Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript from Coach Fitzgerald's Monday News Conference
11/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 3, 2008
2008 Northwestern Football
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Weekly News Conference
Opening Statement...
"We'll start with an injury report. Unfortunately, Vince Browne did tear a ligament and will have surgery sometime this week, which will take him out for the rest of the regular season and after that we'll re-evaluate as we go along. Vince has been playing very well for us as a redshirt freshman and got hurt on a non-contact kickoff play. We'll get it fixed and get him back as quick as we can. I like how some of the guys stepped up. You'll probably see Marshall Thomas a little more than you have in the past and we'll do some different things creatively to get our best look at guys rushing the passer.
As far as our quarterback situation it will be C.J. (Bachér) or Mike (Kafka), and we'll make that evaluation as things go along. C.J.'s improving every day and if we can get him up to full speed or as close as possible to it, he is our starting quarterback. I'm proud of how Mike stepped up in his opportunity to play. Looking at the tape, we feel fortunate to win that football game. I don't believe it was one of our best performances of the year but I do applaud the way our guys fought for 60 minutes and found a way to win. Jeremy Ebert had a great reception from Mike and up front I thought Al Netter really did a nice job. Defensively, our defensive line played well and I thought Kevin (Mims) played his best game of the year. He was active and had a big impact on the two turnovers we caused at the end of the game. Brendan (Smith) obviously had the big interception and I thought Prince (Kwateng) played well as well. There were a lot of opportunities in all three phases we can improve on and grow from this week. I like our attitudes as we coached them up this morning. It was a great team win and a great way to respond after a difficult team loss on the road.
We're excited to come home and play in front of our fans and we've had tremendous support from our students all year. Looks like it will be a sellout and it will be fun to play in front of that environment. We're playing the three-time defending Big Ten champions, talented across the board with great receivers and a talented young quarterback who is backed up by a senior who can play anywhere in this conference. Beanie Wells is a tremendous player and he has guys behind him who can play anywhere in the league. Alex Boone has played offensive tackle there since I've been playing, it feels like, but he's athletic and plays every snap through the whistle the way you should. I'm very impressed with their linebackers, they can all run, their secondary can run. We sure have not played well against Ohio State the two years I've been the head coach and it's going to take our best week of preparation in order to give ourselves an opportunity."
On preparing for Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor...
"Terrelle's a very explosive athlete. What jumps out to me is his maturity, you can see they've opened up the playbook a little bit more for him and given him an opportunity to showcase his talents. Watching the tape last night I kind of became a fan just watching the way he can make plays and spread it out to a very potent and dangerous offense. Dan Persa and Harrison Scott will do the best job they can working with our second offense to prepare us."
On stopping the run against Ohio State...
"Last week we played most of the game in nickel with Brad Phillips in more often for Quentin Davie. I thought the plan was excellent. I thought we were out of our gaps a few times on quarterback runs and we have to do a better job reading our keys and responding to the quarterback draws. We'll have a good idea of where the quarterback is in the spread offense like against Adam Weber. But against Minnesota we had to expect the pass and react to the run, it'll be a little different mindset this week. Ohio State runs the ball as well as anyone and they have two tremendous athletes in their backfield."
On the play of Mike Kafka...
"I thought he managed the game well. There were a few throws he'd like to have back, one where the DB made a nice break on the ball and took it to the house. I really liked the way he ran the ball, stayed behind his pads and made good decisions. When the plays weren't there he didn't try to force the ball, just played within himself and took what the defense gave him. That's what we need to do."
On the kicking game against Minnesota...
"I thought the kicking game gave us a chance to win the field position battle consistently but we can be a lot better there. I really challenged our guys this morning because we can be a lot better. We've been on too much of a roller coaster this year. In the seven games we've won, we've played well enough, but we need to play our best and we aren't doing that consistently. That's on me and we'll have some fun special teams practices this week."
On Omar Conteh...
"I thought Minnesota tried to take away the inside zone play so we had to run the ball to the perimeter. When the option was working it gave Omar an opportunity for some runs. Our game plan is going to be dictated by what we see and what we think we can take advantage of. I thought Omar played well."
On playing well in close games...
"It begins with the young men we recruit. They are high-character young men who understand adversity will happen in life. You don't sit and dwell on it, you get up, have a great attitude and go do something about it. That's what our guys believe in. We try to put them in those positions in spring practice because obviously it's going to happen in games. Hopefully we've conditioned them to respond the right way but ultimately I believe it comes down to the young men we recruit."
On whether artificial turf has played a part in injuries the past two weeks...
"I'm not sure about that. Injuries are going to happen in football no matter what surface you're on. I know this, I'm glad we'll never go back to the Metrodome. It was as a hard a surface as we played on all year. But I don't think it had any influence on the injuries to Vince on Saturday or Tyrell (Sutton) or C.J. at Indiana. It was definitely a harder surface than maybe we've played on in a couple years."
On the attitude of his players on the sideline...
"Trust me, Mike (Kafka) is intense. TV is a beautiful thing, there's nowhere to hide on the sideline. I liked Mike's demeanor. I asked him what happened (on the interception), he gave me a great response saying he's not worried about it, and I told him not to worry about and let's go out and make the next play. Minnesota made plays, we came back and made some plays. If Corey (Wootton) didn't tip that one ball at the line I think Sherrick McManis steps in front of one and takes it to the house the same way. I guess a picture is worth a thousand words but our guys' attitudes are great."
On the crowd at Ryan Field...
"We've played in front of some other sellout crowds so I don't think it will be a huge factor for us. Like I said about our student support, it's been incredible this year at home and on the road. At Iowa it was our softball team who made the trip and we can't say thank you enough for that. More important than being distracted by that is coming out and being focused and poised. I thought we had a great crowd against Michigan State but we need to be more poised and focused to take advantage of that opportunity. But it's been a long couple weeks on the road and we're excited to see our fans when we get off the bus for Walk With Us at about 8:40."
On Brendan Smith's interception return...
"We had about five guys make some good blocks, No. 1 was Jordan Mabin on Brandon Green right after the catch. Then Nate Williams got Weber down and I saw Corey Wootton, Kevin Mims and John Gill all have some good blocks down the road. That's what Brendan can do with the ball and that's why we have him returning punts, he has great vision. He got to the sideline like you coach it, set up the picket fence and follow your blockers. It's one of those where you want him to go down, then keep going, then he made some guys miss and there were no penalties. Great run by Smitty."
On emphasizing the fourth quarter...
"We put a huge emphasis on the fourth quarter, from the minute we got done last season all the way to today. Football games in the Big Ten are played for 60 minutes. You just have to hang around long enough to make the fourth quarter significant and we've done that enough times this year to put ourselves in position to have a special year. I'm proud of our young men for the focus and discipline you need to have that happen. At Indiana we didn't play very well but we still had an opportunity in the fourth quarter."
On replacing injured players...
"It's definitely a combination of things. No. 1 is our depth, which shows a great job of our coaches in recruiting, a tremendous job of our strength coaches this summer preparing our guys. We've had multiple guys step up and that just shows they're focused, they're in great shape physically and mentally to be prepared when that opportunity when it's presented. That's' what's in their control. What's out of their control is when they get the opportunity. To see how they've stepped up, it's a testament to our program."
On recent games versus Ohio State and containing explosion plays...
"We just haven't played well and they've executed extremely well. We just have to be focused on preparing for our game plan as best we can to give ourselves an opportunity to compete. Last year we didn't give ourselves an opportunity, Ohio State took advantage of us not playing well and all of a sudden we're down 21-0. Then you press, you don't look at it as one play at a time and you get away from what you value in a hostile environment against a well-coached football team. We have to stay within ourselves and give ourselves a chance to compete. As I watch them on tape they're very fast in the kicking game. On offense, they've done a nice job capitalizing on turnovers so taking care of the football is going to be very important for our offense. Defensively, you've got to be sound in your job and not try to do much. We'll have to have great population around the ball because they have weapons across the board. The way you defend that is to swarm the ball and tackle well. I thought a year ago we gave up a lot of things cheap and for free and they were talented enough to take advantage of that."
On OSU linebacker James Laurinaitis...
"James is as instinctive a linebacker as there is in the country. He also understands reads very well and you can tell he's very well-coached. The kid loves to play football and that's what I love about watching him. He's the complete package. Watching their defense and again I was becoming a fan of seeing him run around and make plays. It's not just him, they're talented across the board with a couple first-day draft picks. It'll be a huge challenge."
On the play of Bachér and Kafka...
"I look at what C.J. has done leading us to six victories and he's played very well and he's our starting quarterback. I look at the positives of what C.J. brings to the table when healthy in helping us go out and execute our offense like a senior captain can. I'm just proud of Mike for the way he stepped up and we've got one of those special problems you like to have where you have two quarterbacks who can help your football team win. It sure beats the alternative."
