Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Akron
Sept. 10, 2016
Camp Randall Stadium - Madison, Wis.

Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst
OPENING STATEMENT: I'm proud of the effort that the kids put in all week and coaches to get us this win. And I had a lot of respect for Akron coming into the game and still have a lot of respect for their team and their coaching staff.

I thought our kids did some good things. We were able to run the ball early and I thought did a better job on third down, certainly defensively. Again, made a lot of big plays. I looked up one time and the time of possession was really tilted -- I thought a big play in the game was D.T. (Derrick Tindal) that had that one run and that was a good back, and came in and broke some tackles. Guys just kept playing and D.T. punched it out, and Soj (Sojourn Shelton) picked it up.

I thought another big sequence was when we went for it on fourth and didn't get it, and defensively we were able to get a safety out of it. I thought guys played off of each other and there were some good things today.

Q. You mentioned it during the week that you didn't anticipate there would be a letdown. But I'm still curious, a day like today when Clemson struggles, Georgia struggles at home against a lesser team, Oklahoma State loses at home, are you encouraged to see the fact that your guys were able to execute enough where you didn't have to sweat anything out at least for the most part of the second half, particularly the fourth quarter?
PAUL CHRYST: You always are. Yet we've just got to keep talking to this team. These are limited opportunities you get, and I think you've got to learn to appreciate each opportunity. I thought for the most part the kids did that today.

And I understand what you're saying. All we've got to focus on is ourselves and maximize each opportunity. We get six of these to play in Camp Randall. You know one's over, so...

But I did think during the week the kids did a good job. That's easier said than done to ignore that outside noise, and we had enough other natural things, the change in the schedule and school starting, so they're going to be busy in different ways. So I'm very appreciative of the way the kids handled themselves during the week in preparation and then come out today and play.

Q. Do you feel like you have two consistent receiver threats with Rob (Wheelwright) and Jazz (Peavy), and how much do those guys open up the offense?
PAUL CHRYST: Time will tell, right? I thought both played well. Rob's couple of those just came off the little run-pass option. I thought Jazz did a nice job of blocking on it and came up with some big plays, both of them, and we need that. We're still, I think, finding our identity on offense. I thought Bart (Houston) made some nice throws today, and I thought even when Alex (Hornibrook) came in, made some good throws. So we've got to just keep working to get better.

Q. Coach, late in the third quarter there Brett Connors went into center and (Michael) Deiter moved over to left guard. What was the reason moving Deiter over, rather than bringing someone like (Micah) Kapoi at left guard?
PAUL CHRYST: I just think where guys have been kind of -- Brett's taken a lot of snaps at center, and Michael been able to do both. And we want to give Jon Dietzen a little bit of a break, so that was the reason for that.

Q. Paul, Corey (Clement) carried the ball 21 times in the first half and got you 100-plus. Is that what you need from him?
PAUL CHRYST: I think we do. We think that we've got -- we're starting to grow and got some back. But Corey's got to be, I think he's got to be the guy that you can put it on his shoulders. It was good today to get some work also though for Taiwan (Deal). And Bradrick (Shaw) did a nice job at the end, ran hard, but certainly Corey's got to be that guy that we can get him in the 20s at least on the carries.

Q. Could he have played in the second half? Is that anything? His ankle, is there anything there?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I don't know for certain on that. I thought we were able to with the score and all that, we were able to be a little bit overprotective, maybe. But I don't know for sure.

Q. Coach, can you assess your defense today not allowing a touchdown?
PAUL CHRYST: I mean, you're always proud of that. We knew we were going to be challenged a little bit differently. I thought we did a good job on a lot of the balls. We certainly had some penalties. Seemed like every deep ball was going to be one of those. We had one go in our favor.

But I thought we did a good job. We have a lot of respect for the run game coming in, not just the running back, the quarterback. I thought we did a decent job in the big run that the kid had that we ended up getting the strip or punched the ball out on the fumble. So a lot of good things from him. Yet I think we still can get better.

Q. You were able to get T.J. Edwards in today. When did you know he'd be able to play? Was part of it wanting to get him to some live work before Big Ten play so he'd be up to speed by then?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, T.J. had been progressing and was able to go through a full week of practice. And I don't know if it's get him that work before. You just want him to progress. I think the way it's playing out, we'll see.

Talked to him really quick afterwards and it seemed like no setbacks certainly that I gathered from him. So it's been -- he's a really good football player. It takes time, I think, for him to get back into it. And he did a lot of work to get himself ready, but riding a bike and being on the treadmill and all of that is different than playing football. So I think he's still going.

I thought Ryan Connelly had a couple big plays, and that was good to see. We've just got to keep -- I think this team, we're doing some stuff that's good, but we've got to keep growing.

Q. Coach, you touched on Houston a little bit. Looked like he missed a couple throws early, but he settled in. Is that what you saw him, kind of coming into this game plan?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, he did, and I appreciate the way he's competing and took to heart some of the areas that he knew that he could get better at and grow from. So I like that, and there are. I mean, there always will be stuff where you can make sure you're trying to be perfect. It's hard to reach that. Probably never will. But I think anything less than striving for that, you're short changing yourself.

So I appreciate what he's done and how he's going about it. He made some big throws, too. Yeah, there were a couple he wants back.

Q. You guys were one of the better teams in the country at covering kicks last year. What can your guys learn from what happened on the punt return touchdown today?
PAUL CHRYST: I mean, you're always learning. It takes everyone. Those are big swings of momentum, so there's going to be areas in every phase, special teams we're talking, but we can be better and we've got to get better.

Q. You never know what you're going to get from a freshman quarterback in his debut. Could Alex have done much better than what he showed today?
PAUL CHRYST: I thought it was pretty good. I thought Quintez (Cephus) made a heck of a catch on the one. It was on our sideline, and I thought he did a nice job of staying in and the big third down conversion. He hit A.J. (Taylor) on the corner route. That was a pretty good job by him seeing it. I thought he did some good stuff. It was good to get him some meaningful reps.

Q. I'm not sure how you classify (Olive) Sagapolu as a fullback, tight end or jumbo, but where did that come from? Is that something you want to use in the future?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, there's a guy that has done a lot for us, and I think it was Rudy's (Joe Rudolph) way of telling him we appreciate him on field goal PAT, and it was good.

Q. How encouraging was it to see a better conversion rate on third down offensively today than last week?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, we couldn't be much worse than we were last week. It was good. We had more manageable ones, but I thought third down if you're going to win games, you've got to be good on third down. I thought defensively one point it was at 1-for-10 or something and that was good. When you get in the red zone, you've got to score. It was good at the end of the half and guys keeping him out of the end zone. So we've just got to keep working.

Q. A little bit off the beaten track, but I know you were involved with Blake Mielke and his brother, Brock, and that great outreach that you had. Could you put into perspective what that meant? It was really cool to see what you and your staff and the kids did for those youngsters.
PAUL CHRYST: That was one of our better days. Anytime that you're doing something -- I think we were really the ones that received the most out of it. It was fun for me just to sit back and see our kids interacting with the campers. There's a lot of lessons that we took away and hopefully provided for some youngsters and their families that evening. I think that was done and that was fun.

It was a good day. It was the first week we came back in the summer, and it was a great way to start the summer.

Senior RB Corey Clement
On if he would have played in the second half if the game were closer:
"I would have played if it was closer, but seeing that we were up by a lot, why risk it turning into a bigger injury. I've dealt with injuries in the past and I know it's nothing to play with, so I really had to be mature about the situation. It's not about being selfish and being greedy as to how many more carries I do want in the game. I had to really sit back and let other guys take the load. And I'll be back for next week."
 
On rushing for 111 yards:
"I feel great! These opportunities are really slim, when you think about it for Division I football and especially playing running back. I try to take every opportunity, every carry, and just not take it to the house but at least get a first down for my team."
 
On setting the tone early for the game:
"I believe it starts with everybody up front, especially on the defensive side. You've got to thank those guys too. T.J. (Watt) and Vince (Biegel), the defense really stepped up. It was kind of getting a bit wishy washy as they came back with the punt return, so we had to kick it in gear. Those are the things we have to capitalize in practice and show going forward throughout the season."
 
On not converting on the fourth down:
"Like I said, you've got to take every opportunity you get and coach says that at the end of every game. Coming across ones isn't easy and I just try to take every opportunity because I know the coaches depend on me to get, especially if we're three yards out from the end zone and I've got to do that. I do hate myself a little bit for that but I got plenty more chances to keep doing it and get it in the end zone."
 
Redshirt Senior QB Bart Houston
On his several completed passes with Jazz Peavy:
"Jazz had a great game, and this week Akron decided to double-team Fum (Troy Fumagalli). I probably would have done the same, but we have a lot of weapons out there on offense and this week was Jazz's turn. I don't know about next week, maybe Rob (Wheelwright)'s, or Fum again or Jazz again. We don't know but it feels good that we have a lot of weapons on our offense."
 
On Corey Clement's dominant play in the first half:
"It's good. I think the first seven plays were the same play, just right and left. It feels really good when you just march down the field. If we can run the ball all the time, why not?"
 
Junior OLB T.J. Watt
On the defense as a whole:
"Oh yeah, definitely very happy. I wish we could have got out there a little bit more. I saw time of possession, offense had the ball a lot of the game. Obviously that's good for our defense. It was fun to come out and execute against a great team like that, especially with an A-rate offense like that. I think it went pretty well."
 
On signs that the defense is growing together:
"Obviously it happens throughout the practices so it's not surprising to us to see the guys in the back making the plays, the strip attempts. It happens all the time in practice. But those are the things you want to do. You want to make stops on third downs, you also want to create turnovers and I think we did that today."
 
On not having a letdown in week two:
"It's huge, especially coming off of a huge win against LSU. We didn't want to show that we were too excited and thinking about last week. We wanted to go and move on to Akron, and we're going to do the same thing next week here."
 
On getting his first career sack:
"It was huge, I was stressing over it, I'm not going to lie. Especially after that first half I wanted to get that sack so bad. To finally get it and get it under my belt, that's huge for me. It builds confidence and I'm looking forward to getting more."

Sophomore NT Olive Sagapolu
On the defensive play:
"I thought our defense today was outstanding. It was the little things that we had to work on coming out of the first half, but when we go out, we went out to take them down and that's what we did.
 
On handling another run-focused team:
"That's what we were coached for during the week as the week progressed, they taught us what kind of stuff we had to prep for. Creating turnovers was the number one thing, and we got that big turnover which helped our offense put some points on the board."
 
On if the team felt like it physically and mentally wore down Akron:
"I feel like we did, but it's just the preparation that we had during the week, how much the coaches preach to play physical football, and that's what our offense and defense did today."
 
On coming off a big win against LSU and taking care of business:
"When it comes down to it we just play hard-nosed football. We play physical, our defense is known for it. So coming out this week we just had the mentality to have fun, play the ball, and knock anybody who's in the way."
 
Freshman QB Alex Hornibrook
On his collegiate debut:
"I was happy I got to get in there at the end, it was really fun being out there with the guys. It wasn't like I got thrown in during a tied game or anything, we kind of had a good lead so it was a little less pressure than if it were a different scenario."
 
On how the offense performed during his time on the field:
"It was good. We had Troy Fumagalli and Quintez Cephus, they both saved me on a couple passes with their diving catches. The O-line was doing well when I was with them, they moved the ball well."

On seeing other freshmen getting playing time:
"It's awesome to see those guys play, they have a lot of talent. They're in there playing and making a lot of plays, so I'm really happy about that.
 
Senior S Leo Musso
On Akron's offensive pressure:
"It was one of those things that was a great test for our defensive backs. It was different from LSU, where LSU condensed, Akron tried to use the whole field, so a great test for us."
 
On where the defense is at after two games:
"We're a defense who's always hungry to get better. We'll never tell you that we played our best game, there's always things we can improve on. But I think as we become one, it's all about the communication and how much fun we have out there, and I think that's what everybody is seeing."
 
On worrying if there would be a letdown after the LSU upset:
"You just go about your business. Obviously we weren't slotted to win against LSU, but that doesn't change the way that we game-plan. Every team in the country prepares to win, and that's just one of those things where we went out and played our game."

Junior DE Alec James
On the game plan going into this week:
"I think it's more just trusting in our preparation and believing in our coaching and what they have planned for us. It was a real big week especially coming off the big win against LSU, and just focusing because any team can beat you on any given day, and just like I said, trusting in the preparation."
 
When the crowd is going nuts:
"Whenever the crowd is involved it's crazy. The mentality you have when you have them backed up, you want to stop them and get those two points for the offense."
 
On the safety:
They slid pretty hard on the line and I backdoor-ed it, and my teammates made him step up and I was just there to make the play. It's really more a credit to them than it was to me, I was just there to make the play.
 
Junior CB Derrick Tindal
On knocking the ball out to force a fumble in the first half:
"We are very big on turnovers, and if we win the turnover margin then we most likely win the game so I just saw he was holding the ball with no ball security and I was thinking I should punch it."
 
On the defense creating turnovers:
"We have a lot of pride, it's not that big though; we already knew what we came here to do. We came into the season expecting to execute and we execute in practice all the time so now we just have to bring it over to the field."
 
Challenge of Akron's passing game:
"They challenged us more, but I felt like we held our own pretty well. They had great receivers but we were just staying in our technique and it was working for us."
 
Sophomore OL Michael Deiter
On George Panos retiring:
"He battled as hard as he could, his shoulder, I don't know if he ever would've been able to make it work, but we respect his decision. He was my roommate and we talk a lot about it, he was probably definitely the biggest help for me. Health wise, it just gives other guys opportunities to play.
 
On what this balanced offense can be:
It is definitely what we want to be, what we are striving to be week in and week out. Not too run heavy and not too pass heavy, a good balanced offense is obviously what you want to be. I felt that we did a good job of that today but we have to do that week in and week out.

Akron Head Coach Terry Bowden
Opening statement:
COACH BOWDEN: "We lost to a really good football team. I don't think LSU getting beat by them was a fluke last week and having coached at Auburn six times against LSU I know that. I said last week that you've got to be a physical football team to beat LSU. I was worried that we couldn't match up physically against Wisconsin and we couldn't. Our offense couldn't keep their offense off the field and our defense couldn't keep their offense off the field. We might have made a few big plays early, which we thought we'd have to do, we might have got them on a couple of stops, that may have made it a little more interesting, but I don't think that would have changed the score or the outcome of this game. They physically were unable to handle them up front and we couldn't get them off the field. Offense, we couldn't stay on long enough to keep them off the field that way either. We had a plan, and it would have taken a few other things for us being able to do, but they were dominant enough in the trenches on both sides of the ball that we couldn't quite get it done."

On UW dominating the time of possession:
COACH BOWDEN: "The way they play, that's what they're going to do. LSU is the one team that will try to play that game with them. They were able to dominate by getting them off the field. That's the way they play—they huddle up and they stay with their game plan.  Time of possession is critical as long as you're scoring touchdowns at the end of those possessions. If you don't score touchdowns at the end of those possessions, all you're doing is letting someone else stay close to you. To me, it's the way they play football and they do it really good. Time of possession, when you're running the football like they do and scoring touchdowns, time of possession is part of the deal. Their defense is always fresh, their offense the momentum keeps going and they're very good at it."

On Akron's turnovers in the first half:
COACH BOWDEN: "We needed to make some big plays. They play cover one a lot, that's the style of play--man coverage—and so we had to make a few plays deep. One of the very first plays, when we threw the ball, we kind of hit the back of our receiver, and maybe if he catches that we could do something. But when you look back at the game, things could have changed that moment of the game, but I don't think we could have changed the outcome of the game. But that's what we knew we had to do. Upfront, because they play cover one, they can put enough people to stop our running game and we would have to hit some plays and then our defense would have to get a couple of stops. We took a safety, we stopped them the second drive, and then got the ball to the 2-yard line and instead of at least punting it we got a safety and that kind of got us down a little bit further. You can draw up all the little circumstances in the game that could've made it more interesting for a while, but I'm not sure we could have changed the outcome."

On JoJo Natson's punt return:
COACH BOWDEN: "We told our team that with big upsets or big games where it goes the other way, it's because something happens and momentum changes. Something happens to inspire our team, somebody does something big, and JoJo's punt return for a touchdown and when we caught a deep pass to kick a field goal right before halftime, so we had some things happen but we would have needed more of those to happen or maybe it needed to happen earlier. It did give us a little spark, but I think what I keep referring back to as I look back at the game now that it's over, the way that they were able to do what they did, I'm not sure that we would have been able to change that. Our guys played hard and this was not our day today."

On UW's front seven:
COACH BOWDEN: "They're really good at stopping the run. They were great last year at doing it, when I watched the LSU game and how they played, their front seven was very good at stopping the run. I'm old for a coach, and they remind me of Nebraska of the 80s and 90s. They develop players in this program, and those kids develop and they're Wisconsin guys and they bleed the Wisconsin colors. They just remind me of a team that looks like they develop their type of player and they win their type of football games."

On what his team can take away from the game:
COACH BOWDEN: "I try to have a plan for whatever happens. We lost to Oklahoma about the exact same score last year and we had the first eight-win season in Akron's history and the first bowl win in Akron's history. Our goal is to win the conference and win more games than last year and to go to a bowl. This is a huge opportunity for our kids and I wished we would have played better and the score didn't look like it was, but Madison is about as good of a college town that the kids can come in to and it was a great experience. It was a wonderful crowd, everything was just a part of what college football is about. In spite of the fact that we got beat 56-10, it was something that Madison has to be real proud of what they got here. Everyone's been waiting to get the jump around, I really wasn't looking forward to it because the score was pretty much out of hand by the time it came up, but it's part of Wisconsin and everyone knows it's going to come somewhere. It's part of their pageantry. It's a pretty special place."