Senior quarterback Drew Olson spoke at the press conference Monday about the USC game.
Drew Olson at the Press Conference -- Watch Video
Transcript:
“The secondary is still…I think
they are good players. They continue to make plays so it’s still a good defense
regardless of how many points people put on them or how many yards they’ve put
up it’s still a defense we very much respect and we’re gonna have to earn
everything against.”
A lot of people of saying the only
way they have a chance of beating USC is to outscore them. Do you buy in to that
line of thinking?
“Well we feel like every game we go
in there to score points. That’s our philosophy. We go in and try to score as
many as possible. I don’t know if I’m gonna put it there and say we gotta score
a certain amount to win, but…definitely when you go against a team like this
where they score a lot of points, it’s gonna be a high scoring game. That’s what
we hope.”
How beneficial have the last couple
of weeks been both to heal and the extra preparation for this
game?
“Well I think it’s tremendous. I
think we’ve gone through it last year having a couple of weeks off before the
game so we know what to expect. The coaches have been through it. The players
have been through it. You can gameplan differently, and you can put more time
into pretty much how we attack them. I think it benefits. We look it
positively.”
As one of the leaders of this team,
what do you say to your teammates going into this
game?
:”This is an opportunity of a
lifetime. I don’t know if they’ll ever get it again or if they’ll get it every
year: A chance to play for the title. To have a season that we’ve had and have a
win against SC; all those different implications… This is my first time around.
All I can relay to them is that it’s a special opportunity.”
What about you and your point of
view where you came from in the off season; the year you’ve had… this tremendous
year offensively. Do you define yourself by this game? How do you define the
season?
“This is everything. Pretty much
throw out the nine wins and throw out the one loss. This is our one game season.
That’s how we’re approaching this game. This is our one game season, and that’s
all that matters right now.”
I’ve been watching Fox Sports Net
the last couple of days. They’ve been replaying all the old UCLA vs. USC games.
Do you sometimes kinda watch those and say, “Hey I might be on one of those
someday.”?
“You never know, I mean, you wanna
make it a classic. This would be classic for the Bruins, that’s for sure. You
know, it’s something we would always love to remember, and by winning this game
that would happen.”
What would it mean to beat this USC
team this year, because of where they’re at?
“Oh it would be something special.
You know everything they got going: the win streak, the win streak against us,
being number one, coming off two national championships. There are just so many
things that would make it more and more special.”
Do you see any similarities to the
Fresno State and Notre Dame game… the time of
possession; the ball control that they made it difficult for
USC….
“Well it helps, I mean, anytime you
have weapons like they have on offense the more they’re on the field, the more
they’re gonna score. I think you have to keep them off the field and do your
part in any way possible. Obviously ball control will be a big thing like in any
game, but especially in this one.”