***Syracuse interim DC Nick Monroe on Minnesota and is connection to the Gophers
Q. What jumps out to you about this Minnesota team, about the Gophers, your preparation for them?
NICK MONROE: Well, number one, they're absolutely enormous across the board up front. They're in a league where that is a traditional ground-and-pound, run your tails over rushing attack. They do it really, really well.
Their offensive line is ridiculously large and move very well. The thing that I don't know if I've ever seen is all five of 'em in this season have All Big Ten accolades in some capacity. That's pretty impressive for all five offensive linemen, especially in a league with the caliber of the Big Ten.
Their running back's an anomaly. He is really, really good. He may be, with no disrespect to anybody we played this year, the best one we've seen. They have two quarterbacks. They got the veteran, the younger kid, who is playing good football, too.
At the end of the day, I mean, Coach Fleck is a guy who has implemented his system. They want to go old school and pound you and take your will from you, keep their defense off the field, let the clock tick, really beat you up across the board, like I said, try to take your will. They're a throwback team, and they're good. They're very, very good.
It all starts with their offensive line, then it goes off to their wonderful tailback there.
Q. Since you're from Minnesota, did you grow up watching the Gophers?
NICK MONROE: That's a great question. This is a really cool deal, believe it or not. My dad actually coached for Minnesota under Jim Wack. I come from a lineage of coaches. My dad was under Coach Jim Wacker for four years. When I was in junior high getting into high school, I used to hang out around the Gibson-Nagurski Complex and whatnot, watch spring practices. It was a cool deal for me as a young kid.
Obviously this is a very cool deal. I still got a ton of family and friends back there. In fact, all my people back in the Twin Cities are rocking Syracuse gear this week. They've already been taking a lot of heat for it, which is kind of cool.
We're on group chats and whatnot, talk to them every day. Where are we going for the game? We have to go in there rocking orange and blue, stir the pot.
It's a very surreal feeling. Oh, wow, get to play against your home state in the magnitude of Yankee Stadium in the Pinstripe Bowl. It's a big deal.
***Syracuse OC Jason Beck, who was recently promoted to that role, on Minnesota's defense:
Q. What are you seeing from Minnesota's defense on film? What areas do you think you can attack next week?
JASON BECK: They're a really good defense. Their 4-2-5 structure, really aggressive, really physical. They have really good players. It's going to be a great matchup for us to be able to put our guys in successful situations, to be able to move the ball and score points.
They've obviously limited opponents to pretty few amount of points. Part of that is their design on offense with occupying time and possessions and shrinking the game. A big part of that is how stout and solid their defense is and how good they are in coverage on the perimeter.
Yeah, it's just a matter of finding those matchups or those things that put our guys in success to be able to score points to give us the best chance to win.
***Syracuse QB Garrett Shrader
Q. For the Minnesota defensive coordinator, he compared you to Ben Roethlisberger. Have you ever seen that comparison?
GARRETT SHRADER: There's actually a running joke, maybe when I was hurt, banged up, there was a running joke. Normally you go watch guys you like to play. I watched Brett Favre, Mahomes, guys like that. When my foot got all banged up, there was a running joke that I need to go watch Ben Roethlisberger highlights towards the back half of his career, work on the punt fakes.
I'm better now, so... I've never heard that before. Depends on what games you watch.
***Syracuse LB Marlowe Wax on familiarity with Mohamed Ibrahim
Q. What's your impressions of the Gophers' running back Mohamed Ibrahim?
MARLOWE WAX: I played against him in high school. He's from Baltimore also, so that's my guy. I know what he's going to bring. He's tough. His vision is top. He has a different type of vision. He sees different holes, cutbacks. I know everybody is going to get to the ball, all 11, because we know he can break one any time. It's going to be a great challenge.
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