South Carolina coach Will Muschamp spoke with the media on Thursday before the Outback Bowl. Here's what he had to say, courtesy of GamecocksOnline.com.
• On facing Michigan:
"We're getting ready to play a good Michigan team, a team we've got a lot of respect for, got a lot of respect for the program first of all, the winningest program in college football. Coach Harbaugh has done a really good job, and I'm a football fanatic, and you go back and look at Coach Schembechler and Coach Carr and all the great players that have played at this program. I have great respect for their program. Charles Woodson, one of my favorite players to watch as a defensive back. Anthony Carter, Desmond Howard, he’ll get mad if you don’t mention his name. But we're looking forward to a great game on Monday."
• On whether this game is meaningless and how many teams should be in the playoff:
"Well, first of all, anytime you hit the football field, it's meaningful. That's nonsense in my opinion. This is a huge game for our program, an opportunity to win nine games, an opportunity to play Michigan, a team that we've got great respect for. But I think the bowls are really important to college football. Our guys are having a wonderful time.
But I think the bowl games are really important for college football, and I think you know what, when there are four teams, the fifth team is pissed off. There's 64 teams in college basketball, and they'll have shows on Sunday night and the 65th team, their coach is pissed they didn't get in the tournament.
So it's a long season as it is, and the bowls are really important for college football. And I think that our guys are having a great week and are excited to be here."
• On how much respect his program can earn with a win over Michigan:
"I think you see the progress we've made in year two and continue to move forward in the culture of our program. You know, in order to continue to get where we want to get, that's winning a championship, and that's what we're going to do. But you've got to invest in that, and that's what we're doing right now at South Carolina. In my opinion in just the brief time that I've been there, the total investment of the football operations building, the investment in paying your coaches, those are things you've got to do, and that's what we're doing at South Carolina. If you look at the four teams in the playoff, they're invested in their programs. That's what we're doing, and that's what's exciting at our place right now."
• On if playing No. 1 Clemson in their final regular season game helps them entering bowl prep:
"Well, it's never good to end the season with a loss, especially against your arch rival, obviously, but I don't know that it helps or hinders you going into a bowl season, regardless."
• On South Carolina fifth-year senior linebacker Skai Moore and his legacy:
"Well, he needs to get another interception so he can set the record is the first thing. He's going to end up the leading tackler in four years says enough to me. The guy is extremely instinctive, extremely bright, intelligent. He's going to play for a long time because he's athletic and can play every down. He can play on special teams because he's a really good space player. In my year in the NFL, one of the many things I learned of the guys that have longevity in that league are intelligent. They can play multiple spots. He has pass rush ability, he can cover and play cover in spice. He can play two back run teams. Honestly, God willing, injury wise, if he can stay healthy, he'll play for a long time. Somebody will be very happy that they picked him."
• On what he's expecting from Michigan redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Peters:
"They are who they are schematically in my opinion. I think that he is a guy that, athletically, can do some things with his legs, but he is an accurate thrower. He's a guy that he's played extremely well, then got hurt against Wisconsin and missed the last couple ballgames. But when he's been in there, he's been a very productive guy. They've played three guys throughout the year, [fifth-year senior John] O’Korn as well, may see him, I don’t know that. But he's a guy that within what they do schematically, the multiple shifts, motions, the two back, the run game, the play actions off the back, they've got talented skill guys outside that we'll be in some 50/50 ball situations, we've got to win those down the field. We've got to do a great job of control off the play actions and get in multiple tight end sets and different blocking surfaces and they're going to give you some issues in the game, and we're going to have to obviously adjust, and Jim does a nice job of giving you some different looks. Those adjustments will have to be very important in game adjustments."
• On what he knows/remembers about Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh:
"Tough, hard nosed, exactly the way his football teams play. Go back, football fanatic, especially college football. I love the history and tradition of football, and seeing him play for Michigan and obviously I think he had a 14-year career. He was a first round draft pick, had a great career there, obviously had some AFC Championship game against Pittsburgh when he was with the Colts, I remember that game. They lost right at the end there. But had a great career, and then obviously with San Diego, he was a program that did a fantastic job, but they had never really won before that. Obviously he got the opportunity at Stanford. But his dad was at Western Kentucky when I was at Eastern Kentucky, and I was coaching the defensive backs for Roy Kidd, and Coach Harbaugh was there, and I remember recruiting in Bradenton and Jim was an NFL quarterback with a Western Kentucky warmup suit on, recruiting for Western Kentucky. I don't know how legal that was, and there's a Statute of Limitations, so I'm sure he couldn't get in trouble for me saying this. But it was unusual. But I did see him in high school in a Western Kentucky jumpsuit."
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @AndrewVcourt and @Balas_Wolverine
• Like us on Facebook
