Postgame Quotes
11/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 5, 2005
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Northwestern vs. Iowa
Nov. 5, 2005
Post-Game Quotes
Northwestern Head Coach Randy Walker
Opening Statement...
"I'll tell you what I told my team at halftime-there's a lot of football in every game, a lot of football. All the years I've been in football, you play all 60 minutes. And with those kids, I know it wasn't falling on deaf ears. They've had too much evidence during their career here about how important perseverance and character are. We had to play hard and we knew we needed some things to go our way, but there was a lot of football left. We never quit, we hung in there, and when they didn't put us away in the fourth quarter, we found ourselves with an opportunity. As Bo Schembechler said, 'momentum is the most important thing in football.' Things were going our way and we rode that wave of momentum to victory. We made play after play, and it's one of those things where it's really good when it happens to you and really bad when you're on the other side of it. But momentum is a huge factor.
There were a lot of things in that football game that we could do better; that we're going to have to do better to keep winning. But we got that old momentum avalanche going our way and it kept going. We started making plays on defense, getting them off the field, the offense started making plays, then we got that huge onside recovery. Honestly, I was worried at that point about weather we had too much time left on the clock. Because it was getting to that point when you're worried about time; you look up and you think 'that's an eternity in college football.'
We have special kids here-kids that won't quit and they do the right things. I'm very proud of them. As we were walking off the field, I caught myself a couple times close to breaking down. I'm just so overjoyed for them. I know first-hand about the adversity this football team has gone through, even starting before our camp. And the things they were able to overcome and do is a testament to their beliefs, confidence and trust in each other."
What aspect of your game were you most impressed with today?
"Our defense, quite honestly. I thought our defense stepped up big in the second half, got some key stops and gave us an opportunity to get the ball back. And any time you're at the end of the game like that, you get four shots. So our defense did a great job of getting our offense the ball back and giving us a chance. It was our defense giving us that big stop. Obviously, the onside kick was huge-although, by the time that onside kick happened, it was almost after the fact-had already had that huge wave of momentum. So I think our defense got us started, we started connecting on offense, and we got it back down to a one-touchdown game."
On Joel Howells' onside kick...
"It's funny because we've practiced it almost every week for five or so weeks, and I don't know if we've even come close to recovering it in practice. It got to the point where I took the receiving team off so we could just practice against air. It's an odd thing because it depends on the firmness of the ground. We practice on the Astroturf field and it changes it. I think anybody that says they have a method for making that ball kick up like that is a liar, but it kicked up for us. And we hit it like a shot and (Northwestern safety Reggie McPherson) came down with it."
On becoming the first Northwestern coach since Dick Hanley (1929-31) to win six games for three consecutive years....
"I think that's something we should be able to do here. It's hard to win championships, ask anybody. It's hard here, it's hard in the Big Ten, it's a tough conference. But I've had some goals in my life, and one of them is to go into November with something to play for. It's been three-straight years now of getting to November with something to play for, and there's a whole bunch of college football teams that aren't. So if we can somehow string a couple of those together and see where it goes; last time I checked, mathematically, we're still in it. But we don't talk about that. We've got a big challenge going to Columbus to take on Ohio State, but it is nice to get number six before the last week of the season."
On Northwestern linebacker Tim McGarigle setting NU's all-time tackle record...
"Tim McGarigle...there's so many things you could say about him, like a proverbial 'who would you want with you in a foxhole question.' I think he's pretty talented, but what really makes him special is that he gives everything that he's got. He gives it all, he leaves nothing behind. I'm glad I'm not lining up eight yards behind the line and running at him. He defines intensity and passion, he's as good as anyone I've ever been around in that regard."
Northwestern Player Quotes
Northwestern Kicker Joel Howells
On practicing onside kicks...
"(We practice it) one day a week on Thursdays in case we need to use it and this week we did. I usually kick seven or eight on my own and then one or two with the team."
How practice kicks compared to today's onside kick...
"(They don't always bounce) that high. You kick the ball the same every time. Sometimes you get that big hop, sometimes it doesn't hop that high."
On strategy going into the onside kick...
"I just tried to do the same thing I do when we practice it on Thursdays. You hit it close to the ground and hope that you get those two low hops and then the third one will bounce up high and today, thankfully, it worked out well."
On the execution of onside kick...
"I was just trying to keep my head down and put the best swing on it that I could. You just hope for the best after that. Balls bounce funny sometimes. I guess it just bounced well this time."
Northwestern Defensive Back Reggie McPherson
On the onside recovery...
"First I talked to Marquice Cole. He said he was going to be the hammer-the guy that
hits the guy that's right in front of him. He told me to just go up and get it, and I was like
'alright.' It was a great kick by the kicker Joel Howells and I just went up there and
caught it."
On the team's postgame attitude...
"It was a great game for the team, knowing that we were trying to win our sixth game
and become bowl eligible. Now we have to continue to win and get a better bowl."
Northwestern Wide Receiver Mark Philmore
On the improved state of Northwestern football...
"If you look at last season, and then you look at where we are now we are a better football team. And we still have a lot of things to prove this season. With a little luck and if we take care of business we might be able to pull something out."
On what this game meant to the seniors...
"When I was talking to the seniors we all had tears in our eyes. This game speaks to our careers. We've had so many highs and so many lows. This game had everything in it that we have had to overcome and I'd love to see our season end on a high like this game."
Northwestern Quarterback Brett Basanez
On the win...
"It feels great to get a win when you're not playing your best football. We beat ourselves in the first three quarters. Penalties continue to take us out of our game but when it came down to it we made played when we needed to and got the win, which is huge for us. When the ball doesn't bounce your way you have to focus and fight through it."
On Northwestern's defense...
"Every game the defense keeps us in it in the second half. We are supposed to be one of the most highly touted offenses in the country, but we only put up 28. It speaks highly to Iowa's defense and to the Big Ten as a whole."
On veteran leadership...
"Mark Philmore and Zach Strief were calming everyone down in the huddle. It's something that we work on at practice every week. Now it's against their defense not ours. But the young guys played like veterans in that two-minute drill."
Northwestern Linebacker Tim McGarigle
On setting Northwestern record for career tackles...
"It's a good feeling, but half the record goes to Barry Cofield. He's been in front of me for four year. I promise you if he wasn't there I wouldn't have made half the tackles that I did."
"This team never stopped believing, not one point in the game. As a defense we knew the offense would make plays when they had to. The special teams came up huge and our team didn't stop believing."
Northwestern vs. Iowa
Nov. 5, 2005
Post-Game Quotes
Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz
Opening statement...
"Obviously this is a tough loss. It was a great effort by both teams all game long and it was a shame someone had to lose. We played very well in the first half, but they played better in the second half and the second half is the most critical part of the ballgame. It will be tough to bounce back from this, but we will."
On Northwestern's onside kick...
"That was a very tough circumstance, and they executed it perfectly. In the end, they made the plays they had to make."
On his team's overall effort...
"There is not a lot I can say. We could not have played any harder. You have to play full-go against Northwestern and we did that. Now we have a challenge to bounce back, but I know we will do that."
On Iowa's final drive...
"It was a tough situation with no timeouts. There were situations earlier in the half when we needed them and I feel good about when we used them. We just wanted to get the clock stopped. We were optimistic right up until the end. I thought we had a great chance to get down there and kick a field goal.
On the play of Iowa's defense...
"They had a great game plan. They executed it well and gave us a chance to win. Both teams really stepped up in the second half, but we could not match their tempo."
On the play of Albert Young...
"He has played well all season long. He competes so hard for every yard he gets and today was no different."
Wide Receiver Herb Grigsby
On Iowa's final drive...
"We had good communication. We knew that all we needed was a field goal. We left everything out on the field and that is all you can do."
On Drew Tate's injury...
"Any time someone is injured, especially someone as important as Drew, it deters the offense. Northwestern played better defense in the second half as well."
On Joel Howells' onside kick...
"As soon as it took that big bounce that every onside kick should, I knew that it was going to be a difficult one for us to recover. You practice these situations, but you never know what is going to happen. It was a perfect kick and they covered it perfectly."
Defensive Lineman Matt Kroul
On the team's feelings right now...
"We have two games left against two great teams (Wisconsin and Minnesota). We played our butts off and flew around, but we just have to come away with these next two games."
On what changed in the second half...
"Nothing really changed in the second half. They just made some great plays. We gave up three big plays today and that hurt us. They always make a difference."
Defensive Back Marcus Paschal
On defending Northwestern's Brett Basanez...
"He was a pretty good passer today, but I think we came out and did what we needed to do. Unfortunately, we did not pull it out today. Their offense was rated in the top 10 in the nation and I really feel that we came out and held them in check."
On Ross Lane's game-winning touchdown...
"It was a route that caught us in a bind. We had bad placement on the man-to-man coverage. It was a tough way to lose but we will come in tomorrow to evaluate the game and move on by Monday.
On the game's final two minutes...
"Everything happened really fast. As a defense, we were still going out and doing the things we needed to do. It was a heartbreaker. At this point, we just have to move on."
Wide Receiver Clinton Solomon
On the team's final drive...
"We were not out of the game. We had a very good opportunity to get Kyle Schlicher in field-goal range to put three points on the board and win the game. Unfortunately we came up short. Penalties knocked us back a couple of yards. "
On the third-down play incompletion during Iowa's final drive...
"I slipped coming out of my break. It was a well-thrown ball that I would've caught if I had kept my footing. The grass was a little worn down but that did not make a difference."
Running Back Albert Young
On his 200 yards rushing...
"Yeah it is a nice accomplishment, but this is a team game. As a unit and an entire team we did not do what it took to get the job done. "
On Iowa's play at the line of scrimmage...
" The blocking was there all day. I could pick and choose where I wanted to run. Our offensive line did a great job and made my job a lot easier. "
On what changed during the second half...
"Nothing really changed that much. They moved guys around a little bit more to come from some different angles."
Center Brian Ferentz
On the emotions of losing two close games in a row...
"Losing two games in a row is not fun, but losing two close games like this is really disheartening. That said, losing is losing and it does not matter who is ahead until the end of the game."
