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University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
10/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota Coach Tim Brewster
Opening Statement:
"I thought the story line today was the tale of two halves as a football team. We did a lot of things in the first half to give us a chance and particularly in the second quarter climbing back in the thing and grinding and getting some things done, keeping the ball, time of possession was really in our favor, converting third downs, we're 3 out of 4 on fourth downs and putting ourselves in position to win the football game. The second half we obviously didn't get that done. We finished the day 3 out of 13 on third down and they finished 7 of 9. And primarily that was in the second half and I thought that was the story line for the game, our inability to tackle, our inability to shut down the run, to slow the running game down in the second half and their ability to run it, and our inability offensively to stay on the field and do a better job on third down, do a better job on first and second to have manageable third downs. But I think that was the story of the game."
On time of possession for Wisconsin in the third quarter:
"You just got to make the plays; you got to stop the run. That's the basic premise on which we live by defensively, and we certainly didn't get the job done there in the third quarter. They just ran the ball that well against us, and that's really disappointing."
On Wisconsin's James White and John Clay:
"They're good players. And Ball's a good player as well, but White rushes for 119 and Clay rushes for 111, you know, and that's certainly not a recipe for success for your defense when you got two guys rushing for over 100 yards in a game."
On the warm weather:
"When you're out there as long as our defense was, they got a little worn down, there's no question about it. We were playing a lot of guys in the defensive front, playing a lot of guys on defense ... but you can't help but get worn down when you're out there as long as we were."
On Da'Jon McKnight's play:
"He made some great plays there, he really did. He made some great plays and he's a really good player and I thought we did some good things offensively. We wanted to stay with the plan; we threw it more than we wanted to in the second half. I though our opening, our first-half plan, running the football was really good, doing a lot of things. Second quarter I thought we were excellent...but we had to get away from it a little there at the end and you saw Da'Jon able to make a couple of plays."
On Wisconsin's red-zone efficiency:
"Yeah. It's frustrating when you don't stop them period. At halftime you feel like you're in really good shape and you've given yourself a chance at the final 30 minutes and you know that first possession of the third quarter was critical, it was absolutely critical."
On where the team goes from here:
"We go to Purdue. We go to Purdue next week and do a great job in our preparation. And we go to Purdue expecting to win and go win a football game. That's exactly where we go from here."
Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema
Opening Statement:
"I thought, going back to last Sunday, our guys were in a tough situation. They didn't execute the things we asked last week, and they had to endure a week. Anytime you win, things kind of fly by but this week kind of crawled by and the kids focused on the details of what we do. The preparation that they put in put them in a position today.
"In the first quarter, I really thought we came out doing some good things, offense, defense. Stubbed our toe a little in the second quarter and went in at halftime, and the coaches talked through some things, offense and defense. We really came out humming in the third quarter, and you know, (Minnesota has) a good offense. I respect Weber. He's very, very good. He can change field position in a short amount of time. I thought out offense needed to grind it out, and that's exactly what they did. I liked the turnover pregame again, the way they executed. We saw some guys come through. Nick [Toon] really stepped up. The two running backs, John Clay and James White, and even Montee [Ball] got in there at the end and delivered a little bit of anger. Lance Kendricks showed up a little bit today, and I know he showed up in our blocking game. I don't know what his receiving statistics were."
On the play of John Clay and James White:
"John, probably this week more so than ever before, looked really good in practice, and the result was what you saw today. James is very good at what he's doing, too. Also, on third down for protection reasons and reception reasons, there's a little bit of a set rotation there. I really just like that there's a constant rolling through there. They're the first ones to congratulate each other. It's special."
"James is good. I like the way he executes his business. He takes care of the football as well. James has great football IQ. I think that's one part that really jumps out to you, that he really understands football."
On winning seven in a row against Minnesota:
"You know, I think that anytime you come into this week, it's about who can keep their composure. I think the players have to understand that there is a lot of emotion out there. We got a wind that they were going to change up their uniforms, so I pointed that out to the guys, made our guys understand that it's about doing what you do. If you focus on the details that you're training 365 days a year, nothing magical has to happen. You just go out and execute. For us at Wisconsin, that's what we have to do."
On the offensive line:
"Everybody wants to turn their attention to the backs, but for us, our offensive line is the key to our success. I've said this, even going back to fall camp, that those guys have established the leadership roles. I think that John Moffitt is a guy that when he speaks, everybody listens. Peter Konz gets a tremendous amount of respect. Billy Nagy, when we went with Zuleger, I know it was a way to get Billy in at the tight end position. I just love that because that's getting our best players on the field."
On third-down conversions:
"It's a point of emphasis. It's no different than fall camp. It's just that last week, we didn't execute it. That's probably the biggest reason that we found defeat, was the third down ratio. We made a point of it this week. Our guys were talking about it all week. When third down came up on the field, it was good to see them execute."
On facing Ohio State next week:
"We've got a tremendous challenge. You talk about Ohio State, they've been the premier (team) of our conference the last several years. They've been able to win close games, especially against us. We have a tremendous amount of respect for what they do. Jim Tressel, in this business, is as good as it gets. I think it's a game for us, and me personally, of tremendous challenge, but it's all out of respect. It's not a hatred thing, or out of disrespect. I just really admire what they do. Until we're able to surpass that and get a 'W,' that's what we have to live with."
On maintaining possession of Paul Bunyan's Axe:
"It's big. There are a lot of emotion things, recruiting, the border battle. I always get a kick out of this week. It's a different week. I think it's very important to anybody that loves Wisconsin, and we do. It's great for the fans. I wish we could parade around 70,000 fans with that Axe because they'd love it."
