CFP National Championship:
Georgia vs TCU
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Inglewood, California, USA
SoFi Stadium
TCU Horned Frogs
Coach Sonny Dykes
Dee Winters
Quentin Johnston
Press Conference
COACH DYKES: Just want to say on behalf of TCU and TCU’s football program, we’re excited to represent the Big 12 in the National Championship Game against a great Georgia opponent. Obviously I have tremendous respect for the Southeastern Conference. Tremendous respect for Georgia getting to this point undefeated. I know they’ve played a great schedule. It’s been an outstanding year for those guys. I want to congratulate Coach Smart and their entire program. They’re obviously an outstanding football team. And we look forward to playing them on Monday night. It will be a big challenge for us. But our players have been able to overcome challenges all year. And we’re excited about an opportunity to try to do it again.
Q. I was just wondering how Kendre Miller is feeling and what’s his status?
COACH DYKES: You know what? I think he’s feeling pretty good. We got a pretty good eval on him the night before last when we got back from Phoenix. He was pretty sore. Woke up yesterday, felt a little bit better. I just saw him a little bit ago. He’s feeling better today. So I would say he’s probably questionable, would be the way I would present it. We’ll see how he progresses through the week, see how he feels, and we’ll try to make a determination as we get closer to game time whether we think he’s going to be ready to play or not.
Q. I wonder, seeing what Tulane has done, and also Utah has been in the Rose Bowl two straight years,
what you guys have done, I don’t (indiscernible) you got ready to go, but have you ever thought how cool
this would be with 16 teams?
COACH DYKES: I have. I thought that way for a long time. There was probably about a 6-hour period at some point in my life in the middle of the night where Mike Leach actually convinced me it was good for a 64-team playoff. But that’s another whole story. And like I said I woke up the next day and talked myself out of it. I think 12 is going to be great. I think there’s a lot of good football teams that deserve to be in the playoff. And I’ve always believed that the cream rises and the more opportunities that schools outside of the traditional brands get, the more those schools can become traditional brands. I think if you exclude them, it’s hard to break in. And I think this will give a lot of schools like TCU an opportunity to get
in the mix and show what they’re capable of. And we were fortunate this year to get into the four-team
playoff. And we were fortunate to beat a very good Michigan game and advance. And our prize is we get to play Georgia now. So, look, you can’t help but look at how much fun it’s going to be when we get to that 12. And it’s going to be like everything else, it’s going to be a work in progress. And there’s going to be some things that I’m sure we don’t like about that. But at the end of the day, the best thing, it’s going to include more people. And I’m a big believer in inclusion. And so I think it’s going to be a good thing.
Q. You sat through that Mike Leach conversation about 64, huh?
COACH DYKES: Oh, yeah, not — just for about 6 years. You know what? He made some pretty good points. I just kept coming back to him saying, well, Mike, we can’t play two games a week.
Q. Johnny Hodges mentioned a little earlier about the Oklahoma game being kind of eye-opening for you guys this year. I’m curious whether it was that game or another point in the season, when did you feel like
this group really could be special?
COACH DYKES: I think the Oklahoma game is when we saw, okay, look, here’s what we’re capable of because we played really good football on all three sides of the ball. We played great offense, great defense, great special teams in that game. It was a bit of an eye-opener for me, honestly because we
played okay up to that point. We felt we were playing against really good competition. And the big question we had to answer after that was how are we going to handle prosperity. And also how are we
going to deal with adversity, because that’s going to happen quickly. And fortunately Oklahoma State rolled around right after that. And we were down 17. And we had to rally. And I think that was, to me, that was just a big a moment for our football team was seeing how we were going to do when we were down.
And the great thing about both of those games was I remember walking into the locker room at halftime of the Oklahoma game expecting to find our players celebrating and patting each other on the back. And I was going to address the team. I walked in, everybody was sitting in their chair talking about the first half didn’t mean anything. The second half is the only thing that matters. Well, fast-forward a week, we’re in just the opposite situation, we’re down double digits at halftime. And I expected to walk in and find guys moaning and complaining and griping and panicking and all that. I found them doing the same thing, sitting there talking about the importance of the second half. And so, to me, that was when I thought, okay, this is a special group. These guys get it and there’s some maturity, and we might have something fun here. And so those were two moments for me I thought were big.
Q. How much of that comes from the fact that some of these guys have played together so long? I know Max and Taye and Quentin and Kendre, a lot of those guys have been together for several years, and in the age of player movement it doesn’t always happen. But how critical has that chemistry been for those veterans on this team?
COACH DYKES: I think there’s something to that. I also think that it’s just — I think our strength and conditioning group has a lot to do with that. I think Kaz Kazadi and his group are outstanding. Those are things we’ve talked about every single day, and talked about every single day since I got the job there.
There’s always some kind of sports psychology associated with our lifting, talking about adversity, talking about handling success, and treating them just the same, and doing the little things that we can do to make sacrifices. Because, look, what that comes down to, that comes down to confidence. And confidence is the result of hard work and doing things that other people aren’t willing to do. And our guys have done that. And so I think that’s what gives us that confidence to be down in games and not panic and a belief in each other. I think that’s the big thing. Football is unique because you’re counting on 11 people to do their job. And if one guy messes up then you’re going to have a problem. And it’s critical that all 11 people believe that the guy next to him or the guy behind him or the person in front of him, that they’re going to do the right thing so they can do the right thing. And when you have problems is when you’re a safety and you don’t think the corner is going to help you the way he’s supposed to and you try to overcompensate for that and now you don’t do your job. It’s a series of dominos that begin to fall at that point. I think these guys believe in each other. They’re confident in their abilities and their schemes. The offense is confident in the defense and the defense is confident in the offense. And I think it’s just a general belief in each other. And that comes from hard work and dedication and doing things the right way when not everybody’s watching.
Q. Between your father and your Grandma Alta (phonetic) and other family members, I wonder how
that spirit might have impacted you as a coach?
COACH DYKES: I’ve been really fortunate. My dad was a character. He just was. He was raised by characters. His mother and father were really great people. I didn’t really get to know my grandfather at all. He died when I was very young. My grandmother was a bit larger than life personality. My dad was a big personality. I’ve been lucky to work with coaches that were that way. Hal Mumme is a big personality. And Mike Leach was a big personality. And Mike Stoops was a big personality. And guys that I’ve had a chance to work for, you know, they were all unique guys and they were all really one of a kind and they all had a different approach to doing things. So those were all great mentors for me. They all had different strengths, they really did. And I think a lot of times the way that they’re perceived in some ways might not be the way they really are, particularly talking about Coach Leach. Just the perception of Mike Leach is this real complicated scheme and this innovator when it comes to Xs and Os. And he’s really a believer in technique and fundamentals and keep the game simple and it’s a player’s game, not a coach’s game.
And I got to learn those lessons from those guys. And those have obviously had a huge impact on me and the way that I’ve tried to build a program and develop a style and a methodology for teaching. And so I like people like that. I like people to think outside the box. That’s why I love our strength and conditioning coach so much is because he’s not a believer in bigger, faster, stronger, only — that’s a very small part of what he does. And so I think that we’ve tried to find ways to be creative. We’ve had to at places I’ve been. I haven’t been blessed to sometimes go to traditional powers and coach at traditional powers. When I went to LA Tech, we had to recruit a lot of junior college programs to turn our program. At SMU we had to go to the transfer portal to turn the program. And here we tried to kind of do a bunch of different things to find the best players and get them to buy in quickly. So those people all taught me that you have to be yourself and you have to think outside the box. And you’ve got to not be afraid to try things maybe that other people aren’t doing or try things that people tell you, hey, that’s not going to work. Or you just gotta believe in yourself and believe in your plan and go out and execute it.
Q. What’s been the key, do you think, to your guys not being overwhelmed by the moment? Like Saturday, certainly they were not on the big stage; they were ready to go. It’s been like that most of the season. What’s been the key factors for that?
COACH DYKES: I truly believe maturity, preparation, hard work, kind of goes back to some of the things I just talked about. Just a general belief in each other and a belief that we’re good enough. I think that’s been the message really since I got the job here was we’re good enough. We’re good enough to compete. We’re good enough to win game one and we’re good enough to win game two. And let’s
take it one game at a time. But we have all the pieces here. We just have to put them all together and we’ve got to do things the right way. We have to be willing to pay the price. And those guys believe
that. They really have. They’ve believed it from day one. And as I said earlier, look, they’ve done so many little things the right way and so many little things that they talk to their friends all the time and people at other schools and they’ve done things that other people at other schools probably aren’t doing. I think they’ve gained confidence from all those things, and I think it’s made them just believe in each other. So they feel like the moment’s not too big. This year’s team had four bowl players — or four players on this team that had played in a bowl game for TCU. That’s it. And so that experience in Phoenix was new for
everybody. But those guys believed in the plan and they went out and executed it. And, again, it’s just a belief in each other and our program.
Q. You mentioned about guys that thinking out of the box and coaches thinking out of the box. And your
dad was at a place in Lubbock that wasn’t a traditional power. He got smaller kids from — kids from smaller classifications in this state. It looks like you’ve had a lot of success with kids doing that the same way.
COACH DYKES: I think so. Honestly, I think that’s been something, if you go back and look at TCU’s history, they’ve always done a really good job of recruiting players particularly in East Texas and guys that were probably under-recruited. I know Coach Franchione recruited LaDainian Tomlinson. He was an overlooked high school player from Waco, and he ended up becoming a very good player. You go back and look at history there’s been a lot of kids who came from small towns. Coach Patterson did a great job going out finding guys that fit his style of play and his program. It’s kind of been a tradition here for a long time.
Q. The Georgia players were talking about how they thought they could play a lot better than they did
against Ohio State. And I’m wondering, from your perspective, when you watched that game, one, what
do you expect them to do better than they did; and, two, what kind of vulnerabilities did you see that you
could take advantage of?
COACH DYKES: Ohio State made some big plays against them. And I’m sure particularly in the passing game. And I’m sure they’re going to work to get some of those issues addressed. And, quite frankly, they just made some contested plays, and Ohio State’s got a really good group of wide receivers. And those guys really played well. And credit their quarterback. I thought C.J. Stroud played really well in that game.
So I think that, again, Georgia is not accustomed to giving up that many points, but you got to see what Georgia is all about in the fourth quarter of that game. And you got to see what kind of team they have because they responded and did exactly what you would expect them to do, found a way to win.
You’ve got to give Kirby and their players a ton of credit for doing that. At the end of the day, that’s what this whole thing is about. But I’m sure they’re correcting some of those plays in them passing game. And those are the kind of plays that we’re going to have to make. We’ll have to make some 50/50 ball plays, and we’ll have to have our best players step up and play big games, kind of like they did last week. And
when you get to this point of the season on this kind of stage, those great players, they have to perform at a high level.
Q. I hesitate to use the word “Cinderella.” Listening to you and the players, like you said, the moment doesn’t seem too big. They don’t seem particularly surprised. Would it be fair to say that you’re rejecting the Cinderella label even though you weren’t ranked in the preseason and you’ve turned the program around, number one? And, number two, you mentioned Georgia’s comeback. But what does strike you about Georgia? Are they built somewhat similar to Michigan in their offensive personality? Are there some trends you see there?
COACH DYKES: I’ll say this, I think Georgia’s got probably a little bit more varied scheme than Michigan did. I thought Michigan’s obviously very well-coached to have a great scheme. But Georgia does a really nice job. They’re going to show you different looks. They’ve got great answers for things when people make adjustments in game. Seems like Coach Monken does a nice job of staying ahead of people as they adjust, he adjusts. And they do a really good job getting their best players the ball. And they have a ton of playmakers. That’s the thing that’s unique about this team. Most of the time you play against a good team and there’s two or three guys you say, look, we’ve got a really take this guy away. But Georgia has just so many good players and guys that are really exceptional talents. You can’t go into a game and just say, okay, look, we’re going to — if we take this guy away then they’re going to have problems. That’s not
the case with their offense. So they do a great job throwing the ball, they do a great job running the ball, they’re very efficient, really good on third down, really good in the red zone. You sit down, look at all the important characteristics for an offense, and they check the box in every single one of those. They’re just a team that really doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. So that’s the thing about them. The question about the Cinderella thing, I think for a while that’s kind of, I think, in some ways we probably viewed ourselves as that early on because we were figuring this thing out. I think that if you had asked us before the season started, would we play for a national championship, most of us probably didn’t think that we would. Thought that we were capable, certainly, but we just hadn’t done it together. And there is a lot that goes into doing it together. You know you can. And you learn a lot of things as the journey goes along. So we’ve kind of had to build the plane while we’re flying it in some ways this year. And I think that’s just been something that our guys have done a fantastic job of adapting. And to us, I think the Cinderella label probably started to wear off a little bit after the three-game gauntlet where we had to play three or four on the road, West Virginia, Texas and Baylor. I think at that point our guys started to believe, okay, we’re a real football team and we’re a battle-hardened team and we’ve had to overcome some adversity. And you know what? We have a chance to make a run.
Q. I’d like to hear your reaction to the fact that you guys are 13-and-a-half point underdog. Even after
beating Michigan, does it feel like they’re still being counted out, do you like that role the experts and
oddsmakers don’t give you a shot here, what’s your reaction to that?
QUENTIN JOHNSTON: I mean, I’m not surprised with it given that we were picked to be seventh in the Big 12 and end up coming out on top. Obviously being the underdog is something we’re not unfamiliar with. So going to try to just keep moving like we did the rest of the season. And keep our heads to the ground and keep playing football.
Q. Does any part of it even after you’re one of the last two teams standing that you’re still not kind of getting the so-called respect that maybe you feel like you deserve?
DEE WINTERS: I think Q kind of hit the nail on the head. All year we’ve been picked second to last in the Big 12. And then coming into the playoffs being the underdog against Michigan. But I think the big thing for us as a whole, it just fuels us and kind of gives us a little more motivation to go out there and prove who we are and show what TCU is about.
Q. I’m wondering, are you the type of guys that use that underdog status as a motivator? I know Georgia
tried to do it after they beat Ohio State, Coach Kirby Smart said that everybody disrespected them all year
even though they were number one all year. You guys had the legitimate experience of being dismissed even up til you guys were selected. Have you used that to
help you have the excellent season you’ve had?
DEE WINTERS: I would definitely we used it all season. I think our coaching staff does a great job just motivating us. But when you hear how you’re about to lose to a team or however many points you are going to lose by, it just fuels us as a team, I just said. And I think everyone takes it into consideration and it fuels them.
QUENTIN JOHNSTON: Just going off that, I feel like he said it all, but absolutely, we use it as motivation because why not? It’s one of the main things I feel like has driven us to the success we’ve come to this year. So honestly going to be a lot of outside noise, people projecting us to lose by however many points, but we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and prove them wrong from week to week.
Q. Dee, as you are getting your game plan together, how unique is the challenge that’s posed by the Georgia tight ends and especially when they go in two tight end sets for those two guys — Bowers and Darnell Washington are so different? Does that kind of jump out at you as you get your game plan together?
DEE WINTERS: Yeah, Georgia has a very good offense. They like to use their tight ends the majority of the time. And I think Bowers is a really good tight end that they’ll try to target against us. I think Coach Gillespie does a great job setting up game plans for us to have success in the 3-3-5 and he’s been doing that.
Q. Dee, is there going to be anybody left in Burton this weekend? Or is everybody going to be out in California?
DEE WINTERS: I think the whole community of 30 people will be there.
Q. When you were playing high school football there, if somebody would have told you hey you’re going to be playing for the national championship in a few years, would you have believed them?
DEE WINTERS: I definitely wouldn’t believe them. This moment right here is surreal and it’s just a dream come true.
Q. Dee, would you have believed if they had told you that you would be a linebacker playing in that game?
DEE WINTERS: Coming out of high school I was only weighing 185. I definitely didn’t have that expectation of switching from wide receiver to a linebacker. So just credit to Coach Spie just believing in me and transitioning me and seeing how successful I would be on defense. And I’m just glad to be here at TCU.
Q. How long did it take you to realize that that transition was going to be good for you? For a guy who had always gotten the ball instead of chasing guys with the ball, how long did it take and how much did you just embrace it now?
DEE WINTERS: My first year it was a very rough transition. But I had guys like Garret Wallow who just led by example and I kind of just watched him. And that second year was kind of where it all started in my career. And I feel like I’ve been having success on defense the past two years. So I’m very grateful that I made that transition and it’s been successful.
Q. How would you best describe how different this defense is with Coach Gillespie and his scheme? And just what it allowed you to do, especially in this game, this last game, allowed you a little more freedom? But how different is it from what you guys were doing and how has that adjustment gone for you guys?
DEE WINTERS: I think it’s just simplifying the defense, allowing us to play fast. Just flying around, and Coach Gillespie preaches that we’re going to make mistakes, it’s inevitable. But he wants us to go out there and have fun. And he constantly reminds us at the end of the day it’s football and just play fast.
Q. Coach Dykes mentioned the impact that Coach Kaz had on you guys this year, particularly from a psychological standpoint and the talks he gives you guys. Can you give me a sense for what type of impact he’s had on you guys when you guys are lifting or training and how that has helped you guys?
DEE WINTERS: Yeah, I think Kaz is a great strength and conditioning coach, but he’s a great mentor and father figure to all the players. He gives us these psychology, the psychological info to know, kind of just gives us an idea of how to control our bodies and our minds. And when we get in situations like this and like the semifinal game, and he’s been — like I said, he’s been a great mentor for us and father figure for us all.
Q. When it comes to progression and recovery, things you’ve done differently this year, what are some examples of things you guys have done that have been new to you guys that have also helped you in that front?
DEE WINTERS: I think just nothing new. I think it’s just taking it more serious. Ice tubs, getting in the recovery booths, hyperbaric chambers, just taking the initiative to go ahead and take care of your body, because the more you take care of your body, the better you’ll perform. I think it was a big emphasis on that when he got here. And we’ve been having success.
Q. It’s been since 2009 since a team from Texas has played in a national championship. You guys both played high school football in the state of Texas. How much does that mean to you and how much does playing high school football in Texas prepare you for jumping to the college football?
QUENTIN JOHNSTON: It means a lot to us, being from Texas and stuff, just having everybody in Texas backing us up on this run we’re making. Just having overall a very positive impact. And then for me, myself, is like the process, this whole year has really like humbled me — I don’t want to say humbled me in the sense I came in like cocky or anything like that, but at the same time it’s something me or Dee hasn’t experienced up to this point. But overall I would say it’s a blessing. And I’m just extremely happy for me and my teammates.
DEE WINTERS: To piggyback off that, I think it means a lot for the state of Texas. Like you said, it’s been over a decade that a Texas team has been in the College Football Playoffs and to be going to the national championships. I think just realizing you’re in the state of Texas and we produce great athletes in Texas, us going from high school, as you said. And I think we were capable to perform at this type of level. And we’re excited.
Q. Was there I guess a moment or moments when you saw maybe in Michigan’s eyes that you guys were more than maybe they had thought?
QUENTIN JOHNSTON: Yes, definitely I kind of seen the (inaudible), especially like the third quarter, we started running more of a tempo offense and hurry up. And it was like taking them a minute to get set. And a lot of them were tired and worn out early. I feel like overall that’s where we had the upper hand.
DEE WINTERS: From a defensive standpoint, I think besides the first play of the game, I think it was the whole game that kind of had them shook. They were told we were small and they were big. That’s all they’ve been hearing. So I think once they realized that we were there to tackle and they felt our strength, they were, like, these guys came to play. And I think they were shocked.
Q. Quentin, there was that big play on the third and seven where they came after Max and he bought time and bought time, gets you the ball and you go down the sidelines. I was wondering, with Max, not only in the fourth quarter, but when he is facing that pressure, what impresses you about how he’s been able to deliver in those situations for you guys all season?
QUENTIN JOHNSTON: Just his poise and like how he’s able to stay calm. Like you said, with all the pressure in his face, not only that play but the “D” Ball before that, he had to step up into the pocket with like four or five guys in his face. He could have are run, slid, do whatever. But he trusted that I was down there and did everything he could to buy time.
So that’s a huge part of how our offense moves the way that we’ve been moving this season. And it contributes a lot to the success we’ve been having.
Q. When you’ve been in as many four-quarter games as you guys have been where it’s close, it’s tight, is it almost like just second nature in some ways that we’ve got to go do what we’ve got to do to win?
DEE WINTERS: I definitely will say we’ve been in a lot of four-quarter battles, but at this point we know what it takes to come out and prevail and be victorious. Like I said Kaz does a great job of keeping us emotionally and psychologically ready for those times and he just kind of gives us that next-play mindset, and we just try to go out there execute it to the best of our ability.
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