Oct. 2, 2010
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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Post-game quotes from head coach Bret Bielema, defensive end J.J. Watt, running back John Clay, punter Brad Nortman and safety Aaron Henry following Wisconsin's 34-24 loss at Michigan State.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bret Bielema
Opening statement:
"First off, I want to give credit to Michigan State. They played great football for all four quarters and were able to reap the rewards because of it. On behalf of me and our football family in Wisconsin, we want to give Coach Dantonio our thoughts. He is going through a difficult time, but he has a very good football team, so that should make him feel a little better.
"I just told our guys in the locker room, and this is no disrespect to Michigan State, that they got beat by a football team that played better than they did. That is an important point for us to use to move forward. We are a team that if we do things uncharacteristic of what we are, we are going to meet failure and not have success in critical situations. Times like this reinforce what you believe in and what you feel will help you have success.
"There were enough negative things out there, and I knew going into this game that third downs were going to be critical. We gave up a big hit in the return game, which led to a touchdown and also a kickoff return that bottled up and came back outside, those were two huge momentum changers. In the second half we came out and scored right away. I felt good about where we were and we made a goal line stand but we weren’t able to convert on the goal line. We did enough good things to just keep staying in the game, but eventually we couldn’t come out on top."
On how it feels to get beat by a very similar team:
"We have had it in our minds all week that MSU is very similar to us. But, there are a certain amount of things that we have to take within. If you don’t do what we believe in, and we can’t execute those things we believe in, you are going to have negative results."
On why Wisconsin strayed from how it usually plays:
"Well there were some individual things that ended up being team things in the end. If something goes wrong, you can pinpoint it to that person - but there are 11 guys on the field that are considered to be one unit. A lot of times you can’t point it to one specific person or mistake. There were enough negative ones today that ended up in a defeat."
On running back James White’s performance:
"I thought he did a good job all day. I thought we had some big hits that he took advantage of. There was one play where they throttled it, but then it was bounced outside. I thought he did a nice change up for us. For us to move forward we just need to run the ball effectively against good run defenses. MSU is one of those teams and we had mixed results."
On if MSU used Coach Dantonio as motivation:
"That is probably something you should ask them. But, we knew they would come out in the first quarter, as every team does, and we had to persevere. That’s why I liked it when we gave up the field goal, but then came back and went up 7-3. After that punt return swung the momentum back to their side, it was tough to regain it. At halftime when we were down by 10, I told our guys 'hey, you’re down by 10 and you didn’t play good football whatsoever.' But, bottom-line it was just great execution on MSU’s part."
Junior Defensive End J.J. Watt
On how Wisconsin played:
"At the end of the day, we didn’t play too well fundamentally, and that’s going to get you beat. It’s not a thing of we don’t know how to play fundamentally, or we didn’t practice it, it’s just the way the cookie crumbled today. It was a tough day for us overall."
How the non-conference schedule prepared them for Big Ten play:
"I think it did [prepare us for the Big Ten schedule]. And I think our practices do as well. We see the Wisconsin offense every day, and they see the Wisconsin defense every day. There’s no better preparation than that, there’s definitely no issues with lack of preparation."
On getting to MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins:
"We fought as hard as we could to get to the quarterback, we got to him a few times today, but obviously we’d like to get to him a couple more. We did everything we could."
Junior Punter Brad Nortman
On the punt Keshawn Martin returned for a touchdown:
"I just miss-hit it. It was going with the wind that time, and I tried to kick it too hard. It was just too low for a returner like that and he made us pay."
On having only a couple plays to make an impression:
"Yeah, it’s just too bad that so little of opportunities tend to define you. Those are two punts I would love to have back, it was tough weather conditions out there, and I hit a couple well, a couple not too well."
Junior Safety Aaron Henry
On Michigan State’s offense:
"It was just a matter of them making more plays than we did. We thought we had them set up where we wanted to every single time, but they converted. Sometimes, could we have been in a little better position? Of course. As you guys know, football is a game of inches and we just happened to come up a little bit short."
On the Mark Dell touchdown:
"I definitely thought he bobbled it. I guess I didn’t have the greatest view of it, but after he caught it, I saw him spin around and he was juggling it. When he turned around to give it back to the ref he was juggling it a little bit. So from my point of view I definitely thought he bobbled it. I was the main person throwing up the bobble signal (to the coaches)."
On the first game of the Big Ten season:
"The (intensity) increased. For the first four games, Arizona State was pretty tough, but this Big Ten season is a whole new ball game. This is what can put us in a position to have a great season, or not have a good season. Unfortunately we started out on the losing end."
Junior Running Back John Clay
On the frustrations of today’s game:
"We know we have the guys to go out there and compete. We started slow in the first half and the second half, we started picking up - but by the time we started clicking, the game was over."
On trying to plug the middle on the run game:
"Yeah they know our strength is our run game. They started loading the box to stop the run game. We were able to work around that in the second half by getting the ball out on the perimeter, it helped us out more."
On Michigan State’s last drive:
"Yeah it was frustrating. They were eating up the clock, doing what they wanted to offensively. We were just trying to get a second chance out there and hopefully get a scoring drive."
