Interim Head Coach Nunzio Campanile: How we doing, everybody? Proud of the kids' effort today, I thought they played really hard throughout game. I thought they kept playing no matter what the score was. Obviously not good enough on offense. We are still really struggling to throw the ball and turning the ball over. Those things are obviously major problems, things that we got to keep working on. But I am proud of the effort that the kids gave, I thought that they played really hard, I thought the defense did a great job in the first half keeping them out, that fourth down stop, forcing the field goal try and then the miss, we're right in the game there going into halftime. Just need to generate a little bit more. We finally put a drive together and then we kind of killed ourself with a huge penalty there, which we are not built to overcome, first and 25 is not a place where we want to be. But I thought if we could have scored there we could have kind of flipped the game very much so. But that penalty kind of killed that drive. So any questions?

Q. Passing game, how do you get that turned around?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: I don't have a great answer. Keep working at it. We seemed to hurt ourselves in every possible way, I mean whether it's throwing it, catching it, protecting it. We just, penalty, the pass interference penalties, any possible way that we could have struggled this that game we did. Just keep working at it. And they pretty much did what they do, they brought a little more pressure, but at times we just tried taking a shot there after the fourth down stop and we turned it over. The first drive we get a first down and then we turn it over. So those things, but keep working at it, they're young players, young guys, young quarterback. And it's not like we have an older guy to go to. We have what we have. We'll give Cole more reps this week and see how that goes, but again, he's a freshman, too, and so there's no guarantee that that's the answer.

Q. Is there a point where you considered maybe making a change today?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: No, because late in the third quarter we put a pretty good drive together, then we turned it over and I didn't really think that that was going to help anybody. And then we did go on and put a drive together, we got a couple completions, got a touchdown and then we moved the ball a little bit. So I look at those opportunities as just chances for us to practice and grow and get work. And I think that they did get some positive work there. So hopefully there's a lot to grow off of like the third and fourth quarter, we did a bunch of good things. Obviously, threw a pick six that was not a great thing. But I kind of keep telling the kids, regardless of the score we just have it keep using those opportunities as chances to grow. Now, you know if this week if Cole's the best option then that's what we'll do.

Q. He was throwing on the sideline I think like 10 minutes to go, it was only 21-0, so you weren't considering, he wasn't getting ready if you guys had held there at any point?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: Yeah, no, I mean, not really. I think he was just staying ready just in case something came up. And then went to 28 and then the pick went to 35, so it was kind of -- I mean, because really when it was 21 we actually had a drive and not that we threw it a whole lot, but we were able to at least move the football and we were going in a positive direction and then that penalty kind of killed that drive.

Q. You had a couple more negative passes again. What is the issue there? Because that's something that kinds of sets you back even further.
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: We probably practice screen more than any team in America. So it is dumbfounding, to be honest. I'm not really sure. Obviously, we'll keep working at it. But we have tried a bunch of different types of screens and we just have really struggled with them all year. Obviously, we have to get better at it because we need -- but we struggled to throw the ball down the field, so we're not exactly getting a lot of guys dropping and getting out of there. We had two screens today that I think went for negative yardage. It happened in the Maryland game and it happened last week so, maybe we just shouldn't run any screens. I don't know.

Q. Eddie Lewis didn't play the first four games. Since you took over he's been back in the mix. He had some injuries, but what has he done the last few weeks to get back on the field?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: Eddie's a good player, he's smart, he's a competitor. Obviously losing Raheem has opened up that role a little bit for some of those guys because I don't think it's fair to put too much on Aaron's plate. Aaron can do a lot of same things that Raheem does, but it's hard to ask him to play multiple positions as a freshman, so we're trying to not overload him too much.

Q. Defensively in that first half you guys were really hanging with them. What did you like about your group from a defensive standpoint early?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: We ran to the ball, tackled pretty well, we didn't allow the big plays. In the last few games some of the missed tackles have gone for really big plays. So today we limited that and it definitely changed the tempo of the game. Because they don't play super fast, even though they're no-huddle, they obviously don't try to go too fast. They kind of, it's all check with me, and, you know, we did a good job of not allowing the big plays and kind of recognizing what they were doing and not allowing the big runs either. So I thought that we really just swarmed to the ball, we tackled really well. Christian Izien has done a really nice job back there. He's making a lot of plays. I'm pretty proud of his effort.

Q. Deion Jennings started. Tyreek a little banged up or --
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: I think that Coach Buh just thought that, you know, change things up and give us an opportunity to make some plays and I thought he played really well. He made a lot of plays, obviously got to watch the tape to see what the mistakes are but he definitely, for a young guy, there were a lot of, he made a lot of plays, especially early.

Q. That deep shot up 35 at the end, did you object to that take any issue with that?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: No, not at all this it football. This is Ben-Ten football and to me it was probably Bobby Bowden would say it's our job to keep the score down, not theirs, so I have no issue with that.

Q. Are there thinks that you see that maybe the fans don't see that maybe you could see some signs of hope over the next final five games?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: Yeah, these guys are playing hard. There are some spots where we just struggle to match up, I mean it's just the truth. So I don't fault our kids' efforts at all, I think that they're doing the best they can, I think that we have some guys that are in spots that they're not entirely ready for, but there are a lot of guys that are still fighting and staying together and I mean I wish I could tell you like, hey, we're going to go out and score 50 points next week, but that, you know, apparently is not the reality and that has not been happening for since I've been here pretty much. So we have a lot of a long way to go, but like I keep saying, I just want this team to be, those players to be better players by the time we get to the end of the year. So that whatever happens, they feel like, hey, they're getting meaningful reps. You get a guy like Isaiah Washington said to me at the end of the game like, hey, Coach, I'm not quitting. Like, hey you want that guy on the field he's like, I am going to play as hard as I can no matter what and he goes down there and gets a couple catches, the guy just loves to play football and he's got a great attitude as a freshman that's out there getting a chance to make some plays and I think there's a bunch of those guys that are in that boat. You know, I know Langan turned the ball over, but he'll keep swinging, he'll keep fighting whatever it is. Kay'Ron gets in the end zone, that's a great experience as a freshman in college, first Big Ten touchdown, it's pretty good.

Q. Do you have any problem with PJ or Minnesota throwing a touchdown with nine minutes to go in the game?
NUNZIO CAMPANILE: Not at all. Just, yeah, I think it's our job to stop them.

Rutgers Player Quotes
Rutgers Defensive Back Christian Izien

On increased playing time: "I credit my defense, I credit my guys on the other side of the ball, I credit our scouts every week giving us the opportunity to see a good look"

On defense's first half performance: "I think we have a good chance of winning a game defensively every weekend. We gameplan really well for our opponents, so I think we give ourselves a good opportunity to (win)"

Rutgers Wide Receiver Eddie Lewis
On the loss: "We just gotta go back to the film, watch film, see what we did wrong and make the corrections. Just come out next week ready to play."

On team's attitude going forward: "We just gotta stand behind our leaders, stand behind each other, just know that we got each other's backs. (We need to) come to practice tomorrow, just let it go (and) what's happened is in the past."

Rutgers Quarterback Johnny Langan
On Minnesota's defense: "They don't hurt themselves very much. They just play their brand of football and they play it well."

Rutgers Linebacker Deion Jennings
On team's mindset: "It is frustrating at times, but Coach (Campanile) really does a good job of keeping us looking forward to games ahead because it's another opportunity for us to possible get a win.

Minnesota Head Coach PJ Fleck
 
Opening Statement: "Thanks for being here. Really excited to be 1-0 in the Rutgers season. Our players showed a lot of resolve and courage, like they have all year. Some very tense moments anytime you come into a place, and you don't know necessarily what you're going to see. There's been a lot of change, especially when it's homecoming, it just has that weird feeling. There's been a lot of things that have happened today that have really been somewhat weird. We didn't fall into that. Had a great week of preparation. Tuesday and Wednesday were the best Tuesday and Wednesday we've had all year. I'm of our player's progress players and proud of their preparation. They've been very mature through this whole process. We found a way to be 1-0.
 
Coming back to Rutgers is really special for me and really special for our staff. And as coaches we take jobs to be hired and fired, we understand that. There's a lot of guys on the staff who have come through Rutgers. And I always say I went to Rutgers as a boy and I left a man because of Greg Schiano. And I think that every single a coach that I have, that's been through there would probably say the same thing. Rutgers does something you changes you. It's a special place that can make you a way better coach. And it did to me. And so it was a little bit of an emotional, personal feelings type of emotional game. And I know for our staff as well.
 
But we kept focused all week. It was one of the most difficult games to prepare for in what you were going to see. And then also, it's just difficult emotionally, keep all that in check, going back seeing a lot of people that you know, and then having some personal things that you have happened when you're here and all the memories you have. So I'm really proud of our football team, we got a lot to talk about. 1-0 in the Rutgers championship season and that was the goal. And tomorrow we're going to be zero and zero again."
 
On maintaining focus: "That comes back to our four walls, you know we're not perfect, we're human beings. What the Row the Boat culture does in my opinion is we take the four walls and we process all that information. We'll talk about all the things that you guys talked about. When you're talking about rankings and you're talking about winning and you're talking about goals and visions, we'll talk about all that tomorrow. And we'll celebrate it. And then what we'll do is we'll pat ourselves on the back we'll High Five each other, we'll celebrate in the locker room and then our four walls will get tighter and tighter. Because as the outside noise, no matter what it is positive or negative, the walls have to be tighter. It was the same thing as a coach when I was 1-11 at Western Michigan. We got tighter as the season went on and you take that information from the outside you bring it in and then you let your culture process it. You spit it back out and how you want them thinking, mentally, physically, emotionally about the things we're going to see on Twitter, social media, here in the media and hear about from your stories I mean, they read them all. They are kids, that's their life. And I'll never take that away from them. But what I want them to do is be able to process it the right way and process it through the cultural way. I feel like they've been able to do that."
 
On Rutgers: "I'm not going to comment that much about what's going here, I don't know what's going on here really. I do know this. Walking in the tunnel, you get a chance to see Leonte Carroo, Quron Pratt, Keith Lumpkin, Gary Nova and you think back to the days of when I was here and the success we were having and watching how the greatest influence on my life turned it around, as a coach and watching sustain it over those years, you really kind of think back to those players. They're all here together on homecoming, they could have been somewhere else but they're right there till the end of the game. And a lot of times your former players can really come together and help bring that program back to where it needs to be. And that's a really special group that can do that as well."
 
On Greg Schiano: "One thing I learned from Greg Schiano a long time ago is that he said 'don't ever talk for me, I don't need you to'. That was in a meeting room when I was a wide receiver coach for him. And so, I will not start doing that now. But what I will say is he's one of the best coaches I've ever seen. He's the greatest coaching influence of my life. I came to him a boy and left as a man. I learned more college football, I learned more business, I learned more how to treat people, I learned more X's and O's, I learned more discipline I learned more work ethic from that man than I ever had learned from anybody in my entire life. And I owe my entire coaching career to him. I text him every week and tell him that. He's probably sick of hearing it. I know when he's sick of hearing because he just doesn't text me back for weeks. And then once in a while I'll get one back. But he's a special man in my life. He's been tremendous to Heather and I, and he is a head football coach. I don't think there's anything, I don't think anybody could ever doubt that with what he's been able to accomplish in his career. And, again, I will not talk for him. I learned my lesson in an offensive staff meeting room around week six of my first year here."
 
On the career debut of Casey O'Brien: "I've seen a lot of things as a coach. I was here when Eric Legrand got hurt. I watched how Greg Schiano and Eric Legrand and our team handled that how they rallied around Eric. It didn't become about football anymore It became about Eric, about his courage, his fight, his struggle. And now look at what Eric's doing on the motivational platform. He's an unbelievable humanitarian for spinal cord injury victims. His vision of, I will walk again. He's done things that people said he'd never do.

In a different light Casey is a very similar case. He survived cancer four times. They said he'd never play football. Never be on a team, let alone a big 10 football team, and he'd never play. No one can ever take away from Casey O'Brien, he just played on a 7-0 football team at the University of Minnesota. He's what Row the Boat is all about. He's what family's all about, he's what the state of Minnesota is about, he's what the Twin City area is about. He's what the Masonic Children's Hospital is about, and the people there that continue to pour in the best care to children that come to that hospital. He's a motivator. He's a fighter. He's what Row the Boat is all about. And it was one of most emotional moments I've had as a head football coach on a very positive side because when you stay in coaching long enough, and you're a player long enough you see a lot of things, and I've seen a lot of tragic things in my life. But to have that be one of those things that went from tragic to hope to accomplishment. That's important, that's special.

I wanted to do it last week in front of our home crowd when we were up, and we just got that kickoff return that was a fumble that turned out not to be a fumble, he was ready to go. And then we didn't score, took a knee. And then I said you know what he hasn't traveled much. The doctors didn't want him traveling, And I thought there's a perfect opportunity for it if it happened to come down to a position where I can one, as a parent keep them safe and know that I feel like the game is in check that I'm going to give him the opportunity to live out his ultimate dream. And it's not about me. This isn't about me giving him that. He's earned that. It was just when could I do that for him, because as a parent, you're worried about that too. Because when he gets up and goes, if there's a bad snap, you know, your heart drops, but he had confidence in himself to make sure the snap was perfect and the hold was perfect and the kick was good. It just came to, I felt like this is a really good week to travel him. He gave us a lot of inspiration, motivation. Everybody was so excited that he was traveling, and I think kind of sensed that maybe this could happen if he's on the trip, but hopefully he's able to do a lot more from this point forward."

On Rutgers: "You have to give Nunzio Campanile a lot of credit. He's a good friend to all of us. He's doing a really good job in a very, very difficult situation. He's a tremendous football coach and he's got a very, very bright future."

Minnesota Quarterback Tanner Morgan
 
On Wisconsin's loss: "The Big Ten is a very elite conference and anybody can beat anybody on any given day. You have to bring your best every single Saturday or Friday. It's really just making sure you're on that edge and being able to play to the best of your ability no matter who your opponent is. No matter what happens, you never know what can happen in this conference or this league on any given Saturday."
 
On Casey O'Brien: "That was such an incredible moment for our entire team and obviously for Casey. You're talking about a four-time cancer survivor who comes to work every day and is an inspiration to everybody. He's an inspiration to the country too, as his message continues to spread. Its just such an emotional moment for all of us to be able to get Casey in there. It's something, like coach said, that no one is ever going to be able to take away from Casey. Casey played multiple snaps in the Big Ten tonight. He played Big Ten football. No one is going to ever be able to take that away from Casey. It's so cool for our team and to see Casey be able to do that."
 
On the offense in the first half: "It starts with me. The first half there were a lot of inaccurate throws, so I have to be better with that. That's where it starts, I have to be better with that. I think continuing to do our job and executing, we came out in the second half and did better at that. There's going to be a lot of plays that we can learn from in film tomorrow, especially myself."
 
On playing for Coach Fleck: "It's real, every single day. It's more than football. It's not just about your performance on the field, it's about your holistic life and all four areas we talk about: athletics, academics, social, and spiritual. He's a guy who brings relentless energy to his life and of course to our program. It's more than about your performance, its about your entire life. He wants you to be an elite man and a better man."
 
Minnesota Defensive Back Antoine Winfield Jr.
 
On Wisconsin's loss: "I was really just focused on us and what we had to do today. I didn't really pay attention to that. I heard it, but I was just focused, and locked in on the game today. It's college football, anybody can lose on any given day, so we just knew that we had to bring our game every single time in order for us to be successful."
 
On Kamal Martin's injury: "I was hurt for him. I know he's down right now, and I know how much he loves the game, how much work he puts in for the game, so I was just there for him. He will be fine though. He's missed a lot, he's the heart of the defense. With his passion and energy he's just a great leader. It always hurts when a guy like that goes down on the team."
 
On Rutgers putting points on the board: "We wanted a shut out, but it happens. This is football, points are going to be scored. We don't really look at it as a failure. We just want to continue to get better each day."
 
Minnesota Holder Casey O'Brien
 
On if he knew today was the day: "No, I didn't. I was hoping that I was going to get in at the end of the Nebraska game, but we didn't end up scoring at the end of the fourth quarter, so I was hopeful that this would be the game. My parents were able to fly out and be here for it, so it was unbelievable."
 
On his moment with Coach Fleck: "Well, I ran up to him and the one thing that we've been talking about all year was 'is it worth it?' I just told him that it was worth it. Everything that we've been through as a team and everything I've been through personally, with everything at the hospital, going through cancer four times, it was worth it tonight."
 
On his comment about blacking out: "There was a lot of emotion. This was a moment and a night that I've been thinking about since I picked up a football and tonight was the night."
 
On his second play: "The second one got a little dicey, it was a little bit of a low snap. At that point instincts took over. I've caught 1,000 balls, so I just had to do my job for the kicker."
 
On his third play: "The third time we were having fun. We were having fun the whole time, but that time I could let my shoulders down a little bit on that last one."
 
On his parents: "They flew out on Friday night, so I got to see them at the hotel and then I got to talk to them walking off the field. It was pretty special. They told me how proud they were of me and I just thanked them for everything they've done for me."
 
On the reaction of his teammates: "It just shows you how much those guys care about me and its special to see 75 guys, or however many. I looked over and the entire team was on the field. It puts a huge smile on my face even talking about it. It's a blessing to be on this football team."
 
On not getting in the Nebraska game and getting his chance today: "I mean when you get told that you're up, you're ready to go and you don't know if that moment is going to come again. I was bummed after the game, but I just had to show up to practice on Sunday and prepare like I was going to play this week."
 
On getting in when the team is 7-0: "It was awesome. We're doing something really special here and it'll be another thing I can look back at from this night and say 'I was a part of that.' It just adds to the moment."
 
On how he views himself: "To be honest, I look at myself as a football player. I just show up to practice like everyone else. I know that my story means a lot to the people around me, but I just show up and put my shoulder pads on like everyone else."
 
Minnesota Running Back Rodney Smith
 
On Casey O'Brien: "It's nothing but an honor (to have a teammate like Casey). I knew Casey before he even got to campus, because his dad was on the staff. His story is amazing and for someone to beat cancer four-times, he perseveres and achieves things that he wants to achieve. It says a lot about him. That's the money man, everyone loves Casey."
 
On the offense in the first half: "Offensively, I'm going to speak for the running backs. We started out a little slow from a physicality stand point. We as running backs take pride in setting the tone for the entire offense. It took a while for us to get running, but once we did, it was better executed."
 
On the team's potentially historic season: "It's fun. You reflect back on the time we spent working to get to this point; we started in January. We know to keep it rolling, we have to keep our blinders on, take a microscope approach, and work one week at a time. Rutgers week was our goal this week and that was a tough game. It's exciting and we're excited, but we have to refocus ourselves tomorrow."
 
On Wisconsin's loss: "We had to focus, we had a game to play. In the Big Ten, anybody can beat you any week, no matter who the team is. Coach Fleck mentioned it us, but we had to come out and fire on all cylinders and the defense came out smoking."