September 19, 2015 | Football
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Troy
Sept. 19, 2015
Camp Randall Stadium - Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst Postgame Quotes
COACH CHRYST: It was good to win. And appreciate the efforts, certainly by the players, and coaches, and I thought we were as we anticipated, tested. I think Troy had some good football players and they are a well-coached team. But it was good to get the win.
I thought defensively, again, just proud of their efforts. And I thought a big play in the game was second half, they had a pretty decent drive going, and Schobs (Joe Schobert) makes a sack/fumble and Mike (Caputo) is able to get on it.
Offensively, I thought we did a better job of running the ball consistently, which I think there's some things that we can build on and certainly some areas where we get better. I think we weren't very good offensively on third down, and so we've got more work to do. It's a good win.
Q. On the two targeting calls, what did you see from your vantage point?
COACH CHRYST: Yeah, doesn't matter what I see. But the officials are good. At that point, it's all -- really, it's out of their hands at times. And there's no doubt that every coach that I know wants to -- and this is for all rules, to make this game safer, no question.
And I just want to make sure -- we have taken a lot of pride in coaching good football. We want to make sure, I look forward to getting the reports and seeing it and make sure that we're doing our part and that our players are -- we want to be a physical team. It's a physical game. We want to make sure we're doing it the right way and take pride in that.
Q. What were the reasons for the slow start offensively and then also, how do you feel like Chris Orr played in Leon's (Jacobs) spot?
COACH CHRYST: I think the slow start, I don't think we did a good job -- we didn't convert on third down, and it's hard to put drives together if you're not converting on third down.
I thought Chris did some really good things. He showed up in the run game, and I know he made a big stop on a pass break-up on a third down, and it was good for him. I'm sure he'll look -- last week, it was alternating. This week he was able to because of circumstance, played a lot. He showed up and it was good I think.
Q. What do you like about your defense, the last couple games, you haven't given up a touchdown?
COACH CHRYST: I thought we did a good job against a good running back, stopping the run.
And I think they are resilient. Just (like) we talked about the start of the (second) half, and they had -- I think it was the kickoff and there was a penalty on kickoff. So I think their drive started from inside their 15 at least, and they were getting some plays.
And yet, we needed a play to be made, and I thought that was huge by Schobs. So I think they got some confidence about them, some resiliency about them. Just keep playing and certainly there's some areas we are going to look at and we've got to clean up. But the last two weeks, they have done a good job and we have to keep building on that.
Q. How frustrating is it when a team throws the ball quickly like that and you can't get to the quarterback?
COACH CHRYST: Right. You've got to stay with it. You've got to be precise. You've got to tackle it. Some of the plays, bigger plays, we didn't tackle it. But I thought they did a nice job of that, getting the ball out of the quarterback's hand and I think that's what they want you to do is get frustrated with it. You can't.
You've got to do your job, and then there's going to be times in that game where you're going to be tested and you've got to rise up to those. But I felt they did a pretty good job overall. Go back to what I like about the group; they keep their poise.
Q. You mentioned the running game. For a kid like Taiwan (Deal), is he doing a better job running behind his pads and being a physical runner?
COACH CHRYST: Yeah, I think with experience, and he's just starting to get it, right. The good runners have a patience to them, and then let the play develop.
We are always talking about slow to, fast through. And even when he gets fast -- and that's common with young players. So I think that all the reps are valuable, or invaluable, really. And I thought both of them were a little bit more on their tracks. I think we were a little bit cleaner up front. Anxious to see if that's really what happened.
Everyone takes pride in being part of the run game, and so I think there is some -- seemed like there's a little bit more patience with Taiwan.
Q. Following up on the targeting rule, is there some gray area that makes it difficult to coach, whether it's the speed of the game, or maybe on the second play, where it happened so quickly, obviously Derrick wasn't planning to that have happen.
COACH CHRYST: I think there's always the gray and yet it's been clear: The officials are going to err on the side of player safety. And knowing that there is some gray in it, I think that's the right thing.
Q. During the week, Daronte' (Jones) said that Derrick Tindall was very disappointed with his play -- from what you could see today, do you think he did a better job, just being active, especially in the run game?
COACH CHRYST: Yeah, he did show up in the run game, and yeah, I do think he made a concerted effort to get better, and I think all of us need to do that each week.
There's another guy that I don't think's played a lot of football. So each time you get to play, those are learning experiences, and we can all grow from those.
Q. Tanner (McEvoy) really showed his versatility again just as far as making impact plays. Just how pleased are you with how he's progressing in playing both sides of the ball and being so versatile?
COACH CHRYST: He's certainly capable of it, but I appreciate his willingness and his competitiveness. I thought that really, his touchdown run was as much the competitive nature in him as much as it was physical.
We didn't do -- we haven't had him very involved in the throw game, but he still is able to give us something offensively, and certainly did defensively. We appreciate his approach to it.
Q. Is Joel's efficiency about as good as you could have hoped through three games?
COACH CHRYST: No. (Laughter).
Q. Well, can you elaborate on maybe his progress this season?
COACH CHRYST: I liked what Joel's doing but he can get better, and that's exciting.
Q. Is it a good reminder to your players when they look over and see Troy on the sideline, jumping up and down keeping the energy up --
COACH CHRYST: Yeah, the games are fun. You expect everyone that plays to have energy. It takes energy to play it. I didn't look over and see it, so I don't know and I don't know what other guys thought.
Q. There were reports before the game that Kellen Jones was no longer with the team; can you confirm that and maybe why he left the team, if you can reveal that?
COACH CHRYST: Yeah, I can confirm that he's no longer with the team.
Q. And also, can you talk about Micah Kapoi starting on the offensive line and Jacob Maxwell getting his first action, just how those two played?
COACH CHRYST: I thought -- you know, Micah was in there, and I didn't really watch him. But I thought he's been working and I've liked his progress. I think he played well. Played well enough for us to win.
And it was good to get Jacob some snaps. Really got to go back and watch the film to tell you exactly how he did. But I thought as a line, we did some good things.
Q. We saw a one-on-one, the safety on defense -- is that a matchup where you were confident your outside corners had that matchup along with the safety at the top, or is that your reaction to the way they spread you out on offense and defense?
COACH CHRYST: It's a little bit of both. Certainly you've got to cover down and one of the things they are going to do is spread you out to run the ball. I think that we felt like we did match up.
We thought they had some good receivers coming in, and I thought that they made some plays, and I thought the quarterback did a nice job. We tried to change it up and some of the pressures, when you do bring them, end up being with a single high. So we are trying to just do the best we can to defend them.
Senior QB Joel Stave
On getting the offense going:
"You know, I thought we did a good job focusing on the details. There's a lot of details that come in and out of the pass game and the run game, and I thought we did a good job of being able to focus on that stuff and be efficient running the ball."
On if he feels like there's room for personal improvement:
"Absolutely. You never want to be satisfied with where you're at, especially after week 3. You know, there's still a lot of room for improvement, there's still a lot of ground to be gained I think for us, for us as an offense and for us as a team. So, you know, we're happy with the win but we're not satisfied with where we're at."
On how big the second quarter touchdown drive was going into halftime:
"I thought that was big. You know, we really needed that, you didn't want to go into half up 7-3, giving them the ball to start the next half. So, you know, I thought we did a good job executing on that drive, overcoming a first and 25 after a penalty, so I was really happy with the way we responded."
On where he sees himself and his efficiency through the last three games:
"You know, I thought we didn't do as good a job on third down today, I think we were three of nine for third downs, and that's an area for not only quarterback but everyone on offense, we got to get better. There's a couple of plays early in the game where we weren't as sharp as we needed to be in the passing game. I think that's the area where we can continue to detail things and continue to improve."
Sophomore OL Hayden Biegel
On sharing time at the right tackle position:
"It just gives you more time to rest, see more looks and gives you more time."
On his job as a lineman:
"As an offensive lineman, we just focus on our blocking assignments. We just try to do our jobs as to give the backs the best look we can. So, we just focus on our jobs and try to keep Joel safe and the holes open for the running backs."
On if it was frustrating in the first half when the offense wasn't clicking:
"Year, whenever you're not running 100 yards or scoring a lot of points it's a little frustrating, but you just work through it."
On comparing his performance this week to last week:
"As an offensive line, we did pretty well with the gap runs, I think our pass production was good, before half we made a long drive, that was very good for us. I know we needed that, so it was good."
Junior CB Sojourn Shelton
On what it was like sticking with Troy offensively:
"It was cool. We knew what to expect, we prepared for it, but then we overall did a good job. Of course, there's some things we can work on - getting the call out a little bit faster, stuff like that - but that'll be pieced together, we'll work on that.
On facing an up-tempo offense:
"Without a doubt it's tough to defend, but there's no excuses and so far we've done a pretty good job, we've just got to keep building off this, look at the film, see some things we can correct and get back to the drawing board Monday."
On if seeing teammates get ejected for targeting alters his play:
"No, not at all. I mean, you can't play this game hesitant. And I think when you do, that's when bad things happen as far as injuries and stuff like that, so everybody knows keep going 100 percent. Understand that the refs are going to make some calls. That's their job, that's not our job. Our job is to play football, so some calls might be here and there but only thing we can do is continue to press forward and handle what's in front of us - and that's moving onto the next play,"
Redshirt Freshman OL Jacob Maxwell
On his confidence and Troy's defense:
"The Troy defense was much better. I mean my confidence after that first drive was pretty good. A little nervous at first but after that first drive it was good."
On chemistry and getting things going:
"We always talk about building chemistry and communication which are keys. I feel like we're all starting to get on the same page, 5 or 6 of us including Walker, we all have a pretty good bond and we all communicate well and have good chemistry I think."
On switching from the left side of the offensive line to the right:
"I'm used to playing left and when I switched to the right my confidence level had dropped, I started thinking too much. I mean that was my downfall. But he (associate head coach Joe Rudolph) really helped me get over that. He's a great coach, great motivator. I really did help me get over that and get through that."
Redshirt Freshman OL Micah Kapoi
On the work he's put in:
"I feel like it's all paying from the day I got here until now. It's a great feeling knowing I can be out there in that starting group, be that guy out there."
On O-line coming together:
"We wanted to come out early with the run and stick to it. I think we did a good job in that first half and I think that carried on."
On Wisconsin's rushing game:
"It's a great feeling we got the run going. There's always room for improvement and next week were going to get those numbers higher and just get back to Wisconsin offense. We're waiting to get these backs out and get them some yards."
Senior WR/S Tanner McEvoy
On how glad he is to be able to contribute to the team in a variety of ways:
"It's an opportunity I've got to make the most of. Coach (Chryst) trusts me to make the plays and know everything I need to know going into the week. It's a lot knowing both the offense and defense, but I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it and we have a nice little system going. I'm looking to make some more plays."
On how frustrating it was to see guys ejected for targeting calls:
"It's tough, but it's what the ref sees. I can't really speak too much on it, but they can review it again and hopefully they help us out. But it happens, and the next (man) has to be able to step up and make a play."
On how aware he is of hits on defense and how he's able to avoid targeting calls and ejections:
"I mean, there's head injuries in this game and they're trying to stop them. I mean, I play offense too and I wouldn't want my head taken off, so there's a give-and-take and you just have to be smart."
Freshmen RB Taiwan Deal
On how he felt about running the ball more this weeek:
"Through practice, coach just said relax, come out confident, just build on every week. I felt like I got better. I can continue to get better, but I'm looking forward to building on what I did today."
On what he thought led him to have a better performance today as compared to last week:
"Watching film on my running last week. This week with the offensive line we had a little different scheme and we knew where to hit the holes and where they'd be. So just sticking with the scheme and sticking with the plan."
On himself, Dare Ogunbowale and Tanner McEvoy filling Corey Clement's load offensively:
"In practice we've been taking most of the reps, but Corey's been on the side at all times telling us what to do on this play and that play. We want to continue to take the load until he's back."
Senior LB Joe Schobert
On targeting calls:
"You know, it's football. You have to make split-second decisions and I don't necessarily agree with it, but it's the refs call and they have to look out for the player's safety. So you have to respect that."
On if targeting calls change the way he practices:
"No, I think we teach trying to keep the face mask up and hit them in the strike zone. We don't practice hitting high or anything like that, so we'll be fine."
On his play stripping the ball and forcing a fumble:
"I just got a good jump off the ball, so I was able to get the ball. The quarterback stepped up, so I missed his body, but I was able to swipe for the ball. I wanted Mike (Caputo) to pick it up and run with it because there was a lot of green grass in front of him, but it was a good play."
On what it says about the defense not having allowed a touchdown in two straight games:
"I think it just shows that we're improving from the first game. Through film study we're able to know what's going to happen. Today Troy put us in a lot of adverse situations and we were able to get back, stop them, make them kick field goals - those kinds of things. It just shows that we're fundamentally getting better and that's something to build on for next week."
On what he likes best about what the defense has done the last few games:
"I like how they've let us get after the quarterback and pressure him and try to make them make hurried throws and create turnovers. It all starts with stopping the run and we've been able to do that the last couple games, so that puts us in those situations where we can pin our ears back and get after the quarterback and make decisions and make plays off that."
Troy Head Coach Neal Brown Postgame Quotes
Opening statement:
"Good afternoon. Tough, hard fought game. That's a very good football team. I think we're football team that's getting better from week to week. I'm proud of our guys. They're obviously disappointed. Anytime you put that much time and effort into something like we do each week, the staff and the players - I want them to walk out of here with their chest out. I thought we competed and played really hard. We've treated this like a preseason, these three games. Opening up the year playing NC State, who I think is a top-25 team, and then Wisconsin, who is a top-25 team right now in two of our first three games."
"A tough road loss, but I know what we've got. We've got kids who can play hard, they compete. I'm proud of them. I thought even in the fourth quarter, we were right there, 21-3, with some opportunities to get back in the game and put a little pressure on Wisconsin."
"A lot of credit to Wisconsin, they're really solid on defense. This is the best game we've played out of the three games. We had a low yardage total, so we did a good job on third down. I was proud that we were able to keep the ball away. I think they only ran 53 plays. We had some uncharacteristic discipline issues on offense where we missed a couple signals. I thought we had some chances to take the lead in the first half, but we didn't take advantage of the opportunities. I'm proud of the guys. We got beat by a better football team and we're ready for this bye week."
On what they can do to fix the penalties heading into the off week:
"You've obviously got to fix them. Some of it too, when you play against really good people, they cause you do to some undisciplined things. We had a procedure penalty there on fourth and one, and we were going to go for it and felt good about our play call right there. Part of that is that they're shifting their defensive line. Not that you accept it, but it is what it is. We missed a throw in the previous play that would've given us an easy first and goal inside the ten. We missed some things offensively. I've seen teams in the SEC for the last couple years, and they look like an SEC defense. I think they're really good on the edges. That (Vince) Biegel kid, number 47, made a ton of plays. We had a really difficult time trying to block him. The safety, number seven, (Michael) Caputo, he's as good of a safety as there probably is in the country. The kid, five, (Darius) Hillary covered us well all day. We tried to take some shots down the field to soften them up a little bit, but we didn't do a good job. Again, it goes back to that they have really good players."
On if it was part of the game plan to control the tempo and slow down the ball:
"We picked and chose when we were going to go tempo. I thought we were effective with our tempo plays. We didn't want to do it until we had a first down within a series. That's the only thing that we did, thinking tempo-wise going into the game. What I didn't want to do is our defense had played a lot of plays, I didn't want them to play those type of snaps versus that big of a front. We didn't back off our tempo. I think we hit some really good tempos. It was effective when we got first downs. That was really the only thing that we changed from a game plan perspective."
On how much the momentum changed after Joel Stave's quarterback scramble touchdown:
"That was tough. I thought we had two edge runs rights there where we were in position and maybe some calls didn't go our way. But that was a big momentum. I think it was 7-3 at that point, and if we could've held them to a field goal. They did a nice job. The quarterback did a nice job. I thought we covered them well, and he did a nice job scrambling and making a play."
Pool Reporter Post-Game Report
Referee: Jeffrey Servinski
Pool reporter: Jim Polzin, Wisconsin State Journal
Pool reporter question: What rule was applied on first play that led to the ejection?
Answer: We have the targeting foul, that we have two components of targeting in NCAA football: using the crown of the helmet, as well as targeting a defenseless player. And there are definitions of defenseless players. If you want, I can read you those. The quarterback is one. So it was the quarterback - he's defenseless. So with a quarterback, any forcible contact to the head or neck area is targeting. So he's in a defenseless mode, because he had just thrown the ball. It was not roughing the passer, because of the timing of it. So roughing the passer was not on the table. But the contact was to the head or neck area, so we need to look at was it forcible contact to the head or the neck. It was determined that it was. So that was the rule that was applied.
Pool reporter question: Which rule is it?
Answer: That is 9-1-4.
Pool reporter question: So in your opinion the Wisconsin player made contact with the quarterback's neck or head?
Answer: My opinion is that the foul gets called, we go to replay. Replay either confirms, they stand or they reverse it. The shots that they had confirmed the foul that there was that scenario. I would give you my opinion, but I can't because I didn't have the foul.
Pool reporter question: Can you tell me the rule that was applied the second play that led to the ejection?
Answer: We have a receiver, he falls into a defenseless category. Any contact to the head or neck, just like in the other one, we're going to have a foul. So it's 9-1-4 that was applied in the second scenario as well.
Pool reporter question: Is there any gray area with that rule? On the AFCA website, it defines what targeting is and it says "to take aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with apparent intent that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball. So in the opinion of the crew and the replay official, the second play the Wisconsin player was going beyond making a legal tackle?
Answer: Correct.
Pool reporter question: Do you factor that the receiver is a moving target and the play is happening so fast?
Answer: No.
Pool reporter question: Any benefit of the doubt for the defensive player?
Answer: No.
Pool reporter question: Would you say the benefit of the doubt goes to the offensive player?
Answer: The defensive player, when we have a defenseless player, can not target to the head or neck area.
Pool reporter question: If an offensive player ducks his head, like in the case of the second play, when he's falling to the ground and ducking his head, does that make a difference?
Answer: He's a defenseless player. If there's contact to the head or neck area, we have a targeting.
Pool reporter question: Was the second play a forearm? Any mention of that?
Answer: When you talk about targeting, helmet, forearm, shoulder, anything from that perspective that targets into the head or neck area, it's a foul. So from replay's perspective, they just needed to make sure that there's forcible contact to the head or neck area with a shoulder, forearm or head. To tell you which one it was, I can't tell you that, other than they confirmed that foul.
Pool reporter question: Replay could have said … (question interrupted)
Answer: If there would not have been contact to the head or neck area, we would have reversed both scenarios.
Pool reporter question: The ejection wouldn't have stood, but the targeting penalty wouldn't have stood, either?
Answer: Nope, no penalty. And that's why I made mention of the quarterback earlier. If we would have had, per se, if we would have deemed it was roughing the passer, we would have said, 'personal foul, roughing the passer, with targeting.' So then, if the targeting goes away, we still have the roughing the passer foul we would enforce. In the play on the wide receiver, you could potentially have pass interference, with targeting. We're not going to review the foul for (defensive pass interference), we're not going to remove the foul for roughing the passer, but the targeting component of it is reviewed.
