Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Georgia State
Sept. 17, 2016
Camp Randall Stadium - Madison, Wis.

Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst
OPENING STATEMENT: One time I'll tell you guys what I told the team. But after the game, I told them, I appreciate what they did. It was good to find a way to win. It's hard to win and appreciate that. Certainly, there's areas -- and believe this for every week -- that we can get better, and we need to take those steps.

But I was proud of the way they battled and fought. There's no question we did some things -- I think the first half we had four drives were inside the (25) and come away with six points. We had a great opportunity off of the punt they fumbled the snap, and we ended up fumbling, putting the ball on the 6. Third downs, we didn't convert early.

It takes -- football's great. It takes all 11 guys to execute on each play -- offensively, defensively, special teams. And even today, I thought guys had even made some mistakes or were part of the negative responded in a big way. And, you know, that you like seeing. I thought guys just continued to play.

I thought P.J. (Rosowski) did a nice job on the kickoffs, and I thought it was good to see how (Rafael Gaglianone) respond after -- did a nice job of stopping them right before the half and got in field goal position, and we didn't finish that drive with points.

Kyle (Penniston) had an early third down (drop) -- first one after Fum (Troy Fumagalli) got hurt. Came in and kind of had a couple plays that he didn't like but finished -- there was a big catch on the corner route and then finishing with the score. So that's the game.

We got to play it and appreciate that, and Georgia State is a good football team. Knew that going in. Good players. Really well coached. But I'm proud of the way the guys played and kept playing and found a way to score one more point than Georgia State.

Q. Paul, why did you decide to put Alex (Hornibrook) in in the third quarter and that kind of gave the offense a spark?
COACH CHRYST: I was hoping just that, to try to get a little something going. It certainly isn't all -- Bart (Houston) wasn't the reason why. I just talked about it, right? We fumbled going in, but I thought we just needed a little bit of a spark, and I liked how both of them had been working and preparing. Thought it might give us a little something.

Q. Are you looking to start Bart or Alex against Michigan State next week?
COACH CHRYST: Just got done with the game. Like I said, Bart's our starter right now. I'm proud of what Alex did and how he came in. So I'm not planning anything right now other than appreciating this win.

Q. Paul, you've done a great job of controlling possession in the first quarter, especially controlling yards, but haven't been able to score many touchdowns. Are you more encouraged by what you've seen in the first quarters of this season or discouraged about the end result?
COACH CHRYST: I like a lot of the stuff we're doing. Yet time of possession on its own isn't enough. You've got to score points. You know, when we go -- we had the one opportunity. We fumble on the 6. We have a serious miscommunication on the third and two going towards the student section. We don't capitalize on that. So we've got to clean up some things.

I like a lot of things they're doing, and yet we still have areas that we've got to get better at. We've got to take care of the football. We got the dropped interception. That was a big play. I thought we were starting to get a little bit of momentum going there. So we've just got to keep working and keep improving.

Q. I know it's early, but do you have any idea on the severity of the injuries to Fumagalli and (Taiwan) Deal? And do you anticipate (Corey) Clement will be able to go next week?
COACH CHRYST: Not quite sure on Fum and Taiwan. Corey, took him in and did a pretty good workout this morning, seeing if he can go today. I think all three of them -- you know, you're optimistic, but we don't know. I don't know.

Q. Paul, you talked about the last two games, we have things to improve, even though they were impressive wins. Do you think people believe you a little more after this one?
COACH CHRYST: I think our kids knew it then, and that's really all I care about. That's not true. I care about other things. But you know what I'm saying? Our kids see it, and we try to shoot 'em straight. I told them afterwards that there's always lessons to be learned. If we could each grow and learn from them individually and grow from it, then we collectively learn and grow. And it's going to be -- I think that's the way you approach every week.

And yeah, I do, I appreciate what they did. Thought we had a good preparation work week. We knew this was a good team and had to battle and find different ways to win. Guys stepped in and made significant plays.

What a big play by Conor Sheehy. No one's really quite sure if he's the one that got it, but he claimed it. Jeff gave me the nod. It's official. Those are big plays, and you appreciate that.

Q. The defense has been a strong unit the last couple of games. Today they were a little bit sloppier, some missed tackles. Was there something new that Georgia State threw at you that you hadn't been able to prepare for, or was it just about executing?
COACH CHRYST: I thought they did a good job executing. We didn't think we were going to go through an entire season without giving up a touchdown. You're right, we had some missed tackles. Part of that, when we do it on offense, it's what we expect. You know, you're running through it, and defensively we want to make every tackle. So there are always going to be those things we've got to keep working on.

But you know what, they kept playing, and we needed them in the end, and they came up with a big stop. So it was good. But I thought they executed really well on some things. We'll probably look at the film and see how we could have maybe helped ourselves a little bit, but I thought they did a pretty good job across the board, and they had some good players that they made plays as well.

Q. Paul, in the long run, from your standpoint, will a hard fought, tough game like today be better off heading into Big Ten play compared to a runaway victory?
COACH CHRYST: I don't know, you know, and we'd have to play a season with the same group of guys with a different outcome to find out, right? And I think that every time we get to play, we're pretty lucky that way, and do play. You grow from what happens, and you build on the things you do well, and you find ways to get a little bit better.

I don't know how -- I don't know how to answer that, but I appreciate what this group did, and you know what, we're 3-0 going into Big Ten play. That part's good.

Q. Do you think Alex showed more poise than a lot of redshirt freshmen you've been around?
COACH CHRYST: No, I've been impressed. I think that's one of his characteristics that stuck out to me. I thought he did show some poise. I thought one of his better plays was just getting the ball in his hand, and we ran kind of a naked play into some pressure and kind of just stayed with it.

I thought the first third down, that was the first time they'd played that coverage and had good protection, and Jazz ran a good route, and he finished it off. I thought he did some good things today.

Q. What kinds of things gave Bart trouble out there? What kind of caused you to take him out?
COACH CHRYST: You know, it was -- we were just off a little bit on some things. We've got to look back at it. You know, it just seemed like it was a little bit -- we just weren't in rhythm. You know, I didn't feel like he was and initially thought, just give him a little chance just to kind of breathe and see it, and didn't know how the game would play out necessarily.

But we were just -- and I'm anxious to look at it and see. We had that one third down, and we just missed it to Jazz, and we just missed a couple of other ones. There might have been a drop or two in it.

I feel bad for Bart in the sense that so much of the focus will go on that. And I like a lot of what he does, and I thought there were some things today that we'll look at, and I'm sure we can clean up and correct, and we'll look at it and say that was pretty good.

Q. (Bradrick) Shaw had a big fumble going into the end zone on that one drive. But how did you like his reaction once he got into the game again?
COACH CHRYST: I thought he was good. I mean, he and Dare carried the load. You appreciate that. I thought -- you know, as we were going into that end of the game, every play was a big play. I thought he ran hard. That's what Brad -- I think that's kind of who he is. You know, he's able to stack two weeks together to kind of start building who he is in games.

I thought the kids -- I appreciate how they just kind of kept their poise and kept playing. I think that no kid goes out there and says, this would be a good time to fumble. This would be a good time to drop one. I think you've got to be careful how you react to them and coach them, and yet there are things that are really important, and we can't -- you know, we all know that we don't want to turn the ball over, and that hurts. Therefore, you don't want to tolerate -- you don't want it to become, well, it just happened.

But you know the intentions of this group. If we're playing a kid that does that, that's on us. I think that stuff happens, and how you respond is as important as what happened.

Q. We saw guys like Shaw and (Quintez) Cephus and A.J. Taylor get into this game a little bit earlier than they did last week. Is that something you think they earned from last week, or is that just getting guys in there for different rhythm and different energy?
COACH CHRYST: I think it's a little bit of both. Bradrick was in early because we were down two tailbacks. Kyle Penniston played earlier because Fum got hurt. A.J. and Q.T., we're going with four, five receivers, and they're part of that mix. We kind of knew that was coming, and I think they've been doing some good things, and they've been earning those reps and gaining confidence in them as they gain confidence in themselves.

But it was -- they're part of that rotation, and we're going to play them.

Senior RB Dare Ogunbowale
On the mindset on the sideline after Georgia State scored the go-ahead touchdown:
"We knew we were going to get the ball back obviously, so we wanted to make sure we got out there and scored. We needed a touchdown. That was the biggest thing, making sure everybody was on the same page and making sure we got in there and scored a touchdown."
 
On the switch from Bart Houston to Alex Hornibrook at quarterback:
 "I didn't know it was happening, but Alex was in the huddle so it was a really smooth change for us.
 
"They're both very commanding quarterbacks and show a lot of confidence. There wasn't a difference at all."
 
On whether he feels encouraged by the first-quarter run game or discouraged by the lack of first-quarter scoring:
 "Obviously both. We move the ball very well and we want to get more than field goals. Being on offense, every time we're on the field we want to get six points. So that's not something that we want to pride ourselves on, but at the same time we're doing a good job moving the ball and that's a tribute to the O-line doing a good job coming out and attacking the defense. Now once we get down there, we just have to put the ball in the end zone."

Junior OLB T.J. Watt
On what the Badgers learned about themselves today:
"I thought we might've started slow but at the end of the day we bowed up and we made a stop in the fourth quarter, two key stops to which was critical for our defense. We just have to start faster, come out with more energy, but at the end of the day we got the job done."
 
On Georgia State's level of talent:
"They are a great team, we knew that coming in to this game. They've got a lot of great wide receivers, they've got great guys up front and they've got a good quarterback. I don't think we overlooked them but yes they do have great players."
 
On not panicking in the fourth quarter:
"It was key you know especially when we were down. We want we want to make a stop, we want to get a turnover, we didn't get the turnovers we wanted to today but hopefully we will fix that and come into next week and get better in that category."
 
Sophomore ILB T.J. Edwards
On if anything Georgia State did offensively was surprising:
"No, we knew they were a good team going in, we knew it was going to be a dog fight. They stuck to their game plan, they were able to run the ball to get some good yards on first and second down so it kind of put us in a tough position on third down. They got the ball out quick so it kind of neutralized our pass rush."
 
On Georgia State's second half adjustments to get more yards:
 "There's a couple of things we're going to have to fix tomorrow, things that we talked about we just didn't do it. It's hard to see, they're a good team and it's hard to do that stuff against good teams so we'll fix that for sure."
 
On if this game was a gut check:
"I don't know if you're expecting to roll through any team. If you play the way you want to play, I think we should be able to compete with any team. They obviously came out and hit us in the face to be honest with you. It is just something we had to come back out in the second half and be better and we came out with the win so we're happy about that."
 
Freshman TE Kyle Penniston
On game jitters and settling in:
"I think I had a lot of jitters going in in the first half. I think I came in the locker room at half and I had a lot of older guys supporting me and just kind of saying just take a deep breath, act like it's practice, just pretend like no one's here. That helped out a lot."
 
On working a lot with quarterback Alex Hornibrook:
"It helps out a lot, I mean Alex and I are always together. We're really good friends off the field which helps mesh on the field I would say."
 
Sophomore OL Beau Benzschawel
On the offensive line's confidence:
"I'm not really sure how the confidence was last year because I wasn't out there, but with a game like this today I think we have a lot to grow on. Obviously, they threw us a lot of stuff we have to improve on. It helps us get better on it as an offensive line and as an offense."
 
On whether Georgia State did things Wisconsin wasn't anticipating:
 "Yeah, they added more guys to the box and they had a really good feel for what we were running and when we were running it. They're adding guys to the side and everything like that. They made plays."
 
Senior OLB Vince Biegel
On the importance of not panicking in the fourth quarter:
"Extremely important. I give Georgia State a lot of credit, they came out ready to play, they went out there and gave us a run for our money. They're coached well and are a great team. We saw some things that we didn't see in their first two games. This is some film we'll definitely learn from.
 
"Like you said, staying calm and understanding that we've been in this position before was extremely important for us."
 
On Paul Chryst's comment that "winning is hard":
 "You can't take winning for granted. Week in and week out, against every opponent in college football, they want to win and we want to win. They were coached well today, Georgia State was not going to roll over for anybody today and we had to go out and earn that victory."
 
Sophomore OL Michael Deiter
On what the offense can improve on:
"We've got to be able to put points on the board. We can't come out here with just six points like that (in the first half). Fumbles will kill you, it's nice to drive it down there but you've got to come away with touchdowns as much as you can and that's not what we did today."
 
On if he feels that the offensive line is more prepared going into Big Ten play this year than it was last year:
 "Yeah, I do. I think we're older, we're more mature, even though we're still young. I think we're more confident, that's important. We've seen some crazy stuff over these last two weeks that makes us grow even more. So I'm definitely more excited about going into Big Ten play with these guys here than I was last year."
 
On Alex Hornibrook's greatest strength on the field:
"To me, it's his poise and his confidence. He is so calm, under control, never high and never low. He's always consistent in his emotions and it shows up in his play."
 
Senior WR Rob Wheelwright
On Alex Hornibrook's performance:
"He did what he was supposed to do. Coming in, having to step up and make some plays, he did everything we needed him to do to get the victory."
 
On the emotion of winning a game like this:
 "It's always good to face adversity, especially in games like this. They (Georgia State) came in, gave us all they had, and we were challenged. Luckily, and successfully, we made some plays at the end and came out with the victory."
 
On if he wishes they could've performed better before opening up Big Ten competition:
"Sure. It's always good to have a great stretch right before we have Big Ten play, but I feel like we can learn more from a bad game. We get to watch tape tomorrow, learn from our mistakes, and be able to capitalize next week."
 
Senior CB Sojourn Shelton
On Georgia State's performance:
"They were able to get some really explosive plays off so hats off to those guys, they're a really good team. We kind of needed a performance like this, as far as having to deal with adversity. I think we handled it well."
 
On the importance of bouncing back in the second half:
 "It was very important. At that point in the game, everybody's looking around because somebody has to make a play. In this case, you saw guys make a play. Overall I think we'll be okay, we've got to fix some things but we'll be alright."

Georgia State Head Coach Trent Miles
Opening Statement:
"Credit to Paul Chryst and his staff for the job that they did. They competed extremely hard and they won the game so my hat is off to them. I thought our players competed extremely well in the game. We had some missed opportunities but our kids fought every down. There are no moral victories for Georgia State. We're very disappointed, we had the opportunity to win the game in the fourth quarter and we didn't get it done."
 
On what his team can take away from the loss:
"We'll take the things that we did wrong and correct them and then we'll take the things that we did well and build on them. We will go right back to the drawing board and keep working. We're getting closer to where we want to be, but again our expectation is to win."
 
On areas where his team performed well:
"We were better tackling, more physical today. We did a better job of tackling in space, did a better job of getting everyone in to the right gaps and played pretty well for most of the game."
 
On keeping Wisconsin to field goals in the first half:
"It was huge. At the end, it gave us the chance to win the game. Instead of the touchdowns and trying to fight back from two scores down, we always kept it within one score so it was huge for us from a confidence standpoint to be able to do that."
 
On the lack of turnovers and game strategy:
"No one plays a perfect game but we knew we had to play hard and well and make plays when we had the opportunity. We knew that going in and this is a great environment to play in and a great football team that we just played. We knew we had to play really well and we did in spurts, but again not when we needed to in order to win the game."
 
On the team's performance today compared to last week:
"Our effort level is always good. We have outstanding young men so our attitude is good, it's just getting it done. We played much better today. It's the basics of football that we played much better. We're going to build on that, we'll get ready during the bye week for our conference opener."
 
On the play of quarterback Conner Manning:
"What I saw from the sidelines looked pretty good. I have to go back and look at the film on some of the runs to make sure they're on the right plays. I thought the only one that he really would want to have back was the one throw when we had Robert Davis open in the first half, but other than that I thought he did well."
 
On the wide receivers:
"We're always trying to go a quick game and we've got some pretty good receivers so we just take what they give us. If they're playing outside leverage or with their head up than we are going to take the slant."
 
On the performance of the offensive and defensive line:
"I was very pleased with our young guys that played. We only had one defensive line starter in the game, the rest are injured and didn't even make the trip., Marterious Allen is only a sophomore, and Terry Thomas started as a true freshman. I was very proud of the way they competed inside and I think that says a lot about our strength and conditioning program."