Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. Iowa
November 11, 2017 | Football
Nov. 11, 2017 • Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, Wis.
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Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst
CHRYST: We're certainly really proud of the team and what they did today against a really good Iowa football team. You have to start with, that was a heck of a performance by our defense. Credit to the coaches for the plan, and the players went out and executed it. I thought they played with confidence, and obviously put in some tough situations, but they were a lot of fun to watch today. So many different guys stepped up and made plays. That was a heck of a performance by our defense.
Proud of the way everyone just stayed the course and was resilient. Just kept playing. Lot of guys contributed, but that was a heck of a performance by our defense, certainly, and proud of the response by the offense. I thought our special teams really were good. So it takes everyone to win, and everyone contributed, and we needed that. Proud of what they've done.
We still get to keep playing. We earned the right to play another game, and that you're thankful for.
Q. You mentioned the defense about a half dozen times there. What about the turnovers that your offense gave Iowa?
CHRYST: Not good. I mean, you give them 14 points, and that's something we've been battling the whole year. You guys know that. We've got to do a better job of finding a way to help the players not do that. But it makes it hard, right? It makes it hard.
Q. Expanding on the defense a little bit, this was a pretty historic performance by your guys. It was, I think, the second fewest yards allowed ever for this program, and 0 for 13 on third down. Did you feel like this was maybe one of the best defensive performances you've seen from this program?
CHRYST: Certainly feels like it right now. Like I said, it was fun to watch. Not only the performance but some of the situations that they were put into. Guys all had great energy to them, and, boy, there were some plays made. Like I said, there were a lot of different guys, but it was a heck of a performance.
Q. [Alex's interceptions today,] do you think it's just misplacement of guys in the lineup, or do you think Alex needs to work a little bit on honing in on where the ball is going?
CHRYST: On the first one, you know, he's got -- the receivers got leverage. But that's a good corner we're going against. The location, you know, it's choice and location. You've got to believe what you see and you've got to make it, but that certainly was big. The second one came off of a tip, and those are hard to overcome.
Yet I thought he did a nice job of continuing to play and certainly made some big throws when we need them. But he's the first one that doesn't want to do it, and we've got to help him through it.
Q. With [Quintez] Cephus out this week, who would help compensate? I'm just curious what you thought from [Kendric] Pryor and [Danny] Davis today?
CHRYST: I thought they were good. I thought Kendric, he attacked the ball on the touchdown. Adam Krumholz came in and had a big block on Bradrick's touchdown. I thought Danny was really good. Certainly, what a heck of a catch down the sideline toward the Field House end, and had another third-down conversion, a couple there. So that part was really good.
Q. You talked about the strength of the defense. But Leon Jacobs today seemed to take it to another level. Could you give us your impression of his impact throughout the season, but particularly in this game?
CHRYST: Yeah, I think the two go hand-in-hand. He's had a huge impact this season, and certainly was really big tonight. Not just on the headsy play on the scoop and score. But Leon's a guy that was going to do anything for this team. You know, certainly this year he's found a home. Very talented, but a great teammate and cares a ton about this team. Coach Alvarez said, I remember when we first got a chance to work with him, he'd talk about if your seniors need to play their best football if you want to have a good team, and what a great example of a guy like that. I think we have a number of seniors doing that. But certainly Leon.
He's fun to be around, and he's enjoying this season, and he's got a nice edge to him. We've said there are a lot of guys on that defense that are fun to watch, and he's certainly one of them.
Q. Jonathan Taylor played great again, but he did lose his fourth fumble this season. Are you really harping ball security with him?
CHRYST: Yes. Keep working on it, and make sure that we don't want them. They know that we don't want them, so we've got to keep coaching and we've all got to own it.
Q. With D'Cota [Dixon] out, Joe Ferguson has really been stepping up. How have you seen Joe transform from the first season now to playing starting safety and special teams?
CHRYST: Yeah, Joe's another example. Joe didn't all of a sudden turn up his game. He's done a heck of a job. Thought he had a great spring, and certainly had a summer to get himself ready. That's always another an interesting one when you're not the starter.
Yet he's come in, and we have confidence in him for all that he did before, and so, you hate D'Cota not being able to play. D'Cota wants to play. Yet guys are unselfish enough that if they're not at their best, they let us know, and Ferguson is another example of a guy stepping into it and stepping up. Again, I think he's another senior that's playing really good football, and you need that and you appreciate that.
Q. Alex keeps making a lot of the same mistakes, just a couple mistakes every game, but it doesn't seem to be improving. Did you ever think you'd have to go in a different direction or are you too late into the season? Does he do some good things that you would not want to lose? What is your thinking on that?
CHRYST: Yeah, you're always trying to -- I think you're trying to find out how can you help him. He certainly, like as you said, he's made a lot of really good plays and big plays for us, and certainly there is a theme of turnovers. They're all a little bit different. Even these ones tonight are a little bit different. So I think you've to look at the whole picture. You can't be just on the result of it.
But certainly, you know, that makes it hard. We talk about a great performance on defense, and yet there's 14 points on the board. Those are big, big plays. I think it was Leon's scoop and score that kind of created that separation. Yet there are a lot of good things happening offensively, but when you have big turnovers, that makes it hard to overcome. That's why it was even more impressive what we were able to do tonight, because that's not a good way to play football.
Q. How important were Anthony Lotti's punts tonight?
CHRYST: They were really good. I thought he and Zach, our coverage units were good. Certainly that was a game of interesting -- certainly a game of field position, and it happened a lot of different ways. But the specialists were big in it.
Q. Did you have to change anything when you had to go with [Jason] Erdmann on center with [Tyler] Biadasz out, and do you know anything about Tyler?
CHRYST: We don't know exactly the extent with Tyler. That's a credit to Erds stepping in. Didn't really have to do anything. Nothing was out of play because Erds was in at center. We felt like we still had the whole offense that you could run.
Q. What did you see about Iowa's tight ends on film, and how do you feel like you defended those two? You really took them out of the game.
CHRYST: We were really impressed. They're really good football players, really good football players. Again, I think our defense did a heck of a job against all that they did. But they're good players.
Q. Do you feel as you guys get to this stage of the season now where there are just a couple regular season games left that the margin for error starts to shrink even more? In part because of the situation you guys are in at 10-0 now?
CHRYST: No, I feel like every game you play there's a small margin of error. The season is made up of one-week opportunities, and that's why you're thankful for all that went into this week and the way the guys played and persevered and battled. You enjoy and you appreciate the win. Then tomorrow we can move on and try to make the most of that week.
Wisconsin Player Postgame Quotes
Sophomore RB Bradrick Shaw
On progress throughout the season:
"I feel like I'm getting back into the old routine of just going out there to compete. I feel a lot healthier since the first game and I'm happy to be back."
On the defense's performance:
"They played great today, they really picked us up from the beginning. Watching them just go out there and compete and to hold them under 50 yards was great to watch."
On importance of the running game:Â
"It was important. We knew from the start it was going to be a running game and it showed toward the beginning, but Alex (Hornibrook) picked it up at the end and he really helped us win today."
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Sophomore QB Alex Hornibrook
On today's game overall:
"I think, like we've done this whole season, we were resilient and we were able to turn it around in the second half. Obviously I can't talk enough about the defense and what they did today, that was amazing. They made some great plays for us and they definitely helped us win this game."
On the defense helping to overcome turnovers:
"That helped a bunch. Even when we were turning the ball over it's not like they were turning them into scores, our defense was stopping them every time so that was big."
On his performance today:
"I think I obviously could have done better in the beginning and then we made some plays there at the end, some guys helped me out, but there is definitely room to improve."
Junior ILB T.J. Edwards
On defensive performance:
"I thought it was fun. Going into the game we had a simple game plan and it was kinda just guys flying around and being comfortable in what they're doing. Our offense struggled a little bit early but we always have their back just like they have ours. There's going to be games like that where you have to pick them up. Leon Jacobs, I thought, had a great game capitalizing on that turnover and we've got to keep having plays like that."
On defensive role:
"We've just got to keep getting them the ball back and trying to shorten the field for them is huge as well. Our only job is to get them the ball as many times as we can. We know they're going to get things rolling and they did it towards the end. They capitalized and that's all we can really ask."
On division title and moving forward:
"It's tough. No game is going to be perfect, as good as it seems. There's going to be stuff to clean up tomorrow. It's one of our first goals of the year to win the West and to do that in front of the home crowd was fun. We've got a huge test coming next week and that's where our focus switches to now."
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Sophomore OL Jason Erdmann
On filling in for Tyler Biadasz:
"I wasn't nervous. When my number got called, I was ready to step up."
On the defense:
"Our defense played phenomenally. Every drive Iowa had, the defense got them off the field quickly, maintained great field position, and got the ball back in our hands."
On how the College Football Playoff committee will view Wisconsin after this win:
"It doesn't matter to us. We're just going to do what we do. We'll keep beating teams. We'll keep playing hard every play. We're going to keep going three feet at a time—that's our motto, just keep chipping away and ignore the outside noise, just focus on ourselves."
Junior OL Beau Benzschawel
On the defense's performance:Â
"Hats off to our defense. They absolutely showed out today. It was awesome to watch."
On not wearing sleeves, despite the cold:
"We're pretty thick boys, and it's against the offensive lineman's code of honor to wear sleeves."
On the offensive line's approach to the outside running game:
"Iowa was slanting the front a lot, and that was difficult. But, once we figured it out and let it go we were successful. We know that it's up to us to get movement, and once we do that we know that the backs can make a cut and do what they do."
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Sophomore P Anthony Lotti
On the value of field position:
"Especially in a game like this, field position means everything. It's going to be a hard-fought battle, so putting the other team in a tough position and setting up the defense is very valuable."
On his play tonight:
"My role on the team is to set up our defense by putting pressure on their offense and to get our offense out of tough spots. I thought our punt unit did a good job of that tonight. I have some room to improve, but overall we did our job tonight."
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Freshman RB Jonathan Taylor
On the win:
"It always feels good to win, but it feels especially nice to get the win against this Iowa team. That's a very good football team we just beat."
On overcoming fumbles:
"I definitely have to keep working. It's two things. Sometimes, things just happen. But sometimes it's an issue with technique, and we want keep working and pushing every week to eliminate those."
On overcoming hurdles as an offense:
"We just have to keep the energy high. Especially if there is a penalty or a turnover, it's easy to get bummed out. But you just have to shake it off and keep working, keep fighting."
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Freshman WR Kendric PryorÂ
On his first touchdown as a Badger:
"It feels pretty good. I have not scored since high school so it felt great to get my first touchdown. Getting the second touchdown was really exciting."
On stepping up as a freshman:
"We talk about always being ready for your opportunity, because you never know when your name is going to be called. We just talk about being dominant in the receiving room and always doing big things."
On Quintez Cephus' absence:
"We just wanted to ball out for our brother. We just told him we're playing and praying for him."Â
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Senior LB Leon Jacobs
On his scoop-and-score:
"The ball just came out so I took my knee off the ground so I wouldn't be down and I just ran it in for the score."
On today's stifling defensive performance:
"I thought today was our first game where we really played well from start to finish."
On shutting down Iowa's offense:
"They're a good team, coming in ranked No. 20. We had to prove a point."
On allowing 66 total yards:
"We felt dominant from start to finish. We wanted to attack them from the back end to the front end. We all played well.Â
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Junior LB Ryan Connelly
On holding Iowa to 66 yards:
"The biggest thing is all the hard work we put in during the week. It has been paying off on Saturday. It's rewarding to see everything work out."
On the defense's dominant performance:
"I think this was our best showing so far this season. We were confident in everything we were doing and we didn't think they would be able to move it on us."
On rushing the QB on the fumble:
"I get too excited when I go through the gap unblocked… I have to make sure that I bring the quarterback to the ground."
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Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz
Opening Statement:
"We knew we were coming into a really tough environment, more importantly against a really good football team. To give yourself a chance in a game like this you really have to play well in all three phases and we certainly weren't able to do that. The defense tried to keep us in the football game and did a good job of that for a while. Wisconsin's got an excellent football team. Their running back, it's the first time we've seen him and he's a very good player, a very strong player. Their defense was better than advertised, not that they haven't been playing well all season long, but I can't imagine they've played a better game than that. To their credit they've got a tremendous football team and they showed it tonight. For us, we'll get back to Iowa City clear this game tomorrow and then we'll put it behind us. Really what we've got left right now is 13 days, two games, so that's where our focus will turn tomorrow."
On if he saw anything that surprised him:
"I don't think we saw them do anything that we weren't prepared for, they just played really good football. We've got nine games of film on these guys. I don't think we saw anything new out there. It may not appear that way, but the things that we saw we'd seen on tape throughout the course of the season. Bottom line is we didn't do a good enough job."
On the impact of their dropped passes:
"It's kind of been us this season. We're not good enough offensively not to execute play late. Little missed throws, inches make a difference there and we've got to catch it. When we do play clean football we've got a chance to do some good things.
On this week vs. last week:
"You can't explain it other than we just played clean football last week. We didn't do much to hurt ourselves. Also the quality of our opponent. They played a really great game. I'm not suggesting last week's opponent didn't. These guys were playing at a real high level early on and we weren't able to match that. The only good thing I can spin out of that is last time that we were that low we won a league championship, so maybe there'll be something to come out of this the next couple weeks."
On how far away they are from Wisconsin at this point:
"It's been pretty much a back-and-fourth series. They've got a really good football team. Tonight we played the 2017 team and that's the only one that counts. You can see why they're 9-0 and now they're 10-0. They've earned that. They've got a really good football team on both sides of the ball. Their special teams played well. That's why they're sitting at 10-0 right now and I would assume ranked pretty high at the end of the weekend here in the national polls."
