Nov. 5, 2005
USC Coach Pete Carroll
"It was a nice night. A real good setting back at home. It was fun seeing the explosion of this team today. We loveplaying at home and it was certainly fun to watch them. Off the start, we just started getting those turnovers, whichmakes us very proud knowing how stingy Stanford is with the ball. Reggie was just on fire in the first quarter. Matt wasgreat again and our line was just awesome out there.
"We're very excited. It's the fourth quarter of the season with three huge games left. We're fired up right now,especially with our last road game coming up.
(regarding Oscar Lua)
"We're very disappointed that Oscar got hurt today. We're not sure right now on the extent. But I can tell you right nowhe's been great, a real pivotal player on defense.
(regarding USC's defense)
"We played well, but we're still a work in progress. We still have plenty of room to improve. Right now the defense isplaying off the offense. If they hold their own, that would be great."
USC QB Matt Leinart
"We did anything we wanted to tonight, especially in the first half. We really executed our gameplan tonight. We wereable to go up-top and make some plays. It really got easy for us as the game went on. And our defense got us the ballwith great field position, which always helps.
(on entering the last quarter of the season)
"This is the fourth quarter of our season. We've got to keep pushing. We know our next three games aren't easy byany means. And of course, next week we have Cal. And we all remember what happened last time we were up there.
(on the defense)
"They're playing exceptional right now, especially being a question mark early in the season. They've been absolutelynails. They've handled three strong offense teams in both Washingtons and Stanford and the freshmen are giving us agood amount of depth."
Stanford Coach Walt Harris
"I've been on the other coast and haven't had the opportunity first hand to watch USC play. Obviously, they've got anaccumulation of outstanding football players that are coached very well. We helped them early with turnovers and theydominated us in the first half.
"In the second half, we challenged the players and we have the kind of character that allowed us to improve ourperformance in the second half.
"It's tough to lose by any score, but we didn't play like we know we can play. The turnovers were huge. Not only arethey costly but they were uncharacteristic and hurt us emotionally as much as anything.
(regarding USC's defense)
"They're not given enough credit on defense. They have a lot of depth, which is one of our challenges and somethingwe don't have as much of."
Stanford QB Trent Edwards
"It was a rough game. They played defense very well and did a good job of disguising their schemes. But we knew thatall along. We knew we had to make plays and not turn the ball over and because we didn't, we left the defense on thefield too long."
Stanford DE Julian Jenkins
"They jumped on us quick. We under-performed as a defense, especially the front three and four. They did a good jobin the first half. They scored 44 points. That's great on their part.
(on USC's offensive line)
"They're all good. We didn't do a good job of getting off the ball and getting to the QB. The only reason we were on thefield so long is that we let them make first downs."