Mitchell, Cody, Perkins & McGruder Quotes

LB LANCE MITCHELL
On LenDale White:
“He poses a challenge because he's a big back with speed. Normally, big backs with speed break a lot of tackles.

On the desire to play on Tuesday:
“I can't sleep. We're driven to finish this thing off. We heard all year about how we didn't finish. We trained all summer about how we didn't finish. We're just getting ready to finish.”

On the seniors last game:
“The base of this team is seniors. We have more senior starters on this team than we did last year. All these seniors want to go out with National Championship rings.”

On the running backs in this game:
“I'd rather face Reggie Bush than look at Adrian (Peterson). Look at that guy (Peterson). Big, strong, fast -- he could run through any tackler if he needed to. Bush is a little more elusive. He's (Bush) probably more fun to play against than to pound it with A.D. (Adrian Peterson) all day. A big dog chases the little dog.”

O-Zone Orange Bowl Central | National Championship Central

On attacking the USC offense:
“I think you stay aggressive. Stay aggressive and stay deep with your secondary.”

DE DAN CODY
Q. Because of USC's offense, is this the biggest challenge you've faced this year?

DAN CODY: Yeah, I think there's a lot of truth to this just because they're so balanced on how they can run the ball, make the big play and how they can throw the ball, it's almost like a triple threat, the two good running backs.

But the biggest thing is the way we prepare, the way we get ready for teams can't change. The way we've been winning games all year has been in a good style, in a good way. We don't want to change that and look at them any different than anybody else.

Q. Do you have any of the same feelings this week that you did before the Big 12 Championship game?

DAN CODY: Yeah, the same feelings, and our confidence level, how our guys feel and how we're prepared, but it's a different kind of game. It's a different time of year. We win that Big-12 Championship, it wasn't about redeeming last year, but we all felt like that was a chapter in our lives that we needed to close and get that behind us so we could move on to this.

Q. Dan, quick question for you. With the team speed you guys have on this defense, does that allow you guys maybe to -- talk about the opportunities that that presents to maybe send more blitzes or send more things because you're not afraid of the one-on-one match-ups on the other side.

DAN CODY: I don't think that's the particular case. For us to be able to create blitz opportunities we've got to get them at 3rd and long. We can't be coming out of nowhere with it. We've got to set up our blitz package the way we have all year. They're not used to being at 3rd and long. We've got to get them at 3rd and long. We have to get guys sitting back in the pocket, and it gives us opportunities to do things with the way we blitz and the way we're covered.

Q. Is the key to this game showing down Matt Leinart, to get pressure on him early?

DAN CODY: Absolutely. You don't want to let him get in any kind of rhythm. Once they start popping big plays and run the screen and run the draw, and once they get in that kind of rhythm where they're doing different things, that's where you want to get on their heels and we want to take the attack them to them.

Q. Talk about the offensive line for USC.

DAN CODY: We give them quite a bit of respect. As much as they throw the ball and protect the way they have and given up as few sacks as they have, I think that speaks a lot of words right there. When they're max protecting like that and they have extra guys in the box and that kind of prohibits us from doing a few things, but the key is we have to get those extra guys split out where they can get the ball down the field.

Q. Dan, looking at USC's offense, are they the best you've played by far this year or do they compare to anyone in the Big 12 you've played against?

DAN CODY: I don't know if they compare to anybody in the Big 12 in their type of offense, the type of plays they run, but it's hard to tell what the team is all about until you've played them. There's a lot to truth to that. You don't know what they're about until you get on the field with them. There's no way of telling.

Obviously the impression I have on film, generally the guys we thought were impressive on film played well in the game, and generally that holds true for these guys or they wouldn't be where they are right now.

Q. When everybody talks about how dangerous Reggie Bush is, do you go against guys like that in practice when you see Mark Clayton or Adrian Peterson or something like that?

DAN CODY: Well, you go against guys like that in practice, but the speed is never the same. He is a big play threat. That's a big part of their offense, what he does, and that's going to be a big key to stopping them is getting on him before he makes a big play. You know, he gets the ball, runs a few yards past the line of scrimmage and turns it into 70-, 80-yard plays. That's what we can't let happen.

Q. How aware are you of what they do on defense? I know that you pay attention mostly to the offense, but their defense is ranked in the top ten nationally in a bunch of different categories. Does that add to your guys' motivation to show they can hang with them?

DAN CODY: Yeah, their front seven is really good. It's comparable to our front seven. You know, we do a lot of the same things in the way we play.

I know Sean Cody personally. I've had a couple of opportunities to hang out with him, and I know the caliber of player he is and the type of player he is, and I know that he's a leader and a guy that those people look up to. That's their style of play is going to be kind of after what he does, and them being in all those type of categories reflects what he's about, being that leader on defense. That's going to be a big challenge for our offense.

I think a lot of times both our defenses might get overshadowed by the offenses because of what they do and how high-powered they are, and that shouldn't take any credit away from their D because that speaks a lot of words, especially when they run the ball as much as we do.

Q. Do you think that the ability of their defense and the problems it might be for the offense might add even more pressure to you guys?

DAN CODY: We've seen so many different things from so many different teams this year, trying to stop the dual threat offense, I think our guys feel pretty comfortable and confident being able to handle what they're going to do, just because we've seen so many different types of defenses and so many different teams have tried to take them in so many different ways. Obviously they haven't seen anything, but they should feel prepared and confident in what they're going to do.

CB ANTONIO PERKINS
Q. Do you look at this game as redemption, or do you have to approach this game as a completely different entity?

ANTONIO PERKINS: I don't think it would be redemption. It poses another big challenge for us, to go out there and compete against them.

Q. Do you pay attention when a job opens up and people say Coach Stoops is a candidate? Do you guys even pay attention to that?

ANTONIO PERKINS: I really don't pay attention. He has a great program here and he has a lot of years coming. We don't pay attention to that because we know he's going to stick around for the big games.

Q. What about the Florida job this year? I think they had three candidates that weren't interested. Were you guys ever concerned about that, that he might go to Florida?

ANTONIO PERKINS: I don't think we were concerned about that. He likes the program here and likes being around the players. The way he founded this program, it's an opportunity for him to stay here.

Q. So you don't think he's going to go to another college?

ANTONIO PERKINS: I wouldn't say that, but I don't see it happening any time soon.

Q. As a veteran of these type of games, what advice could you give some of the freshmen that are going to impact your team? You guys have a kicker who hasn't been on this stage yet. What advice would you give to him?

ANTONIO PERKINS: I can't give any advice because I don't kick the ball. I'm not going to say anything to him. He's going to get his job done. He's here on scholarship like everyone else. He'll make a play when it comes down to it.

Q. You have confidence in him?

ANTONIO PERKINS: I have confidence in all our players. He's the kicker to go in and he'll get the job done.

Q. Do you and the rest of your teammates sort of feel like it's your job to not put him in that situation, to have a lead late in the game so he doesn't have to make that big kick?

ANTONIO PERKINS: I wouldn't say that. Every kick to him is going to be a big kick. An extra point is a big kick. You see the game last year was 35-34 Texas winning, so every play is big.

Q. You mentioned that Texas game. Have you seen any of the other bowl games this week? There have been some exciting finishes.

ANTONIO PERKINS: I caught the tail end last night of the Rose Bowl, but that's about it.

Q. What can you take from a game like that? What does that say to you about how you have to finish in these games?

ANTONIO PERKINS: It comes down to the best teams down to the end. You never know what the last play is, so you've got to finish the game. Everybody knows that.

On Coach Stoops' personality:
“He is hard to describe. He is laid back and confident and on the field he gets the job done.”

On Coach Pete Carroll's personality:
“I have been asked that questions three times and I don't know much about is personality, he is not my coach and I have never met the guy.”

On playing in a big bowl game as a senior:
“Means a lot, I was a red-shirt in 2000 and our goal has always been to have a great season. We now have a chance and are looking forward to it.”

“It feels great to be here as a senior, it would be great to win and feel like I was a big part of a National Championship.”

On playing under the radar:
“I am not focusing on being the key player, I just focus on my defense. It doesn't bother me to be under the radar.”

On the South Beach scene:
“ I like the atmosphere, but I am not really a beach person because I can't swim. I am excited to be here as it is a great experience.”

DT LYNN MCGRUDER
On when the defense settled in this season:
“I think mid way through the season is when we finally came together as a unit. We were giving up more points then we wanted to and we came together and said this is it, enough is enough. We wanted to take a stand and then through out the rest of the season we finished strong.”

On what the defense has accomplished this year after losing key players last year:
“Anytime you lose players like we did last year it's going to hurt. I'm not saying it's a problem, but it's as situation a lot of people could not handle. Fortunately we had players that could come in and produce and step up and play defense like we play. As far as the seniors and the captains we stayed strong and kept a positive attitude and mindset about what was going on, and what the focus was for the season. And we all came to finish. Luckily we got Antonio Perkins back, and now were playing strong and we are ready to finish.”

On going into the Big 12 Championship:
“We had been there before in the same exact stadium and we lost. We did not want to have that same feeling again this year. So coming in this year each guy came ready to step up and finish. We also came ready to play in Kansas City, we knew that we could not take it for granted playing in that game so we all stepped up and finished what we came prepared to do.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Mitchell, Cody, Perkins & McGruder Quotes

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