STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2024

Troy Taylor

Postgame Media Conference

Stanford 38, Louisville 35

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Troy, how nice was that to get that win to see your guys show the poise they did, especially the way the fourth quarter played out and, yet, they gathered themselves to get that game.

TROY TAYLOR: Really proud of our seniors. We talked about in life you know when the first time you do something happens, but usually you don't know the last time you do something. For a lot of these guys it's their last time playing in Stanford Stadium.

So we talked about breathing it in, enjoying it, and making it memorable, and they certainly did that. We had 25 guys out for this game. Collin Wright, probably our best cover. Definitely our best cover guy. Tristan Sinclair, our best -- probably our leader and kind of heart and soul of this team, was out.

These guys were so resilient and still found a way to do it. It was all three phases. There were crucial plays down the stretch. I'm really happy for our seniors that they get rewarded. They've worked so hard, and they chose to stay here when a lot of people left.

I'm forever grateful and a lot of respect and admiration for this group. Just really happy for them.

Q. How important was it to get this home win being that you are about to go 0 for home for ACC?

TROY TAYLOR: Listen, they're all important. I would say we go into every game, and we treat them the same way. They're all important. You only get to play 12.

This isn't about me and getting wins here at home. It's about our team getting rewarded for the unbelievable effort, for our seniors to have their last time here in this stadium to be a memorable one. We're trying to live in the now, you know, and enjoy it. They did a great job of that.

Q. Obviously it was Senior Day, but it was really a freshman, Emmett Mosley, who might have been the player of the game. Did you have an inkling from practice that he would just break out?

TROY TAYLOR: We had been recruiting him for a long time. When he made the commitment to us, we knew he was a special player. He's got unbelievable skills, his resiliency, his toughness. He really rose to the occasion. Not surprised at all.

We expect him to be -- I thought since he's been here, since he committed, that he had a chance to be one of the better guys in the entire country. I think he broke the freshman record today. Just made some huge plays, and he's a tough kid.

Q. That fourth and one from the 25, was that going to be a pass all the way, or was it depending on the look or...

TROY TAYLOR: We had the play. It was really kind of a third down play that we had up, and we were going to use in a situation where we knew we would go for it on fourth down.

So a lot of times if you hustle to the line of scrimmage, and then you have Justin Lamson in, who is a really good runner, we thought we could hustle the line of scrimmage and get the safeties low and take a shot.

There was some concern that we were too tight for the route. We just said, Hey, get it up early. They stood over the ball the first time we did it, which to me was interesting.

We felt like we still had a shot, and Justin made an unbelievable throw. I think he got hit as he was throwing it, and Mosley made an unbelievable catch.

Q. What was kind of the thought process behind that play call to Justin -- (off microphone)?

TROY TAYLOR: That was it. We come up there. It's fourth and one. I've always thought there's great opportunities on fourth and one. You just have on have the courage to call them, right?

I mean, there was 45 seconds left. We had a time-out, but I just felt that they would see Justin come into the game. It was after a time-out as well. They had seen him, and they probably thought they would try and end the game right now, I'm getting the stop.

So it's something we had practiced, and our guys did a great job of executing. Got to the line of scrimmage really quick, snapped it on a really early snap count, and I think we got safeties low. They played the run.

Q. Did you say anything to Emmet before that kick, or did you just kind of leave him to do his own thing?

TROY TAYLOR: So honestly when we got the ball back, I believe there was five seconds. They added a second. There was four, and then I believe it was five seconds, which ended up being really big, right? I looked at the clock.

So we talked about throwing a Hail Mary, but we decided to go for a -- we have five plays that we work at the end of a game every week. So one of them is a quick screen just to get as many yards as you can and then get down and try and kick a field goal or what not.

So we got some yardage, and then we got a penalty. So the only thing I said to Emmet is, Can you make this? It was 57 yards after the penalty. He was, like, Oh, I'm nailing it. I'm, like, All right.

So then we got him huddled. Called a time-out and talked on the sidelines. The attempt was to get them to draw them off sides to get five more yards.

So we got to the line. We talked about it. Hey, we're going to kick the field goal, but we're trying to get them to jump with a hard count. Then I tried to get the crowd quiet so the defense could hear the snap count. They actually did a pretty good job because the crowd was loud. They quieted down, and we got the illegal procedure penalty, moved it up five yards, and I mean, the guy just drilled it.

Q. Coach, were you surprised that they didn't go for the field goal or punt instead of giving you guys the ball?

TROY TAYLOR: In fairness to Jeff, he's a great, great coach. Probably honestly there wasn't really enough time for us to take advantage of when they went on four fourth down because there wasn't very much time left. It was really the penalties, you know, that gave us the opportunity.

So I thought he could do either. He could go for it or punt it. I like his aggressiveness. He didn't expect to have two penalties to put us in that, but he is playing to win, you know.

Q. You said in the past you have never lost coming off a bye week. You still haven't lost coming off a bye week. What did you do during the bye week?

TROY TAYLOR: This one is a little different because they had a bye week too. I think when you have a bye week and the other team -- this is unique. Not unique. It's just a different situation.

I think what I meant is I don't think I have lost after a bye when the other team doesn't have a bye because we had quite a few of those this year.

You know, you get more time to study things and all those, but it's all about the players executing. You can come up with a great plan, but this he don't execute it, it doesn't matter. They executed, especially down the stretch.

Q. Obviously this entire season Elic Ayomanor has been the No. 1 kind of go-to guy for the offense. How much does it help the offense to have Emmett Mosley emerge as a guy that opposing defenses have to key in on as well?

TROY TAYLOR: It's huge. You need a second guy because he's garnered a lot of attention and cloud coverage and two-on-ones on him. When you have a guy that can make plays like that, it takes pressure, and it changes what they can do coverage-wise. He's really special. They're both really special players.

Q. Now we have our first big game as ACC teams. I know you still are excited about what just happened, but when will you start preparing for the big game?

TROY TAYLOR: Yeah, tomorrow. So Cal is a really good football team. Justin Wilcox and his staff, they do a great job. All their games have been close. They're really talented, really well-coached. It will be a challenging one, but obviously it's a big game. Our guys will be ready to roll.