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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 4, 2014Ben KoyackSTANFORD – 14 Q. Can you talk about the play, and the catch and what it was? BEN KOYACK: I had a corner route. And I was just running, I broke my route off. I saw I didn't have anyone playing me inside/out. I saw a safety inside. I didn't see anyone underneath me. I had confidence that Everett would see me, and he did. Q. Did you think the ball would ever get there? BEN KOYACK: It did seem like the ball was in the air for about an hour, but yes. Q. Biggest catch of your career? BEN KOYACK: I'd say so, yeah. The catch we needed to make, whether it was me or anyone else. I was just glad that he threw the ball to me and I was able to make the catch. Q. What does it mean to win a game like this at the end? BEN KOYACK: It's great. They're a great football team. It means all that much more. They fight four quarters. They're a team that come out hitting you in the mouth every single play. It's great to get that victory. Q. What was the feeling in the huddle coming out of that play? BEN KOYACK: We were all confident. We knew we could execute. We thought we had a good play on. We had all across the board anybody could score on that play. So I was just lucky it was my side to happen break wide open. Q. Were you worried your feet were out at all? BEN KOYACK: I didn't think so. I was kind of just tiptoeing right along the sideline. I was pretty confident where my feet were. Once they brought us back to the sideline, what are they saying, were my feet in. I was pretty confident they were in. Q. What was the moment like when your teammates rushed you and you maybe realized this really has happened? BEN KOYACK: It was pretty crazy. Pretty surreal. Probably got hit on the head by some of these guys a lot harder than I expected to. But it was a great celebration. Great to have the guys behind my back, especially after that game. Q. No concussion‑like symptoms? BEN KOYACK: No. Q. Could you believe how wide open you were coming in like that? BEN KOYACK: I didn't think so. I thought first maybe there was another guy that I didn't see. But then I took a couple more steps I realized there was a safety in the middle and no one else. It was kind of surreal again. But I didn't really believe that I was that wide open. Q. You were signalling for the ball, were you calling for it? What were you doing? You realized how open you were. BEN KOYACK: I was trying to stay big and stay in Everett's vision. I knew he was going to see me. I'm not a guy that's just going to jump up and down. But I had confidence Everett would see me. Q. People maybe question whether you guys had any legitimate wins yet. Do you think this maybe shuts up some of the doubters? BEN KOYACK: We've played a bunch of great teams. So Stanford is a great team, no doubt. They played us great four quarters. They always play us great. They're always a great team. It's not like any of the other opponents we've played have been are easy teams either. They've all been great opponents, too. I think people are starting to see we can execute and play well, do just about as anybody who matches up with us. Q. How good does it feel to have a challenge like this and come out on top? BEN KOYACK: It feels great. Coaches preach all week about execution. You know we have the ability and we can do it. So to be able to execute when we need to and come out with a victory is something that's very good. Q. When you guys put five receivers out there, how tough is that for a team to defend obviously‑‑ BEN KOYACK: It's very difficult it's not like we just have one person we can throw to. There's even‑‑ if we could put six or seven guys out there, I mean that would be impossible to cover because we have every guy on our team can contribute and do well. So I think that it does present some problems and we like to do that and see what we can get. Q. What was your route‑‑ how did you get so open? I thought they dropped eight. How does a guy get so open against that? BEN KOYACK: I just know I had a flag route. All I saw was a safety in the middle. I didn't see where anyone else was. I just kept running my route looking for the ball. Q. It took like a minute and a half for the ball to get there? BEN KOYACK: Yeah, seemed like it. Q. Because of the dampness, the wetness, I mean it seemed like that was the case with both quarterbacks, took a long time for the ball to get to you guys. Is that what you felt? BEN KOYACK: I don't necessarily say so. Especially with Everett, I don't think any ball has taken too long to get there. He has a pretty good arm. I don't know, I really didn't feel like throwing the ball, that it affected the timing of the pass. I felt we were still pretty on rhythm with everything we practiced. Q. What's going through your head when you realized you were behind the defense? BEN KOYACK: I was just wondering when the ball was going to be coming. I figured he'd be throwing it to someone else wide open or the ball would be coming in any second. Q. Did you make eye contact with them at all or was there any kind of communication between you and Everett to let him know how open you were? BEN KOYACK: No, I just threw my eyes back, and I'm sure once he saw me, he didn't hesitate to just rocket it out there. Q. Coach Kelly talked about as the game was going on, you know your blocking assignments, he said you were having a tough time just with all their, everything they were throwing at you guys and how important it was, how did you deal with that? BEN KOYACK: They were throwing us some weird looks. I had a couple of missed assignments, couple missed blocks. But at the end of the day, we always talk even if we miss a ball, do it full speed. They give us a tough assignment, I'll still stick my nose in there, try to go as hard as I can. It's just something that we'll watch on film and just get better. Q. Do you know where you were in the progression, first, second, third? BEN KOYACK: I'm not sure. It depends on coverage. I'm not sure where I would be in the progression. Q. Everett kind of struggled. What did it mean to see him make that play after a rough day for him? BEN KOYACK: I didn't see Everett struggling. He was making plays all day. I think it was great. It was great for him and great for me obviously and for our whole team. I was glad we were able to come through especially when we needed it. Q. Were you nervous at all at any point down in the score? BEN KOYACK: I don't feel we can be nervous. We really don't have time to be in all honesty once we're out on the field all we can think about is executing doing our job. I don't really think nervous no. I think we were prepared. Q. A lot of people have run around that word "Heisman" with Everett, do you think that was a Heisman moment to beat Stanford last minute of the game and throw a touchdown to get the win? BEN KOYACK: There's a lot more people qualified than me to answer that question. It was a great play by Everett. Obviously it was the right time and exact thing we needed. Q. Corey said Everett on that last drive, he was calm in the huddle and just moving you guys upfield. What does that do when you have a quarterback who is kind of like, hey, guys, we've got this even though your backs are up against the wall? BEN KOYACK: It's always nice to have that. You know he's confident. You know he's a aware of his abilities and what he can do. You know he's going to get his assignment. Helps you out to know I've got my assignment too because you know he's going to get it too. He just helps everyone else focus and do their jobs too. Q. How did you get so open? Can you explain that? BEN KOYACK: I don't know. I just read my route and I saw the safety standing in the middle of the field. I kept running, confident that Everett would see me, and he did. Q. With a ball coming into your hands like that, what's going through your mind when you're trying to reel in that catch? BEN KOYACK: Don't drop it. I knew how long the ball was in the air, where I was at. I knew there was at least one or two guys coming there. So it was just focus on it. Obviously no reason to take my eyes off it. Q. You could have called a fair catch. BEN KOYACK: (Indiscernible). Q. At the outset of the play, did you see it happening that way, did you kind of feel like that's how Stanford was going to cover it and you were going to get in a hole in the zone? BEN KOYACK: Not really, in all honesty. I saw the safety in the middle of the field. I thought maybe I had a chance. I saw where one of their backers played and I saw no one was covering the corner. I thought the ball has a good chance of going out here. Q. Corey said‑‑ I don't know if he was exaggerating‑‑ but when the ball was in the air, he felt like he almost heard a gasp in the stadium. Were you aware of your surroundings at that point? BEN KOYACK: I wish I could say I could, likeI even focus on things, I can hear when the ball's in the air. But I honestly can't. I remember the roar after, but I don't remember anything while the ball was in the air. Q. What do you think it does for you guys‑‑ you played 2012. You know how that team won games on defense. To win a game on offense against a great defense, what does that do for you guys, big picture moving forward? BEN KOYACK: It gives us great confidence and it shows everyone else on our team that we can execute when we need to and just exactly what we're capable of. So that just means that when we go out to practice Monday, Tuesday, we just have to focus that much harder. So that we do have the potential to be a great team. Q. Do you guys feel like a top 10, top 5 team right now? BEN KOYACK: Especially when we're running on all cylinders, I feel like we're a great team. As long as we're executing, doing well, I think we're as good as we want to be. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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