Oct. 9, 2010
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Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema
Opening Statement:
“I thought, going back to last Sunday, our guys were in a tough situation. They didn’t execute the things we asked last week, and they had to endure a week. Anytime you win, things kind of fly by but this week kind of crawled by and the kids focused on the details of what we do. The preparation that they put in put them in a position today.”
“In the first quarter, I really thought we came out doing some good things, offense, defense. Stubbed our toe a little in the second quarter and went in at halftime, and the coaches talked through some things, offense and defense. We really came out humming in the third quarter, and you know, (Minnesota has) a good offense. I respect Weber. He’s very, very good. He can change field position in a short amount of time. I thought out offense needed to grind it out, and that’s exactly what they did. I liked the turnover pregame again, the way they executed. We saw some guys come through. Nick [Toon] really stepped up. The two running backs, John Clay and James White, and even Montee [Ball] got in there at the end and delivered a little bit of anger. Lance Kendricks showed up a little bit today, and I know he showed up in our blocking game. I don’t know what his receiving statistics were.”
On the play of John Clay and James White:
“John, probably this week more so than ever before, looked really good in practice, and the result was what you saw today. James is very good at what he’s doing, too. Also, on third down for protection reasons and reception reasons, there’s a little bit of a set rotation there. I really just like that there’s a constant rolling through there. They’re the first ones to congratulate each other. It’s special.”
“James is good. I like the way he executes his business. He takes care of the football as well. James has great football IQ. I think that’s one part that really jumps out to you, that he really understands football.”
On winning seven in a row against Minnesota:
“You know, I think that anytime you come into this week, it’s about who can keep their composure. I think the players have to understand that there is a lot of emotion out there. We got a wind that they were going to change up their uniforms, so I pointed that out to the guys, made our guys understand that it’s about doing what you do. If you focus on the details that you’re training 365 days a year, nothing magical has to happen. You just go out and execute. For us at Wisconsin, that’s what we have to do.”
On the offensive line:
“Everybody wants to turn their attention to the backs, but for us, our offensive line is the key to our success. I’ve said this, even going back to fall camp, that those guys have established the leadership roles. I think that John Moffitt is a guy that when he speaks, everybody listens. Peter Konz gets a tremendous amount of respect. Billy Nagy, when we went with Zuleger, I know it was a way to get Billy in at the tight end position. I just love that because that’s getting our best players on the field.”
On third-down conversions:
“It’s a point of emphasis. It’s no different than fall camp. It’s just that last week, we didn’t execute it. That’s probably the biggest reason that we found defeat, was the third down ratio. We made a point of it this week. Our guys were talking about it all week. When third down came up on the field, it was good to see them execute.”
On facing Ohio State next week:
“We’ve got a tremendous challenge. You talk about Ohio State, they’ve been the premier (team) of our conference the last several years. They’ve been able to win close games, especially against us. We have a tremendous amount of respect for what they do. Jim Tressel, in this business, is as good as it gets. I think it’s a game for us, and me personally, of tremendous challenge, but it’s all out of respect. It’s not a hatred thing, or out of disrespect. I just really admire what they do. Until we’re able to surpass that and get a ‘W,’ that’s what we have to live with.”
On maintaining possession of Paul Bunyan’s Axe:
“It’s big. There are a lot of emotion things, recruiting, the border battle. I always get a kick out of this week. It’s a different week. I think it’s very important to anybody that loves Wisconsin, and we do. It’s great for the fans. I wish we could parade around 70,000 fans with that Axe because they’d love it.
Senior QB Scott Tolzien
On how his rhythm in the first quarter setting the tone for the rest of the game:
“The first quarter we got off to a good start and then we had three incompletions, two of them on third downs, and that kind of stalemated us a little bit. We need to find a way to keep the momentum going and keep our defense off the field. It’s still an area of improvement and we’re here to just keep getting better.”
On how today’s performance will help in next week’s game:
“Every game matters. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, but it certainly helps to get some momentum going into the Ohio State game. I think, most importantly, is to keep that momentum going this week in practice.”
On what it means as an upperclassman to keep the Axe:
“It means a lot, because that’s one of the first things you learn coming in as a recruit and then as a player. You’re preached the importance of keeping the Axe and you see how much it means to the people of Wisconsin and to this program. It’s really nice to keep it for five years.”
On what the team will need to do next week to win vs. Ohio State:
“We’re just going to have to play our best game up to this point. I think one thing that sticks out in my mind is you hear that great players step up in big games, and we just have to come out and be ready to play. We need to make plays. We know they’re going to make their share of plays and we just need to be able to match that.”
Senior WR David Gilreath
On hearing from friends and family back home in Minnesota leading up to this game:
“I actually have a lot of friends playing in the game. This year it was the most and I had a couple of guys from my high school out there today.”
On keeping the Axe all four years:
“That’s what I came here for. That’s what I had hoped for. They had a great team when I came here and that’s what I hoped for. That’s why I came here.”
On how important his 26-yard return was in his return:
“It was only 26 yards? It felt like about 40. It was cool. It was good to get a spark from halftime, to help the guys out there with our long drives and cut the field down a little for them.”
Freshman WR Jared Abbrederis
On how he feels about his performance:
“I was just honored to be out there, grateful to God, and just happy.”
On Nick Toon’s return:
“I think it took him a game to get used to it again after his two or three-game break in there. He played really well today along with all of our receivers. Isaac Anderson did a great job today, (David) Gilreath made some big plays.”
On his first touchdown catch:
"I saw that the safety was down and I knew the pass was coming out to me. I was really excited in my stance and I knew I just needed to go out there and execute the play. I caught it and ran to the end zone. I was so excited and just pointed up to God, thankful for the opportunities He’s given me.”
On what the team must do to win vs. Ohio State:
“We’ve played some great teams but obviously Ohio State is a step up. They’ve always been a top (team) in our conference. We just need to work hard this week. We’re going to have to go out there and play hard, practice well and play our game -- no intimidation factor. We’re going to have to go out there and do what we have to do.”
Junior RB John Clay
On his relationship with James White:
“Since the beginning of fall we knew he was a special guy. We all had different running abilities and I’m a power runner, he’s a speed guy, so being able to get out there and showcase that talent that was important.”
On how the dynamic of White and himself throws off the opponent:
“Well he’s a short guy and he’s able to use his agility to get yards and I’m a bigger guy so it’s hard for opponents to tackle me down, so it’s good to have that balance of power and agility. It definitely throws the other team off.”
On taking momentum into the Ohio State game:
“We feel really good, but you can give the credit to the offensive line. (The offensive line) played a heck of a game up front. They were blocking, making sure they were on their spots and giving us an opening.”
Freshman RB James White
On his dynamic with John Clay:
“Whenever we both touch the ball we are trying to get yards and score touchdowns, and whenever we both get an opportunity we try to take advantage of it.”
On how he and John Clay played:
“I would agree that this is our best game of the season. We both had 100 yards, we just went out there and had a physical game.”
On how depth at running back transfers to the rest of the Big Ten season:
“There is no slack if one of us is in and the other isn’t. It’s always either one of us goes out and the other goes in. We (James White, John Clay, and Monte Ball) are all in there cheering for each other and we are all capable of doing big things this season.”
Freshman RB James White
On dynamic of John Clay and James White:
“I think overall this was the best game they had. They had a balance and they ran really hard today.”
On regaining momentum after Minnesota’s first touchdown:
“Coming back and being able to play well was a big step for us. We made some mistakes and I let a ball go down, but mentally we still were in it and didn’t give up.”
On the team’s momentum going into Ohio State game:
“We definitely have momentum going into next week’s game. Ultimately we just have to play confident and play fast, which is the main thing because Ohio State is really fast and we have to match that speed. With Tolzien playing well, and Gilreath, Toon, and me also playing well that definitely helps out a lot."
Minnesota Coach Tim Brewster
Opening Statement:
“I thought the story line today was the tale of two halves as a football team. We did a lot of things in the first half to give us a chance and particularly in the second quarter climbing back in the thing and grinding and getting some things done, keeping the ball, time of possession was really in our favor, converting third downs, we’re 3 out of 4 on fourth downs and putting ourselves in position to win the football game. The second half we obviously didn’t get that done. We finished the day 3 out of 13 on third down and they finished 7 of 9. And primarily that was in the second half and I thought that was the story line for the game, our inability to tackle, our inability to shut down the run, to slow the running game down in the second half and their ability to run it, and our inability offensively to stay on the field and do a better job on third down, do a better job on first and second to have manageable third downs. But I think that was the story of the game.”
On time of possession for Wisconsin in the third quarter:
“You just got to make the plays; you got to stop the run. That’s the basic premise on which we live by defensively, and we certainly didn’t get the job done there in the third quarter. They just ran the ball that well against us, and that’s really disappointing.”
On Wisconsin’s James White and John Clay:
“They’re good players. And Ball’s a good player as well, but White rushes for 119 and Clay rushes for 111, you know, and that’s certainly not a recipe for success for your defense when you got two guys rushing for over 100 yards in a game.”
On the warm weather:
“When you’re out there as long as our defense was, they got a little worn down, there’s no question about it. We were playing a lot of guys in the defensive front, playing a lot of guys on defense … but you can’t help but get worn down when you’re out there as long as we were.”
On Da’Jon McKnight’s play:
“He made some great plays there, he really did. He made some great plays and he’s a really good player and I thought we did some good things offensively. We wanted to stay with the plan; we threw it more than we wanted to in the second half. I though our opening, our first-half plan, running the football was really good, doing a lot of things. Second quarter I thought we were excellent…but we had to get away from it a little there at the end and you saw Da’Jon able to make a couple of plays.”
On Wisconsin’s red-zone efficiency:
“Yeah. It’s frustrating when you don’t stop them period. At halftime you feel like you’re in really good shape and you’ve given yourself a chance at the final 30 minutes and you know that first possession of the third quarter was critical, it was absolutely critical.”
On where the team goes from here:
“We go to Purdue. We go to Purdue next week and do a great job in our preparation. And we go to Purdue expecting to win and go win a football game. That’s exactly where we go from here.”
