Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript of Coach Fitzgerald's Weekly News Conference
9/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 18, 2007
Northwestern Football Weekly News Conference
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening statement...
"It's time for Big Ten football. As we move into week four, there's a lot of room for improvement with our football team, especially starting with me and trickling all the way through our program. There are things we're doing quite well on offense, we're playing well on defense, especially in the second half. We need to continue this now this week. In the kicking game, we've executed our game plans to a point where I feel comfortable going into Big Ten play where we've got starters identified and we've got some guys that started the year with their first experiences and are now settling into their roles. I'm looking forward to starting Big Ten football. When we go out and recruit student-athletes, the big draw to come to Northwestern is not only to get a world-class education, but to play Big Ten football as well. What greater challenge than to play a team that is in the top-10, is the defending Big Ten champion and played for the national championship. It'll be a tremendous challenge for us and our football program to go out on the road and execute to give ourselves a chance."
On the season recap...
"As I look at the offense, I've been really pleased at the way C.J. (Bachèr) has made plays. Our offensive line has given him ample time to make plays and our staff has done a good job coming into games with good game plans and adjusting well. Our wide receivers have caught the ball very well and obviously with Tyrell (Sutton) being hurt last week, I'm pleased with the depth at the running back position. We've been playing some young guys at superback with Brendan Mitchell being dinged up last week and having a minimal role in the game plan. To see a couple of freshmen go out there and make some plays with Josh Rooks and Drake Dunsmore is exciting. And Mark Woodsum played one of his better games last week, I've been pleased. Now we just need to finish drives. We had plenty of opportunities Saturday to finish drives and we need to go out there and do that. As far as third downs, we need to be more efficient. On defense, I like that we've given up seven points in the second half in three weeks, so I like the way we've adjusted and made some things happen. Now we need to do that in the first half. We need to come out and make plays on third down and get off the field. We need to go out there and get some more pressure on the quarterback not only with our front four, but also when we bring pressure. I think we brought pressure about 27 out of 50 plays on Saturday and we need to have more success there. Also, we need to continue to get turnovers. I think there's a lot of room for improvement there, but our guys are responding in the second half and giving us a chance to win football games and when we do that for four quarters, we're going to win a lot of football games. The kicking game on a few occasions on Saturday we were one play away from making a big play. We have some game breakers in our return game and we need to get some of those things cleaned up and that starts with the coaches. I've been happy with the way Amado (Villarreal) has done handling placements and I think Stefan (Demos) has handled the kickoffs well and has done a nice job punting."
On starting faster and playing better defense earlier...
"I don't think we've gone out there and made the plays that are there for us to make. As I look at the Nevada game and Duke game, I give credit to our opponents. They've made some plays. I think we're in position, we just need to have the confidence to cut it loose and make it happen. As I watched the game unfold Saturday, we're there, we just need to make it happen. When that happens, it seems like good plays happen in bunches and we've been doing that in the second half, we just need to carry it over to the first half. We're going to change some things up in practice this week and make us go into a team mode a little bit earlier and hopefully that'll jump-start us. Obviously though, that becomes irrelevant because what counts is what happens on game day and we focus on it in practice and our guys will focus on it in the game."
On getting off to a good start on offense...
"If you look at our offense, minus the interception we had against Duke on our second play, our offense has gone down the field well on opening drives the first few weeks. But as the game goes along, our offense has stalled and had a few more three-and-outs. Just to continue with the game plan and continue adjusting and getting the first first down to keep drives alive. We stress third down situations in practice every week and we will do more of that. Same thing on defense. We need to get off the field. The more three-and-outs, the better. We'll do a better job of putting our guys in position to make plays and when they're there, they'll make them."
On the defense against Duke's running game...
"I thought our defensive line played well in the run game on Saturday. We stuffed the run and only gave up one run of over 10 yards and it wasn't a scheme issue. I thought we played well and hit the quarterback hard. We just need to make up the extra half step. We did that well at the end of the Nevada game, but not against Duke. We had guys unblocked that didn't make plays there and we need to continue to put pressure on the quarterback in situations where we feel we have the situation to do so."
On protection...
"When you throw the ball the way we do, it'll lead to some hits. C.J. does a nice job of stepping up in the pocket and avoiding hits. I think he really sees the field well. I've been very impressed by him. He's going to give our wide receivers a chance to make plays and for the most part, I feel our protection has been quite well. We've done a good job there and I like the attitude our offensive line has been playing with. We face a great challenge now against Ohio State. They're very aggressive on defense. It's a team that's up-tempo and we need to do some things schematically that gives us a chance to throw the football."
On taking the field goal off the board in the second quarter...
"I've been very critical of myself. If I had to do it all over again, I would've kept the points in the first half. That's on me and I take full responsibility for that. Just the way that the game was going, I felt like we needed a momentum boost there. They were having some success against us and if I had to do it all over again, it would have a different impact. I need to do a great job of making sure we come out of the gate ready to play, and the past two weeks, we haven't done that and that's on me as a coach. We'll get ready to go this week though. It'll be a great environment and our guys will be ready to go."
On making adjustments at halftime, and can they be made earlier...
"As I watch film of Duke and Nevada, I thought we settled down at the half. Our coaching staff is doing a nice job at the half. We're just having a bit more success in the second half and I think the talk on the headphones and communication on the sideline is going well. We just need to be more clear and concise and get our guys in a position to be successful."
On the Tyrell Sutton's impact...
"Tyrell's a great football player. I think anytime you've got a great football player that doesn't play, it's a difference maker, but he wasn't ready to play. We worked through the week with rehab and when we got to Thursday, he was somewhere about the 70th percentile with his health, and nowhere ready to play. At that point, we made a decision to not play him in the game. It was the right decision. He woke up Saturday and didn't feel well, so it was the right decision Thursday and it was solidified on Saturday."
On Tyrell Sutton's status for Saturday...
"I feel pretty confident that he's going to play. I'll know a lot more after tomorrow's (Tuesday) practice. He probably won't do as much Tuesday if he was 100 percent healthy, but I'll know a lot more then."
On the status of Eddie Simpson...
"We're going to re-evaluate him (Eddie Simpson). He felt a lot better as the week went along last week. He went from being in a boot and crutches to walking around on Thursday. He felt better on Saturday and we'll re-evaluate him and hopefully he'll be ready to go."
On the linebacking corps...
"In the run game, I thought our linebackers played pretty well. It was probably our most aggressive game. In the passing game, we need to do a little bit of a better job with open-field tackling. We jumped some routes that is really not typical for our players. Our linebackers are normally very disciplined and we did a few things that were out of our character on Saturday, especially early on. As they settled down, we started to make some plays."
On trying to come up with more turnovers...
"The ball was out a couple times on Saturday. We did not recover them. I think they called the guy down on one play, we tipped another one they caught, we had a chance on a third down play that was a 50-50 play, so we're right there. We just need to make it happen. We need to just keep pounding the rock and eventually, it'll break. Eventually those things will come and they'll come in bunches. Our guys are constantly thinking about it and talking about it on the sidelines. We're doing everything we can to practice it. It's an attitude and as long as you have the attitude, turnovers will come."
On how to create turnovers...
"If you're aggressive and go for the football when you're the second or third guy in the pile when you've got the tackle secured, go for the ball and get your hands up in the passing game. Good things happen when the ball gets tipped. Like I said, it's an attitude and when they happen, they happen in bunches. It's the same thing with sacks. We just need to keep being aggressive and go after it and they'll start coming."
How do you get a team back after suffering a frustrating loss...
"You've got to look at it as one game, just as we look at this week as just one game. The great thing about our conference is that everything starts over once you start Big Ten play. They start a second group of stats, to win the Big Ten Championship, you need to win one game at a time and every game is a championship-level football game. We lost a win that we had an opportunity to win on Saturday and our expectation is to go 1-0 every week and we did not do that as a football program. We just need to get back to work, focus on the details that we missed on Saturday and then find a way to finish the game and win. Me making a good decision to put points on the board, making good decisions to get off the field on third down and just going out and playing our style of football for four quarters to give ourselves a chance to win every game. It's going to be a tough environment and a great challenge this week, but if we can take care of ourselves, we'll give ourselves an opportunity to win."
How hard is it getting over a loss like this?
"What you have to do when you go through tough times and adversity is let it go. Its not a bad series, a bad quarter, a bad half or a bad game. You need to let it go and learn from it, grow from it, but when you get back and get out to practice, it's time to go play. It's the 24-hour rule. The game is over after 24 hours. You're miserable, you're very critical and look yourself in the mirror, get upset, get mad and come out fighting and that's exactly what we'll do. We'll be ready to play Saturday."
How can you explain all the penalties from Saturday?
"We've just got to play smart football. We've got to avoid self-inflicted wounds and play smart Northwestern football. For a majority of the games that I've been the head football coach, we've done that. We played a little out of character on Saturday and did some things that we cannot do to win a tight football game. At the end of the day if we play smarter football, maybe we finish some drives and get off the field on third down and not line up in the neutral zone. There's a lot of opportunities out there for us and that's on my. I take great pride in the discipline of the way we go about our business and we didn't that and that's my responsibility. If we play within the framework of the way that we design our offense, defense and kicking game, things like that don't happen. I don't get upset on penalties of aggression, but we've got to avoid self-inflicted wounds, especially in a close game to give ourselves a chance to win."
On the trick plays from Saturday...
"We were just trying to make a momentum play and change the tempo. It was just a lack of focus. We were just trying to do some things schematically that we've practiced since the spring. We bring a few things into each game plan, if it's there, we'll try and take advantage of them and sometimes try and catch a defense off-guard. We try and take advantage of something we have as far as scheme and go out there and try and make a play."
On using trick plays in the future...
"We've got momentum plays like every team. Sometimes you need to go out there and create momentum and make it happen. I thought they were great calls and the offense just didn't get set. We had practiced it last week, but we just need to be a little more patient. We've got plenty of wrinkles and a couple things up our sleeve and it just needs to be the right time to take advantage of it. "
On the distractions of travel...
"When you go on the road, you've got 70 people in your traveling party, along with coaches and staff, and you just need to focus on yourself. It's not a different tune I'm singing this week as I did against Northeastern. You focus on yourself and take care of your business. You aren't going to be able drown out the atmosphere but you've got to just remove emotion from it and take it one play at a time. When you get to halftime, you need to be in the football game and make adjustments. Then come out in the third quarter and be ready to respond and be in the game in the fourth quarter and before you know it, you're in a position to win the football game. Play for four quarters and do whatever it takes. It's tough to win Big Ten road games no matter where it is. We learned a good lesson last year at Iowa and played in a tough environment and we went out and executed and we're going to need to do that to be able to go out there and beat an outstanding Ohio State football team."
On the changes to Ohio Stadium since you were a player?...
"A lot has changed. They used to have a track around the field. The Horseshoe had bleachers in the end zone, it was truly the Horseshoe. I think we actually had to dress underneath the crowd and now they have new locker rooms, so a lot has changed. But this is Big Ten football; you've got passionate fans anywhere you go. That's what's great about Big Ten football. It's the best in the country. This is the start of the second quarter of the season. We're 2-1 and obviously, we'd like to have some momentum going into this week, but we've learned a lot in the first three weeks and now it's time to go out and be consistent and give ourselves a chance to win a game on the road. We're not in a very good mood right now, but the sun has come up and it's time get ready to play."
On James Laurinaitis...
"I love the way James (Laurinaitis) plays. When you look at a linebacker, you look for a guy that's got athleticism, and a guy that can understand the football game. He's instinctual, physical and shows up for the game in a bad mood. He plays well within their scheme; he's not a freelance linebacker. He does exactly what he's coached to do. You can tell he's a leader, he plays with a lot of passion and reminds me of some of the guys we've had here. He's just a really athletic linebacker and is the heart and soul of that defense. He is very active on their football team."
On Adam Kadela's play...
"I think if you were to ask Adam how he'd evaluate the first few weeks of the season, he'd say he played very well but would like to have a few plays back from the first half of Saturday's game (vs. Duke), but he played well in the second quarter and throughout the game. He's been a little bit more physical than he did last year, he's been a bit banged up throughout most of the year last year and I like where he is from a leadership standpoint. He's not very happy with how our defense has played and it's the sign of a good leader. We haven't been very consistent at times in the first half and he has really tried to stoke the passion and the fire of our defense in the first half."
On holding plays back...
"We worry about each week one week at a time. First week, we were fortunate enough not to have to run some things we had. Against Nevada, we called just about everything we had in the call sheet on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game. Same thing last week. We're playing to win and not holding anything back. Every game is critical, especially in the Big Ten. There's no championship game, so to put yourself in a championship hunt, you need to win each game and take it one game at a time, so we're putting ourselves in a position to win."
On NU and OSU's play this season...
"Watching both teams on tape, I've seen both teams improve in a lot of areas. They're obviously very well coached. Jim Tressel has done a great job there and he has kept his staff pretty much in tact there. They play very consistent football for the most part and you need to go in there and give yourself a chance to be in the game in the fourth quarter and give yourselves a chance to make it happen. We're not going to go in there doing anything different. We just need to go in there and play at a high level and play 11-on-11 football."
On last year's game against OSU...
"You watch last year's game and I give them the credit. We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, primarily in the first quarter that I thought squashed any momentum that we may have had. We cannot do that. We have to start fast, make plays early and when we do that, get to halftime and make the adjustments and hopefully go out there and win a football game."
On Ohio State's recent success...
"Ohio State's pretty consistent at what they do since I've been back in the league. They're a very aggressive football team, very talented football team and we're going to go in there and worry about ourselves and play well and start fast. We just need to trust ourselves, make some plays early, finish drives, get our defense off the field and be efficient in our kicking game and make some plays."
On what needs to improve in the first halves...
"When I watch us, I can't say `it's that,' `it's this' -- it's the little details right now that are causing our problems. When we come out in the second half, it looks like the defense that we should be and aspire to be. We need to stick together and play the way we have in the second half and get off the field."
