Oct. 9, 2004
Stanford Head Coach Buddy Teevens
Opening Statement: "This was a very disappointing loss. We had our chances this afternoon, but we could not capitalize when we needed to. This is a four-quarter game and you have to play every quarter to win. We did not make the plays we needed to make in the second half."
On the Stanford team: "We have a great group of young men with some outstanding leaders on our squad. They are very dedicated, and our strength and depth has improved greatly over the years. We love to compete, and we as coaches love our players for that."
On the game: "We just allowed a couple of big plays. The punt situation was tough, and they got into the end zone, and we did not respond when we needed to respond."
On Stanford's two early scoring drives: "We were moving the ball fairly well early in the ball game. We put the points on the board that the Notre Dame defense would allow us. Unfortunately, in the end we needed seven points each time instead of the three we got."
This year's loss compared to last year's loss to Notre Dame: "A loss is a loss anyway you put it. They all feel bad. This year, our guys really competed, and that is really what is important."
On Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn: "He is a very good quarterback. I was very impressed. He has a lot of poise in the pocket. He can take a hit and stand in the pocket under pressure until he can find the open man. Our defense mixed it up fairly well, and we had our opportunities to stop him, but he made the plays when he needed to make them."
Julian Jenkins, DT
Overall ...
"I feel like that was an aberration today. We didn't put together a game that we wanted to put together."
On Notre Dame Offense ...
"Notre Dame is scripted so they probably only ran about 12 plays the whole game but they did them well. And when you make mistakes on defense they are going to take advantage of that."
Evan Moore, FL
Playing on the road ...
"They are a good football team and they took advantage of the little things we screwed up on. And if you are going to win on road, especially against a good team like Notre Dame, you have to execute. It was getting frustrating at the end of the game when we were backed up against our own end zone and couldn't execute consistently."
On the entire offensive effort ...
"Today we struggled to establish the run and in the previous games we were able to do that. If we can establish the run, that makes them play man-to-man on our receivers and I felt like every time they had to play man-to-man we made plays and had a lot of open guys."
On only getting field goals in the first half ...
"That was huge. The difference may have been not putting the ball in the end zone in the first half. If we go up 14-0 on the road that's a whole different game.
On the fumbled punt attempt ...
"It was a good snap and I just bobbled it while rushing myself a little bit to get the kick off. I never thought of running it because I had 17-yards to go for a first down."
Trent Edwards, QB
Overall ...
"It is frustrating. We had the game in our hands but you got to give a lot of credit to Notre Dame. They are the kind of team that can lull you to sleep and we got complacent and didn't get the job done."
On not getting in the end zone early in the game ...
"Their defense came up really big in the red zone. They picked up the intensity inside the 20-yard line were they just out hit us down there and made the plays. That is one of the reasons we lost the game because you can't settle for field goals against a team like this."
On Notre Dame's pressure ...
"I thought there defensive line got stronger as the game went along and give a lot of credit to their coaches."