STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 2, 2021

Anthony Brown

Oregon Postgame Media Conference

Stanford 31, Oregon 24

Q. Once again, you had nine penalties for almost 100 yards in regulation. Do you make any special emphasis on that during the week, and how are you planning on subbing going forwards?

ANTHONY BROWN: Honestly, just got to execute. Excuse my language, but I played like s---. Can't do anything about it but fix it and learn from it. Straight away from the way we practiced, the reads, simple reads, and it is that -- didn't execute really too well. Had a chance to put it away and we didn't, and I will gladly take the blame on that.

Q. What was your mindset at halftime after what was at times a challenging first half for you, especially the way it ended there? You strung together in the second half a series of five and six and obviously hit Mycah on a big play and had the go-ahead touchdown. What was your mindset at halftime and how were you able to take a different mindset or approach into the second half?

ANTHONY BROWN: Just following our play roles and not getting all trapped. First half just wasn't following the reads. For whatever reason, it's BS. It can't happen. Games like this, playing against a team like Stanford where they don't make too many mistakes, can't impose or you can't self-inflict the game, you can't have self-inflicted wounds. I had too many in the first half.

Q. What's the message in the locker room after a loss like this? How do you kind of flush it and go on to the next one?

ANTHONY BROWN: This one has to sting. We've got to move on from it, but it has to sting. There's only one way to move from this, and it's up. We have too much of a bond, too much of a family for us to just stray away from each other after a game like this, and we need to move on, let it burn, let it fuel us, and get ready for the next one.

Q. Just how did you see Travis perform today? It seemed like he really battled there, especially in the second half, after CJ went down.

ANTHONY BROWN: Travis is a warrior. He played his ass off. He made plays when we needed them.

Q. Can you take me through the read that you had on that 4th and 1 right in the second half where you got stopped short? It looked like you had CJ on a pitch to the right, but I'm wondering what you saw.

ANTHONY BROWN: Simple, should have pitched it.

Q. On the pass when you're trying to run the clock out, second thoughts, would you have just kept the ball and run? What were you seeing on that play?

ANTHONY BROWN: What play?

Q. I think it was Travis Dye was on the pass when you were on the final drive there trying to run out the clock, threw a pass on 2nd down, went incomplete, stopped the clock. Was it time management, you just --

ANTHONY BROWN: Time management. You've got to make the throw. Had I had a little bit more time -- Travis wasn't necessarily looking at the time, and I didn't want to just throw the ball into space and cause a turnover.

Q. I certainly don't need to remind you that injuries are part of the game, but when this team has suffered as many as they have already and CJ goes down and Coach is saying it could be significant, Bennett goes down yesterday, Alex out today, just in terms of going forward, where does the onus fall by way of, I don't want to say just leadership, but when key guys on both sides of the ball who mean a lot to this team go down, what do you try to do as the quarterback to settle things here over the next 13 days until the next game?

ANTHONY BROWN: I would just say motivate those guys that are in those positions that are having to step up and keep them calm. It's not easy to do, given that we have so many young guys, but they're very talented, and their potential is through the roof. Just making sure they understand that they can too be just as good if not better in that position and taking care of their opportunities when it presents themselves, and right now it's about to present themselves. Just really keeping them calm and motivated.

Q. You've taken some responsibility and blame for this loss. I'm sure you've shared maybe something similar to your teammates. I'm curious how they've responded and how they've lifted you up after a really tough performance for you guys.

ANTHONY BROWN: Man, guys tell me they've got my back, but honestly, it's not good enough. A team as good as ours can't make mistakes like this. Can't shoot ourselves in the foot, and did it a lot.

It's going to sting. It's going to sting bad. I'm going to learn from it and move on.