Cotton Bowl Classic Media Day Coverage
12/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
ARLINGTON, Texas -- More than 300 reporters from around the nation greeted the Michigan State football team on the turf at AT&T Stadium Tuesday morning for Cotton Bowl Classic Media Day.
Every player and the entire coaching staff spent an hour visiting with the media to preview the upcoming College Football Playoff Semifinal vs. No. 2 Alabama on Thursday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. Portions of media day were broadcast live on ESPN's SportsCenter and streamed live on WatchESPN.
Below is a transcript from MSU head coach Mark Dantonio's media day press conference
Excited to be here today. This is leading up to the football game. So very exciting opportunity for our football team as we said all week. Cotton Bowl has been a tremendous experience, as usual, so we're looking forward to this challenge. It's ironic, as I said earlier, you've got us playing last year -- or this year, January 1, and now we are playing on December 31st. So 365 and counting.
Prior to the 2011 Capital One Bowl, Nick Saban said of your offense, "They're stubborn. They're going to try to keep establish the run" when I asked him about [Kirk] Cousins in the passing game. How important is it to be balanced -- I'm not saying you have to throw 50 times -- so they have to fear the passing game on Thursday night?
I think any football team wants to be balanced. Regardless of where you go in the country, if you see an option football team, they need to throw the ball to be successful as well. I think that goes hand in hand offensively.
The big thing is you don't want to beat yourselves and make mistakes. You want to make sure you are on the short end of the sticks when it comes to third down or you are putting first downs behind each other, stacking them on top of each other.
That's who we are. We want to be a balanced football team. I think we have four outstanding tail backs and have got a good offense line and protect our quarterback. Obviously we are going to throw it, too. But I do think there has to be balance.
Do you reflect at all this week to where you are and where you came from at all?
You know, I sort of have a tendency to reflect a little bit after the fact. You know, right now we're so busy with things, we're just doing our normal really. So on days like this, you're certainly going to reflect. Going to step back and look at this and say, you know, that was a moment.
But we've just tried to keep the process moving really throughout these years. And I think that we've progressed as a football program to get to this point. But it's been a steady climb throughout the years.
Ideally, you want one running back. You've said that. But is the silver lining in this year the fact that you have four legitimate big-time running backs so there is an element of no guy is going to get exhausted?
Yeah, there is an element of that. Also, we've had guys go down, get nicked up with injuries. That's going to happen. So we have capable guys behind them, and we have got guys who started football games. LJ Scott has started. Madre London has started.
Gerald Holmes has started. Each has sort of had their day in the sun a little bit. Delton Williams not so much, missed some August camp and things of that nature and put him behind. But he's a very valuable back as well, and he has played a lot of football for us as well.
What does it say to you about character when you have got four running backs who all want the same job but work with each other, cheer for each other. Even yesterday, talking about they are the biggest fans of each other. What's that talk about character?
It talks about chemistry on our football team. That creates energy. When you have that type of situation, I think it permeates throughout your football team. You see that in other positions as well. I think really what's outstanding is we've got to be able to simulate Henry. That's not easy to do. So, consequently, every one of those running backs would come down one period a day and work as a scout team player for our defense. And you never heard any moaning or groaning about it. They came down and they played. I think that's a credit to them, their character, their character as people and just their understanding of the big picture, I think, here.
You've been stressing -- you've stressed for a long time now that there's more to life than football. Your guys, they come down here and they say it's a business trip. We see them out here having fun and enjoying themselves as well. They know what's on the line. But how important is it to strike that balance of them knowing what's at stake in playing and but also just remembering they're 20, 21-year-old kids playing in the biggest game of their lives?
We've always gone out of our way to try and make it a life experience for our players regardless of what that is, whether that's summer camp or whether that's the College Football Playoff. We really want them to remember these times in their lives because they are transitional times in their life where they are 18 to 22.
When you get done with college, you're going to hopefully go to the next level. Inevitably, you will go in a different direction, too, at some point in your life very soon after and start working. And these are going to be memories.
This is going to be a life memory for them, one of them. The Cotton Bowl last year was, the Rose Bowl the year before. So our players have enjoyed great success these past couple years, and we'll hopefully continue that. At the same time, these are life moments and, I think it's important that they understand that and have fun with it. So we've allowed them to do that.
What would it mean for the Big Ten Conference to go 2-0 against the SEC in College Football Playoff?
I don't look at that too much. My focus is on Michigan State right now. This is now. That was later. And can't get caught up. To me that's print.
Right now this is about the matchup between Alabama and Michigan State, and that really is where it ends. You can talk about those things after the fact, after bowl season, strength of a conference. Right now, to me, it's about how our offensive line plays against their defensive line and how Michigan State stacks up against Alabama, et cetera, things of that nature.
How do you guys feel about being 10-point underdogs? Is there less pressure on you guys when you are big dogs like that or how do you feel?
You are only an underdog if you think you are an underdog. We have never played that card. We have always gone into things saying, We got a chance to win a football game. I think that's still the case.
Jack Allen has been a huge leader for this offensive line and very successful. What makes him be such an important part of this team?
His mentality, his football toughness, knows how to have fun, keeps it light but very hard worker, very tough. His wrestling background at Hinsdale Central allows him to, I think, grow as a football player because of the toughness aspect and all the things he went through as a wrestler in his program. But he came here as a guy that immediately stood out in terms of toughness, effort, very quick learner. Again, he's been in the system four, five years here. So he's done a tremendous job for us. Two-time All-American -- two-time First-Team All-American. He has got a lot of things going for him.
You talk a little bit about the mentality and toughness of your team. What are some of the characteristics about this team that you've seen grow throughout the season and the nature in which you guys hang on and always have a chance at the end and can win? What do you like the most about this team and its makeup?
We know how to win. We're pretty resilient as a group. We've got some very good players that can become the one. And when I say "the one," I mean the guy that can bring you back. And I think that's the biggest thing.
They believe in each other. They trust each other as people, and there's a camaraderie there. I have just said really our seniors have done another outstanding job as a group in terms of leadership. And I think when your seniors are happy. And they're excited about their opportunities and they're successful, that just sort of permeates through the whole football team and creates energy.
That's what we have been fortunate to have, not just this year but these last years. You can look back and remember the seniors who played in those years and every one of those classes had that. I think that's a credit to how they treated the young players as they were coming up.
