Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema (left) addressing the media.
(Photo courtesy of the www.uwbadgers.com)
Some head coaches have their press conferences on Tuesdays, some do it a day earlier. Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema addressed the media Monday afternoon, and he talks about the Badgers’ 33-3 win over Indiana and Saturday’s game against Ohio State, among others.

Coach Bielema begins the press conference by stating:

“We had several players on Saturday play well. I thought offensively, defensively, and special teams, there was 11 guys working together several times on the field, and it showed up in, obviously, the results. Our recognized MVPs offensively, Kraig Urbik probably played his best game of the year and all the things that we ask him to do.”

Note: Urbik is the starting right guard for the Badgers.

Coach Bielema continues:

“Defensively, obviously, DeAndre was recognized by the Big Ten, but as coaches, we had a huge emphasis during the course of the week about winning the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively, and that’s why we went with Nick Hayden and his production.”

Note: The “DeAndre” coach was referring to is 6-foot-3, 230-pound junior linebacker DeAndre Levy, who was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after he recorded a career-high eight tackles, along with one sack, one pass breakup and a fumble forced and recovered against Indiana, last Saturday. Nick Hayden is a 6-foot-5, 301-pound junior defensive tackle, who had three tackles and two fumble recoveries against the Hoosiers.

More from the coach:

“Moving on to Ohio State, very good Big Ten football team, excited about the opportunity in front of us. I thought our guys, in the last two weeks, have really done a good job of focusing on the now, on the present task at hand, and that’s Ohio State. Obviously a tremendous challenge, but something I know our guys are excited about and looking forward to Saturday.”

Then Coach Bielema begins the question and answer session with reporters, and the very first one concerns running back P.J. Hill:

“Head coach should probably not talk after the game on Saturday. When P.J. broke his leg his freshmen year, I was a defensive coordinator worrying about defensive things. And basically, during the course of the game, they said to me, coach, it looks like he’s got a bruise right on top of his plate where he broke it his freshmen year. I thought he broke his foot. I didn’t remember him breaking a leg. So the x-rays were negative on Saturday. We took him in for an MRI yesterday. The MRI basically showed a bruise. There wasn’t anything, but its right, almost pinpoint accuracy, right on top of the plate that they put in from his freshmen year. So it was very, very sensitive and sore, and we’re encouraged that there wasn’t any structural damage. It’s just a bruise, and it’s hopefully something we can get through in a short amount of time. We obviously didn’t, he didn’t practice yesterday, and we don’t practice until tomorrow, but hopefully he’ll be out there at some point.”

Note: The 5-foot-11, 227-pound sophomore rushed for 57 yards on 12 carries, but left in the first quarter and did not return against the Hoosiers.

Then Coach Bielema talks about Coach Tressel and the Buckeyes:

“Coach Tressel had a lot of winning done before he even got to Ohio State, knew how to do it at Youngstown State and then has carried that forward. What you see when you flip on film is you see kids that are executing very well together. There’s very few breakdowns. I say this all the time, a lot of times when you win a football game, it’s based on what you do, but a lot of times people give you the game or give you points or give you yards or totals. Ohio State doesn’t do that.

Defensively, they’re very, very solid in what they do. Offensively, they don’t put their defense in bad position. On special teams, they change the field position game, and it’s very impressive to watch. Obviously, we didn’t play them a year ago, so didn’t study them in detail last year like we did this year or are doing right now, but it’s apparent that everybody knows what they’re doing, and those guys in the jerseys are usually pretty good athletes as well.”

Coach Bielema was then asked on how he’s preparing his team for Saturday:

“I was a mentor two years under Coach Alvarez and saw how he obviously approached certain games. I think you have to understand the chemistry of your team that you have individually right now, a team that’s coming off of two weeks of playing their best football collectively. So you have to kind of keep that in perspective. And one of the mantras that I know you guys get tired of hearing is us talking about a 1-0 mentality. You take every game for what it is. I look at why and how we played well against Indiana. The reason we had success is the way we executed, not based off of anything else. It’s just about how we handled our business on Saturday, and the same thing will carry forward. Obviously, they present unique challenges and different from the opponent we just played, but the same thing is there. You have to be able to take away what they do best, defensively. Offensively, we have to capitalize on the situations we get. And on special teams, we have to create field position.”

Coach Bielema addresses the fact the Saturday’s game will be televised on the Big Ten Network:

“I think it’s obviously something that’s in the infant stages right now with the Big Ten Network. The first time that this was first mentioned, about a year and a half ago, about the possibility of the Big Ten Network, as coaches we get very excited because of the opportunities it’s not only going to give our program, but our conference and it’s going to be the true benefit, you know, in whether it’s a year from now, two years from now, you’re going to help not only football, basketball, but all women’s sports, men’s sports, the sports that don’t normally get the television time that they get right now. So it will be a great promotion for our conference, which leads to recruiting advantages across the rest of the country. Unfortunately, this weekend, it’s not in everybody’s homes. So the way you rectify that is for people to contact the people that they need to to get the Big Ten Network in their homes. In the meantime, go to a restaurant, sit around. A lot of places are going to have them. I’d grab a, maybe a burger and some cheese curds, maybe a refreshment, grab a friend, wear some red, and support he Badgers.”

Cheese curds? Then Coach Bielema was asked about Glenville High School in Cleveland, as the Badgers boast three players who played for Ted Ginn Sr.:

“You look at a guy like, the fact that we have three guys entering at the same time, but Devon Jones was the first guy we originally signed out of there, but this year to have Kyle [Jefferson] and Otis [Merrill], and Otis, you guys aren’t seeing him now, but in those first couple practices, you could realize he had a lot of talent. I tried to call coach again today, actually talked to one of their coaches, Tony, just to let them know how much they’ve kind of put a little fresh breath of air in the program. Kyle, it was classic, on Saturday when I asked the officials to review the play of Tyler Donovan, whether or not it was a fumble or not, we sent our offense out on the field, and then we were kind of having discussions back and forth, and I realized that I probably wasn’t going to get it. And Kyle came over, and he’s standing and he’s looking at me, and I go I don’t think I’m going to get this one, he goes I don’t think you are either, coach.”

Coach Bielema was later asked about Ohio State quarterback Todd Boeckman and the Buckeye offense:

“Well, to defend Ohio State is very difficult. Obviously, the quarterback is a key decision maker. He gets the ball on every play, and he’s going to make certain decisions at the line of scrimmage, but the part that’s difficult to defend Ohio State is the guys from sideline to sideline. You know, you have a guard that weighs 345 pounds and runs very, very well. It was interesting, when I was doing my TV show on Sunday, we were watching a celebration in the end zone where you saw their left tackle basically jump over the head of a wide receiver while he was standing straight up. Our guys can’t do that.”

Coach, that wide receiver is 6-foot-3! But Bielema continues:

“So I mean, they’re very, very physical and very talented. What we have to do is fundamentally play sound and play at a very high level. And obviously, it all starts with the quarterback and the way he’s playing. It speaks volumes about their offense and what they’re able to do.”

Then Coach Bielema was asked about what makes the ‘Shoe a difficult place to play:

“Well, there’s a lot of people. It’s very vertical. Any time you have that combination, the noise tends to stay in there. They get the O-H-I-O chant going.”

Tags: Buckeye Football //