Northwestern University Athletics
NU Post-Game Quotes
9/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 16, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement...
It's a lot better feeling to sit up here today with a victory. As a coach you have two goals; I said it after we beat Miami (Ohio) and I said it last week-you want to win and you want to play well. We have a long way to go with number two. I was very impressed with the way our defense played today. But, again there were some plays that we could have made out there that we did not. Offensively, I have to give a lot of credit to Eastern Michigan. They did a great job. Their front seven was the best that I've seen to this point. We still have a long way to go, but at the same time it feels better to win-and come back to practice ready to play a very good football team in Nevada.
On the change at quarterback...
The reason we made the change is that we felt like we needed to seize momentum. I felt like Andrew (Brewer) has been practicing very well. Mike (Kafka) had won the job through camp and he got the opportunity to start for us the last three weeks. I really just felt like we needed to make a change at that point talking to the offensive staff. Andrew brings some things in the run game that we really like. He did a nice job and stepped up, but what was probably more impressive to me-was the guy meeting Andrew every time he stepped off the field was Mike Kafka. I have a great problem. I have great competition at that position; I've got very talented quarterbacks. We have a two-headed monster right now and I like that going into Nevada.
On settling into a routine as a new coach...
I've been a part of football since I was in the second grade, so I feel very comfortable with the game. Our staff is tremendous and we've got a plan. It's not like we are reinventing the wheel. We do what we do and I just can't say thank you enough to our staff. They've done a great job. Our players did a great job responding. We had a better week of practice and carried it over to the game field. A week ago, we left it on the practice field. We have a big challenge now-a quick turn around, playing Friday on the road and on national TV.
On his defense picking up their first two turnovers of the season...
It's nice to get that monkey off of our backs. We've been around the football so much, not to get the ball into our hand. We had a couple of fumbles on the ground that we missed again today and those are the types of plays I'm talking about. You just have to trust and you have got to believe and you have to play fast. You need to run to the ball. If you run to the ball, good things will happen. I thought we played much faster today. I thought our guys were really trying to go after the football.
On Eastern Michigan still having chances late in the game...
I'm just really happy we won. We are a young team and we're growing. You try to strive and get one week better. But, at the same point, we need to go out tomorrow right away and fix the things that are not working. The best thing I saw from my players is that they are happy we won, but they aren't satisfied. That means their attitude is in the right place.
Northwestern Players
Andrew Brewer
On his confidence after the fumble in the first half:
"It was reassuring to know that coach was going to give me a second opportunity to respond. That's what our program is built on and I was happy to get the opportunity to do that. I hate that I fumbled. It's going to get at me for awhile. I really need to work on that and keep improving."
On the success of the first drive of the second half:
"It was awesome. There are a lot of emotions your first time getting to play. The offensive line was moving holes and we were spreading the ball around. It was just a great drive all around."
On Mike Kafka's attitude after the quarterback switch:
"Mike was very encouraging. That was helpful for me to know that Mike's got my back and it was the same role when he was playing. We need each other. Regardless of who is playing we have a great friendship and playing time isn't going to get in the way of that."
Nick Roach
On the Wootton interception:
"We called a blitz and forced him to get the ball away probably faster than he wanted to and make a bad pass. Fortunately we had our defensive end in the right place and he caught the ball."
On the turnovers:
"It felt great. The big thing we want to do is stop the other offense and get the ball back for our offense so they can work on getting the points on the board."
On not giving up touchdowns in two games this season:
"It's definitely a boost. It feels good to have a team not get into your end zone but we still have a lot of things to work on. Maybe we could have decreased it to one field goal. We don't really see that as having made it. We still realize we still have a lot of things to get better at and work on."
Mike Kafka
On getting pulled in the second half:
"Right now I feel great. To get the win, that's the main part of the whole game. The coaches had confidence in both Andrew and me. We're just here to win."
On maintaining offensive success:
"I think Andrew put it well. We need to be more consistent. That takes place in practice too. We need to work a lot harder this week to be consistent and it will follow through in the game."
"We had a couple three and outs. So the coaches decided to put Andrew in to spark it up a bit and he did a great job."
Tyrell Sutton
On the offense:
"We're making strides. We just have to be more consistent and make plays and focus a lot more."
On the differences between the two quarterbacks:
"Mike is a great quarterback like Andrew is a great quarterback and nothing changed. Granted we had a lot more quarterback runs but the energy is phenomenal. They both came in and had successful drives on their first drives. Nothing really changed."
On offensive struggles:
"We have to focus a lot more than what we're doing. We know we have to put up some points. The defense is doing a great job of getting us the ball back and we have to capitalize on it. We just have to be a lot more consistent."
Corey Wootton
On the interception:
"I'm supposed to take two steps up the field and drop into pass coverage in the flat. He threw me the ball and I caught it."
On the turnovers by the defense:
"We just had to step up and make some big plays today. It turned out to be good momentum."
David Ngene
On the defense's aggressiveness:
"The defense was pretty aggressive up front all around today. Everyone was getting good pressure on the quarterback from the inside and outside. A great day all around."
On coming back from knee surgery:
"My knee's feeling great. It's just made a big difference for myself just being able to be out there."
On providing a spark to the defense in his return:
"I guess everybody had it going. It's not just me. We were all working off each other, working together as a team. I guess me being out there didn't really have that much effect because everybody was playing together as a whole."
Deante Battle
On his play today:
"I'm playing opposite of Marquice [Cole] and that's going to put a lot of pressure on me. They're obviously going to throw at me more since we've got a Thorpe Award candidate on the other side of the field. [The defensive line] was getting a lot of pressure up there like on the last play of the fourth quarter when he threw a high ball and the receiver tipped it and it just came right to me."
On making a statement:
"I know the more I make plays the less they're going to throw [at me]. I want them to keep throwing."
On Marquice:
"If anything bad happens he's always the first one to tell me not to worry about it. That's what football is all about. You just have to respond. If something bad happens you just have to come out and play the next play. If something good happens you have to leave that in the past too and come out and play the next play."
Eastern Michigan Coach Jeff Genyk
On return man/wide receiver Trumaine Riley...
We didn't get him the ball enough, really. Obviously, from a punt return perspective, we felt he's always been a good steady guy for us that can make a lot of plays. From a receiving standpoint, we had difficulty with Tyler Jones and Andy Schmitt getting him the ball, so unfortunately he didn't get as many touches as we'd like.
On punter Zach Johnson's performance...
[Zach Johnson] only had one shank last week. Unfortunately, you don't want to come to a press conference to talk about your punter. He had 10 punts and a 42.7 average with a long of 63. We know that he has a big leg and he made a great play on the short snap. Jerry Topolinski had a short snap. He also had nine perfect snaps, but I think his eight one was a little short and he made a great play on that. That was a type of play Zach makes in a very ugly offensive game that can end up putting you in a position to win, and it did. I think that any time you play a Big Ten opponent, to have the ball with one possession and only be down less than eight, that's exactly what it's all about. As bad as we played for 58 minutes, if we'd found a way to take it down the field and take a couple shots, and get a touchdown and a two-point conversion, that's exactly where you want to be.
On Northwestern's quarterback change...
It did appear to be an injury, so their backup came in and did a nice job on the opening drive of the third quarter, got them in the end zone, and then we really held them after that. It was very similar. Both kids are about the same type of player.
On offensive tackle Khalid Walton's injury...
I think Khalid ended up playing in the second half. He has a knee injury that he'll have for his whole career. It resurfaces and he's out for a few plays and comes back. It happened in practice the other day.
On quarterback Tyler Jones...
Tyler I think got a little dinged up and I don't really have a medical prognosis on him at this point.
On defensive tackle Jason Jones...
All I know is that a couple of their coaches came up to me and said, "We could not block #83." It looked like to me that he had four or five tackles for loss, maybe a sack, and 10 tackles, but Jason's a special player, and I thought our defense played very well. Other than the first two drives of each half I thought we played pretty well.
On returning to Northwestern...
It was very emotional. We talked to coach Fitzgerald. I had never been in the visitor's locker room here after 12 years. In conjunction with that, I'd never gone down the ramp with the visiting team, so as I did that yesterday during walkthrough I had a lot of emotions come storming back over a 12-year career here and it was just one of those things where you feel very fortunate to have a team here and play valiantly, but we came up a little bit short.
On the defense...
I thought they did a good job defensively and did just good enough of a job to win. We take our hats off to them. We had our opportunities. We had the ball around the 50 four or five times and I actually went to the offensive staff and said, "If we can just get three or four field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, that might be enough to win." And you know what? It would have been.
On defending the long pass...
We had so much pressure on the front four that it was difficult for their quarterbacks to even think about throwing it deep.
Eastern Michigan player quotes
#83 Jason Jones, defensive tackle
Overall it was a good game for our defense. We played hard. It's what we preach every day in practice. A couple times we just didn't execute, but all in all, we played a good hard game on defense.
On what his play means to the defensive line...
My whole defensive line, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been able to make those plays.
On defending against Northwestern's running quarterbacks...
Same thing we do every week: play hard, play fast, and just go out there and make plays.
#8 Tyler Jones, quarterback
On his injury...
It's getting better every week. It's still kind of tender, but I'm hoping to be ready for next week.
On whether the injury made him hesitant to run...
I need to trust my arm and receivers too. I know I'm a good runner, but we need to get the ball thrown to our receivers more, so I tried to get the receivers in the game.
On splitting time at quarterback...
I'm just going to go with what the coaches say. I trust those guys, and if we need to rotate, I'd do it. That's no question, I believe in my coaches.
