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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 9, 2013Gary AndersenTHE MODERATOR: The Badgers home game against Purdue on September 21st will start at 2:30 p.m. and be televised by ABC. This week the Badgers head to the road for the first time to face Arizona State in Tempe on Saturday night. Game will start at 9:30 p.m. Central time, be televised by ESPN. Head Coach Gary Andersen is here. We'll have some opening comments and take questions. COACH ANDERSEN: It's good to get back to work today. It's great to be 2‑0 at this point. We're playing a very good team this week. Trying to get as early a start as we could on Arizona State. They're very solid their first game. They were solid, I felt like, the last few games, the last season was really what we were scouting. They were good offensively. They really cause you some problems. It's a wide open offense. They do a lot‑‑ a lot of their offensive game when they're running the football. Turns into somehow, some way a version of triple option almost, and the way you've got to be able to look to try to defend things. Many times that's with a throw down the field, that's a pitch guy. That may seem a little of an awkward statement, but that is the facts. They do a nice job. It's a nicely schemed up offense. They do a good job. They have good players behind it. Defensively, front seven, spent most of my time so far this morning watching those guys and last night. But they're a very solid, salty defense. They play with a lot of emotion. Front seven has some tremendous football players that are going to potentially make a whole bunch of money playing this game throughout their career. So a lot of respect for this team, and we're excited about having the opportunity to go down and compete and play against them, and our kicking game, I'm sure, will be a big, solid part of it, which they appear to be fairly solid in also. Q. Gary, some coaches are really comfortable, defensive coaches, that is, defending spread teams. Whether that team stresses the run or the pass. What's your comfort level over the years as a defensive coordinator, and now as a head coach with Dave, who's got some experience defending spreads like that? COACH ANDERSEN: I would say we're comfortable. It's different. The spread offense is really evolving to be two or three different offenses now, and that's what's different. It's not just the triple option attack with a very athletic quarterback. It's not so much just the throw back, the four wide throw and the zone read scheme. It's a combination of all. And I think what you see is where it's really going is a lot like what Arizona State has done and they're doing now. And it is ‑‑ there's a lot to it. It's assignment football, more so than just it usually is in more of a traditional offense. But I think we're comfortable. We're always looking to evolve and get better, though. Q. Gary, what's your rationale for going out Thursday? And is it true that you sought to perhaps change‑‑ reconsider that schedule? To go out in your usual time? COACH ANDERSEN: Well, the mindset is real simple. It's just what we believe is best for kids to try to keep them in the same standard operating procedure. Sometimes it's gauged around the availability of being able to get there in a timely manner, our ability to be able to practice, all the stuff that comes into it. There's two ways to look at it, and I've done it both ways. A lot of people will say any time you go two time zones away, excuse me, the best thing for the kids is to leave a day early. I've done that before, and it's worked out well. I've done that before, and it hasn't worked out so well. So there's no real rhyme or reason to it other than the opportunity for the kids, I think, it's the best situation for the time we are at this time of the year, the way we're practicing, going on the road for the first time, the newness of a lot of those situations, it's best for these young men, and they'll be able to handle their academics on a Thursday on a long plane flight and then get ready for the game on Friday. Q. Gary, given what Corey Clement has done the last couple of games, do you try to get him some touches in the first half, or is that a pretty tough situation with James and Melvin already in there? COACH ANDERSEN: Probably a pretty tough situation, but we'll see. As we evolve, we've all gained faith in what Corey has done. There's no question about that. I don't think anybody would have any reservations to jogging him out there on the field, whether it's the 3rd or 4th play of the game or the 60th or 70th play of the game. Proud of his development. He understands exactly where he is and what his role is at this point. But I'd be good with him going in whenever we feel we have a need to use him, and I know he does too. Q. Gary, you've mentioned several times what you think about Chris Borland at linebacker. Can you take us through that screen play that Tennessee Tech ran, what his responsibility was on that play and why he was able to make the play the way he did. COACH ANDERSEN: I don't really know exactly what the true‑‑ the whole defensive call on that was. I watched the film very quickly, but it looked like to me there was a run fake involved, and it was‑‑ bit up on it coming back in to get into his drop. But his ability to redirect‑‑ the key for Chris is how fast he redirects, whether he's in man coverage, whether he was rushing the passer, whether he was going wherever he was going. His ability to just have a sixth sense of what's happening around him and get his foot on the ground and go get it is what's so very impressive. That was a great play. You're talking about the one that was going towards their bench, right? Yeah, yeah, that was‑‑ he flashed on me there with a lot of different ways‑‑ speed, skill, talent level, great read. That was an experienced football player's play and very gifted to get out and make that because they had a chance to get out for a minute. Q. A few of your guys last week were talking about maybe how playing in the heat the last couple of weeks might maybe help them this weekend. I'm curious how much that maybe factored in for you the last couple of weeks and how you prepare for that this week. COACH ANDERSEN: You know, I can't control the heat, but I would like it to be a little bit hotter. Walking across there just a minute ago, looks like it's going to be pretty hot out there this afternoon. That is a little bit of the thought process to get there on Thursday afternoon and practice because we will practice there Thursday afternoon, and we don't play with the sun shining, but we do play in the heat. So we'll get used to that a little bit. But regardless of how all that boils down, you know, that doesn't matter that we're flying across the country. It doesn't matter that we're going two time zones. It doesn't matter that it might be really hot. That's part of traveling. What does matter is we're playing a really good Arizona State football team, and we believe we have a chance to beat a good football team. And the adversity that comes our way because of any of those situations I mentioned before will be a nonfactor if we win or lose the game. We'll be prepared. Q. When you looked at the film, Gary, what did you like about Joel and the two‑minute offense? Has he come a long way in that? COACH ANDERSEN: He sure did in that series of plays. I just felt like he was cool, he was poised, he was into the moment, he was getting rid of the ball on time, which was impressive to see. The offensive line was giving him the time that he needed. But it was clear and concise, and there was no panic, and, oh, I got to get a 30‑yard chunk here, make something big happen. We just got ourselves down the field, and we got 30 yards into it and still had all our time‑outs, and we were moving ahead pretty cleanly. It just felt comfortable. I don't really know how to explain that as a coach, but there's times, whether it's offense, defense, or special teams, you have‑‑ you just feel comfortable and confident that you're doing the right things and the kids have an opportunity to excel. Other times, you don't feel quite that way. I felt like that in that time, and it worked out well. The kids did a great job. And the coaches too, I can't leave them alone in that. They executed very well. Q. Outside of the obvious improvement, 2‑0 on your record, did you feel like you benefited enough playing two games where you haven't been challenged to get you ready for the meatier schedule? COACH ANDERSEN: Time will tell. I like the fact that we have gotten into the games and we started well emotionally. We weren't too high. We weren't too low. There wasn't a bunch of ups and downs. That was good to see. I liked their preparation in the hotel. So all that was good. The locker room was good. So positive signs. I like the amount of youth that walked in there and played, and we really are playing a lot of young kids that have got into the moment and not panicked in the moment, which is great to see. So it's prepared us. You know, that's the point of the season it is. It's time to move on, and we go play the next team on our schedule, and we're excited about the opportunity. So I believe we'll be prepared. Q. Gary, what do you want the identity of your offense to be, and how close after these first two games is this group to kind of being what you envisioned for this offense? COACH ANDERSEN: I think, at the end of the game, I would like to know that the‑‑ or have the feel that the defense that we played against knows that we're a physical football team, that it was a tough game, that we're going to‑‑ we want to run the ball, but we also want to have the ability to stretch it from sideline to sideline, all 53 yards of the width of the field, and then the length of the field also, whatever's left. We want to have the ability to stretch all three of those zones. I've said that many times in the passing game. You've got to carry yourself with a physical presence in our offense because that's who we are going to be. It's important, but we have to make the big plays when the big plays have the opportunity to present itself. I would hope that the opponent would also walk away with respect of our ability to stretch the length and the width of the field along with the power run game and that we played the game the right way and played it hard. Q. You mentioned a lot of the film you're watching on Arizona State is from the end of last season. What can you learn from the performance against Sacramento State? Do you think you learned about the same as maybe they learned about you guys in the first two weeks? COACH ANDERSEN: Probably similar. I thought about that. There's going to be a lot of carry‑over there. They played well. They executed well on offense, defense, special teams. They had a lot of pluses and did some good things for them. You can see how they've evolved a little bit and some different things. The pistol was much more active in their offense this year than it was a year ago. That would, from what we know of what they studied in the summer and where they went around as a staff in the summer, we thought that, but that obviously showed itself. The thing that was most impressive‑‑ I watched the Arizona game today, and the way that the offense was able to handle‑‑ they scored points, but they were behind late in that game, and it was a contested game. They did a nice job of kind of moving into a little bit of different personnel package and kind of really took the game over in the run game and scored points quickly and got the game flip‑flopped in their favor, and they ended up winning. It was their ability to carry a lot of offense late in the year last year was very impressive, which makes it in turn difficult to get ready to play against for us as a defense. We have to be a smart defense. Fortunately, we have smart young men. So we're going to put a lot on their shoulders and see how they handle it. Q. Your offense has put up some gaudy numbers, most notably the three 100‑plus yard rushers in each of the first two games, and yet your defense has posted back‑to‑back shutouts. To you, what's the headline, what's the most impressive thing of what the team has done on either side of the ball? COACH ANDERSEN: First of all, the headline to me would be there's some really good players on the Badger football team, and those kids are producing. But I would say, as a whole, I've been impressed with, again, what I said earlier, their ability to be able to execute on game day and be prepared to play. On offense, you want to‑‑ they've been pretty physical now in two opponents. So we'll see how it is when we move forward. But there's been some big runs. There's been productive runs, which has been good to see. Defensively, I would say that it's a defense that I look at, and they swarm, they run to the ball, they're having some fun, and they communicate well. I would say the offense communicates well, especially if our run game‑‑ so much of it is checked on the line of scrimmage. So I guess that's a big headline, but those are a few things I would say. Q. Gary, could you have asked for any more from your offensive line through two games? Secondly, can you be more specific about the challenges they'll face this week against Arizona State's front seven? COACH ANDERSEN: Yeah, we've had plenty of mistakes. We've given up a couple of sacks we shouldn't have given up. The young men, they've made playsagainst us in some spots, so it's never perfect. I do like the way they've handled the adversity when it's come their way, and they've been able to react. This week, this is going to be some good football players playing against some good football players, and that's the way big time Division I football games should be. These two front sevens are going to be challenged. I know, if I was getting ready to play in this game as an offensive lineman, it would be an exciting week for me because you're going to play against a very physical front seven that plays the game good, and they're not good players. They're verging on a couple of them being great players, in my opinion, and some other very, very good ones. It should be an exciting time for our offensive line. I'm sure it's an exciting time ‑‑ or it should be an exciting time for Arizona State's defensive line, the front seven, to be able to know that they're going to be able to play against the Wisconsin offensive line and for our guys to be able to know that they're going to be able to play against an Arizona State defensive line and front seven that's been very stout and comes highly touted. It's not highly touted just through the media, it's highly touted through the coaching world, I promise you. There's a lot of respect for that front seven in the Pac‑12 with our phone calls. So I think they'll be excited, and I'm excited to watch it, how it all unfolds. Q. Gary, I know you like to err on the side of caution when it comes to injured players, but at this point, do you have a feel on whether Derek Watt will be available for the game? COACH ANDERSEN: I would say he's probable. Probably know a lot more by Tuesday afternoon. We've made good progress in the last 48 hours, 72 hours. Q. Going back to Arizona State's front seven, what stands out to you about Will Sutton? COACH ANDERSEN: He is‑‑ probably‑‑ I've watched every game, and I watched him a lot last year too, and I watched him again this summer. First of all, he's very, very sudden as a defensive lineman. If I'm going to go recruit a guy and look at a guy that's I think's going to be a great defensive tackle, I want to see a great bender, I want to see good, natural use of hands, and I want to see him be sudden. Well, he fits all three of those very well. And the other thing, he's a smart football player. And what makes him so elite is his ability to be able to rush the passer. He's 300 and whatever he is. But his ability to be athletic enough to rush the passer and truly get to the edges of the offensive linemen and cause them problems and get them opened up, he does a very good job with that. He's a big, big time defensive tackle. Q. Gary, going back to your analysis of Corey Clement, could we interpret what you said that you've‑‑ you have complete confidence in him regardless of what play is being called that he could be on the field? COACH ANDERSEN: Yeah, absolutely. I have no problem with putting Corey out there at any moment, and that will be the decisions of Coach Hammock and Andy, but I‑‑ I don't see a change in it at all from the way it's been the first two games. Corey is the third back without question, and when he's needed to be in there, we'll give him an opportunity. Q. Gary, where do things stand at kicker between Kyle and Jack? COACH ANDERSEN: We're going to move through practice this week, and we're going to create a competition. We'll see where it goes. It's unsettled. It hasn't gone the way we want it to be. So I'm going to look at myself and try to fix it and put them in positions to be successful and try to create a game‑like environment because it's not practice is the issue. It's just the game where we're not executing as high as we want to‑‑ at as high a level as we want to. So I look at myself right square in the mirror first, and Coach Genyk and I will work hard. I know the two young men are going to work hard to get it right. We'll keep banging away at it. It's definitely going to be a competition. Q. Gary, it looks like Arizona State sold a lot of student tickets. It will be a blackout. How hostile an environment do you expect? Do you do anything in practice this week to turn up the music any louder at all to prepare for this Saturday? COACH ANDERSEN: The away game comes with a different set of challenges. Now the set of challenges flips over to the offense. We have a tremendous challenge every single week getting ready to play at home for our defense. It's loud here, and our defense does a nice job of handling that. When people are going to get closer to Arizona, it's going to get louder at home for the defense. We have to prepare for crowd noise whether we're playing at home or whether we're playing away. That's what happens when you're in big time college football. Now this flips to the offense a little bit more. We'll think about it a little more. We'll focus in on it a little bit more. That environment will be‑‑ I'm sure it will be a great environment. I don't know anything about a blackout or whatever it may be. So we'll be in all white. So we'll carry our own whiteout with us, I guess. Q. Gary, do you think it is a challenge or difficult at all to get that message through to the players that this week there is a step up in the level of competition or quality of opponent, what you're going to get? How much of that message this week is leaning on the senior leaders, the veteran group, the players that you have getting that through to the guys? COACH ANDERSEN: I don't think there's any question this team has a great respect for the Pac‑12 as a conference. They've competed against them, not just in the Rose Bowl, they've competed against them in nonconference, and there's been hard‑fought games. They've got great respect there. They've spent enough time watching Arizona State, and trust me, they understand the level of competition is stepping up. I think they've waited for this moment. They're excited about the moment. But does this senior class have a little more edge to them this week than they did a week or so ago? I would suspect that will be the case, but I think it will‑‑ I suspect that to be the case as we continue to go through the season because it goes fast. We've practiced more now than we will for the rest of the season. So the practices are now officially basically more than half over. So I remind those seniors of that every single day. That year is closing in on you fast. We're walking into game three. Before you know it, it's going to be game eight or nine or ten, and you're going to be jogging out for Senior Day again. So away we go. They'll be on edge, but they'll continue to be like that the whole season. Q. Gary, back to the running backs for a second, you've got three guys who are splitting the carries. You've got three guys who are playing. On the recruiting trail, is that something you might use to show people, it doesn't matter where you are on the depth chart. You're going to get some carries. NFL guys like guys with fewer carries on them when they come out of college. I'm just curious if you use that. COACH ANDERSEN: We won't save any carries for the NFL if we don't have to. I promise you that much. But as far as the number of quality backs that we used, we use that in recruiting, absolutely. We use that at a lot of positions, and the youth playing early. So if you just look at us in recruiting tight ends, we're recruiting defensive linemen, recruiting linebackers, running backs, we're going to that, a lot of those kids are playing, and sometimes two and three deep in different positions, and that helps you in recruiting, there's no question about it. I think it helps you develop the program. And how many young kids are playing this year with our freshmen is also something, I think, will help us out there on the recruiting trail as we move forward. We're excited to continue to recruit. But those are definite advantages, and I would agree with you on that. Q. Gary, you mentioned giving up a couple sacks you didn't like, but overall, how do you think the pass protection has been, especially since T.J.'s made it such an emphasis? COACH ANDERSEN: It's been good. Again, this will be a big test for our pass protection, and it's‑‑ pass protection to me is not just the offensive linemen protecting, it's the knowledge of the offense, of the wide receivers, understanding when there may be a possible hot route, the running backs being involved, the tight ends being involved on the checkdowns with the hot routes that come their way. So it's the whole evolution of the whole offense, if you will, in my opinion, as far as how we're putting it together and getting the ball out in pressure situations and when we have time. But we've improved in our one‑on‑one pass protection in practice and in games to this point. So we'll see if that can carry on. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? COACH ANDERSEN: Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Go, Badgers. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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