Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript of Coach Fitzgerald's Weekly News Conference
10/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 23, 2007
Northwestern Football Weekly News Conference
Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement . . .
"It's going to be a great opportunity this week, getting back into Big Ten play. Short week last week, and I was really proud of the way our guys came together as the game went along. Tough travel, short week to prepare, very difficult week. I'm also very proud of Garrick McGee and our offensive staff. It was a tough week for Garrick, after losing his father. To be able to bounce back and to really get our guys to perform and to give us an opportunity to win in the fourth quarter, I was really proud of our offensive staff. Defensively, as I look back and watch the tape, there are about five or six plays that we would like to have back, but for the most part, the ability to create four turnovers, get the ball back for our offense really helped us overcome a lack of execution. In the kicking game, when I looked at the plays that we gave up, I thought that, schematically, we need to make a couple changes. We need to be more violent, we need to get off blocks, and we need to make tackles when the opportunity is there to make tackles. I was happy with the job that Amado [Villarreal] did, bouncing back, going 4-for-4 in his opportunities. Now it's a great opportunity for us as we move here in the last game in the third quarter [of the season]. It's going to be a tremendous challenge. We need to play our best football game of the year to give us any opportunity to compete to win, and based on the way we worked out this morning, our guys are prepared and ready to do that. I thought the day off on Saturday helped a lot. I thought our guys looked fresh this morning, and we'll get back to work tomorrow morning."
On who may play on the kickoff team . . .
"We'll look at some personnel changes, but that play is pretty simple. It's a 70-yard sprint and a full-speed collision. If you're not willing to run 70 yards and run through people, around people, under people, over people, then you don't belong on that team. I don't care if you're a starter or if that is your only role, that's what that play is. We need to get a better attitude on that play."
On poor starting field position . . .
"I'm really proud of our defense, they had a short field, Eastern Michigan did, against us, and to be able to only hold them to the points that we did, and make big plays when we needed them to was critical, and gave us an opportunity to win the football game. The kickoff play and the punt play are the first plays of a defensive series, and you need to be able to go out there and execute, number one, and then number two, go out and make plays. For the most part, I've liked the way that our punt team treaded in the last month, now we need to get our kick off team there."
On Kim Thompson's progression over the season . . .
"This has been the healthiest he's been in the last couple years. He's battled through a lot of adversity, especially the last two years, and just to keep improving and getting better, Kim's playing the best football of his career right now. He's got big-play potential, as we saw on Friday night, he had arguably his career best game, and it was great to see that happen for him at home, in his hometown of Detroit. Just to watch the way that he goes about his business every day, very serious, understands that, he really maybe has only four games left, and then whatever happens after that happens. He's playing with a great sense of urgency, making big plays for us, and then being very unselfish. Blocking very well, being very aggressive and he is also involved in special teams for us."
On Northwestern's defense . . .
"I thought that we made the quarterback move quite a bit. I thought that we had good pressure on Friday night. Our leverage, and our breakdown in leverage, gave him an opportunity to escape a few times that we need to correct, and we're going to need to do that fast. Purdue is as good as anyone in the country at not only changing up there protections but also getting rid of the ball quick, getting the ball out to their weapons. When you watch them spread the ball around, it's a very big challenge for us. Curtis [Painter] does as good a job as anybody in the country spreading the ball out, getting rid of the ball on time, handles pressure well, so it's going to be a great challenge for our defense."
On Purdue's offense preparing for Northwestern's defense . . .
"I think that the gun spread teams all have solutions for pressure. Purdue's may be different than Eastern Michigan, and different than Minnesota's, and different than Michigan State's. You just need to go out, and when you break down your film, you need to make sure that you're sound and you're gap sound when you rush, take advantage of what you do, and then go out and execute it. We had pretty good pressure. We ended up having three sacks on Saturday and hit the quarterback a bunch of other times. Two of the big, long runs, we had the quarterback and didn't finish the play. We could have easily had six or seven sacks, and we're going to need to get that kind of pressure this week because Purdue throws the ball extremely well."
On the effect the crowd size has on a game . . .
"When you play college football, it doesn't matter if you play in front of one or 100,000, you need to be able to create your own momentum, and create your own emotion and passion, and for the most part we did that on Friday. It does make it more difficult, when the atmosphere is less than what you're used to playing in. It's a challenge, there's no question. I thought our sideline was good, our guys went out and played with emotion and passion, but there was an opportunity there for a letdown, there is no question about that, and I didn't feel that."
On whether the offense underperformed in the previous game . . .
"I don't think we executed. We had as many drops, as many penalties, as we've had in the last month, and that set us behind the chains, especially early. Our big plays were there. You amass over 500 yards of offense and where I come from, that's pretty good. We obviously have to finish some drives, the fumble, the two turnovers, really cost us points on our end, and cost us points giving up, we didn't get off the field as a defense. We need to improve there, as far as making sure we care of the ball, and not inflicting wounds on ourselves, but I thought we moved the ball pretty well."
On what has been different between wins and losses . . .
"The little things. To be able to have the focus and the discipline to pay attention to those little details is typically what ends up having a break down. For instance, jumping offside, holding call where maybe your hand was outside the framework, and you get a call there. A drop where you start to run with the ball before you catch it. Things of that nature, where the target of the throw, instead of being on the front shoulder, was on the back shoulder. Little details that make a huge difference in the game, and when we've put up big points, we've executed the little points. When we didn't like we did on Friday night, that's what it looks like to me."
On Tyrell Sutton's limited action in the previous game . . .
"He only practiced for four days last week, and we didn't want to put expectations on him or put him at risk. Not necessarily for his foot, his ankle is fine, it was more for other injuries, he just hadn't been out there enough. To go through the emotion of getting ready to play, the pregame warmup, and then going through and having a role in the game was really important for him mentally. He handled it very well, and he'll be ready to go this week."
On how the late fall weather may affect the offensive play calling . . .
"I believe we are going to need to be balanced. Our quick game, our bubble screens, our throws that are maybe boots that are less than five yards, and our quick game, those are all runs. It might not show up as a run stat, at the end on the play-by-play, but I thought that we've had very good balance the last month on offense. You're going to need to be able to do that to win football games in this league. We spread people out. We're trying to run the football as much as we possibly can. We've been extremely successful doing that here and we're going to continue to do that in order to give ourselves an opportunity to win."
On the number of different receivers that NU uses . . .
"Kevin Johns and Garrick McGee do a great job of getting fresh players in the game. Obviously, we rotate a lot of guys through. We've got talent at that position, we've got great competition, and when guys compete every day in practice, we are going to reward them with playing time on Fridays and Saturdays. To see Kevin Frymire get his first catch of his career, Kevin Mitchell's been playing more and more; Carl Fisher's also been out there. Those guys might not show up, as far as eight, nine, ten receptions, but they're all also playing on special teams quite a bit, and that's helping us from a depth standpoint."
On whether you plan to start Tyrell this week . . .
"You don't lose your job because of injury. You lose your job if you come back and you're not giving the team the same thing you gave them before you got hurt. We'll see where he's at as the week goes along, but we've got a great situation there. We've got great depth, adding Tyrell back into the mix with Omar [Conteh] and Brandon [Roberson], and you've seen us get Stephen [Simmons] back in different roles also, so we've got four guys that are going to play a lot of football for us. The exact amount, who starts, all that, we're just going to go out and try to give ourselves an opportunity to win."
On whether Tyrell is ready for action . . .
"We hit him last week in practice quite a bit. I was happy with the plan that we had. I thought we executed it well. We were maybe going to get him out there for a few more reps, but it ended up working out in the end."
On who would start if he had to name the starter right now . . .
"Not me. I know that for sure. We're going to go through the week, but as we move forward, I would fully anticipate seeing Tyrell and Omar play quite a bit. If we play 100 plays, Tyrell is not at a conditioning level to go 100 plays, so you're going to see them both play quite a bit."
On who the most valuable receiver on the team is . . .
"I'd say the entire receiving corps. Our strength is the whole unit. When I watch all those guys play, because we rotate so many guy through, guys play multiple positions. They're doing a great job throughout the week in film study, to be able to prepare and game plan study, to be able to play multiple positions, I've been extremely pleased with the play. What you don't see in the stat sheet is the effort they're playing with on the perimeter in the run game, and also how they play on special teams. I'm very pleased with the way that group has played throughout the season, and I don't think they felt like they played their best game on Friday night, and they'll be ready to play come Saturday."
On how Purdue's offense has served as a model for NU's offense . . .
"Well, when you look back at the history of the spread offense, I think Purdue was maybe in four wide [receiver set] before a lot of people were in college football. Each offensive coordinator, in the spread, has his own unique way of doing things. Garrick's different than Mike Dunbar, you keep going on and on with names, he was different than Kevin Wilson here. I think everybody's a little bit unique and a little bit different, but I think philosophically, everybody's the same. They're going to make you spread the field, and you're going to try, as an offense, to dictate to the defense exactly how you're going to play, and that's what we try to do. Is it maybe the exact way that Purdue does it? Like I said, I think that each offense evolves in their own way."
On the effect that Purdue's crossing routes will have on NU's linebackers. . .
"It depends on the coverage scheme. If you're in zone [coverage], you need to have great discipline in your drops, settle when the quarterback settles, and break on the throw. If you're in man [coverage], and you're going to have some people that are going to help across the field, you're going to have to have great pre-snap communication. If you're going to pressure, you're going to have to lock people down and run with them and make plays and get your hands up, because usually it is a low throw, so it really just depends on the coverage concept."
On how to contain Dorien Bryant . . .
"If you kick away from him in the kickoff game, you're going to kick it to Desmond [Tardy], who took one to the house against Minnesota. If you punt the ball away from him, are you maybe doing something that is going to sacrifice your punting, and are you going to go ahead and shank one? So I think you need to focus on yourself, focus on your coverage, and what they do from a kick return standpoint, make sure that you're sound, that you're fit properly, and that you run 70 yards and have a full speed collision at the end of the play. A couple of years ago when we went down there, he had a big kick return that really turned the game back around for them, and put momentum back on their sideline, so we are going to have to play well on that play to give ourselves an opportunity to win."
On Northwestern's bowl game status . . .
"We're worried about playing Purdue. More importantly, we're worried about ourselves. When you look at our football team, we have not put together a great game yet. We need to come out and play consistent, 60 minutes of our style of football to give ourselves an opportunity to win against a very good football game. With the short week, I was able to get going last week on Purdue, and I didn't sleep very well this weekend, so I'm just chomping at the bit to get to practice tomorrow. It's going to be a great challenge for our football team, a very tough place to play."
On whether he would be excited to make it to a bowl game . . .
"I like playing in December and January. But we're not there yet; we're still in October. We're a long way from there."
On whether a team can change habits this late in a season . . .
"You can change habits every time you get out on the practice field, absolutely. And, more importantly, you can change your mental approach very easily. There's that whole theory out there that it takes seven days to create a habit and 21 days to break it. Sure you can."
On Ross Lane . . .
"Ross is having a great season. All he does is run good routes. He does a great job catching the football. He's been as physical as he's been in his entire career, and as I watch him continue to grow as a receiver, I get excited about his future. He's got a lot of receptions this year, a lot of touchdowns, and I like the way that he's developing as a total receiver."
On Eric Peterman . . .
"Going two years in a row in wide receiver is, to me, the reason Eric is playing so well. Two springs ago, he had that time over at corner, and I thought that last year it took him four or five games to get back going as receiver. Now, with two full years at receiver, Eric is a guy that's made a lot of big plays for us this year, very unselfish, he blocks very physically on the perimeter. He's one of our best special team players. Eric is just a gamer. When you look up the definition of a football player, Eric Peterman's picture is right next to it."
On Fitzgerald's personal history at Ross-Ade Stadium . . .
"That's a good question. I know we won in '95. I know we won the last time we were there. I guess that would be my recollection. The other ones I've either erased from my memory or I don't recall because I got concussed and knocked out."
On the possibility of having a four-game winning streak for the first time since Fitzgerald played . . .
"It would mean that we won the last game of the third quarter of our season. That's what it would mean. That doesn't mean anything. You have to go out each week and do the things that winners do. You need to mentally and physically prepare throughout the course of the week. You need to go into the game with the focus and discipline to go out and execute the plan and to play physical, and to make the plays that winners make. When we've done that, we've won football games this year. When we have not, we've given ourselves a very, very difficult challenge. We played that way a little bit on Friday night, gave ourselves a difficult challenge, against a team that I thought has really improved, but we put a lot of that on ourselves, and our guys understand that."
On whether Northwestern is its own worst enemy . . .
"For the first time all year I had the opportunity to watch some college football on Saturday, and I think that's college football today. There are going to be about five or six plays in each game that are going to make a difference, and if you go out and execute on those five or six plays, which none us know when they are going to happen, but those five or six plays are difference making plays, usually you win. As I was talking to our seniors about an hour ago, I said, `How many of you guys watched games on Saturday?' and they all raised their hands. I said, `Did you guys all know when the team had lost the game?' and they all looked at me and said, `Yeah.' I said, `How many of the games did you know that a team had lost a game in the second quarter?' and a lot of them raised their hands. There are plays that were happening during the course of the game that you go, `There's one of them, there's another one, there's a third play, there's a fourth.' It's just easy to see, when you're watching a game, when you make those plays, you give yourself an opportunity to win. What I'm so proud about our football team is that when the games have gone that way, when we get to the fourth quarter, we don't flinch. We keep on fighting, and we keep on giving ourselves an opportunity to win games. From what I saw on Saturday, that seems to be what's happening throughout the country. Games are going down to the wire; teams are making plays in the fourth quarter and winning. But you need to put yourself in position to be there in a game in the fourth quarter, and when we have, we've won."
On Sherrick McManis and Stephen Simmons as kick returners...
"Yes, both of those guys are weapons. They both have the potential to run the ball a long way as a kick returner. I like having them both back there. Both guys, one way or another, have gotten a little dinged up over the course of the year. I'm always going to be smart with when we put our guys back there, but both guys are as healthy as they've been all year. It's going to be a great challenge with Purdue's kickoff team. They can push it left, push it right, kick it deep and they've got a very talented kicker. We're going to be prepared for that and make sure our number one goal is accomplished and that's 100% ball security."
On Rasheed Ward's status and punt returners...
"He is, but not anything that's going to hinder him from there. I like what Eric [Peterman]'s done and then last week with the rugby punt, I wanted to go with two punt returners. We didn't execute very well on the third punt return, but I wanted to make sure we caught all catch-able balls and I didn't think we did that on Friday night. Right now, we're going to stick with Eric [Peterman] and Ross [Lane] back there."
