Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript from Coach Fitzgerald's Weekly News Conference
9/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 1, 2008
Northwestern Football Weekly News Conference
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement:
"I'd like to thank everyone for being here on Labor Day. Looking back to Saturday, after evaluating tape, there is a lot of room for improvement. Unlike the NFL, you learn a lot in the opener. There were little details, like executing on third downs in the first half, where we had plenty of opportunities but we didn't execute. On defense we gave Syracuse some big plays in the run game that hurt us. Overall, I thought our kicking game played well and we executed our expectations there. We had a few plays out there that we left unmade.
Looking forward to this week, I'm excited to see 90-degree weather called for Tuesday here in Chicago and then some rain on Wednesday and Thursday. There's the potential for the remnants of a hurricane to be down there (at Duke) this weekend, so to practice in that kind of weather will help. Outside of that I thought we had a good practice this morning, we got after it with a nice run and lift. Guys' attitudes are in the right spot. We're happy to get a win, and a Big Ten-level win is always exciting but there is a lot of room for improvement and we're going to get on that right away."
On how the special teams performed vs. Syracuse...
"Well, Stefan Demos was the Big Ten player of the week on special teams and he wasn't our special teams player of the week, Stephen Simmons was. (Simmons) had 63 kickoff return yards and a 40-yard return, he made a tackle on a kickoff and an assisted tackle on a punt. Stephen Simmons was our freshman of the year on special teams and he continued that level of play. Demos punted the ball well and we executed our sky punt situations extremely well. I was pleased to see him come back off of an injury and the kick the ball the way he did on kickoffs. He cannot drop the ball like he did on that third punt, that will get us beat in the future and that's inexcusable."
On what made the offensive line's performance the collective offensive performance of the week...
"I thought they executed well. We don't ask them to do a lot schematically. (Offensive line coach) Bret Ingalls does a tremendous job fundamentally teaching our guys. They've bought into it, we're deep enough where we can play seven to eight guys, and I thought they executed well. I think our tempo helps us because we are in really good shape up front, we wore Syracuse down a little bit as the game went along. Our line was asking us today how fast we are going to go in practice tomorrow because they want to go faster. Four out of the five guys are really first-year starters even though Desmond (Taylor) started a few games a couple years ago, he's been battling injuries. It looked like their first time together with a lot of little things they can improve on: targeting their blocks, communication. But I thought our pass protection was solid all day long. Syracuse had one sack for a half-yard loss on a quarterback scramble. We're going to be challenged because Duke's front four is experienced and very physical. We saw against James Madison that they can really rush the passer and their linebackers can come too. It's going to be a challenge."
On what the team learned from Duke game last year...
"I think we saw we need to go out and execute your game every rep, every quarter and every half. Duke came in here and beat us last year, we can say whatever we want about excuses but they were more physical than us, they executed better than us and they were a better football team on that Saturday night. We allowed it to drag with us for a few weeks and I believe the maturity and leadership of our football team is in a better place, but last year is out of our control. Our focus is what we learned from the tape this morning and seeing where our maturity is at traveling on the road with the potential for bad weather. It should be an interesting week."
On punter Stefan Demos' play...
"I thought he played well. I thought he kicked the ball well and the only thing he would like to have back is the snap that he dropped. His kickoffs were targeted well and the ones that were a little short had a long hang-time and we can cover those."
On how the no-huddle offense functioned vs. Syracuse...
"I think some of the timing components we need to work on. It starts with us as coaches coming out of a penalty when the clock goes down to 25 seconds and as the game went along we had to learn with some of our substitution patterns and how that affects the tempo. I thought our conditioning level from where we were at in camp gave us the chance to go out and perform well."
On safety Brendan Smith's return from injury...
"Last year he really wasn't 100 percent even in the games he played in. He tried, he went out, but I think it was after the Duke game that we decided to have surgery on his shoulder. He was really disappointed because he's one of our more passionate players. He loves the game, he loves every aspect from film study to returning punts. He's just a football player and to have him back is huge. To see him elected captain by his teammates I think speaks volumes of the respect his teammates have for him. He's got great instincts and a nose for the ball and I thought he tackled better on Saturday maybe better than he did his first two years at safety."
On possible combinations on the offensive line...
"Right now I look at it as if we have six starters with Kurt Mattes being back healthy and the way that Desmond played Saturday and the way that Joel Belding played. You add Keegan Grant, Mike Boyle and Doug Bartels in the mix and we've got pretty good depth. When you've got depth you've got competition and through competition, good players turn out to be great and great players turn out to be special. We feel like we have six starters right now, and come 6 p.m. CT on Friday, we'll have five guys on the field."
On defending Duke's no-huddle style offense...
"That's why we do what we do. When we go back on the decision to become a no-huddle offense and practice at a fast tempo, it was also to be prepared for that extreme. When our defense came out after a few reps they said the game was slow just like we told them it would be. It slowed down for them because of our tempo in practice and early through camp. Duke has a hurry-up component to what they do and we'll have to simulate that this week in practice."
On how Duke has changed under new coach David Cutcliffe...
"I was impressed with them on tape. I thought they executed Coach Cutcliffe's offense very well and there were a lot of similarities to what I've seen out of his offenses in the past. Defensively we couldn't get a really good beat on what they are because JMU is more of an option team. It will be a lot of adjusting and a lot of unknown, very similar to how Syracuse was in the opener. We'll have to do a lot of adjusting on the sideline preparing for how they will attack us. I thought we did a good job of that against Syracuse and we'll be challenged again Saturday."
On John Gill's return to the defensive line after a one-game suspension...
"John's an experienced football player that's made a lot of plays for us. He was the practice player of the week for us on defense last week and if you were to ask Ben Burkett what he thought of John Gill's play in practice, he'll say I'm glad I didn't play against him (in a game). He was playing like a man possessed last week and he's hungry to play. It'll add just a little bit more depth and since it will be hot down there with high humidity, we're going to need him."
On his memories of going to Duke as a player...
"We went to Tobacco Road back-to-back weeks my senior year. We played Wake Forest and then went back down to Duke. It's like a hot, humid summer day here in Chicago and based on the attendance figures they had for their first game, there will be a good crowd there. It's going to be loud and we'll see what the maturity level of our team is going on the road to a hostile environment, out of your comfort zone. We might have to figure out what we'll do logistically to beat the storm coming in (to North Carolina). They had an hour-and-a-half lightning delay against JMU and I thought Duke came out of the gates and played really well."
On quarterback C.J. Bacher's self-grade of a C for his performance against Syracuse...
"I thought he executed pretty well. He managed the game and I think he has high expectations for himself as we all do on every play. There are a few plays he would like to have back that he might have missed but I think we have more weapons for him to distribute the ball to and I think he did a great job of doing that. Outside of one throw, I thought he played a really good game, but there is still room for improvement."
On wide receivers Ross Lane and Eric Peterman having limited touches vs. Syracuse...
"I think we missed Ross on two or three balls and Eric had a bit of an ankle roll last week so we limited his special teams work. He's back to 100 percent and ran around really well today. We'd like to get Eric the ball a little bit more than we did and there are some things we can do to get him the ball. But there were some plays to be made and we just didn't execute."
On middle linebacker Malcolm Arrington's performance...
"I thought Malcolm was really physical on Saturday. I'd like to see him play a little faster and there were some plays where he just kind of settled in the hole when he could have continued to run through. But it's the first game. There's so much he'll learn and grow from this week. Same thing with his mates, Prince Kwateng and Quentin Davie. I thought they played better as the game went along playing together for the first time. It's good to be a linebacker playing behind the front that we have, with the depth we have, guys are attacking the line of scrimmage. (Defensive line coach) Marty Long has a good problem right now finding combinations among eight or nine guys."
On neutralizing Syracuse's kickoff return game...
"I'm pleased with it. The majority of those guys are young, redshirt freshmen guys. I was impressed with the play of Jordan Mabin and Ben Johnson who were flying down the field. Michael Bolden made a great play on a punt play where he was double teamed, bounced off of two blocks and made a tackle to hold him to a four-yard return on a low hang-time punt. We had a lot of young guys and I thought our speed looked good. I'm excited to see what they do week two when they get a second opportunity to grow."
On blocking Syracuse's defensive tackle Arthur Jones...
"I thought (center) Ben Burkett played well. I thought our three inside guys game-planned well. Keegan Grant has only played one game at guard and he had some technique gaps that he'll need to improve on but I thought Joel Belding played physical. For the first time with the ball in his hand, Ben played well. We've got a great center tradition here, and to watch the way he played, I thought he and the other interior guys played well.
On possible advantages for Northwestern vs. Duke...
"I don't know if we have any. We don't have enough empirical evidence to say that. We've only played one game and they've only played one game. But I believe the speed we have now is as good as we've ever had. Our conditioning level is where it should be to go play a game in the South. We've got weapons at tailback, superback, and wide receiver and I like our secondary where we're going to have competition throughout the year. If guys aren't executing the way they need to be on gameday or during the course of the week we may have some different combinations. That competition makes us a better team. We're not where we need to be and we have a lot of work to do."
On where he thinks the team is compared to other teams at this point in the season...
"I think we are where I expect us to be. We played hard with good effort on both sides of the ball. Lots of little details: execution, alignment, fundamentals, technique are things we can improve on. If we can be consistent with our preparation like we were last week, we'll give ourselves an opportunity to show up and play hard for four quarters. If we don't, we'll get exactly what we deserve like we did last year against Duke. We didn't prepare well for them and I don't think we focused. We didn't execute early and they took advantage of that early. We were playing catch-up the whole game and we ran out of time."
