STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 22, 2022

Lance Keneley

Postgame Media Conference

Stanford 15, Arizona State 14

THE MODERATOR: Led the team in tackles today. Questions? I have no idea whose name they said.

Q. I asked coach the same question, but from your perspective, what's been the key to the defense's growth over these last few weeks?

LANCE KENELY: From my perspective, I think the biggest thing for our defense has just been energy. Then the second biggest thing I think has been guys being unselfish.

Kevin Anderson was our honorary captain last week, and he gave a speech about doing your 1/11th and playing your play. I mean, I think the unique thing about defense is it takes 11 guys in the right spot every play, and you have to be unselfish.

The tackles will come to you. The moment you try to do too much or try to make a play, that's when there becomes holes, and that's when guys get big plays.

So I think that's the biggest thing for us is the energy and then guys being unselfish.

Q. You guys have strung together two back-to-back really good performances. How do you keep this momentum up against a really dynamic quarterback like DTR?

LANCE KENELY: Yeah, that's a good question. For us the key is to focus on ourselves. We're getting some guys back at the edge. We obviously had Aaron Armitage down, we had David Bailey down.

Also to keep building on the performance today. We had guys step up, like Ernest Cooper. We had Teva, who was ready to go.

I think for us it's about focusing in on ourselves and making sure that we do the little things right. DTR is a very dynamic quarterback and is a dangerous weapon when he's uncomfortable in the pocket, so I think it's going to take disciplined rushes and disciplined coverages, and I think we're up for the challenge.

Q. What were the emotions like for you on that last drive? I mean, you get them into fourth and long, they complete a long pass, fourth and long again. It seems like they complete another pass, but it's overturned. What was that like for you to experience?

LANCE KENELY: Yeah, for sure. Like I said, I think in those key situations, where you have to play good defense to win, I think you've just got to fall back on your technique. You can't let yourself get blinded by the circumstance, right?

I think for me it was just having to go out there and realizing that all I had to do was do my job, and I think every one of us thought the same thing. All we had to do was just do our job and we'd be fine.

We had a shutout second half, and as long as we just kept doing what we were doing, it was going to stay that way.

Q. How satisfying is it for you guys in back to back weeks as a defense get the game-winning stops after that not being the case against Oregon State? How sort of satisfying is that to kind of see that redemption and growth from that moment.

LANCE KENELY: I think it's incredibly satisfying. We have a mantra on our defense. We want to be excited when we get put on the field, whether that be a sudden change like a turnover or turnover on downs or the end of the game.

Like defense is an exciting part of the game, and you have to want to play defense and want to do your best. Obviously, you'd rather not be in that position, but it's good that the guys held it together and that we got our stops.