WMU Football | Postgame vs Wisconsin | 8.30.24

I was really proud of our team tonight how they fought for 60 minutes we I really challenged them with playing to the bronos standard not worrying about the score just focusing on one play having a One Snap mentality um and fighting every single play and I thought our players did that they did a great job uh playing the next play had some really big time plays in in in the game you know I thought our defense coach power had an excellent uh game plan our our defense played B Ben but don't break made some really big plays in the red zone to force them field goals we got some Miss field goals and kept the game close for us I thought uh after they scored the first touchdown our offense did an excellent job putting a big drive together answering that make scoring uh making the score 7 seven again um and then we go into halftime down three uh we come out and we battled in the third quarter continued to battle um only allowing a field goal there um and and we got the ball back um we called the fake field goal um it was something that we had prepared for in practice I told our guys we were going to call it in a big moment um and they were prepared to go execute it and really proud of the way that they fought uh we've got to learn how to finish but I think you learn more in defeat than you do sometimes in Victory and it's only failure if we don't learn from it and so um I'm proud of the men in that locker room uh there's some things that we can clean up to get better and we will we'll go to work tomorrow and really look in the mirror and say what can we do better um in some of those areas all two questions uh hi uh I just asked Bo this but your defense you didn't allow a single explosive play tonight and Wisconsin had those 14 16 play drives what do you think just went into that where they didn't really allow the big one and WI a really had to slowly metricate a lot of preparation and planning went into that um that was something that coach power and I talked about a bunch this offseason that I talked to our defensive staff about was limiting Expo explosive plays playing B but don't break I thought they did an excellent job they were very well prepared they played really well um and we other than not wrapping up on some tackles I thought defensively We we played really well we swarm the football and had some opportunities for for a couple other uh turnovers in in the game but uh they did an excellent job in in that uh limitting explosives what did you see out of Isaiah in that sequence where he gets a sack then that shoest string tackle produces a fumble and it kind of felt like the game's moment one at that point yeah those were two huge plays for us and uh you know he's done an excellent job tell you the the Buy in from our guys and the commitment has been excellent um Isaiah's one of those guys who's matured so much since he's been here and really taking that next step in a leadership role um and I think that that's what we have right now is is we have a group of guys who want to take ownership in what we're doing they believe in what we're doing um and they're bought in and we had so much positive encouraging you know uh back and forth coaching leadership even in some of those tough moments in the game that our guys kept believing it kept fighting and playing for each other for the next play and then on that punt which really swung the momentum in the opposite direction what did you assess of that play was that just wrong place at the wrong time was it a just misassignment what happened there yeah you know I've got to talk to our returners and really our our punt block team and just see exactly what happened you know just on the sideline the information that I got the ball got caught up in the lights I don't think Jordan got a great uh jump on it didn't feel like he could fill it cleanly so he made a you know decision which we tell our return too if you feel like you're going to put the ball on the ground don't put it in Jeopardy um and then he's just got to do a better job really pointing out where the ball is because the guys who are blocking for him don't know when the ball's on the ground they're they're engaged with their block and so you know bustled obviously is is playing the play he's not watching the play which is what we ask him to do uh is to play uh until the whistle blows and that's what he was doing and the ball happened to bounce into him it was an unfortunate bounce we had all the momentum at that point I thought our team had done a really excellent job after the you know fake field goal we get the first down we go down and score we take the lead um and then we get their offense to go three and out our defense gets off the field with two huge plays and we're getting the ball back with the lead in the fourth quarter uh at Camp Randall and so uh really proud of the fight that our guys had there we've just got to find a way to finish uh and not hurt ourselves you missed that fourth and one after that and then you had that sequence earlier where you had three straight no games on the one yard line so what do you think Wisconsin presents which makes it so hard to drop a play to get one yard in a crucial situation like that have you seen their defensive front that's what makes it hard to get a yard I thought our offensive line dominated for most of the night and we ran the ball uh really well I was proud of our offensive line and how Buckley ran the football tonight when when Jake got ejected he was he had the com he did yes create any problems now who does this cuz it's it's all kind of new you know what that's something that I I mentioned to our defensive staff with the Green Dot and him making all the calls it actually is a bigger loss than you than maybe in the past I mean you've got your Mike linebacker who communicates everything to everybody because he's talking to the coordinator and now he's out of the game for three and a half quarters and so uh it was a huge loss but I tell you where I was really proud of our def defense is really you had Boone Bama Step Up you had um several guys you know several linebackers um Moon step up and really you you didn't notice that Gap where you know you had really your leader and communication um communication leader in general not on the field and so I thought our guys did a nice job uh really responding to that making the adjustments on the sideline and making sure that that wasn't uh a huge loss for us any more questions all right thank you coach thanks guys