Everything Sonny Dykes said upon TCU's arrival to the Fiesta Bowl

TCU arrived in Glendale, Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl against Michigan on Christmas Eve.

It will be Michigan's first Fiesta Bowl appearance since a 27-23 win against Nebraska in 1986, a team that featured Jim Harbaugh at quarterback. TCU, on the other hand is off of a 17-10 loss to Boise State in 2010.

TCU head coach Sonny Dykes spoke to the media shortly after the Horned Frogs touched down, and M&BR has all the words from his press conference below.

"Just want to say on behalf of TCU football, we're excited to be here in Phoenix. The weather sure is beautiful. We left Fort Worth today and it was about 25 degrees. We're excited to be here.

Looking forward to spending the week out here. And really want to thank the Fiesta Bowl. They have just been first class in everything they have done with us in regards to setting things up and we're excited to be here. Looking forward to playing in the College Football Playoff and really excited about this opportunity for our players and our program. So it's going to be a heck of a week. We're going to have a good time. We're also going to make sure that we do a fantastic job.

Most importantly, we're preparing for a really good Michigan team and look forward to playing against these guys and competing against one of the top teams in the country. It is going to be a great week, and we're looking forward to it."

"Yeah, I think when you look at Michigan, obviously you've got the Big Ten champion, which typically Big Ten football is big, strong people. You get games typically won and lost up front. Michigan has got all that. They have also got really good skill players as well. The quarterback (J.J. McCarthy) is a really good player. Very impressed with him. They are going to try to run the football. It's going to be important for us to do everything we can to get the run game stopped.

Defensively, same thing, built up front, very powerful football team. Two outstanding defensive tackles. Really good pass rushers off the edge. Linebackers are good, and a long athletic secondary. So very good football team. A little bit of contrasting styles. We're a little bit more of a team that relies on speed. But I think the one thing that has made our team special is we're a fast team, and we're also a very physical team. Our goal is to always try to dominate the line of scrimmage and win the line of scrimmage. It will be a big challenge for us on Saturday. But we look forward to the challenge. I think it's going to be really critical for us to be able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football. It will be a challenge. But, again, our guys are looking forward to it, excited about it. I think, as I said, our team is kind of known for its speed. But I really do think that this team is a physical, tough, tough-minded football team, and we've had a lot of success this year."

"Yeah, as I said earlier, two outstanding defensive tackles. Guys who look good up front, do a nice job of playing with their hands. Really do a good job, big, strong guys, of staying in gaps. Really gap-style defense.

The thing I like about their defense is the guys really play well together. They do their job consistently. They're in the right place at the right time. They play with good technique. Got a good scheme. They're a very sound defensive football team. They don't give up a ton of big plays. They try to make you earn everything you get."

"I think our team has been a really gritty, competitive team that's got a lot of confidence. That's the key. When you have a team that can overcome deficits, it really comes down to a belief in each other and confidence in each other. And confidence comes from a work ethic and an understanding that our team has put the work in, paid the price, done what they need to do.

We're going to go out and compete at a high level week in, week out. So if things don't go our way early in ball games, we don't panic. Guys keep grinding, keep working. I think it shows in the mentality of this team that we're a tough-minded football team. We're a team that's never really paid much attention to the scoreboard. We just keep on playing. Talk to our guys all the time about playing 60 minutes regardless of what happens, good or bad. They have had a great mentality that way this year."

"For us, it always starts with our ability to be able to run the football. It's going to be important for us to do that. Got a lot of confidence in the offensive linemen, guys like Wes [Harris] here to be able to play physical up front and open the holes. If we do that, typically, our passing game has a chance to get the ball down the field and get it to some guys who can make plays.

As I said earlier, we're a fast football team. Our guys enjoy taking shots down the field. And we're going to have to make a lot of one-on-one contested catches in this game. That's what big football games usually come down to, is which team can win the one-on-one battles and make the defensive catches and defensive plays."

"We really had a good 10 practices so far. Our guys have really practiced well, competed hard. It's been a long time since we played. That's the one thing about playing a bowl game this late, on December 31st. There's a lot of time between when we last played in the Big 12 Championship and this game. Our guys are excited to get back out there. Ready to go and compete. We took a little bit of time off and let our guys rest up a little bit, recover.

We had an unusual season this year. We played 11 consecutive weeks without an open date. Our open day occurred after the second week of the season so we needed some rest. We were a little bit worn out, a little bit beat up. We got some. The guys came back with a great mindset, had some really good practices. Really now starting to focus in on Michigan the last couple days in our preparation getting ready for them. The first five, six, seven practices, really worked on fundamentals. Had a chance to work some of our young players, continued to develop those guys. Then we switched gears a little bit, started preparing for the football game.

Really like where we are right now. Our guys have a great attitude. Right now we're in a good state of mind, and we're excited about the challenge in front of us."

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