STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2026

Alberto Mendoza

Tae Harris

Postgame Media Conference

Stanford 34, Georgia Tech 27

Q. Alberto, what happened on the interception there? Obviously started to have momentum back for the first time in the second half.

ALBERTO MENDOZA: Yeah, just miscommunication. Me and Dalen weren't on the same page, didn't know what was going to happen, and it cost us trying to make something big happen when we were down two scores.

Yeah, it was brutal.

Q. Tae, defensively I know it was tough without Savion out there, with a freshman a lot of time. I saw you lining guys up during the game. How difficult was it to kind of mix and match when you had so many young guys trying to get in there and play their first real major snaps?

TAE HARRIS: Yeah, I wouldn't say it was really difficult. We just got to start presnap alignment, stuff like that, you got to start playing attention to that more on the sidelines. I shouldn't be having (indiscernible.)

But, you know, it is what it is now. Tell my teammates I love them. Got a lot of freshman guys. They stepped up and played well. (Indiscernible.)

Q. Started out the second half, two three-and-outs right in a row. Walk us through coming out of halftime ready. What happened there?

ALBERTO MENDOZA: Yeah, I mean, that can't happen. Obviously three-and-outs can't happen. Penalties set us back. We got to be cleaner with those things.

Just the operation on my standpoint, the offensive standpoint, got to be clean. Can't come out and put our defense in a tough spot.

So got to minimize the penalties because that killed us today. Had some big plays in the run and pass game that were called back because we weren't detailed. Got to be much more detailed, myself and the whole team.

Q. Tae (regarding Coach Key.)

TAE HARRIS: Basically telling us what happened is on us. They didn't do a lot of things that hurt us. We did it to ourselves. Like I said, we got to be more detailed and come out in the second half how we finished the first half.

Q. How are you guys going to approach the next two weeks with the bye week to get the team back on track?

ALBERTO MENDOZA: The bye week is going to be huge. Got key guys coming back from injury that have been out that will definitely help us a lot. A lot of holes on our team right now with injuries, so getting those guys back will help.

The older guys will get everyone lined up and get our alignment right. That will be huge. And then got to attack the bye week. We are 1-3. That's reality and it sucks.

And, yeah, I would say we got attack the bye week, make sure our preparation is key, make sure we're healthy, and then we got to attack Duke. That will be a big one at home.

Q. Alberto, you've had a lot of different combinations on the offensive line. Three backups today starting. Maybe one of them was expected to play a lot this year. How has it been trying to keep everyone on the same page and not having continuity?

ALBERTO MENDOZA: All the guys did a good job today communication-wise. Can we better on some things? Yes, everyone can. I can be better on some things, I can tell that you much. Not trying to be superhero at the end and trying to scramble all over the place and get intentional grounding because I'm inside the pocket still.

So everyone can be better on detail. Those guys did a good job stepping up, but they got to continue to be better; I got to continue to be better; the receivers got to continue to be better; so do the running backs.

So there is a lot of room for growth, and we'll have a great bye week to detail those things out and get ready for Duke.

Q. Tae, (No microphone.)

TAE HARRIS: Yeah, let our detail slip, starting with me. So I'm supposed to be the leader and (indiscernible,) so we'll definitely be better like Berto said, attack the bye week. Can't start letting our technique and details slip.