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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 1, 2017

Paul Chryst

Madison, Wisconsin

Utah State - 10, Wisconsin - 59

PAUL CHRYST: Certainly proud of the way the guys responded and it's good to win. There's a lot of lessons in that game for us. Fortunately we were able to play a lot of players and there's going to be things that each guy that played did well and we got to build on that and certainly a number of areas where we have got to clean up to be the best team we can be. I thought early we didn't do a good job of, wasn't just playing good football.

And we had two returns and penalties on that and had a quarterback/center exchange problem in our own end. And so there's a lot of things that need to be cleaned up, but loved the way the guys just kind of kept staying true to it and responded. And it was good to get in the second, it was a long drive, I think we had five 5-5 on third down. I thought Alex made some good throws, and then the big pick by TJ, and then came back out of halftime with a good return and kind of got things rolling.

So it was good night in the sense that it's good to get the season going. It feels good to get the season going and certainly a number of areas we can build on, but a lot of areas that we have got to clean up.

Q. A lot of weird things can happen in openers, special teams and that, but what do you a tribute the slow start? Jitters? Just guys being sloppy which is uncharacteristic.
PAUL CHRYST: I think we just weren't doing the little things, playing good football. We had a first down and going for a pass and they would bring pressure off the edge, we didn't pick that up. We didn't do anything to flip the field and we weren't converting. I think it was just, it comes down to you either play good football or you don't. And I think that's where the focus has to be on. I don't think it was jitters and I thought that the kids prepared well. I think that I should say that we had some young kids that I'm sure there was some nervousness, excitement, but I don't think the problems came from that group necessarily.

Q. It seemed during the first quarter that Alex was just kind of second guessing himself and not really sure of what he was reading. What do you think finally clicked that made him kind of get that confidence back and start playing like he's playing last season?
PAUL CHRYST: I didn't feel like he was skittish or anything there. We didn't have a ton of opportunities on it and -- but I didn't think that, in my opinion, and maybe the tape will be different, I didn't feel any nervousness from him, any -- we just weren't executing on it. But I thought we all worked through it and I was proud of their response. Alex would be included in that.

Q. What type of lift did Jonathan Taylor give the team tonight? Was this what you expected from him in his first game here?
PAUL CHRYST: Well I think that when you say, is this when you expected? That would be unfair. But I will say that no one was surprised by it. I think that JT's the one who had the big run start of the second half, and it was good. And so I don't think anything that he did -- there wasn't anything that he did tonight that surprised anyone on our sidelines.

Yet I think it would be unfair to say we expected him to do that, but it was good having him. I thought that he ran well. I thought Bradrick ran well. It was good to get going.

Q. Your defense wasn't in the best of situations after that turnover. What did you see from them, from that point on like late second quarter through the second half?
PAUL CHRYST: I thought that we played -- we did some really good things. Obviously, you get two takeaways, and TJ's was big, kind of at the moment was happening. I would like to have seen us punch it in there. But it was good to have Hoff back and get the field goal.

And then certainly Cota's was good. I thought guys showed up and made some plays and there's a high standard, the bar's been set high and a lot of those players have played on those defenses, but it's a new group. And it was, that's why I thought it was good to see TJ step up and make those plays. I think that's the, that's what's got to happen is there's a new group of players that have to kind of rise to the occasion and be the type of guy that can swing momentum back your way if you're losing a little bit.

Q. Early on especially Alex kept coming to sort of the left sideline throwing down field, hitting the out route more on the flood and the Ohio concepts over there. Was that something that was more designed or is it just sort of him taking what the coverage was giving him, a lot of man coverage on that side?
PAUL CHRYST: No, I think that he was -- we didn't have a certain game plan, like you have throw to a certain side. I think you just, the way the game dictated and what they were doing I think led to that more.

Q. How important was the momentum shift to score the 10 points at the end of the half and then you doubled up after half there.
PAUL CHRYST: I mean it was big because we hadn't done anything. I liked the response that the offense had on the long drive and that was big. Then to go out and you're not sure how a team's going to play kind of the end of a half situation, but it was a big play and we needed something to go our way and yet you can't wait for it, you got to go make it happen. I thought offensively they did and then TJ was opportunistic on it and that was big.

Q. You're happy with every touchdown and points, but when Quintez scored I saw the guys were a little extra pumped up for him. What do you think it meant for him to get a touchdown tonight?
PAUL CHRYST: Well, there's no doubt that it's, those are special and I know it is for Q and yet I think that every guy that scored, those are things that aren't taken away, you can't take it away from them. I think for Ferg it was a big deal, it was guys were excited on the bench when Garret Groshek scored. And certainly our team knows what Q's gone through and it was, he had -- it was big.

Q. We haven't talked about Danny Davis, I don't know if you saw the block he threw.
PAUL CHRYST: Nice, wasn't it?

Q. And also did you think that he fought to draw that pass interference?
PAUL CHRYST: The one on our sideline going toward the Fieldhouse? He was going to attack the ball and that's what he does. It would have been nice for him to get one and he'll have opportunities, but I thought that he did some really good things and everyone notice that had block. That was what was fun. As many guys went to him Zander is another guy that there's someone that everyone on our team knows the amount of work he puts in and what he does and yet everyone saw that Danny helped make that happen. Jack Dunn had a nice one on Groshek's and that's what it takes. And I think that that was the message to the guys, it's going to take all 11 players on one play and then you give yourself a chance. When we do that, then we got a chance to be all right. But if not, we make it hard on ourselves and you saw kind of both those things happen tonight.

Q. Alex took a couple sacks early on in the first quarter that killed some momentum there. How much of that blame do you put on Alex maybe holding onto the ball too long and how much do you put on the offensive line maybe mishandling some stunts that were run against them?
PAUL CHRYST: Right now I don't blame anyone. It happened and now how are we going to respond to it? Now we got to go back -- this sounds bad as a coach, but it's the truth -- go back and look at it and see what went on. I thought the one sack on the first and 10 happened pretty quick. So we got to take a look at that. Tonight, not blaming anyone.

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