Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. BYU
September 15, 2018
Camp Randall Stadium - Madison, Wis.
Opening Statement: First of all, you have to give credit to BYU. It's a good football team. We thought that coming in. Certainly the locker room, guys are hurting right now. We've got to take that hurt, and we've got to all own our part in it, players, coaches, and it's an opportunity to move forward. We've got a chance to start, with a rivalry game, Big Ten season, so we've got to learn from this one and move forward.
Q. As you sit there right now, what's most surprising about your team's performance today, giving up too many big plays to their offense, some mistakes and lack of efficiency on your offense?
CHRYST: I don't know that there's necessarily one more than another, and there's no doubt that they had some big plays offensively. Two long runs set up two of their scores. Another score was set up on a short field on a 3rd down pick that we had there, and offensively I didn't feel like we were very — I'd say consistent in running the football, and we weren't great on 3rd down.
You need to be — for us to be our best, you need to be a little bit more efficient on those, and it gives you more opportunities. Certainly I didn't think our special teams didn't really — you win as a team, and everyone can own their part equally in a loss, and so we've all got to take a look at the things that we can control, and how can we get better, and we've got to take those steps to get better. That's the opportunity we have.
Q. How much impact did Zander Neuville's absence have as far as having a consistent running game?
CHRYST: You know, certainly we like Zander (Neuville) a lot in there, and same could be said defensively when we lost [Andrew Van Ginkel] early on, and yet there's opportunity for others to step in and to step up. You want those players in there, and yet we didn't, and we've got to find a way to overcome those two.
Q. Rafael Gaglianone has been so consistent for you guys for a long time. What, if anything, did you say to him if you had a chance to talk to him?
CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, he has been consistent, and he'll have more opportunities this season for big kicks and whatnot. You know, it never does — everyone in here knows, it doesn't come down to that one play, right, and so he had an opportunity, and we didn't make it. No one hurts more than Raf. But the whole team can own this one, needs to own it, and the whole team therefore can make a choice, and that's what it'll be. How do we move forward and grow from it.
Q. End the first half you had some timeouts you could have burned to try to get the ball back. Was there not enough time in your mind, or were you hoping, it's 14-14, we haven't played that well, let's see what happens?
CHRYST: Yeah, we tried to gauge it a little bit on where they're at, and I think with what they were doing, you try to think about if it's a 2nd and extra long, may be a little bit different than where — you had an idea of what they're trying to do, and yet — we thought going in, and I think this, too, the quarterback is a good player, and you've got to be careful, too, of giving them the opportunity and just seeing where we're at. You kind of gauged it and see, and honestly, just kind of right on that edge, what do you want to do with it.
Q. A couple really back-breaking penalties, a couple holds and the false start on 4th and 1. How big do you think that was?
CHRYST: Well, they're — every play is important. If it happens, you've got to find ways to overcome it. You've got to look at this — you can play it right now, a lot of them come to mind, and you can look at the film, and there's going to be some just opportunities you've got to take advantage of if you want to win these types of games, and obviously we didn't make enough of those plays to give us the win. Those plays are going to be on offense, those plays are going to be on defense, and those plays will show up on special teams.
Q. In the second half there was one series where you put the second-team offensive line in. Was that performance based, heat related, a little of both, and how do you think that unit played as a whole today?
CHRYST: Yeah, I know we had a couple in — it was probably a little bit of everything. With the heat and also kind of like you do with backs where, can we spark something, can we go with it. It felt like it was — they played all right. I don't know for sure until we look at the film. But it felt like it. And also those guys have earned the right to play. What you feel good is you don't feel like, okay, it's not unsettling to anyone in the huddle, know what I mean? Micah (Kapoi) has played a lot of football and [Jason Erdmann] has played a lot there, and certainly we're getting Cole (Van Lanen) and Jon (Dietzen) playing. Without really looking at it and seeing — we felt going in we wanted to play them all, or the group that we did, and I don't know right now if — I don't know if I could assess it really accurately.
Q. You mentioned special teams. Would you include punt return in that? There have been a couple instances where either a guy is not gauging how far he's going to kick it
CHRYST: Yeah, those are yards, right, and our last drive — and you've got to make a decision, right, the returner there has got to make a decision, and they've got to trust that decision and then go with it, and yet I thought we had one there possibly, and they were kicking towards the field house end, and there was another one. You've got to trust the guys, and they've got to trust themselves. Whatever that is, we've got to find a way to make the best of what we have.
Q. Were there any differences between the BYU team that you prepared for and the BYU team that you played today?
CHRYST: No, I mean, we had enough — so the things that changed, we had some information. You had an idea of what the offense was going to look like, and yet every game there's new things. I don't know if they necessarily surprised — it's a good football team. They executed and they played well, and they're well-coached, really well-coached, and like I said to start with, credit to them.
Q. Following on the big picture, you haven't had a whole lot of games like this. You said earlier your team can kind of make a choice going forward. What do you think of the resiliency of this group and where do you think they'll go after this?
CHRYST: I like the group in that way, and now we get to go do it. That's the challenge, and every challenge means there's an opportunity for us to go forward. I still like this team. I like them and who they are. This is where we're at right now, and I have confidence in the group making the choice to go forward.
Q. It's kind of rare when one part of your team doesn't pick up the other when they're struggling. Did your team as a whole show up with the kind of edge you look for in a team today in this game?
CHRYST: You know, I think that it's — I think — I didn't sense anyone was off. But you've got to go — the interesting thing to me is that each year, like this team is three games in, and just because last year's team and some of these guys were part of that did something or the other thing doesn't mean this year's team is, and that's the beauty of the season and the journey that is the season. And so this is where we're at right now. We're 2-1, and we start Big Ten play against Iowa, and that's a rivalry and all that. We'll continue to find out about these guys, but I do like this group, and I'm confident of the response, but we've got to go do it. We've got to put that into action.
Q. They hit you guys with the quick lateral out to the right and the pass to the tight end. Was that just an example of a DB looking into the backfield, because it looked like he didn't see the guy run right past him?
CHRYST: Yeah, it was a good play design and execution by them. So then we have our ownership on it, and so those are all — every player is going to go through all those, and certainly we as coaches, and we've got to all own it and we've got to learn from it and go forward with it.
Q. How do you feel like Danny Davis played in his first game back and how he fit into the offense?
CHRYST: You know, the first play of the game he had a chance to make a play and didn't, and made a couple, with the 3rd and extra long and made a nice catch and run after that. There will be things he can build on, there's going to be things he can learn from and see. He got jammed up on a couple releases. Every one of us can get better; he's no different.
Q. Did Alex Hornibrook just not see the guy on the interception? And were there a couple plays where he might have run for a 1st down, and how do you judge whether he should — do you encourage him to run?
CHRYST: Yeah, and had some big runs in the last drive. I think that he — I don't know, and I think he underestimated where he was at and the ball as far as if he had already gotten on top of him. Honestly, I didn't ask him on that one right there. But I'm sure he — I'm sure it was more of a location deal than it was a vision thing on that.
Q. Right after the game, do you have any idea of the severity of Andrew Van Ginkel and Zander Neuville?
CHRYST: Yeah, not right now. Yeah, I don't.
Â
On the long runs and unexpected things BYU brought:
"We just had a couple of missed hits, obviously the jet sweeps are eye candy and that can distract your eyes."
On the feel in the locker room after the game:
"It is disappointing, obviously we have a lot of goals and winning every game is one of them. We got to let it sting, remember this feeling, so we can come back next week ready to go."
On the jet sweeps:
"They skimmed us pretty well. They made some plays, took advantage of some things that we were not necessarily in the best places for, so hats off to them for that."
Senior ILB TJ Edwards
On the locker room after the game:
"It hurts, there are a lot of competitive guys in there and we don't want to lose ever. It stings, but all we can do right now is look at film and move forward."
On the running game:
"They out executed us. Game-plan wise we were right there, we knew what was coming, but we didn't get enough blocks, we were in the wrong gaps, and missed tackles. I take a lot of that stuff on myself and the unit. We have to be better if we want our team to win."
On the rareness of being out of position:
"Yeah, it is definitely something we pride ourselves on and when things like that happen you're going to lose to teams like that."
On turning the page on this loss:
"You try to tonight and you try to tomorrow morning. We are going to look at film tomorrow morning and then start game planning tomorrow. It has to come from the leaders to get us out of this slump. It is going to be a fun next couple of days to see how we respond."
On the feeling at the end of the game:
"Anytime you lose, it hurts. All the preparation you put in with the guys you have been practicing with all week. But it hurts even worse to see that reaction on the guys' faces on the sideline having to except a loss. It is not necessarily the loss itself, but the opportunity we let go. But it is fuel and we will get better from this."
On what made the difference this week:
"Making plays, a play too short. That's really all it is. They are trying to win a football game too. They capitalized on more and made a play more. That is all it came down to."
On his missed field goal:
"I'm going to have to go back and look at it on film. It was disappointing letting the team down, but I'm not going to let one play define me – or define this season."
On today's loss:
"It's not ideal, but I think everything we've been working for is still ahead of us. So we just have to get back to work and keep grinding away."
On returning to the field:
"It felt great to get back out there and score a touchdown. I couldn't have done it without the guys up front. It was a special moment getting in the end-zone and rallying with those guys."
On today's loss:
"I think we practiced well all week and came out ready to execute a game-plan. But BYU came out and made more plays than us and played a better game."
On upcoming Big Ten play:
"Heading into Big Ten play we know that these games count. We still have the Big 10 championship ahead of us, so that will be our goal moving forward."
On playing Iowa:
"I think we are going to approach Iowa ready to play and ready to fight. We have to trust our preparation and trust the game plan.
On today's loss:
"It was definitely tough. We knew they would come in ready to play and wouldn't leave anything on the field.
On the season moving forward:
"We're going to approach this next week of practice with a new mindset. We know that we're going to have to work harder for everything we want."
On the offense struggling:
"I think we needed to come together a little more. They defended the run well and we just didn't win our matchups. We needed to make more plays."
On playing Iowa:
"We're going to learn from this loss and take those lessons and bring them to practice. We're going to focus on things we need to correct to ensure we're ready to play Iowa."
Â
BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake
OPENING STATEMENT:Â "Well, that was fun. I don't even know where to start. We had a good time and it was fun. A lot of respect to Wisconsin though and their program. I talked about how much I admire their program and the tradition and the smash-mouth style football that they play. What we do as an offense and as a team after what they do and I'm excited that we came out with a win. But more than anything, that our guys were a lot more physical this year than they were last year. It shows a lot of improvement and hard work from our players. We played a lot of young guys today, some guys were banged up. It was a team win. We gave the game ball to our strength and conditioning room because those guys kept working until our guys got bigger and stronger and faster. But the players were gritty and they played hard and with a lot of toughness. I was really pleased with their effort, but more than anything, how immensely strong they were throughout this game. They just kept believing and kept competing and it just worked out in our favor and it was a huge win.
"All I care about is that we won the game. I don't rank anything. Wins are hard to come by and I love them all, they are like my children. I'll take them any way that I can and get the wins that I can. This really isn't about me as a coach. It's about what our players prepared for and worked hard for. And our coaches did a lot of hard work. Shoot. I just had the best seat in the house. A lot of credit to Coach Grimes and the game plan our offense had. I'm really happy with how we ran the ball. You know, we had some drives get stalled but this was a great team that we were going against so we just kept sticking with it. There was an energy on the sideline and we just have to play like that every week. We have a game next week. We have to put this one away and fix the mistakes we made and have a better chance to win next week as well. But we are going to enjoy it. We won the game so we are going to show our guys that it is a lot of fun when you win. But you just have to get back to work as soon as you can and prepare for the next week."
"We had a big run. Squally (Canada) busted a big one. Skyler (Southam) coming back and making the field goal after he missed one from roughly around the same area. It was kind of a bad snap. Gavin Fowler (the holder), has been solid for us for so many years and is really a team guy. He really won the game by taking an erred snap and letting Skyler kick it fully. We made the kick. It's just plays like that. We made mistakes but the guys effort and everyone doing their job is what one the game for us."
