Florida Gators College Football Pregame Quote, 12/29/2020

SCOTTIE RODGERS: Welcome to the 85th Goodyear Cotton Bowl head coaches news conference, featuring Dan Mullen, head coach of the Number 7 Florida Gators, and Lincoln Riley, head coach of the Number 6 Oklahoma Sooners. I’m Scottie Rodgers, Director of Communications for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, and I’ll be your faceless moderator for today’s media session.

COACH RILEY: Thank you, Scottie. We’re very excited to get down to Arlington (Texas) and come play in the Cotton Bowl. It’s been a great lead-up for our guys. I think they all appreciated the opportunity to take a quick break and get home and see their families for Christmas. And then I think they were all excited to get back and begin preparations to play a great Florida team.

So I have been excited about the way our guys have handled this, and I think they understand the opportunity that playing in the Cotton Bowl presents, not only that but an opportunity to close out a strong season and a team that’s really enjoyed playing this game together and especially in this year. And the fact that we get one more chance to do it is very much appreciated by our staff, our players, everybody.

And so I want to thank the Cotton Bowl for all they’ve done in a very tough year to still be able to put on such a high-quality bowl. First class, as always, even though this year has been so different. So I want to thank everybody at the Cotton Bowl for all their hard work in making this happen. And certainly look forward to the game tomorrow night.

COACH MULLEN: I want to thank the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, the experience of what makes bowl games so special, the opportunity to come and experience a different city, a different location, experience and see things you never got to see. I know this year, being very unique, being shortened.

But I tell you what is really special to me is getting here yesterday and even here at the hotel, the hospitality, the game room that’s set up for the players. And last night to see all of those guys, it’s been such a difficult year and so much has happened this year.

But to just see all of our guys with smiles on their face enjoying an unbelievable hospitality setup here by the people at the Cotton Bowl and to see what that does and how that brings the team together and the smiles and that joy that it puts on these young guys’ faces.

My wife was telling me last night, and you forget. I know we watch these guys perform week in and week out on the main stage, on national television. You forget, these are young college kids. To see them just come together, enjoy and have such a great time with all the smiles, all the laughs, that seems to — in a lot of the world have been missing this year. So I think that is so special, and I’m thankful.

I know we’re excited to be here, excited for the game. I know our guys are thrilled right now to go over to AT&T Stadium to see that and experience that for the walk-through today and just enjoy the experiences around the Cotton Bowl. And then get to obviously go compete against one of the top programs in the country in Oklahoma.

I had a big-picture question for both of you guys. Dan, if you could speak first, though. I know the season wraps up tomorrow obviously. And I’m just wondering, given the challenges going forward for coaches created by the transfer rules, athlete compensation changes, these matters, does that make the NFL more appealing to top coaches? And is that a move either of you guys would ever consider?

COACH MULLEN: I don’t know more appealing, less appealing. I think college football — to start with college football, I think with everything going on, college football, as we know it, will be very different over the next several years. And I don’t want to say it’s going to be better, worse. It will just be different than a lot of what college football is used to. And the world is ever-changing.

And so I think that part of it, everything changing in college football, will just mean it will be very different moving forward.

As it pertains to coaches and within the NFL, I’m sure coaches — it’s not something I’ve thought about. But if it’s something — as opportunities present themselves, like everything in the world, you take things as they come and you visit them and you sit down and reflect where you’re at in your life.

Very much like we have a lot of players that are deciding to move on to the NFL. I meet with those guys and say, ‚ÄúMake sure you make great decisions. Reflect upon what’s best for you in your life and your situation and where you’re at. And you make a decision that’s best for you and your family in everything.‚Äù

There’s a reason the wishbone isn’t run anymore, the veer isn’t run anymore. How much do you worry or prepare yourself, scout, on people, quote, unquote, catching up to the spread or RPOs or everything else? Or is that here to stay? Because you two guys are in the vanguard of that.

COACH RILEY: That’s part of the fun in football. The trends schematically are always going to go in phases. Is it here to stay? Is it not? I don’t know. There’s principles of the wishbone and the option that have been used.

They look a little different to the untrained eye. A lot of those same principles that were developed when the wishbone offense was developed are still very prevalent in offensive football today, so even though the majority of them come out of spread sets.

So do I think they’ll ever go away? No. Will there be new trends that come up as we go on? I’m sure there will be, and that’s what makes the game fun. I think as a coach it challenges you to continue to evolve.

COACH MULLEN: I agree with Lincoln [Riley] on that. If you go back, I remember about almost 20 years ago now we started this at Bowling Green. We had an offense, we’re snapping to the quarterback and he’s running off-tackle power offense with a guy named Josh Harris. And then someone kind of looked. And at Utah had to do it with a tight end. It’s like, Oh, that’s — haven’t seen that since the single-wing back seven years ago.

I think football’s constantly evolving. And I think everybody’s looking and saying, Okay, how am I taking a concept and continually improving it? And you’re evolving the things and always looking for new ideas.

So I don’t know that the wishbone’s gone. Like Lincoln said, you just see it in a very different light maybe than you saw it years ago. But a lot of the philosophies, the principles, are still there. And football’s just constantly evolving.

Dan, I know last week you said you don’t want to share the names, you want to let guys announce. But with the news of several guys opting out yesterday, do you have a tally on just how many guys didn’t end up making the trip that you expected to?

COACH MULLEN: We kind of knew who was going to make the trip and not. What we’re excited about is really getting to see some of the guys, as we have all year.

Our guys are excited with the opportunity to get out there and go play. So there are guys that have kind of been in maybe that supporting actor role now that are going into the lead role in the show tomorrow night. And so I think those guys are excited for that opportunity to get out there and go make plays.

I want to say we’re — off scholarship number, I think we probably have about 60 scholarship guys playing in the game.

Lincoln, you’ve had at least one opt-out, a couple of guys transfer. Dan, you’ve had guys opt out. Is that not an indictment of the bowls? Nobody opted out before your conference championship games. But you’ve had guys say, I just really don’t want to play in the bowl game. It’s been such a long history of college football. It seems to me it’s an indictment that this just isn’t that important to us.

COACH RILEY: I think it’s hard to gauge this year. I think the — I think what this year has been like, obviously, with everything that’s changed, with the pandemic, I think, is absolutely a factor. So I don’t know that that’s very easily judged.

We’ve had a couple of our guys that have made the decision to transfer out and the transfer portal and guys wanting to get to a new home and kind of get that all figured out as a factor as well.

So do a couple of guys — or are there going to be a couple of players here and there through the years that maybe think the bowl game is not that important? There may be. But we’ve got to be careful and take the 1 or 2% and say, Well, that’s how everybody feels. Because there’s a big percentage of both of our football teams that are going to be pretty excited to play this football game tomorrow night. So I tend to go with the majority and think these games are still pretty darned important.

COACH MULLEN: I think it’s a pretty unique year, and I think everybody has to understand that, the stress that these guys have been under from week in and week out.

This is our third straight New Year’s Six bowl game. In the previous two, we had a grand total of one opt-out between those two games. So I think this year is just such a unique deal.

And the stresses and pressures that these guys have been under this year, I think it’s led everybody to be under a little bit of a different mental state of where they’re at.

You look to the build-up of the bowl game, it’s cut way down. The opportunity to be here and spend the experience — the entire bowl experience has been cut down. So I think this could be just a unique year.

Lincoln, we’ve heard a lot about the match-up with Coach [Dan] Mullen’s offense against your defense. But take us to the other side of the ball, your offense against the Florida defense. What do you see in the Gator defense?

COACH RILEY: It’s a very talented group. Got a lot of respect for Todd Grantham and the job he’s done throughout the years. Got a lot of very talented and outstanding players to work with, a lot of guys that really flash on tape, and have the ability and have made a lot of big plays throughout the season. So it’s a talented group.

You’ve got to play very well, very sharp football to have the chance to move the ball and score points against them. What you would expect out of a Florida defense, active, well-coached. Be a fun match-up.

Coach [Lincoln] Riley, when you look back at the season, even before the season, when you didn’t even know if you were going to have one and kind of every game week not knowing if you’re going to get to play for sure, all the difficulties of COVID. When you get to step on the field for the Cotton Bowl, what’s it going to mean emotionally to know you made it through this season and you were able to finish on such a strong note and a bowl game like this?

COACH RILEY: A little difficult to say. I think you’re kind of just in the moment right now of preparing and trying to play and coach your best. But it will be special no matter what happens.

The rest of my career, I think, will always look back at this season and be proud of what this team accomplished, be proud of what college football was able to accomplish. You’ve seen some of the other sports be able to finish the season successfully, but this one is tougher. We have the worst possible setup to make it during a pandemic with a lot of times community living, just the way our programs are set up. Guys still having to go to school. It’s not the ideal sport to survive during a pandemic, and we’ve found a way to do it.

So I’m excited we’ve been able to have a season. Think it’s been a great season. It’s been a lot of fun, despite the challenges. And certainly has made us more — I think more appreciative of each and every time we get the chance to step on the field.

COACH MULLEN: I agree with Lincoln on that. I’m just really proud of our guys. Of all the players, of what they’ve had to deal with to get to this point, it has been an extremely difficult year.

The emotional tolls that you add on to the physical tolls, I’m just really proud of our guys for them to be able to handle what they’ve handled, to be able to go out and play.

Guys love to play the game of football. They love — so what they’ve had to do, the sacrifices, the toll and the strain that it’s taken on them to get to do what they love during this pandemic, I’m happy for them and I’m proud of them for what everybody has been able to accomplish.

Dan, I know you’ve been busy prepping for the bowl obviously, but I was wondering if you had seen the reports about your old colleague, Urban Meyer, maybe being interested in coming to Jacksonville (Florida) and what your thoughts are, in general, of him coming back into coaching, specifically at the NFL level.

COACH MULLEN: I haven’t seen any of that, but I’ve spoken to Urban. I think he’s probably happy with where he is in his life with his family and all of that. But I know — knowing him and the competitor that he is, it would never surprise me to see him back on the sidelines enjoying coaching the game of football. I haven’t seen anything about it and haven’t spoken to him about that. But one of these days you might see him back on the sidelines.

Lincoln [Riley], read about a number of quarterbacks from the state of Arizona obviously with Spencer [Rattler], and you saw Brock Purdy last week, both Fiesta Bowl guys are from there. There’s quarterbacks all over the country from that state. I’m just kind of wondering why you think that is and what you think about that rise in that particular position from a state that doesn’t produce a ton of players at this level.

COACH RILEY: It’s an interesting question. I’ve kind of thought the same thing. When you look at the number of overall players that come out, it doesn’t totally make sense. But I think you’ve seen a run of some really talented guys. I think there’s a lot of really good coaches in that area. I think maybe part of it is it provides a climate where those guys can train year-round, and that’s probably a small thing honestly.

The guys that I’ve seen, had experience with, both from the player and coach level, have been very impressive. When you get that matched up and some talented young guys who want to work and a lot of good coaches in the area, then that’s going to be the recipe. But I don’t know that I have anything further on it.

Lincoln [Riley], I was just wondering if you could let us know what you ended up deciding to do with Shane Beamer’s position for this game and how that worked in such a short time frame getting somebody acclimated?

COACH RILEY: Not too bad. We’ve elevated Ryan Dougherty who’s been our special teams quality control, we’ve elevated him to coordinate and to take over Shane’s responsibilities. And he’s done a great job. Obviously we know that we didn’t have Coach Beamer available for a game earlier this year. And Ryan did the same think and did a tremendous job. He’ll serve in that same role and is very comfortable and very well-versed in what we want to do there.

Coach [Lincoln] Riley, if you could go back and answer the one about the challenges of college football and NFL interest.

And, Dan, Kyle Trask, is he the perfect guy to kind of lead this team tomorrow night, given — his history is kind of similar to what could happen with some young guy tomorrow, come out nowhere and rise to the occasion?

COACH RILEY: Every game has its challenges. Every game changes. Rules change. Guidelines change. You’ve got to adapt. I know this, we’ve got an unbelievable sport and product in college football, and I love coaching it. And that’s about all I would say.

COACH MULLEN: On Kyle, you know, I think he’s done an unbelievable job of leading our program since the day he stepped on the field about a year and a half — a little over a year and a half ago. I think he’s a great role model for all young players in the game of football but I think a great role model for people in life about how to prepare, how to work, how to put yourself in a position to be successful. And when your opportunity comes, you’re ready for it and don’t look for the easiest road or the shortest road or the quickest road.

The path to success is to sit there and work and put your time in and prepare. And when your moment’s called, you’re ready for it. And I think he’s a guy that you look and you look for the opportunity for him to come into this game. I know he’s excited to get — to go play, to go play. He’s such a competitor and the opportunity to go play against a great Oklahoma team. I know he is.

So when you say “perfect guy,” he’s a guy you want leading. Whether you’re out there playing Oklahoma in football or whether you’re going into a corporate sales meeting, he’s the type of guy you want leading your organization.

Lincoln [Riley], most coaches view good performances and outcomes in bowl games as momentum builders, going into an off-season and even next year. If you guys play well defensively tomorrow night, is there any part of that that would exorcize some ghosts of the past three years in terms of Oklahoma’s defense in the post-season? Do you have any interest in doing that?

COACH RILEY: I mean, I hope we play well defensively, but I don’t — I just think each year is its own year. You guys have heard me say that a lot.

Every challenge is different. Your team’s different. Opponent’s different. Situation’s different. So we’re just going to try to be the very best that we can tomorrow night. Whatever people want to say about a big picture, that will be their choice. The only thing we can control is the way we prepare and the way we perform tomorrow night, and we’re going to try to stay locked on that.

Dan, I think everybody saw the news coming out yesterday about receivers opting out and wondering why would a guy like Kyle Trask play in this game with his NFL stock. What does that say about maybe Kyle’s competitiveness or his character to play in this game with all that going around him?

COACH MULLEN: Well, I think everything that has led up to this moment, even his life, shows his character, the type of person he is and why he’s the team captain for us.

I mean, he’s the guy that to get to this point in his career, it’s shown what he was. He’s a guy that battled through, was at a high school and they had another quarterback so only got to play part-time at his high school. He didn’t let that deter him. He wasn’t looking to immediately get out of the school, go transfer, go somewhere else.

He came to a college, got an opportunity to come play at Florida, and was on the bench and really didn’t get on the field until after he graduated but took advantage of that opportunity.

And now he is a guy to go from a guy that didn’t play high school football to a Heisman Trophy finalist. It just shows the character that he has. You never want to count him out on anything.

So we met and I know he’s excited to go play in the game. He’s worked his butt off to get the opportunity to go play. I know people look at things and say, Okay, we’re at the Cotton Bowl and this is a big, big game. You know what? And competitors, they want to play in big games. I know he’s a competitor and he’s really excited to play in this game.

Lincoln, all year you had the opportunity to play young players on the defensive side, especially in the secondary. So you lose your most experienced guy, but those guys have all made a good play. Those guys have all played pretty well. That philosophy that you and Coach [Alex] Grinch came up with is going to help in a game like this when you take on a powerful offense that Florida has, I would guess. Talk about that decision earlier in the year, because it’s going to play big for you in this game.

COACH RILEY: Yeah, we felt like we had some guys that were close to being ready earlier in the year, and I think just from a development standpoint, as we’ve all talked about probably enough, the spring, summer camp, losing guys for extended time to COVID and to contact tracing, and all that has stunted some of their growth. And so especially around mid-season we got to the point where we felt like we had a number of guys that were ready to take snaps and ready to go compete.

And so, yeah, I think going into a game like this against such a tremendous offense, to have more guys available, more guys that have played in big-time games and that have felt the fire a little bit is an advantage. And, obviously, we’re going to need some of those guys to step up with the quality opponent that we have.

Dan, depending on how you look at this season, you guys are just a few mistakes away from potentially being either undefeated or being in the college football playoffs. So I was just curious kind of how you reconciled that. Do you look at that as, We are now on the level of those playoff-caliber programs or that those mistakes tell you that you still have a ways to go?

COACH MULLEN: Well, I think this being our third straight New Year’s Six bowl game, I think the program’s right there and competing with all the top teams in the country. And you look at that and as you talk about it, you look at the margin for error to go win championships is extremely small.

And, I mean, as you said, for us, we’ve lost two games on the last play of the game and then fell six points short to Alabama in the championship game. That’s always tough. But when you’re playing in a league, when you’re playing in the Southeastern Conference, you’re playing — the quality of teams you play week in and week out, you look at — the margin for error gets extremely small to get there to go win championships.

I’ve been part of two national championship teams at Florida. You go back and reflect upon those seasons, and the margin for error in those seasons is so small. You flip ten plays and you’re not even competing in the championship game. We flip a couple of plays this past season, you could be in the playoffs very easily. And very easily flip a couple of plays would have won the SEC championship, one or two plays here or there.

So I think that’s just the focus that you have. That’s why we do what we do. That’s why you work as hard as you do year-round to make sure. If you could tell me tomorrow night what play is going to be the difference in tomorrow night’s game, I’ll make sure I’m ready for that one play.

But since we don’t know, it could be one of about 180 plays that could be the difference in the game. We’ve got to prepare for each one of those and be prepared for that moment to go make the play. And that’s the great challenge that football presents, and it presents it as a team. Because it’s not one individual that’s going to do it, it’s the entire team that has to be ready for those moments.