David Shaw Post Game Press Conference following Stanford’s victory over Notre Dame

David Shaw addressed the media following the Stanford vs. Notre Dame game and spoke on a variety of topics. This one quote sums up the team’s approach to the game particularly in the second half:

“For us the second half mantra that we continued to say was ‘keep playing hard and good things happen’. Just keep playing hard. Don’t worry about the last play. Don’t worry about the mistake you just made. Just keep playing hard. We started to feel on the sidelines that feeling we haven’t felt in a month that feeling of confidence and energy and passion. Guys just played hard. They played hard to the end, even when they were moving the ball we believed and trusted. We said there is no time to be tired, we can’t be tired. It is time to play our best football. Thankfully at the end of the game guys made plays to win the game”

Coach Shaw also spoke about the offense and how the fact that they are, in his estimation, not playing up to their capabilities and how frustrating that can be.

“Offensively, the inefficiency drives me nuts. Drives me nuts. We could be so much better. We moved the ball probably better than we have all year and we had a missed field goal and two turnovers. It’s unacceptable, its unacceptable. Our quarterback position right now we did not play well. We’ve been growing, and both guys have been learning and growing each week but we did not play well this week. That’s the bottom line, that’s just the truth, and both guys can play better.”

Shaw was also quick to point out the stellar job on defense crediting coach Lance Anderson for the superb job his defensive unit did on Saturday night in a hostile environment against a fantastic offense. Coming into Saturday night against Stanford the Notre Dame offense was averaging about 40 points per game when not playing in hurricane weather conditions. The ailing Stanford defense was able to contain the Irish to just 10 points while putting up 9 points on the board themselves.

“Defensively, we won the game. Lance Anderson did a phenomenal job, and the defensive coaching staff, getting turnovers, standing up when we needed them to, pressuring the quarterback pretty much more so than we have outside of one other game the entire year. We played really well.”

Regarding Christian McCaffrey, Shaw said they had planned all week to test him on Friday. If McCaffrey could go full speed on Friday then he would play. Unfortunately McCaffrey could not go full speed on Friday so Shaw decided to keep him out of action. McCaffrey will still be labeled as questionable for next week’s game against Colorado. Once again Stanford will take McCaffrey’s health day to day before determining when he’ll be back.

Shaw said of Bryce Love that he is an “every down back” but that this week was just the first time the rest of the world had the opportunity to see it. Shaw said he was not surprised by Love’s performance tonight. Coach Shaw also said he thinks that Stanford has the best 1-2 punch at running back in the nation and he hopes to be able to show that off more moving forward.

You can watch the full press conference below:

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