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ROSE BOWL GAME: MICHIGAN STATE v STANFORDDecember 27, 2013Mike BloomgrenKevin HoganDavid YankeyPASADENA, CALIFORNIA MIKE BLOOMGREN: We couldn't be more excited to be here as a football team, second year back in the Rose Bowl. It's kind of a culmination of all of our goals. We had a great time yesterday at Disneyland and looking forward to getting back on the field with these guys today and getting back down to business. We're going to treat it pretty much like a business trip from here on out. We'll have a great time practicing football and playing together like we always do. Looking forward to getting back on the field today and certainly looking forward to January 1st. Q. Kevin, when you look at the Michigan State defense on film, the tendencies, what do you see and what are some of the unique challenges that they present? KEVIN HOGAN: Well, first when you look at them on film, they're a very experienced group. They do what they do very well. They're coached very well, and that's a huge problem because they don't try and do a lot of things differently, they don't try and get out of their game, get out of their game plan. They're just very solid, very stout, and it presents a lot of challenges for offenses. Q. Kevin, have you seen any defenses either this year or in your career that are similar in the Pac‑12 or the non‑conference or bowl games you've played? KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah, you see that with all the top defenses we play. They stick to their true identity. Some defenses might try and get out based on what you're doing, but the really good ones, they'll stick to their style, and do that through and through. Q. You've probably seen on film a lot of their middle linebacker who is not going to play in the game. I'm wondering how you think that might affect them and what kind of a talent he is. DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, definitely. We saw a lot of him on film, one of their older guys. It's a tough break any time you're not going to the bowl game with your team, but I think they're pretty much going to stay like Kevin said, stay true to who they are. They're a very good defense with a lot of experience and a lot of guys who know how to play in that system and do a very good job of it. Q. For Kevin and David, if you guys could follow up in a little bit more detail as far as doing what they do, specifically what are some of the characteristics of what they do that may be a little different than what you've seen in the Pac‑12 for both of you? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, up front with the front seven they're a very physical front. Their D‑line is extremely physical. They like to get into the offensive linemen, cause a lot of trouble, get a lot of penetration, just kind of make plays not really work the way you want them to, and then their linebackers are great athletes, can move around really well and make tackles along with their safeties coming down. KEVIN HOGAN: Yeah, and in the secondary, they've got a lot of experience, a lot of playmakers. They don't always show what they're doing, which makes things tough at times, but they all fly to the ball in the run game, and it's hard to beat them over top, so in that sense they can put more guys in the box and still cover downfield. Q. David and Mike, how has Kevin grown as a leader and a quarterback from last year's game to now, and just adjusting to your system as opposed to last year? DAVID YANKEY: Yeah, I think Kevin has grown a lot as a leader from last year. He came in and was playing a lot for us and just had that competitive fire within him, just always ice in his veins, went out, won a bunch of games, but in the off‑season you saw him develop as a leader for the offense and the team as a whole, and now you see him doing all the right things, taking more notes than anybody, just doing everybody that the QB should and being a great leader for the offense. MIKE BLOOMGREN: I would agree with everything David just said. I would say also his presence in the huddle. He always came in and even when he came in the Colorado game last year, I think he's an easy guy to follow. But just his work ethic and everybody seeing him at the front of the huddle for a whole year now, I think he commands the huddle the way a quarterback should. It's really easy for us as coaches to trust him as our leader. Q. Mike, their middle linebacker has been a huge part of their success as a defense. When you look at film and prepare for them, do you think that there's something there that you guys can take advantage of, the fact that he won't be in the game? MIKE BLOOMGREN: He's an outstanding football player. That's the first thing I think you start with by saying about him. The thing that they're going to miss, judging by the film, is he looks like a coach out there. He's making this check and that check, and in terms of his performance, they've got other people that can step in and play football. There's no doubt about that. I think they'll probably miss his leadership. I feel like he was probably the quarterback of their huddle, and in addition they'll just miss some of those checks at the line of scrimmage. But again, they're a great football team. They're a great football team, and they don't do it with just one player or one middle linebacker. 41 has played some throughout the year, and they've got guys that are great contributors in special teams and situational football on defense. I imagine they are going to be able to plug somebody in and play football. Q. Mike, going up against Pat Narduzzi and the play calling game, can you talk about the cat and mouse involved with the amount of blitzing that Michigan State does and how they like to disrupt offenses, just your approach when you play a coordinator that's that aggressive with some of these blitz schemes? MIKE BLOOMGREN: First and foremost, that's probably a better question for David than me just because me and Pat aren't going to get to throw one blow against each other as the day goes on. I'd like to. I think he's a little older than I am, so I like my chances to be quite honest with you. But the way it's going to play out, they do an unbelievable job of playing their front, and everybody talks about a seven‑man front, this is a nine‑man front that looks the same every play on 1st and 2nd down. They do such a great job making everything look the same. You think you're just going against a vanilla college 4‑3 and then, boom, on the snap, you get this crossed off and this guy coming off the edge and one thing I'm not sure he gets enough credit for is what he does on 3rd down. They put people behind the sticks on 1st and 2nd down and 3rd down they swing in from vines. It's unbelievable how many different pressures they have. They do a super job coaching these guys, and their players play incredibly hard. Q. Having gone through the whole Rose Bowl week last year, is this year, I guess, a little more businesslike because you know what's coming, the distractions aren't as new for you? KEVIN HOGAN: I guess you could say that. Just having done it before, we know what to expect. We're going to definitely enjoy all the festivities, everything that the Rose Bowl has to offer, but at the same time it's very much a business trip. We came down here for one reason, and that's for the game on January 1st. But we will enjoy the experience. There's not many times that you get to play in a Rose Bowl, so we're going to enjoy it. Q. For Kevin, when you look at Michigan State and the way that they do a lot of press, a lot of bump and run, is it a situation where you have to try to throw the fade on them at times and try to maybe get a deep shot or pick up a pass interference? KEVIN HOGAN: I feel like a lot of times that's what they want you to do. They'll try and bait you into throwing balls like that, and they have such great coverage skills that they'll go up and make a play on it. But we're not going to try and‑‑ we're going to stick to our game plan, our style, run first and take shots when they're there. But they have great techniques, and we're going to try and exploit them as best as we can. Q. How similar does Michigan State look to Wisconsin having seen them in the Rose Bowl, and is Michigan State apparently a typical Big Ten team for you or are they a little different? MIKE BLOOMGREN: Are you talking offenses or defenses? I think defensively I'm not sure Wisconsin and Michigan State are that similar. From a starting point, yes, they're a 4‑3, a college 4‑3 with a cover four, quote‑unquote, behind it. But they're a very different style in how tight the safeties are for Michigan State. They're actually linebackers or at linebacker depth a lot of the time, it sure seems like, and they're more movement based. Michigan State is more movement based, whether it's the defensive end digging across the tight end space or whether it's one of those cross dogs we referenced earlier. I don't think there's a whole lot of similarities when you talk about Big Ten football. I think one thing that all comes to mind is power, smashmouth football and kind of running the ball downhill that we all are used to. One thing that we noticed as a staff is we've had a chance to watch every single game this year, so all 13 of their games, and there's not a lot of fullback in the Big Ten anymore. It's kind of different than what I imagined, to be honest with you. I noticed a little bit when we watched film on Wisconsin last year but maybe even more so this year. Q. Just to follow up, do you think that the style that Stanford plays kind of gives you an advantage? When we think of Pac‑12 I guess from the outside looking in we think about spread, prolific, throw‑first offenses and yet you seem to play that power football game you just described we might see more in the Big Ten. MIKE BLOOMGREN: I think it has been, and I think everything, when you talk about our system, from day one, when we talked about‑‑ when I think of our offense I want it to be intellectual brutality, so I want us to have very smart guys we're going to give great answers to, we have smart coaches who are going to develop great schemes and then have to teach in such a way to where they get it to every guy in the room, and luckily with Stanford kids that's pretty easy. And when these guys go on the field and our O‑linemen communicate great up front and our quarterback gets us to the right play, and we're moving. This is going to be a game for us that's going to be a little bit different. I talk to the linemen a ton about AAA, because it's something again we talked about on Day 1 installation, that's alignment, assignment, adjustment, and because there's so much movement with Michigan State's front seven or nine, we're going to have to do a great job with the movement and handling our adjustments in this game plan. Q. Coach, what are those glasses that you have on? MIKE BLOOMGREN: Man, that is a great question, and I'm glad you asked. First off, it's a way for me to pay homage to Nerd Nation, which has been the Stanford thing all year long. Secondly, Stanford, how much do you know about Stanford? Really hard to get in, great school, absolutely, and it's right in the heart, kind of the epicenter of the technology universe, OK, and these are Google glasses from right there. One thing we tell recruits all the time when we're in their homes is come to Stanford. Your summer interns can be at a place like Google or on any of those venture capitalist firms. A special place like Google, we have a great relationship with them, and mostly why I'm wearing them up here is probably because I'm the one on our staff that's most likely to buy these, so I'm kind of trying them out, as well, because I'm a big tech guy. I'm really excited about this product. I think it's really, really cool, and last but not least, I kind of wanted to flip the camera back on these reporters. They're not used to that. So I've got it back on them, so if they misspeak or if they basically go on a 30‑ or 60‑second rant like some coaches do up here at the podium, we're going to put them on SportsCenter. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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