Oct. 27, 2001
Recap|Box Score|Notes|Photo Gallery
Stanford Head Coach Tyrone Willingham
On Chris Lewis' performance on the first half:
"There is no question that Chris came out and did an excellent job for us. Not only Chris, but our entire offensive team came out and got us off to a great start and our defense followed. That was very important."
On UCLA:
"We came in the game with the mindset that we would stick to our game plan and do things that we felt like we could do. We spent all week trying to find places where we could attack and our coaches, Coach Diedrick, and our entire offensive attack did a great job on alignment and executing."
On saying anything to Lewis after the turnover:
"I don't think Chris was rattled. Chris can maintain composure and as I say, has ice in his veins. He was very collective today and more than anything else, he was probably disappointed in things that he thought he could do better."
After the win, thoughts on a National Championship:
"That is something that I have never thought about. All we have to do is just keep winning football games and those things will take care of themselves. That is what I call in the internal focus, they will take care of themselves if we keep winning football games."
On Stanford's offensive line:
"We feel very good about our offensive line. I don't know if they are the best in the country, but they way they come out and play and work everyday is what leads to being the best line in the country."
On stopping DeShaun Foster:
"I don't know if there is a true answer to that in stopping Foster, he is such a great player. Our goal was to play team defense and play every solid, not giving up gaps. I think Kent Baer and our defensive staff did a great job of executing our system and not giving up too many gaps to run through."
Difference in Chris Lewis as a start this year versus last season:
"Maturity, which will continue to grow. The more you play, the more comfortable you become and you get to ability to get a library of information. Chris has the ability to get that information and with some things that he is not happy with this week, and can exchange those things for new plays."
Stanford quarterback Chris Lewis:
On the first turnover in the game:
"We had a goal that we set out to do, so that did not really bother us too much. The next drive we had a good drive that put points on the board, we knew that is was going to be a long day. You have to play the entire game. That drive helped the confidence of the team, and Luke made the big play."
On being nervous:
"I do not get nervous, I've never had a problem with that. Once I step on the field, I just go out there and play. We knew that we could put up a lot of points, and that they could match that. Our offense has a lot of weapons. With that in mind an having a good week in practice, we knew we could do some things."
Stanford linebacker Coy Wire
On Foster:
"Foster is their heart and soul and when you take away that, it is hard for a team to win. We were going to come out and play every play as hard as we possibly could."
On winning two big games:
"We know that if we keep playing the way we are capable of, good things will come to this team regardless of the loss against Washington State."
UCLA Head Coach Bob Toledo
We are extremely disappointed about the outcome of the game. We fell behind early, especially in the second quarter. We didn't play particularly well in the first half - we had turnovers, penalties, but I think you have to give credit to Stanford - they are a heck of a football team. We lost to a good football team. We came out in the second half and I think we did some good things. We tried to make a comeback, and we fell short.
On Paus' injury:
Paus hurt his thumb on the last play of the first half, and we don't know how serious it is, but, McEwan came in and did a nice job running the offense.
On Stanford's offense:
I was disappointed that they were able to move the ball so well offensively, but I think one of the things you have to look at is offensively, we didn't generate any offense, so we wore down a bit defensively. Our defense was tired...they were out there for a while. They came out and ran the ball extremely well. Again, they're tabbed with one of the best offensive lines in both the Pac-10 and the country, and it showed. Both running backs would not go down easily - they fought for extra yards and made it very difficult for us.
On going for it on 4th and 20 in the first half:
We were on the 30 yard line, kicking into a little bit of a wind, and we were down by three touchdowns. I just felt we needed to try to make something happen.
On 4th down play late in 4th quarter:
Well, we had one guy going deep and Scott (McEwan) took a shot. We had guys running patterns underneath in first down distance and one guy going deep. He took a shot deep, trying to win the game for us.
On backup QB Scott McEwan:
Scott's a senior, and we expect him to perform. He's done a good job for us in the past, and he did a good job again today.
State of the team at halftime:
At halftime, the team was pretty fired up. They realized they were down and realized what was at stake.
On the rest of UCLA's season:
I still honestly believe that the Pac-10 championship is up for grabs. It's a tough football conference, and you have to be ready to strap it up each week. If we can beat Washington State next week, then everyone will have a loss. It's part of my job to get them to bounce back and play well next week. We still have a chance to compete for a championship, and that has always been one of our goals. I still think we have a really good football team.
UCLA Running Back DeShaun Foster:
We dug ourselves a hole, and were able to bounce back. We made a good comeback, got within three points, but we lost. Now we just have to get ready for next week and go from there.
On Stanford's defense:
They have a good defense, but it wasn't the best we've faced this year. I don't know who the best is, but they (Stanford) have a good defense. We executed a lot better in the second half. We can still win the Pac-10 championship. There are a lot of teams with one loss, so hopefully we can just keep rolling and go from there.