MADISON, WIS. -- Graham Mertz approached a mass of reporters awaiting him on Saturday inside the McClain Center, around an hour or so after a difficult, frustrating loss that appeared self-inflicted on several levels.

Credit to the redshirt sophomore quarterback for answering any and all questions put in front of him within earshot as the swarm of writers, broadcast journalists and others enveloped his slightly elevated podium -- especially after the 16-10 defeat to No. 19 Penn State.

Mertz finished the day completing 22-of-37 passes for 185 yards and two interceptions, with both of those picks coming in the fourth quarter. He also was credited with two fumbles and flagged for two intentional grounding penalties.

Wisconsin as an offense came up empty point-wise in three of the four trips inside Penn State's red zone. At one point in a couple of those possessions, the ball was situated within the Nittany Lions' two-yard line.

Mertz spoke with reporters for over seven minutes after the cross-divisional defeat on a variety of topics. The full availability can be seen below and on BadgerBlitz.com's YouTube channel.

Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Paul always says it takes 11 guys to make a play, but you know playing your position in particular can be really intense. How would you evaluate how you played today individually to start with?

Mertz: Obviously not proud of how it ended. There are definitely a lot of things that fell on my plate that I need to clean up, and I will. I'm going to do everything and anything I can to make sure I'm ready to go, and this team is ready to go.

There's a lot of stuff I need to clean up, but I'll be ready.

The exchange between you and Chez [Mellusi on third down in the second quarter], was that going to be a handoff or were you going to pull it out?

Mertz: Yeah, it was going to be a handoff.

Graham can you take us through the pass intended for tight end Jake Ferguson that was picked off before the end of the game? What did you see?

Mertz: Obviously, Ferg's my guy. In a situation like that, you know pressure's coming. Just try to put it up and let him go make a play. DB read my eyes and just flew over there and picked it out, but gotta [have] better location on that one.

Graham how hard is it to flush a game like this out of my?

Mertz: It's my job. It's what I have to do. For me, I wouldn't say flush. I got to learn from it. Tomorrow morning or even tonight, hop on there, watch the tape, take out my key points that I need to get better at, what I need to do to help this team win.

I got to learn and grow. That's the biggest thing.

On that last series, did you have a clean look at [Chimere] Dike running down the middle?

Mertz: Yeah, yeah. Should have been a touchdown.

You had a lot of success moving the ball between the 20s. Why do you think it was more difficult when you guys got in the red zone?

Mertz: A bunch of stuff. I think the biggest thing was a lot of self-inflicted wounds down there. Obviously, balls on the ground, you can't do that as a quarterback, as an offense. So for us, it's just we got to get down there and execute.

A great chance for us to learn and do that next week and the weeks following that. A good learning opportunity.

You all dominated the first half yet still scoreless because of the two red zone series. What was the mood like at halftime?

Mertz: This team, guys are hungry, and that never changes. Still down there right now, it's not changed. We all know it's a long season. Game 1 obviously didn't go our way, but great opportunity to learn, and for us, we know there's a longer road.

They're hungry, ready to go, and I got all my faith in them.

The two intentional grounding penalties. You look at those, those can't happen, safe to say?

Mertz: Yeah. One, I thought I was outside the pocket. The other I thought there was an intended receiver over there. Guess I was a little far off, but that's one thing I got to learn is I can't do that.

What did you think of what Chez did? This was his first game as a Badger, went over 100 yards. What did you think of his performance and what he brought to the offense?

Mertz: Chez is a dog. He's going to go out there and ball. He's going to keep doing that. I love that kid to death. Happy he's on my team.

With the fans here today, is it extra disappointing to not be able to finish and get a W for them in front of a great crowd?

Mertz: Yeah, I mean obviously, to answer your question, it's never fun losing. To answer the question, it's anywhere you're playing, you never want to lose. So for me, it's gotta learn, gotta grow, and I know we'll come back stronger.

After the last intentional grounding, I think there were 10 seconds left on the last pass. What did you see on that one, that wound up being picked off?

Mertz: Time was running out. Just trying to let him go make a play. I mean that's it. I thought we had a good look to it. Forced it a little bit, but just can't have that.

Graham you have high expectations for this season. Obviously, there's very little room for error, especially after you lose this game. Is that something that creeps in your mind at all when you start thinking about all the goals you have this season to know that whatevr margin of error you had has just gotten smaller?

Mertz: Nah, we know it's a long road, like I just said. Isn't going to change how we prepare, how we are as a team, how close we are. You know, it's a long road, but we'll be ready and we're going to reload and be ready to fire next week.

Penn State had a number of pass rushers, a transfer from Temple, a lot of new guys. How different were there from what you saw from what y'all had seen on tape of last year?

Mertz: As far as coverage-wise, pretty similar. We knew they were gonna pressure us so for us it was just being good with our mic points, protections. They're a pretty solid defense. Just comes down to execution on our side.

In the third quarter especially, you kept hitting Danny [Davis] on both corner routes on the sail concept. Was that something you guys scouted ahead of time or is that a halftime adjustment finally opening?

Mertz: Yeah, it's just part of our offense. We just knew on some of the looks that they're giving us the right coverage based on that formation to run those. We have them in the game plan. We just called them when it was necessary.

Are you surprised at all about how difficult it was to get things moving through the air? You started seven games last year. You got a bunch of guys back on offense. Did it surprise you at all how challenging today was?

Mertz: Not really. I mean every game is a challenge, presents its own challenges, but nothing really surprised me on that end. Like I've been saying, it just comes down to execution and doing it consistently, and I wasn't consistent today. So I take that.

We talked to you after losses last year. You seemed to handle it pretty well. Today you kind of seem angry. Am I reading you well on that?

Mertz: Hungry. I know I can play a lot better football. I know we're a lot better team than that.

How did you see Isaac Guerendo in the backfield and being a complement to Chez today?

Mertz: We got really good running backs in that room. Whenever their number's called, they're ready to go, and I think they all do a great job of stepping in and just going. Isaac did a great job coming in. Running backs did a great job today, so did the o-line.

That hit you took on the sideline, how did that one feel?

Mertz: Ah, just another hit. [laughs] I'll be alright.

The ball handling issues, were those a surprise with the handoffs and the quarterback exchanges with the center, that type of thing?

Mertz: Yeah, just grabbing the ball wrong, a little slick, but still, can't happen. It comes down to that.