TCU Horned Frogs College Football Pregame Quote, 12/24/2022

DENISE SEOMIN: Good afternoon. On behalf of the Fiesta Bowl staff, volunteers, our Yellow Jacket committee, and board of directors, I am pleased to welcome the TCU Horned Frogs to the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl 2022 CFP Semifinal.

TCU enters the game with a 12-1 record, which includes wins over five nationally ranked teams during the regular season.

The New Year’s Eve matchup will be the first-ever meeting between #3 TCU and #2 Michigan. At this time, I would like to turn it over to TCU Head Coach Sonny Dykes and senior offensive lineman Wes Harris for some opening comments.

COACH DYKES: Thank you. Just want to say on behalf of TCU football, we’re excited to be here in Phoenix. The weather sure is beautiful. We left Fort Worth today and it was about 25 degrees. We’re excited to be here. Looking forward to spending the week out here.

And really want to thank the Fiesta Bowl. They have just been first class in everything they have done with us in regards to setting things up and we’re excited to be here. Looking forward to playing in the College Football Playoff and really excited about this opportunity for our players and our program.

So it’s going to be a heck of a week. We’re going to have a good time. We’re also going to make sure that we do a fantastic job. Most importantly, we’re preparing for a really good Michigan team and look forward to playing against these guys and competing against one of the top teams in the country. It is going to be a great week, and we’re looking forward to it.

WES HARRIS: Like Coach (Sonny Dykes) said, we’re excited to be here. Blessed to have this opportunity. Like he said, it’s pretty dang cold back home, so it felt pretty refreshing getting off the plane. It’s 65 and sunny out here.

Like he said, we’re really excited to be here. Excited to go play a team that is as good as Michigan is.

Let’s talk about the matchup with Michigan and how you guys have two different styles, really.

COACH DYKES: Yeah, I think when you look at Michigan, obviously you’ve got the Big Ten champion, which typically Big Ten football is big, strong people. You get games typically won and lost up front. Michigan has got all that.

They have also got really good skill players as well. The quarterback (J.J. McCarthy) is a really good player. Very impressed with him.

They are going to try to run the football. It’s going to be important for us to do everything we can to get the run game stopped.

Defensively, same thing, built up front, very powerful football team. Two outstanding defensive tackles. Really good pass rushers off the edge. Linebackers are good, and a long athletic secondary. So very good football team.

A little bit of contrasting styles. We’re a little bit more of a team that relies on speed. But I think the one thing that has made our team special is we’re a fast team, and we’re also a very physical team. Our goal is to always try to dominate the line of scrimmage and win the line of scrimmage.

It will be a big challenge for us on Saturday. But we look forward to the challenge. I think it’s going to be really critical for us to be able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football. It will be a challenge. But, again, our guys are looking forward to it, excited about it.

I think, as I said, our team is kind of known for its speed. But I really do think that this team is a physical, tough, tough-minded football team, and we’ve had a lot of success this year.

Even if you guys get down, should we expect fireworks late in the game?

COACH DYKES: I think our team has been a really gritty, competitive team that’s got a lot of confidence. That’s the key. When you have a team that can overcome deficits, it really comes down to a belief in each other and confidence in each other. And confidence comes from a work ethic and an understanding that our team has put the work in, paid the price, done what they need to do.

We’re going to go out and compete at a high level week in, week out. So if things don’t go our way early in ball games, we don’t panic. Guys keep grinding, keep working. I think it shows in the mentality of this team that we’re a tough-minded football team.

We’re a team that’s never really paid much attention to the scoreboard. We just keep on playing. Talk to our guys all the time about playing 60 minutes regardless of what happens, good or bad. They have had a great mentality that way this year.

What kind of challenges does their defense present for you guys?

COACH DYKES: Yeah, as I said earlier, two outstanding defensive tackles. Guys who look good up front, do a nice job of playing with their hands. Really do a good job, big, strong guys, of staying in gaps. Really gap-style defense.

The thing I like about their defense is the guys really play well together. They do their job consistently. They’re in the right place at the right time. They play with good technique. Got a good scheme. They’re a very sound defensive football team. They don’t give up a ton of big plays. They try to make you earn everything you get.

For us, it always starts with our ability to be able to run the football. It’s going to be important for us to do that. Got a lot of confidence in the offensive linemen, guys like Wes [Harris] here to be able to play physical up front and open the holes. If we do that, typically, our passing game has a chance to get the ball down the field and get it to some guys who can make plays.

As I said earlier, we’re a fast football team. Our guys enjoy taking shots down the field. And we’re going to have to make a lot of one-on-one contested catches in this game. That’s what big football games usually come down to, is which team can win the one-on-one battles and make the defensive catches and defensive plays.

How have practices been going?

COACH DYKES: We really had a good 10 practices so far. Our guys have really practiced well, competed hard.

It’s been a long time since we played. That’s the one thing about playing a bowl game this late, on December 31st. There’s a lot of time between when we last played in the Big 12 Championship and this game.

Our guys are excited to get back out there. Ready to go and compete. We took a little bit of time off and let our guys rest up a little bit, recover.

We had an unusual season this year. We played 11 consecutive weeks without an open date. Our open day occurred after the second week of the season so we needed some rest. We were a little bit worn out, a little bit beat up.

We got some. The guys came back with a great mindset, had some really good practices. Really now starting to focus in on Michigan the last couple days in our preparation getting ready for them.

The first five, six, seven practices, really worked on fundamentals. Had a chance to work some of our young players, continued to develop those guys. Then we switched gears a little bit, started preparing for the football game.

Really like where we are right now. Our guys have a great attitude. Right now we’re in a good state of mind, and we’re excited about the challenge in front of us.

Wes, this is a big game, very exciting. Can you tell us what you think is the biggest challenge you’re going to face in this game? And maybe what TCU brings to this game that’s so special.

WES HARRIS: I think the biggest challenge, I think all around, is their defense. They are a really well-coached group, kind of like Coach (Sonny Dykes) was saying.

Their defensive line is very good. Their linebackers are good, and their secondary is good. They are coached well, and they play hard.

I feel like they play the whole game. You turn on the tape and I don’t think they have one weak spot kind of out there on their defense.

So it will be fun. I know we’re excited to get out there and kind of show what we can do. But it’s also big for TCU. I don’t think we’ve been on the map or a scale this big in quite a long time, so we’re excited to get out there and show what we can do and show what we can do against an opponent like this.

Kind of like I said, they are a really good football team. I don’t think they have any weak links on the defensive side of the ball. So we’re excited to go up against them.

You guys have come this far. Is there a fighting urge to just being content to be here, or is that not a notion?

WES HARRIS: I feel like Coach (Sonny Dykes) does a good job. For every game, every practice, he says: Do your job. He’s said it since spring ball, since workouts started back in January.

Like I said, I don’t think we need to make this more than what it is. I think we know if we go out there and we play our game and we do our job, at the end of the day, if we fall short, you can hang your hat on that at least and say, we did all we did.

I think honestly, we go out there and play our game, we can really show everybody what we’re capable of and what we can do. We have got a lot of confidence in our group, a lot of belief in each other. We are just excited to go out there and get the game going.

Piggybacking off of that, losing in the Big 12 Championship game and then getting this berth in the final, how important was that for you guys? How great did that feel to actually get this slot?

WES HARRIS: It stung. It definitely did. I think we all felt a little better on Sunday whenever we saw on the TV that we got the 3 spot and a spot to come play in the playoff.

I don’t think losing is a bad thing. I think you can make it a bad thing. But this group, it may be good for us. We hadn’t lost yet, or before that point in the season, and I think we bounced back.

I don’t think we have, but a lot of teams, they keep winning and you get the big head. Sometimes that losing isn’t horrible at the end of the day. Like you said, we got a second shot. We’re in the playoff. Like I said, it’s all how you bounce back from that and get that bad taste out of your mouth.

COACH DYKES: Excited to be here. Thank you, everybody.