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Friday, December 13, 2002
Player Q&A -- Washington nose tackle Larry Tripplett
BCSfootball.com
The Minnesota Vikings had the "Purple People Eaters" in the 1970s, but the Washington Huskies have one of their own. A primary reason the No. 6 Huskies' are 3-0 has been the play of junior nose tackle Larry Tripplett. Two weeks ago, Tripplett had the best game of his career, with three sacks and a fumble recovery to key a 17-14 victory at Colorado, earning Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week honors. The 6-foot-1, 295-pound Los Angeles native spoke with BCSfootball.com prior to Saturday's matchup with No. 25 Oregon (ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET).
Are you surprised the team has started as well as it has?
|  | | Washington's Larry Tripplett knows the game against the Ducks will be nasty. |
Tripplett: To say that I'm surprised would be like saying I expect us to lose. We go into every game and play hard. The results that we've worked so hard to get, we've gotten in the past three weeks, so we're excited about that.
Did you feel the open week came at the right time, following the win at Colorado?
Tripplett: We had two very emotional games the two previous weeks, with Miami and Colorado. I'll be able to tell you after the game whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, if the team needed it or not.
What did the team do during the off-week?
Tripplett: We pretty much went back to fundamentals. We didn't run a lot of schemes because we weren't sure what Oregon was going to do against UCLA. We just went back to our basic packages and made sure we had them down pat.
Did you watch the UCLA-Oregon game last week?
Tripplett: Are you kidding? I wasn't going to miss that game.
What were your impressions of the two teams?
Tripplett: Obviously, I was focusing a little more on Oregon, but No. 9, Maurice Morris, is impressive. He's probably the best back in the Pac-10 right now. There are a lot of things I can say about that guy. He's good.
It's your conference opener and a slip could hurt your team's chances at reaching a BCS game in January. Are you thinking about that at all?
Tripplett: We're thinking about Oregon and that's it. The postseason is too far away. We just finished our third game. The season is a long season. We're just starting school now.
We're trying to focus in on Oregon, and we know it'll be a tough fight. We can't overlook them. This is going to be a battle from start to finish.
How difficult is it to play in Autzen Stadium?
|  | | Like these folks at Autzen Stadium, Kesey caught Ducks fever at a young age. |
Tripplett: For the defense, it gives us a good opportunity, because the crowd will be quiet. So we'll be able to make more checks and play smarter defense. It causes a problem for the offense because it's going to be very loud. It's going to be an emotional crowd. We'll be playing an emotional team, and it's going to be an emotional game. It'll be one of those games where you'll find out what both teams are made of.
You started at defensive end last year and moved back to nose tackle this year, was it a tough transition and do you have a preferred position?
Tripplett: My main position was nose tackle, and this year they wanted to move me to end, where I could be over the guard and hopefully be in more one-on-one blocking situations. In the first game I didn't do as well, so they moved me back to nose tackle, and that's where I've played the past couple of weeks.
To be honest, nose tackle is a good position, but I hate the double teams. I like being closer to the ball, but I hate being double-teamed.
I just like to play. Wherever I play is fine.
In your opinion, what are the keys to the game for the Huskies?
Tripplett: We most definitely have to play disciplined, especially since we're playing in a hostile environment. We have to run the plays that our coaches call and trust the coaches and their decisions.
If you want to get down to players, it's Maurice Morris. He's their best right now. It's going to be a challenge for us to face him. They also have a good quarterback in Joey Harrington, and a trio of experienced wide receivers, so we're going to have our work cut out for us.
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Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti descibes the home field advantage his team has against the University of Washington.