Sept. 25, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema
Opening Statement:
“During the course of the week, what we really preached to the kids was to play the game the way it needs to get played. It doesn’t matter what your opponent is. Respect all, fear none. Get them to play a four-quarter game no matter who was in there. That’s probably the biggest thing I can take out of this. I really thought that after the game got out of hand a little bit scoring-wise and we started rolling people through in all phases, offense, defense and special teams, they continued to play really clean. Obviously you get a little nervous at halftime about injuries to key guys if they continue to play, so we pulled out a number of our guys at halftime. The offensive coaches really wanted to keep rhythm. That’s why the No. 1 offensive line and Johnny (Clay) started with (Jon) Budmayr, just to give him a chance to get in the game without having reserves all over him. I believe we had one, maybe two penalties, so I thought they handled that side of the game very well.
On the play of James White:
“I didn’t know he had four touchdowns. I couldn’t figure out why he was on the radio show. I knew he had a big day. I was excited because we thought that first third and short he was going to get around the edge, and when we called it, I said, ‘Watch him go,’ and that’s exactly what happened. James is a very gifted football player with great speed and, again, because he’s not out there every down, he comes in with those fresh legs and it really benefits everybody.
On the team being ready for Big Ten play:
“I think they’re excited. What we’ll do tomorrow is start our preparation on Michigan State. The thing we’ll focus on is, first off, what do we have in our agenda to get ready for them. We know what we’ve had success with in the past and what we haven’t, and that’s the part that we need to address first with our players, what is the game plan for us to have success, before we even start talking about what Michigan State will bring for us.
On Jon Budmayr’s play:
“What we tried to say at halftime was let’s get Jon in there as the game is real. Let’s get him in there with the No. 1 offensive line and get him to get in the groove of what we do here, and that’s exactly what he did. I thought he handled it very well. I don’t know what his stats were. Great execution.”
“Jon has been pretty steady, in the recruiting process, now he’s been here for a couple years. Jon is a pretty steady guy. He’s a man of great faith. The Christian faith is very important to him. He’s just got that calmness to him that a quarterback needs to have. It does make you feel better to see him handle the snaps and handle the line of scrimmage the way he did.”
On Scott Tolzien today:
“Scott is kind of one of those guys that he’s probably playing well when he goes unnoticed. When he’s doing things the way he’s supposed to be doing them, when our offense is function the way it did, he’s so efficient. He does a great job of controlling the game. I know as a senior, he is playing his best football, probably the last couple games. He really does a good job over the course of the week. Scott will get better as the season goes along because he’s going to be able to pick up tendencies and traits and reads and keys off teams as they play games.
On the non-conference schedule as a whole:
“Well, we’re 4-0. I told our team in the locker room, when I first looked at the schedule, obviously I knew we were going to have 12 games, but I saw the four non-conference games, which hasn’t always happened here. We had the four non-conference up front. Now we go into a four-week conference schedule. Then we have a bye week, and then we have another four-week conference schedule. Things kind of lay out in these three different quadrants. To get out sort of unscathed, with all the games in the win column, has been good, but we have to get healthy. We need to get better tomorrow. I’ve really stressed that to our guys -- there’s no day more important than tomorrow. I think the guys buy into that, and I’m happy to keep moving forward with them.
Junior RB Bradie Ewing
On how it feels to be able to contribute so much today:
“It was awesome, just to be able to score some points to help the team win the game, it was awesome. Like you said, the fullback doesn’t usually get all the glory, but as long as we’re winning, I’m happy with it.”
On preparing for Big Ten play:
“All of our games have progressed up to the Big Ten. It was good to have a game where we were all clicking on full cylinders and we’ll be good going into Michigan State.”
On playing in a 70-point game:
“It hasn’t been that way in a long time. It was good to get some points on the board and get the win.”
On finding his game today:
“It was awesome. It’s cool how it all gets set up with our power run game, and it all just clicked and worked.”
Senior QB Scott Tolzien
On having four wins going into the Big Ten season:
“It feels good. The biggest thing is that we played a clean game. A lot of times games like this guys get complacent, but I thought today we maximized our opportunities. Guys came out ready to play and embraced the opportunity.”
On his level of play:
“I think it’s improved in the past two weeks. The biggest thing has been the turnovers, the turnovers in the first two weeks versus the last two weeks. You can’t play a clean game with turnovers and that makes a big difference. It starts with that but also the guys around me have been playing really good. You look at David (Gilreath) and Nick (Toon) going down and guys have just stepped up. Really, football is a team game, and the guys around me are playing really well.”
On his chemistry with Lance Kendricks:
“He’s one of the biggest assets to our offense, especially in the passing game. He finds a way to get open and he wins his one-on-ones. He continues to keep getting better.
Redshirt Junior LB Kevin Rouse
On guys getting a chance to step up with injuries early this season:
“We know we have to step up when Chris (Borland) went down. We expect those things to happen and we need to always be prepared and always be ready. We’re all going to take advantage of the opportunity and just do whatever to help the team win.”
On how the defense has been working together:
“We always felt like we had good team chemistry before. It’s a big blow to not have Chris out there, but I think we have good chemistry and a good camaraderie with the guys we’ve got. We’re all ready and we’re all prepared”
On how the past two games will help going into the Big Ten season:
“It can only help. It can only help our depth. Sometimes in football bad things happen, and we’ll be able to step up like with Chris. It allows all of us to be ready in the Big Ten setting.“
Redshirt Freshman QB Jon Budmayr
On his sharpness:
“I felt like I really prepared myself. Coach (Paul) Chryst prepares us every week to go out there against any look we’re going to see. After how practice has been the past couple of weeks, I felt pretty comfortable. “
On getting into the game:
“I thought in the UNLV game if we pulled away there’d be a chance, and then San Jose State, the plan was to maybe be able to get in a little bit if the opportunity presented itself. You just have to be patient and that opportunity came today and I just have to take advantage of that.”
On waiting for the opportunity to play:
“It’s tough. But at the same time, it’s all about how we’re playing. If we have to keep Scott (Tolzien) in to win the game, or if that’s what’s best, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
On how it felt to make some pass plays:
“Coach (Paul) Chryst talked at half time and said we’re rolling. That was the mindset and we went with it. I was happy to get some throws in and get comfortable with it, and it was fun.”
On how it felt to take that hit:
“It felt awesome. I should have thrown the ball away a little sooner. I bet my dad will say the same thing. I haven’t been hit since my senior year in high school. That’s part of the game. That’s football. You get up and keep going, and maybe I’ll learn from that. A hit’s a hit and it’s football. It’s fun.”
Senior TE Lance Kendricks
On his compatibility with quarterback Scott Tolzien:
“Scotty has a lot of trust in me. He’s confident in throwing me the ball. We’ve completed a lot of passes. I think that’s done a lot for his confidence and mine as well. We try to keep that consistency up in practice. He’s been playing great and I give him a lot of credit for that. “
On playing a bigger role with Nick Toon and David Gilreath out:
“I’ve definitely played a bigger part. They’ve split me out a lot more and try and get me the ball as a single receiver. It’s paid off because if they go down again we’re much more comfortable.”
On the offense being ready heading into Big Ten play:
“I think it showed today. I think we scored nine straight times. The blocking was real smooth, and the running backs did a great job of running the ball.”
Sophomore LB Mike Taylor
On his knee:
“This was the best I’ve felt so far this season. I’ve used the previous two games to build confidence and see where the knee was at. It felt pretty good so this week I was planning on playing fast and playing hard. I want to get where I’m playing confident and not worrying about the knee. I’m still hesitating some times, but it felt pretty good today.”
On how to measure today’s game:
“We talked this week just about the team getting better. It was a team effort today. We worked on improving at each position, playing our game, and testing ourselves to see how we would do getting ready for Big Ten play.“
On how the defense feels going into next week:
“I feel pretty comfortable. We got some guys some experience today. Overall, a good day today and we can use that going forward.”
Freshman RB James White
On his four-touchdown game:
“I wasn’t expecting it. I was just going out there and trying to gain yards, and I happened to break it a couple times.
It was a great game, and now we’ll have to get ready for Michigan State next week”
On breaking his 66-yard touchdown run:
“Brady (Ewing) cut the guy out on the corner and it was just me out in the open field and I just had to run away with it. I felt somebody coming from behind and I felt him dive and miss.”
On how the non-conference schedule prepared the team for Big Ten play:
“It was a good test. We faced a challenge last week versus Arizona State. This game was a good next step leading into the Big Ten. You try and execute each drive like we did this week, trying to score on every drive. I know the competition will be more with Michigan State, so we can’t get big headed, and have to stay focused in practice. We have to try and do the same thing we did this week for every other week”
On how he’s grown so far this season:
“I’m working on being a smarter football player. Working on reading my keys and reading the defenses. Before the play trying to identify the blitz. I’ve got the playbook down pat, it’s just a matter of identifying blitz pickups every week. I’ve been working in the film room each week to try and get better."
Austin Peay Coach Rick Christophel
Opening statement:
“That’s why they are No. 10, they do a great job at coaching, they understand what’s coming and defensively they tackle very well. We knew coming in we would have to play a perfect game, offensively we didn’t turn the ball over which is pretty good, defensively we had six or seven penalties.”
On special teams:
“Our punter did a great job punting, Stephan Stansell also did well, we probably should have had him kick a few more, but at this time in the game another three points would not make a difference.”
On his team’s offense:
“The best defense you can play against a team like this is to keep your offense on the field as long as you can, and that’s what we tried to do. We knew we had to get in the end zone at some point, but we didn’t.”
On the experience of playing at Camp Randall Stadium:
“You laugh about things like this but I have 10-12 players who have never been on an airplane before. Not one of these players had been in a venue like this, and this is one of the best ones I’ve ever been in after going around the country for 25 years. Only two other coaches and myself have been in a venue like this, all you do is go out there and have fun, enjoy the atmosphere and be excited about playing because that’s why you go to college and play football for.”
On the Badgers’ rushing attack:
“I don’t look at stats much but I know we are going to have a bunch of bruised bodies from 32 (John) Clay, and 20 (James) White, who ran the ball exceptionally well. With two or three All-Americans up front they just work well together, and I think that is the key to a running game, chemistry, and that’s what I find exceptional about Wisconsin.”
On what he’ll take away from the game:
“One injury. With all joking aside, we played at a great venue now, and you can’t say much more because it was a good old fashion butt whooping. But what you tell them is this is where we are, and this is how far we have to go to get to the level we want to compete with.”
