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STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 8, 2016

David Shaw

Stanford, California

Washington State - 42, Stanford - 16

COACH SHAW: So that was not what we wanted to happen, of course, out there today. We did not play well, and for every positive, we had a negative, and that's not the sign of a good football team. It's not the sign of a Stanford football team.

So we've got to go back and watch this film. We've got to find some things that we can correct. We have to make sure that we're trying to put our guys in a position to be successful.

The bottom line for us right now is we can't overcome the negative plays and mistakes that we make. When someone else makes a mistake, our opponents make a mistake, we're not doing a good job of taking advantage of that.

The pick six tonight was phenomenal by Frank Buncom. But the other miscues that happen during the course of the game, Washington State had a couple miscues, we didn't take advantage of those. Now, that's I understand what's going to be said for the next 48 hours. That's fine. I can take it. Bottom line for me is in the first half we missed two field goals, missed two touchdown passes. Came out in the third quarter, missed another touchdown pass. Later in the game missed another touchdown pass.

So we've got to hit those opportunities. You know, it's not just one of those. We've got to hit multiple. If those things are there, we've got to hit them, and that's on us as a staff to make sure that we are working on these things and getting them right. That's on us as players to make sure we're making the plays we're capable of making. We're not going to change the offense. We're not going to change what we do. We had opportunities and we did not connect, we did not make those.

Third different combination on the offensive line tonight, and we'll see what we do next week. We still had too much pressure on the quarterback and not enough lanes to run in to get positive yards in our running game. Before we can get explosive plays in the running game, we've got to get positive yards in the running game. We've got to get our runners to and from the line of scrimmage.

McCaffrey did get banged up, but there was no reason to put him in late in the game. We just left him out. We'll see how he is during the course of the week. Don't ask the question, I don't have any answers for you.

Biggest thing for us, first half we had the chance to make this a game. We had a chance to go into halftime, if not with the lead, at least very close. Honestly, should have had the lead if we make the plays that we're capable of making. But once again, that's on us as coach and players to play much better, to make the plays that we're capable of making. That's it.

Q. 2.3 yards per carry rushing. This is a very unusual for Stanford. Is this offensive line -- obviously you had a slight change, you had change at left tackle, but with the two guys this week, is this offensive line capable of creating the normal Stanford running game now against top-flight Pac-12 competition?
COACH SHAW: We are a work in progress up front right now. And I didn't think at this point in the season that I would be saying that, but that's just where we are. Whether it's due to injury or new guys up there, different guys up there, first live game action for some of them this season, which is not an excuse. We've got to make sure we're finding the right combination of guys. And Coach Mike Bloomgren has done a phenomenal job every year here, and we've got to find out who those next five are that are going to play the majority for us and find out what they do well and what they can do consistently. Because our combination of backs, you know, they're as good as anybody in the country, and we've got to give them a chance to make plays.

So we'll continue to look at it and continue to try to find the best way to first of all be efficient and then have a chance to be explosive.

Q. If I could follow up, how would you assess Ryan Burns' play, and is he still firmly your starting quarterback?
COACH SHAW: I thought Ryan -- Ryan has done an admirable job. The team fought. The team fought. We'll continuing to with Ryan and continue to look at Keller. I think Keller did some things well tonight and some things not so well.

Q. You guys had six first down runs in the first half that got you seven yards. How long into a game do you go before you start to consider that the stuff that you do so well isn't working on that night?
COACH SHAW: Well, we didn't run the same run every single time, so we're trying different things against a very good front that we had trouble with last year. Which two guys are in the NFL right now. We had trouble with those guys last year as well.

Good combination of guys up front physically for them, and a tough scheme. We were able to be bailed out last year by our quarterback on a couple of really big runs. We were able to make some plays on the defensive side and get interceptions and make a crucial field goal.

We got two interceptions tonight and turned them into seven points, and that was it. We missed two field goals and we were inefficient running the ball, inefficient on third down, and at times decent throwing the ball, and at times inefficient throwing the ball. Inefficiency is not a sign of a good football team, and that's what we aspire to be. We've got to be good before we're great. We've got to be good first, and that's what we're working on trying to be.

Q. Is it fair to say that there might be some competition for those starting five offensive line positions moving forward?
COACH SHAW: I'm not saying that. You can say that if you want to.

Q. What did you think of the call on Justin Reid? You've been very big about these targeting calls. I was just wondering what you felt about that particular one.
COACH SHAW: It was a good call. It's a call you have to make. It's quarterback scrambling, quarterback sliding. Now, from the replay, the contact was minimal with his helmet, but there was contact. We don't ask the officials to just judge degree. We don't ask them to judge intent. There was contact above the neck when the quarterback was sliding, so you've got to call it.

Justin feels terrible. Was not -- of course, not trying to hurt the guy, not trying to hit the guy. First contact was with his shoulder, but there was contact on the head. So I understand it. It's unfortunate because we've got a really good player who is really starting to come into his own. Missed some playing time there. But we understand it and we embrace the rules that protect players.

Q. Talk about the play of Luke Falk. 357 yards passing, four touchdowns.
COACH SHAW: He's a good football player. We talked about Luke last year. He has been highly underrated because of the great quarterback play that's been in this conference. But all the guy has done is complete a lot of passes for a lot of yards. He's that veteran quarterback that's seen every blitz, and you can't rattle him. He sees things coming, he gets rid of the ball. We were able to hurry him and rush him more this year than we did last year. Hit him, attacked him a couple times, got in his face. Forced intentional grounding.

You know, so I think we did as much as you could to a veteran quarterback. But you're not going to rattle this kid. He's a good football player that's going to be playing on Sunday.

Q. Did you think that Burns' issues missing open receivers down field was because he couldn't get comfortable in the pocket? He was getting hit a lot. Did you sense that it was a comfort thing with him or something else?
COACH SHAW: No, I did not.

You guys usually have follow-up questions. My follow-up answer to my answer was there were a couple times, now, he had to throw the ball before he should have. Now, that's not feeling the rush, that's just trying to get the ball in your hands so you don't take another sack. So twice I know, off the top of my head, he would have loved to have waited another split second for the guy to get open, but he had to get rid of the ball because there's pressure.

Q. Coach, can you tell me about the difficulties you guys had protecting Burns? He's been sacked ten times in the past two games.
COACH SHAW: I'm sorry, what is your question?

Q. Can you tell me a little bit about what's to account for the difficulties protecting Burns? He's been sacked ten times in the past two games.
COACH SHAW: You've just given me a stat I don't have an answer for.

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