Nov. 10, 2007
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Washington State 33, Stanford 17
November 10, 2007
Pullman, Wash.
Martin Stadium
WSU QUOTES
WSU Head Coach Bill Doba
On the game...
"We battled hard and they are a little nicked up, too. We had some blown opportunities. We went for it on fourth down a couple of times and we probably should have kicked it. But at the time I thought that if we could get the touchdown then we could put it away."
"It was a good effort overall by our kids. Husain (Abdullah)'s final interception was the first time I could breathe all night. Hats off to (Stanford), I thought they did a nice job. They battled hard."
On safety Husain Abdullah...
"He plays a lot better when he can get up close. So we're rolling him up as one of the safeties to help us on the pressure packages. He's just starting to come around. Since the bye, he's really been playing well."
On running back Chris Ivory...
"He hadn't done anything for three weeks, so we needed him. He's a big time back. He's a big, strong kid that has good speed. He gets out on the edge, and five and six yard gains become 14-yard gains with Chris."
WSU Wide Receiver Michael Bumpus
On setting the all-time receptions record...
"I was just relieved...I was happy it was over with and excited at the same time. I just wanted to share it with the team and it's in the books now."
WSU Safety Husain Abdullah On his play the last few weeks... "I just want to close out my career the right way. I've been on the end of some bad games. I just want to have some good games before I'm out of here."
WSU Quarterback Alex Brink
On Jed Collins' play...
"Jed's been that guy for us all year. In typical Jed Collins fashion he was on me early in the game to get him the ball a little bit more. We started finding him in the second quarter and he made some big plays in the second half. He is always there on third down and he is always good for a few more extra yards after the catch, so he was very big for us tonight."
WSU Running Back Chris Ivory
On his performance...
"I was expecting to have a big game because I haven't played in so long. It's been like a month, so I was anxious to get out there."
Stanford Cornerback Kris Evans
(On WSU getting the ball over the middle) "In the middle they hit 41 deep one time. You just have to chalk that up to discipline. Other than that they threw a few fade routes in the corners that got us and we didn't look for the ball quick enough. There receivers played really well and went up and got the ball. They had a better day than us."
(On injuries) "It's tough but we've got to look at it in a positive light. Someone else has another chance to step in and fulfill the role. We depend on that. To have the next guy come in with no drop down. We depend on the next guy coming in."
(On containing WSU QB Alex Brink) "He is a real good quarterback. I knew he was good from watching film but you can only watch so much film and give you an idea. He did real well getting out of the pocket, working the scramble drill and getting rid of the ball real fast. We tried our best it is just another thing, containment along with the missed tackles. We've got to go back and work on that."
(On WSU receivers) "Coming in we knew WSU had probably the best wide receiver core that we might face. They have a nice core of receivers who challenged us down field. We knew the quarterback was going to go deep a lot and take shots. We were just trying to get prepared and wish we could have played the ball a little better. It just didn't go our way."
Stanford Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
(On two timeouts) "The two timeouts were used because we didn't have the right personnel out there. Our guys have got to look to the sideline to see who's coming in. We had to burn two there."
(On delay of game on field goal) "For some reason the offensive line ran off the field. I don't know why they ran off the field as the field goal unit was coming on. Then we had to get them back out there and I thought we were going to get it off but it didn't get snapped in time."
(On how costly the delay of game was) "It was very costly because we came back on the next play and punted it and then gave up a 15 yard interference penalty for running into the returner. In hindsight, you sure wish you would have gone for it."
(How WSU forced some plays) "They are very aggressive. They got through on a few blitzes. Put pressure on our quarterback. They caused some turnovers and interceptions. They are a good team."
(On giving up big play) "Alex Brink had a tremendous night throwing the football, moving around and getting outside of the pocket."
Stanford Wide Receiver Mark Bradford
(On lost opportunities) "I feel like that happens with any loss. There are always plays out there to be made; we just didn't make them today."
(On injuries) "I think we are going to be alright. Injuries are part of the game. The backup just has to step up. We just need to fill in and keep going."
Stanford Quarterback Tavita Pritchard
(On his performance) "As an offense and me personally we played well for most of the night, just not when it counted. We couldn't put the ball in the endzone in the first half and there down the stretch. Just felt like the offense and especially myself needs to get it done in those situations when we need a big play."
(On playing in Pullman) "I have great amount of respect for this place. You guys know kinda my background. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this coaching staff at Washington State and Coach Doba, and for the program."
"As much as I would like to say that I am 100 percent Stanford guy, maybe 110 percent and there is 10 percent still with the Cougs. You can't leave too much behind from your childhood and I have a lot of great memories here. I came in here ready to play. I have a lot of good memories of Martin Stadium as a kid growing up, and I was ready to go."
(On the Pritchard ticket count) "Ooo, 20 plus. I don't know how many Thompsons were there, I'll have to ask Tony when I go out there. Maybe 30 plus."
Stanford Kicker Derek Belch
(On why he is missing) "No idea. Your guess is as good as mine."
"I am missing to the right. There's no one more disappointed than me with myself. Two weeks in a row that we haven't gotten points when we should have and that's a total momentum killer. It's a probably a different game if I make those kicks, and it's not like they are fifty yarders. They're short, which is even more frustrating."
"I'll pretty much put the whole loss on my shoulders because it's just a completely different game if those shots go in. You can quote me on that."