STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 5, 2021

Ricky Miezan

Postgame Media Conference

Utah 52, Stanford 7

Q. Tavion Thomas, eight 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.

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Utah 52, Stanford 7

Q. Could you just caulk you have walk us through that touchdown you scored and also just that drive as is whole what allowed you guys guys to clinic and find the end zone there?

RICKY MIEZAN: I think first just credit to Jack and the O-line for getting everything started with completion to just start moving the chains of then had to roll on the out Ben made a great catch and tried take advantage of them playing tight in the box, dump a pass off behind them. Really just turn into a scramble and was able to get around the edge, so...

Q. What were some of the things that you guy were trying to accomplish with the game plan and how close did the reality come to the expectation?

RICKY MIEZAN: Yeah, obviously there was a big gap between reality and expectation. We definitely were trying to in a short week try to kind of put together a couple different packages between obviously me and Jack trying to tag team a little bit and present a couple different looks to Utah. Hopefully take advantage of the new fact there were some new /WREUPBG culture so /#40E68 have tooth chance get those ironed out in the future. The result wasn't what we hope for, so...

Q. When did you find out you were going to start and what was that experience like? And then if Tanner is not able to go next week what do you and Jack needed to to get the offense moving. Yeah, I think just over the course of week as coach put together the initial plays they were thinking about doing for the game plan, I saw that my name of tagged in the personnel in the middle of the week. Obviously it was exciting. Been a while since I'd been able to start at quarterback for any team and definitely grateful for the opportunity.

Not necessarily happy where with out result again, but that part in and of itself was definitely exciting. I think for me, whether it was me or Jack or whoever was going to start, it was just a one /HR*EFRTSDZ that's been a big thing for a team is trying to take care of our job. At this point going forward to answer second part of your question, just whether Tanner is ready or not it's going to be the same mentality. Just what are we going to do to make sure we're doing our job next week, so...