STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 26, 2022

Jaren Hall

Isaac Rex

Postgame Media Conference

BYU 35, Stanford 26

Q. Jaren, first off, obviously you didn't play in the fourth quarter. How are you feeling?

JAREN HALL: Still sore, but precautionary, wanted to get out before anything else happened just to take a look at it. (Indiscernible).

Q. Did you want to play in the fourth quarter or was it coach's decision to kind of play pull you --

JAREN HALL: Mutual. Of course I wanted to, but health is first thing. (Indiscernible) just couldn't do it in the moment.

Q. Kalani said you had X-rays done.

JAREN HALL: Yeah, everything was good.

Q. So you playing in the bowl game, that's still possible?

JAREN HALL: Absolutely.

Q. What was it like to see your offensive line dominate so you didn't have to throw --

JAREN HALL: I mean, we knew we would have to run the ball coming into this game. Couldn't have dreamed of -- that was insane, how well they were moving the line of scrimmage. These guys blocking the edges, of course blocking across, opening up gaps. It was fun to watch. Hand the ball off to Chris (indiscernible) and just seeing it open up is a thing of beauty. Makes my life very easy.

Q. For both of you guys, what was the motivation coming into this game?

ISAAC REX: Not (indiscernible) a Pac 12 team, obviously sort of a good team. BYU has never beat Stanford before, so that was a first. We kind of talked about that, since the Boise game, like making history with little steps. (Indiscernible) in terms of the rival, and then Utah Tech and then Stanford.

So we've been really motivated since that tough October, and it's been cool to see the team just rally around each other and have a lot of fun.

Q. Isaac, your second touchdown catch. Was that by chance the same play call as where you hurt your ankle against USC?

ISAAC REX: No, it was different. We actually did run that play. But yeah, this week has been crazy because a lot of emotions. You know, like it's the anniversary of (indiscernible). But, man, today went a lot better than last year, so credit to Jaren, credit to the team. It was a fun game.

Q. What were your thoughts going through your head when they did call that team play?

ISAAC REX: I was like, oh, wait, this is the same play. But it was on my corner route. Yeah, it was good defense by the other guy. Yeah, I was like, oh, this is the same play. Hopefully I can get a touchdown. But it's all good.

Q. Jaren, what's causing the short yardage issues for this offense?

JAREN HALL: Just not making plays, not getting yards. You can rush 360 yards and then short yardage, something we definitely need to figure out. Got one game left to do it.

But yeah, just lack of execution (indiscernible) one thing we could point to. But yeah, it's been disappointing.

Q. Isaac, we were having a little fun with Jaren about the rushing effort. What was working so well with the run game?

ISAAC REX: I felt like we were really physical tonight. We obviously had a chip on our shoulder because earlier in the year we weren't running the ball as effectively. The emphasis for the O-line, for tight ends, for running backs, is let's get that run game going, help Jaren out, help the receivers out, and it worked tonight.

It was a thing of beauty, like Jaren said, watching it unfold. Chris, you could see his jersey after the game just green and red and white all over it. He was killing it tonight. Those guys are warriors, and we wanted to open some holes up for them and make it easy for them.

Q. Jaren, why do you think nothing really came easy for this team this whole year?

JAREN HALL: I just think we're a team that can handle it. You talk about why things happen in life, and I think there's a lot of stuff you learn from it. You talk stuff off the field personally, you talk stuff on the field, I just think we're tough dudes that can get through hard things in life, and it just so happened that the 2022 football season was a tough thing for all of us, so I think there's things we can all learn from that.

But I think we're a team that can handle that. Obviously we came up short in so many ways, but that's life. It makes this win and last week's so good, being able to come back like that and make some positives out of it.

Q. Isaac, this could be potentially the last Power Five team depending on the bowl. Do you think this win is important to the momentum next year or not really?

ISAAC REX: Yeah, I feel like any win is important for the upcoming classes. You want to show the younger guys this is how you do it. You want to send the seniors out the right way. It's important to win. Everything goes better when we win. Yeah, it was awesome tonight.