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STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 26, 2016David ShawStanford, California Rice - 17, Stanford - 41 DAVID SHAW: Proud of our team today. Every Senior Day is so hard. We have another game, we're going to a bowl game, all that's great, but last time in the stadium is always hard. For these guys, you think about this senior class, fourth and fifth year guys, they've had one year in their career less than nine wins. We got nine right now, but try to get 10 in the bowl game. If we can find a way to win, they will go through their entire careers with having 10 wins or more all time except, every year except for one. These guys have done so much and it's hard to shake those guys' hands and the names get called without getting emotional. You spend so much time with these guys and they are -- I remind our coaches all the time, we can't every forget, these guys are big, they're strong, they're tough, they're great athletes. Some of them are superstars, but they're still somebody else's kid and it's our job to take care of them. So, when they get to be that Senior Day and it's last time in the stadium, it's hard not to be emotional. Proud of those guys. Now, on to the football game. It's just got to start with Christian McCaffrey, he's just a special, special football player. We weren't just going to hand him the ball the whole game, but we were going to give him a chance to influence the game plan and he did. He had an outstanding game. Every time he touches the ball, it's just a collective gasp in the stadium just to see what he's going to do next. Proud of Keller Chryst and the growth he's continued to make. Once again, not perfect, but we don't expect that. We expect him to be better and better and better. He did a great job managing the game, which gets the negative connotation around the college football world, which is fine. Don't worry about that. But he made some great throws. That first touchdown run was special. He's a great athlete, he's a big physical strong guy with a great arm, and he's just scratching the surface for what he can accomplish in the college level. So we'll continue to help him through there. Defensively, came out and played really well. Kept them out of the end zone for a long time. Really excited about the guys that we have there. A lot of young guys out there playing really well. Proud of where those guys are. Questions? Q. You talked about your emotions with the seniors. I was wondering if you could describe your emotions if this was possibly Christian McCaffrey's last game. DAVID SHAW: Hope springs eternal. So that hasn't crossed my plate yet. If this was his last time in the stadium, it's very apropos. 30 carries and a couple touchdowns, 200 yards. I don't know, total yardage-wise, I don't know if he was over 300 again, it was just, it's just what he does. He's a special young man. Q. Considering the way he finished up this season, if you had a Heisman vote, would you vote for him? DAVID SHAW: The short answer is absolutely. But I would have voted for him last year, too. That's not in our hands, who knows how those things go. We're just proud of the turnaround that we made midseason. First and foremost, our growth on the offensive line and our maturity on the offensive line that we made. Really, since coming back after Notre Dame and Christian getting back, it's been one heck of a ride, and I don't know if anybody's been watching nationally, the plays this guy has made in the last six games, they are jaw dropping. So, you call him Christian, call him C-Mac, call him The Iguana, whatever you want to call him, it's just, he's just special. Q. How gratifying was it to see Owusu finish his season this way? DAVID SHAW: It was great. Had to do it with him. He's had an up-and-down year. He's playing well early in the year, he's a phenomenal blocker, we got him a couple of catches, and then he gets a concussion and misses a good stretch and comes back and gets the ankle and he misses a little bit. And he's worked so hard to come back, and he's a big part of this football team, and he's done so much over the last couple years and particularly, this year was a phenomenal gunner when he was healthy out there ready to run and play off special teams. And he's got a shot to make a team in the NFL. It's great to see healthy and ready to go. It was a great ball by Keller down there and for him to run it down, it was great to see. Q. To expand your answer on Christian McCaffrey turning pro or not, what is the process? Will you sit down with him, weigh out the pros and cons, or what's the process? DAVID SHAW: At some point. At some point. We haven't had the conversation and he refuses to think about it or talk about it. But I know he's going to have a conversation with his family. I'll touch base with him and his family at some point. But we'll start those conversations over the next couple weeks. But there's no rush. For him, honestly, there's not a bad decision. It's not bad decision to come back and be with his guys and try to get his degree and have another great year of Stanford football. It's not a bad decision to move on. His game translates to the next level. So, it's about what he and his family want to do and I support him 100 percent either way. Q. How was the offensive line able to develop in these last four or five games, even without a lot of game-to-game continuity because of injuries? DAVID SHAW: That's been the interesting part. That's been the hard part. You start to the season with, we have been saying three out of five new starters, but it's basically five out of five. Or four out of five. Johnny was the only guy that was in the same spot because we flipped Casey over. So a lot of guys, a lot of in new places. We flipped Casey over to where he was most comfortable, back to the right side. There's just a lot of learning that has to happen for -- in a game that happens so fast. Mistakes happen, and then you get better. You learn from the last mistake. Then you make another mistake and learn from that mistake. And then they give you something funky and you have to make an adjustment. That's something we didn't practice all week and that's what's hard for younger guys, guys that haven't been through a lot. Hey, we just worked on something all week and they're playing a completely different defense. So now we got to come back and this is what we're going to call, this is what we're going to do, we have to readjust this, readjust that. The guys who were learning anyway, those things are hard. As the season progressed, they became a lot easier. We could make those in-game changes and adjustments and talk about technique and change our calls. And the guys, they really took it to heart. Coach Bloomgren did a phenomenal job with these guys. Dare I say, one of the best coaching jobs he's done since he's been here with all of the turnover and all of the changes in lineup that we've had to make, these guys come back and end up having a heck of a year. Q. Can you point to a time tonight where they had to make an adjustment like that? Was there a particular play that kind of stood out in terms of what you just talked about? DAVID SHAW: Oh, for us, it's every game. It's every game, because we don't play -- other teams don't play anybody usually that looks like us. All right? With fullbacks and tight ends. So invariably something they worked on all week shows up on game day and we say, okay, we didn't know they were going to play it like that, so here's what we're going to have to do. So it happens every single game for us. And as the season has progressed, those adjustments become easier and easier. We say, hey Gar, when you pull up, just do this. And he, says, okay, great, I got it coach. Once again, a lot of credit to Coach Bloomgren to have those guys ready to make those in game adjustments. Q. Your backup running back had 16 yards a carry today. How would you feel about him going into 2017, if he were to be the number one guy and just maybe his -- talk about his progress for the year. DAVID SHAW: Well, I hope we're not pushing Christian McCaffrey out the door. Q. It was a hypothetical. DAVID SHAW: If he wants to leave, that's fine. But let's not push him out. I said it from day one, we recruited Bryce Love. Bryce Love is an every down running back. And I said it before, and I'll say it again, I'll never forget, we sent our running backs' coach, coach Lance Taylor, down there to go see him and, in North Carolina, and he called me from there and he said coach, he's not a tall running back, but he's not a small running back. This kid is strong, he is powerful, he is physical, and he is really, really fast. So, very similar to recruiting Christian McCaffrey, to where people -- and I remember some of the people's names, so I won't bring them up now, but, say, ah Stanford can't be Stanford with a running back like Christian. Same thing goes for Bryce. Yeah, we can. We can run the ball downhill between the tackles. We can get him on the edge. These two guys are dynamic, physical, gifted runners. And at some point when Bryce is the point man, he's going to be outstanding. Q. When you look back on this regular season and with all of the ups and downs, what most stands out to you when you reflect back? DAVID SHAW: I'll tell you exactly what I just said to the team: Mentality. Attitude. You guys aren't able to come to practice, because practices are closed. But the few family and friends, etcetera, that came to watch these guys practice, even when the season wasn't going the right way, even when we were booted out of the top-25, whatever that means, we still practiced hard, we practiced well, we practiced with energy and passion. That's what I'm most proud of. Because it can't just come from me. It can't just come from me. The people that tell you that are being head coaches, they're wrong. It has to come from the team. You have to have the right group of guys. When the times get tough, I can stand in front of them and yell and scream and pound my fist, but if they don't believe it, if they don't internalize it and make it happen, it won't happen. You think about where we were mid point of the season, and to finish the season with nine wins and on the streak that we have been on, Christian having the runs he's been on; or making a quarterback change, Keller Chryst getting better and better and better; going to games where receivers were a non-factor in the game to now receivers being factors in the games, yeah, the team has continued to grow and work hard and really push each other, regardless of what people say outside. So, for me, just the mentality and attitude of our football team I couldn't be more proud. Q. You're 9-3, which is pretty decent record, but are you somehow disappointed to there were bigger expectations for you -- DAVID SHAW: I'll cut you off and say no. Because we get what we earned. I'm a realist. We get what we earn. Wasting time worrying about what could have, should have, it's a waste of time, it's a waste of energy. I look at, I constantly look at where we are and I go back to my conversation with Dabo Sweeney two years ago and our conversation talked about living life in the windshield. You look and see where you are. Wherever you are, that's where you deserve to be, because that's just where you are. So where do we go from here. We had to have that conversation during the course of the year, we can complain, be sad, be upset, it doesn't matter, we have another game to play, let's go play it. Let's improve. And we'll win a game. Okay. Let's not get too high on ourselves. There are still things that we can grow and improve from. So trusting the mentality of this football team, the work ethic of this football team, and where we got and where we are right now, 9-3, we earned it. In the negative way and the positive way. We earned our way to where we are. Q. A little bit off topic, but Vanderbilt beats Tennessee tonight, Derek Mason, 6-6, he looked pretty happy about that landmark. Can you comment on that achievement for Mason? DAVID SHAW: Derek Mason is family to me. He's got a special relationship with my dad, he and I have a special relationship. I'm so proud of him. Because it hasn't been easy. It's been hard. It's been a hard road there. To get that group to believe and to try hard and to play hard, and to beat Tennessee, at Vandy? That's awesome. Awesome. And at some point tonight I'm going to try to give him a call. I don't know if he'll pick up, he may still be celebrating. But for he and his wife, that's big. It's really big. And I'm excited about what he's done there and hopefully what he continues to do there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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