STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2026

Matt Rose

Postgame Media Conference

Stanford 34, Georgia Tech 27

Q. Matt, just talk about second half, what was the key to the defense's ability to kind of flip the switch there and get some stops?

MATT ROSE: Yeah, I just think we went into halftime with the mindset of, you know, we got to kind of regroup as a defense. Some of those mistakes were totally on us, and we just had to take a step back and realize, you know, do our job or 111th (phonetic) on the defense. It was pretty evident that we did that in the second half, so...

Q. I'm just kind of curious too just kind of thoughts on Georgia Tech's offense, what were they doing really well that first half, and was there anything you guys focused on?

MATT ROSE: I think they had a lot of misdirection in the first half, so we had to be great with our eye discipline. Shout-out to them. They had a good scheme in the first half.

Yeah, we knew what to expect in the second half, you know, just kind of dialing in our keys and executing. I thought we did a better job of doing that in the second half with their offense.

Q. It seems like tackling has been something that was an issue last week and maybe a little bit in the first half. Did you feel that was something that was flipped in the second half for you guys? Were you tackling better?

MATT ROSE: I think tackling, just overall the defense played better obviously. Then, yeah, assignment-wise and tackling, it all goes together and when we're making plays and kind of feeding off each other. So yeah I would say that.

Q. Matt, we heard it in the locker room, but it was Brandon Nicholson, the definition of reengaging and persisting. What did his interception mean to the defense? How cool was that and gratifying was it to see him make that big play and shift the momentum?

MATT ROSE: That was huge. That's something we always talk about as a team. You know, reengage and persist.

Obviously the last drive doesn't matter. It's a new drive. We got to come down and execute. Man, that was a huge play by B-Nick, and that was just awesome as a defense that we got that stop, so shout-out B-Nick.