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STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 18, 2017

KJ Costello

Stanford, California

Stanford - 17, Cal - 14

Q. (No microphone.)
K.J. COSTELLO: We ended up getting into a check there, because I saw that coming. We should have been picked up there, but we had a slight miscommunication and so I had eyes for him, I was expecting him to be picked up, but I knew I had to step up pretty quick. And then I tried not to let that pull me out of my read and me and Kaden had been working that route all week.

Q. (No microphone.)
K.J. COSTELLO: Yeah, I think it's awesome. That is literally the reason why I'm at this school. I felt like in situations like that, when it's on my back to pick up third downs, it's awesome and that's my job. But also like seeing the O line put it on their back and seeing those runs break big after managing the line of scrimmage, this is good, throwing a touchdown. So I get pretty excited when I see those go.

Q. Take us through the final drive, the final game-sealing drive. What was the mentality like in the huddle, and what were some things you were trying to do out there?
K.J. COSTELLO: That's Stanford brand right there. I feel like we have had -- I'm not thinking exactly clear on pass games where we have had drives like that putting games out, but I felt like that vibe two or three times this year, where we had to get two or three or four first downs to put a game out. And then, once again, putting it on the O line's back, it's an awesome feeling.

And then I told coach that was one of my favorite drives, getting the defense to tip their hand. I felt like that was a hundred percent on that drive and we were in a good look and they did their jog and we were picking up first downs.

Q. Coach said you threw a Nolan Ryan fastball for the touchdown. Do you agree?
K.J. COSTELLO: I mean, I've been going back and forth over this year and last off season on deciding when to use the "club," I call it. A little bit of touch and when to let it rip. And it was a nice scenario there to actually let one go. So I guess you could call it a fastball.

Q. Do you know who Nolan Ryan is?
K.J. COSTELLO: Of course. I'm a huge Angels fan. I know them all from down there.

Q. You had to step up in the pocket on that play. There was a guy coming right in on you, right?
K.J. COSTELLO: Yeah, I just talked about that. We ended up getting in a check there. Solid, they were bringing, we had the protection to bring it up and we ended up, we had a miscommunication, which happens, so I had eyes for him and knew I had to step up immediately and still try to stay on time in my progression.

Q. Overall, how would you sum up your first experience as a starting quarterback in this game?
K.J. COSTELLO: It really felt like a lot of other games, outside of I really wanted -- my goal this week was to be more efficient in everything. I felt like last week I was efficient in third down, but I wasn't as efficient as I wanted to be overall in the game. I don't know how the numbers finished up, but I wanted to be well above 60 percent. I believe we did that. Still it was multiple throws, a little bit of miscommunication on the perimeter, bubble screen I missed, or incomplete. Three or four completions there would get us up you more towards 75 percent where I want to be. So still room for improvement.

Q. So now you have to root for Washington.
K.J. COSTELLO: Yeah, for sure. I got some friends on the team, so we'll sit back and watch them next week and hopefully they take care of business.

Q. At what point did you, in your mind, were you going from trying to score to just trying to run out the clock?
K.J. COSTELLO: Believe it or not we were thinking score but we were thinking of doing it our way.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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