Dan Lanning and Jamey Chadwell took part in a final head coaches press conference today before the game tomorrow:
COACH CHADWELL: Well, one, hats off to the Fiesta Bowl for a great week for our team and our program and our staff. When you are in Division II, you can screw up a lot, and I did, and nobody knows. But you can really build who you are and the values that you believe in and the foundation. And for our staff, a lot of those guys have been with me a long time. We started there and have been fortunate to work up to this moment. We always look back to remember where you came from. I think that's important, and the things that you've had to overcome, the different adversity. But we're here today because of those young men in 2009 when I was at North Greenville who chose to buy into our belief system and our values there, and they helped to propel us to this day. Any time we get to a big moment, I always look back on them fondly.
COACH LANNING: It's about building and growth, and it's the same thing across all avenues -- offense, defense and special teams. We want to be aggressive. Playing a team like Liberty, it makes it challenging. If you are aggressive, they take advantage of it and they make you play on islands. They tackle well and all of those things are really important when it comes to bowl games. For us, we want guys to play with relentless effort. We want to limit the thinking out there, but hopefully create some confusion for the offense, and accentuate what our players do really well.
Q. Dan, yesterday Coach [Jamey] Chadwell made a comment about how this game is pretty rare with so many players opting in and how in bowl season, that's a rarity these days. What are your thoughts on those comments and the state of bowl season in general right now?
COACH LANNING: You know, Coach Chadwell and I were talking about it before we came in here. You know, bowl season is supposed to be something that's really phenomenal and an opportunity for guys to get to play together one last time before a lot of guys' journeys take different directions and go in different ways. That's something that I know he appreciates and certainly something that I appreciate. I know a certain reporter was fighting for us to have a Florida State-Georgia type game. But we love to see our players play. We love to see our guys compete. They've signed up to be part of a team for the long haul. They want to go out there with their teammates one last time.When you have great players like the great players on his team that sign up to do it, and the players that sign up to do it? That's what the fans want, that's what the players want, and that's what bowl season is about.
Q. Dan, you alluded to the Orange Bowl. Having worked with both of those coaches, your thoughts in general and how that game came to be? And then Kirby's [Smart] comments after the game saying that things in college football need to be fixed, and people need to ask what they want out of these experiences, even with the expanded playoff next year.
COACH LANNING: I think we all know that at the end of the season, these games are best when the best players get to play in these games and they get to compete. I think what Coach Smart said, there's a lot of truth to that. When there's guys getting pulled in so many different directions at the end of the season, I don't know what the answer is to create some tie-in and buy-in for them to be able to compete in these games. You play an entire career in college football and then all of a sudden, you are not able to play in your last game? I think that's sad. These games mean something. They certainly mean something to the school. They mean something to the fans. I think everybody wants to see everybody's best.What the answer is to that, I don't know. I don't get paid to figure that part out. But ultimately, when you have a great culture, when you have good players that commit, when you have a quarterback like Bo Nix who commits to play in this game, I think it makes other people around him want to go compete -- and that's the best of college football when that happens.
Q. Dan, a lot has been noted about what Oregon has accomplished this year and it's been well-known nationally. What have you learned about what Liberty has accomplished from starting to game plan them to 24-ish hours before kickoff?
COACH LANNING: I know I'm younger but I have coached football for a long time. I haven't been around an undefeated team very often. That's a very unique experience. When you turn on the film and see a team go unscathed through their conference, able to win some close games and then have some blowouts. You see a team that competes at the ultimate level. They play hard for each other in every single unit. They create explosive plays. They take care of the ball. They do a good job of ripping the ball away from the opponent. So they make it challenging and that's credit to Coach Chadwell and the job that he's done. But obviously, they are a really dynamic team that's one of four teams in college football that has not lost a game. I guess three teams now in college football that have not lost a game. So it speaks volumes to the job he's done.
COACH CHADWELL: Thank you.
Q. For both coaches, it's been a month since you've played. How do you replicate the physicality that will happen tomorrow and be prepared for that after such a long layoff?
COACH LANNING: Yeah, it's a fine line, right? I walked in the room this morning and told Coach Chadwell, I'm ready to play. We have been practicing for a long time. There's a benefit. For us, we had 13 practices where it's almost an additional spring ball. It's an opportunity for development for young players and older players on your team. What always sticks out to me is the very first game of the season. The most missed tackles in the season is game one, right? And then the most missed tackles after that is bowl season. It really shows that people probably are not as physical within bowl prep. They don't tackle as frequently in bowl prep. I think that's something that is a fine line. You have to find that balance of creating what has to happen to be successful in football. But also take care of your players in that avenue. So it's a little bit like a spring ball for the first few practices, where you are really working development, and then you have to start breaking down and getting into the team that you are about to play.
COACH CHADWELL: Ours was very similar. We ended up having 13 as well and the first four or five were a lot of working on Liberty things that we needed -- we do have some young guys that will actually play in the game that were redshirted, and so trying to get them as many opportunities that they can to get them up to speed. We can't replicate who they are and what they do when we go in to prepare for them. Obviously, you will put the best game plan forward that you can. But we tried to use it as an extension of some spring and getting some young guys ready -- and still try to practice physical and get ready for what the challenge is in the game. But it's hard. I don't know if anybody has a great answer to that.
COACH CHADWELL: Well, one, hats off to the Fiesta Bowl for a great week for our team and our program and our staff. When you are in Division II, you can screw up a lot, and I did, and nobody knows. But you can really build who you are and the values that you believe in and the foundation. And for our staff, a lot of those guys have been with me a long time. We started there and have been fortunate to work up to this moment. We always look back to remember where you came from. I think that's important, and the things that you've had to overcome, the different adversity. But we're here today because of those young men in 2009 when I was at North Greenville who chose to buy into our belief system and our values there, and they helped to propel us to this day. Any time we get to a big moment, I always look back on them fondly.
COACH LANNING: It's about building and growth, and it's the same thing across all avenues -- offense, defense and special teams. We want to be aggressive. Playing a team like Liberty, it makes it challenging. If you are aggressive, they take advantage of it and they make you play on islands. They tackle well and all of those things are really important when it comes to bowl games. For us, we want guys to play with relentless effort. We want to limit the thinking out there, but hopefully create some confusion for the offense, and accentuate what our players do really well.
Q. Dan, yesterday Coach [Jamey] Chadwell made a comment about how this game is pretty rare with so many players opting in and how in bowl season, that's a rarity these days. What are your thoughts on those comments and the state of bowl season in general right now?
COACH LANNING: You know, Coach Chadwell and I were talking about it before we came in here. You know, bowl season is supposed to be something that's really phenomenal and an opportunity for guys to get to play together one last time before a lot of guys' journeys take different directions and go in different ways. That's something that I know he appreciates and certainly something that I appreciate. I know a certain reporter was fighting for us to have a Florida State-Georgia type game. But we love to see our players play. We love to see our guys compete. They've signed up to be part of a team for the long haul. They want to go out there with their teammates one last time.When you have great players like the great players on his team that sign up to do it, and the players that sign up to do it? That's what the fans want, that's what the players want, and that's what bowl season is about.
Q. Dan, you alluded to the Orange Bowl. Having worked with both of those coaches, your thoughts in general and how that game came to be? And then Kirby's [Smart] comments after the game saying that things in college football need to be fixed, and people need to ask what they want out of these experiences, even with the expanded playoff next year.
COACH LANNING: I think we all know that at the end of the season, these games are best when the best players get to play in these games and they get to compete. I think what Coach Smart said, there's a lot of truth to that. When there's guys getting pulled in so many different directions at the end of the season, I don't know what the answer is to create some tie-in and buy-in for them to be able to compete in these games. You play an entire career in college football and then all of a sudden, you are not able to play in your last game? I think that's sad. These games mean something. They certainly mean something to the school. They mean something to the fans. I think everybody wants to see everybody's best.What the answer is to that, I don't know. I don't get paid to figure that part out. But ultimately, when you have a great culture, when you have good players that commit, when you have a quarterback like Bo Nix who commits to play in this game, I think it makes other people around him want to go compete -- and that's the best of college football when that happens.
Q. Dan, a lot has been noted about what Oregon has accomplished this year and it's been well-known nationally. What have you learned about what Liberty has accomplished from starting to game plan them to 24-ish hours before kickoff?
COACH LANNING: I know I'm younger but I have coached football for a long time. I haven't been around an undefeated team very often. That's a very unique experience. When you turn on the film and see a team go unscathed through their conference, able to win some close games and then have some blowouts. You see a team that competes at the ultimate level. They play hard for each other in every single unit. They create explosive plays. They take care of the ball. They do a good job of ripping the ball away from the opponent. So they make it challenging and that's credit to Coach Chadwell and the job that he's done. But obviously, they are a really dynamic team that's one of four teams in college football that has not lost a game. I guess three teams now in college football that have not lost a game. So it speaks volumes to the job he's done.
COACH CHADWELL: Thank you.
Q. For both coaches, it's been a month since you've played. How do you replicate the physicality that will happen tomorrow and be prepared for that after such a long layoff?
COACH LANNING: Yeah, it's a fine line, right? I walked in the room this morning and told Coach Chadwell, I'm ready to play. We have been practicing for a long time. There's a benefit. For us, we had 13 practices where it's almost an additional spring ball. It's an opportunity for development for young players and older players on your team. What always sticks out to me is the very first game of the season. The most missed tackles in the season is game one, right? And then the most missed tackles after that is bowl season. It really shows that people probably are not as physical within bowl prep. They don't tackle as frequently in bowl prep. I think that's something that is a fine line. You have to find that balance of creating what has to happen to be successful in football. But also take care of your players in that avenue. So it's a little bit like a spring ball for the first few practices, where you are really working development, and then you have to start breaking down and getting into the team that you are about to play.
COACH CHADWELL: Ours was very similar. We ended up having 13 as well and the first four or five were a lot of working on Liberty things that we needed -- we do have some young guys that will actually play in the game that were redshirted, and so trying to get them as many opportunities that they can to get them up to speed. We can't replicate who they are and what they do when we go in to prepare for them. Obviously, you will put the best game plan forward that you can. But we tried to use it as an extension of some spring and getting some young guys ready -- and still try to practice physical and get ready for what the challenge is in the game. But it's hard. I don't know if anybody has a great answer to that.
