Post-Game Quotes
10/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 8, 2005
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Northwestern vs. No. 14 Wisconsin
Oct. 8, 2005
Post-Game Quotes
Northwestern Head Coach Randy Walker
Opening Statement:
"I was really pleased with our football team today. We spent a lot of time this week talking about finishing, playing physical and playing hard. I'm really pleased with the week of practice we had. We put a lot of emphasis on doing the right things. I continue to believe this football team has a lot of growth ahead of it. We can continue to improve; we need to get much better. But I liked the way we practiced--in some ways that wasn't revealed on the field, in some cases it was. Going out there week-in, week-out, having better practices, trying to get better every week gives us a chance to be a good football team. I like the character and the intensity they displayed. I just liked the look in their eyes all day. Again, we made some mistakes to let this thing where it was, but last time I looked, we had more points on the scoreboard, and we were playing a top-15 football team in the country--that's no small achievement. While it wasn't a work of art, we won. I'm proud of our kids for the way they battled, they had to overcome some adversity at the end. I don't think I've seen so many long yardage situations. But like I said, I'm proud of the kids, and we showed we can play with anyone if we stay focused. It doesn't get any easier from here.
The Big Ten is as balanced a league as there is in the country. After tonight, there will be one undefeated football team in the Big Ten, and that makes us just one game out. I've been telling our kids all along that's what we're playing for. Until someone tells me different, that's where we're going. We have tough games week-in and week-out, and we're going to have to play very well next week in West Lafayette. I always have a lot of respect for (Purdue head coach) Joe Tiller, and like I said earlier in the week, I have a lot of respect for (Wisconsin head coach) Barry Alvarez. I don't think there's a team that plays harder, better coached or plays more physically than Wisconsin. The job Barry has done at Wisconsin the last 16 years is unbelievable. We're all going to miss him in the coaching profession and what he's given college football, and I wish him the best the rest of the college season. I might add, a very valiant effort on their part. They didn't give up, and it went right down to the wire, like I thought it would."
Was this the best game that (Northwestern quarterback) Brett Basanez has played?
"I thought he played really well. But I'm reluctant to say it's the best; I don't like to use words like that. But I really thought he showed great poise today. He managed our football team well. We talked a lot about how it's a long game, there's a lot of football left, we just have to keep playing and Brett was able to do that."
Is it to your advantage to play close games because you play so many of them?
"I don't know. Week-in and week-out we always seem to go down to the last play. But I know that's a sign of college football, and what's going on in college football. There's more points scored now, there are better athletes. Every team now has perimeter players that can run fast, that can make plays and make things happen. Like I joked about earlier in the week, the coaches found out the field is 52-yards wide. It only took us about a century, but we found out. Plus, now we run a lot more plays. We run 25 or 30 more plays than the pros because the clock stops every first down. So, it's a good deal for offensive guys."
"Your team scored on every possession in the third quarter. Was there something different you did in the third quarter?"
"Well, I think (offensive coordinator) Mike Dunbar did a great job of putting together a game plan for us. But to tell you the truth, I didn't feel like they stopped us in the first half, either. If anything, I feel like we stopped ourselves. I feel like once we took the self-inflicted wounds out--the penalties, the inadvertent snaps--the things that take you out of a rhythm as an offense. When we do that, we're pretty good; we're pretty tough to stop. Really all that got in the way at the end of the game was the penalties. No offense is good when you throw a snap away or make a bad play. But by-and-large we executed well, Mike (Dunbar) called a great game from start to finish.
Do you think the team came out and played better because of the bye week?
"You know, I've done it a bunch of ways. We had a bye week before our game with them last year and it didn't help, they came out and just pounded us. I've never seen a statistic, but I'm not sure there is a correlation between winning and losing coming off bye weeks. We played three Big Ten teams that were coming off of bye weeks last season. And I brought that up to the Big Ten and they did a study that said there's virtually no correlation between winning games after coming off a bye week. It's like 50/50. And if you asked me that after the last 30 years, I would say `yeah, that makes sense." Because once that week before the game comes around, we don't do anything different, we're right back into the routine. Last week I thought the practice was positive. That Penn State game was stinging. I don't think the week helped us for Wisconsin as much as it did help us forget about Penn State."
Northwestern Player Quotes
Wide Receiver Mark Philmore
On the Wisconsin defense...
"As an offense as a whole, like I've been saying all year, we feel as though every time we step on the field it's showtime. It doesn't matter how many points the other team scores; we feel we can outscore them. It's not a matter of a defense maybe being weaker, we feel as an offense no matter who is on the other side we'll be able to score."
On scoring on seven straight possessions...
"As on offense, that's something you strive for. We feel as though we have the upper hand in those kind of games. We weren't doing anything out of the ordinary; we were just calling our base plays."
On scoring on six of seven red-zone chances...
"Looking back on (the Penn State game), we just had it in the back of our mind to score every time. Don't leave anything on the field. Don't have our kicker kicking field goals. Even though we love Joel (Howells), as an offense we want touchdowns, not field goals."
On Tyrell Sutton's performance so far this season...
"It's not surprising. There's a reason he's Mr. Ohio. He might be little, but he packs a powerful punch."
On beating highly ranked teams...
"I think we need to be more consistent and stop making it seem like it's an upset. We expected to win this game. It wasn't about upsetting anybody. Every game we come into, we feel as though we can win no matter who's out there."
Quarterback Brett Basanez
On the offense's performance...
"As an offense, we did okay. There are a lot of things we need to get better at, specifically coming out strong. We need to come out more consistent and make plays early so it doesn't come down to the end of the game like it did. We know what we need to do and we performed to that level. We know when we play our football we can do that type of stuff. The offensive line played fantastic. Tyrell (Sutton) obviously had a huge game. When you have playmakers like that and Mark (Philmore) and Shaun (Herbert) and the rest of the receiving corps, you can make plays as long as you execute. We just need to not get outside of ourselves, and just do what we've been taught."
On Wisconsin's defense...
"They kept bringing it every play. No matter what we did, they were there to hit us on the next play. We needed to keep the pedal down and keep that mentality because they were not giving up. They are an extremely well-coached team who brought the wood every play, and we were lucky enough to have guys make plays at the right times."
Running Back Tyrell Sutton
On his 28-yard run with two minutes left in the second quarter...
"It definitely did get me going. It sparked something in me. It probably brought (the defense) up a lot more and expanded the game for Basanez to throw to whoever he wanted."
On whether he thought the game was over after his last touchdown run...
"In the Big Ten, you can never think that any game is over. As you saw at the end, they had the ball down three points. It seems like we always like these close games."
On gaining yards after contact...
"I don't like being tackled by the first guy. That's been instilled in me since I was about eight years old watching my brother play football."
Linebacker Tim McGarigle
On the defense's performance...
"It was a bittersweet victory defensively. The offense played great as usual and we gave up 48 points which is unacceptable in the Big Ten."
On his two sacks in the game...
"I haven't blitzed too often in the past. They called my number a couple of times today. It felt good getting in there and getting a couple of sacks."
Northwestern vs. No. 14 Wisconsin
Oct. 8, 2005
Post-Game Quotes
Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez
On his team's inability to match Northwestern offensively in the second half...
"We had a completion down to the 11, but the holding penalty took us out of that and we ended up having to punt. That was a huge call--if it would have been a fourth-and-five or less, I would have gone for it. With a three-point deal, that was huge. We just couldn't come up with an answer to slow them down."
On entering the locker room with a 17-10 first half lead...
"We were ok at the half. They didn't have the ball much and I didn't think there were any major things we had to correct. They had 10 points and we gave them three at the very end of the half. I would have been pleased to play like we did in the first half."
On facing a second straight opponent coming off a bye-week ...
"I was concerned coming in here and playing the second straight team coming off of a bye week--with us not having a bye. Try to alter practice and get this team as fresh as we could be. We are banged up, we've got some young guys, but I sure don't want to use that as an excuse."
On his team's second-half defensive difficulties...
"They may have been technique. I thought that there were some leverage mistakes on some of the easy long throws. We should have been covering in quarters and not getting help from the inside on a post. Another time we should have had the inside leverage and not given up the post, and the guy ends up in the middle of the field. So I thought they abandoned some technique and some fundamentals."
On NU's offense...
"One thing that hurts you with these guys is when they establish the run. They hand it off and it looks like we stopped them and they get four yards and they start dictating the game--they can run or pass. I thought that was key, that they could establish the run."
On the play of NU QB Brett Basanez...
"Give him credit, he played very well. He knew where to go with the ball--he deals it pretty well."
On the play of NU running back Tyrell Sutton...
"Obviously, we didn't tackle very well. He ran through a lot of tackles, but there were a lot of missed tackles. But he's a strong, strong runner."
On his team's overall defensive performance...
"We didn't play well defensively. When you give up that many points, in the second half, none of them played well. You can talk about pressure, you can talk about coverage, you can talk about tackling--it was not very good.
On overall offensive performance...
"I thought our offense answered, I thought they competed. John (Stocco) saw things very well. They were hot, they kept us in the game, answering tip for tap, until we got that holding call. When you get into a shootout like this, it's good to know your offense can answer."
Looking ahead...
Our next goal is to try to keep the axe. We're still on track with all of our goals. We haven't lost any opportunities to reach all of our goals. We just have to see if this team is resilient, see if they can bounce back. We've got to do a lot of correcting obviously.
Wisconsin Player Quotes
Wide receiver Jonathan Orr
On the difference between first and second half strategy...
"Offensively we decided to go after them more and take their DB's more. It did pay off but it wasn't enough."
On how this loss changes outlook...
"It doesn't change a whole lot, obviously we want to be undefeated and do well on the road but we still have six games left. We are going to take it one game at a time starting with Minnesota next week."
On NU-Wisconsin rivalry...
"It started back in '99 and they do seem to get up for this game. They were the better team today."
On how Northwestern's offensive output affected Wisconsin's offense...
"Regardless of what happens on our defensive series, we have to come back and answer. We had some opportunities in the first half and didn't capitalize, and in the end it came back to get us."
Running back Brian Calhoun
On the impact of Northwestern's offense...
"It was frustrating. Our defense couldn't stop anybody. We had some mental errors on special teams, so we shot ourselves in the foot."
On Brett Basanez...
"He's a great player, and obviously he proved that today. They have a great offense. Today they proved it by putting 51 points on the board. They are definitely a tough offense to face."
On Tyrell Sutton...
"He's a good running back, I really didn't know much about him going into the game. He broke a lot of tackles and proved that he's a good running back."
On scoring 48 points and losing...
"That's tough. Anytime you score 48 points, you expect to win. But we played Northwestern today, 48 might not be enough on any given day, and unfortunately today it wasn't."
Wisconsin Quarterback John Stocco
On pre-game expectations...
"We didn't really have many expectations coming in. As an offense we wanted to keep the ball as long as we could, and we knew they had an explosive offense. They just made more plays than we did today."
On whether or not he blames the defense...
"Not really, because for the offense especially we had some missed chances early on and hurt ourselves a little bit. We were just trying to do as much as we could."
On offensive resiliency...
"We knew there was a lot of time left, and I think a couple times when we scored so quick that helped keep guys into it. We knew there was a lot of time and we could still do some damage."
On final drive...
"I completely thought we would go down and score. Just a mistake on my part. I was trying to hit Jonathan (Orr) over the middle and their guy made a nice play."
