STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 19, 2024

Troy Taylor

Postgame Media Conference

SMU 40, Stanford 10

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Taylor.

Q. Talk about the first quarter. What was the main issue?

TROY TAYLOR: Got some young guys in the secondary. They attacked 'em immediately. We got in a hole, 21-0. Good thing is I think those guys settled in. 21-point deficit, it was a tough start.

Tough for young guys playing in the secondary, especially against a team like that. They attacked them right away. They had a good plan. Put us in an early deficit.

Q. What was the decision to go to Brown there?

TROY TAYLOR: We were down 21-0. Wanted a spark. He was ready to go. I wanted to see what he could do in extended time. That was the decision for Elijah coming in.

Q. On Elijah's game, what were the strengths and weaknesses you saw?

TROY TAYLOR: Very tough. He hung in there and he took some hits. He continued to go through his progression. For the most part he made good decisions.

He had a couple drops, I thought were really good throws. The first down was a big-time throw. Just his mental toughness, consistency and hanging in there. It's not easy to do as a true freshman to come in under that scenario. I was proud of how he hung in there.

Obviously he can play better. He will. But I was proud of how he competed.

Q. Is Elijah Brown the starter going forward?

TROY TAYLOR: We'll see. We'll evaluate the tape. I haven't made a decision on that.

Q. What did you see from Elijah Brown at practice this week? What kind of prep did he get in?

TROY TAYLOR: He got some reps, for sure. Not a lot. Kind of brought him along. He's had a lot of reps through fall camp and he had a few this week. He knows the system well. He felt comfortable. That's where we went.

Q. Obviously the 87-yard touchdown... Do you think that sort of affected the team mentally in any way?

TROY TAYLOR: I think it's a tough way to start, for sure. For a young guy, for Cam, I think for just in general. I thought our guys continued to compete.

Down 21-0 pretty quickly, our guys continued to battle. It's a tough deficit to roll out of. Especially we weren't able to run the football. That was something we were going to need to do to beat this team. Keep their offense off the field.

They did a great job stopping our run. Outside of like two or three runs, there really wasn't a lot there. They made us one-dimensional. Too much for us to overcome.

Q. You get down 21 early. You make the switch to Brown there. From that point on it was 19-10 against a ranked opponent. What was your message to them?

TROY TAYLOR: Yeah, my message to them, they're down obviously. I hurt for them. I loved how they continued to compete. We're not satisfied with the outcome in any way.

I thought all the way down to the goal line stand they were trying to make, our guys just continued to battle. My message to them was proud of how hard they competed. We're not happy. We got to improve, starting with me, in every area.

We have an opportunity, another shot next week. They can feel bad for 24 hours. Tough stretch of really good opponents last few weeks. Now we got an opportunity to play another home game against Wake Forest. We'll lick our wounds and will be ready to roll.

Q. How would you evaluate Emmett Mosley's performance?

TROY TAYLOR: Mosley?

Q. Yes.

TROY TAYLOR: We'll have to see the whole tape. He can play better. He's a talented guy. He's a tough kid. Had some really good blocks. Made some nice catches. Obviously had I think one drop, which he's beating himself up over. But he's a really talented kid that is a tough kid. I'm really excited about him.

Q. You had a young secondary tonight. How would you evaluate their play?

TROY TAYLOR: Yeah, it was tough. It was a tough night right from the start, obviously giving up the big plays. It's tough. You're under fire. You're a young guy and you're under fire. They're attacking you with really talented guys, a talented quarterback.

I think they hung in there and started to play a little bit better as the game went on. We just weren't able to sustain anything on offense. Unfortunately they were on the field a lot.

Outside the first quarter, I thought our young secondary hung in there, got some experience. Hopefully we'll get some guys back. We have a lot of guys out. Hopefully we'll get a lot of guys back, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and maybe on the offensive side of the ball, as well.

Q. Tough overall night for the offensive line. What would you attribute some of the miscues they've had to?

TROY TAYLOR: Just not physical enough up front in terms of getting movement in the run game. We really tried to establish it. They beat us up front. Once you become one-dimensional against a fast team like that, it becomes really hard on everybody, quarterback included. They just beat us physically. Hats off to them. They're a really good football team.

Q. This is the fourth straight game that wasn't close in the fourth quarter. At what point do you start worrying about this team's ability to bounce back?

TROY TAYLOR: I think a lot about our mental stability and all that. These guys are really, really tough kids. I'll say that. It's tough. It's painful for everybody to lose. Like you said, when it's not close at the end, you're always concerned about it.

I'll say this. These are the most resourceful young men that I've ever been around. They just continued to battle. The mental toughness is incredible.

I know they'll continue to compete and we'll bounce back from it, for sure.

Q. Talk about what you got ought of Aidan Flintoft. You forced a couple fumbles. Was that lucky or what happened there?

TROY TAYLOR: No, I don't think turnovers are lucky. They can be, but typically it's when you're running the football, you're being aggressive. If you are getting interceptions, you're pressuring the quarterbacks. I don't think they're lucky outside of a few exceptions.

Yeah, turnovers were great. We need a lot of those to have short fields. Unfortunately we didn't necessarily take advantage of them. Proud of our guys hustling around and creating turnovers.

Q. Locked like once Brown came in the game, Roush started getting the ball more in the offense. Was that by design?

TROY TAYLOR: No, it wasn't. Just calling our offense. Elijah does a really good job of going through his progression and finding open receivers. A couple times no one was open when he took a sack.

Obviously got to see the film, but Sam did some good things in the pass game, for sure.

Q. Maybe when he first came in, Elijah floated some balls. Do you think maybe the injury is still bothering him?

TROY TAYLOR: No, I don't think so. I think he felt pretty good. I think he settled in a little bit. I think once you start playing, you get a rhythm. That's a pretty big stage for a kid, even for a guy like Elijah who has played a lot of big-time games. I really thought he started to settle in and play better. He'll continue to feel more comfortable.

We got to run the football to help out our quarterbacks, that's one thing, so they can't tee off on you.

Thank you.