Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. Illinois
October 20, 2018
Camp Randall Stadium - Madison, Wis.
OPENING STATEMENT: I was proud of the effort that the players and coaches put in this week. It's good to win. That game had a little bit of everything in it. I think there's enough that we did well to give us a chance to win, get the win. Certainly some areas we've got to continue to keep working on and clean up. A lot of guys contributed. It's good to win today.
Q. You mentioned the areas you want to clean up. What is your concern at this point, even though you won, defense or some turnovers that allowed Illinois to get a little life at times?
CHRYST: Well, I mean, I think they're all going to be important. You never want to turn the ball over. Certainly they made some plays. They're a talented team. There's talent on that team. Again, I have a ton of respect for Coach (Lovie) Smith. You play the game, but not going to rank which one is more important or the other. Just got to keep finding ways to get better.
Q. Defense has been dealing with a lot of injuries, yet got five takeaways in the first half. Why do you think they were so effective in that area? What have your impressions been by the way this group has responded?
CHRYST: I've been proud of their response. It was great having (Evan) Bondoc, who showed up, had a pick, caused a fumble. We didn't get it. Had some noticeable fits and tackles in the run game. There's a guy that's been doing a ton for this program. To see him get his opportunity, then do well with it, that's awesome.
I think some of the younger defensive backs, Rashad Wildgoose, coming in, continues to take advantage of the reps he's getting.
I think what helps the defense, you've still got some great stability. T.J. Edwards has an early pick, Olive (Sagapolu) has been playing well, he has a pick in the game. Ryan Connelly did a number of things.
They don't have to do it alone. But, you know, guys need to step in, need to step up. They've been doing that. Certainly, like we were talking in the first question, there are areas we can get better, but I'm proud of the way they battled and fought through. Really everyone. The response is as important as to what happened. I thought there were a number of people on all sides of the ball that responded well.
Q. How much was the wind and the snow a factor in the first half?
CHRYST: It was real. I thought the kids embraced it. But it was coming. I think it was a factor in some of the turnovers, takeaways that we got. The wind was there all day. Yet I felt like we could kind of cut through it when we needed to. The kicking game, Zach (Hintze) was good in both directions.
I think it was real. I don't know in the end. You don't know what those plays would be like without the snow or without the wind. But it was blowing pretty good. I loved that the kids had fun with it.
Q. I think on Thursday you said that (Andrew Van) Ginkel got to practice every day this week. Did you see a more active guy from start to finish today?
CHRYST: You know, even in the games where he hasn't played as many snaps, he impacts it. It's fun to see him out there a lot. Really, I think when you look back at it, we'll find a number of guys had their moments, made some plays.
You have some pressures on them. I know Gink did, Zach (Baun) did. It was good. But hopefully it continues to come out of this one all right and continue to get healthier. Gink is a really good football player.
Q. How would you assess Alex (Hornibrook's) performance today? Off at times, but made a couple big throws.
CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, that's exactly I think accurate. Had a couple that weren't great. But I see what he was seeing. Liked his decision making on that. Obviously the picks, you want to look at a little bit closer and see. But I thought he made some really good plays.
Best part about Alex is he keeps playing, doesn't let the previous play, good or bad, affect what's happening next.
Q. Coaches always preach being ready for opportunities. How ready for the opportunity was Evan Bondoc? From what you saw, was he maybe a little amped up? Did he come back down to where he needed to be?
CHRYST: I thought that he was — I thought temperament-wise, he was right where you want him to be. You could ask him, maybe I'm wrong. But he seemed like he was himself.
Bondie has worked a ton. You don't just get ready for this opportunity last week or this week. It's been stuff he's been doing for his whole career here. Like I said, it was fun.
Our players appreciate Bondie. When he does make plays, not just in helping us win, but for his sake, a lot of people are excited.
Q. In the second quarter, Illinois' Reggie Corbin had an 80-yard run. What was your mentality after that of regrouping the team and moving forward?
CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, like we thought coming in, they're certainly an offense that's capable of big plays. He did a good job of taking it back. Obviously we didn't stop it.
Yet I thought one of the strengths of this team is responding. You've got to turn the page, try to learn what you can from previous plays, but go forward. I thought our guys did a good job of that throughout the day.
Q. Jack Sanborn had the forced fumble today. What has he done to be able to find a role on this team?
CHRYST: I think Jack has been working. He's earning the right for those opportunities. Been playing on special teams. He does a good job of working during the week. He's smart enough to see what's ahead of him, too, learn from them.
So coming in we wanted to play all four of the inside backers. I think we'll look back at the tape and see all four did some good things.
Q. Taiwan Deal carried the ball really well today, over a hundred yards, two touchdowns. What did you see from him, the opportunity he had?
CHRYST: I love how he ran. I thought he ran behind his pads. Certainly doing some good stuff up front.
I think Taiwan was how he's been all year. When you get a chance to get some plays, run. Last week we didn't. We weren't as good on third down, fewer plays.
But I thought he ran hard, ran behind his pads. I thought it was big. The long run he had, that came at a good time for us. It was big.
Thank you.
On preparing for today: "I just tried to prepare the best I could. It's no different than the other weeks though. You're always ready to play. That's kind of the mindset we have in our room is that it's always next man up if someone goes down. You've got to prepare like you're going to play because we have a standard as a room and we want to keep that no matter who is on the field."
On how long he's been dreaming of playing in Camp Randall Stadium: "Ever since I was a kid. I grew up in Madison and have been a Badger fan my whole life so it's something I've been looking forward to and dreaming of. It was pretty cool."
On how his role has changed: "I never really knew going forward. We've kind of been rotating safety's as a group. We don't know the status of other guys going in so I think it was just taking the mindset that I needed to be prepared to start and to play and be ready for anything."
On playing in the snow: "It's really fun. We were just talking about how when we were younger, we were kids, just playing out in the back yard in the snow, it was always fun so that's what it kind of felt like."
On getting five turnovers today: "I think it will build confidence in some guys and the ability for them to get turnovers. Hopefully that confidence will build in other guys and down the road we'll be able to keep manufacturing those."
On Olive Sagapolu's tip: "I was impressed but I've seen him do that before in practice actually so it's pretty cool. He just made a play."
On the offense: "I think a big part of this team right now is playing off of each other. We need to capitalize on every opportunity that the defense is giving us the ball. They've been doing a really good job of that so I think the next step for our offense is feeding off of that energy and playing overall as a unit and as a team.
On Alex Hornibrook's play: "The thing about Alex is that every play is the same. He doesn't get rattled. When things are going great, he's the same Alex as when things are going bad. It's that consistency factor that we love on the offense. Getting in the huddle and knowing exactly how he is calling the play to how he is going to hit his guys on routes. Whether it is a touchdown or a pick, he's the same guy. And that's big for our offense."
On Jonathan Taylor's play: "I think he has a lot of anger when he's running. He missed out on a couple of years just with that ankle not being healthy. He's just trying to make up for lost time. He runs the ball with a chip on his shoulder and he tells you exactly how he is going to run the ball every time. He is consistent as well in the way he shows up to play.
On his second touchdown: "Yeah, those guys played two different techniques that I had to be ready for. I knew they were either going to come inside and I had to bounce outside or they would come outside and I'd have to go inside. It was just a split second decision, not really thinking about it and just let it happen."
On responding to last week: "It's very important. I thought the guys came out with a lot of energy today. I thought it was a good win."
On being off on a few passes: "There a couple that we weren't on the same page as an offense but there were a couple we were all on the same page as well."
On reaching 5,000 passing yards and the others on the list: "It honestly doesn't mean too much. I've been here for a while so I should have some passing yards. I think that's good."
On Alec Ingold and Taiwan Deal: "They did a great job. Alec did a great job as always on third downs when we need him and he got in the endzone a couple of times. Taiwan just runs really hard and that is something he has done well all year."
On defensive turnovers: "Yeah, that was huge. They did a great job today turning the ball over and getting it back to us. That helped us a lot."
On the difference between this week and last week: "Not really, just executing the plan that the coaches have and went out there and had fun. Just feed off of each other. I think that was the key component, just feed of each other, and I think we will make plays like we are capable."
On stepping into the starting role: "Bondy [Evan Bondoc], who would have thought? People have been doubting us since we started the season with the young secondary that we have but I think we went out there and had fun. Bondy did a helluva job so hats off to him."
On being a veteran: "I am. I'm just learning from D'Cota (Dixon). I just learn from everything he says. He says just go out there and be a gentleman and that is what I'm trying to do, just get everyone lined up and make sure we are on the same page."
On his first career touchdown: "It feels great. I didn't know what to do but I knew I finally accomplished one of my goals of the season and big help from Jack Dunn with the block on the pancake. I saw Jack one on one and I saw someone else coming over so I knew I had to be [unclear] but Jack finished off his dude."
On playing for Wisconsin: "It felt amazing and a little bit overwhelming honestly. It was like the expectation were greater because I came in early but once I just shut everything down and was able to focus on the game, everything came as second nature and finally I got one I was looking for today."
On the locker room: "Yeah, it was more focused on finishing out the game but it was a lot of high-fives and chest bumps going around. It was a lot of fun. The celebration outside was Jack Dunn's idea. He initiated it and then I kind of just took it."
On rushing for over 100 yards: "It felt great to get out there. Any running back having a 100-yard game is just awesome. Being out there with the lineman, they gave me great blocks, with the running back group, and with the team, pushing and fighting, it felt great."
On his long touchdown run: "I kind of cut it back and saw a little gap. I trusted that landmark and the smoke and came out the end of it."
On this win after last weekend: "It meant a lot to come back and bounce back from Michigan. Overall, we didn't play well at Michigan but we came out and were focused on putting a complete game together, starting fast and awesomely playing football. We are football players, that's what we gotta go, play football."
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Illinois Head Coach Lovie Smith
Opening Statement: When you play a good football team like we were playing against the University of Wisconsin, there's some things you have to do. Number one you have to protect the football. The turnover ratio, of course, is big each week. Offensively, we needed to hold onto the ball. You can't turn it over that many times. If one side is turning it over the other has to also. We were able to do that.
Coming in we knew that we had to run the football against a good defense. We knew offensively that they would run the football against us. So those two main things we thought we had to do well and win those battles in order to have a chance to win today. Of course we didn't win either one of those so you end up with a game like that.
There was a time in the second quarter I thought we were doing some things decently, even once you get into 28-17, but we needed to be able to stop their run. The second half, of course, we weren't able to do that. So disappointing how we finished the game today. We played MJ Rivers. We just felt like we needed to go in a little bit of a different direction passing the football. I thought he would give us our best chance to do that.
On being generally good at protecting the ball so far this year:
We've been right up there with the best of the sport knowing how the turnover ratio affects the game and offensively we have protected the football. The weather of course was different today, same weather they were having to deal with, we just didn't handle it well. We didn't protect the football the way we needed to.
On who played well today:
You saw the score so I can't say that anyone did well today. We put the best team out there we felt like gave us the best chance to have some success. For someone playing well today, I don't think that any of us played well, coached well. Wisconsin dominated us in every way.
