, Coach did a great job at preparing us in practice and going through film and overall getting us ready for a game, whether it\'s starting or coming off the bench.  I mean, I guess it all comes back to the confidence, just knowing that when I go in there, not to press the issue and go with what I see.

Q.  Jordan, talk about being the third most famous person from Denison.

JORDAN TAYLOR:  I don\'t know about putting me on that kind of status by it\'s a good feeling.

Q.  Turner, what was said in the locker room at halftime?

TURNER PETERSEN:  Like what we said, it was calm in there and we understood this was not what we planned on doing.  It was a slow start for us.  But telling Connor, we have to get ourselves going.  We all knew exactly what to do and try to make a great second half for us.  Hats off to him but we settled down.

Q.  Jordan, talk about the size advantage over Air Force defensive backs?

JORDAN TAYLOR:  Yeah, it\'s a good thing but most times we play out here, really.  I thinkConference USA is known more for speed than size, but I think we just took advantage of matchups today and it worked out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports