Coach Willingham
(on the drama of the Big Game)
We've never played in one or two Big Games since I've been here (at Stanford) that were over before the final seconds ticked off the clock. In most years, it goes right down to the wire. That's just the way the big game is.
(on the game-winning touchdown pass from Randy Fasani to Casey Moore)
We were expecting a touchdown. That was the first time we ran that play all year. We have been prepping for the right place and the right time to run this play. Every now and then, it's not a bad idea to go in the stadium, close the doors and work on it.
(more on the Fasani-to-Moore touchdown play)
You have to do it at the right time and that's what it's all about. Just having a play and running it can backfire on you as much as a coach as it can help you. You've got to do things at the right time. That's the patience and the discipline of our staff and players that we were willing to be patient, we were willing to be discipline, and we were willing to try to do things at the right time.
(on DeRonnie Pitts 1-yard TD catch on 4th-and-1 to give the Cardinal a 23-20 lead with 7:48 remaining in the game)
If you don't get it then you feel like there's still enough time. You've got them backed up and hopefully if your defense does what you hope they do, then you put yourself right back in position to come down and make another charge. If it had been a three-point deficit, we would have kicked a field goal.
(on the effort by the Stanford offensive line)
I do applaud our offensive line because, if I am correct, Andre Carter did not touch our quarterback. With that being said, hopefully Riall Johnson will be the first guy in the Pac-10 to lead the conference in sacks in back-to-back years.
(on Stanford's defense)
I thought our defensive effort was good. We got off to a shaky start with their no-huddle offense, but we anticipated that they might do that because in their games earlier in the year they had run no huddle. But when you see something, it's a lot more difficult to adjust to what you see than what you talk about. As the game progressed, our guys got better. As we got better, they went away from it and stayed more with their traditional approach. Overall, our defensive effort was exactly what I asked the guys to do, and that was to step up at the most opportune time and make a play for us. They did that in the overtime.
(on strategy at the end of regulation to let the clock run out)
What we wanted to do was go into our two-minute offense. If we had initial success and moved the ball quickly, we would have stayed with it and tried to go down and get the field goal to win the football game. When we didn't have that (initial success) then we felt comfortable going into overtime. What we were hoping for happened. We won the toss. That meant we were going to play defense first. We felt like that gave us the best opportunity to have success.
(on decision to play defense first in the overtime period after winning the coin flip)
We feel like it's always better to know what you have to do. When you're informed, you make better decisions.
(on mistakes in the game)
I think today we did have a few more mistakes. There were some things that happened. We probably had more personal fouls, the 15-yard variety fouls, than we've had in a long time. We may have had at least two, maybe three. We had some mistakes in there that normally don't arise. In the course of a ballgame, those things happen.
(on this year's senior class)
I found a lot of our seniors (after the game) that have been very special. I said earlier that our seniors were some of the guys that took what I call a leap of faith to our program five years ago. When a lot of people were saying a lot of bad things about coming into the Stanford program at that time, they believed in the things that I told them - that they could be a champion. I'm very fortunate and very lucky to say that we have made some of those things come true. With their great effort and their great belief in our program and Stanford University.
(on California head coach Tom Holmoe and the Golden Bears' football program)
I think Tom Holmoe is a heck of a man. Also, their football players played some heck of football games this year, and I have total respect for them and their coaching staff, and their University.
(on cornerback Brian Taylor, who had two interceptions in the game)
Brian Taylor is normally our nickel guy. We brought him in at the corner spot (today) and he stepped in and made some plays.
(on being close to a bowl game)
I don't know if we were one play away from a bowl. It's very easy to say that, especially today. But the truth of the matter is that we were close to being a bowl team. People will say it could have went the other way too, that you could have lost some of the close ballgames, but that's football. I like the character of our football team. I like the way they hung in there. I like the love they displayed love for each other and the love they displayed for the game of football.