Alvarez Speaks on the Badgers' Win Over Iowa
November 03, 2001 | Football
After the Badgers' 34-28 victory over Iowa Saturday afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium, coach Barry Alvarez addressed the media.
A partial transcript of the news conference follows.
Opening statement: "First of all, I thought that was a heck of a football game. I thought two teams really played hard and answered one another and really competed really hard for four quarters. I was really pleased with the way my guys played. The one thing I wanted going into this game was to play four quarters, to play four good quarters. We gave up some yards and gave up some easy plays on defense, yet down the stretch [the UW defense] answered with three straight three-and-outs to win the football game. I was really pleased the way they finished strong."
On QB Brooks Bollinger: "Offensively, I thought Brooks played with a lot of courage. He was hurt, I couldn't even tell you what percent he is at, yet he competed and didn't want us to change any play calling because of his injury. I really thought he played extremely hard and really competed. I'm just real proud of our guys. This gives us a chance, with the open date now, to get healthy and come back and try to finish up strong.'
Do you feel some relief with this win' 'It 's always good to win. Winning is good for the system. We've done a lot of good things and lost, but it's nice to have that win and feel good again and be able to enjoy it for a little bit.'
Thoughts on the fumble recoveries: 'I thought the fumbles were the key to the ball game. I don't think we had a turnover. One of the fumbles gives us seven points and the other fumble keeps them from getting points just before the half. Those were huge to knock the ball loose. Anything you can get in a shootout like that, when you can get a turnover and save points. And as I said, the last series, for our defense, when we held them, that was very good.'
Thoughts on defense: 'They've been playing well and I feel like the crowd really helped. That's a first-time starter at quarterback [for Iowa], that's a lot of pressure to put on him. I felt pretty good about it. I wasn't overly confident, let's put it that way, but our guys responded. I don't take anything for granted.'
