Ryan Day, Dan Lanning final comments on matchup

Q. I know it’s hard to zoom out when you’re so hyperfocused on the task at hand tomorrow, but I just wonder, if you could, think about all the people who have been instrumental in getting you at the stage you’re at today. Is there someone you’d like to give a shout out to that you wouldn’t be sitting here without?

DAN LANNING: How much time have we got? I mean, I’ll start with my wife, Sauphia. I think anybody who is a coach in this profession realizes there really isn’t balance, I’ve said it before, there isn’t balance if you want to be great. You need great support structure around you. There’s a lot of people that believed in me and gave me opportunities. I think there’s unbelievable coaches across the country that certainly deserve and would do a fantastic job in this role that I get to sit in.

I don’t take that for granted. I’m very blessed. But as blessed as anything to have the wife I have at home taking care of those three boys I think they got to enjoy Disneyland yesterday. I think she really enjoyed it right around 8:30 a.m., but I think maybe at 8:00 p.m. at night she was ready to get back home. Even though we had a long day of work here, I know she was working her tail off there yesterday.

RYAN DAY: Same with me. It’s about family. When you talk about family, first off, it’s Nina and the kids. I’ve known Nina my whole life. She’s been with me since we were 6 years old. We’ve been through a lot together. And when it comes to great moments in life, you’ve got to hug the people you love the most and enjoy them.

When you go through difficult times, you hang on the best you can to the ones you love and you just keep pushing forward, keep moving forward. So that’s really the foundation, I think, of any coach. I’m very fortunate to have a family who is just very, very supportive. But it quickly goes to the players. These are the guys who are on the field. I think sometimes in football, the coaches get a lot of the attention. But ultimately this game is played by the players. And we have a great coaching staff and great support system in the Woody that pulls for each other. And, again, as much as the focus sometimes comes on the coach it’s about our players and our coaches in that building and the work that they put in.

And ultimately it’s about the team. There’s a lot of things along the way give us an opportunity to get to where we are, coaches, people in our lives but ultimately it comes down to family. Your family that’s close to you in your house and also your football family