Dec. 2, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
STANFORD HEAD COACH Walt Harris
General comments:
"I thought our team rose to the occasion and I congratulate Coach Tedford and Cal. It was a close fought game."
"You saw a very good, athletic team out there today in Cal. Cal is very good and very athletic in all phases of the game."
"We were toe-to-toe with Cal today and I think that was tremendous. We were able to be competitive. We have to prepare to play like this every game."
"I thought we played well enough to win and gave ourselves a chance to win. The effort our players gave deserved a win."
"I think we really brought our A-game. I thought we played really well and that it was anyone's game in the second half."
"Our guys gave tremendous effort. This is the kind of effort our team needs to have every week and if we had done that we would not have the record we have."
"What a great job by our young guys today. Look at how much better they got throughout the season. I think the future is bright for Stanford because of the improvement of our young guys as the season went on."
"Only three teams in the conference are going to have winning records (assuming USC beats UCLA today) and that says something about what a difficult conference this is to play in."
STANFORD PLAYERS
QUARTERBACK T.C. Ostrander
General Comments
"We stepped up pretty big-time today. This is the most success we've had moving down the field in a while. We just needed to capitalize. Our guys played with a lot of heart. I thought the O-line stepped up big time and I'm proud of them for that.
On the Cardinal's Game Plan Against the Golden Bears
"We came out with some wrinkles we were going throw at them, and when we did, they worked. The way they played their coverage in the first half, if they played man, we were going to try to take advantage of that, and I felt like we did. The second half Cal came out and started playing more zone and I didn't adjust to that quickly enough to let us be as successful as we could be."
WIDE RECEIVER Evan Moore
On Stanford's Overall Effort
"That was a great effort by a team that was obviously against all odds. I just respect all the seniors so much for coming out and giving it up. It's not a secret that we had nothing to play for. We were 1-10 and we could have come out and said, `Forget it,' but we've got a lot of pride and we played real hard today, and I respect our team for that."
On Stanford's Confidence on Offense
"There was a lot of confidence in the offensive huddle. The way we started on our first drive gave us a ton of confidence."
LINEBACKER Michael Okwo
On the Feeling on the Sideline as Stanford Threatened to Come Back
"Everybody was truly locked into this game and was ready to leave it out there on the field. We were definitely ready to celebrate. We sort of owed them a little celebration out there on their home turf."
On the Source of Successful Defensive Game-Planning by the Cardinal
"Our defensive coordinator, A.J. Christoff, I can't even begin to tell you how great of a job he did putting us in the right position. It was almost too easy in this game to be in the right position to make plays. They came away with some big plays, but it was just a complete team effort. Unfortunately they came out on top, but we are really proud of each other and it was a great experience.
CALIFORNIA COACH <!A HREF="http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/tedford_jeff00.html" >Jeff Tedford
General comments:
"I knew going into this game it was going to be a very difficult game. (Stanford) has been playing very, very well on defense. I thought they stepped up on offense today big time. They got a lot of big plays offensively. They played very, very hard."
On the impact of the wind:
"In the first half, the wind was very, very strong. We had a lot of balls down the field in our game plan and we had to pull back on some of those because the wind was doing a lot of things. Not even just throwing into the wind, but throwing with the wind; they were really sailing and taking off."
"With (Tom) Schneider's kick we got the penalty on, it seemed like it really picked up right then. But he still banged it through. All game long, it was swirling back and forth. At times it was a major factor and at others it wasn't."
On <!A HREF="http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/schneider_tom00.html" >Tom Schneider:
"(Tom) had a great day...We have a lot of confidence in Tom. I thought he did a great job today. Having to line up and re-kick (the last kick), especially against the wind, was a very tough kick and he hit it really solid. We're proud of his performance."
On Cal's seniors:
"After a hard-fought game, there's no question: We're proud of our seniors. Our seniors leave here having the axe five straight times. I'm real proud that we can leave this season with those guys having the axe and being undefeated at home."
On the Cal fans:
"I thought the fans did a great job today and gave us a real home field advantage. It's always nice to see them come on the field and appreciate the players."
CALIFORNIA PLAYERS
KICKER <!A HREF="http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/schneider_tom00.html" >Tom Schneider
On the weather and kicking conditions:
"Memorial Stadium is a bit odd geographically, with the way the wind comes across the field. On days like this, you just have to pick a spot and stick with it."
On the 55-yard field goal:
"The coaches keep pushing me, and it helps to know they're behind me. It wasn't as clean of a kick as it could have been, but I had the wind behind me and it was enough."
LINEBACKER <!A HREF="http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/follett_zack00.html" >Zack Follett:
On the slow start:
"We stated out slow, but the defense picked it up. We played well, but not as well as we can. We shouldn't have given up so many touchdowns. That touchdown we got was huge and it got our offense going."
On Stanford's offense:
"On their first drive, they converted on four third downs. It was tough, we were getting frustrated and trying to make one more play. Every touchdown they got, they drove the length of the field on us."
On <!A HREF="http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/thompson_sydquan00.html" >Syd'Quan Thompson's touchdown:
"I saw they fumbled the snap and my eyes lit up. They picked it up and ran to the free side, so I jetted and hit him hard. I saw Syd pick up the ball and lose his shoe. I just started going crazy."
LINEBACKER <!A HREF="http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/pimentel_mickey00.html" >Mickey Pimentel:
On Stanford's effort:
"A lot of people thought we were going to blow them out, but you have to give credit to Stanford. They made a lot of plays. It just goes to show that anybody can win on any Saturday in the Pac-10. We need to prepare each week and play with the mentality that our opponent is one of the best."
WIDE RECEIVER <!A HREF="http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/jackson_desean00.html" >DeSean Jackson:
On Stanford's performance:
"Stanford fought hard. I knew it was going to be a fight to the end, and I thought they'd come out tough because it's their last game. We take the Big Game seriously, and it was good to win for the fifth consecutive time at home in front of our fans."