STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2025

Frank Reich

Postgame Media Conference

Pitt 35, Stanford 20

Q. Kind of overall thoughts on today's game?

FRANK REICH: Yeah, appreciate it. Tough loss at home. Our first loss of the year at home, so that's disappointing. I thought we had a really good week of practice. I thought overall, give Pitt credit. They're a good football team. I thought our defense played really well, got turnovers, got stops. So I give -- the defense played well.

Offensively we made some plays in the pass game, but we came into this game, we know we have to be a balanced team. We have to be able to run the football, and we just weren't able to do that today, and then overall the turnovers hit us as well.

Q. What do you make of the quarterback situation tonight?

FRANK REICH: You know, I'll have to look at the film. There was a lot going on out there. We made a few plays. We missed some plays. I've learned over the years, don't just jump the gun on who's -- not looking to point fingers, I'm just looking to figure out how do we get better.

We've got to go back and look at the plays, the mistakes that we made. We've got to look at the opportunities that we missed and we've got to figure out why we didn't run the ball better when we thought we'd come in here and have at least a decent day running the game, so those are the things we've got to take a close look at.

Q. Not having Micah Ford out there today, just the challenge of trying to run the ball when you don't have one of your top backs out there?

FRANK REICH: No, you certainly miss Micah. But I have a lot of confidence in our other guys. I think they've been running the ball well. Certainly always miss Micah if he's not out there. He's a really good player.

But that's not an excuse for us not being able to run the ball better today.

Q. Jahsiah Galvan over the last few weeks has really taken a step up, one of the best defenders on the team for sure. Can you talk about what you got out of him today specifically?

FRANK REICH: Yeah, he's just super -- Jah is really instinctive. He just has a nose for the ball. He understands the game at a high level. He's super tough. He's physical, great tacklers. Just really instinctive to the ball.

More than anything, that's what you see in him. He's got a nose for the ball, and then he knows how to finish plays.

Q. Brandon Nicholson today, two interceptions. He now leads the team on the season in that stat. Talk about what he did well to --

FRANK REICH: Yeah, big plays. He's worked hard. He's a confident player. That's what I love about Brandon. It's tough to play out there. We played some good offenses, but he goes out there every week and fights and scraps and claws and I was really happy for him to see the day that he had out there today.

Q. Sam Roush had probably his best game of the year. Can you talk about what you got out of him?

FRANK REICH: Yeah, Sam had -- obviously we had the broken play on the scramble. He made the big play and several other nice plays. I thought Ben and Elijah did a nice job of getting Sam the ball. Sam is a top-notch player. I mean, he is a top-notch player. He can do it all. He can do it all in the pass game. He can run block. He's a great teammate. He's a great leader.

Happy that he had at least -- that he's having some production go his way because he's that kind of player.

Q. Talk about the last drive you got the touchdown that was scored. Seems like as he got into more of a rhythm, Brown was able to do some good things.

FRANK REICH: Yeah, Elijah, I see that in him all year. I could feel it in his eyes, in his body language out there when he was going in that he was feeling pretty confident. He did a nice job of just taking what the defense gave him. On that last touchdown pass, they really -- we're just trying to throw it out of bounds. We got an out-of-bounds play call just to get the clock stopped and then maybe take a shot in the end zone, but if they want to get greedy and jump the quick out, and Elijah just made a big-time throw to C.J. A credit to C.J. because on that particular play in that particular situation, usually that receiver isn't full speed. He should be, but a lot of times they're just not. So he was ready, and it was a big-time throw and route.

Q. You guys have had a lot of ups and downs this year. Have your goals week by week throughout the season, have they been the same or have they changed?

FRANK REICH: Yeah, they've been the same. We always have a goal -- first goal, first and foremost, is just it's a 1-0 mentality. All that matters is -- that's just years of playing football. There is no other mentality, no other approach that makes any sense other than you take each week and say, there's one goal: It's to go 1-0. Whether you're undefeated or you're fighting and scratching for a couple wins, that's what good teams do. That's how you build the right culture. That's how you build the right foundation for what you're trying to do. I think we're doing that as a team. I really think the effort -- I think in some ways we're getting better.

But obviously today was not our best offensive outing, and there's, I think, eight possessions where it was still a two-score game, and we just couldn't do anything on offense. That's a credit to Pitt, and we just have to get better.

Q. Scotty Edwards had a half sack today. I think he's No. 2 on your team in total sacks at the safety spot. Talk about what he's been giving and what does says to have a safety be No. 2 when you've got a lot of guys that can get after the quarterback?

FRANK REICH: Yeah, the great thing about Scotty is he can finish. A lot of times -- I think Coach Thompson does a great job of using him in pressure packages because he knows that Scotty is a good blitzer and Scotty can finish on a quarterback, and he has that instinct. A lot of times guys can get there but quarterbacks can be elusive, but Scotty has a knock for being able to finish on a quarterback. It's good to see him get that half sack today.

Q. What was your message in the locker room after the game?

FRANK REICH: Yeah, just keep fighting and scratching. I appreciated the effort. It's in the fourth quarter and the game is over, but our defense comes up with a stop inside the 5-yard line, and our offense drives the length of the field and scores a touchdown late in the game. There was no quit, so I respect that a lot. I told the guys that.

We'll just get ready to go next week. That's what we love to do. We love to go to work. This is a big part of the college experience when you're at Stanford is you work hard, man, every week. All of our guys are still in front of us. A lot of our goals are still in front of us. But that starts with 1-0 this week against Carolina.

Q. The defense to do what they did without Jay Green, without Collin Wright, talk about what you had to do defensively to adjust with those two guys being out?

FRANK REICH: You're exactly right. Those two guys are two of our better plays on defense, Jay and Collin. It's just a credit to the whole defense but especially to the guys that stepped in but really the whole defense and Coach Thompson and the defensive staff, the players that stepped in. They've been working hard. That's a good thing because Jay has been injured and Collin has been injured, so those other guys have been getting a lot of reps and taking advantage of it.