Oct. 21, 2006
Listen to the Post-Game Press Conference with Head Coach Koetter
Stanford Game Quotes
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State Head Coach Dirk Koetter
On the team's play:
"I thought our guys played very hard again. We were efficient in all phases. We had a bit of a penalty streak, Julius Orieukwu was a little nervous to start the game. Then we had the penalty streak in the second quarter and that no huddle. I thought we won the hitting game today. We were efficient on both sides of the ball. We ran the ball well. Rudy Carpenter managed the game well. I think the guys really played the game plan and exactly how we set it up. In a game like this you have to be methodical about it and that is the way they executed."
On the running game:
"Ryan Torain got us off to a good start and I think we showed our depth at tailback, even though Shaun DeWitty continues to be out. We scored with three different tailbacks. Torain and Keegan (Herring) got two apiece. A glimpse in the future Dimitri Nance is going to be a good one as well. The offensive line continues to play beat up. Julius Orieukwu got his first start today with Stephen Berg out. There was a little scare when Paul Fanaika was out for a bit but was able to come back. We're playing without Andrew Carnahan, without Brandon Rodd, without DeWitty. I'm just really happy with the way these guys are playing. Rudy Burgess came in with his first start at cornerback, with Chris Baloney gone. These guys with their coaches came out to play and really executed well."
On the defense:
"We held the Stanford offense to 145 yards and about 50 of those yards came on one play when we missed a tackle. I think when we give our defense a chance to hang in their and we don't give up big plays. I think our defense is getting better and better. We're getting into the home stretch here with the Pac-10 and we're just taking it week to week. Next week it's going to be Washington who took to overtime today. We're just going to do what we've got to do and get ready to go up to Huskyville."
"This is the first game in awhile we've been able to get pressure without blitzing. We did get a couple sacks with the blitz, Jeremy Payton one off the edge. We did get pressure in a four man rush which allows us to keep more guys in coverage and the pass rush certainly helps the pressure. Kyle Caldwell had a really solid day today rushing the passer. Will Kofe showed up. We played a ton of guys today. We got a lot of people in and its great to see them working hard at practice and showing up on Saturdays."
On Terry Richardson:
"Right at the very end of practice on Thursday, right at the very last kickoff return of practice, Terry was running back a kickoff return and a very young man on the scout team accidentally fell into the side of his leg. Terry had all the tests and MRI done yesterday and as of right now it is a sprained medial collateral ligament. Nothing was torn, there is no surgery needed. Terry is going to be stiff and sore for awhile. It is not season ending, hopefully Terry will be back not too long here. He will play in brace but if you recall he did play in a brace last year for part of the season too. He was obviously out today, will probably be out next week but we may be able to get him back after that."
Sophomore Quarterback Rudy Carpenter
On getting back in rhythm:
"It's not planned. I told myself that I was going to just go back to playing football again. But I'm going to try to make sure that every play is a positive play. I just made up my mind to run that ball so that we wouldn't lose yards. And so far it's effective."
On mixing the passing with the running:
"Today was probably one of the first games in a while where the passing game was more efficient. A good running game always helps a quarterback. It keeps the defense guessing. It makes them stay in certain coverages and play certain defenses. So we were able to throw the ball effectively."
On the win:
"I thought we dominated in all aspects of the game, on offense and on defense. I'd still like to see the penalties cut down a lot. It might affect us in later games. With the schedule that we have, I thought it was a good schedule for us because it will tell us exactly where we stand after USC. We know exactly where we're at. We have to win the rest of our games. I think we can do that. But we have to start today. We wanted to go out and just win today. We thought we could win convincingly and we did so."
Junior Tailback Ryan Torain
On the running game:"We focused on the run a lot, because they are last in the league in running defense. We thought if we ran the ball we would have a great day. It's been a lot easier to run because we have been connecting on both sides of the ball. The offensive line is making big holes. They are doing their job."
On running the ball and catching passes:
"I just like playing and reading defenses. I just wait to see what Rudy [Carpenter] is going to call and go out there and do it."
Senior Defensive Lineman Kyle Caldwell
On the defense:"This defense is getting better every week. We knew we were going to be able to take advantage of the four-man rush this week. This whole team played well. The energy level was high and the camaraderie was there. This defense is going to continue to get better."
On Rudy Burgess at cornerback:
"He wants to do whatever he can for the team, what more could you ask for? That how we want all of our players to be. Rudy is a good athlete it is to our advantage to be able to play him at multiple positions."
Junior Wide Receiver/Cornerback Rudy Burgess
On debut on defense:"I think I did pretty well for my first game at cornerback. We used a nice rotation to keep me healthy and fresh on the field; it was fun. At the beginning they were going up top and throwing some short routes to test the waters a little bit, I think I covered them pretty well. I think throughout the game they figured out that all of our corners are decent and they had to try to find something else that would work for them."
On the differences between offense and defense:
"It is not that much different other than you are running backwards and having guys running at you instead of the other way around. Being a receiver did help me out today knowing what routes the receivers were going to run."
Stanford Head Coach Walt Harris
On the game:
"We got beat by a good football team, how good, there in the process of proving how good they are."
On the ASU offense:
"I really like their running back, he runs in and out of tackles, runs inside and outside and catches a pass for a touchdown. I think that's impressive."
"I was really impressed with Rudy Carpenter, he made a couple really good throws did a nice job scrambling"
"The Offensive line was physical and the Defensive line was too much for our guys."
On his team's problems:
"It's like a broken record, were not physical enough and not consistent to runt the ball for four quarters. I think the game got out of hand more because of some of those turnovers that happened."
"I think we played good at times on defense but we wouldn't get off the field or we would do something that would give them another shot. It was a tough day at the office."
Stanford Senior Quarterback T.C. Ostrander
On his knee:
"It's a little stiff right now, but I don't think anything else happened in the game that would make it any worse. I feel pretty good, obviously just banged up a little bit. Nothing should have long-term consequences."
On the dropped balls:
"It was tough. We have a couple of young guys, most of them in their first year except for (Jason) Evans. It's disappointing because they know and I know and everybody around us knows that they can make those plays. They're freshmen though, so it's tough."
On promising drives:
"I felt we definitely made a lot of progress from last week, but we did things to ourselves and we just can't do that if we want to move the ball consistently. I don't think the score was really indicative of how well we played. I mean, obviously we didn't play well, but we played better than last week."
On Jason Evans returning:
"It gave me some more confidence; maybe a little too much confidence. The interception may not have happened had he not been out there. Given two more weeks, I think we'll be able to work better together and do good things down the road."
On continuing offensive struggles:
"We've had success on offense before. We're pretty close [to bringing everything together]. It's all the little things. One little thing here and one little thing there screws up the play and screws up the drive. It's unfortunate."