Wisconsin football: Caesar Williams has no time for your bad pass interference calls

On Tuesday morning, a few members of the Wisconsin Badgers met with the media via Zoom. Cornerback Caesar Williams had some interesting thoughts on the Northwestern game and the officiating during it. You may remember that the Badgers defensive backs were called for four pass interference penalties on Saturday, including two on Northwestern’s first drive that allowed them to continue on and score a touchdown and one that overturned an interception by...Caesar Williams.

“Maybe refs aren’t used to seeing perfect reps and they throw a flag,” Williams posited on Tuesday morning. “I don’t think penalties will change...how we play down the field.”

One might wonder if defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, a former Wisconsin defensive back himself, wanted the guys to slow down and play more conservatively: “He eggs us on. He wants us to go harder.”

It’s not something that they think about as the play goes on, Williams noted when asked if early bad calls change their game plan.

“I don’t think a flag should hinder a defensive back’s confidence in what they do.”

On his interception, which was called back, Williams didn’t even know the penalty was on him until the referees announced it. “At first, I honestly thought it was against the offense.” As you can see, we certainly took it well and also didn’t pop a blood vessel in our temple.

This will be the only time we say that it’s good the players aren’t being paid because Williams would probably be receiving a fine for this GEM of a quote. “At times I felt like the ref maybe had purple underneath their jerseys, I mean, under their white-and-black shirts.”

Williams and the rest of the DBs will have their hands full with Rashod Bateman and the Minnesota passing offense this Saturday in the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.