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ROSE BOWL GAME: IOWA VS STANFORDDecember 29, 2015Blake MartinezPasadena, California Q. What would you say to your fans on Snapchat? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Thank you so much for coming out and supporting us. I can't wait until January 1, you guys yelling as loud as possible and winning the Rose Bowl. Q. Your coach just talked about remembering some of these important losses, like the one to Michigan State two years ago and other bigger losses the last couple seasons. Is that kind of a different approach than some other coaches you've worked with, because normally, I know a lot of coaches say, it's in the past and let's move forward. Why do you guys like to remember those big losses? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, I think we kind of don't technically look in the past but yes, going back to those losses, you kind of look at those little things that you kind of didn't really get down that week or kind of made those little crucial mistakes in that game and you want to kind of improve on those. You don't want to keep compounding those mistakes as you go throughout each season. So I think that's his main point throughout looking back is because, hey, there's so much you can learn on everything that you do right and there's so much that you can learn from doing things wrong. I think it's been a great moment for us to kind of look back, even on this season, from the Oregon loss and the Northwestern loss, that, hey, there's a lot of things we did right but there's a lot of things we did wrong and those are the key things that kind of didn't let us get over the hump in those games. Q. Are those the two losses that stand out the most to you? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, I think so, especially for this season because it was one of those things, I think the Northwestern more than the Oregon one from the standpoint that the Northwestern one kind of put the perspective on us that, hey, we have a lot of work to do, we are not as good as we thought we were yet and we didn't make the certain plays in that game to kind of win the game. And throughout the season, we made it a strict thing that every single person has to give their best throughout the whole entire week or we are going to end up in another loss like Northwestern. Q. What do you think of their offense? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I think the whole entire offense is amazing but I think their key component is their offensive line. Everything that they do, they work well together. Even if one guy makes a mistake, the other guy is going to make up for it and then that guy is going to go and find that person. It just seems like they all work together like a well-oiled machine and I've never seen them make a mistake on film. Q. What do you think of their quarterback? BLAKE MARTINEZ: He's a great quarterback. Actually throughout the first film study, I kind of noticed that he extends plays with his feet and looks to pass downfield. And there's times where he will take it and run it and he's able to outrun cornerbacks, linebackers and everything. So he has the speed to be able to scramble and he has the speed to be able to make plays and get the ball down the field. Q. They have several running backs, depending on who is healthy. Does that make a difference in who is in the game, or do you just prepare for what they do? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Just have to prepare for what they do. Obviously there are certain running backs who do certain things better than others, and you just have to kind of maybe see little tendencies out there, but once the guys are out there, just go and play football. Q. And you feel the tight ends in the mix, don't you? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Oh, yeah, the tight ends, for me at least as a linebacker, I'll be covering those guys and they are really good. They are probably the best tight ends we've faced all season and I'm ready for the competition. Q. It's kind of hard to keep an eye on them and not get sucked into the run. BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, exactly. Like I go back to their offense being like our offense and throughout the season, it's always been tough through fall camp to kind of diagnose our offense to the point where they can run the play-actions and take anyone even if the line is not moving because you have to worry about those tight ends so much. Q. As a defender, you probably like a tight game maybe decided by a field goal -- BLAKE MARTINEZ: Oh, yeah. Q. You don't want a high-scoring shootout. BLAKE MARTINEZ: Oh, yeah, definitely not. Q. Following Northwestern, being a major turning point where he maybe saw where you guys had this potential. What do you remember from that week? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I think that week was huge from the standpoint that we started off having a player meeting where all the captains went up one by one and we all just said something like a one-liner or a couple lines. So it came from the heart where it was about fundamentals, about giving your all on every single play, about being a leader no matter if you're captain or not and kind of explaining to the guys that, hey, you can tell an older guy -- if you're a freshman, you can tell an older guy to give it their all on every single play if they are not doing it. It was huge standpoint for that, and at that point, I've never seen a coach having to kind of discipline our defense or our offense in the standpoint of, all right, they are not giving enough. We get our players to kind of do that from now on. Q. The press conference after USC -- in that kind of moment, do you take the experience and success you've had in the past -- BLAKE MARTINEZ: I didn't hear the beginning of the question. Q. The first USC game, Coach mentioned everybody who played in the two Rose Bowls, to stand up. Do you remember that moment and did that give you a sense of what you accomplished in the context of the program? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, definitely. When that moment happened we just all kind of looked around, we're like, hey, we've done, this we've been able to kind of achieve that level of play. So why not keep doing it throughout this season and why not bring that back to the Stanford football that we needed to do. Q. So it was a big game. BLAKE MARTINEZ: Definitely, it was a big game for us and it kind of showed us what we're capable of. Once that happened we just wanted to keep stacking that and bring it to the next level each game, definitely. Q. Defending McCaffrey in practice, every day, does that help you? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, we don't really go against him during our practices now but yeah, during fall camp it was huge. Obviously we knew he was special. We didn't know he was this special, but it was awesome from the standpoint just to kind of be able to go against a guy that's that quick, that agile and that much power in him. And once that happened, it kind of helps you out going against every single person in the Pac 12 or anybody on your schedule because you know, hey, if I can go against Christian and tackle him or guard him, I'm good to go. Q. The Iowa offense, primarily running game, how do you defend them? BLAKE MARTINEZ: It's us 11 guys out there on the field just working together and doing their job at the right time. And we've had a lot of practices throughout this whole entire Bowl season, and it's just going to come down to each guy being in their gap at the right time and being physical. They are a physical bunch. We watched on film, they are pushing guys five yards down the field every single play and we have to be able to stay stout on our front four and then in the back end, we are just going to have to be able to get into those gaps that aren't filled and make sure that we take the ball carry down. This game is a special game. They call it the granddaddy of it all for a reason and everyone is going to be watching it. It's just a great moment to kind of think about and know that this is my last game as a Stanford Cardinal and it's going to be a special one with all my teammates. We talk about it each day and throughout the season that, we want to make sure this season ended special and we are going to do that on January 1. Q. What do you all need to do? BLAKE MARTINEZ: From the defensive standpoint, we need to be able to stop the runs on first and second down and be able to get after them on third down from the standpoint of every single person in the back end doing their job: If they see runs, filling their holes and also the front seven just being able to work together and communicate throughout their formations and what they do to make sure that we can get to that third down. And once we get to that third down, our back end secondary covers and our front seven can get after the quarterback and get him on the ground. Q. Can you talk about your coach? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Coach Shaw is a special guy. We were talking about it yesterday that everything he does is great. This season, he's grown so much. He always talks about every single off-season, we're getting better and he's getting better. He's looking at those little things that he wasn't good at last season and making those improvements this season. I think this season, he's had so much fun. He's told us after the Championship Game, he said this team right here is probably the greatest team he's coached and had the most fun with; from the standpoint of just being out there, and after you see Francis Owusu's catch, his emotion on the sidelines was just hilarious, his facial expressions. It's just those little things that kind of get the players motivated to go out there to improve for their coach and for their team. Q. [On changes in practice...] BLAKE MARTINEZ: No, I think, yeah, we changed practice up a little bit from the other season. But I think it's just the guys on the team this year. They want to achieve greatness, and every single time we were in the weight room this off-season, we were on the field doing runs, doing anything. Every single person was yelling at another person to either improve what they are doing or get better. And we were doing record numbers from people either PR'ing on anything they are doing to making runs. We had the most -- I don't know, we have a summer conditioning where we have every conditioning thing we do, we play against another opponent that we are going to have during the season and if everyone makes their runs, we get a win. And we had the most runs in the off-season in Stanford history that we have been doing that type of thing. It's been unreal and it's been great to see, because no matter if you're a freshman or a senior or any of those, they are out there competing to be the best they can be, and it was amazing to see this year. Q. The loss to Northwestern, was the turning point in the season? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, it goes back, we had a player meeting after the Northwestern loss where it was just that moment where we knew we had to do something. We just kind of explained to our young guys, that, hey, we need better. We need to bring it to the next level. Every single person needs to give 100 percent during practice, out of practice, watching film, doing those little things that are not going to allow us to kind of fall like we did in the Northwestern game. We kind of explained like, hey, we are the captains. We are going to lead you guys and show you what needs to be done. It's going to be up to you guys to enforce that as you watch practice and see certain things that people are doing. It's been unreal. For the defensive side, we had I think only two starters returning, me and Kevin Anderson from last year. To have nine new guys and see the improvement they have done throughout the season and how they have grown from not playing to now, going to play in the Rose Bowl, it's been amazing. Q. C.J. can make plays with his arm, but also can make plays with his legs. What stands out about C.J.? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Just seems like he's a great competitor and great leader on his team. He's extremely smart. Throughout all the film I've watched, I've seen him make checks or do certain things that people don't normally see at quarterback. It's a great thing to see and I can't wait to go against him because he's a guy that has all those dimensions of his game where you could be covering a guy and covering him for five seconds and all of a sudden the next thing you know, he's running for 40 yards; or, you could be trying to contain him in the pocket and now he's going to dice you up on the back end and throw another 40-yard pass. It's been great to watch him and I can't wait to go against him on January 1. Q. And not only one or two running backs, but four different backs; how do you game plan for that? BLAKE MARTINEZ: You definitely look at certain things that each running back does well and you use that as a little tendency but other than that, you have to go at it as, hey, go out there, run your defense and if you execute your defense well, you should be able to stop them. Q. Bringing in fresh running backs, because you're tired and you're out there rep after rep and they keep sending them in waves. - BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, I think of it as our team last year, we had a running back by committee and it was four guys, all fall camp, just running after you, and every single time, they are 100 percent. You're over here on Play 50 wondering, hey, when am I getting water. Definitely, it's going to be a tough one. But I think we've game-planned throughout this whole entire Bowl season to go after that, so we should be okay. Q. Your teammates, Christian McCaffrey, he's soft-spoken and seems humble and he's got that whole-young-Matt-Damon look going. What kind of competitor is he? BLAKE MARTINEZ: He's a great competitor. I just remember during the off-season, me and him worked in the same internship this summer and every single day we played chess or certain games, and if either one of us lost, we were just going berserk in the offices. There's another office right above us and they would be telling us to be quiet because we're screaming at each other and we want to play another game. Just shows little things like that. We can be playing Tic-Tac-Toe, he's getting mad if I X-out or make it a Tac game or something. He's pretty funny. Q. How do you keep it fresh as a team coming to the same Bowl? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I think, yeah, I mean, it's the Rose Bowl. It's obviously one of the best Bowl games you can go to. I think it's just, we never really think of it as like, oh, this is a good Bowl or a bad Bowl. We are going to a Bowl. We get another opportunity to play football and all of us are excited about that. We all love to go out there on the field and compete against another team. So I think that's the true motivation and I think that kind of just tells the type of character on our team and shows the competitiveness throughout every single person on this team that we are going to go out there no matter if we are playing a Pop Warner Team or an NFL team: We are going to go out there and give it our all and it's going to be a great game and we are going to be excited to play. Q. Kevin said the loss to Michigan State played a role in keeping you focused; not that you didn't want to be there but you had other aspirations. Is that the impression you get, as well? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Obviously you want to win every game and at that point it was kind of a down point in the season. You kind of look at that as, hey what did we do wrong, what could we have improved on and the type of mental or physical game. It was a great moment for us to look back on that and for this kind of Bowl season to look at, hey, this is what we need to improve on and what we need to say to guys to make sure the motivation is in the right place. Q. What do you look forward to besides the game obviously? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I would say Disneyland, because I love Disneyland. I've been to Disneyland probably like ten times and it's just the greatest place on earth and every single time I get there, I'm running left and right making sure I get on every single right possible. Yeah, it was a great time. Q. When you look at Iowa's rushing attack, what stands out to you? Is it the multitude of backs they can use or how they block? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I think, yeah, it's all of the above. Their whole line works so well together. You see them moving like hand in hand, no matter what they are doing, and making sure that everyone is on the right page. And then their running backs are physical backs, no matter if they are on a -- weight-wise, between 180 to 220. They are going to come and hit you in the mouth and they are not going to stop until they can get that first down. It's awesome to see just from the standpoint of that's what we are kind of used to at Stanford. We always have that back that's able to power through and hit you in the mouth and that's what we went through all fall camp and we are kind of ready to play that game again and get away from these spread offenses. Q. I was going to say, does it remind you of anybody you've seen in the Pac 12? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, going back to our guys, I think it reminds me Stepfan Taylor, and Christian McCaffrey is an exact replica of that because he's able to do everything from the speed game, getting outside the pocket, getting the stretch plays, being able to do power and hit you right in the mouth and be able to instruct guys. Q. You talk about the offensive line moving totally in sync; what challenges does that present for you? BLAKE MARTINEZ: It just presents a huge challenge from the standpoint that you need to be in the right spot at the right time and if you don't have the kind of mental preparation throughout this week and throughout this whole Bowl season, you're going to be one step behind and they are going to stop you on every single play. Q. Did you have a chance to look at Iowa's linebackers and what stands out to you? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I actually haven't been able to look at any of that stuff. So with our film, we only have the offense. We don't get any of the defensive stuff from the team that we're playing. So I know from offensive guys talking about it, they are saying they are really good and they are a physical bunch. I'm excited to see them play. Q. For you, what pride do you have in being able to go sideline-to-sideline to make a lot of plays? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Oh, that, I just tell my teammates, hey, get your guys in cap (ph) and I'll make sure to get you guys ride on every single play, and I'm going to run around and get them down for you guys if you guys need me to. Q. Even though Stanford has been here before, it's like it's new every single time. As a leader, how do you instill that mind-set into the younger guys? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Definitely, you kinds of explain, those little experiences throughout my other two Rose Bowl games. But it's a new Bowl because it's a new team and you kind of look at it as, hey, it's a new trophy, it's a new season and you explain to them that this is the biggest moment of this Bowl season. It's one of the top six Bowls that you can go to, and they call it the granddaddy of them all for a reason. Everyone is going to be watching it and it's going to be an awesome game. Q. Were you thinking about going to Oregon? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah, it was kind of between Stanford and Oregon when I was deciding. My parents wanted if I didn't go to Stanford, this they would take me out of the house. And two, once I went to Stanford it was just like a great experience from being with the guys, acting like I was already part of the team. From that standpoint, no one else gave they that kind of feeling and I knew that I was going to make the right decision coming here. Q. The student athletes at Stanford, the full schedule -- BLAKE MARTINEZ: From what I know, for us, yeah, student athletes definitely from the standpoint: I just finished, I graduated early this year, just this last quarter. But yeah, my whole schedule would be from football standpoint, okay, practice, didn't play the game, and then Sunday, literally all day you're doing homework and then throughout the week you're planning up your schedule to go to office hours based off of practice, leave practice, go to my lab, make some like device, I made like a solar charge to like iPhone charger and then for those certain things, you're going from playing football to doing something crazy like that like instantly after and your day is nonstop from that standpoint. Once I'm done with this quarter, I was like, destress and relax a little bit, like, okay, I'm done with school now, no more homework. Q. Where are you going to be, if you play in the NFL -- BLAKE MARTINEZ: My main goal obviously is to play in the NFL, but after that, I'm super into nutrition. I have been since I think my freshman year in high school. I always wanted to be in nutrition and certain things like that. My ultimate goal is to take up a fast food chain of some sort. Q. Do you think there's a niche -- not everyone can afford to eat like that. BLAKE MARTINEZ: That's my whole standpoint. I mean, obesity is like a huge thing in this world. You look at that and you're like, okay, how could we get this going in the right direction, and the main excuse that everyone has, which is a valid excuse is that they don't have enough money to buy the healthy food that I needed. I think I took -- one of my teammates, I don't eat fast food, I don't eat any of that stuff, ever. I haven't drank soda in like eight years. It was a funny story, I'm like 13 years old or something, 12, and my dad took me to this car wash all the time, whatever, and just like this fat guy came up to me and I was like a little 12-year-old. I was like hey -- I think I asked him, how did you get so big? And he was like -- I didn't drink soda, and from there on out, I never drank soda ever again. Q. So you took his advice? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Oh, yeah. Q. You're 245, 240? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Yeah. Q. What's your body fat? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Last time we did it, I think it was nine percent. Q. Do you think you're going to have to bulk up or cut down to get in the next level? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I want to keep getting bigger but I want to stay around the same weight I'm at. Yeah, if I can keep losing body fat and stay at the same type of weight, that's probably what I'll be shooting for. Q. How do you think Coach Shaw and the accountability and the stuff they say in football, you follow these rules; how will that help you as an adult going forward to be a productive member of society? BLAKE MARTINEZ: It's going to help a lot from the standpoint of just being on time to everything, knowing how to set up your schedule throughout, and just understand that there are consequences to when you don't show up to things or don't do certain things. I think that's been a huge standpoint for the Stanford football team and also in school. Because you kind of just have that strict guideline throughout school and they kind of put you out there, you're on your own and you need to learn yourself how to do those certain things, and you're not going to be kind of baby steps the whole time you're here at Stanford. I think that's been huge from my standpoint. I remember my freshman year, I was completely lost. I was like, oh, God, where are my parents. So throughout the time, I kind of just learned those little things, going to office hours, doing those little things that help you get ahead or stay in the same level as those extremely smart kids there at Stanford. Q. What do you think about people who say you play boring football compared to other teams? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I think it's obviously a perspective, what people kind of look at for a football game. For me, I like to hit people. I like to play that physical game. I don't like that, all right, see who can run fast out there. But yeah, if you like the speed game, obviously you're going to be more entertained during that. But I think for us and why we have all these great, great players on our team is because they love the physical football, love hitting that power going right at you, hitting the fullback, getting in the hold, making the tackle right there. That's my favorite play. Q. There are people actually training to be world leaders at Stanford, very smart people, whether you're a football team or not, very smart people. What's it like being a football player there where you are not necessarily a big deal because somebody could be like prime minister. BLAKE MARTINEZ: It's unreal because you look around there, every single person has one thing that they are extremely good at. And I mean, I have funny stories from, I met an actor I'm really good friends with, she's on like FOX, on that new Scream Queens show, and you just like didn't even know of it. When I first met her, like, oh, hey, cool, hung out with her for probably like three months and she's like, oh, I'm an actress. I'm like, what, okay. I looked her up and I'm lining, you're in all these movies, I want to be your friend, still. Q. What's the student body like there? A lot of other things going on. Are they pumped up when you guys come back with a big win? BLAKE MARTINEZ: I think home games more, I think our games are too late for them to kind of represent us after our wins because we get in at I think like two in the morning and all of them are at the library studying or sleeping. I don't know, it's a mix. There's obviously some moments where kids are too caught up in school because that's what they have kind had ingrained in them. For the most part, I think the first game of our season, we had all the freshmen, new, incoming freshmen camped out in front of the stadium. It's pretty cool, how it's growing. Q. Do you think Stanford maybe doesn't get the credit they deserve in the media and other outlets? BLAKE MARTINEZ: Oh, I mean, I don't know, we don't really kind of look at that too much. It's obviously there's certain things where, hey, I wish certain guys got more recognition than they have and certain things just because they are our teammates and they have worked so hard for it. Kind of look at it that way. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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