Sept. 5, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
UNLV HEAD COACH Bobby Hauck POSTGAME QUOTES
Opening Statement...
"First of all, Wisconsin is a good team, well coached, played a good game tonight and obviously I think they're going to have a good season. I think they're really a quality team in my opinion and deserving of that ranking. We as a team need to fix some things. Right before halftime we made a couple plays to get ourselves back in it, but they came out and took the game in the third quarter and we just weren't good enough tonight to beat them."
On finding the offensive rhythm...
"We didn't win a third down, in particular in the first half. We didn't stop them and they stopped us on almost every one. If you only have 15 plays, which I think is what our number was, you don't have rhythm on offense, there is none. You've got to get some drives going, generate some first downs or there is no rhythm."
On the quarterback situation with Omar Clayton replacing Mike Clausen...
"I said all along we would probably play Omar some. He did a nice job, coming in with eight minutes left in the third, did some good things. We'll go back and look at the tape and figure out who we are going to start next week."
On what the Rebels did well against No. 12 Wisconsin...
"The thing we can hang our hat on is that we fought back into the game, forced a couple turnovers. Will Chandler obviously made two huge plays with the football in his hands which got us back into the game. We played hard in the fourth quarter, which finishing the game is a major point of emphasis for us and we need to continue to do that down the road and hopefully it will pay dividends in terms of wins."
On trying to stop the Wisconsin run game...
"They had 50 rushes for 278 yards, at times we played well, but the consistency of it wasn't there for us. They're really good at what they do and if you start getting out of gaps and not playing things soundly, with their heavy personal they have a body for everybody but one, and if someone gets out of their gap it creates problems. They are times when we played it well and times when they made us look bad."
On Phillip Payne's performance...
"The touchdown catch was a big play, it was great to see Phil go up and get the ball. I thought he was aggressive in his blocking and played a pretty complete game. Made a couple catches, when the ball came his way he caught it and when it was his turn to do the dirty work in the run game I think the film will show he worked his tail off."
On preparing the team for the Utah road trip...
"The Utah game will be a tremendous challenge, and with their win over Pitt on Thursday night I think they set a Mountain West record for consecutive home wins. It's a daunting task to go up there and try to get a win. But that's where after we correct [Wisconsin] tape, then we need to go up there and play a good game and see if we can't steal one."
WISCONSIN HEAD COACH BRET BIELEMA POSTGAME QUOTES
On injuries...
"From an injury standpoint, I know that Nick Toon (#1) had aggravated a turf toe injury. Chris Borland (#44) tweeked his shoulder, but he's already back [locker room] smiling and grinning. I think he just aggravated it a little bit. Billy Naggy (#76) was cramps, He was cramping up pretty hard. He is in there getting an IV right now. That is it from an injury standpoint."
Opening statement...
"I told the guys on Thursday that the one thing that we can't simulate during practice is adversity. When things are on a roll and you have adversity individually or as a unit and at half time we were sitting in a ball game where I thought we were fairly dominant, but two plays take away from the effect. It just explained to our guys that every play matters. Every play that you take matters and you never know when they play is going to be. I really liked their response in the second half. I thought our defense rose to the challenge right away and our offense played off of that the whole time."
On being encouraged by the defense...
"Just the persistence. And creating the turnover in the second half, with Aaron [Henry] back there I was a little bit concerned. I think the corners got really winded. Those three guys played some good reps. You know we had prepared some of that package out there today. Some great learning. Some great teaching. Some team tape, as well. I thought Isaac Anderson had the hustle play of the day on the fumble recovery (by UNLV). For me to see him do that speaks volumes to me. For us to give that first play away to score a touchdown, we just can't do it."
On having three different running backs find success...
"Yeah, I just said that on radio. I think all of them are very selfless players, too. They cheer for each other. As you can see all of them have different skill sets. I give my hat off to John [Clay] too, I think he had to take a couple IV's yesterday and played through some adversity. He was a little under the weather. I think those three guys will take a lot of pride and will be the first to thank the O-line, too."
