Stanford 30, Jose San State 29
Q. Coach, first of all, congratulations on your first two home games here on The Farm. At the point where you guys got within one score, eight point game, and you elected to go for a field goal instead of trying to get the touchdown, two-point conversion, what was your thinking at that moment? You thought the defense would be able to hold those last minutes of the quarter?
FRANK REICH: I did. I thought the defense was playing extremely well in the second half. You know, they were gaining some yards, but we made the stops we needed to make. It was just fourth and too many yards. Talked to our analytics guys. Had a quick conversation with them about, go for it, kick the field goal, and felt like down by 8 that was the right move.
Q. Just describe the way Ben played in the fourth quarter, especially the fourth and ten on the game-winning drive.
FRANK REICH: Yeah, huge play. Really credit to Ben, Caden High, the offensive line. We saw that team in preparation they like to bring blitz zero in that situation. We studied it hard. We worked on it hard. We talked about our answers all week. We practiced them. We practiced them over and over and over again.
But you still got to execute it. They executed it to perfection. It worked exactly how we wanted it to work. But Ben just had all the poise in the world. All the poise in the world to sit in there, to trust his guys, and know you got a bunch of guys blitzing trying to breathe down your neck.
We got Sam Roush, bringing him back into the backfield to block. We got the running backs, everybody blocking. We got seven guys blocking seven defenders and you still have to make the blocks and then make the throw. Obviously a huge play in the game.
Q. Ben Gulbranson had 444 yards and two touchdowns tonight. Talk about how much he's bounced back this year overall.
FRANK REICH: Every game he's gotten better and better. Even in the end of the BYU game, it was a tough game for us as a team and as an offense. Ben started to gain some confidence I think in the fourth quarter of that game, and then every game it's been more and more.
You know, some of that is -- first of all, it's credit to him. Nothing flusters him. He's got great poise and works really hard. So he deserves a lot of credit.
And some is just the natural progression. He only got here in June. It's not like we had a whole spring ball with him. We changed the offense and did a whole bunch of stuff, so some of it is just a natural progression of learning the offense and getting better every week. The whole team.
Ben was a highlight of that and really happy for how well he played, and the plays that the receivers made for him. The way the offensive line blocked; I think just the one sack. CJ has another 100-yard game. Caden High has another big game; really happy for Caden. We know he has some juice and can make big plays. He has 100-yard game.
And then we had the big plays to the backs as well. It was fun night.
Q. I was going to ask about Caden. Talk about what was the key to get him rolling in this one and talk about his performance particularly on the key fourth down conversion.
FRANK REICH: Yeah, so the play we had designed was really kind of designed just to throw outside, get the sure completion. After we were talking it through, myself and Coach Osborne and Coach Merkle and Coach Byham, we said, you know what? Let's just put -- on the slot where Caden was in, because they were bringing blitz zero, so they're going to think we have to low it quick. Let's have Caden run up there. The DB will be squatting. Caden will run up there, just give him a little nod, and run right by him. I mean, it worked to perfection. Ben gave him the perfect throw.
As it turned out, I was hoping he was going to score. But as it turned out I'm glad he didn't because then we were able to burn more time off. It was great execution by the players and great protection up front. I can't emphasize that enough. They're blitzing seven guys; you still got to block everybody, and we did a great job.
Q. I believe after the Boston College game you said that was one of the best games that you had ever coached. Where does this one rank?
FRANK REICH: I think this one might top it to be honest with you. I really like that it's here. You know, we're 2-0 at home. Coach Luck as a leader in this program and trying to establish what this program is going to be all about, you know, on one hand you know it might take some -- takes a minute. On the other hand, we need to show progress and we're showing that.
I think to have the two big wins at home is a good statement to make to show our fans, students here, everybody who is about Stanford football that we're going to be tough to beat at home.
Q. On that last strike down the field from San Jose State, I think Jay Green got in there and knocked it away. Talk about what you saw on that play.
FRANK REICH: What a massive play by Jay. I almost more got about that. That could be the play of the game, right? I mean, that could be the play of the game. There was a second I thought it was a catch and fumble. Wasn't sure it wasn't a catch and fumble.
Just all out effort. Just strained and play making. That's what we talked about in the locker room afterwards. That was so satisfying for us as coaches, watching the players make the plays that are necessary to win the game.
You know, that play was as big as any.
Q. Coach, Danny Scudero has established himself as a lead receiver this year. What was the game plan to stop him?
FRANK REICH: We knew he was an elite receiver, right, one of the top receivers in the country. He's a tough player. He's fast. He's quick. He's a real playmaker. We had a lot of respect. We had a lot of plans to double team him and try to get him in vice coverage, cover one guy low, one guy high.
You know, I think we -- he had the one 43-yard play. Obviously he had a bunch of catches. But all in all, I mean, I think we didn't do a bad job on him. He still made plays. He's a really good player.
But I thought our defense overall did a pretty good job on one of the better players, one of the better receivers in the country right now.
Q. Coach, as an ex-quarterback, and I seen some of that when you were in Buffalo, how do you feel seeing a game where two quarterbacks combine for over 900 passing yards and then we have we have the matchup against a local team, San Jose State, which we haven't played in a while, except last year, home and home? But are you getting acclimated to what this is like to play the local teams? We got the big game coming up against Cal later on in the year.
FRANK REICH: Yeah, really exciting being in a game like this. I guess this is what they say college football is all about, right? Spread it out. Throw the ball all over the yard. Two quarterbacks with over 400 yards is pretty incredible.
Like I said, at the end of the day I'm really proud of our team and our guys, the whole team, but certainly Ben and the offense, to see how far we've come. It felt like in those first game or two there were times where I felt like we were really struggling to throw the ball. I mean, we were really struggling to throw the ball, to protect, to get the ball down the field, to do much of anything in the pass game.
To see where we've come, that's pretty satisfying and really credit to the players.
Q. You guys lost Matt Rose due to targeting. Talk about what was the key to the defense being able to still pull out the win without a key guy?
FRANK REICH: Next-man-up mentality. Tough call. Matt is a tough player. I thought the guys stepped up. Everybody knows you got to rally. The guy stepping up has to play hard and do his job. Everybody else knows we just lost a leader of our defense, number one tackler.
I thought our defense did that exceedingly well, like I said, especially in the second half. Just felt like our defense played with so much energy and did a great job of making the plays that we needed to make to stop them.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports