Oregon State-Stanford Post-Game Quotes
November 05, 2011 | Football
Nov. 5, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
OSU Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach Mike Riley
On the game as a whole…
“When Stanford had the ball, they sustained drives pretty well. When we get three-and-outs, we have to do something with them. I thought that was a big factor in the game. And then we gave up a few sacks.”
On the defensive performance…
“We made some plays down the field – very good plays on the ball – and one-on-one plays where we got our hand on the ball so they couldn't make the completion. That was good defensive-secondary play. There was a lot of good defense.”
On James Rodgers...
“It's always great to see the confidence. We'll see how we can finish with him and the rest of the guys. I think this team will come back and get ready to go, and we'll get better each week and finish out the season. James will be a great example for the rest of the younger guys he's playing with.”
On the running game…
“It really hurts you in a game when you can't sustain more running yardage than that. That was a major difference in the game. We hit some fly-sweeps, but we got very little up the middle.”
TE # 87 Joe Halahuni
On controlling the ball so much…
“I think that we had a good chance going up on them, but we did not finish our job like we wanted too. It happened to us quite a bit. It stalled ourselves when we would have a couple of plays on offense to make some plays and put some points on the board, but we just kept stopping ourselves.”
On how good Stanford is…
“Stanford is a very good team. I do not think that they did anything extra ordinary. They do what they need to do and they do it well. They played a great game obviously and they deserve to win.”
On how the team is handling the last three games…
“We have to still continue working on winning next week's game. That is the only thing that we are thinking about right now. We are not thinking about not being bowl eligible, being eligible was not our goal and we just wanted to win one game at a time. It was not going to happen all at once, so we took it one game at a time. We need to keep working and tomorrow we will watch film and try to win next week.”
QB #4 Sean Mannion
On team struggles in the second half…
“We could have done better and we're going to work hard to become better than that. There was some good stuff but we just have to become a better team. We're going to work hard this week and every week the rest of the season to become that better team.”
On the offensive performance today…
“We could have executed better, just moving the ball. On offense, we just have to move the ball and a lot of that comes down to execution so we just have to work on that. We were moving the ball on them at some points, but we just have to put a bunch of drives together instead of having a couple three-and-outs early. We moved the ball on them early so it wasn't all bad.”
On Stanford…
“They are a good team but I think we feel that we had an opportunity to win. We just have to play better than that.”
CB #14 Jordan Poyer
On preparedness for this game…
“I definitely did feel like we were prepared for this game. We felt the vibe and felt we were ready. But credit to Stanford there, they are a really good team.”
On Andrew Luck's performance…
“He puts the ball in spots where his receivers can get it. I felt like I could have had one interception on him that kind of got away from me, but he is a great quarterback and will do well in the NFL.”
On getting banged up on kickoff…
“Yes it kind of tweaked my body a little bit. My head went one way and the other part of my body went the other. I am about to go downstairs to get it checked out but I am fine now.”
Stanford Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach David Shaw
On defense and pass rush…
“On every single road game, you can credit our defense. Every single road game we have started slow on offense, and every single road game our defense has kept us in the game. That has been the way it's been all year. Ben Gardner makes the effort plays, if he was blocked he didn't stay blocked. Chase Thomas, outstanding pressure tonight. Trent Murphy came off the edge for a huge sack. Michael Thomas split a couple of times and got in there. The pressure was great, but the pressure only great if the coverage holds up. And the coverage held up a few times just long enough for us to get to the quarterback. Those defensive guys got us back into the game and offensively we started moving the ball and got back to our style of football.”
On the power running game…
“We are pretty big up front, and skilled as well. If either guard can pull we can run counters, leads, dives, and all kinds of stuff. Coach Bloomgren put together a really good run game plan. I would say that we don't necessarily try to ware people out. We just try to run our offense and keep them off balance and mix in our play action game. The game was close early on because we dropped two touchdown passes; we flat out had them in our hands and we didn't catch them. That happened two in the first half and one in the second half. We got to make those plays in order to beat a team like Oregon. You can't miss opportunities.”
On Chris Owusu's concussion and the emotions involved with the situation…
“Personally, I was fighting back tears, just to see Chris lying on the ground again. The good thing is, he was conscious, he was fine but they had already made the decision to put him on the stretcher. He is already back in the locker room. He's fine and excited to be back. We'll talk about whether or not he is going to play anytime soon at a later date. There are a lot of checks that he has to pass in order to get back on the field. We are going to make sure that he passes all those before he plays. We will be overly cautious with Chris Owusu.”
QB #12 Andrew Luck
On the team performance…
“We are not satisfied by any means. I think we left a lot of plays out there. I give credit to Oregon State, they played tough and are a good football team. This is also a tough atmosphere to play in. We are just a little disappointed in ourselves.”
On this game being a possible “trap game” setup…
“We understand that it could be a trap game, seeing that we are sandwiched between two good teams, but I think that we are mature enough to understand that if we didn't win this game, the next wouldn't matter.”
On weather factoring into the game…
“No, I don't think so. We had similar weather down in Palo Alto on Thursday. A bunch of our guys have played in the Northwest, so it wasn't a factor.”
FS #3 Michael Thomas
On Oregon State being a trap game...
"No, like Andrew said, it couldn't be a trap game. We went into the game like any other opponent. If we didn't come out and take care of our business today, what we did last week or the weeks before wouldn't matter and next wouldn't matter. We came out with focus but left a lot of plays out there and probably didn't play our best game but we came away with a win."
WR #17 Griff Whalen
On the good chemistry with Andrew Luck...
"I don't think it's anything special. We are just running our best plays that we know and that's just the way it's been working right now."
