Nov. 20, 2010

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CALIFORNIA HEAD COACH Jeff Tedford

On whether it mattered Cal turned the ball over on its first drive given that it was early:

"Absolutely. No question. You don't fumble a snap and give them the ball down in the red zone to start the game. They were a lot of plays to made, but we didn't play well enough to win. Stanford's a great football team, the No. 6 team in the country, and you can't afford to make mistakes. You've got to make sure that you're executing, and we didn't do it. Turnovers cost us down in the red zone - us getting in the red zone and turning the ball over - and then turning the ball over in their end zone to give them a short field. You can't do that against [Stanford QB Andrew] Luck and the rest of the team they have there. He's a great player, and they're a very solid football team, and you have to give them a lot of credit. They did a great job. "

On whether the Cal players were in control of their emotions:
"They were in control. They were fired up to play. I don't think they were out of control."

On whether there was an emotional letdown after the close loss to Oregon:
"No. The Oregon game was the Oregon game. It was a week ago. This is the Big Game. It's a big rivalry. The intensity was there, so, no, I don't believe that. They played better than we played. It's plain and simple. You can't make mistakes."

On whether Brock Mansion's early fumble would carry over to the rest of the game:
"No. He didn't fumble anymore after that. They got it squared away. But you can't afford to waste plays, No. 1. No. 2, you can't afford to turn the football over. That was costly to give them a short field, even though the defense held up and they only got a field goal out of it. You just have to execute better. You can't afford to do that against a great football team."

On whether he expected a better effort from his team in a rivalry game:
"I don't think it was a lack of effort. I think it was they made plays and we didn't make plays. I don't think it had anything to do with effort. You have to give them credit. We have two guys on the guy when they throw deep, and he jumps up to make the catch. It didn't have to do with effort; it had to do with execution. You have a guy that's running down the sideline and is probably going to score, and the ball is underthrown and that gets intercepted."

On Stanford QB Andrew Luck's 58-yard run:
"Absolutely. You have to give Andrew Luck a lot of credit. In my opinion, he's the best quarterback in the country. I haven't seen all the quarterbacks, but he plays about as well [as anyone]. He's a very accurate passer, he doesn't make mistakes. When he pulls it down, you can't arm tackle him. He's going to run through things. He has speed, athleticism. He's a great player. And I would suppose, if he chose to come out, he'd be the first quarterback taken in the draft."

On the upcoming Washington game:
"We have one more game. We're home against Washington to get our sixth win and to be bowl eligible. Going into this week, there will be a lot of focus, and we have to be able to prepare well. If you can't get motivated for that, then there's a problem. I don't think motivation's going to be a problem. Washington's a good football team, and we're going to have to have a great week of preparation."

CALIFORNIA PLAYERS

Mike Mohamed, LB

On Stanford QB Andrew Luck:
"I would say he did a great job stepping up from the pressure and making good throws."

On recovering after the loss:
"We will let the rest of this night be about what we did this week. After tomorrow it is moving on to Washington; for the seniors and for bowl eligibility. You don't want to be to the point that you are uptight and nervous about it. You need to go into it with the right mentality; that you are going to keep fighting."

On Stanford's offense:
"They've got a bunch of big boys up front that they can pound the ball with. Once you start loading up for that, they have an all-Pro quarterback that can make every throw and make plays with his legs. They have a pretty balanced offense."

Sean Cattouse, S
On missing a tackle on Andrew Luck's 58 yard run:
"It was just a lesson for me. At the last second, I got caught between making that big hit and wrapping him up. He is a big strong guy, from there I knew I would have to come with some force and warp up his legs."

On Stanford's strong start:
"We gave up too much early and weren't able to bounce back. We didn't execute on too many opportunities. In the backfield, myself included, we didn't execute. In the second half we did a lot better, but in the first half we gave up way too much. Everything they gave us, they showed us. We were ready for it in practice. It is not a coaching thing; it is a player's thing. We have to execute. Everything they did we saw during the week on film."

On preparing for next week's game against Washington:
"It is the same as any week, there is a 24 hour rule; come Monday it is a new week. Last home game, everybody is going to be ready. We are going to have a great week of practice. We are motivated; the character of this team is never going to be to lay down. We are going to come back; we are going to have a great week of practice. We are going to win that game, and we are going to go to a bowl game."

Keenan Allen, WR
On his passing touchdown:
"We came out in a different formation (than other times I went back to pass). Same concept though, roll out to the right with Marvin (Jones) in the corner route. The corner covered it well, so it was locked down there. I just tried to roll out, and Marvin came with me and I made the pass."

On having a good game personally, but losing:
"It is frustrating. I just try to go out there and give it my all. But when we lose I feel like I did it for no reason."

On Cal QB Brock Mansion:
"He did a pretty good job, but made a couple mistakes. A couple passes should have had a little more on it; a couple that should have had a little less on it. He has got to keep playing in more games and getting experience."

STANFORD HEAD COACH JIM HARBAUGH

General comments:

"It was a great first half. I thought everything was going our way. I was just really proud of our players for keeping their composure and playing disciplined and smart [football]. Our guys really kept their cool and I think that was a big difference today. They kept their poise."

On Andrew Luck's scramble:
"That was huge. There's no question. Great instincts ... stepping up in the pocket. He's got such good speed, it's deceptive. He's got to be a 4.5 guy. Got him in the middle and he wasn't going down easy. I just like to see him play, use his instincts."

On what it means to have a lopsided victory in the Big Game:
"I thought our players put an exclamation point on things today by playing their best football. Playing smart, playing disciplined, playing poised. Just playing."

On Doug Baldwin:
"It's just gratifying when the guys are playing and the way they're capable. Doug Baldwin was just huge in this game. He was getting grabbed a lot. The young corners were holding him, but he was still making the plays. The big catch down here between two guys and the one in the end zone was huge. Doug is really having an amazing year."

On the Stanford defense:
"I thought we played really good defense and not relying on turnovers either. Our defense was playing outstanding football, putting pressure on the quarterbacks, shut down the run. It's just a great team win all around. Special teams was dominating. It's nice to dominate."

On how much better the team is now than two months ago:
"Hopefully, we'll be better tomorrow than it is today. I don't know, that's our thing - is to try and get better each day. You feel like you're either getting better or you're getting worse. I feel like this team is getting better, that's kind of our thing. Improvement leads to success. That's the formula. Improvement leads to wins, wins lead to championships."

STANFORD PLAYERS

Chase Thomas, LB

On the game:
"Coming in, we knew we needed to contain Shane Vereen. He's a great running back and for the most part we did that. We also put a lot of pressure on their quarterback. He doesn't have that much experience. I think he was exposed in the game. He had a couple interceptions, he fumbled a snap; he seemed pretty rattled. I think that helped us out."

On the defense:
"I think our defense came out really fast and aggressive. That's something we've been preaching more and more often and I think it showed the last couple of games."

On the offense:
"They knew what they had to do. They made a lot of adjustments early and they weren't stopped after that."

On California's offense:
"It wasn't much different [than we had planned for]. Maybe a few more fly sweeps than we thought they would. Otherwise they ran the same plays we saw on film and we were well prepared for it."

Doug Baldwin, WR
On the deep pass:
"I was just playing football. Andrew Luck put the ball in the perfect place. There was no other place he could have put it. I just was able to make a play on it. Most of the credit goes to him. He threw one hell of a ball."

Andrew Luck, QB
On the game:
"Cal's a great defense. We knew that coming in here. We knew we couldn't make mistakes or they would make us pay. I think guys really bought into the scheme. The offensive line stepped up - Ryan Whalen, Doug Baldwin - and the wide receivers had a great day. Stephan [Taylor] had some great runs. I think we executed and it feels very good."

On his motivation after last year's game:
"I definitely had some motivation coming off of last year's disappointment. But, that being said, it was a new year and you can't really dwell on the past too much. But I did get a little extra motivation from that experience.

On the emotion of the Big Game:
"We knew there was going to be a lot of emotion in this game. Obviously, you're not going to be able to pull out all of those emotions. You're going to have to let some a little loose. John Elway spoke to us before the game. He said, `Don't get too caught up in what's going on outside. Remember, you win games by everybody doing their job and by just playing football.' We took that to heart. I thought those were very wise words and very applicable to the way we played today. Yeah, it was a little tough not trying to get involved in everything, but we knew we just had to play football."

Stephan Taylor, RB
On Andrew Luck:
"He's amazing. He's the greatest player I've seen. He makes it a lot easier. It's hard to play defense out there against him, he can run and pass. We all see him week in and week out, he's a great quarterback."