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BIG TEN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: WISCONSIN v MICHIGAN STATEDecember 3, 2011Kirk CousinsB.J. CunninghamMark DantonioINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Wisconsin – 42 THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Dantonio to make an opening statement and then questions for Kirk and B.J. Coach? COACH DANTONIO: Very difficult football game. Great football game. I thought both football teams showed a tremendous amount of maturity and toughness in terms of battling back. We started a little bit slow and played extremely well the entire first half on offense. Tough to lose it as we did, but tough take the tough times sometimes. So very difficult the end of the football game the way it all went down, but we'll rise again. Q. For both of the players, what does it mean to be so close to what you've talked about all year, the Rose Bowl, and have it end the way it did? KIRK COUSINS: It's tough. Came close two years in a row. Don't getting to. It's tough. B.J. CUNNINGHAM: Like Kirk said, it's tough. We played hard, a great game, Wisconsin played a good game. We just didn't come up with it in the end. That's it. Q. Did you have a view there of the punt play? What did you think happened there on that play? THE MODERATOR: B.J.? B.J. CUNNINGHAM: I kind of got a little view, you know. I didn't really see the punter fall or nothing like that or anything. So the ref made a call, and you've got to go with it. But I didn't really think it was a penalty. Q. Kirk, did you feel like if not in control of the game, the way your guys were moving the ball in the third quarter, he is personally in the fourth quarter that you had the game, if not in control, that you were gaining control of the game? KIRK COUSINS: We felt we were having our way offensively all game long. We never felt like we had the game won. We felt like there was a lot of time left, but we did what we wanted all day offensively. Q. Did you guys play better in this game than did you in the first one against them? KIRK COUSINS: I don't know. Hard to say. Played very, very well in both of them. Q. Kirk, could you just talk about what you saw in that 3rd and 10 play of Keshawn. It looked like you thought about running, and then it went to the sideline? KIRK COUSINS: Thought about running. Possibly could have run for the first down. I'll have to see the film. Keshawn opened up, came inches. Q. Can you talk about the way the first game ended with the crazy play, your plays, and how basically this game ended? Can you put both of them in perspective? KIRK COUSINS: Both were great games, possibly the two best games of the college football season, period. One went our way, one didn't. Obviously would have liked to have this one go our way. Q. I know that you've reached out to your teammates on a number of occasions throughout your career. Isaiah Lewis probably went through a tough time. He was trying to make a play, probably got blocked or whatever. In the locker room, did you guys rally around him? How did Isaiah take it? Did you give us any of that or is that confidential? KIRK COUSINS: There was no one play that lost this football game. We don't think Isaiah needs to be singled out. He did nothing wrong. He calls for the block, you got to do that in that situation. He gave us 110% effort and call doesn't go our way. That's the way it works sometimes. Q. Can you just talk about what it means to represent Michigan State? I know it didn't go the way you wanted, but to represent Michigan State in the inaugural Big Ten Championship? B.J. CUNNINGHAM: It felt great to be Legend Division winners to come in and be part of this inaugural Big Ten championship game, it was great. It was a great game. We just didn't come out with the win like Kirk said, it's a game of inches. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Questions for Coach Dantonio. Q. Coach, the last drive of the second half they didn't take a shot down the field. You ended up with a 51‑yard field goal. Can you talk about your reasoning and thinking about not taking a shot? COACH DANTONIO: I thought Coach Roushar called a great game. At that point we were trying to position ourselves for the field goal. We didn't want to give the ball back to them with time remaining, and that's just how we went about it. We were playing for the field goal at that point. In retrospect, maybe take a shot, but I thought they did a great job calling the game. Q. What was your plan on the punt play and what was your view of the play and the call? COACH DANTONIO: Well, basically based on the way that they had changed their punt up from the last time we were able to block a punt, it left a guy free off the edge. We almost blocked one in the end zone when Tony Lippett came very, very close with 1:57 to go. It's my call. I told them let's go for the block. Obviously not telling the layout on the block point and not rough them. I don't know if he hit them. You have a better view of that. You've probably seen all the replays. But, you know, threw the flag. I thought he flopped a little bit. Obviously, if he hit him, he just nicked him; but Keshawn runs it back. You know, he's a great football player, but really didn't expect him to run it back. But it is what it is. I thought the play leading up to that on the out of bounds play was extremely close with the replay, and that also played into this as well because it would have been a first down on about the 40‑yard line as well. As Kirk said, and as we talk constantly, it's a game of inches. This football game is so close. You can't squeeze two fingers together sometimes, it's that close. This is very apparent this game was much like that. Q. You had two crazy finishes against Wisconsin, only this one was for the Big Ten Championship. What is next for your team now? Do you sit and hope for possibly a BCS berth or‑‑ COACH DANTONIO: I can't make that decision. I do think the best two teams in the Big Ten played today. I do think that we're worthy to compete and play at a BCS level, but you've got to get the votes to do that. I can only say that I do believe we're a BCS‑type football team. We're a 10‑3 football team. You know, it could have gone the other way today. It will be an instant classic for sure. But at the same time you have to be able to look at things, deal with the problems that you have and keep moving forward. I think that's part of life. We talk about it a lot. I feel extremely bad for our seniors. We put a lot into this and they had very high hopes. We had them on the ropes. Like I said earlier, credit Wisconsin. They showed a great deal of maturity as a football team. Russell Wilson had 30 yards thrown at the half. He was 5 out of 9. I'm not sure how many times he was sacked. But he made played in the second half and found guys off the broken plays and created plays, and that's what we said we needed to stop, the loose plays down the field when things turned. We did stop the run, but that's the way it goes. Wish I had better answers. Q. When you had the ball late in the fourth quarter, I think it was 4th and 8, and there's 2:45 left, the way both teams were moving the ball, did you give any thought at all at that point of going for it? COACH DANTONIO: No, I really didn't because the best way to advance the football is to punt it 40 yards down the field. We could guarantee we could get at least 40 yards and get the ball back again with 1:30 to go or whatever it was if we held them, which we did. We had two timeouts, so we were able to get the ball back with 1:30, and Keshawn makes a five yard return, and we've got the ball with four downs. If we don't get it there, fourth and eight the game's over, because at the very least they'll punt it to our three and we've got to go the distance. So we were going to play field position with it. Rely on the strength of our football team, well, although we gave up some plays, but historically in the second half we have stopped the run. So we felt like we get a stop and get the ball back, and that's what would have happened had we‑‑ everything worked out. We would have gotten the ball back at probably the 50 or the end zone had we not roughed them. I've learned a long time ago you can wish and think about things like this and try to change them, but you're not going to change it. We can sit and talk about it, but we're 10‑3, and they're 11‑2 right now, and that's the way it's going to fall. Q. Going back to early in the second half when they connected on a 3rd and 17 deep, kind of a miscommunication back there. Do you remember what happened on that one? COACH DANTONIO: Missed sack for the touchdown? Q. Yeah. COACH DANTONIO: Yeah, they were in three by one formation with three open receivers to the left. We brought the corner blitz off the edge. We missed them. I think they called face mask on it as well, but we were dead to right and missed them. Quarterback created, threw back. We've got to play coverage down the field and hook up the players in the deep part of the field on the scramble, and we did not do that. The guy was left wide open. So rather than them punting, they pull within, again, whatever it was. They pulled within one. So disappointing, but no one play lost this football game. That's what we have to understand. No one play, no one call. Coaches can make better calls. I could make better decisions, and it's a team game. That is the beautiful thing about college football. It's a team game. Everybody's going to play or win together. Q. As well played as the game was and entertaining, how difficult was it to stomach and how difficult for your team to stomach to lose this one? COACH DANTONIO: It's tough. It's tough to deal with it, because you're going to replay a lot of things in your mind because you are so close. It could be one little thing, one little inch here or there and we could have won the football game. Maybe if we had stopped the ball. But you have to go back and look at the other side of things. If we were the players winning that football game, and I would be is sitting here saying Keshawn Martin took it to the house. The Wisconsin player would have said if we had just tackled the guy, we'd have been fine. My feeling is Russell Wilson created a lot of plays when we had him in a bad situation. I thought Kirk Cousins played tremendously as well as B.J. and Keshawn and Le'Veon, I'm not sure. I think Le'Veon was sacked one time. So we protected our quarterback, and he was hot, and we played outstanding on offense. 39 points should warrant a victory. But playing a good football team with a high‑powered offense as well, so, here we go. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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