Bielema Addresses Media Monday
November 06, 2006 | Football
University of Wisconsin head football coach Bret Bielema addressed the media Monday afternoon to answer questions about the team's game against Iowa this Saturday in Iowa City.
A complete transcription of the news conference follows below. A video archive of the news conference can be found by clicking on the red "Audio/Video" link on the left side of the page.
BRET BIELEMA: On Saturday, it felt we had an opportunity to play in a program that 's nationally respected from coast to coast in college football under the entire team effort to get that win, offense, defense, and special teams. An unfortunate event happened during the course of the game with Coach Paterno's injury, and we just want to take this opportunity to offer our Badger well wishes, getting him on his road to recovery.
The players that we recognize for special efforts on Saturday offensively, Marcus Coleman, who came into the season as a (first-time starter) . . . and he does not have a lot of experience during the game . . . (he's done a great) job all year long. He played on of his best games of the year. In addition, he and Paul Hubbard on the offense side of the football.
Defensively, the players of the week award went to DeAndre Levy, in addition to Roderick Rogers. Our special teams award went to Johnny White. Johnny White is a senior who is going through his last year of competition and shows an unselfish attitude and behavior in his ability to go out there and do what we ask him to do. If you watch him on our punt return unit, he did a tremendous job all day long as he has all season. Our offense (scout player of the week) went to John Moffitt. Our defense (scout player of the week) award went to Culmer St. Jean, a linebacker. With that, I'll take any questions.
QUESTION #1: As to be clear, has anything changed with Stocco's status or your willingness to talk about him'
BIELEMA: Has anything changed with Stocco' You mean is he going to be available to you'
I've been available to talk about it. I talked about it Saturday at the game, and I'll talk about it now. John Stocco was injured during the course of the game, and he'll be evaluated every day. About the signs coming out of the doctor 's voice yesterday were very encouraging for us. And going into the week, we don 't practice on Mondays. I didn't actually have any practice time on the field Sunday. So whether or not he'll be available Tuesday will be determined as we go.
QUESTION #2: But was the staff aware of his, that he was hurt late in the third quarter when he was sent back out to the field in the fourth quarter'
BIELEMA: John was injured in on a play in the middle of the third quarter. They . . . basically made an evaluation on the sidelines at the time of his ability to function as a quarterback. John felt comfortable, and everybody did. Otherwise, we wouldn't have put him back out on the field. But, unfortunately, later in the fourth quarter (he) again started to re-aggravate it, and that's when he was taken out of the game for the rest of the game.
QUESTION #3: Coach, Roderick Rogers has kind of had a quiet solid year at this point, but was this one as big as (he's had in his career)'
BIELEMA: We did, but I felt, going into the game that Penn State would do certain things on the ground and try to take advantage of the throwing game. At times, they probably went there a little bit more than we had expected. With that being said, that just probably puts our defensive action more of an opportunity, a little bit more of an opportunity to make plays. And for the most part, I think Roderick (and the way he) played was ' effective.
QUESTION #4: Bret, can you explain the magnitude of desire for your team to beat Iowa this weekend, and what that means to them, and how much it's kind of built up, you know, over the course of the (season)'
BIELEMA: Well, Jim, I told my team on Sunday, it's very well documented in my history, in my past with the University of Iowa, but the key word is the past history. And as we have gone about this season, it didn't matter who we were playing from Bowling Green in our first week to Penn State of last week, I'm a strong believer in, and the history is great to read about, but it really does not affect anything in the present or in the future. You control your own destiny. And this is another opportunity for our guys to go out and play against the University of Iowa football team that is on the field this year in Camp Randall and be able to execute the things as they've done all year long in order to get a victory and centered.
QUESTION #5: If John can't play, what have you seen this year, this camp, that look at the time that Tyler's gotten to play, and what makes you confident he can step in and do the job'
BIELEMA: That's a good question, Rob, and I think it goes back to as early as last week. We knew that John wasn't going to be able to finish the game, and we asked Tyler on the sideline what he felt comfortable with, and, you know, what he was able to do, and we knew he needed to go out and seal a victory for us as a football program, and he was able to do that.
And, again, some things that happened in the past that just come back as a learning experience was that injury John sustained during camp, and that put Tyler in the No. 1 position for really about two weeks going into the Bowling Green game as a starting quarterback. He handled that very well. An unfortunate thing that happens in college football is that as a two, you sit in every meeting that Tyler Donovan or that John Stocco and Paul Chryst ever had. Every film session that we have as coaches with our players, he's been able to experience that week in and week out.
I made a reference three weeks ago to when we had four games remaining on our schedule with it, at some point during the course of this season, our two's are going to be called into action. And when they are, they're going to be able to respond.
QUESTION #6: Your kickoffs before the half have gotten a lot of attention. Some people think you were kind of in the wrong there for doing that and breaking the rules without really breaking the rules. Can you just address that' Were you surprised by the attention it's gotten'
BIELEMA: Well, it's gotten attention. I'm sure it's a world that I'm not exposed to. You guys made it, I will, but the thing that I really enjoy is I'm hired here to win football games and graduate student athletes. With 24 seconds on the clock, I'm pretty sure what's going to affect our GPA. Whether or not I did what I did, but it could have a direct result when they're losing football games.
I don't necessarily agree with the rule the way that it's written, but I knew the rule, and I wanted to maximize it. What I had to do was put my team in a position to have success. What we wanted to do was put the ball in play, take as much time off the clock for the defense to take the field. Whether or not they would take a penalty at the end of the kick and start their offense, or would they make us re-kick it. They opted to re-kick it, so we were going to go back and do it again.
When that finally clicked off, and there was four seconds remaining, and one of the ideas of doing behind a squib kick is to be able to drill the ball down the middle of the field. And a lot of times, the ball then ends up in someone's hand that isn 't used to handling the football, which happened there, and they actually fumbled as the clock expired. So it worked out exactly as we had asked, or envisioned it. It was something we had practiced. My guess is because of the exposure that we got, there may be an adaptation for next year's rulebook, but until then, that's the rule as it stands.
QUESTION #7: Coach, Iowa has had a frustrating season. Do you expect to see them come out with maybe a little something extra'
BIELEMA: I totally expect a little something extra. The University of Iowa has been a team over time that has done very well. Their team has a lot pride and a lot of ability on the football field as well. Now their season may not have gone as planned, but I know from the time that game finished on Saturday to when we take the field this coming Saturday, they're going to be as well coached as anybody in the league and a head coach that knows exactly what he wants to do because of the experiences he's had. (Coach Ferentz has) got a sound staff around him. They have good players we probably compete against the University of Iowa, in particular in recruiting just as much as anybody that we do from coast to coast. So it's going to be an exciting game, and part of what makes college football that it is today.
QUESTION #8: You mentioned Marcus Coleman, Bret. And specifically about making line calls, how much more comfortable is he with that and . . . to the play of the line a little '
BIELEMA: Tom, I think it's been huge. Here's a guy that, it's much to saying it's not, but saying the context as a starting quarterback for the first time not having game experience. But the quarterback is in charge of putting you in calls at the line of scrimmage much the same as a linebacker or a . . . linebacker or a strong safety. And so he has a call in mind, but he has to put the front ogour offense personnel on the right call at the line of scrimmage. Sometimes that call could change based on stems, as well as disguises.
And now he gets helped'he gets help calls from the offensive tackle, the tight ends or even the quarterback, but Marcus Coleman is an example of someone who was on my TV show on Sunday. So when asked what our unsung heroes were, as a team, and I thought the first thing that came to my mind offensively was Marcus Coleman, a guy that has just worked very hard to get where he is, focuses really, really well during the course of the week, and is able to execute that on Saturday.
QUESTION #9: Bret, is it harder, or easier, or indifferent to coach against men you that know and respect so well'
BIELEMA: Well, during my short, brief career as a head coach, it's already happened on several different cases. It's just part of the way it is. Coach Alvarez, when he came in here, also had a time, certain schools that he had been in previously, the University of Iowa as well as some other places, and I don't think it really affected the way he game planned or approached things.
He knew that certain things were in order, and we had to do certain things to execute on Saturday, and that's not going to change. That's the great thing about college football. Every week, it's a 100-yard field, there's 11 out of 11, and the officials, for the most part, officiate the game the same week every week. So you have a consistent approach, a consistent attitude, you're going to have a consistent result.
QUESTION #10: Bret, how significant would it be to register 10 regular season victories and be only the second team to do that in school history' Is that any significance in your mind'
BIELEMA: Well, it's significant because of the history that's here, because of what Coach Alvarez was able to do over his course in time, and to be mentioned in the same breath as that would be a nice accomplishment for this team, but it's nothing that one individual did. It's something that we collectively did as a staff, as a program, as a group of young men that [inaudible] intent for the football game.
QUESTION #11: Aside from your history at Iowa, the seniors on this team have never beaten the Hawkeyes. Will that affect them personally'
BIELEMA: I think so. I think we really got a fair assessment. Our guys are very proud individuals. They like to carry things forward over time, and as we have approached different games during the course of this season, we've always made reference to would you rather play them or be bench men and be able to talk about it way down the line when you're getting together with your friends.
And they definitely have been on the receiving end of things the last few years, and I 'm sure it's going to provide an extra little motivation, but those things are all great. And I thought last Friday, when I gave an opportunity for some of our seniors to talk, and Joe Thomas made reference to, he got up and spoke in front of the team, and he didn't scream and yell and go in a rah-rah speech.
He basically said, `I really believe that if someone needs to have that type of motivation to play the game of football, they're probably not going to be very successful.' And that carries weight because I think right now, our guys have just got a plan in place that they just take every day for what it is, and they move forward and are able to have good results on Saturday.
QUESTION #12: Bret, there's been discussion from time to time about certain guys in the back half on the defense, like Stellmacher [inaudible] coaches tend to play . . . but overall, that unit, the defense, how high would you rate their football actually, how intelligent they are, they're able to adapt in certain ways'
BIELEMA: Jeff, I think our seniors and the ones you mentioned, you have to take Roderick Rogers and Joe Stellmacher, Mark Zalewski, Joe Monty, I don't know if I 've ever been around guys in they're respective positions that know as much football as they do. They're tremendous, those four guys. In particular, always seem to have the right answers.
The part that jumps out to me as a football coach is the corrections that they 're able to tell you during the course of the game. Sometimes kids, when they make a mistake, they don't necessarily want to always tell you exactly how it happened because they don't want to be corrected. These guys have no hesitation in telling you exactly what happened because all they want to do is win, and that does carry over.
And I've asked them to pass that along to our younger players, and it 's already started to show. I mean, there's a classic example on Saturday and the blocking scheme was with Jonathan Casillas. I think maybe at the beginning of the year doing it and just acting like he did, just to avoid getting maybe corrected in a certain way.
But right away, he knew that he made a mistake and talked about the read that was there. And then the next time it came, it was for a three-yard loss. So that's the part that I really enjoy because being a great leader is one thing, but being able to pass on leadership is another.
QUESTION #13: I'm pretty sure you've been consistent with this each week, no black and gold (tie) today'
BIELEMA: You got to go with what's clean. Just a very wise man, my first college coach, Bernie White, once told me, `if you don't look good, you got to dress good.' This is my only outfit for a tie today. Hopefully, it looks all right ' Denny, is it all right'
QUESTION #14: Back to Tyler Donovan . . . his first third down situation you called a pass in a tight game, or Paul Chryst did. Either way, is that a good example of the confidence you had in doing the passing game with Tyler'
BIELEMA: It is, and I know you guys have seen Tyler at the close of the Western Illinois game, one of the games that ended a little bit ugly. But that was a pretty significant crew that was in here. There was a lot of new faces in here with experience in college football for the first time.
And the thing that I really liked about Saturday is we grabbed Tyler before he went in there, and he has his starting offensive line in front of him. He has two tight ends that have caught a lot of footballs and wide receivers. He had two running backs there that have game experience.
Now it's your chance to insert with our No. 1 unit and show us what you can do. He made a great throw, and unfortunately, we got tackled short of the first down marker, but everybody thinks that we go through a different game plan or different approach jut because Tyler's in there. Tyler's been in every one of those meetings. He understands. He signals every play in. He goes through the course of the week as a starter from the sidelines and then gets his certain opportunities with it too.
So I think guys in our program want to be the guy that carries us forward, the next guy or the next man in. I make reference to Johnny White. I couldn't say enough about him on Sunday because he does such a great job for us on special teams. Stellie fortunately has been healthy throughout the course of the year.
And John hasn't been called into action, but he was a year ago in the Michigan game, a game that was one in the fourth quarter, two huge plays in that game were an interception by Johnny White and a caused fumble by Johnny White because he prepared a certain way during the course of the week, and I was able to use that reference in the season already.
QUESTION #15: Bret, when you look at the start of the season, and all the concerns, the people that had the issues that, surrounding this team, whether it be your status, the rebuilt offense, the new staff, what do you think was the most difficult to overcome to get to this point'
BIELEMA: The most difficult thing, and it probably was just the unknown, I mean, the unknown applies to certain kids that has never been on the field before. Obviously, young players playing football for their first time, and in college football, you never know how they're going to react. Certain things have been thrown at them during the course of the year, a little of adversity maybe in those first three games that we weren 't able to do things consistently for four quarters. And just to make sure they kept coming back, that's probably the biggest admiration I have for this team over the course of the season is how they just keep moving forward.
We haven't played a perfect, and not even close to being able to do that for four quarters, but they have kept moving forward. If there's an issue that we have, it's corrected, and moved forward. And that goes not only for my players, but my coaches too. I was sitting in an interview last week with a crew from the ABC, and they basically made reference, `Bret, you have seven new coaches out of nine guys that have never coached before, in addition to all the young players that you have.'
But one thing that you'll never hear from anybody in our program hopefully is an excuse or a way to reflect back on something. I doubt that I (ever) came into a meeting here and said to you guys, `hey, I'm a rookie coach, give me a break.' I don't think that would probably go over very well, and I don't want it to go over well in our program, and it doesn't.
QUESTION #16: Coach, you kind of said today history is history, the past is the past, but returning to Kinnick at this time, what do you think your emotions when you walk through as a head coach . . . and how special is that to you the first time'
BIELEMA: Well, you can take me on this one for what I say or better dig deeper, but one [inaudible] games, there will be no effect on me. There are certain things that anybody that's asked me for tickets this week that I've known from the University of Iowa before they're handed the tickets, they'll be wearing red and white, there's no doubt about that.
So there's certain things that come up, but my approach, or my attitude, or my game plan, or any of my coaches will not be affected one bit by my history. I will say after the game, like we went there in 2004. It was my first time returning to Kinnick Stadium as an opposing coach, there wasn't anything different.
I knew a couple guys that I said hi to, a couple of the [inaudible] guys, and I said hello to a few people, but other than that, there's no change. Now after the game, there will be certain emotions that come around. I'm sure that that won't be any different, but leading up to it is just another example of great, a great game of college football.
QUESTION #17: Did you like that Danny Kaye gave you in the extra tight end' I know you used a couple guys in that role, but especially in that one series where they were out there for a long time, what did you think you got out of that'
BIELEMA: Danny Kaye is a guy that has come in and has kind of always been in that number two role for the last few years, and we wanted him to understand last week, this was an opportunity, he was a starting tight end in that package, and he really took some pride in that during the course of the week and showed us that's apparently a package that we can expand upon.
QUESTION #18: Coach, obviously their quarterback has some pretty good numbers in Iowa. I mean, when you look at their quarterback Tate, what are you leery about'
BIELEMA: As you've seen Drew over the last couple years, he's a guy that probably can create things from nothing, and that's his biggest advantage as a quarterback. He's able to move around in the pocket, not necessarily to advance the ball forward himself, but stay alive and have an opportunity to throw the ball down the field.
Any time you have a competitor the way Drew competes on the field on Saturday, you 're going to be able to understand, he can change the game at any moment. It doesn 't matter where he is or what the offense is doing, he can change that momentum swing in a hurry.
QUESTION #19: Knock on wood here, but other than John and P.J., are you surprised at how injury free this team has stayed over the course of the year'
BIELEMA: It's been noted that we've been able to maintain a certain type of consistencies throughout the year, but I remember meeting with you guys at the beginning part of the season and talking about how many injuries we did have.
Everyday when we have our trainer come in and go through the injury report, guys that I see could be really, really helping us right now, guys like Chris Pressley, Marcus Randle El, Prince Moody as a corner for us; there's guys that we haven't had for the entire season, but that's just what college football is. If I sit around and mope about it, or think about it, or high five because they're not injured, you 're just setting yourself up for failure.
