Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript of Coach Fitzgerald's Weekly News Conference
10/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 30, 2007
Northwestern Football Weekly News Conference
Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement . . .
"Well, for the sixth time since 2000, we are moving into November with a lot of football ahead of us here, and a lot of significance to play for, and we're excited for that opportunity. It's going to be a great challenge for us here this week; we are playing a very hungry football team, a team that we had a battle with last year. It's exciting for our seniors. We have two home games remaining and we understand the opportunity that's in front of us; and now it's time to finish the season the right way. Iowa, this week at home, is going to be a great challenge."
Have you been able to figure out why you had the fourth-quarter letdown on Saturday at Purdue?
"As I watched on defense, we had opportunities to get off the field and make some plays, and we did not do that. In the kicking game, we had a play where we were close to blocking a punt, and then we had a return set-up and Eric (Peterman) almost came out of it. On offense, there were a couple of third-down plays that we needed to make to keep drives alive to keep things moving forward. So what am I talking about? We didn't make the plays that winners make in the fourth quarter that we have throughout the course of the year. [Plays] that have made us successful and helped us win five football games. That's what I picked up. Our guys recognize that also. You look back, and the adversity that we faced in the first half of the game, to go in at half time tied 14-all. We kept fighting, kept battling. We just need to finish to give ourselves an opportunity to win games."
On Omar Conteh's fumble . . .
"That ball was punched out. He's going to need to do a better job securing the football. He was coming into contact, was going to secure the football, and he just needs to put two hands on it. One of their defenders punched it out."
On Tyrell Sutton's health during the Purdue game . . .
"Tyrell felt great. There were a couple of plays in there were he looked very strong, very physical. He brings a spark; he brings a lot of excitement to a huddle. Obviously, with him and Omar and Brandon [Roberson], and Stephen Simmons out there a little bit, we've got a good situation at the tailback position right now going into the fourth quarter of our season."
On why his team hasn't put together a complete game yet . . .
"I think it is the little things. When I look at the little details, if it's miss-targeting your blocks, if you should be aiming for the near number and you hit the far number, that guy comes underneath you and makes the tackle. If you're the B-gap player, and we're moving, and you need to tighten up your alignment to get to the A-gap, then you need to get a little tighter. If it's tackling technique, where you're the force player and you need to turn it back inside and we go head up and a guy gets outside of our defense. It's little details like that that I see that we're breaking down in, and when that happens, you put that on your shoulders as a coach. You need to make sure that you put the guys in those situations in practice. You continue to reinforce those behaviors the right way. When you just keep pounding that rock, eventually it breaks, and you put together that consistent game where you look at four quarters, all three phases. I think every team is always searching for that, very few times in the year do you say, `We played as exceptional as we have in all three phases for all four quarters.' You're going to have to overcome adversity in each game you play, and we did that in the first half. We really did that four three quarters, we just did not finish on Saturday."
On how Northwestern matches up against Iowa . . .
"I see two teams that I think mirror each other very well. Both teams have dealt with injuries and adversity early in the season. Both teams have overcome tough losses early in the year, games that we both would like to have back, and both teams are starting to play pretty good football here in the third quarter. [Iowa] has won two out of their last three, we've won three out of our last four. So, if you look at both teams, we've got a lot in common. Both teams play extremely hard. Both teams are very physical, so it's going to be a great challenge for us on Saturday."
On the lack of big plays for NU in the Purdue game . . .
"I thought both defenses played pretty well on Saturday. Watching Purdue and watching our defense, both played well. In the fourth quarter, they made more plays than our defense did at the end of the day. We didn't have any really big plays that changed the game momentum-wise, as an offense. We had a couple of big third-down conversions, and the play at the end of the first half was a big play, but there were ample opportunities in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter to make big plays, and we didn't make any."
On comparing his play to Adam [Kadela's] play . . .
"Adam Crum? (laughter) Adam Kadela has overcome a lot of adversity from early on in his career. He came here, played early, and then had the broken leg and the knee injury. Last year, he dealt with his hamstring from the early part of the season, and got a hip-flexor. Just seemed like he couldn't get over the injury hump a year ago. Went through all the off-season and spring practice in great shape. He's always been strong, he's always been an extremely intelligent player, but now I'm seeing everything come together for him. He's playing at an extremely high level. He's doing a tremendous job at the leadership role, being a captain, and when you put that `C' on your chest, that's what it's all about, you play your best football when you're a captain. He's taken that to heart, and I'm very proud of the way that he is playing. To answer your question, I wish I was the athlete that Adam is, and as strong as he is. I don't want to insult him that way [by comparing Adam to his own play]."
On consistently having a standout linebacker . . .
"Well, for a number of years now, we've had pretty talented linebackers, at least at the collegiate level, that have really stepped up their play. Before I got around here, Steve Ostrowski and Hugh Williams were guys that really taught me a lot about how to play, and then after me, came the Barry Gardner's of the world, and the Napoleon Harris's and the Kevin Bentley's. I could keep going on and on with the players, Billy Silva, Pat Durr, John Pickens. There have been a lot of guys that have been extremely productive for us because they buy in to what we teach. They understand that, playing that position, it's not necessarily about glory, it's about hard work. It's about dedicating yourself to the football team and doing whatever it takes to become a great player. All those guys have had that quality, and Adam is just the next in line. Adam is just as diligent of a student a game as we have. It's a good deal to be a fifth-year senior around here, academically, so he takes advantage of that time that he has to be in the film room. He recruits other guys to come in and watch it with him, voluntarily. He just does a great job in a leadership role, and that's why he's playing at a high level. He's seeing things happen before they happen on the field, and that usually means he's preparing the right way, mentally, through film study."
On what Northwestern has to take away from Iowa to win . . .
"To win Big Ten football games, you must stop the run. You have to stop the run, and when you make a team one-dimensional, when you need to make plays in space and tackle and get good pass rush. Iowa, since I've been back in the league, has run the ball as well as anybody. They got that back (Albert Young) going last week. They've been attempting to run the football all year, and through injury, they have a young offensive line up there, guys that are a couple of first-year starters up front, and now, as the season's going along, and they've played more, you can really start to see that they're not young players any more. They're starting to play at a very high level, very physical, and schematically, this is as well a coached team that we're going to play maybe the whole season, and it's going to be a great challenge. They do what they do, and they do it extremely well, very physical."
On concern about his team not playing their best . . .
"I think that if you ask every coach in the country, very few would say, `All three phases played at the highest level this game.' Each week, there is going to be improvement in one of the three phases. Yeah, there is always concern that you don't put together the perfect game, that's what you're searching for. But football isn't a game of perfect, you need to just continually improve, and we have, we've given ourselves an opportunity to win five football games because we've improved and we've finished, that's why we have five wins on the season. We had something taken away from us that we hold very sacred to our program, and that's that we finish everything that we do, and for us to get that back this week, we're going to have to prepare that way, we're going to have to fight for it, and go out and make it happen in the fourth quarter. We overcame a lot of adversity on Saturday, and to give us an opportunity to win that football game, on the road, I'm proud of our guys. Now we need to go out and finish, and make those plays to win games."
On the play of Drake Dunsmore . . .
"We've had to play a couple of those young tight ends this year, `superbacks' as we call it, through graduation and then through opportunity. Drake's done a nice job. We've gotten Josh Rooks out there for really his opportunities to play, and play him more and more on special teams. Couple that with Mark Woodsum and Brendan Mitchell, so all four of those guys are young players, and really helping our football team. As an offense, their role is significant. They've done a better job each week blocking and they all catch the ball very well."
On who will be kicking off for the Wildcats . . .
"It's going to be Stefan [Demos] or Amado [Villarreal], we'll just kind of make a decision this week as we go along, Both guys are doing things pretty well. I really like the way that Amado is kicking the ball on placements and field goals. I really like the way that Stephen right now is punting the ball. We had a good plan on Saturday, and I thought we executed it extremely well except for one kick, and that gave us an opportunity in the punt game not to have Dorien [Bryant] be a big factor in the game, and we almost got a big play when Sherrick [McManis] went down and covered, and you watch the tape, you watch the games as much as I do, we need to be better in our kickoff teams. One of those is coverage, we had a few new guys out there, I thought we had better coverage on Saturday, and then also, getting kicks where we want them placed is going to be significant, also."
On Stefan Demos' status . . .
"He's been dealing with some injuries throughout the year, but we'll just work through it this week, see where it's at. Also having Justin Pines adds another leg to the mix--he hasn't been out there yet for us. We've got three guys, and all three will get reps for us. Yeah, [Stefan] won't be 100% until the off-season."
On the play of Iowa quarterback Jake Christensen . . .
"Jake and I go way back. He's from Lockport, I'm from Orland Park. We can hit golf balls to each other's back yards if we wanted to, so we're next-door neighbors, so to speak, as far as hometowns. I know his family extremely well, and he's an ultra-competitive young man. He was extremely successful at Lockport, very heavily recruited player, and as he continues to grow, each week he is getting better and better at spreading the ball out throughout his weapons. Iowa does a great job complementing their run game with moving the pocket, throwing the ball down the field off of play action. He's a lot like Drew [Tate], as far as his competitive nature from the past. I've seen in him a player that has improved and improved each week. We recruited him; I think everybody in the Big Ten did. I was recruiting that area that the time, and I loved him, I was recruiting the southside [of Chicago], and I don't know if we ever got to a point where he was ever going to take an official visit. If I remember correctly, I believe he committed early in the summer, so I think he was one of their class's first commits."
On whether C.J. Bacher ever looked rattled during the Purdue game . . .
"No, I saw him take some hits and get up and be extremely competitive. That's going to happen in our offense from time to time, where the quarterback's going to have to invite the rush or hold the ball a little bit longer and take a couple shots. We'd love to keep him clean, and no grass on his jersey, but that's what's going to happen from time to time, I thought he hung in there, battled. There were a couple plays early in the game, first play's tipped, interception. The one throw I think he'd like to have back, the one to Tyrell [Sutton]. The next one, Ross [Lane's] trying to make a play, ball gets tipped up, intercepted. It's a tough play. A lot of times, as I said earlier in the year, tips usually equal picks. We need to do a great job of catching the football; we need to do a great job of protection. I though he kept battling as the game went along, we just got to keep fighting, gives you an opportunity to win."
