Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 22, 2008
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NORTHWESTERN QUOTES
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement...
"I'm very proud of the 23 young men who have battled through as much adversity as young men can go through throughout their collegiate years, and they've stayed together. They've fought, they've battled and now to finish with a win on Senior Day against their in-state rivals for the last opportunity to play for the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk Trophy. I couldn't be more proud of those young men, and it'll be a sad day for me to see them leave our locker room, but the good news is that we have at least a little over a month to stay together and prepare for one more opportunity. Looking at the game I thought we had as good of a week of preparation going into the game as we had all year. We stayed the course well early, they did a nice job upfront, our O-line stuck together and I thought we moved the ball pretty well."
On playing a complete game aside from third quarter...
"I thought we played alright in the third quarter, I thought we played well the entire game as a team. I thought we played well on offense, defense and the kicking game. We punted the ball well, forced them to have a long field and obviously the big punt return was key."
On keeping Juice out of end zone...
"Kevin Mims as a senior stepped up big with a huge sack there to cause a fumble, and I said it on Monday, he's playing the best football of his career because he does what he's coached to do when he's supposed to do it. I couldn't be happier for Kevin; he's battled through injuries, just like a lot of our young men have gone through some adversity. He's stayed the course and is playing his best football at the end of his career."
On offensive strategy...
"We usually take what the defense gives us, and I think we took them head on. A great football game was played out there today, and a great special teams play turned the game around when it could've gone either way. C.J played an outstanding football game, he probably would like to have one throw back, but outside of that I thought he played very well."
About adversity he has gone through...
"I look at it a different way, I look at it that I have a lot to be thankful for. The opportunity I was given to attend Northwestern University as a student-athlete, to be surrounded by the young men, coaches, students and the faculty here presented me an opportunity to get better. And then the opportunity to come back when Coach Walker offered me the opportunity to come back as an assistant coach at my alma mater, and now to the most difficult circumstance I've been through in my life to be put into this role, I couldn't be more proud to be a Wildcat."
On C.J' s play...
"It looked like we had pretty good protection for most of the day, and that allowed him to spread the ball out to all of out weapons. We kind of had a gameplan going in, if we're able to throw on time, we wanted to go with a pitch and catch mentality."
On play of offensive line...
"Those guys get no credit, and they like it that way. That's a young group, with a veteran in there, Keegan Kennedy, but he's only played 12 games of offensive line, so he's just as young as Al Netter, Ben Burkett, Doug Bartels. The way that Kurt Mattes has stepped up, and Joel Belding as a senior, those seven guys have really come together."
On being in position for 10th win....
"With nine wins, we put ourselves in the position for 10, and there's only one team in Northwestern history, that was the team I played on in 1995, that's won 10 games. The difference is that 10-win team didn't get the bowl win, and we have a tremendous opportunity in front of us, and that will be our focus. Our goal will be to win."
On winning turnover battle...
"It's critical that you take care of the football, especially in this league because the teams are so evenly matched. It's amazing how turnovers, or other little details can have such an impact on whether you win or lose the game."
On the Sweet Sioux...
"In 1945 the first Sweet Sioux was played for, and the Northwestern Wildcats won that game 13-7 and for the last one to end up the way it did means something very significant to our football program. For all those who have played in between on both sides, it has been a rivalry that is with utmost respect by two universities, and now to have it here permanently I think will represent the young men who have played on both sides and the coaches."
Safety Brendan Smith
On his punt return...
"We had a wall return on and the guys went for the block and did their job. They executed, I couldn't ask for any more than that. They gave me a seam, and I tried to take advantage of it. I was looking to cut back; I just wanted to set up one more block to see what we could do. But I'm not greedy. It set up a touchdown, that's all that matters to me."
On his team's adjustments going into the second half...
"Going into halftime, we said, "It's 0-0. We have to go back out there and shut the door. Don't let them get any momentum; they're a powerful offense. If you let them gain momentum, it's scary what they can do. They put up 10 points, but we hung in there and shut the door."
On the play of the defense...
"The preparation behind the scenes, when you guys don't see us, it pays off. Especially for the defense; everyone has put in the time and work necessary for us to be successful and it's showing. Hopefully we can keep it up and go 1-0 the next time we play."
Defensive Tackle Kevin Mims
On playing his last game at Ryan Field...
"You know, I knew before the game there would be a little emotion. Seeing my parents out on the field right before we went out was a little emotional. We're a pretty mature football team, so we were able to keep the emotions in check, come out and play the game we needed to play."
On the pressure he and his teammates put on Illinois...
"For maybe the second or third time this year, they moved me inside the tackle for the pass rush situations. Having Quentin Davie on the outside next to me was really helpful. But we just keep playing; we've come really close a lot of times this year and finally we just got home."
Wide Receiver Ross Lane
On his touchdown reception...
"That's something that doesn't happen very often. C.J. is always told never to throw the ball like that. It was a fun play for sure because it doesn't happen very often; it was a touchdown and it got a little momentum going."
On getting a touchdown as a senior in his last game...
"Whatever I can do to help us win. I just wanted to win. That's how it's been all season for me, and for all the seniors I'm sure. I just wanted to win, and we won, so I'm just glad to help."
Quarterback C.J. Bacher
On what it means for his team to be 9-3...
"9-3 has a pretty good ring to it. We set out to win a bowl game, from the beginning of the year that was our main goal. We've been able to put ourselves into a position now to get to a warm place, maybe play in a later game, so it feels great."
On the effectiveness of the offense and Eric Peterman's great day...
"It definitely felt good out there. We were definitely keeping Illinois on their toes and running a bunch of different stuff. When you have a new offensive coordinator, it takes a little bit of time to adjust the new offense, but I think we're definitely getting real comfortable with each other. Coach McCall called a great game, the O-line played great, and it just made it easy for Eric (Peterman) and I."
On the play of the offensive line...
"They did a great job today. No quarterback wants to play with pressure in their face. It's been a reoccurring theme in all our wins this season: our O-line has been playing great. In all of our wins this season our O-line has played great, and in my mind that's the reason why we have nine wins."
Wide Receiver Eric Peterman
On the leadership of the team...
"The leadership of the seniors has been great. We've really taken to our values that you see over there on the board. The thing that this program is built on is those values, and we have to stick to it. As a senior class, we've enforced our will, if you want to put it that way, on the team and made sure that we were doing the right things week in and week out to go 1-0 each week. We wanted to make sure we were doing our best to make sure we were headed in the right direction each week."
On how last season's end affected their play this year...
"I think it just pushed the envelope a little bit. It gave us a sense of urgency that we just need to finish everything we do. It's something we talk about all the time, and it's something we didn't do last year. No matter what it is, whether it be at practice, in the film room, in the class room: no matter where it is, that's what we teach here at this program. That's what Coach Fitz wants, is to finish. That's something we've made a point to do this year."
ILLINOIS QUOTES
Head Coach Ron Zook
Opening statement...
"First of all, you give Northwestern credit. They came out and played a great game today. They had a great year. They did a great job. The situation's basically just reversed from last year for the two teams. I thank the seniors. I thank all that they've done. I feel bad that we didn't get it done. As I told them, 'Blame the coaches, blame me.' That's our job to get these guys to play the way they're capable of playing and we didn't do it. I'm not going to go back on what I said before. This is a good football team, but for whatever reason we're not playing the way we should be playing. That's our job as a coaching staff and mine as the head coach to get that fixed. We'll do it. There's no doubt in my mind. It's a great football team coming back. We'll get back to work. We always seem to, for some reason or another, play better from behind. In the second half, we talked at halftime and they had a good look in their eye. I thought that if we could get close in the second half, that we'd have a chance. Obviously the punt return is the thing that took the wind out of our sails and that's something you just can't have."
On what the missing element from the program was this season...
"I wish I knew the answer to that question. I really do. There's no question there's something that's been missing. We worked hard. They gave effort. They did everything that we asked them to do. I think part of it is that we had an awful lot of young guys. There are two classes, the freshman and sophomore classes, that haven't been through the tough times. What you need to do is you have to go through hard times to understand how hard this game is to get where you want to get to. That's something that we'll continue to improve on. People are going to say the program slipped back. It didn't slip back. I promise you this program's still running full steam ahead. Now is when we're going to find out what we're made of. This is a good group of guys coming back. I wish I knew what the difference is. They're good kids. They worked hard. Schematically we're doing basically the same things. We tried to do things that gave them the chance to be successful and for whatever reason they weren't."
On the lack of offensive success against Northwestern...
"Number one, their defense has really done a great job. Their front four has impressed me. I've said it all week that they've impressed me. They play with great intensity, great enthusiasm. They're the same group that we played against last year. What's the difference between their attitude and our attitude? I think that's what losing does to you. That's what we have to curb. You begin to question yourself maybe. They played well and we didn't. We didn't do the things we had to do to be successful."
On the next steps for the program...
"We're going to meet tomorrow and set our plan out. Obviously recruiting, it's paramount that we get out and hit the road. We're still going to continue to recruit the way we recruit and we're still going to have the success that we have. The biggest thing I think we have to do is we've got to try to put our finger on 'Why?' Everyone wants to know why and no one wants to know why more than myself. It's our job as a coaching staff. It's one of those things where we may never find out. The Thursday before the Ohio State game, I told everyone that was not in that locker room last year to stand up. When they all stood up, I almost walked out of the room. I said 'Oh my gosh.' You've got a bunch of guys that haven't been there. I said this the first two years, 'There's only one way you get experience and that's to play.' You can't buy it. You've got to play and learn to take your lumps and bumps. Maybe that's part of it, but once again we're going to evaluate everything that we have."
TE Michael Hoomanawanui
On why the season did not go as expected...
"Not playing as a team, not making plays when we needed to. Stuff we have got to work on. We'll come back next year strong. As seniors, Coach Zook's first recruiting class, we need to take it upon ourselves to work harder."
On if the expectations were a problem for the team...
"We had too many young guys who didn't understand what it took. There is no excuse. We are here to do a job. We are here to get wins."
On the emotions about not getting into a bowl...
"We're disappointed. My expectations are high, just like the coaches. For whatever reason, we had missed assignments here, missed assignments there. We just didn't make it."
QB Juice Williams
On emotions about not being bowl eligible...
"We worked so hard to come out and be successful and to be one game short of being bowl eligible, that is a feeling that you can't even describe. It is a feeling that is going to eat at you. We aren't going out there and showing what we're capable of doing."
On the lessons of this season...
"Good teams come out and show their talent on Saturday. We can't be inconsistent. We have to come out Saturday and perform. We are going to attack next year."
On Northwestern's pass rush...
"Northwestern did a good job applying pressure. A lot of teams sit back in coverage and have trouble with our offense. Applying pressure allowed those guys to come up with big plays."
On the expectations for next year...
"We know the talent that we have on this team. We know that we have the capability to come out and be successful. It is going to start early in spring ball and with team chemistry."
