Bootleg Post-Game
Interviews: Oregon, Part II
Running Back Anthony Kimble
(#5)
Kimble: "We gotta find a way to
finish."
On the difference between the halves...
Kimble: "They came up. You know, they're a real
good team. They came up, we just didn't get the job done. They came up, they had
a good defensive scheme, they have real good players, just gotta learn to
finish. You know, it wasn't really anything they were doing, it was what we were
doing to hurt ourselves."
On the fourth and inches...
Kimble: "You know, it was big. Gotta get that,
gotta find a way."
On whether the offense tired after the second quarter...
Kimble: "No, you know we gave a lot in that
second quarter, big thing is we just can't get behind like that, that took a lot
in that second quarter. Just gotta come out and play better in the second half.
We got hit in the mouth in the first quarter, and we came back, came back
swinging. When they came out punching in the second half, we didn't come
back."
On whether it was a "moral" victory...
Kimble: "It shows what we're capable of. And
that's the biggest thing, we showed what we're capable of, but we didn't come
and do that in the second half."
On whether he felt he had to carry the burden with Toby Gerhart out...
Kimble: "Yeah, definitely. I hear everyone
talking, you know, we can't run without Toby playing, and so I took it on my
shoulders. He's a great back and it's definitely going to help when he gets
back, but I felt a lot of pressure to perform tonight with him out."
On the feeling going up by ten...
Kimble: "I always feel like we can win. Being
up ten, Oregon's a real good team, that's a real good feeling, but we got to
come out and perform in the second half."
On his 60-yard touchdown run...
Kimble: "It was great blocking, great blocking
up front. Ben Ladner came through and had a great hit on the fullback, great
blocking downfield by the receivers. Evan, I think it was, had a great block on
the safety, so I just hit the hole, followed my blocks and got
there."
On running left...
Kimble: "We have got confidence in each side of
our line. We have got good players on the line, they've been doing a great job
this year. Their left side, their alignment made us audible to a lot of things
to the left. It's more a function of their defense, we have equal confidence in
both sides of our line."
Tight End Ben Ladner (#45)
Ladner: "Next week, we got to fight twice as
hard. We were down 14-0, we fought back to be up at the half 31-24. We got to
bring that fight to the second half next week. We gotta play for four
quarters."
On whether they could build on this...
Ladner: Definitely, absolutely. To come back like we
did in the first half, I don't think anyone on our sideline was thinking this,
but I'm sure people in the stands were thinking when they run that first play
from scrimmage, touchdown. I'm sure people are going, 'oh, another year.'
Whatever. But we weren't thinking that, and to fight back from that and to play
the first half the way we did is definitely something we can build on. Like I
said, we got to bring that fight to the second half against Arizona State next
week."
On the feeling of being ahead by 10 points...
Ladner: "It was the best feeling I've had
playing football here, bar none. I guess a team like Oregon, to be playing like
that, to go into halftime up seven, probably should have been up 10, it was
exhilarating."
On whether he expected Oregon to come our strong in the
second half...
Ladner: "What are they, number 13 in the
country? They're number 13 for a reason. They have incredible players, Dennis Dixon, Jonathan Stewart. We knew they were going to come out fighting. We knew
they were going to make adjustments, like they did. We just gotta play
better."
On Oregon's stop of Kimble on fourth and inches...
Ladner: "That was big. That was big. I mean, I
don't know what to say. It was big."
Free Safety Bo McNally (#22)
McNally: "Our defense really we picked it up in the second
quarter, but we just killed ourselves. Not to take anything away from Oregon, I
mean they have a great quarterback, explosive backs, but most of they stuff they
got, we gave it to them with mental mistakes, blown coverages or not staying in
our gap. That was pretty consistent throughout the game for us. We didn't come
with the right mindset on defense."
On whether the Cardinal ran out of gas...
McNally: "I don't think that was it. We played
really hard, and I don't think we played any less hard in the second half than
in the first half. I just think we weren't consistent in our responsibilities,
didn't do our jobs right."
On the excitement of the student section and a halftime
lead...
McNally: "We were excited. We were ready to go.
You know, it's great having fans. I love our fans, the student section was
awesome the whole game. Hopefully we can put up better performances for them and
make it worth their while to be here."
On whether they can build on the comeback...
McNally: "You know, like I said, we can build
on this just because we know they weren't necessarily that much better of a team
than we are. We gave it to them. We just need to build on the foundation of our
defense, which is attitude, effort and enthusiasm, and just play hard and never
give up. Unrelenting effort can fix a lot of things, so we just need to fix our
mistakes and get back to it."
Quarterback T.C. Ostrander
(#13)
Ostrander: "We came out and we showed we could
play with them. And they're a good team, we showed what we could do. But great
teams play a full football game. And I'm not doubting our effort at all, I
thought we played hard the entire time, I just think that great teams step up
their level of play when the time calls for it. We just need to execute better.
We need to execute better a lot in the second half."
On the reason for the poor execution in the second half...
Ostrander: "You know, that's a question I
really can't answer. I think it's one of those things where we have to have that
killer instinct. We come out that first drive, we have to put it in for a score
and really break their back. We just never got the ball rolling in the second
half."
On the fourth down stuff of Kimble...
Ostrander: "I mean, I like the call. We like to
be on the field. I think we thought we could get it the entire time. We ran that
play a couple of times before, it worked for us. Oregon did a good job of
getting to the gaps and stymieing us. I thought that was unfortunate, but I was
happy we went for it."
On whether they ran out of gas in the second half...
Ostrander: "No. I don't think our conditioning
had anything to do with it. I think we're one of the best-conditioned teams in
the country. I wasn't tired, looking at our guys, I don't think they were tired.
We just didn't know when to strike. It's great that we were up by 10 in the
first half, but we've got to keep that rolling."
On not collapsing, but fighting back from 21-3...
Ostrander: "For us, that's a big thing. For us,
one of the problems the last few years here has been that we haven't reacted to
adversity well and that reversed it right there. The fact that we came back and
took a lead is a testament to the new attitude of the team. But you've got to
play four quarters of football."
On his physical status...
Ostrander: "I'm fine, just a little sore.
Nothing major."
Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
On what he'll remember from this night...
Harbaugh: "How our guys fought. It was one heck
of a second quarter, I don't think I've ever been a part of any more exciting of
a second quarter in my entire life. But disappointed, too. We didn't have a
second half, especially offensively. I wish we would have had more form in the
second half, and we would have executed better in the second half."
On the difference between the two halves...
Harbaugh: "Just what I said. I wish that we
would have had more form and I wish that we would have executed better. Those
two things."
On the fourth down stuff of Kimble...
Harbaugh: "That put the defense in a bad
situation, not picking up fourth and about an inch. I just felt that we needed
to take some swings. (pause). In hindsight, I probably should have gone for the
fourth-and-five the series before and not gone for the fourth-and-inches, but we
punted on fourth-and-five and they took it 85 and we didn't get it on fourth-and-inches and they took it 40. Same result both ways."
On the energy in the stadium...
Harbaugh: "That was as much energy as I've seen
our guys with. That fighting spirit, I was pleased, pleased with the way they
fought. I told them we're not going to hang our heads, we're going to come back
tomorrow and stay with it, stay on this journey we're on."
On whether coming back from 18 is a building point...
Harbaugh: "Oh, no question. No question. We'll
build on it. There's no turning back."
On the health of Allen Smith after walking off with
crutches...
Harbaugh: "We'll see. We'll evaluate at noon
tomorrow."
On Kimble's performance...
Harbaugh: "I thought he played great. One of
the touchdown passes, the one to Bradford right before the half, he had a great
block on a nose tackle. He did a lot of great things. Really impressed with how
hard he ran and the way he blocked."
Are you fully subscribed to The Bootleg?
If not, then you are missing out on all the top Cardinal coverage we provide
daily on our website, as well as our full-length feature articles in our glossy
magazine. Sign up today for the biggest and best in Stanford sports coverage
with TheBootleg.com (sign-up)
and The Bootleg Magazine (sign-up)!