STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 3, 2022

Kendall Williamson

Postgame Media Conference

Stanford 41, Colgate 10

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: No clue.

Q. How proud or excited were you guys in the defensive room with how the defense performed today with the new scheme?

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: I think we were proud. I feel like we definitely expect better out of ourselves. We respect every single opponent that we play, but I feel like there were definitely certain times that we didn't play up to our standard.

It's really picky, it is, but of course we want our team to perform the best as possible and our defense to perform as good as possible.

So I feel like we were proud of the way we played, but we could definitely play better.

Q. Take me back to when it was 7-7 after Colgate recovered that ball in the end zone to tie up the game. What was the mood like on the sideline? What were some of the things that were going through the guys' heads at that point?

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: 7-7 -- we were definitely just feeling like this game is ours. I mean, I feel like the whole game we were feeling like this game is ours, but at that moment, you know like a lot of games there's certain momentum schemes, maybe early on, later on in the game that you don't really want.

Obviously we didn't want that.

We saw it happen, and the defense just saw -- I feel like the whole team saw it as an opportunity to go out there and really just dominate the rest of the game. We wanted it and needed it even more after that because we felt like obviously we made a mistake as a team, and we wanted to make up for it.

Q. Can you just walk us through your interception, how the play trickled out and how you reacted to it?

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: That play, I was in man coverage to the boundary, No. 6, who's a pretty big target for them, what we know from the film last year. He walked off the ball pretty much every single time they did a walkoff during that game; it ended up being an out route or corner ball seven.

So I jumped it out, sat on the outside. Quarterback started scrambling. I felt him go back inside, and he just kind of threw it behind him and it landed in my hands, and that was that.

Q. Just want to get your thoughts on -- you had a couple of defensive stops there where you forced them to attempt a field goal and they missed. Just talk about what you guys did well defensively to not give up the touchdowns. When you did kind of get a short field there.

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: I feel like we just held our ground. Like we didn't let like the change of pace in the game, the momentum shift control us. Our coaches did a really good job of game planning and making sure that they set us up for the players to be in the best possible position to defend their offense when they were in good position, and we just held them.

I feel like we just stood our ground and didn't allow a momentum change to alter like how we played defense. Regardless we had to go out there and stop them.

Q. No disrespect to Colgate, but you have kind of a step up in competition next Saturday. What do you think you guys need to do to kind of clean up tonight?

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: Defensively?

Q. Yeah.

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: I'd definitely say one thing is tackling. We missed a couple of tackles on the edge, myself included. So making sure that like we're wrapping up, we're driving our feet. Not letting them get extra yards.

That was definitely one big thing. Stopping the run game obviously. A majority of their yards came on the run game, and that ties back in with tackling.

USC obviously has weapons in every position, so we need to be ready for anything. But definitely tackling is going to be something that's big next weekend.

Q. From your vantage point, obviously the defensive line is going to be one of the key units to watch for the squad this year. From your vantage point tonight, how do you think those guys fared?

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: Honestly, I felt like they were doing good. I feel like they were doing good. I was really excited. I remember Zach Buckey got this QB hurry. He was all in the quarterback's face. I think that's the one where he almost threw the pick to Levani. I was just excited. I love seeing that out of those guys.

I know some of them don't have as much experience, so I felt like this was a good game to get out there, get your legs moving, kind of feel the speed and the pace of the game. But I'm excited for what they did tonight and excited for what they'll do next weekend.

Q. What do you guys as a secondary need to focus on to kind of contain all of USC's weapons? They have Jordan Addison, Mario Williams, and everybody else. What do you guys need to focus on next week, because they're definitely more pass oriented than Colgate?

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: I feel like just sticking to our guns. Every person we play is a human being, regardless of who it is. Not to in any way disrespect any other team, but every person is a human.

We have great athletes on our defense as well, like guys had great camps that maybe people haven't seen as much, like Ethan Bonner; great camp. Kyu Blu, obviously everybody knows about him.

John had a phenomenal last season. Patrick Fields, Salim Turner-Muhammad. We go deep in the secondary, so I feel like just continuing to have the confidence. Obviously it's going to be completely different game, completely different matchups, but just to carry the confidence to know that we can ball with anybody.

Q. Kendall, did you guys feel a sigh of relief after those two field goal misses, and it ends up being 7-0 at the end of the first, and then that play happens where they get the touchdown where they would have been ahead of you guys if they made those field goals?

KENDALL WILLIAMSON: I feel like I definitely did. I feel like the defense did. It's kind of hard not to when you as a defense get in a position like that. You're kind of backed up, and they're already almost in field goal range.

So obviously it turned in our way, and obviously we were happy about it because I guess, when they're getting in the red zone or ending up in the red zone or on the plus 50, it's hard to like go straight three and out because that's honestly one of the only ways you can hold them to not even getting a field goal, just to punt. So definitely a sigh of relief.

I feel any time the offense doesn't score in a position like that, it's definitely like a sigh of relief because we wanted to be up obviously and dominate them today.