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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 10, 2016

Paul Chryst

Madison, Wisconsin

Wisconsin - 54, Akron - 10

PAUL CHRYST: Well, I'm proud of the effort that the kids put in all week and coaches to get us this win. And I had a lot of respect for Akron coming into the game and still have a lot of respect for their team and their coaching staff.

I thought our kids did some good things. And we were able to run the ball early and I thought did a better job on third down, certainly defensively. Again, made a lot of big plays. I looked up one time and the time of possession was really tilted and that was -- I thought a big play in the game was D.T. that had that one run and that was a good back, and came in and broke some tackles. Guys just kept playing and D.T. punched it out, and Soj picked it up.

I thought another big sequence was when we went for it on fourth and didn't get it, and defensively we were able to get a safety out of it. I thought guys played off of each other and there were some good things today.

Q. You mentioned it during the week that you didn't anticipate there would be a letdown. But I'm still curious, a day like today when Clemson struggles, Georgia struggles at home against a lesser team, Oklahoma State loses at home, are you encouraged to see the fact that your guys were able to execute enough where you didn't have to sweat anything out at least for the most part of the second half, particularly the fourth quarter?
PAUL CHRYST: You always are. Yet we've just got to keep talking to this team. These are limited opportunities you get, and I think you've got to learn to appreciate each opportunity. I thought for the most part the kids did that today.

And I understand what you're saying. All we've got to focus on is ourselves and maximize each opportunity. We get six of these to play in Camp Randall. You know one's over, so...

But I did think during the week the kids did a good job. That's easier said than done to ignore that outside noise, and we had enough other natural things to change in the schedule and school starting, so they're going to be busy in different ways. So I'm very appreciative of the way the kids handled themselves during the week in preparation and then come out today and play.

Q. Do you feel like you have two consistent receiver threats with Rob and Jazz, and how much do those guys open up the offense?
PAUL CHRYST: Time will tell, right? I thought both played well. Rob's couple of those just off the little run-pass option. I thought Jazz did a nice job of blocking on it and came up with some big plays, both of them, and we need that. We're still, I think, finding our identity on offense, and certainly was big with Rob and Jazz came through. I thought Bart made some nice throws today, and I thought even when Hous else came in, made some good throws. So we've got to just keep working to get better.

Q. Coach, late in the third quarter there Brett Connors went into center and Deiter moved over to left guard. What was the reason moving Deiter over, rather than bringing someone like Kapoi at left guard?
PAUL CHRYST: I just think where guys have been kind of -- Brett's taken a lot of snaps at center, and Micah's been able to do both. And we want to give Jon Dietz a little bit of a break, so that was the reason for that.

Q. Paul, Corey carried the ball 21 times in the first half and got you 100-plus. Is that what you need from him?
PAUL CHRYST: I think we do. We think that we've got -- we're starting to grow and got some back. But Corey's got to be, I think he's got to be the guy that you can put it on his shoulders. It was good today to get some work also though for Taiwan. And Bradrick did a nice job at the end, ran hard, but certainly Corey's got to be that guy that we can get him in the 20s at least on the carries.

Q. Could he have played in the second half? Is that anything? His ankle, is there anything there?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I don't know for certain on that. I thought we were able to with the score and all that, we were able to be a little bit overprotective, maybe. But I don't know for sure.

Q. Coach, can you assess your defense today not allowing a touchdown?
PAUL CHRYST: I mean, you're always proud of that. We knew we were going to be challenged a little bit differently. I thought we did a good job on a lot of the balls. We certainly had some penalties. Seemed like every deep ball was going to be one of those. We had one go in our favor.

But I thought we did a good job. We have a lot of respect for the run game coming in, not just the running back, the quarterback. I thought we did a decent job in the big run that the kid had that we ended up getting the strip or punched the ball out on the fumble. So a lot of good things from him. Yet I think we still can get better.

Q. You were able to get T.J. Edwards in today. When did you know he'd be able to play? Was part of it wanting to get him to some live work before Big 10 play so he'd be up to speed by then?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, T.J. had been progressing and was able to go through a full week of practice. And I don't know if it's get him that work before. You just want him to progress. I think the way it's playing out, we'll see.

Talked to him really quick afterwards and it seemed like no setbacks certainly that I gathered from him. So it's been -- he's a really good football player. It takes time, I think, for him to get back into it. And he did a lot of work to get himself ready, but riding a bike and being on the treadmill and all of that is different than playing football. So I think he's still going.

I thought Ryan Connelly had a couple big plays, and that was good to see. We've just got to keep -- I think this team, we're doing some stuff that's good, but we've got to keep growing.

Q. Coach, you touched on Houston a little bit. Looked like he missed a couple throws early, but he settled in. Is that what you saw him, kind of coming into this game plan?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, he did, and I appreciate the way he's competing and took to heart some of the areas that he knew that he could get better at and grow from. So I like that, and there are. I mean, there always will be stuff where you can make sure you're trying to be perfect. It's hard to reach that. Probably never will. But I think anything less than striving for that, you're short changing yourself.

So I appreciate what he's done and how he's going about it. He made some big throws, too. Yeah, there were a couple he wants back.

Q. You guys are one of the better teams in the country at covering kicks last year. What can your guys learn from what happened on the punt return touchdown today?
PAUL CHRYST: I mean, you're always learning. It takes everyone. Those are big swings of momentum, so there's going to be areas in every phase, special teams we're talking, but we can be better and we've got to get better.

Q. You never know what you're going to get from a freshman quarterback in his debut. Could Alex have done much better than what he showed today?
PAUL CHRYST: I thought it was pretty good. I thought Quintez made a heck of a catch on the one. It was on our sideline, and I thought he did a nice job of staying in and the big third down conversion. He hit A.J. on the corner route. That was a pretty good job by him seeing it. I thought he did some good stuff. It was good to get him some meaningful reps.

Q. I'm not sure how you classify Sagapolu as a fullback, tight end or jumbo, but where did that come from? Is that something you want to use in the future?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, there's a guy that has done a lot for us, and I think it was Rudy's way of telling him we appreciate him on field goal PAT, and it was good.

Q. How encouraging was it to see a better conversion rate on third down offensively today than last week?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, we couldn't be much worse than we were last week. It was good. We had more manageable ones, but I thought third down if you're going to win games, you've got to be good on third down. I thought defensively one point it was at 1 and 10 or something and that was good. When you get in the red zone, you've got to score. You had (Indiscernible) was good at the end of the half and guys keeping him out of the end zone. So we've just got to keep working.

Q. A little bit off the beaten track, but I know you were involved with Blake Mielke and his brother, Brock, and that great outreach that you had. Could you put into perspective what that meant? It was really cool to see what you and your staff and the kids did for those youngsters.
PAUL CHRYST: That was one of our better days. Anytime that you're doing something -- I think we were really the ones that received the most out of it. It was fun for me just to sit back and see our kids interacting with the campers. There's a lot of lessons that we took away and hopefully provided for some youngsters and their families that evening. I think that was done and that was fun.

It was a good day. It was the first week we came back in the summer, and it was a great way to start the summer.

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