STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 5, 2021

Ricky Miezan

Postgame Media Conference

Utah 52, Stanford 7

Q. Tavion Thomas ate you guys alive in the first half. Four touchdowns, 177 total rushing yards. What was it about him that made him so difficult to stop?

RICKY MIEZAN: I think first of all, just comes down physicality. We weren't physical enough. Number two, comes down to tackling. We were letting them -- we were getting on him and letting him loose and he was getting another six or seven.

You know, those are the two things you can really look at and say we didn't do in that first half.

Q. I assume this is the worst loss of your career. How do you bounce back from this? There are three games left in the season.

RICKY MIEZAN: Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing is just come back and get to work. You know, we're always so focused on outcomes and rewards, but at the end of the day, only thing you really can do is work, and that's what we'll do when we come back Monday. We will look at the film and fix what we need to fix and keep going.

Q. Not totally sure if you were on the field for one or both of those plays, but the 58 yard touchdown and the 98 yard touchdown, what did you see?

RICKY MIEZAN: So I remember the 98 yard. One of their tight ends plunged, both of our linebackers fell back, and I don't know if -- I didn't see it as clearly, but I don't know if we didn't fall back right into our gaps or not, but there was a huge hole in the right side. You know, the rest is -- you saw what happened after that.

Yeah, just the gap is too big. Comes down physicality, as I said. You can scheme up whatever play you want, but if you aren't physical, that's what happens.