Head Coach Paul Chryst
CHRYST: I'm really proud of this team and thought it took some grit and some perseverance to be able to keep the Axe and win that one, and certainly happy for our seniors.

But it was certainly, the game didn't start out the way we would have liked and yet I thought our guys came back in the second half. It was good, the offense went down, didn't score a touchdown but got a field goal. Just getting points was big.

I think a little foreshadow with Musso, the pick he had in the end zone, I think that was their next drive, and certainly the takeaways were huge and the ability for the offense to finish in the second half, I thought our special teams was good in the second half.

But proud of what this group did, as we finish out the regular season and earn the right to play next week. Want them to enjoy it tonight, and you don't take that for granted. Rivalry games, it's a big win, and they are hard to win. Tomorrow we'll push the reset button and get ready to play Penn State.

QUESTION:: What was the difference defensively in the second half?

CHRYST: Well, I think we were able to get some -- we were getting some pressures on them. They hit some runs on us early and I thought we did a better job of fitting the runs. I think sometimes takeaways become a little bit contagious, and guys were making plays.

But credit to them. Minnesota is a good football team. We knew they were going to give us some problems. I thought guys made some adjustments and were fitting things better, and we were really good second half.

QUESTION:: Not sure how good of a look you had on Sojourn's pick along your boundary there, what did you see on that play and did you think that finally turned the momentum in your favor?

CHRYST: I think that was, if I remember right, was it tied at the time? Yeah, I think it was tied and so that was one that kind of gave us the chance -- it was a heck of a break on it. I did see that one, and then the run after it. Both he and Leon, I mean, we get the ball inside the ten and able to finish up with that. But I think that -- I think it was tied at the time.

I felt like we had some momentum, certainly, going, but those are big plays. I thought it was a heck of a pick that he made on the one where it was kind of over his shoulder. Guys were having fun playing, and sometimes it takes one guy to make a play. You know, I believe Olive had a big sack early, and T.J. had a sack and I know Vince got one late. Everyone was kind of playing and like I said, I thought we did a better job of stopping the run. It was fun to see the way we finished.

QUESTION:: Do you have any update on Alex Hornibrook's injury?

CHRYST: Just in talking to him, no medical update, other than asked him how he's doing and he said he feels all right right now, but nothing really medically to give you.

QUESTION:: In the first half, you allowed 226 yards on 33 plays. In the second half, it was only 40 on 30 more plays. Did they do anything in the first half that you were not expecting to see, anything new?

CHRYST: No, I think they were executing. They made some plays in the passing game and certainly made some runs. We were just out of -- we didn't fit some of them the way we had been in practicing and those are things that are correctible, took so you don't necessarily have to panic. We just have to do what we do and to give ourselves a chance, and I think early we didn't do that and certainly the second half, it was good.

Like I said, they have got a good football team and we knew there was going to be some things that we were going to be challenged on, but a lot of it was just us not really executing the assignment, and therefore, it does give you some confidence that if we just do the things that we can do and what we should be doing, that we'll give ourselves a better chance.

QUESTION:: At the halftime message, what were you generally looking for out of your team the second half down 10?

CHRYST: Yeah, how are we going to respond. Honestly I told them, I love this situation right now, because we've got to come out and we've got to stop -- I feel like we're playing two teams. We're trying to beat Minnesota and we're also trying to -- we had to stop beating ourselves. So we had to just lock in and one play at a time.

Really, the messaging came -- was pretty cool, the messaging came from the kids more than me. That's a good feeling as a coach when they are grabbing that, and you know then it's going to -- they are going to take it and go with it.

Each game is a different game, and you don't know how it's going to come out. You've just got to keep playing it, and respond to the things that happen. That's I think what makes this one feel good is that we had to overcome some of the things that we did to ourselves and what Minnesota did to us.

QUESTION:: Not that you can expect four turnovers in the second half, but have you reached a point, where this defense, you do kind of expect those type of performances for long stretches of time?

CHRYST: I think when you say, when you expect it, it's pretty greedy, and that it just happens and it doesn't. You appreciate it every time that they come out and do something like that. But I think to say -- and maybe I'm getting too technical. I mean, they keep doing it, and you appreciate that.

But that's what I love about sports is you don't -- just because you did it before, doesn't mean you're going to do it again. You have to go out and do it, and against a different team, different schemes, and that's why each time it happens, you're appreciative of it.

QUESTION:: How do you feel like Bart played today after he became the only quarterback there in the second half?

CHRYST: I thought he did some good things. I thought he did some -- I thought he was pretty good when we were rotating. You know, he just missed Fums (Troy Fumagalli), it was like a second and long. He was a little bit off on Fums, kind of on his hip right there. But I thought he had a good week of preparation and felt good when he was in. He made a complete shot but he missed a shot down the field.

But he just kept playing. He competes, and it was -- certainly don't like the circumstances of it, but I was happy for him to be able to play the way he did and finish out, you know, at home on senior day. He takes a lot of pride in helping this team, and I thought he did today.

QUESTION:: The guys who did make plays in the fourth quarter would be Houston, Clement, Ogunbowale, a lot of the seniors, Shelton, seniors stepping up and making plays, how does that make you feel on senior day like that watching the guys you need to come through for you do that?

CHRYST: Yeah, you're happy for them and this is their senior day. So for them to have a significant hand in it: For Corey to score; and for Dare to punch it in; and Sojourn to come up with a couple picks; and Vince to get a sack, you know, we needed it, and you love it when it's a senior doing it on senior day. It's pretty cool.

QUESTION:: What is it about your defense that's allowed them to accomplish so many interceptions these last three weeks?

CHRYST: Again, they have done a good job of playing the ball and expect -- not expecting, but looking for it. Not just knocking it down, but let's get the approximate I can. I think that Jimmy (Jim Leonhard) has done a nice job of coaching it. Justin (Wilcox) has done a good job of coaching it, Tibs (Tim Tibesar). They work on it. We work on it a lot. But just because you work on it doesn't mean it's going to happen. The kids have taken it.

And I thought that a lot of what was happening up front, we're starting to create some pressure, and any time you create some pressure on a quarterback, you know, maybe the accuracy goes just a little bit or the timing's off a little bit. So it takes everyone to get them and you're thankful. Those are big plays, big plays.

QUESTION:: In the first half, Rob had a drop on about the 20 in the first series, and Jazz had a drop from Bart; yet both those guys came back with some big plays. Do you like to see that for them personally, in addition that it helps the team that they were able to overcome that?

CHRYST: Absolutely. There's a lot of guys that didn't do something. You've got to keep playing and persevering. It doesn't always go the way you'd like it to go and yet that's part of the game is to keep playing. Whether it's a team, whether it's a unit, one side of the ball or the other and individuals. Same thing happened defensively. Some guys that miss an opportunity here or miss a tackle and yet we've just got to keep playing, and you get to keep playing.

So when it does come and they are able to make a play, you know, significant play, some of those are, then you feel really good for them.

QUESTION:: You touched on it a little bit earlier. You said athletes in the locker room stepping up at half-time. Vince said on the stage out there that it was a soft-spoken Leo Musso who kind of stepped up and delivered a half-time speech. As a coach, what does that do for you obviously makes your job a ton easier and if you care to reveal anything that he said during half-time?

CHRYST: I mean, any time that I think that -- the players are playing the game and it's their game. I think the coaching is trying to help them to maximize their playing in the game and helping them.

Any time that it comes from the players, I think it's powerful, and I thought -- the beginning of the week, the seniors talked about that this game means to them and the focus was just on that.

Of course, I'll never say what someone said in our locker room. They might, but I'm not telling you.

QUESTION:: With so much on the line now in terms of playoffs and stuff like that, how much have you addressed what's at stake and how much do you plan on addressing what's at stake this week?

CHRYST: Here is exactly what I told the team. I said that, you know what, today was about playing Minnesota and trying to keep the Axe at home, and they did that and to enjoy that and appreciate it. It doesn't just happen.

And tomorrow, we'll push the reset button and we'll get ready to play Penn State and that's the opportunity that we have in front of us. And this team has done a great job of staying in the moment. I think it's the best way to enjoy the season, and I also think it's the best way to play. And so we will focus on the opportunity at hand tomorrow. We're going to appreciate what went into this win and enjoy that, and then tomorrow we'll get ready to play Penn State.

QUESTION:: It's been a wonderful season, even historically, you're in the midst of it and you're not going to be looking at that. But what is it about this team, you used the words "perseverance" and "resilient." What is it about this group that makes it so special?

CHRYST: I think it's a group that our strength is the fact that we're a team. You know, we've got individuals that contribute, a ton of individuals, but they still like each other. They like being a part of this team and know we're better with everyone.

It's a group that likes playing football. They like football and they like each other, and they are willing to work. They do; they have grit and persevere. It's been a fun group to be around. I've appreciated them a ton. They have earned the right to play another game and that's pretty neat to be able to do it with this group.

QUESTION:: You had Sagapolu leading for a long time, five games, and your defense had done well, but in the second half, it looked like he was able to really give you something. What did he give you today, getting him back out there?

CHRYST: Yeah, certainly the signature play he gave us was the sack. But I thought he did some good things in the run game. It will be interesting when you go back and look at it all and see it.

But you know, it was a physical -- I thought it was going to be a physical game, and so we had some bodies. You know, we played a lot of them. We played Olive, Garrett, Conor, Chikwe, Alec, Billy Hirschfeld came up with big plays, Zander was in playing. So we needed all those guys, and so I think certainly had a couple plays that were big plays, and I think we needed everyone today.

It was good to have him back and neat for him. He's missed a lot of football and so for him to come back and be a part of this, it was good. It brings back energy. When you get a guy back, it gives you some energy, and it also gave us some production.

QUESTION:: Had to do a lot of things in the second half -- CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, it was -- they did a good job early, and they were making enough plays and kind of keeping, not off-balance, but they were staying on schedule, which changes it. I think we did a better job in the second half of getting them -- you know, we did a better job versus the run. So now they are in the second and longs and third-and-longs and that always helps you a little bit as far as getting after the quarterback.

But I think they did some really good things offensively in the first half and we were -- I thought we were pretty good, really good in the second half.

QUESTION:: What was kind of the key to getting your running game going there in the second half?

CHRYST: I think once we had made another couple adjustments, but went to a couple things we had not gone to yet, and really when it comes down to it, whether it's offense or defense or special teams, most plays are made when you execute. It sounds simple but that's the truth of it.

So guys getting on their blocks and maintaining those blocks; and backs running. It's the same thing defensively, we cancel the gaps, we're a better run defense than when we give up a gap. I think it was execution as much as anything. Guys executed and certainly we had that stretch where we got the ball in great field position and capitalized on it.

But I was proud of the way they finished. It was nice to finish with the ball in our hand, too. I thought Bradrick did a nice job there. I think execution, football is a great game. It still comes down to football and you've got to execute and make plays, and we were able to do enough more in the second half to give ourselves a chance to win today.

Senior CB Sojourn Shelton
On the defensive performance in the fourth quarter: 
"We knew what was on the line. Musso gave us a hell of a speech at halftime and from there on out we knew we had to come back, we were going to play our type of football."

On what Musso said at halftime:
"Pretty much we weren't playing our style of football, offensively, defensively, special team-wise, we weren't playing how we were capable of playing. So when we came out, our job was to do the best we could as far on each side of the ball and get us back into the game and win it."

On why the team wasn't playing their style of football in the first half:
"To be honest with you, I can't really put a finger on what exactly it was, but my time that I've been here, Senior Night the emotions are so high. I think that's just always been a key contributor why it's like that, but it's good to finally be back on the bounce back side. Last year losing to Northwestern on Senior Night in a crazy way and then my freshman year losing to Penn State as well in a crazy way, it's good to be on the positive side this year."

Senior QB Bart Houston
On winning the West Division and keeping the Axe on Senior Day:
"It was an awesome feeling and an awesome opportunity this season and we got another reset button to press tomorrow so we'll celebrate tonight with our family and friends and teammates and get after Penn State tomorrow."

On winning the final regular-season game:
"It feels good, I could not have been able to do it without my family and especially my teammates and this coaching staff. They have helped me through countless hours and days throughout this season. It's really thanks to them."

On Leo Musso's halftime speech:
"The legendary speech comes from Leo Musso. He grabbed the Axe and he goes, 'It doesn't matter the outside noise. Who cares about Senior Night? Who cares about the Big Ten West? It's only about this Axe, which symbolizes us, coming, finishing the job we were supposed to do," and the second half speaks for itself."

Sophomore OL Michael Deiter
On if anything the team has accomplished this year has been surprising:
"No, I don't think it has surprised anyone on the team at all. At least I hope it hasn't. I know I have confidence in this team, no matter who we are playing. It felt as if everyone else in the locker room did too. There were some weeks there where some outside noise could get into your head and allow you to lose your confidence, but I thought we did a great job of blocking it out and staying on course and staying confident."

On it being fair to say that most people didn't expect to see this matchup in the Big Ten Championship Game:
"I don't know if it's fair to say, I'm sure plenty of people were saying it. I just don't know if you can ever predict who is going to play in the championship, so it's never fair to say anything really. But I'm sure there's plenty of people who didn't expect it. But they're a good team, we're a good team and it'll be a lot of fun."

On tuning out the playoff talk:
"I don't think it's hard but it's definitely a factor. There's plenty of it, but just like Coach said, we just take it day by day; if it happens it happens. There's nothing we can do thinking about it. We can just work as hard as we can to give ourselves a good shot to get there."

Sophomore ILB T.J. Edwards
On the defense and the pride of pitching a shutout in the second half:
"I think we just came out in the first half and to be honest, they out-physicalled us. They were better than us at the point of attack and we really huddled together in the second half and we had to, because if we didn't it was going to get ugly. I think we just came out and executed, we did what we had been doing the whole year and it showed in the second half."

On what pride means to the defense:
"We are just a group that, just like any other defense, doesn't like giving up points, so it hurts to see those big numbers up on the scoreboard. It was on our hearts that we couldn't do this anymore to our team, because we were only hurting our offense."

On having fun:
"It's never fun when you're getting scored on. I think all it took is one play, one big play for us to get a spark and start jumping around and doing our thing. Musso's pick in the end zone, that was it. And then after that, you just kind of reload.

Senior RB Corey Clement
On the swing of fumbling and then scoring:
"I felt like I let the team down and definitely as a senior you have to worry about the next play, and it happens to everybody so I took it as 'What am I going to do the next play' and make the guys forget about it and really put a positive vibe back into the stadium. It sucked, it felt like the air went out of the stadium; so next possession, I had to make the most of it and the guys said 'Don't worry about it' and it made me feel much better."

On having seniors make big plays:
"That's big time. It's funny, it's like a coincidence, everybody makes their last mark here at Camp Randall. Happy to be a part of it and happy that we faced adversity. I think that made the game much better. Being down at half, it reminded me of two years ago when we were down at half again, so things just had a flashback and our seniors said 'Not on our watch, we aren't going to lose this game and have them take the Axe.' So it was definitely one of those things where you have to have pride when you play."

On having fun:
"That's what T.J. Watt emphasized, you just have to have fun and know that it's definitely for the seniors, but you really can't let that play into the fact that we have to know that the Axe is definitely staying here in Madison. So whatever we have to do to get the guys going."

Sophomore NT Olive Sagapolu
On when he returned to practice and when he knew he was going to play:
"I returned full-go on Tuesday. They kind of let me in to see how I felt with my hand and it turned out good. After that I just continued every practice and then they let me play today."

On how he thought he could contribute today:
"Honestly I thought I could just come in helping whatever way I can, whether it's eating two (blockers) or making big plays and today, fortunately, we got that."

On why the defense is so good even with lots of injuries:
"We always have wanted to overcome adversity as a team. As a defense, we always harp on letting the young guys step up so a lot of guys have stepped up and helped us be successful during the season so far."

On how his sack felt:
"To be honest, it's the first sack of my whole career, so words can't describe how excited I was at the moment. It was a good momentum changer in a way."

Junior OLB T.J. Watt
On how tonight feels: 
"It feels great. A lot of hard work got put into this and to get the regular season finished and onto bigger things is awesome. When our backs were against the wall like they were and we came back as a defense showed everyone that we're not going to give up, we're going to be a resilient group with grit and I'm just extremely proud of how we bounced back tonight."

On the difference in the second half:
"Just having fun. I feel like in the first half we were trying to do too much individually and not doing our 1/11ths like we are so big on as a team. We just weren't having as much fun because the plays weren't being made and we weren't swarming as a team to the ball. It's really crucial for us to have hats to the ball at all times because you're going to miss tackles. In the second half we did a great job of swarming to the ball and getting more hats to the ball and just having fun. When a play gets made you just have fun, you celebrate with your guys it's hard to make a play like I say each and every week. It's fun. It's fun when everything gets going and we start getting turnovers, it's awesome."

On the pride of the defense:
"A lot of pride. Maybe a lot of people were doubters after the first half but we knew it was inside us to come out and when our backs are against the wall we are going to show the world what we can do. I'm just so proud of how we came out and we showed everyone what we can do and we started having fun again. We started making plays, we started celebrating as a team and just having a blast."

Senior WR Robert Wheelwright
On retaining Paul Bunyan's Axe: 
"It was good to keep it. It was good to put it back in our trophy case and it's good to look at it. It was fun, it was a great game and they gave us their all. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game and we were able to get a win." 

On having the seniors all contributing on senior night:
"It feels great. The seniors have been here for four years, four plus years for some of us, but it just feels good to go out there and give it your all. We made those plays out there. Don't regret anything. Go out there and give it you're all and make plays whenever possible."

On playing Penn State next week:
"Usually on Saturdays we kind of enjoy the win then Sunday it's Penn State. Today we're going to live it up man. We're blessed and thankful we were able to get this win and tomorrow that's when we hit the reset button and start looking towards Penn State."

Junior ILB Leon Jacobs
On whether his interception fell into his chest or whether he saw it ahead of time:
"A little bit of both, it was in my drop area and I just picked it off and ran with it."

On his interception:
"It was exciting because I dropped one against Michigan State so to finally get a chance to get another one and execute; it was nice."

On the defense's mentality in the fourth quarter:
"We knew we had to ramp it up because there was a lot at stake that game and it was all or nothing."

Minnesota Head Coach Tracy Claeys
On the second half compared to the first: 
"We're disappointed that we didn't get it done, but the three turnovers in the second half, you can't do that versus a really good team on the road and they took advantage of it. They're a very good football team and wish them the best next week."
 
On his team's turnovers:
"Well they all were momentum swings, especially in a close ballgame. The first one hurt the most because we probably had three points and could have kept it up by 10 points and kept them to two scores. That one put them in the red zone and took points off the board from us. They're all big, they give the crowd and the team energy and that's why good teams don't turn the ball over."
 
On what he told the team after the game:
"Disappointed in the game but not disappointed in them. They've been giving us a hell of an effort all year long and this is the first game that's been more than one possession at the end and we've had our chances in all of them. We have one more left but this one hurts. Trophy games are important to us and the state of Minnesota, and so not to be able to get one of them this year is disappointing to us. At the same time, eight games is always a good year and we look forward to finding out where our bowl game will be."
 
On the play of QB Mitch Leidner:
"Most of the time he's trying to do too much. When you're in a one-score game, you don't need to really force those balls and do that type of stuff and so I'm sure that he was just trying to make a play. From the other side of it, there were two or three balls that were dropped so we had a chance at making big plays. In every game, win or lose, it's a team game and it always will be, so it's not just him. We dropped some balls and gave up a big play there in the second half that we shouldn't give up so it's a team game."  
 
On the decision for more pass plays late in the game:
"We thought we could take advantage of the secondary and we put some throws in there on our one-on-one stuff that should've been caught. They also got to us with the pressure and we turned the ball over."