COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst
Wisconsin 24, Iowa 22
OPENING STATEMENT: Certainly proud of the effort. Told the guys after the game. I think what makes that one feel really good is I thought it was a heck of a team win. So many guys made plays, big plays. Kept battling against a really good, obviously really good, Iowa football team. It takes everyone. Needed so many guys. It wasn’t perfect, but they kept battling and found a way to win.
Q. I think your offensive linemen and the other guys who block were not happy with how they performed at Ohio State. How do you think they bounced back today?
CHRYST: I mean, knew going in it’s a heck of a defense we’d be facing. I thought the guys played well. Had a good plan for them. But you got to execute it. Obviously J.T. (Jonathan Taylor) was big. I thought Nakia (Watson) came in and gave us some good runs. Mason (Stokke) has a big third-and-one to finish that off.
I think it says a lot when at the end of the game you get the ball back and you can finish it keeping the ball in your own hands. There’s a lot of work that went into that. It was big.
Q. How would you assess Jack’s (Coan) overall play today, including the sideline pick?
CHRYST: Some good, some bad, right? I mean, he made some big plays for us. Every game there’s going to be a couple you want back. At that point, too, that was big. Our defense did a heck of a job kind of bowing up. We gave up a field goal at that time there, right?
But, you know, he did a lot of things that were good. He was the winning quarterback today.
Q. Take us through the fourth-and-two sequence, what happened in that stretch early in the first quarter. Timeout, penalty. What are you thinking?
CHRYST: We’re thinking that we got a chance right after Q (Quintez Cephus) gets a catch. Thought it was a manageable plan going into it. Took a little bit to get it in.
Still felt good with what we saw. Jump off-sides. Early in the game we had a couple of those. I don’t know how it turned out, but we got exactly what you want on one. Then we have a procedure, that was on a third-and-medium, I believe. That lead to the sack fumble.
There were some things early that obviously we didn’t like. We had a couple of procedures. They called illegal formation. I saw it different. We were unbalanced, covering up the tight end. Some of those things we overcame because those hurt you.
You get the fourth-and-two, don’t get it, line up for the field goal, we don’t make that. That’s hard. Against a good team, you make it harder.
Q. Can you elaborate on that illegal formation?
CHRYST: We were going unbalanced. You got a receiver that’s covering up an eligible tight end. On one I know exactly what I saw. Said he put his arm back saying he wanted to be off the ball. I didn’t see that. That’s what it was called for.
Q. We all know how motivated J.T. (Jonathan Taylor) is. Do you think he was a little extra motivated after what happened at Ohio State when he didn’t have a big game?
CHRYST: It’s hard for me to speak for him. His motivation, the way he approaches every day, certainly each game, he comes with a purpose every day. I think it would be wrong for me to say. I’m sure you guys will speak to him.
That’s one of the things I’ve always been impressed with him: every day he comes and you know you’re going to get his best. I think it affects maybe all around him as much if not more than J.T.
Q. You give up the big play. How proud, impressed, whatever word you want to use, to describe the defense getting back and getting the two points?
CHRYST: Football, you know, it’s a game of emotions, right? You talk about a huge momentum swing. To be able to bow up on that, I think it speaks volumes.
When you look at who makes that, Chris (Orr) is the first one in, legit. It’s a big quarterback. I think it says a ton. That’s a quick swing, right? It goes from hitting a big play, touchdown, now you got to get back at it.
I think that’s the game in a nutshell, the game of football. You got to play the next play. You get to play the next play. That was huge.
Q. I don’t know if you were communicating with Jim Leonhard during that sequence, what you expected. Did that quarterback draw surprise you? Did you expect them to throw it?
CHRYST: I mean, I’m not here to analyze. I’ve been a part of it. When they work, they’re good plays. I understand it. I can see it, but I don’t know.
Q. The way their offensive line played, weren’t able to get as much pressure, can you assess how the secondary did?
CHRYST: I mean, certainly did some good things. I think they did a good job of getting the ball out on time, in a rhythm. Early there was a big sack. It takes all 11.
Neither side of the ball, special teams wasn’t perfect, but made enough plays to win.
Q. With the success that your defense had, only three completions for Nate Stanley first half, what do you think led to that?
CHRYST: I mean, you got to play. Guys made plays. I don’t know, right? You got a plan, but you got to go out and execute it. I got a lot of respect for Iowa. To do that against a good offense, it takes everyone. Obviously it starts with a plan, but the players got to execute it. I thought they did a large number of times.
Q. You were able to hit (Quintez) Cephus down the field, earned a penalty on another one. How much do you think that complemented the running game?
CHRYST: I thought it was really big, especially at that point. If I remember correctly, we kind of had been backed up. We hadn’t really flipped the field on them. In fact, early it seemed like we were kind of losing a little bit of ground.
The first one was big, flipping the field. We had the one going in toward the student section on the penalty. Getting them on the other one, I thought those were huge plays for us, not just in yards, but needed something to happen.
He competes. Jack (Coan) gave him a chance. He means a ton to this offense.
Q. As a lifelong Wisconsin guy, any problem rooting for Iowa next week when they play Minnesota?
CHRYST: I’m going to worry about us (laughter).
