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STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 15, 2015

David Shaw

Stanford, California

Stanford - 56 UCLA - 35

DAVID SHAW: Outstanding job tonight. First of all, I commend the staff putting together a really good game plan for our guys. Our guys going out there and playing really well. Playing hard, playing aggressive. Not playing perfectly, of course, but effort makes up for mistakes. That's the way our guys played today.

A lot of credit Mike Bloomgren, to the offensive line. The run game plan was phenomenal, really well executed. High effort, high energy. Execution by our guys on the offensive side.

It's interesting, too, when you start the season the way that we did and not playing well, still learning ourselves and growing and pushing, our guys stayed tight, our guys stayed together. They heard all the things that were said on the offensive side, that we couldn't beat Stanford because we didn't have a big back, we have got a big back in a little body.

He's a heck of a football player, not just a great runner, a great runner, a great receiver, kick off returner, punt returner. Had an outstanding night. His teammates had his back. It was good to see other guys making plays. Austin Hooper had a heck of a game tonight.

I thought Kevin did a great job managing the game plan and getting us some great runs and seeing what they were in defensively.

Great job on third down because we needed those third down conversions, he made those. Defensively, first half we bent a little bit, we didn't break, made some big plays, got some big turnovers.

We talked about getting pick sixes. It's been so long since we got that pick six and it was great to see that by Alijah Holder. He's been playing really well all year. It was great to see him jump that one and take that back to the house.

Give a lot of credit to Ronnie Harris. Played a heck of a game.

Blake Martinez played a heck of a game. Got the wind knocked out of him. We thought it might be worse, but just the wind knocked out of him. No concussion issue at all. He had a little cut under his chin but he was fine. He could go back in the game and play and play well.

Special teams-wise, we got the return game going and absolutely one of our pieces that we have been looking for to get going. Our return game, our guys did a really good job. Questions.

Q. Considering the night that McCaffrey had on national TV here, do you think that he should be in the conversation even more so now for the Heisman Trophy?
DAVID SHAW: Okay.

(Laughter.) Next question. Number one, attitude. Ronnie Harris just passed by a number -- we started training camp last year. We, as coaches, we don't spend time with them so much, we hadn't seen the guy. And I passed by Ronnie and I said, what do you think of the freshman from the summer? And he said, that McCaffrey is different. Just -- he didn't approach the game like a young guy, like a freshman. He had a lot to learn. We pushed him last year, we gave him bits and pieces last year to get him comfortable, build his confidence. But that's his approach to the game. He never gets tired, he wants to learn and grow all the time, he likes to run through tackles, he loves to run the ball between the tackles. He's not one of those guys that just likes to get the ball outside. And he's very versatile. He's become a better pass protector as we needed him to. He's run the ball between the tackles, and he's got great vision and the last piece of the puzzle that we needed to get from him was training camp was patience. Patience with the pullers and to get in the right position and reading those blocks on his routes, half speed behind the line, and once the blocks to get to the defender and he hits the gaps. He's just an outstanding football player and he's just a sophomore.

Q. How would you describe Owusu's catch on the flea flicker and how that play developed?
DAVID SHAW: I get questions all the time about why we do the Wild Cat. Right? We do it for a lot of reasons.

Number one, it's been one of the most efficient parts of our game for four and a half years now. Averages six or seven yards a carry, this year it's averaging even more. That's one of the plays that we have off of it. We did in the Rose Bowl a few years ago against Wisconsin.

We did it at USC, Andrew's last year, threw the ball from -- Andrew threw it to Ty Montgomery, if I remember right. It's one of those plays that you have to have in. If the safeties are dropping down, you have to have that. And Francis -- and I got to commend Francis. He doesn't play a lot, but when he plays he makes big plays. He made a big play at USC, a couple big third down catches the last couple weeks. He plays his role. He goes in and blocks, and he's in the game in critical positions and that catch, I can't describe that catch. I still can't, I still can't -- I don't understand what happened, to be honest. I was looking at my call sheet for the next call because I thought it was incomplete, and the guys were telling me that he caught it. And I said he didn't catch it, it's incomplete. And then it showed up on the board and I -- apparently, I've been told that my facial expression was on TV for many times, and I still feel that way right now. Just a phenomenal catch.

But that's where good teams are good. When guys get chances to make plays and they make them. Second receiver, third running back third tight end, whomever. Guys go out and make plays, whatever their role is they excel at it. And I commend Francis for all he's doing for us on offense and on special teams.

Q. In the first half it didn't seem like you were putting as much pressure on Rosen. And in the second half, considerably more pressure on him. You hurried him, sacked him several times, chased him out of the pocket. What changes did you make at halftime that allowed you to do that?
DAVID SHAW: Not a lot of changes, as much as it was the score. Once -- we're going in halftime with a three or four touchdown lead, the game changes for them. It's harder to keep running the ball. They have to drop back and throw the ball, so our guys up front can pin their ears back and get after the passer.

And all of our guys up front -- once it became that kind of a game, we try to get after them. We try it affect his throws and make him throw it early and hope he holds it and hit him and get him on the ground.

Q. You took a lot of heat after the opener, with the offense in particular?
DAVID SHAW: You noticed that?

Q. Was there something at half of the UCF game, in particular, that was said or an adjustment made that kick started this?
DAVID SHAW: Nope. Nope. I believe 100 percent in doing what you believe in, staying the course. This is a profession nowadays -- I grew up in this profession, it's just different now. It's different. People panic all the time. Whenever something doesn't happen, people panic. Coaches and players can't panic.

We have won a lot of football games here playing the right way, playing smart football, playing good football, and it's hard for the outside world to understand it. Sometimes you don't play well. Right?

Bottom line, as a coach, you want to make sure that even in games when you don't play our best, we try to find a way to win. That was what was funny about that first game, to me, is that we didn't give ourselves a chance to win. Even though we didn't play well. But it was really having our guys trust the plan, the guys trust the coaches, and the coaches trust the guys, and the guys trust each other. It got to the point where, in basketball terminology, I said it a bunch of times, somebody's got to make the first basket. That's what that flea flicker was at UCF, a great throw by Kevin and some pressure. Great catch by Michael Rector and a great route, and we look the lid off the basket and everybody kind of relaxed. We said, we know what we're doing, we trust our scheme, we trust our guys, we just went back to playing football and having fun doing it. And that's -- I commend the guys for having the maturity, because it was real easy, it was real easy. And for me, I can take the heat. It doesn't bother me. Whatever.

But a lot of those 18 to 22 year olds in that locker room, sometimes they can be affected by all the negativity, because we were bad, we were really bad. And I commend the guys, I commend the seniors, the captains in particular, for rallying the troops and saying, hey, we have been here before, we have played bad before, now let's go play better play well. And we have done that ever since.

Q. Talk about the play of Thomas and the down three shift there where again, they just keep on making plays there.
DAVID SHAW: John Lynch, he's our honorary captain. John had those guys stand up in front part of the team. Those defensive linemen, to commend them for the effort that they're playing with.

For the most part, playing three guys and all these games and those guys just coming back and getting banged up and coming back in the game. I commend our training staff for taking care of these guys.

But what can you say about them? Big hearts, they love each other, they trust each other. They know that the team needs them, so they got to suck it up, they got to fight through. Great to get Nate Lohn back this week. That was just nice to have another guy to rotate in, which helps them.

But I commend Solomon, Brendon and Aziz, just for their work and their effort. And we'll take care of them during the course of the week, make sure they're healthy during the course of the week, because we're going to need them again next week.

Q. Is Kevin Palmer okay?
DAVID SHAW: We'll see. We'll see. We got to get him checked out. I don't think it's that bad. Hopefully he'll be back next week. We'll find out for sure.

Q. One last thing, did you think that the -- that the targeting call was a correct call on the Martinez hit?
DAVID SHAW: I think it was. I think it was. And it's just a rule change.

Back when I played, it was a long time ago, that was common place. That was peel back. You peel back and you get a crack on the guy.

But I think it's a good rule, it's a proper rule, it was applied properly. I don't think there was a lot of upset or discussion about it. It's one of those plays that, when you talk about it, if you show clips like that, you just can't do that any more. A play that we all continue to learn from, because it happens on special teams, on punt returns, you have to watch out for that. You have to go back and shield that guy. You can't go hit him above the neck like that.

Q. Do you think you have evolved at all as coach maybe since the end of last season, maybe since this year started, maybe not X's and O's, but maybe in your demeanor and how you interact with players, how you maybe coach from Sunday to Friday, do you think you have evolved?
DAVID SHAW: Not so much Sunday to Friday, but a little bit. And I said this during the course of the week, that was a great T-shirt going around, everybody seemed to have a lot of fun with it.

But last year when I used to say to guys all the time, don't keep your passion for the team a secret and don't keep your passion for your teammates a secret. And Ronnie Harris last year challenged me to show my passion and show my energy.

And, obviously, that's probably the biggest area of growth for me is to let the guys know that I'm into it too, that I'm enjoying it too, that I can celebrate when they win or when they make a play as well. So, hopefully, that's probably the biggest area of growth for me.

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