MODERATOR: Good evening. My name is Gina Lehe,

senior director of communications and brand

management for the College Football Playoff. On

behalf of everyone at the CFP, I'd like to welcome you

to tonight's news conference.

We will ask each head coach to make an opening

comment, then we'll open it up for questions.

We'll begin with the Rose Bowl game coaches.

Welcome, Kirby Smart.

Kirby Smart: First off, thank you. Thank you guys

for coming out. It's an honor to be here.

Our team is really excited to get to travel to the Rose

Bowl for the first time in 75 years. A lot of our players

are really excited, as well. A lot of our kids haven't

even been to the West Coast, so they're going to get

an opportunity to go out and play a wonderful team in

Oklahoma.

A very storied program. I've followed Lincoln for a long

time. I know he and his staff do a tremendous job.

Been very fortunate to visit with their defensive staff

before. They do a great job. We obviously know about

the quarterback they have, who is a tremendous player.

We'll manage these next 25 days best we can and

prepare for a trip out and great opportunity for our

seniors. We're excited to be in the College Football

Playoff.

MODERATOR: Thank you.

Next, please welcome Lincoln Riley.

Lincoln Riley: Like Kirby said, we're thrilled to be in

the College Football Playoff. It's been a great run for

this team. From the start of spring ball, then certainly

Bob making the decision to step down in June, been

very, very proud of how our entire team, our staff, just

really our entire organization, how they handled that

transition.

It's been a great year. Been a really, really fun team to

coach. I feel like we've really improved throughout the

season. Couldn't be happier getting the chance to go

to the Rose Bowl, obviously one of the most historic

games that there is.

What a great opportunity for us to play a great Georgia

team, one of the best teams in the country.

Tremendous all three sides of the ball. Going to be a

great game, like the Rose Bowl and the College

Football Playoff should be.

We're thrilled to be back in the Playoff here for the

second time in three years. Very much looking forward

to the game.

MODERATOR: We'll now turn it over to the coaches

competing in the Sugar Bowl.

Coach Nick Saban.

Nick Saban: First of all, I'd like to congratulate all the

other coaches here that had great seasons with their

teams and did a great job with their teams, too, and

certainly deserve the right to be in the College Football

Playoff.

This is a real privilege and honor for the University of

Alabama, our team, our coaches, and the people in our

organization to be involved in the Playoff, to be able to

go to the Sugar Bowl. I think it's a great, competitive

venue.

We feel very fortunate. This is our fourth straight time

of being involved in this game. Obviously some great

competition and some great football games.

Clemson, deservedly the No. 1 team in the nation.

Very explosive offense. Dabo does a great job. They

have a very good defense. Their front seven is

probably second to none in college football.

This is our third year in a row of getting to play in this.

We're excited about having the opportunity.

DABO: Thank you for being here. Same

thing, congratulations to all these coaches. What an

awesome accomplishment for each team. It's a long

season. There's a lot of things that have to come

together to have the opportunity to be one of these

four. Just a tremendous year from all these teams.

We're excited. I mean, I haven't been to the Sugar

Bowl in 25 years. Clemson hasn't been in 59 years.

What a great opportunity for our team.

Obviously, I can't seem to get away from these guys,

as hard as I try (smiling). Man, it's not an easy task to

play Alabama. I don't care where you put them, they've

had the best team for a long time.

We know it's been two great games. I don't have any

doubt this one will be another great matchup. But got a

lot of respect for what they do there, obviously Coach

Saban, the consistency they've had.

But we look forward to it. It's going to be a great

opportunity to prepare. Should be a great game.

Nick Saban: Yes, Jeremy is going to finish the

season with us. He's going to go do some things to get

his program started at Tennessee. When we're ready

to practice, he'll be back with us, be a part of the

Playoff.

I really appreciate the fact that Kirby did a great job of

doing that a couple years ago when he had an

opportunity. I think it shows a lot of respect for the

players on our team who worked hard to help us all

have success this season.

DABO: You want the honest answer?

DABO: 3:00 in the morning on a bus ride

home from Charlotte, a moment of insanity, complete

insanity (smiling).

No, just coming home. Literally it was 3:00 in the

morning. Man, I got to do this poll. Looking at it, you

know, they won 11 games. Alabama won 11 games.

They won the Big Ten championship. Obviously the

committee has a lot of things to look at, a lot of data.

They're going to pick the four best teams however they

see it.

At that moment, that's the way I voted. They're all

great teams, man.

Nick Saban: He was just respecting his alma mater,

that's all (smiling).

DABO: I'm trying to get rid of him, but I can't

shake him (laughter).

Kirby Smart: You know, I think it's an honor any time

your assistants get an opportunity to advance

themselves. I learned that from none other than Nick.

When you get an opportunity for somebody to go on

and increase their role, they get a promotion, I think

that's a great honor. I think it's an honor to your staff,

to the success you've had at your program. I hope that

all our guys get that opportunity.

I think that the timing with the early signing period, it's

a very unique set of circumstances. You guys have

asked a thousand times about the early signing period,

how it's going to affect this and that.

I think it's really unique that now we're coming across

things that we weren't quite aware of. Like we've got

official visits next weekend, but we've got to practice

also for bowl games where we never had to do that.

We've got coaches that are jockeying to go to different

places, different staffs. Because of the early signing

period, they're wanting to move earlier and get in

position, where a lot of times you didn't worry about

coaching movement till after the bowl games.

It's brought up a unique circumstance, especially for a

team in the College Football Playoff.

Nick Saban: I think each individual handles a

circumstance like this relative to how they can stay

focused on two things. I remember when I went to

Michigan State as an assistant coach way back in

1994, I think, I was at the Cleveland Browns, we were

in the playoff hunt, and Bill made it as accommodating

as he could for me, to have someone who helped as a

secretary to do all the things, handle all the things, so I

could focus on doing what we need to do for our

players.

Most of the really good coaches that have great

competitive character are always going to do what's

best for the players. I mentioned earlier, Kirby certainly

did a good job of that. I'm sure Jeremy will do a good

job of that this year.

Kirby Smart: Well, I thought that coach did a great

job of helping with that. He offered up as many

services as he could. At the time I was always

concerned, Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing the

right thing for Georgia? Am I doing the right thing for

Alabama? It was very concerning to me because I

wanted to do what was best for both. What was best

for both was to finish up what you were doing, but

move on to the new things you had to do in recruiting.

With the early signing period, it creates an even new

dynamic because you're trying to sign a signing class

while you're practicing. The things that Jeremy is going

to have to go through is probably going to be even

more challenging in regards to that.

I'm glad, now looking back, that I did what I did,

because it was the right thing to do. Certainly helped

that we won the game. But it was a very challenging

30-day period, for sure.

Kirby Smart: I don't know that any phase of the

game has any advantage over the other with one

month to prepare. I certainly think that how you

manage those three phases is very critical to the

outcomes of the game.

We talk to our team, as recently as yesterday, about

perspective. What is each team's perspective on

making the Playoffs. Do you have one team hungrier

than the other, that's upset they didn't win a

championship. Are they going to work harder than you.

Are you going to be complacent because you're the

first team in how many years to win an SEC

Championship.

The perspective you go into it with is very critical. The

Playoffs I've been a part of, it's the team that manages

those 25 days to get better, to improve your kicking

game, your offense, your defense. But I don't think one

has an advantage over the other.

Lincoln Riley: I would agree with Kirby. I don't think

it matters really what side of the ball you're talking

about. There's no other time during the year where

you have a month break between games. We're the

only sport in the world that I can think of that does that,

especially for championship-type games like this.

I think how you handle those games, how your staff

handles them, your players, makes the biggest

difference.

Nick Saban: I don't really think that it's a lot about the

offense, defense or special teams. I do think that skill

players, wide receivers, fast guys, they sort of bounce

back from the break a lot more quickly than the bigger

guys. I also think that because you don't play for a long

time, one of the most difficult skills is the fundamental

of just blocking and tackling. That's why it's more

challenging to the bigger guys. It just seems like it's a

little bit harder to get everybody back to the level and

the standard that you like.

But the skill guys, they'll go out there for two days,

catch passes, they're ready to go: the quarterback, the

receivers. They're fast guys, they're always fast guys.

I think those guys have a little bit of an advantage in

games with a big break like this.

DABO: From an offense, defense, kicking

game, I don't really think anybody has an advantage

because we all got the same amount of time. I think

the advantage comes for how you use that time. I think

everybody uses that time differently.

For us, I mean, we work a lot on ourselves. It's a lot of

Clemson work. Obviously it's a lot of prep work for the

team we're getting ready to play. It's also a lot of work

on our future team.

We've got a formula that we believe in. I think

everybody is unique and different in how they use that

time. I think that is maybe an advantage or not an

advantage, depending on what your philosophy is

there.

As far as schematically, I think everybody has the same

amount of time to study, prepare, all that. I don't really

see a big advantage there.

Kirby Smart: I wouldn't say it feels any different. I

would say the pressure I put on myself as a defensive

coordinator and trying to win championships, when

with Alabama, is very similar or the same. I want to be

as prepared as we can. I want to prepare our staff, our

organization the right way.

That doesn't change just when you go to the C.

Certainly the responsibility changes and focus

changes. It's not on how we're going to play defense,

what we're going to call. It's a lot more on practice

organization, recruiting, other things.

To be honest with you, around campus in Athens, I

haven't been there much. I've been out in the plane, in

the schools, using this time for recruiting. It's kind of

what we've all been doing. It's an important time

because of the early signing period.

Lincoln Riley: I think it helps. I definitely think it

helps. I learned a lot I think that first year going

through it, going against Coach Swinney and those

guys at the Orange Bowl a few years ago, again, how

you prepare the team for a game with this kind of

magnitude.

Also it certainly helps me having been there with a guy

in Bob Stoops that was in a lot of games like this for

many, many years. Certainly a lot of things that I

picked up from him and will continue to lean on him for.

I've got kind of a great background there that I'll

certainly draw on as we charge forward here.

Kirby Smart: It's a big benefit having been through it

because you know the scheduling aspects, you know

the travel aspects, you know the dynamic of talking to

the team. It's not your typical bowl game. We're not

going to ride (indiscernible) and do that kind of thing.

That's not the purpose of this trip. I don't think you get

that perspective if you haven't been through it.

DABO: Oh, man, I like the system that we

have, to be honest with you. I think we've been in a

Playoff mode every week, literally, for about four, five

weeks now. Every week has been a Playoff mentality

for us. You lose, you're probably out. It's been all you

got every single week. Every game is the biggest

game of the year.

I think the season is long. It's very long. Yes, we could

shorten this time. There is recruiting. We have early

signing dates now. There's finals. Our guys, they

actually go to class. They got tests all next week. It's

going to be a real dancing act next week to try to

practice and recruit and finals. There's a big challenge

there.

I think you'd probably have to do away with

championship games or something like that. I mean,

I'm not opposed to it. I like what we got. I think we

pretty much have gotten it right. I think it gives

opportunity to a lot of teams to be able to go and play

in a bowl game, end their season with a win. I don't

think there's anything wrong with that. To be able to

go, take your team, prepare them, get better, finish

your season with a win.

Most of these other sports, there's only one team that

finishes with a win. I think that's unique to our sport.

But I do understand the other side of it, as well. I think

they'd probably have to look at some type of bye

concept or something for a couple teams, obviously

shorten the time, do away with the championship

games. I don't know what the exact formula is. I don't

spend a lot of time thinking about it.

I kind of like what we have.

Nick Saban: I think somebody besides us, who is in a

better position to make a decision of what do you want

to accomplish in college football. I think a few years

ago, going to a bowl game was a unique thing in

college football because it rewarded a lot of players

who participated, had good seasons, had an

opportunity to go to a bowl game. Their fans could

enjoy a bowl game.

We sort of started the two-team deal. Now it's a fourteam

deal. Now all the focus and emphasis is on the

Playoffs. Teams that go to bowl games, the bowl

games don't coexist very well with the Playoffs relative

to importance, how much attention they get, but yet

they are important to positive self-gratification for a lot

of players, a lot of coaches, a lot of fans who have a

good season. It's a very positive reinforcer.

Expanding the Playoffs would minimize that to a larger

degree in terms of the importance of bowl games and

the importance of players playing in bowl games. Last

year you saw for the first time two players, two good

players, from two good programs, chose not to play in

their bowl game because of their future.

I think there's some issues that go along with the

current system. If we go to eight teams, I'm sure it

won't be long after that that you all want to be talking

about 16.

I don't care if we have 68 teams in it, we'll still have a

two-hour show on who shouldn't have got in it just like

they do in basketball.

DABO: To me, that's what we have in all

these other sports. We have the NBA, the NFL. That's

one of the things that makes college football so unique,

130 teams, whatever, in Division I. It's a very unique

setup in sport.

There's a lot of issues. Now all of a sudden if you

know you're in the Playoffs, certain games become

very irrelevant. Now all of a sudden you don't play

certain players because know you're in, you don't want

to get a guy hurt. There's a lot of unintended

consequences that creep in, just like you see in all the

other sports.

I love the NBA, but I don't ever watch it till the playoffs.

Just doesn't matter. In our sport, it still matters. I

mean, it matters. It matters what you do in September.

It matters what you do in October. It matters what you

do in November.

You know what, there's nothing wrong with going 9-3,

8-4. Maybe that's the best you were that year. Now

you have a chance to go play a good bowl game

somewhere, grow your team, get better, develop some

guys for the spring. That's kind of what I grew up in.

I'm kind of traditional in that.

Lincoln Riley: I would agree. There's never going

to be a magic number. If we have eight, nine and 10

are going to be upset. If we have 16, 17 and 18 are

going to be upset.

Before we want to just change things, we got a hell of a

product here. We coach the greatest sport that there is

on earth. The attention around this game is unlike any

game or any sport that there is across the world.

I think we got a great product. I think the final four has

been great. I think the biggest thing to me is people

need to have realistic expectations. You're not going to

go to the Playoff every single year. Only four teams

can do it.

Like Coach Swinney just said, you still have a great

team without going to the Playoffs. I think people's

expectations need to be realistic. I think we need to

appreciate all that's good, not worry about the few

parts that maybe this person or that person don't agree

with or don't think is right.

Kirby Smart: Speaking as a former student-athlete,

some of my greatest memories, like Dabo talked about,

were those bowl games that mattered to a 10-win

season. You do devalue that as you increase the

number of teams in the Playoff. You do value the end

of the season. You think about the last probably three

weeks of the season, last two weeks of the season, the

amount of attention and the amount of big games,

probably got it more right this year than ever with a lot

of the championship games as de facto play-in games.

I think that's the right way to go about it.

Nick Saban: I think immediately there is some effect

and impact when you have change, but it also creates

an opportunity to bring in new enthusiasm, new ideas,

new people. You just have to keep constantly trying to

make sure that the people that you're hiring are quality

people who are going to add something in a positive

way to the organization.

I think it's just like players. You don't really replace

players, you just find somebody else who is really

capable of doing a good job at that particular position.

Even though they're not like the last guy, they do a

good job and contribute to the organization.

I always look at it as an opportunity. I think it's

wonderful, and I try to help and promote our coaches

so they have an opportunity to go and become head

coaches. I think that's what they work hard for. That's

why they do a good job, why they contribute.

No different than the player who works hard to try to

play in the NFL someday. We like to see guys get

promoted. It's an opportunity to find the next good guy

to come along. Hopefully he'll improve the organization

in a different way.

Kirby Smart: No, I couldn't imagine that. I've

followed his career. He's done a tremendous job. A lot

of the time that I was a defensive coordinator, when

you have opportunities to get a head coaching job,

everybody's million dollar question is, Who is your

offensive coordinator? He was a guy on the radar for a

long time, then he got his own. He's done a

tremendous job. Got a lot of respect for what he does.

I thought it was pretty cool this morning when I walked

in a local high school, first guy I saw was him. He was

going solo. I was going solo. Got to sit there and talk.

Got a lot of respect for him, what he does, how fast

he's been able to do it.

Lincoln Riley: I haven't. I haven't. I get asked

about it all the time. That's the only time I ever think

about it.

I think you can either relate to players or you can't. You

can either lead people or you can't. Some of the

people, they're going to say, He's young, he can relate

to players, closer to his age. Some of the best coaches

I've ever seen that relate to players are 55, 60 years old

because they're gifted at it.

I don't think our team, our staff thinks a whole lot about

it. I certainly don't. I said it when this happened and I

got this job: if we do well, it's not going to be because I

was young. If we don't do well, it's not going to be

because I was young. We either get it done or we

don't.

Kirby Smart: I don't know if there was one moment

that stuck out. I certainly thought that we had great

leadership, a lot of really good, high-character kids.

We went on the road to Notre Dame with a true

freshman quarterback. They rose to the occasion.

There were a lot of opportunities in that game for us to.

Bad things happened. They just kept responding, kept

responding, kept giving him an opportunity with some

mistakes he made in that game.

I thought from that point forward, Look, we've got a

good football team. If he continues to grow as a

quarterback, we get better defensively, keep improving

on special teams, we'll have a shot to win the games

we play.

Ultimately you try to get to Atlanta in our conference so

you have an opportunity to get up here on this stage.

We were very fortunate to do that. That was kind of

the moment.

Lincoln Riley: Part of me wants to say going and

beating Ohio State in Columbus week two, that was a

big game there in a great venue against a really, really

good football team. I didn't know until about two

minutes left in the TCU game, when we were up,

whatever we were, running the clock out.

Like Coach Swinney said, you get to a point where it's

every single game. You lose one, you're probably out.

You know it. Your kids know it. That's all that's talked

about, ESPN, everywhere else.

I felt like at that point we had a chance, but there was

certainly a lot of work to be done and a lot of work that

it took to get to this point.

Nick Saban: Well, our team was a little bit different

this year in that I thought early on we really played well.

As the season went on, we continued to accumulate a

lot of adversity, mostly through injuries and physical

problems that we had, that really affected our team's

ability to grow.

I really liked the way the players sort of persevered and

overcame the adversity and kept playing. It created a

lot of opportunity for a lot of other young players to go

out there and play.

I think the togetherness that our team showed

throughout the year to have the consistency in

performance that we wanted to try to get, the adversity

that they overcame, showed the true competitive

character of what could lead into a team that could

have a chance to compete for a championship.

I was a little disappointed in the way we finished the

season. Great lesson to be learned in all that. When

you have a chance to control your own destiny and you

don't, you put your fate in the hands of somebody else.

We feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be in

the Sugar Bowl to play Clemson.

DABO: For us, I felt like obviously we lost a

lot of guys offensively especially. I felt like in camp we

had a chance, but I just hadn't seen our quarterback,

you know, really play in any meaningful, stressful game

situation. How is he going to respond? You try to

create all that stuff in practice as best you.

The Auburn game, you know, knowing that we're

playing a really good team, a great defense especially,

watching how he handled the moment. Then the very

next week going on the road to Louisville, Game Day,

all that stuff. Same thing, watching our quarterback.

I really felt like we had other pieces to have a chance to

win, you know, week in and week out. After really

those two games, I felt like, you know what, this kid has

a chance to really lead us.

I think he needed that early success to kind of

establish himself as the leader because the guys all

respected him. In that position, you got to play well.

He played two great games. I think that was the

confidence early that this team needed. Then we just

kept kind of growing throughout the year, have gotten a

little bit better along the way.

Kirby Smart: Well, I think a lot of hard work. A lot of

people in the organization buying into the things that

we want to do. I think any time you try to build

something special, you do it from the ground up.

We've tried to do it with a really good foundation of

people in our organization that really want to help.

I think this state, all these guys will tell you, they come

over here to recruit because there's really good football

players here. This state is a great place to be home to

because of the high school football programs that are

here, the tremendous jobs they do. There's about to

be state championships played over there for the next

two days, some of the best players in the country that

will be playing at all these programs.

I think doing a good job of evaluating those, getting the

right young men that want to come to Georgia and get

an education and also be good football players, will be

a part of us staying successful.