Head Coach Justin Wilcox
You talked all week about being prepared for the process, not getting caught up in Big Game stuff. Can you talk about how you thought your team related to that?
"I thought they were prepared mentally, physically, and emotionally to play the game and I thought they came out and completed extremely hard. We played to win and we had our opportunities and that's why this one hurts so much. There's a few plays here or there, both sides of the ball, that could have changed the outcome of that game. It starts with me doing a better job making sure we got every answer we need and it hurts, because we had our chances and didn't seize it. So you've got to give Stanford a lot of credit. They're an excellent football team, really well coached, got really good players."

The defensive effort was awfully good for you guys, didn't you think?
"We didn't win the game. We had opportunities to get stops in the first half and some critical third downs. We need third down to be big. I don't know what the total possessions were on each side of the ball, but it wasn't a high-possession game. So we knew each and every possession would be so critical. And we had some opportunities to get some stops in the first half and, obviously, the fourth quarter got to be able to get off the field there and get the offense the ball back. Don't get me wrong, I love our guys and the way they compete. They played hard, played their butts off, and we just needed another play here or there, and we didn't quite have it."

Do you think you might have concentrated to stopping Love so much that it hurt, because they hurt you with a lot of passes there. Do you think that one had something to do with the other?
"Well, yeah. It's not every call can you stack the box and double the wide outs, right? So you're going to have to pick and choose. There's times, when you're playing Stanford, which, you know, and I could be wrong, but you got to commit to stopping the run, and we did that and he still hit us on a run. He's an excellent back, they had a great scheme. We knew we would have to win on the outside at times. And on some critical downs, and they completed some, our guys competed and we didn't quite just make enough plays. So we were trying to mix and match in coverages to take some pressure off the cover guys at times, but I can sit around and play cover two against Stanford, we got to mix it up and play the run."

Did you consider running Laird more? He had a heck of a game?
"He did have a heck of a game. We wanted to keep some balance, running and throwing, and we had our opportunities on offense and we can always look back and play here or there that you would like to have back, I mean I don't know there's ever been a game where you don't do that. But appreciate that and all that he's doing and our O line and our tight ends, quarterbacks, receivers, competing like they do, we just didn't quite get it done."

Ross had the long one down the middle, how do you think he competed otherwise?
"I thought Ross competed well. I thought he threw the ball on time for the most part and he is getting better each week. There's going to be some plays out there that he learns from. But I think you've seen the growth and he's just got to continue to get better and they're all, he hurts right now, like we all do, and we just got to learn and bounce back from it and we got a huge game next week."

Well, I mean it's obviously a very big game for the program and after what you saw tonight do you feel pretty good about going down there?
"Yeah, so tonight, for about 24 hours our guys are all going to hurt and it stings and we know that we got a ton to play for next week and we will have to play at our best against a really good team down there and we'll be back on that practice on Monday and we are going to have to have a great week of preparation, a little bit of a short week for both teams, but that's what it is and we got to back on it. And our guys will be ready to play. But this one, it will take 24 hours or so to Washington this one."

Did you intend to use Laird as much as you did coming in or was that just the way it worked out?
"We wanted to utilize him because he's a really good player. There's also certain looks that the defense gives you that can kind of dictate whether you're giving it on the run/pass option or some of the checks, the run/pass package plays, so based on what the defense is doing, we want to get him involved as much as we can but there's certain times where they put so many people in there that we're going to throw the football. And for the most part the guys did that well, just, again, there's a few plays here or there that can turn it and they made them."

RB Patrick Laird
What's the mood in there in the locker room?
"I think most people are disappointed. We were in the game the whole time and I think we stopped ourselves offensively. And I think the defense, they knew they could have made a couple more plays. Right now it's, the idea is we're just going to bounce back this next week and get our sixth win."

What happened on that 47-yard touchdown run you had to sideline there early.
"I think it was inside zone and big hole opened up back side and I think I came off of Gibson's block. And, yeah, the O line was handling the stuff up front, gave me a lot of opportunities to get to the secondary, and I just almost got away."

You haven't played much in this game at all in the past, but you've been around. Did this feel like a huge step forward for your program, even though you lost?
"I mean, I don't know if I buy into moral victories very much."

Aside from the moral victory part, do you think you represented yourself in a different way as a team than have you in the past?
"I think our team comes out and competes every single game, but at the end of the day we judge our performance off of whether you get a win or a loss."

Can you talk about the issues capitalizing on big plays and then not scoring in the first half, not getting touchdowns in the first half?
"That was just offense not executing when we got down in the red zone. We should have -- we all thought on the sideline that we should have finished drives and not kicked two field goals."

What were you guys doing in particular that, other than the execution part of it, what were you not executing?
"There was multiple things, but at the end of the day we just weren't executing and finishing drives."

Were you surprised that you were able to get as much as you did vertically and against that front, especially with Phillips? You guys pretty much neutralized him.
"Yeah, No. 66? Yeah, no, he did a lot of good things tonight. No, I wasn't surprised. I knew the guys up front were going to handle it. Our tight ends also did a really good job and Malik, obviously. But the O line did -- I knew they were going to handle the guys up front and give me some opportunities and give the other running back some opportunities to make some plays."

Stanford Head Coach David Shaw
Speaking of your defense, Ben Edwards had a couple of really big plays in this game, at least temporarily saving a touchdown on that tackle, nearly causing a touchback. And then having the great big, the timely interception. Can you talk a little bit about his play?
"Really the last month Ben Edwards has really continued to come along. Recruited him out of Florida, bright kid, smart kid, tough kid, very athletic. And everybody comes to their comfort level playing big time college football at a different time. Some guys are faster, some guys are slower. The last month Ben has been extremely well. That is why he has played a lot more. Gives us flexibility to use Justin Reid at nickel, at safety, by bringing Ben in. And even tonight when Quenton had to go out for a little bit, we put Justin at corner. So Justin's versatility is made possible, the fact that we trust Ben to go out there and make plays. To be deep, as deep as the deep is, and to go back and make an interception on a big play, shows a lot of grit by him, a lot of comfort by him to be back there when that ball floats up in there for a long time, to go up there and get it, it was a huge, huge play."

And Patrick Laird had a marvelous came for Cal rushing and receiving. Can you describe what you felt about his play?
"Not surprising. He's been that way against everybody. There's something about playing with heart and determination. But I don't want to slight this young man either, he's quick, he's physical. It's not like he's got no talent, just goes out there and runs hard. This kid's quick, he's physical, he's smart, he's patient, he's got great feet. We had a lot of respect for him coming in the game and even more for him now."

If you could talk about the way your line took over the fourth quarter. I would say for much of the game, outside of Love's run, it was almost a tie at the line of scrimmage with the work Cal was doing. Fourth quarter was very different.
"And we talked about it on the sidelines. This is what we train for. It's why they work so hard in the off-season. We work for the fourth quarter and give Coach Turley a lot of credit. Over the summer, we do finishers, like Friday finishers. So that's the mentality, if you work hard all week, and at the end of the week you do something that's harder than anything you did during the course of the week, it's just building that resilience, building that mentality of at the end of the week, at the end of the game when it's at its toughest, I'm at my best. And that's what our guys did. And they dug deep, we ran the ball physically. Can't say enough about Cameron Scarlet coming in there and showing us what we know. He's done it on and off throughout the year. And we called his number said, we're going to leave you out there, go win the game for us. And he ran hard, he ran physical, he broke tackles, he did exactly what we needed him to do. So give a lot of credit to Cameron and those guys up front for finishing the game on the field."

Can you tell us about the dialog that led to the decision to go for it on that fourth down? And then the play call itself?
"There was no dialog. There was no decision-making process. There was no decision-making tree. We had a fourth and one with the guys we have up front, with the game on the line on plus side territory, no question at all, we're going for it. I told them, too, I said, everybody in the stadium knows we're going for it, everybody in the stadium knows what run we're going to run. And we don't care, we're going to run it, we're going to get it. That's the mentality, that's what we put in the hands of our offense, our offensive line. And we earned that. Those guys had earned that. They had big smiles on their faces, because that's what they wanted. There's -- it's a big thing to finish the game on the field. If you kick a field goal, it's just a six-point game, and they get the ball back and now you're trying to keep them out. But if we get the first down, then the game's over. So we wanted to put it in the hands of our offensive line, our full backs, our tight ends, and Cameron Scarlett."

Can you take us through K.J.'s touchdown pass as you saw it unfold?
"So believe it -- it was an audible. So we checked to the play, saw the coverage. We did a good job of -- it was a blitz. We did a good job of keeping a nice pocket, because -- but he had to step up, push up in the pocket, and he threw a Nolan Ryan fast ball. That thing was fast, it was quick, and it was extremely accurate. Kaden Smith, who we think is an outstanding tight end, just in the last few weeks for whatever reason hasn't had a lot of opportunities, and he made the most of his opportunities today. I love where we are at the tight end position, I love where we are at the receiver position. As our quarterbacks continue to grow and mature, those guys are continue to have opportunities to make plays. But that was all K.J. getting us to the right play and then throwing a beautiful strike for a touchdown."

On the last drive what were you thinking, move the chains and get out, or score and/or what was the thought process there?
"But it was all about the chart. If we could kneel on it, we were going to kneel on it. If we were going to score, it was going to be a touchdown. I wasn't going to kick a field goal. I was going to get all the way down there, if we can score, let's make it a touchdown. Otherwise it's back them all the way up there and try to make them go the length of the field to win the game. So really there was it was one of those deals where there was no anchor. We threw the anchor of the boat, we were going full speed ahead."

On Bryce's touchdown, as you're watching it, did you see that defense stacked up in the box against him? Are your eyes kind of getting wide there, seeing that he could break it outside of that and go a long way?
"So my man Bryce isn't the biggest guy, but when you see everybody get all bunched up in there and we hand the ball to him, my eyes just go to the back of the group and I just wait for him to pop out. Didn't happen a lot tonight. He was in a lot of pain, but he got that crease and then I saw that little 20 squirt out the back side and injured or not, there's nobody catching Bryce once he gets up to full speed, 80 percent, 90 percent, whatever he was. So much pride, so much determination, that's why he's one of the best college football players you're going to see. But it was a heck of a run, it was extremely well blocked, and then usually if we give Bryce one or two, the angles they take don't matter and he finishes in the end zone."

If Bryce's played really well on, as you put it, on one leg for three games, but if he is still in this gimpy position next week, would you hold him out of the Notre Dame game?
"If he is not functional, yes. If he's not functional, if he can't protect himself first and foremost, if he can't -- like right now, it's not like it's getting a lot worse, it's just pain. And if it's just up to pain, Bryce will play. If for some reason we think that it's a potential danger for him down the road, then we won't play him. I love this young man like he's part of my family, so we're going to make the smart decision for him physically. But at the same time it's a sprained ankle, it hurts. At the end of the game he couldn't really push off, so we pulled him, whether he wants to play or not. But he knew that was the wise thing to do. In typical Bryce fashion he could have sat on the bench with ice on his ankle, he was right behind me excited, cheering Cameron Scarlett on to go win the game."

I'm not sure what the coaching protocol is in a situation like this or what your relationship is with Chris Peterson, but would you consider exchanging notes with him about how to attack the Cougars?
"Hopefully they do a better job than we did a few weeks ago. No, Chris has got a great program. We kind of have our hands full next week. I'm sure we'll be scoreboard watching to a certain degree. I don't know what time there game is, I don't know what time our game is, but I think the Irish are going to get our full attention next week. And we can't worry about what happens on somebody else's field. Either we go to the PAC-12 championship game or we don't, but that's going to happen someplace else. We got a very good Notre Dame team coming in here next week, and we got to play our best football to even have a chance to win. And it may be with Bryce, it may be without Bryce. We'll see."