Sept. 3, 2000
TYRONE WILLINGHAM, STANFORD HEAD COACH
What did you think: "I thought we did some things well, and obviously our second half was not what we'd like to have it, but all credit to Washington State. They stayed in there, found ways to make a couple of plays to keep us at bay. They did a great job in the third quarter of holding on to the ball. We may have had just one or two series' there. I think our defense, at the same time, did a nice job by, even though they had possession, they were not able to score touchdowns."
Pregame concerns: "I think the concerns were very obvious. We were concerned in some places about our inexperience. And I think in some places it showed. We were a little banged and bruised coming in, but I think our guys pulled through it and we're delighted to be the victors tonight."
Fasani (QB): "I think as he got a little more comfortable with things, and that relaxation that comes over you when you start to feel comfortable took place, and he started to make and execute a few things. But at the same time I think you saw some outstanding athletic plays by Randy, Kerry Carter, and then Randy broke free from a tackle and did something very nice."
WSU defense in 2nd half: "We only had, I think, two series'. I think their biggest adjustment came in the beginning of the ballgame when they gave us a little bit of a double eagle front that we hadn't seen and had anticipated out of them , so I think that was part in the first quarter we were starting to figure it out and get comfortable with it, and in the second quarter and do some things. In the quarter, they just held on to the football. We did not have many opportunities with the football. I think they did a great job of controlling the ball."
Stanford Defensive play: "This is the type of offense that can be very explosive and they spread you all over the field. They have some outstanding athletes. But for our defense to only give up a field goal and no touchdowns is, I think, a great night for our defense."
Johnson's punting: "We're not sure who will be the punter next week. Both of those guys will work on it. We will let both of them have a chance until we feel somebody has clearly identified themselves as our starter."
Inexperience: "I was really concerned about our inexperience because we have inexperience at some critical places. One which Randy started at quarterback, some of our receivers have not received a great deal of playing time, and some of the guys on our offensive line have not received a great deal of playing time. At some points I think that really showed itself and kind of limited our ability to really hit rhythm and find out groove.
Penalties: "I know we had some that were untimely, but when you get a penalty, it's always at the least advantageous time."
MIKE PRICE, WSU HEAD COACH:
Q: What's going through your mind?
MP: Probably big time frustration right now.
Q: Things kind of got away from you.
MP: Yeah they did, I think first of all, in the second half, we could've tanked it. If we were losers we would have tanked it, and these kids aren't. We haven't proved that we're winners on the football field, on the scoreboard yet, but we will. We played well at times in the second half. I thought our defense did a great job. You know offensively that's as poor a first half as I have coached in the 12 years that I have been here. Everything that I thought we were going to do Stanford did. They were making great one-handed catches and they were on track and they were throwing the ball well. And we were off track, we were out of our comfort zone, we weren't doing things like we've been doing them for the last three weeks. Looking back I probably would have liked to have just come out and smash-mouthed them on offense and we would've been probably better off. We tried to finesse them early and we were too jittery, we were doing thing we'd never done before in three weeks, particularly on offense. Defensively we were blitzing and that was working and then they hit us on that screen pass versus our blitz and they broke some tackles and we got off balance and they made some plays. We've just got to get mature and experienced and go back and keep fighting.
Q: That field position seemed to be a problem too, you were starting at your own 20 every time.
MP: That didn't surprise me, I knew that that would be a tough match, our offensive line against their defensive line because we're not quite good enough as we're going to be, but I was disappointed that we couldn't execute phases of the passing game that was our plan, and it wasn't the right plan this early in the year.
Q: Jason Gesser's performance:
MP: He never got in the flow, I don't know if I gave him a chance to get in the flow, but he never got in the flow, he was out of his comfort zone, he doesn't play like that, he's better than that and he will play better than that. The first half was a poor half for him.
MP: A lot of miscues in the first half. We were off balance, we were nervous, we were jittery, we did not play like experienced veterans and we're not experienced veterans, so I guess we played like really what we are, so we were off balance.
MP: We had way too many penalties. They didn't. They did a nice job. They played better football than we did, there's no question about that.
Q: Had trouble running the fb in the 1st:
MP: Well we didn't really give the running game a chance in the first half, I don't think, with my play selection. We tried too many screens, too much soft passes. We thought we could beat them on take-off. I thought our receivers were better than their corners, and they are if we'll catch the ball and they are if we'll throw the ball to them properly. The guys that I thought would play well didn't play well and the guys on their team that I didn't think would play well, played well. It was just a flip-flop.
Q: Is it good to have a week off then?
MP: Well I think we're going to be taking our hits from everyone outside the football program. We really need to stick together and not let outside influences affect our attitude. It's not what happens to you in life, it's how you react to what happens to you in life and we have to continue to have a good attitude about ourselves and a good self image and can't let outside influences say, hey you guys are a bunch of bums. And that doesn't happen very much around here, I will say that. I don't know how many people we had here at the game, but they stayed, they applauded us, they're loyal fans and I appreciate their support.
Q: You've got a week off, does that lose some flow for you?
MP: It might lose a little bit of flow, I'm not sure.
MP: I wouldn't use the word fear, but I definitely think if I had to do it again, I'd come in there and smash mouth football against them and run that ball up in there. You know even though they had us outnumbered, that's why we did what we did, because they had us outnumbered with the number of people that they had in the box and they were just throwing one coverage, a real base coverage, and we thought that we could throw the ball with the best of them and really just exploit our passing game and then just sprinkle the run in there and it didn't work, I mean it did not work at all.
MP: I'm proud of the guys in the second half, they did not give up, and they could've given up. 24-0 at half time and we're floundering, we can't hardly even get a first down. But we came out and we did do some things well, and I've got to look for the things that we did well and try to pick those out because I really believe we're a better fb team than we showed tonight, but we just did not play on the scoreboard better than that, we just played bad.
MP: I was pleasantly surprised that we were doing as well as we were in the second half because it was a tough locker room at half time. These guys have worked their tales off and done things in the spring and summer and it didn't pay off, they didn't get their rewards.