STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 29, 2026

Tevarua Tafiti

Postgame Media Conference

Stanford 37, Hawaii 27

Q. Teva, I got the easy question. What did you see on that scoop and score?

TEVARUA TAFITI: All I saw was Zach made a big hit. He made a big hit and punched the bull out. Also the ball was on the ground, and I saw green grass, and I just ran it for a touchdown.

Q. Why did you hesitate for a second?

TEVARUA TAFITI: I was kind of unsure if it was (indiscernible) or not. I think I was right, so everything went well.

Q. I'm sure you would have liked to pull away and won by five touchdowns, but it wound up being a close game in the fourth quarter. What does it do you for you guys to withstand that adversity and still find a way?

TEVARUA TAFITI: We always talk about it in the defensive meeting, ruthless and relentless. The game is finished when it's 0-0, and we came out there and keep fighting, keep fighting. The offense came out, and we told them we got their backs, so we got their back and keep going.

Q. What was the feeling like in the locker room you guys getting that first win, especially for Coach in his first year?

TEVARUA TAFITI: It feels great, man. All that spring ball, winter ball, all the workouts, everything just paid off tonight, and it felt great.

Q. What was going through your mind in the fourth quarter when Hawaii was making that comeback and then was there any talk on the sideline? Did you do anything different on the last possession?

TEVARUA TAFITI: Yeah, we always talk about regain and persist. That's one of our three Cs. We were just saying just keep refreshing, refreshing, and just keep going.

Q. Just what was Hawaii doing well to make it as close as they did? They had drives to actually take the lead. What were some challenges they were posing there that was tough for you guys?

TEVARUA TAFITI: Yeah, they had a good run. A lot of it was tempo. We just got to keep going.

Q. I asked Coach the same question regarding the Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration throughout the game. I just wanted to know if you had any comments, any remarks just about the overall celebration and the influence that that group has here in the Bay Area?

TEVARUA TAFITI: Being Samoan, Hawaiian, from Hawaii, that was really a great celebration for the people in the community and this area. There's a lot of Polynesian people in the community, so it felt great for us. I just loved it.

Q. Did you have any family at the game or anyone on the other side that you might know against Hawaii?

TEVARUA TAFITI: Yeah, I had my parents, my sister, and my uncle and my pops. Yeah, I had a lot of high school teammates on the other team. I love seeing them, yeah.

Q. A short week and then Miami coming up. How do you balance wanting to enjoy this and also know you have a really tough team ahead?

TEVARUA TAFITI: Yeah, we're going to watch the film tomorrow, see what we need to clean up, and then move on to Miami.