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PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL: PENN STATE VS WASHINGTON

December 28, 2017

Jake Browning

Glendale, Arizona

Q. (Inaudible)?
JAKE BROWNING: I haven't thought about it that much. I couldn't even tell you who was number five last year. That was last year, this is this year and both are different teams.

And, I don't know, there's a lot of back stories you can try and draw on but I'm not really thinking about it a ton, to be honest. We've just got to go beat Penn State.

Q. You talked about Trace McSorley and your relationship with him. Is it kind of a quarterback fraternity thing, too, especially guys that are as high profile as you two guys develop a little bit of a relationship?
JAKE BROWNING: I wouldn't say necessarily you just get along just because you're quarterbacks, but I will say there's only so many people that are playing Division I, high level college football and play quarterback.

But you guys probably know it, too, when you interview people, there's the quarterbacks that seem like normal people and quarterbacks think that they're too big for some things.

And so I kind of gravitate towards the guys that are normal guys and don't try to act like they're bigger than anybody else. I got along with Trace for the weekend when we were there and kept in touch a little bit, but nothing really too elaborate. Just seemed like a normal dude and that was pretty much it.

Q. I've never met you and I covered Trace for the last couple of years. You do see like the same type of personality. Is that kind of what drew you guys together, like you said?
JAKE BROWNING: Yeah, also because we were roommates. You don't have a choice. He could think I'm a total loser, but I was his roommate. We had to be together.

Q. What was that?
JAKE BROWNING: Uplifting Athletes, Lift for Life.

Q. (Inaudible)?
JAKE BROWNING: I mean, that was all at Boise. So I doesn't really, I don't think about it that much. He kind of knows the lay of the land a little bit and what the schedule's like. But other than that, it's pretty much the same guy. He's been coaching me for three years now, so kind of more based off that, being able to know each other pretty well.

Q. (Indiscernible) your final season here. How important is it to end on a high note?
JAKE BROWNING: It's not my final season, but I definitely want to win the Fiesta Bowl and finish stronger than we did last year. And definitely makes the offseason feel a lot better when you win your bowl game.

Q. How exciting was it for you guys to know that you're not only in the Fiesta Bowl but an opponent like Penn State?
JAKE BROWNING: Yeah, we were excited. I think every team that makes some of these bigger bowl games that aren't in the playoffs wish they were in the playoff. But a two-loss teams, it's really hard to make it.

We're excited to be in the Fiesta Bowl and excited to play somebody like Penn State, a program that has some tradition and some national recognition.

Q. And the talk obviously has been about the number one rushing defense that you guys boast. But we know this is going to be a gunslinger game; it was last year with Penn State against USC, another Pac-12 team. How exciting is that to get a matchup, knowing that it's going to be offense versus offense, even though you guys aren't on the field at the same time?
JAKE BROWNING: I haven't really thought about it that much like that. We just want to score every time we have the ball and hopefully that happens. But I'm more focused on what Penn State does on defense than what they do on defense. You'd have to ask Keishawn and some of them about what they do on offense.

Q. When you look at the defense, what are you game planning for when you look at what's out there on the field?
JAKE BROWNING: They come at you in a lot of different ways, bring a lot of different blitzes. Play really physical, like most Big Ten team teams do. And good in the secondary of making sure that they match up everything they do with their pressures. They play really sound, and you're not just going to beat them because they blow -- they mess something up. You gotta go get it.

Q. I know for Penn State, they lost the Rose Bowl last year. Left that sour taste in their mouth. So for you guys how important is it to make sure that you walk away with a final win to motivate you guys into the next season in a proper way?
JAKE BROWNING: Yeah, I think we're going to be motivated either way. But we haven't won a big-time bowl game. We won the Heart of Dallas Bowl and that was pretty much it. As far as how I look at it, that's the only bowl game we've won. And we lost the Peach Bowl. So we have a sour taste in our mouth too about it. We want to win a big-time bowl game and take the next step as a program.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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