Washington Huskies College Football Pregame Quote, 12/30/2023

Q. Being in the Sugar Bowl, being in the Semifinal, just the atmosphere surrounding it. Anything about that that you’re looking forward to surrounding the game itself?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: Yeah. The College Football Playoff, it’s something that everybody wants to be in. For us to be here, it’s surreal. I’m excited for the opportunity. We’re going against a great team. As an offensive line, we have a great challenge ahead of us. It’s going to be a fun game. We’re excited.

Q. Were there any sort of goals before this season, maybe coming into the season compared to now that you set for yourself or you set as a team that you feel like you might have accomplished, whether it’s an individual or a team?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: Mine is just winning as many games as possible. We knew what kind of talent we had going into this season, and we set high achieving goals, even before we stepped foot on the first game, and just to live up to those goals is something that’s super important to me. Win as many games as possible and just play my best ball, put my best film on tape and play my hardest. That’s about it for me.

Q. Roger, the size of their interior defensive line, is there a comp? Have you seen a group close to that this year?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: I’d say size-wise, maybe not. I mean, I think with number 90 (Byron Murphy II), we have seen guys similar stature to him, but he’s a great player, plays with great leverage, great with his hands. But when it comes to 93 (T’Vondre Sweat), there’s not really a player as big and agile as him. I mean, all the credit to him. He deserves every amount of accolades and recognition he’s got this year. Those two guys have been really great players for them.

But comparables, we’ve seen guys kind of like 90, size-wise. But nothing kind of like 93. We’re excited for the challenge.

Q. You guys played this team in the Alamo Bowl last year. Dillon Johnson gets added to your roster. Attitude and demeanor-wise, how has he changed your offense?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: It’s just that hard-nosed mentality. We always like to play with that on the O-line. I think D.J. (Dillon Johnson) does a great job translating our mentality of our offensive line play and bringing it to the running game. He’s not afraid to run somebody over, but he’s also not afraid to stick his foot in the ground and make a cut and make someone look silly. So that’s one of the main things about DJ, is that he knows what we can do up front, and that’s why I think our run game has developed so well through the second half of the season. He plays off of us and he’s got the feel for which cuts he needs to make or when he needs to put his foot down on the ground and run through somebody.

Q. You guys won the Joe Moore Award. What does it mean for the offensive line position group that is oftentimes overlooked? You guys do the dirty work without getting the credit. What does it mean to take home an award like that and get recognized for your efforts?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: It’s special. When it comes to offensive line awards, there’s the Outland. You have the Rimington. Those are the two prestigious ones. But in my opinion, I think the most important when it comes down to is that Joe Moore Award, because if you’re winning that, your team is probably in a very good position, and I think College Football Playoff isn’t a bad spot to be in, at least for us.

We knew we were that kind of caliber of O-line ever since we played a game. Ever since we stepped foot on the field against Boise State, we knew what kind of caliber O-line we were. We just wanted to play to our fundamentals and play to the standard, and that’s all we could do, and we got a great group of receivers and tight ends and running backs behind us, and obviously, the Heisman level quarterback. It all complements us.

Q. You mentioned the standard there. Is that something that Scott Huff or Kalen DeBoer instituted, or something player-led?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: That’s definitely Coach [Scott] Huff’s baby. That’s his bread and butter. No missed assignments, fundamentally great, solid fundamentals is what he preaches and teaches us and instills in us, and being nasty, which is part of the O-line position. Those are the three that you need to play to. If you’re not playing to the standards, it’s going to be tough to win games.

Q. It’s no secret that Texas has a pretty impressive D-line. Is this something that you’ve faced at all, a comparable team, or is this a unique test you’re looking at on Monday?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: I think it’s a little bit of both. We’ve seen guys with certain size and statures and strength, comparable to them, but you think of the combination of 90 (Byron Murphy II) and 93 (T’Vondre Sweat) and how well they play off each other. All the credit to those guys. They’ve played unbelievable this year.

We’re excited for the test, though. There’s no D-line in the country that we feel like we can’t handle, so we’re excited.

Q. In the spring, I asked you what your goals for the season were. You’re in the College Football Playoff now. You have a Heisman candidate quarterback. Do you still think you’re able to get all those individual goals that you set out?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: I’d say for me personally, winning that Joe Moore Award for the whole offensive line, us five up front, I think that was a big goal of mine. But I think when you get down in late November and December and January, our main goal is just to win games. And obviously, we’re down to the last couple here. So, whatever it takes. We’re willing to do whatever it takes to come out with a win on top.

Q. What was the reaction when you found out about the Joe Moore Award?

ROGER ROSENGARTEN: We were excited. The day we found out, we were with Coach [Scott] Huff. We were like, Coach Huff, have you heard anything on the Joe Moore? I know we’re finalists and they’re supposed to announce it this week. Coach Huff is like, “Oh, you guys didn’t win it. Actually, I’m just kidding. I don’t know.”

So, we’re waiting there, and then we go out to practice, and like two-thirds through, we see these three pads out in the back of our facility, and we see something draped over. I knew it was a big trophy, but it was huge. It was on a pedestal. We were like, “What’s that?” So, none of us really say anything to each other.

And after practice, Coach [Kalen] DeBoer is like, “Let’s go down to the end zone.” We kind of got that feeling. We were just all smiles. I think we all went out to dinner that night and celebrated a little bit. I think that’s the most prestigious lineman award in general.