STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 30, 2024

Ashton Daniels

Postgame Media Conference

TCU 34, Stanford 27

Q. Ashton, you ran for 89 yards and threw for a touchdown. When you have a balance like that is that the way I want it, or you look at what Hoover did on the other side, throw for 353? So what type of game do you like to play?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, yeah doesn't necessarily matter to me. I wouldn't rather have one game one game and one game the other. Whatever is helping our offense out best, whatever is scoring us points, is what I like.

Q. There was a lot of flash out of this offense and a lot of big plays. Overall, when you look back at it, how would you critique tonight's performance overall?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, as a quarterback at this high of a level and when you're a leader of that offense you take the blame for a night like tonight, you know. We were moving the ball well. I had some mistakes. You know, some mistakes that obviously I would never want to have out there.

Some that are kind of hidden to the public eye, but whether it be going through my progression the wrong way, footwork, just being decisive, staying in the pocket, yeah I'm just to take that one on me.

Q. You had a nice -- or you were targeting Jackson a little bit in today's game. How would you describe your rapport with him?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, I have a lot of trust in Jackson. That's why I targeted him a lot tonight. I've built a lot of trust and chemistry with all of our receivers, so there is not a certain guy I want to target every single game, every single drive. He was open. I threw the ball up, gave him a chance.

You know, he's beating himself up for it, but he's a young guy. I would never lose trust in him based off one game. I know how great he is and I know he'll use it game as motivation and have a really good season.

Q. Coach would not tell us who the starting quarterback was going to be until you took the first snap. When did you know you were going to be the starting quarterback?

ASHTON DANIELS: I found out sometime earlier this week.

Q. This week?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yes.

Q. TCU was returning a lot of multiple stuff; there were moments where they ran four defensive lineman, also three. Did they throw anything that maybe you weren't expecting and did you also get a chance to watch some Boise State film to prepare for the defense?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, we watched a lot of Boise State defense as we prepared for this week. You know, they came out in some stuff we expected and also came out in stuff we didn't expect.

So they had their tendencies. They had great defensive scheme. They ran it well. But ultimately, I think that we were the better side out there.

We just couldn't execute to the best of our ability tonight.

Q. You guys put up 17 points in the first half; put up 10 in the second half. Offensively you guys got kind of a lot more sluggish in the second half. Was that adjustments they made or just why weren't you able to find the same offensive rhythm in the second half?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, you know, sometimes that just happens. Defenses come out in different stuff than they did in the first half, and we have to adjust to that pretty quickly.

They had a great scheme for the second half and we couldn't move the ball as efficiently as we wanted to. And, yeah, I mean, props to them.

Q. When TCU took the lead with three minutes left and you came back on the field, did you know you were going to go for it no matter what?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, I thought we were going to go for it no matter what. It wasn't necessarily four down territory, but when you're down with not too much time left you can't put all your marbles into one basket and hope we get a stop.

I have all the trust in our defense to go out there and get a stop, but Coach told us it was going to be four down territory. We went out there and unfortunately couldn't execute.

Q. Not telling tales out of school. You guys haven't won in this building since middle of the '22 season. How much is that discussed before, during, or after the game? Is it a media thing and you don't discuss it?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, no, we don't worry about any of that kind of stuff. That's the past. We let that go. We flush it. Coach Taylor is always saying to flush it and move on to the next. I've flushed TCU and I'm ready for Cal Poly next week.

Q. This is a power four school since that other conference is gone. How would you gauge this level of play against this school being that you have be the ACC competition coming up soon? How does a game like this help you figure out where you guys are?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, obviously TCU has always been a well-known football school, great squad, and good early test for us. We came out and showed our potential in every aspect. I think we should have won that game. We couldn't execute tonight like we wanted to, but we're just going to use that as motivation for the next games coming up and looking forward to all the challenges.

Q. Second year in Troy Taylor's system and offense. Would you say you're growing more comfortable or do you feel like there is still a ways to go on your end?

ASHTON DANIELS: No, yeah, I think I definitely feel a lot more comfortable in the offense. I think everyone does. That comes with playing 12 games last year and then having a whole spring and fall camp.

So I think a lot of the guys are a lot more comfortable, which is exciting for our offense and future.

Q. Obviously not the result you wanted tonight, but. What were some of the positives from this game?

ASHTON DANIELS: Yeah, I think just the way that we moved the ball when we really wanted to. You know, those big touchdown drives were huge. They were great to see. That first touchdown to Jackson, that was awesome.

We kind of beat ourselves up on that first drive. Wasn't our best drive and still went up and put seven points up on the board. That goes to show our potential.

Justin's touchdown pass to Ishmael was amazing and then his run, driving the ball down the field and finishing with a powerful run right up the middle is great to see as a quarterback.

So, yeah, I think we had a lot of the positives tonight.