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Sept. 7, 2013

Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Tennessee Tech
Sept. 7, 2013
Camp Randall Stadium – Madison, Wis.

Wisconsin Head Coach Gary Andersen
ANDERSEN: As always, it's great to win. Never going to stop saying it. Football games are hard to win, and I'm proud of the kids. They were prepared. They were ready to play again. Their preparation was good this week. Especially when you talk about the start of school, there's some possible distractions.

And I also want to say I think our scout teams have done a tremendous job. There's another 35, 40 plus young men that are out there on the sidelines with us on those days, but their game days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and they're putting their heart and soul into it. So I'm proud of those kids. It's obviously making us better and giving us a chance to execute at a high level. Those kids never get noticed.

Overall, positives, defense ran to the ball. We were worried coming into this game and getting speed in the space with an athletic quarterback. They had some athletic kids. I thought we tackled well. We ate up the grass when we needed to and gave us an opportunity to swarm the football.

The first play kind of set the tone with the big hit on the reception and picked up the fumble. That was a positive. I thought the defense overall was solid all day long.

Offensively, the highlight that comes to me and we've got to see more of it is the two minute drill. That was huge for us to be backed up, get out from being backed up, number one, and number two, then continue down the field and execute at a high level on the two minute drill. That's difficult to do. We were able to get that done.

So on the flip side of that, we ran the ball extremely well, and, again, we showed that we can we have three very good backs, very good offensive linemen. Nine of those kids got to play today. Our tight ends blocked well. And our ability to pitch it and catch it, not very good stuff. We have to improve in the throwing game. If we don't, it's going to bite us here pretty quick.

Special teams, kickoff team drastically improved. You saw some new faces. They seemed to have a little identity about themselves today and an excitement to play.

I thought the kickoff return team, limited opportunity, was kind of a nonfactor. Punt was kind of a nonfactor. Punt return, had some nice returns, got ourselves moving down the field. Had a couple penalties that we’ve got to take a long, hard look at and make sure that we're putting the kids in the right position, coaching it right.

I can't see to see if I look at the call, just educate our kids on those are big plays and we've got to try to stop that, the hold on the sidelines and obviously the push in the back on the punt return. So fairly clean overall. But we got plenty to work on, trust me. And our kicking needs to improve.

QUESTION: Gary, you weren't born the last time this program had back to back shutouts (1958). What did you learn about this defense today that maybe you didn't know about it going into the game?

ANDERSEN: Gee, it was only 30 years ago that happened then?

No, it was they prepared great both times. Again, it's going to get tougher, we all know that. All you can do is play the people that are in front of you.

I thought Tennessee Tech gave us a bunch of different looks and different things we needed to be prepared for. We handled it, and so did UMass. The bottom line is we handled it both times.

It's a great opportunity. It's hard to shut people out. Proud of the kids. They should be excited about that because, again, that's hard to do. It's very difficult to get that done.

QUESTION: Gary, you mentioned the kickers. Has Kyle French put himself in a precarious situation with not seeing the ball as well as he used to?

ANDERSEN: Yeah, we're just I kind of feel the same way I felt about the kickoff team, I would say, a week ago. It's just not crisp. We've got to continue to improve. It all starts with me. I'm not pointing fingers at any kid. I'm not pointing a finger at any assistant coaches. I've got to find a way to help him and get him where he needs to be, and sometimes the best way to help people is to create competition.

So that's what we'll do. There will be a competitive effort to see where it goes through the week, and we'll continue to work with both young men. We just need to progress. We've got to get better. We're going to get in a position where we're going to have to make those kicks.

A lot of PATs today and the field goal try, but most of the PATs, it's just not that clean sound of the kick and everything that comes with it to me. So we're going to work at it.

QUESTION: There was a stretch where Joel completed 13 straight passes after he threw the interception. Do you feel like you have to live with some of those ups and downs with a young quarterback?

ANDERSEN: No question. There's going to be any young player, you're going to live with ups and downs. It's just magnified when you're at the quarterback position. Joel is coming around.

I will say this. There were times where the leadership appeared to be even better today than it has been throughout camp and last game. I was proud to see that.

He made a mistake and threw the ball in the wrong spot. It's the ones where they're wide open. We've got to get some of those cleaned up.

He's moving in the right direction. We've got a good crew of quarterbacks over there that work well together, and I think the passing game will continue to expand as we move forward.

QUESTION: What have you learned about this team in two games, and how do you factor it or weigh it against the competition level?

ANDERSEN: Well, yeah, like I said, where we've challenged them to get better, I believe we have for the most part. That's always a good sign. They appear to like to play the game of football, and I would almost say love to play the game of football for the most part, which is great to see.

Young kids are obviously paying attention when you see an opportunity for them to walk out and play on a Saturday first reps, and they can execute and actually communicate and make plays and do some good things on the offense and defensive side.

So I know it's a very powerful senior class. It means a lot to these kids. Wisconsin football, Badger nation means a lot to that senior class and the rest of the kids on the team.

They are a powerful group of young men, and I think we're all bought in as a family at this point. It's never perfect. But we prepare like crazy, and I think we're all on the same we're all in the same boat right now, which is great to see.

QUESTION: Gary, you touched on it briefly, but the two minute drive that you guys had before the first half, can you just talk about what it meant for you guys to have that kind of drive, execute the way you did. I know you spent a lot of time on that during fall camp.

ANDERSEN: Yeah, our defense throws a lot of different looks at you during the two minute drill. We did it a couple times again this last week. Again, I would just say that was a big step for our offense, for the confidence of the kids in the huddle, for the quarterback, for the coordinator, for myself. When you can go down and execute that, it's great to see.

There was a lot of people involved in that two minute drive too, which was nice. There wasn't panic on the sidelines. We had three time outs left, which always helps when you're in those situations, because you kind of can play at a little different pace when you know you have those in your pocket.

But there was a calming feel in the two minute drill, which is nice to see as an offense.

QUESTION: You mentioned Joel, leadership, but is it tough to gauge his game management considering the opponent and how you guys have blown out two teams in the last two games?

ANDERSEN: Well, I think early, it's not. When the game is in balance, you try to really critique that harder than anything, and the way he adjusts in the game and makes some adjustments. He seems very calm on the headsets. Curt gives him good, valuable information. Obviously, Coach Ludwig has given him a lot of good, valuable information.

I think he's grown in two games, but we're really not going to know how much he's grown until we continue to move forward. I'm proud of the progress. I'm not a patient guy, and maybe that's why I was a lineman, and maybe that's why I was a defensive guy. I have a hard time being patient sometimes. So I need to take a step back, and I tell myself to zip my lip sometimes and just let the quarterback coach and the offensive coordinator handle it.

QUESTION: The opportunity in the last two games to see a lot of your defense, see a lot of personnel. Have you seen a lot of drop off? Is there a great deal of drop off from your ones to your twos? One would think with two shutouts that you've had an opportunity to gauge that.

ANDERSEN: By position on the front seven, the defensive line to two outside linebackers, the D line is very solid two deep, and you can see that because they're “or” on the two deep, and those kids are all going to play. I feel very good about that.

It was good to see the outside linebackers get out there, to see Joe (Schobert) and (Vince) Biegel get out and play today. We'll have to evaluate that. Are they playing like Ethan (Armstrong) and B.K. (Brendan Kelly)? No. But I think they've pushed the level of play up.

Chris Borland is one of a kind. I’ve said that a million times, and I always take the opportunity to say he's the best linebacker in the country, in my opinion. So there's a major drop off if he's not in there.

But Ethan had the opportunity to – (Derek) Landisch, in his situation, Ethan came back in, learns the defense. The back end of the defense with the young corners, three or four corners I feel good about. After that, there's a drop off.

And the safeties have battled like crazy. The third and fourth safety is up in the air. There were some kids that came in there today and got their first reps at safety, and they're fighting for special teams spots to get on the plane to go to Arizona State, with that youth at that safety position.

QUESTION: Melvin Gordon scored on a 37 yard touchdown. I don't know if you think it's easy or not, but you guys switched every position except for center. Is that easy to do, to pull off, or how do you play?

ANDERSEN: No, not easy to do at all. Again, that's the identity that I hope these kids are getting is we only need the guys we got because that's all we've got. They've done a great job of doing that.

To be able to flip flop that fast they practice like that. It's not like we don't take five minutes to practice and work on moving in and out of who's going to be in the game. They know who's going to be up next, and it was a simple, clean, easy procedure and away they went.

I don't know if he blew a shoe or didn't tie it right or what it was. I was glad to see the play went away from him instead of coming at him without a shoe on. That was a good job by the O line.

QUESTION: When you made the quarterback change in the fourth quarter, another situation where Curt (Phillips) let Bart (Houston) fill in?

ANDERSEN: No, there was no conversation at all between Curt and I on that, and I don't think there really needed to be. I have no question in my mind that Curt is game ready. He'll come in when we need him, which at some point, I'm sure it's going to happen. We'll get us to a spot where he'll walk in there and be ready to play.

Those reps are just valuable for Bart. I think he threw a couple passes, one or two, and it's great for him to do that. And just get all the run checks. Our run game is so much checked at the line of scrimmage, those are valuable reps for him.

QUESTION: Coach, considering the outcome, are the red helmets going to make another appearance again this season?

ANDERSEN: Yeah, absolutely. We'll let the kids be involved in that and break them out on the road, I'm sure, at some point and wear them a couple more times. I'm excited about that. I thought it was a good look today.

QUESTION: What stood out about Derek Straus today?

ANDERSEN: What stood out is, I guess, what kind of didn't stand out. He did a good job. It was he obviously was doing his job at run game. He was moving around very well.

They were very aggressive on the way they were attacking us early in the run game with the all the backs going low and doing some things, which is that's fine. That's football. But I thought he was solid.

The one time I think he wanted the ball on the 1, and ended up throwing it to Abby (Jared Abbrederis). So it was a good opportunity for him, and it's another example of a young man that had prepared himself throughout camp and worked hard to get in the moment and took advantage of it.

QUESTION: Gary, you mentioned the three backs, but Gordon was out for a long time. Is he a little bit dinged? Did you have to hold him out?

ANDERSEN: No. There was nothing for me to believe that Melvin had anything wrong with him. He was ready to go. I think that James (White) has been here for so long, that substitution going through there it is his senior year.

I told Corey (Clement) on the 1, if it gets within the 5 yard line and you've been in there for a couple of snaps and the game is still in the balance, you can bet that Coach Hammock is probably going to put James back in there and let him get his touchdown. He's probably had that happen to him a few times in his career. They seemed all happy and healthy in the locker room.

QUESTION: Gary, what is the ceiling for this backfield?

ANDERSEN: Who knows? I hope greatness. They played very well for two games. If we can stay healthy up front and the tight ends can continue to do what they're doing, they all have vision. They are different. They complement each other. So we'll see as it moves forward.

I'm just proud of the way they've handled it. We won two games now. There's a lot of football out there to be played. We'll see how we're talking in a few weeks. They take a lot of pride in running the football, so does the whole offense.

QUESTION: Gary, you talked a couple times last week about how the offense has to clean certain things up moving forward to probably get to where they need to be against better competition. How do you evaluate the defense that way based on what you've seen and where you think they can go?

ANDERSEN: I think one thing is we're going to get stressed down the field. The ball is going to be downfield the next game for sure, and that's going to be something we haven't seen a lot of. So we've reacted well when it's happened, and our coverage today down the field was pretty good.

Even when they caught the ball, I thought we were rallying and tackling physically, and there wasn't a lot of yards after the catch. So that's still a young secondary that's going to be challenged as we move forward. So that was one thing that we could try our best to create at practice.

That's why we split practice and go to the indoor so we can throw the ball down the field as far as we need to. That's going to be a big question as we move forward with the defense.

QUESTION: Gary, your team hasn't faced much adversity the first two games. Does that concern you heading into a tough road game?

ANDERSEN: No. I'd prefer to win going away every single time and deal with adversity when it comes our way. We talk about adversity all the time. It's something we believe we're prepared for. How we're going to handle it when it comes our way, we'll see.

But there will be there's always going to be adversity. I think the key is to understand that there will be, and it doesn't matter what happens to us. We talk about it all the time, just being steady. No matter how good it is, no matter how bad it is, no matter what happens, you just got to stay steady.

This is a competitive, tough, hard nosed game that you are going to be faced with adversity, and how you react in those moments will probably be the telltale sign of everybody's season in college football.

QUESTION: Gary, Clement had a long touchdown run. Did you see A.J. (Jordan)?

ANDERSEN: Unbelievable effort.

QUESTION: I was going to say are you going to highlight that?

ANDERSEN: Absolutely. I told him that already. That will be a highlight. When you see kids play with that intensity and that want to go help a teammate especially.

A.J. has battled. A.J. was involved with special teams today. I saw him on a couple of those special teams. He was involved in that moment there. It's good to see him do some things in a positive way because he's worked hard.

QUESTION: You used Jared Abbrederis on punt returns. You used him once today. What's your feeling going forward with that? Are you going to let him continue to return punts, or is that Kenzel's (Doe) job?

ANDERSEN: Jared is really the guy that will go in during safe situations. I feel very good about them both catching, but Jared had caught so few that we wanted to at least get him a little bit in a game situation. But that was a safe situation.

I wish he'd have raised his hand in the air and just dealt with it at that point, but he's so competitive, he wants to use every opportunity to get a yard if he can. But I feel very good about both of them catching punts wherever they are.

QUESTION: Coach, has Conor O'Neill been one of those guys who's seizing opportunities? He hasn't gotten many snaps. He's been mainly a special teams guy for a lot of years.

ANDERSEN: Yeah, Conor is. He did that in spring. He did that at camp. He wrapped his arms around a new scheme. He's a smart young man. It's really good for us because, with Landisch and O'Neill, it gives you three inside linebackers, and then Trotter being the fourth. And then Ethan kind of being the fourth/fifth. So that's where we're at.

But to have him come in today and play the way he did, he's waited a long time for that opportunity, and he took advantage of it.

QUESTION: Has there been any update on Derek Landisch as far as his injury and when he'll be back maybe?

ANDERSEN: I would suspect sooner than later, but it's kind of day by day. I would think since Thursday, when we walked off the practice field, until Monday, he'll have some big improvements. But it's still a ways away.

QUESTION: Just one last thing on Stave. When you look back on this game, what will be more notable, the interception or the way he responded to it with the 13 streak?

ANDERSEN: I would say definitely the way he responded to it, without question, because he did respond. At quarterback, you're going to throw a pick. You're going to make a bad decision. It's going to happen. It's part of the process.

I think the challenge is that you just can't use the youth card. You can't just say, well, he's young, so that's okay because it's not. It's not okay for anybody to make mistakes.

But for him to bounce back and kind of let it roll off his back, it's kind of like a corner. They catch a ball, catch a fade ball on you or a touchdown, whatever it may be, you've got to go on and play again.

For him to be able to stand up and do that and for his teammates to look him in the eye and say, okay, let's go, let's get this thing done, it's a big moment, and I hope it plays out that way to be a big moment as we go through the rest of the season.

QUESTION: Coach, I know this fall was a little colder probably than you might have liked heading into Arizona next week. What did you think of the guys' conditioning in sort of hot weather situations?

ANDERSEN: We've had limited game reps in some certain spots, especially with the defensive linemen. The offensive linemen have not really had limited game reps. I feel good about them and the offense moving in because they've had some long drives and ground people out, so I feel good about that. The defense has had a few more subs on the front. Corners seem to be in good shape. Safeties, the same.

I suspect it's going to be 95 degrees or so, and the sun's going to be down. I don't expect the heat to be a factor.

QUESTION: Gary, was it your perception that Tech was going to provide greater challenges to your defense than your first game?

ANDERSEN: We just worry so much about the spread. They have some talented kids. If you watched that game last week, they have some bursts of speed that were really scary. I suspect you're going to see that as they move through the season.

So our ability to get off blocks and replace the blocks and kind of eat up the grass was the difference in kind of their option game and the read zone.

So, yeah, I was surprised in a good way with the way we ran the football and tackled as good as we did.

Senior ILB Chris Borland
On getting two consecutive shutouts:
“It’s a good pace for us. Obviously that’s kind of what we were supposed to do against these opponents, but it is good that we did it, and our backups didn’t let any opponent score either.”

On if there is anything the team needs to work on:
“Yeah, there’s a lot, because zero points doesn’t mean perfection, it just means that they didn’t score. There’s a lot of things we have to clean up. There are some plays where they hit us today that we need to fix. We can always continue to improve, so we’re going to do that.”

On after getting two shutouts, what the team has to improve on:
“There’s a lot, there’s a lot. Obviously the ultimate goal is not to give up points, but within the game, there’s a lot of things we could have done better and we’ll work on it.”

On what he has learned about the defense from the first two games:
“We have a lot of potential I think. I don’t think we’ve truly been tested with that much adversity. That’s kind of when you learn the most with your reactions. I believe in our guys.”

Sophomore QB Joel Stave
On what happened on the interception he threw:
“It was a heck of a play by the linebacker out there. He kind of rerouted the first inside curl, and I just didn’t… he got out there quicker than I thought he would. He had his back turned at first and made a heck of a play on the ball.”

On if he was mad after his interception:
“I wasn’t happy. You’re never thrilled about throwing interceptions. That’s something that as a quarterback you never want to do. You never want to turn the ball over, so that’s something that I’m going to watch, I’m going to learn from and make sure I’m making the right reads and right throws.”

On coming back from the interception with 13 straight completions:
“I didn’t know we did that. That’s what you like to do. You want to throw completions. You want to give your guys a chance to make plays, and we’re doing a great job protecting. I had plenty of time and if you can get the ball in the hands in the receivers and tight ends, they can make good plays, and the running backs for that matter.”

On responding to first-half interceptions in first two games:
“That’s kind of how you want to play, how you’re expected to play. You want to obviously take those interceptions away, but that happens, that’s football. I think as an offense we’ve done a good job responding to turnovers and the defense hasn’t given up any points off of turnovers, so we’re getting the job done there too.”

Sophomore RB Melvin Gordon
On getting caught on his 65-yard run:
“My legs just weren’t turning over today. My legs just felt heavy today, so I’ve got to get my mind right, because in big games I have to make those count. So I’ll be better in that area.”

On how much fun it has been to have big plays with James White and Corey Clement:
“It’s’ been fun, just big competition with those guys to see who’s next. We’ve probably got the fans just sitting there like, ‘who’s next,’ so it’s fun to go out there and compete and make those plays.”

On why he didn’t play during the second half of the game:
“I think they just wanted to give Corey (Clement) more reps, just get him out there, because you never know when we might need him. I’m completely fine, I’m not hurt, so I think that was the reason.”

Senior WR Jared Abbrederis
On the lack of deep passes this week compared to Week 1:
“It is all about taking what the defense gives you. The (defensive backs) backed up and gave us a lot of off coverage, so the short passes were there today.”

On the adversity the team will face next week on the road:
“We are excited to go out there. Arizona State has a good team and it will be a good environment out there in a prime time game. Everything that you want as a player you will have this week so we have to prepare for that.”

On what the team can learn from the first two games going forward:
“Obviously we still have to get better at the passing game. We had a decent game today, but when you are running the ball the way we are now, you can kind of rely on that. Once we start getting in some games where they are stopping the run a little bit, hopefully teams won’t be able to, but when they start packing the box and taking away the run we have to be on our toes at the receiver position, the tight end position and the quarterback (position). We really didn’t have to do too much today, just because we were running the ball so well, but once we need to we will step up.”

On how well the backfield is running the ball:
“They are running great and the offensive line is doing really well opening holes and things like that, and I think the running backs would give the credit to the line as well. But our runners are running well and to have that two games in a row is special.”

Senior TE Brian Wozniak
On how the team will prepare for an increased level of competition:
“We have faced two good teams. They fought real hard, it’s just the level of competition from ASU and Tennessee Tech is going to be different. ASU is on a different level. They are a Pac-12 team, we are on the road, we are playing at night, so it is going to be different. It is going to be a good challenge and I am excited. The good news is that Coach (Gary) Andersen has been out there his whole coaching career so he knows how to play out there. He has played Arizona State before, so it will be good.”

Sophomore FB Derek Straus
On being able to stay prepared and contribute when called upon:
“I have been taking reps behind (Derek) Watt for a while now. I have been taking mental reps. It’s just about having confidence in myself that you can do it and get out there and perform. I was prepared and I was very confident coming in and I just had to settle in and do my job. I thought I did alright, there are a few blocks I would like to get back, but overall I was really excited about how I played. I just need to correct those mistakes, fix them on Monday, Tuesday, and prep for Arizona State. ”

On what it was like to have three players on the field today from Waunakee, Wis.:
“It was exciting seeing so many guys out there. Hopefully our town is proud of us and we like to think we are representing them well.”

Senior LB Conor O’Neill
On the defense pitching two-consecutive shutouts:
“First two weeks of the season, I think it’s something that has happened in 56 years. It is always great to put up a goose egg, especially when we get the younger guys out there too. It’s crazy, just to think to put two shutouts is obviously something that is hard to do, but for our defense it is something we expect and strive for every week.”

On how the level of competition will quickly improve:
“Obviously this is where the true season begins. We have ASU next week and they are not a team that we can overlook. We have to give them our best and give them our all. We have to put a good week of preparation in and go out there.”

On what he expected from Tennessee Tech:
“One of the things that Tech possesses is that they run a lot of fast-paced offenses. For us to be able to kind of control that, I think that was helpful. We were able to get a lot of three-and-outs and were able to get the edges contained so that they couldn’t run around on the outside all the time. They possessed a lot of unique things but we were able to have a good week of preparation and be able to stop it.”

On if he believes he took advantage of his first career start:
“I means a lot to me to be able to run out there with the first unit and get my first start. I told myself I wasn’t going to live with any regrets after the first game and I feel like I did that and took advantage of that. You can never get complacent, you can’t ever get discouraged, just to be able to take everything for what it is. I think we have great coaches that put us in situations to win and I’m thankful for that, thankful for the opportunity. It is a blessing. One of my goals coming into fall camp was to earn the respect of my teammates and the coaches and I hope that, especially after this game, I was able to do that a lot more.”

Senior LB Ethan Armstrong
On what a two-game shutout streak does for the defense:
“It gives us a lot of confidence. We went out there and executed the way we wanted to, and made the plays that we needed to.”

On building on the team’s early defensive success:
“I think a lot of that’s going to be the leadership that we have. A lot of guys have been in this situation before, so (that will help us to) go out there and continue to play hard and continue to execute the calls the way we have been.”

On what he expected from Tennessee Tech going in:
“They had a lot of talented athletes. We knew going in that we couldn’t take them lightly and that we needed to play well to shut them down. They had a lot of weapons that they could use, and we went out and had success against them.”

Senior DB Dezmen Southward
On whether the game helps the Badgers prepare for Arizona State:
“Definitely. (Tennessee Tech) was definitely better than what the score said. They were better than what some of the stats said. But we came out and played today, and we pretty much dominated because we did the things that we had been practicing. Teams will get tougher and more talented, and we’re ready for that. We’ll keep getting better as well. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep playing well as a defense.”

On what went into shutting out Tennessee Tech:
“They definitely have some guys that can make you miss, but we did a good job of tackling them and wrapping them up. We didn’t give them a chance to be in the open field. It’s not so much on them as much as it is that we were getting stops and we were in the right place.”

Freshman RB Corey Clement:
On building on his performance vs. UMass:
“It’s definitely about capitalizing on last week. Last game I didn’t really see as a success because I fumbled at the end. This game was all about having great ball security and not putting the ball on the ground. Coach (Thomas) Hammock and all my teammates helped me a lot throughout this whole week’s practice, and (their preparation) has been great up to this point.”

On how the success of James White and Melvin Gordon helps fuel him:
“Once (White) came out of the game, he looked at me and said ‘It’s your turn.’ I thought, ‘OK, I’m not going to let you guys down, it’s time to go to work.’ I believe we have a very competitive group. That’s what drives all of us. Coach Hammock has been a great coach, having us compete throughout practice. Without competing, you’re really not going to go anywhere. I’m happy that I have them (White and Gordon) competing with me, because without competitors, what are you going to strive for? You can only beat yourself to a certain extent, so you have to have somebody to push you every day.”

On his 75-yard touchdown run:
“I was just trying to be a finesse type of guy. Coach Hammock yelled on the sideline, ‘Outside, outside!’ and I heard that. I took that into consideration and it worked out for a 75-yard (touchdown). A.J. (Jordan) gave me a great block down the field, and without him I don’t think I would have scored. He’s been a great blocker.”

Sophomore DB Darius Hillary
On setting the tone for the game with a forced fumble on Tennessee Tech’s first series:
“Coach (Andersen) is always stressing to start fast as a defense, and to go out and set the tone. I came up off the edge, and I saw that the running back had the ball a little loose. I put my head on the ball, and thankfully I was able to pop it out.”

On next week’s matchup against Arizona State’s pass-heavy attack:
“I’m definitely looking forward to that. I know they’re going to test us a lot on the edges. This next week, we need to be perfect in all of our assignments, which I think we will be.”

On the defense’s second shutout in two weeks:
“We definitely take a lot of pride in it. Sometimes, things aren’t always going to go your way, but for these first two games, we’ve been defensively sound. We wanted to make the offense react to what we were doing, and not the other way around, and I think we did that.”

Tennessee Tech Head Coach Watson Brown
Opening statement:
 “First, I would like to thank Wisconsin for letting us come. It means a lot to our kids and it’s something that they will never forget. And we’ve done a lot of this, this team hasn’t, this is a younger team and I think most of these kids’ second time of doing this. They went to Oregon last year. I want to thank Barry [Alvarez] for doing this and letting us come. It’s a classy place, they do things the right way. Solid, classy football team that is going to be very good in my opinion. I’m proud of my guys, I thought they played their hearts out, they tried hard, we’re better than that, we can play a little better than that. A lot of times physical play can make you not play as well. And there’s people close to [quarterback] Darian’s [Stone] face. And last week we stood back there like the Wisconsin guy did and threw the ball. Today he was running for his life when we would pass. Just little things like that. Last week, receivers don’t have somebody close to them when they’re catching the ball. We were always in the down and distance that we wanted to be in today. This is what I was scared about, that style of play. There’s not a whole lot of turnovers, they run right down your throats with the ball, throw a lot of one or two or three-man routes and just get the one-on-ones and throw it to them. So there’s not a lot of opportunity for turnover. We needed to move the ball much better to hang around than we did today, and our poor defense just had to play and play and play. And they did. We played a lot of players. Hopefully we got out of here without a lot of injury. But I’m proud of my kids, they hung around and fought. They’re classy kids. They try really hard. I think we’ll get a lot out of this. We could’ve played another ‘gimme’ ourselves and not been here today and been 2-0. I think we’re a better team leaving here today playing the University of Wisconsin than if we were playing another game that we beat somebody really bad.”

On whether or not the turnover on the first play of the game set the tone:
“The tone was set by offense and defensive dominance up front. The line of scrimmage was just dominating all day long. The turnover didn’t help but there were eight more scores I think after that. That didn’t do it. We fumbled the first play, he was running with the ball and gained three or four yards, gets hit and loses the ball. But I thought the difference in today was just the dominance up front. That was probably the most we’ve been just dominated at the line of scrimmage I think on both sides. Our defensive kids really fought and hung in there but it’s second-and-6 every time. That’s the best we could seem to do. They’re always third-and-1, third-and-2, first down. And then when they would throw the ball, we just got to stand back there. We got one good sack early in the game where we beat them in a long yardage, but really he just stood back there all day long. That’s where I think Wisconsin is really good, they might be underrated. I think they’re really good up front on both sides. I’m talking about front seven on defense, those linebackers are really good players. Strong kids, really good football sense, got a great knack for the ball and just get off blocks really, really well.”

On whether or not the team was surprised by how much Wisconsin was able to pass on them:
“We knew coming in we were going to crowd them. We had to put a bunch of people up there to try to stop [the running backs]. I think what [cornerback] James [Huguely] is trying to get out is he knew he was one-on-one pretty much all day long. And I think he hung in there. No. 4 [WR Jared Abbrederis], No. 9 [WR Jordan Fredrick] and No. 3 [WR Kenzel Doe], they got some good guys. Our poor corners, we just basically said ‘Cat ‘em up, they’re yours because we’re going to have to put everything we got up here to stop these guys.’ If we would’ve backed off and tried to play with a four-deep secondary and not have nine in."