ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Harry · December 8, 2014

ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

December 26 - Louisiana Tech vs. Illinois at Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas

A teleconference was held Sunday (December 7, 2014) evening after the announcement of the school’s participating in the fifth annual Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl. The post-season collegiate football game will be played December 26 (Friday) at the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. (CT) and will be televised by ESPN and aired on the Heart of Dallas Bowl Radio Network.

Teleconference participants were Tim Simmons (moderator), Brant Ringler (Executive Director of the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl), Tommy McClelland (athletic director) and Skip Holtz (football coach) from Louisiana Tech of Conference USA and Mike Thomas (athletic director) and Tim Beckman (football coach) from Illinois of the Big Ten Conference.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports covered the teleconference.

TIM SIMMONS: My name is Tim Simmons. I handle the media operations for the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl. It's our fifth annual bowl coming up, will be played on December 26th at Cotton Bowl Stadium, and kickoff is at 12:00 p.m. Central Time, will be aired by ESPN television, and Heart of Dallas Bowl Radio Network which will broadcast the game in both English and Spanish. This will be the second meeting between the two schools, Louisiana Tech won the first meeting 52 24 in 2012. The game was played in Champaign, and it was Tim Beckman's fourth game as the Illinois coach.

Both teams have played in the Cotton Bowl Stadium. Illinois played there in 1966 against SMU, and Louisiana Tech was there in 2013 when they played Army.

With that said, we'll open it up right now with Brant Ringler, the executive director of the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl. Welcome, Brant, and just some opening comments about the matchup between Louisiana Tech and Illinois.

BRANT RINGLER: Thank you, Tim, and thank you, everybody, for being on the call today. We're definitely excited about the matchup between Illinois and Louisiana Tech. We feel like we have two fantastic teams that are playing at a high level right now, obviously with Louisiana Tech just recently coming out of their championship game yesterday, and coach has done a wonderful job of turning that program around with four wins the previous year and now having eight wins this year. That's a great step up in one year. They bring an exciting brand of football on the offensive side and on the defensive side.

In addition, Illinois is coming into this game under similar circumstances. They've won their last two games, so they're trending upwards. In addition, their coach has turned that program around, with two additional wins each of the past three years. So we really think we have a great match up here. And of course we're playing in the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium, as you mentioned, Tim, and that's a great place for kids to play. All the history that has been in that stadium, and these people and these players will be able to put their own mark of history in the game, as well. We look forward to that.

One of the additional things we've added to our game this year is we will be honoring our first responders. It's an additional touch that we have in our game, so we just want people to be aware of that as we go through our game. With that said, I appreciate everybody being on the call today.

SIMMONS: Before I open it up for questions, can you talk a little bit about the sponsorship with Zaxby's Chicken?

RINGLER: Yeah, Zaxby's, our new title partner came on a few months ago, and I know for a fact that they have locations in Ruston, Louisiana, and all throughout the southeast, and their program is to begin moving to the Midwest, so having Illinois in the game is a great factor, as well, and they're slowly moving into the Texas area, as well. They're excited to be a part of this game, and they're excited about this match up, as well.

QUESTION: Brant, as this bowl goes in to year five, can you talk about its kind of health, vitality, viability compared to the very early first few years, and how can you keep growing it, I guess, the Zaxby's brand is a good step in that direction.

RINGLER: Yeah, no doubt about it. We didn't have the ownership in the first three years. Obviously there was two owners in the first three years, and they struggled, and they reached out to ESPN and asked us to take it over, and we did. We got our feet wet last year and had a great match up with North Texas and UNLV, and this year we've even grown that match up, I believe, in having Illinois and Louisiana Tech. We feel like we're trending forward.

We have Zaxby's as our new title partner, a four year deal, and that's something that the previous ownerships did not have. They had a small title partner the first couple years. I'm not going to get into the numbers and everything, but I know our deal is a lot better and more progressive than that deal. And then the third year they had a presenting partner.

We're very viable right now. The City of Dallas is fully behind us, and with our new title partnership, we're strong.

ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT, Page 2

QUESTION: Has the continuation of being affiliated with a power five conference, as those are called now, has that been a good thing for this bowl?

RINGLER: Yeah, we definitely feel that way for sure. We have the Big Ten aligned with us every other year and the Big 12 on the other side. Those conferences will bring strong teams. They'll bring strong fan bases. So we think that's definitely a benefit. And then you have Conference USA as our anchor. They have a lot of great teams in and around this region for us to pull from, and I think you'll see that when you see Louisiana Tech come to our game, and you saw it last year with North Texas at our game.

QUESTION: Just wanted to get your thoughts on the fact that Louisiana Tech only being a three or four hour drive from Dallas and how maybe that played a role into them landing in Dallas just with their fan base being able to travel, and not only that but their fan base in the Dallas and Texas area in general to come out for the game?

RINGLER: Yeah, we definitely take all that into account. I've done that drive a couple times already this year coming over to visit with Tommy and see the team play. It's an easy drive. It's straight to the Cotton Bowl almost, so we think that's something easy for the fans that are in the Louisiana area, but then I think your second largest alumni base is in Dallas, so we really expect a great turnout.

SIMMONS: I would be remiss if I didn't ask you, you're really the kickoff of the bowl season in the Dallas Fort Worth area with the Cotton Bowl being here, the Armed Forces Bowl, followed by the National Championship game. How does it feel to be in the leadership position there?

RINGLER: Well, someone has to do it, and we take pride in that. We're excited to be able to be on the front end of this area. Obviously this shows that the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex is a hotbed for football, and we're glad to be a part of that.

LOUISIANA TECH

SIMMONS: Tommy, welcome. Just your comments about Louisiana Tech playing in the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl.

TOMMY McCLELLAND: We couldn't be more honored and proud to be a part of this bowl. I will say this, just as a heads up: It looks like I'm about to go under a tunnel as I've tried to get to New York here from New Jersey, so if I lose you, I'll call you right back. Willie Roaf is being inducted into the Hall of Fame so we're making our way up here, so I may lose you as I enter into the tunnel right now.

We're tremendously excited about being in this game. As said by Brant, our alumni base, our second largest alumni base is in the Dallas Fort Worth area, and I think that's huge for us, but not only that, our largest fan, alumni base is in the Shreveport area, Shreveport Bossier area, which is only about a two, two and a half hour drive from the Cotton Bowl. Those two combined with all of north Louisiana puts us in position to have a great turnout. We're honored to be matched alongside Illinois and the Fighting Illini. What a great program, a storied program. We've got some history there with them, and we're honored just to be alongside them in the historic Cotton Bowl and in the city of Dallas with a great sponsor in Zaxby's.

SIMMONS: Obviously a good season for your team, finished 8 5 with the championship game against Marshall and a very tough place to play against a very good team. Just your thoughts on the season for your football team.

McCLELLAND: I am so proud of the job that Coach Holtz and his staff and the players have done this year. I mean, we really had some adversity, the schedule against Oklahoma and Auburn, obviously we knew that was going to be a challenge, but then stubbing our toe early with a loss at home against Northwestern State, a lot of teams could have called it at that point. A lot of coaches could have mismanaged that. But I think it's been a driver. We went on after that game and played Auburn very closely, one of the more competitive games I think that Auburn played. It didn't necessarily show on the scoreboard, but we really played them well.

And then strung off I think six wins in a row, six or seven wins in a row, and honored, just this team has continued to fight, and then to have a chance to go to the Conference USA championship on the road versus Marshall, a great Marshall team, well coached and a great environment. Their fan base was very loud and obviously excited to host that game, and I felt like we brought the fight to the Thundering Herd, so we do look forward to our prep not only as a football team but as a fan base, an alumni base.

All the feedback so far is this is a home run for us. We're obviously disappointed that we didn't win the championship, but this is where we wanted to be all along, and we're there, and I think our fan base feels the same way.

ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT, Page 3

QUESTION: You mentioned that it was your top choice and Coach Holtz said earlier today that it was obviously the top choice, whether you won or lost. How much of a priority was it, I guess, leading up? When did you start realizing when the team became bowl eligible that you wanted to make Dallas a priority?

McCLELLAND: You know, I think to some degree before the season even started. We know what our bowl lineup is within the league. Again, as we think about what a bowl game means, not only obviously to a football program but to an athletic department but also to a university, Louisiana Tech University is the fastest growing university in the state of Louisiana, and due in large part to our recent recruitment efforts in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

Dr. Guice and his staff have done a tremendous job of recruiting students and getting them to come over to Ruston from that area, and so for us to be in this game and be able to spend an entire week in that area, you know, it's huge for our entire university.

I would say it predates probably even being bowl eligible, but obviously as it progressed along the system, that was where our eyes were focused and that's where we landed, so we're very blessed about that.

SIMMONS: Tommy, thank you very much. We look forward to seeing you in a week when we have our announcement party on the 11th of December at the Cotton Bowl Stadium press box.

Coach Holtz, welcome, and just like to get your opening comments about playing Illinois in the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl.

SKIP HOLTZ: Well, really, really excited to have this opportunity, and just excited when I got that phone call from Brant earlier today. It was great energy and great enthusiasm. I very excitedly said how much we were looking forward to getting in this game and having the opportunity to play in it.

I want to congratulate Illinois on their fine season. I think Coach Beckman has done a great job there, very familiar with a lot of people on that staff, Bill Cubit, the great success that he had at Western Michigan, Tim Salem and I coached together, his special team’s coordinator way back when at Colorado State, who's been a dear friend of mine in this business. I want to congratulate them on their great season, and just how excited I am to have the opportunity to play a team and a coaching staff with the reputation, the history and the success that they have had.

I know it's a match up that our players are excited about and having the opportunity to be in Dallas. This is one that we are definitely coming to with a lot of excitement and a lot of enthusiasm for a lot of different reasons.

SIMMONS: What was the key to your season? Obviously you've improved by four wins and got to the championship game. What was the difference this year as compared to your first year at Louisiana Tech?

HOLTZ: I think there was probably a couple things. I don't know that you can just put your finger on one thing, but certainly with the addition of some new players, whether it be redshirts, transfers, things along those lines, we've got a number of first year players that played for us, and then I also think the way that the coaching staff came together, we hired three new coaches, a new defensive coordinator, and just the way everybody gelled and kind of really became a unit and became very unselfish is a lot of reasons. But the reason we're here is because of what those players did on the field, and we had some guys really step up and have special years for us because we had some of the new faces but we also have some guys that have really developed as football players and young men.

So I think for all of those reasons is why we're able to pretty much double our win total from a year ago.

SIMMONS: You talk about new players and this and that. Can you talk a little bit about your offense? Obviously I think you had a very productive offense this year compared to your first year there.

HOLTZ: We did, a lot of growth there, especially when you look at the production with points and some of those things. I think Cody Sokol, our quarterback, who I just have great respect for, he's played these last couple weeks with a little nick in his shoulder and it'll be good that he's going to have time to get healthy to play in this game, but he was the real leader in the passing game, and what he was able to do as a quarterback in his first year as a transfer from Iowa and has done just a great job for us.

And then with some of the receivers, Paul Turner being new, Carlos Henderson being new, some of the new faces out there along with guys like Trent Taylor and Hunter Lee and Sterling Griffin really have given us some explosive plays in the passing game, and then I think Kenneth Dixon in the running game has really just continued to evolve as Kenneth gets older. He's a junior now and has really grown up and is maturing as a football player.

I think a lot of things have started to come together, and having the second year of being in the offense and starting to develop a little bit more of the culture, and then getting to understand really what we're looking for and what we want is part of the reason that we've been able to have some success.

ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT, Page 4

SIMMONS: Talk a little bit about your defense and some of the top players.

HOLTZ: Manny Diaz, the defensive coordinator who came in here this last year has really done a great job. Any time you come in as a new coach, the first thing you have to do is sell yourself. He came here from Texas, and he's come in, he really did a great job of selling himself to these players. The buy in factor has been huge. They've kind of hit it off from the beginning, and I think really defensively has been the strength of this football team.

I think we've got a lot of returning players from last year with everybody back in the secondary, Le'Vander Liggins, Xavier Woods, Kentrell Brice and Adairius Barnes being the four starters in the secondary that have remained healthy all year and have really done a great job as one of the top teams in the country as far as creating turnovers and interceptions. They've done a really nice job.

And then at linebacker with a senior like Mitch Villemez and Nick Thomason who got his first start in the championship game last week and I thought did just a fantastic job. But I feel like we've got some linebackers that have played a lot of football for us.

And then on the defensive front, Vontarrius Dora, Vernon Butler, some guys up front, and then Houston Bates, who is a transfer from Illinois, as a senior, graduated, and wanted to come back closer to home, was very fortunate that he wanted to continue to play football and some things were open, so it worked out for him to come play. He's been a real leader for us and just really done a nice job.

SIMMONS: I think we've got 19 days before we play. What's on the schedule? Have you had time to plot out your schedule and when you're going to arrive in the Dallas area for the final preparations?

HOLTZ: Yes, sir. We've talked about that. We're in school until the 19th. Being in the quarter system we have just started a new quarter, so we'll be in school here until the 19th, and then we were looking at possibly coming over and practicing there to be there on the 22nd for sure, and I know the dinner that night we're looking to get over there on the 22nd and practice, and then we'll be there obviously the 22nd through the game. But the staff will be out on the road recruiting this week as pretty much everybody I think in the country is trying to get out, and with us losing last week because of the championship game, we will pretty much lift and run with our players this week and then start the real bowl preparation on Friday, as we will begin that.

QUESTION: Two part question. It was obvious that you all wanted to go to Dallas, win or lose yesterday. Does it take the sting away any that you did lose and you still were able to get Dallas? And two, you mentioned Houston earlier briefly, but have you gotten the chance to talk to him after learning about Illinois and the possibility of playing against some of his former teammates and his former coach?

HOLTZ: Well, being able to take the sting out of the game, I think this is about the only bowl game we could have gone to that could have taken the sting out of losing just a heartbreaking game, but you have to leave the entire game with a minute to go when they threw the touchdown pass, and it was very hard to know that everything was on the line and the conference championship. But when I came in to meet with them today and threw the PowerPoint up on the board and it had the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl, I know they had an opportunity to video us, but the team was really excited, the cheers, guys standing up. I think this is the bowl that we've wanted to be in all along. It's got a great opponent coming from the Big Ten. It's close to home. It's in Dallas. I mean, this is something that our players were really excited about, and I think when you look at some of the great destination bowls that Conference USA has when you start talking about Hawai'i and the Bahamas and some of those places, but that's not what attracted some of these players. They wanted the opportunity to play in the best bowl available, and they felt like this was really a great opportunity to be in Dallas. I know they're really excited and it definitely helped take some of the sting away so we can start looking forward to what's going to be next.

Unfortunately when we had our team meeting, at that time the opponent was not yet announced, and so I wasn't really sure what was going to happen, but I know that Houston is really, I'm sure, excited. I'm sure he's got a relationship with a lot of guys on that team and an awful lot of respect for that program, for Coach Beckman and everybody that's there. I think Houston will be really excited about the opportunity, as I'm sure a lot of the people there will be excited to have the opportunity to play against him, as well.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask you, do you believe that Conference USA has truly prepared you guys to play a Big Ten team the likes of Illinois? And how would you compare Conference USA with the other conferences outside the big five?

HOLTZ: Let me first say this on the preparation: I think this conference, I think it's very competitive. I think you've got a lot of different things in this conference. You have teams that have a ball control mindset of run the ball, and you have teams that are going to be spread wide open and throw it all over the field. You see a lot of different offenses, and having the opportunity to play in this conference, offenses and defenses and what different teams do.

But also I think the opportunities outside the conference that we've had to play three bowl teams outside of the conference when you start talking about playing at Oklahoma and at Auburn, I definitely think all those have helped prepare us for the opportunity that we're going to have on the 26th against Illinois.

And I think as far as comparing this conference to the rest of the big five, I think I'm sure somebody has got numbers on what those head to head situations look like and what some of these bowl match ups are going to bring, but I think it's an excellent conference. I think there's a lot of really good football coaches in this league, and I think there's a lot of really good football players in this league, and so I certainly feel like it is one of the more competitive conferences outside of the big five, and I think it's going to be a great opportunity for us to represent Conference USA against a Big Ten opponent.

ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT, Page 5

SIMMONS: Coach, thank you very much. We look forward to seeing you. Any final comments you have about playing in the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl?

HOLTZ: I just want to say thank you to Brant and everybody involved on the committee that made this possible for Louisiana Tech to be in the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl. We are really excited about coming over there with a strong fan base and having an opportunity to play a really good Illinois team, and again, congratulations to Coach Beckman for the success that he's had, and we're looking forward to this opportunity.

ILLINOIS

SIMMONS: Thank you very much. Welcome, Mike. Just your opening comments about coming to Dallas and playing Louisiana Tech in the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium.

MIKE THOMAS: Well, we're extremely excited as a fan base and as a program and our alumni, and really to get that call from Brant today was just tremendous, and to play in a historic venue like the Cotton Bowl with an extremely good Louisiana Tech football program, we're excited about it. We're looking forward to it. It's really a credit to our coaching staff and a very young football team, but a very young team that was led by some seniors that really finished the season strong for us.

SIMMONS: Obviously your team had to win the last two games against Penn State and on the road at Northwestern. Looks like they met the challenge there at the end.

THOMAS: They did meet the challenge. They knew what was at stake, and we all know, being bowl eligible doesn't necessarily mean you're playing in the postseason, but they did. It's a credit once again to the coaches and it's a credit to these kids that really when their backs were against the wall, they came out with energy, they played for four quarters and they really played their best football when it counted the most.

SIMMONS: Just your thoughts about playing in Dallas, what kind of impact it will have for your alumni and obviously playing at the Cotton Bowl Stadium.

THOMAS: For us we have one of the largest alumni bases in the country so we have people spread all across the country, which is important, but for us certainly Dallas is important for a number of reasons. As a program we've started to recruit there quite heavily. We have a number of kids who have committed to us recently from that area, so that will be of prime importance to us. But I think it's a very easy place for us to get to from the Midwest, and certainly, like I said, playing in a historic venue, playing against a tremendous opponent, so we're really excited about it.

QUESTION: How concerned were you about the fact that when you woke up this morning there was a chance that the Big Ten might have one team that was left out, and there was some speculation that you guys might be at a little bit of risk there.

THOMAS: Well, I think there are a few Big Ten teams that were probably having a little bit of a sleepless night last night, and there were some things that had to play out. As a matter of fact there's some things that had yesterday played out differently, we would have had a better night's sleep. That being said, there's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of moving pieces within our conference. There's a lot of moving pieces outside of our conference. But at the end of the day I think we're worthy to be playing in postseason. We've played by NCAA standards the 10th strongest schedule in the country, and we've played a lot of strong opponents. As a matter of fact we played nine bowl eligible teams this year. So I think we're worthy of it, I think we're ready for it, and like I said, we're certainly excited about coming down to Dallas.

SIMMONS: Mike, thank you very much. Coach Beckman, welcome, and just your thoughts about playing Louisiana Tech and playing in the Cotton Bowl Stadium.

TIM BECKMAN: Well, first and foremost, it's an honor for this football team, for this coaching staff, everybody involved in our football family here to be involved in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Tim, I can't tell you what this means to this football team, knowing that we've got a great opponent in La Tech, Skip Holtz, a friend of mine. I've studied a lot when he was at South Carolina with him, Tony Petersen, another great offensive coordinator that of course we've run in to one another before in this great game of football, and then Manny I mean, Manny is known throughout this country as being one of the top defensive coordinators.

You know, it'll be a challenge, there's no question about it. But what an outstanding opportunity for this football team and this coaching staff.

ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT, Page 6

SIMMONS: Talk a little bit about your offense this season and maybe some of the top players. Obviously you probably had your best game against Northwestern rushing and points wise.

BECKMAN: Well, I'll tell you, we started out the football season with a quarterback named Wes Lunt, and he really led us through some games there, really at the end of games, fourth quarter wins, just driving us down, had some outstanding numbers, and he goes down against Purdue and we have to bring a senior quarterback in in Reilly O'Toole. Reilly comes in, and Bill Cubit, our offensive coordinator, fabulous job. You're talking about our first quarterback being a thrower and our second quarterback being maybe a little bit more of a runner, and he came in in the second half of this football season and knocked off a Minnesota team when they were rated, and then of course beat Penn State at home and Northwestern.

You had a young man that rose to the occasion, that met the demands of being a senior and being a leader. I'm sure Reilly would be the first one to tell you that he didn't do it alone.

We've been able to rush the football a little bit and throw the football. We've got really three quarterbacks that played for us this football season, and we can do some different things with each one of them.

SIMMONS: Will your quarterback be back, the original starter, or is he out for the season?

BECKMAN: No, he came back, he really did. He came back for we break the season down into quarters, and he came back for the fourth quarter, the last three football games, and was ready and prepared. You know, Reilly was playing so good for us, we had to make decisions each week on which quarterback was going to start for us, and we felt we played both of them until the Northwestern football game when we just went with Reilly.

SIMMONS: Talk a little bit about your defense and some of the stand outs.

BECKMAN: Well, again, number wise, defensively, I will say this: In the big games that we've had in the second half of the football season, the Minnesota game, the Penn State game and the Northwestern game, if you look at them stat wise, the defense won you those football games. We had a big interception at the end of the Minnesota game that we returned for a touchdown excuse me, a fumble that ended up winning us a football game. Great defensive stand by Coach Banks and the defense against Penn State, to kick a field goal at the end of the game to win it, and then five big turnovers against Northwestern that they created. All four of them were inside the 50 yard line.

Again, the defense has stood up in those crucial games for some crucial victories.

SIMMONS: Talk a little bit about playing in Texas. I think this is maybe the fourth time that Illinois has had a football game in Texas. One was a bowl game in 2010 against Baylor. How important is it for you to play in the Dallas Fort Worth area and play at the Cotton Bowl Stadium?

BECKMAN: It's huge. We have a great alumni base throughout this country but big in the state of Texas and Dallas. Like Skip, I'm a former a son of a father that coached college football, and mine happened to be a little bit in the pros, and we spent some time in the state of Texas. I got to play a little bit of high school ball at a place called Forest Park. It's now called Westbrook down in Beaumont, Texas when my father was at Lamar University. I got to travel with him to Louisiana Tech as a high schooler before they played Louisiana Tech when he was at Lamar.

I've got the utmost respect for Texas football, the fan base, the electricity when you go to football games. It's just phenomenal. Being a coach that coached at Oklahoma State, also, and playing the likes of all the teams down there in the state of Texas, it's an outstanding venue for football and one we're blessed to be a part of in Dallas.

QUESTION: How did your players and fans react to Dallas as a bowl destination after you don't really know how it's going to shake out late in the process?

BECKMAN: Well, I think they were fired up. We tried to make something special because it's been since 2011 since we've been to a bowl game. Our players have been fighting, and they've been trying to put the fight back in the Illini. We had a tough year a couple years ago, and we've been battling back since then.

Hey, for an opportunity to play with this senior class for another three weeks in the great state of Texas and in Dallas, our players are very, very excited.

ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT, Page 7

QUESTION: I wanted to ask about Houston Bates. I know he was with your program, had a pretty good season, transferring back home to play for Louisiana Tech. If you can just kind of, I guess, talk about that match up going against one of your former players, and have you followed his season at all, and do you still keep in touch with him?

BECKMAN: Well, I'll tell you what, first and foremost, Houston Bates is an outstanding young man. It was a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to coach him, to be honest with you. I'm more of a defensive minded coach, and of course Houston was big for us defensively because he was involved in our defensive packages and really was a leader of what we had here defensively.

We knew that he had an opportunity to get closer to home, and it was very, very important to him to do that, be closer to his mother, and he graduated in his four years and had that opportunity to go play another year. We have been following him. As a matter of fact, he's got a lot of close friends on this team, do a lot of hunting together, and we've followed him quite a bit. He's doing an extremely great job that we knew he would do. I think he even had a pick, which was great to see him do that because I remember a couple times in practice I was kind of concerned about his hands, and he'll laugh at that.

I'm proud of what Houston has done, and I know he's a darned good football player.

QUESTION: I know you got the chance to play Louisiana Tech back in 2012. I think that was your third or fourth game. Probably a totally different team. They were pretty much a pass happy offense, one of the best offenses in the country, and now the defense this year has kind of led Louisiana Tech to the west title. Maybe compare and contrast what you've seen, how much studying you've done thus far, just based off initial reaction comparing them from 2012 to present day?

BECKMAN: Well, to be honest with you, I can't tell you a whole bunch of them. Maybe a couple blips I saw Houston. We had 16 recruits in here this weekend so I was very busy with that. You know, but I know the Louisiana Tech program, because again, my father was in that conference, and I remember the respect that that program has always had. I can remember.

I know Tony, as I've mentioned before, and very much respect him, and then of course I know don't know Manny personally other than the couple times we've talked on the phone, but I know Manny has done a great job with that defense.

They came in here two years ago and were a very, very good football team, and we didn't slow them down, and they really took it to us. They were a good, good football team. We know that challenge will be in front of us, and I'm sure our players will be prepared and ready to play.

SIMMONS: Coach, we have 17 days or 16 days. What are you going to be doing with your team for the next couple weeks?

BECKMAN: Well, I'll tell you, I've been blessed being around Jim Tressel and being around Urban Meyer and Mike Gundy and a lot of things we do I've definitely learned from them. We have already practiced three practices already. I felt it was important to get our young players involved in some things that can further their careers as we move them forward. I gave a break to our seniors and to a lot of our starters. They're still at practice but did not participate in it.

We will utilize these Thursday, Friday and Saturday to do the same, but our seniors will be back involved in those practices, and then we go into finals the following week. I'm not going to, of course, touch anything or have anything to do with practice while our young men are getting A's and B's, and that's what I look forward for them doing. Then we'll get it started, and look forward to getting down there on the 22nd, and really excited about spending our time in Dallas.

TIM SIMMONS: Coach, thank you very much, and we look forward to seeing you the next couple weeks, and maybe this week at our announcement party on the 11th. Thank you very much.

FirefightnRick · December 8, 2014

Good ol Skip Holtz. Following in his dads' footsteps by taking a team to a bowl game in his second year. I think Dr. Lou is the only coach in history to take 6 different teams to a bowl game in their second year or less?

Rick