Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. Michigan State
October 12, 2019 | Football
Wisconsin Football vs. Michigan State
October 12, 2019
Camp Randall Stadium - Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst
OPENING STATEMENT: Certainly proud of the group today. Appreciate how they worked all week and came out today. Took a lot of guys to make it happen; appreciate that.
Obviously as you go back and think about key points in the game, there are a number of guys that are part of that. Big one was coming out the second half and defense gets a stop, then they get the fake punt and then come back and two sacks, and then end up getting the ball. I think it was on the 8 and offense put together a drive. Good mix. I thought offensively there was a good mix of running pass that helped and to be able to get that was big.
But appreciate what the guys did, coaches, players. Gave us a chance and guys went out and played today. It was fun to watch.
Paul, just a couple quick observations from you. What did you think of your protection for Jack Coan, and then what he was able to do with that and find his receivers?
CHRYST: Yeah, we were kind of prodding at the end of the first half. We took a sack. I thought all in all, protection was good. I thought Jack was seeing things well, was in rhythm, and kind of worked through — he had some where he had to work through it, and I thought he was on. I thought the fourth down was a quick read and saw what was happening, and had another big one kind of end up hitting Ferg (Jake Ferguson) on a corner route. He kind of worked through that one nicely.
I thought he was good. Gave guys a chance to make plays, and that was big.
I know there is no magic formula here, but can you explain why this team has played so well in the first half to establish leads? Is it execution of game plan? Being locked in? Something else?
CHRYST: Well, I mean, you hope it's all the above, right? You know, I think they certainly have been doing a good job during the week of preparing and kind of knowing what's coming and getting ready to go.
You know, you never take it for granted, but this group likes playing, so when you get an opportunity to play, they're going to be ready. You appreciate it, right, because it's not easy.
Does it speak to the confidence you've gained in Jack Coan when you go for those fourth-down plays like that? Does it help you make that decision that you seem to have more confidence in him now?
CHRYST: Yeah, I think it's not just in Jack, but I think it's confidence in your group. You know, whether it's — you don't know, right? You don't know if it's going to work or not, but you trust in each other, the defense, the guys around it. This group cares about each other. Everyone knows what it takes. You've got to put yourself out there at times.
I think they appreciate that and they're going to have each other's backs. Each week you get tested differently, and yet I think if you can kind of keep building on that throughout it it's pretty good.
You mentioned the long touchdown drive after you guys got that stop in the third quarter. Long touchdown drives have been kind of a consistent theme throughout the year. What are some of the keys that you have found to staying on the field and continuing those long drives?
CHRYST: You know, it comes down to execution. Guys got to make plays. Obviously got to convert on third down. Couple times we've got to use fourth maybe to get it, right, but that's got to be a manageable situation.
I think when you look — you always go back and look at it. It's guys doing things to give yourself a chance and the someone takes advantage of that.
You mentioned the pass run. I'm guessing you knew it was going to be tough to run against Michigan State, and they contained Jonathan Taylor for the most part. How important was it to put on film, okay, they stopped our running game or at least held us in check, but we can still beat with you with our quarterback making plays to a variety of guys?
CHRYST: Yeah, I mean everyone — it's no secret that everyone — the plan is going to be how do you stop JT (Jonathan Taylor) or minimize him, right? You knew that going in. For us to be the best offense we can be we've got to be able to move the ball a number of different ways.
I thought Joe (Rudolph) did a good job today designing some things. KP (Kendric Pryor), that was a big run on the jet sweep. Cruick (Aron Cruickshank) did a nice job. So finding ways. John Chenal had a couple — I think that was the start of the one drive. He had I think like an eight, nine-yard run.
Takes a lot of guys. You want it to, right? You want everyone to have ownership in it. There were some things that were fun to see. On KP's long run, Q (Quintez Cephus) did a heck of a job. I thought the touchdown, you know, Jack (Coan) gave him a chance and he went up and competed. There were a lot of guys contributing, and you appreciate that.
Did you get a sense on the field at the end how important it was for the players to preserve that shutout?
CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, it's a competitive group. Any time guys are out there they want to do well. Certainly guys want to preserve that.
Talk about Jake Ferguson's impact. Mentioned him on that corner route. He got tripped up. Just how he played today.
CHRYST: Yeah, Ferg showed up a number of different — in the passing game and I think we'll look back and see, I can't tell you exactly, but did some good stuff with the run game. Ferg is a good player, and those certainly were big plays. One was a fourth down and other was a third down I think, so it was — like I said he's a good player. It was good. We needed him. He had a couple other and we had a couple out routes to him and it was good.
We needed him. Everyone needed him.
You mentioned the preparation the guys had during the week. Every group is different. Is this a group you need to do a lot of steering during the week to get them focused, or is this a group that polices itself, so to speak?
CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, I appreciate this group a bunch. I think you're always trying to do your part as a coach, and yet I know that we've got good leadership. I think part of good leadership is also having groups, guys that want to follow, right? That's a big part of it.
You like to think that we're all kind of doing our part.
Michigan State Head Coach Mark Dantonio
Opening Statement: "17 to nothing at half, we came out in the third quarter and tried to rally back. We had a fake punt, probably our biggest play of the game, but we didn't do anything with it. Very disappointing day, I take responsibility as the head football coach.
"I thought we would be able to run a little more effectively — also thought we'd be able to throw a little more effectively. You go into a game with a plan and figure something's going to work, but you have to execute those plans, too. I thought we came up here emotionally ready. We talked about how you can't play this game without emotion, it's very difficult … something good has to happen that springs you forward a little bit, and nothing really did for us.
On what Wisconsin's defense did to be so effective:
"Well, I suppose what they've been doing all year, it's their fourth shutout. They do a good job in terms of giving you different looks, they have good players coming off the edge and overload you with some different types of blitzes … they get on you. They've been playing well all year and you saw the effect of it today.
On limiting Jonathan Taylor to 80 yards rushing:
"Coming into the football game, we knew that if we were going to win we were going to have to stop him. He might have only gotten those yards, but I thought he ran effectively, he surged forward and got the tough yards. They were long drives, long possessions."
