Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript from Coach Fitzgerald's Monday News Conference
10/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 20, 2008
2008 Northwestern Football
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Weekly News Conference Transcript
Opening Statement...
"First off, along with the majority of football coaches this weekend, Northwestern will be teaming with the AFCA to battle the fight against muscular dystrophy this weekend. You'll see a number of coaches this weekend, myself included, wearing an armband to heighten awareness and hopefully help the search for a cure. I know we have neighbors back in Orland Park (Ill.) who have a couple young men battling this disease and anything we can to do raise some thoughts and awareness or money will be great.
Recapping last week, another big thank-you to our fans and students for coming out. It's starting to turn into a home-field advantage at Ryan Field. Our students have been tremendous and that kind of buzz on campus is making for a lot of fun for everyone on campus. I was pleased with the play of our offensive line against the most athletic defensive line we've played this year. To go out and have the balance that we did, to keep C.J. relatively clean through the game and run the ball the way we did, I thought the entire offensive line played well. It was great to have Eric Peterman play the way he did, obviously catching a long touchdown and then throwing for another. He woke up Saturday not feeling well and to see how he performed, he played very well under the conditions. On defense, we had great pressure all day, which doesn't necessarily show in the sacks with two for Purdue and two for us. But we had tipped balls and got our hands to impact the passing game, which was important for us, and of course we got five turnovers.
There's a lot of room for improvement on both sides of the ball. First, our communication on offense with the false-start penalties and not playing with the poise that we want -- that will hurt us down the road. Defensively we didn't fit well sometimes in the run game and gave up big plays in the air, which is disappointing because I thought we had a good plan going into the game. For the most part we executed well with the exception of five plays where gave up 185 yards. That's inexcusable but there's things we can do to correct it. In the kicking game I thought we returned to how we played a couple games ago, which was encouraging, but still a lot of improvement. I think we're a block or two away from a big play on punt returns, I thought we punted well but we have to kick better in terms of keeping it in bounds and we need our front-line to play better on kickoff returns.
From an Indiana standpoint, obviously Kellen Lewis is a very dynamic football player and does so much so well, not only throwing the ball but also running it. He's a true dual-threat quarterback. They get Ben (Chappell) involved in a number of ways and I thought he played well on Saturday in his first start in a hostile environment in Champaign. He moved the ball well early but they came up empty. Up front, Rodger Saffold is a guy who has played very well and is very athletic. They have two dynamic players with Marcus Thigpen at tailback and also Ray Fisher at wide receiver. They do a lot from the backfield. It's going to be a great challenge for us. If we continue to focus and do what we do well--which to me is having the right attitude coming into prepare consistently--we have a chance to compete when we get to Bloomington. If we don't it will be a difficult challenge. It's very hard to win on the road in the Big Ten and hopefully we come in tomorrow prepared to get better."
On being ranked in national polls...
"It's out of our control. It's flattering to see we're ranked but again I think it's because I have a couple friends in the profession. What we control is the way we prepare and how we go about our business in that three-hour window on Saturday so that's how I look at it. But I think it shows our program is moving in the right direction, that we have a good mix of young and experienced players, which is encouraging not only now but for the future."
On the injury to Malcolm Arrington...
"So far Malcolm is going to be out and our anticipation is he'll be out for the year but we'll continue to do some more tests and see how it goes. I'm obviously very disappointed for Malcolm. He's had a great start this year and has done a great job, not only making plays on the field but also being very physical in how he goes about his business. He and I talked last night and unfortunately I have some experience dealing with injuries. As frustrating and devastating as it is for him, he can still have a major impact on our defense and team. His responsibility now is to take care of his health and make sure the team has a great attitude. The first guy to step into his role will be Nate Williams. I thought Nate did a great job preparing as a two last week. His number got called early last week and he stepped up. He'll get preparation with our starting defense this week so I'm encouraged by that but also very disappointed for Malcolm. He's played well for us this year and I'll use my experience to help him and also Nate."
On the play of younger players like wide receiver Jeremy Ebert and cornerback Jordan Mabin...
"Jeremy's done a great job at receiver as a true freshman. That's what's most impressive about his play is that he is changing positions as a true freshman. He was a high school quarterback and has come here to play wide receiver and in the kicking game for us. He's handled those expectations very well. Jordan Mabin is a redshirt freshman on the corner and you need to have a short memory out there but the experience he's getting and to see how he's playing is very encouraging. He's gone through a lot. He's had some plays he'd like to have back but he's grown from it, flushed it and moved on. You need to learn from it and then move on. You saw the running back skills he brought with him in the way he returned that interception. One more block and he might have scored but maybe he wanted to give the touchdown to the offense."
On Nate Williams...
"When I recruited him I fell in love with his toughness and his ability to play downhill. He's a very instinctual linebacker and a physical young man. He's from a great high school program in Pittsburgh Central Catholic, which produces so many great players. He's got a great pedigree at linebacker. Since he's been here he's had to battle through some injuries but stayed the course and I go back to his preparation as a two last week and then to go in and play the way he did is very encouraging."
On Indiana's two-quarterback system...
"Until last week both guys had similar identities and then it changed a bit last week against Illinois. If you listen to what's been coming out of Bloomington, they tried to control the time of possession on Saturday and establish a running game against the Illini. Both ran similar formations and plays with similar personnel but we still have to prepare for both guys and the plays they run. It will be a great challenge for our defense this week."
On giving up big plays against Purdue...
"I think we can be a lot better. I thought Marty Long, Randy Bates, Mike Hankwitz and Jerry Brown did a great job coaching them up this morning on the expectations that when you get out there, you're now the starter. We didn't fit right and had some guys not get off blocks on Korey Sheets' long run. Give Purdue credit for executing the play and Korey made a nice run but we're a lot better than that. That's one of those five plays for over 180 yards. If we don't give those up it's a pretty dominant performance by our defense but there's a lot of defenses who say, `Well, if it wasn't for this play or that play we would have been OK.' Vandy (former linebacker coach Ron Vanderlinden) was pretty good at that when I was a player but that's not the way football is, the reality is you find those plays and fix them."
On Quentin Williams (Nate's younger brother)...
"He's doing great. He came to camp with an injury from the Big 33 All-Star game and was a little limited early on. We shut him down for a couple weeks, but now he's just getting stronger and stronger and getting in better shape. He's doing really well. I like to move guys around at linebacker and see where they fit. We started Tim (McGarigle) at outside, same thing with Nick (Roach) and then they gravitated toward the inside. I like to start them at the more difficult position, which is outside."
On Indiana's Marcus Thigpen...
"Marcus can flat-out fly, if he's not the fastest tailback in the Big Ten he's definitely one of them. It's going to be a great challenge. They execute the run-game very well, similar to what we do with Tyrell (Sutton) moving him around, using the screen-game, empty backfields, they have a great package to get him the football and it's going to be a challenge."
On using Tyrell Sutton and Omar Conteh at running back...
"I wouldn't say there is a set pattern but we have two really good tailbacks. Is it going to be 50/50? Probably not. 60/40? 75/25? It all depends on how the game is flowing and where we're going to go with our play calling. Omar and Tyrell have very similar skill sets but they both have strengths we like to play to and I thought both played well on Saturday. Omar's playing really well in the kicking game, too. I think that's what separates him from a lot of backs in the Big Ten; Omar is a fabulous special teams player and I thought he did great on Saturday."
On the use of the screen play in NU's offense...
"It's a big part of the spread, if you run the spread you'll have a screen package for your backs and for your wide receivers. It comes back to game plan. Sometimes we'll run it like we did Saturday and then you might not see it for couple weeks. Sometimes you'll see it on first-down, other times you won't. It depends on our plan and our film study, where we think we'll have an opportunity to exploit what the defense does. We thought last week it might be a good play for us but you have to be careful because when you overuse it, the defensive line and linebackers react to it better so I thought we did a nice job mixing it up a little on Saturday."
On the play of Indiana's defense this year...
"I think you have to look at who they've played because they played some explosive offenses so far and it's been a huge challenge for most teams in the Big Ten to stop those teams. I haven't seen many people slow down Javon Ringer or Shonn Greene very well, and I haven't seen anyone slow down Illinois' offense this year. They've battled each game and they've done all they can, just like we have, against Javon and Shonn. I think it will be a great challenge for our offense. They're very aggressive and they played us well last year. Again it's a lot about us, how we execute, how we take care of the ball and how we manage things in terms of executing our game plan."
On the play of punter Stefan Demos...
"He's punted well, we had two inside the 20 on Saturday and should have had three. That's on us as coaches. We just felt we were in an in-between position there and Purdue had returned some punts from that spot. I think he hit the 8- or 9-yardline and we should execute that play. He did a nice job hitting his targets and we brought Kyle Daley. He's done a nice job in his career and he did a nice job kicking the last extra point and punting that last ball. He's been a two for most of his career but he did a nice job Saturday."
On watching the outcomes of other games in the Big Ten this week...
"We'll be on the bus coming back from Bloomington (when Penn State plays Ohio State) but obviously if the game is on when I get back I'll watch it. I'm a Big Ten fan and a football fan but that's out of our control. Obviously I root for Ron Vanderlinden because he was my position coach as a player so I hope they do well because he's a good friend but at the end of the day we'll watch that game as fans."
