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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 15, 2018

Paul Chryst

Madison, Wisconsin

BYU - 24, Wisconsin - 21

PAUL CHRYST: First of all, you have to give credit to BYU. It's a good football team. We thought that coming in. Certainly the locker room, guys are hurting right now. We've got to take that hurt, and we've got to all own our part in it, players, coaches, and it's an opportunity to move forward. We've got a chance to start a rivalry game, Big Ten season, so we've got to learn from this one and move forward.

Q. As you sit there right now, what's most surprising about your team's performance today, giving up too many big plays to their offense, some mistakes and lack of efficiency on your offense?
PAUL CHRYST: I don't know that there's necessarily one more than another, and there's no doubt that they had some big plays offensively. Two long runs set up two of their scores. Another score was set up on a short field on a 3rd down pick that we had there, and offensively I didn't feel like we were very -- I'd say consistent in running the football, and we weren't great on 3rd down.

You need to be -- for us to be our best, you need to be a little bit more efficient on those, and it gives you more opportunities. Certainly I didn't think our special teams didn't really -- you win as a team, and everyone can own their part equally in a loss, and so we've all got to take a look at the things that we can control, and how can we get better, and we've got to take those steps to get better. That's the opportunity we have.

Q. How much impact did Zander's absence have as far as having a consistent running game?
PAUL CHRYST: You know, certainly we like Zander a lot in there, and same could be said defensively when we lost Gink early on, and yet there's opportunity for others to step in and to step up. You want those players in there, and yet we didn't, and we've got to find a way to overcome those two.

Q. Rafael has been so consistent for you guys for a long time. What, if anything, did you say to him if you had a chance to talk to him?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I mean, he has been consistent, and he'll have more opportunities this season for big kicks and whatnot. You know, it never does -- everyone in here knows, it doesn't come down to that one play, right, and so he had an opportunity, and we didn't make it. No one hurts more than Raf. But the whole team can own this one. Needs to own it, and the whole team therefore can make a choice, and that's what it'll be, and how do we move forward and grow from it.

Q. End the first half you had some time-outs you could have burned to try to get the ball back. Was there not enough time in your mind, or were you hoping, it's 14-14, we haven't played that well, let's see what happens?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, we tried to gauge it a little bit on where they're at, and I think with what they were doing, you try to think about if it's a 2nd and extra long, may be a little bit different than where -- you had an idea of what they're trying to do, and yet -- we thought going in, and I think this, too, the quarterback is a good player, and you've got to be careful, too, of giving them the opportunity and just seeing where we're at. You kind of gauged it and see, and honestly, just kind of right on that edge, what do you want to do with it.

Q. A couple really back breaking penalties, a couple holds and the false start on 4th and 1. How big do you think that was?
PAUL CHRYST: Well, they're -- every play is important. If it happens, you've got to find ways to overcome it. You've got to look at this -- you can play it right now, a lot of them come to mind, and you can look at the film, and there's going to be some just opportunities you've got to take advantage of if you want to win these types of games, and obviously we didn't make enough of those plays to give us the win. Those plays are going to be on offense, those plays are going to be on defense, and those plays will show up on special teams.

Q. In the second half there was one series where you put the second-team offensive line in. Was that performance based, heat related, a little of both, and how do you think that unit played as a whole today?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, I know we had a couple in -- it was probably a little bit of everything. With the heat and also kind of like you do with backs where can we spark something, can we go with it. It felt like it was -- they played all right. I don't know for sure until we look at the film. But it felt like it. And also those guys have earned the right to play. What you feel good is you don't feel like, okay, it's unsettling to anyone in the huddle, know what I mean? Micah has played a lot of football and Erds has played a lot there, and certainly we're getting Cole and Jon playing. Without really looking at it and seeing -- we felt going in we wanted to play them all, or the group that we did, and I don't know right now if -- I don't know if I could assess it really accurately.

Q. You mentioned special teams. Would you include punt return in that? There have been a couple instances where either a guy is not gauging how far he's going to kick it --
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, those are yards, right, and our last drive -- and you've got to make a decision, right, the returner there has got to make a decision, and they've got to trust that decision and then go with it, and yet I thought we had one there possibly, and they were kicking towards the field house end, and there was another one. You've got to trust the guys, and they've got to trust themselves. Whatever that is, we've got to find a way to make the best of what we have.

Q. Were there any differences between the BYU team that you prepared for and the BYU team that you played today?
PAUL CHRYST: No, I mean, we had enough -- so the things that changed, we had some information. You had an idea of what the offense was going to look like, and yet every game there's new things. I don't know if they necessarily surprised -- it's a good football team. They executed and they played well, and they're well-coached, really well-coached, and like I said to start with, credit to them.

Q. Following on the big picture, you haven't had a whole lot of games like this. You said earlier your team can kind of make a choice going forward. What do you think of the resiliency of this group and where do you think they'll go after this?
PAUL CHRYST: I like the group in that way, and now we get to go do it. That's the challenge, and every challenge means there's an opportunity for us to go forward. I still like this team. I like them and who they are. This is where we're at right now, and I have confidence in the group making the choice to go forward.

Q. It's kind of rare when one part of your team doesn't pick up the other when they're struggling. Did your team as a whole show up with the kind of edge you look for in a team today in this game?
PAUL CHRYST: You know, I think that it's -- I think -- I didn't sense anyone was off. But you've got to go -- the interesting thing to me is that each year, like this team is three games in, and just because last year's team and some of these guys were part of that did something or the other thing doesn't mean this year's team is, and that's the beauty of the season and the journey that is the season. And so this is where we're at right now. We're 2-1, and we start Big Ten play against Iowa, and that's a rivalry and all that. We'll continue to find out about these guys, but I do like this group, and I'm confident of the response, but we've got to go do it. We've got to put that into action.

Q. They hit you guys with the quick lateral out to the right and the pass to the tight end. Was that just an example of a DB looking into the backfield, because it looked like he didn't see the guy run right past him?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, it was a good play design and execution by them. So then we have our ownership on it, and so those are all -- every player is going to go through all those, and certainly we as coaches, and we've got to all own it and we've got to learn from it and go forward with it.

Q. How do you feel like Danny played in his first game back and how he fit into the offense?
PAUL CHRYST: You know, the first play of the game he had a chance to make a play and didn't, and made a couple, with the 3rd and extra long and made a nice catch and run after that. There will be things he can build on, there's going to be things he can learn from and see. He got jammed up on a couple releases. Every one of us can get better; he's no different.

Q. Did Alex just not see the guy on the interception? And were there a couple plays where he might have run for a 1st down, and how do you judge whether he should -- do you encourage him to run?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, and had some big runs in the last drive. I think that he -- I don't know, and I think he underestimated where he was at and the ball as far as if he had already gotten on top of him. Honestly, I didn't ask him on that one right there. But I'm sure he -- I'm sure it was more of a location deal than it was a vision thing on that.

Q. Right after the game, do you have any idea of the severity of Van Ginkel and Zander?
PAUL CHRYST: Yeah, not right now. Yeah, I don't.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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