Northwestern University Athletics
Transcript from Coach Fitzgerald's Weekly News Conference
9/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 8, 2008
Northwestern Football Weekly News Conference
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement...
"It's great to be here 2-0 but there is a lot of work to do. As we look back at the tape, I thought Duke played very well and up front we can do a lot of things to improve fundamentally and technically. But the most important thing about Saturday is that we found a way to win. That's a hallmark of a good football team. When you don't necessarily play your best game and you take a team's best shot, and still find a way to win, you give yourself an opportunity to be successful. That's what I saw. We had to do some adjusting as we knew we would have to because we didn't have a lot on Duke defensively. I thought our guys did a nice job sticking together and playing all the way through.
It's going to be a great challenge this week after watching Southern Illinois on tape. What stood out to me is how hard they play. I thought they were a fast football team that is very physical and executed very well in the kicking game. They've got explosive athletes all over the field. Larry Warner jumped out at me on the tape, with his all-purpose yards that speak for itself and what he did in the kick return, punt return, and how explosive and electric he is as a tailback. We're going to see multiple tailbacks, we're going to see multiple personnel packages, we're going to see a 3-4 attacking defense, so we'll have our hands full."
On whether the nature of the mistakes at Duke were more mental than anything else...
"I thought the weather played a role in the game, as warm as it was and with the humidity, being on the road and only having 70 guys with you. We played a lot of guys Saturday. I thought our execution on third down on offense limited our ability to have success in the first half, which kept our defense on the field longer than it needed to be. I thought we were pretty good defensively on third-down, we just weren't as successful on first and second down as we'd like to be. There's a lot to improve on and to me, it's fundamentals and techniques when you talk about attacking the line of scrimmage and fitting properly at the linebacker level. On offense, quite frankly, it's just executing. We had plays to make and we didn't make them. We'll get one week better this week through practice. Our Wednesday practice is a third-down practice and I thought the way we executed Saturday was a correlation with how we practiced last Wednesday."
On the challenges posed by having never faced Southern Illinois...
"Well, last week we had the same challenges against Duke, especially on offense without having any empirical data on how they were going to defend us. They played basically a two-back option team the week before. We'll have to adjust again on the sideline like we did the first two weeks but more importantly we need to do a good job of focusing on ourselves. I liked our young men's attitudes this morning when we got together and watched the tape. We feel lucky that we won the football game but at the end of the day we made the plays down the stretch we needed to make to win. That's part of our conditioning level, the way that we practice, and you can build upon that."
On cornerback Jordan Mabin...
"Jordan had a great football game, not only at corner but also we had him at nickel and on special teams. He drew a huge penalty flying down the field on a kickoff, had a tackle on the first punt, and there was no doubt that Duke went after him once he went in at corner. He's just a great football player. He's always had a positive attitude. Justan Vaughn got a little dinged up and Jordan had to go in and he stepped up big time. We've got a good problem out there with good competition and we'll go with the hot hands. I'm really proud of how Sherrick McManis played. He missed spring practice and yet he had 16 opportunities on Saturday where he was at the point of attack and he won 15 times. To have that kind of play by a corner gives us a lot of flexibility on the defensive side of the ball."
On defensive adjustments after Duke's opening drive...
"Our players did a nice job of getting caught up to the tempo because Duke played at a faster tempo than Syracuse did. They just made the plays and fit properly. We had a few chances to get off the field and we didn't do that. It was a little bit of a wakeup call and the guys responded well. They were on the field for what seemed like six hours but they kept playing and I'm proud of them for that."
On the Peterman-to-Bacher 25-yard pass...
"Well, we didn't want the penetration by the defensive line but we've got some things in our arsenal we can go to. Obviously we have Peterman who is a former quarterback, Andrew Brewer and Jeremy Ebert are former quarterbacks, so we have some weapons. We just seized some momentum and I thought Mick McCall did a nice job making the call. It was executed well with good patience. C.J. needs to not wave because everyone in the building knew he was open. But he caught it well and it was a well-executed play."
On the play of the linebackers...
"I think we need to attack up front consistently because if we can do that then our fits for our linebackers will be better. Our linebackers need discipline with their eyes and just trust what they see. This is Malcolm Arrington's first time out there being the guy, same thing with Prince (Kwateng) and Quentin (Davie). We're two games better, we're two games improved, so this is a critical week of practice when we just try to continue building trust in our front seven."
On the inconsistent play of the offense...
"To me it looks like third-down. After we get our first first-down we get things rolling and we put good drives together. As we look back, I think in the first half our third-down percentage is not where we want it to be and there's things we can correct and fix and we're going to get hard at work at it this week."
On how much the team improved between weeks one and two...
"We just need to keep improving. I think it's one of those coach-isms that I get made fun of for but you do. You learn a lot about yourself and your team. I thought it was a great team win. It wasn't perfect but I thought we won as a team and executed very well, minus penalties. When you eliminate those penalties it's almost a dominant performance on special teams. Those are mental things we can fix so we just need to keep getting one day better and if we do that we'll be playing our best football at the end of the season. We need to find ways to win. We're playing a very experienced football team that's been deep in the playoffs and won very big football games. We've got some young guys out there that need to keep growing as a unit in practice."
On how close to Big Ten-ready the team is...
"About two weeks in. We look like a team that has played two games, eight quarters of football. There's a lot of room for growth. I know our guys will work hard and we just have to come with that attitude to Tuesday's practice. I liked the way we worked this morning. There wasn't a whole lot of joy and elation around this football team. We know we escaped with a victory even though we found a way to win. It beats the alternative. But we need to see it as being 0-0 and focus on us, what we need to improve on, one segment at a time and prepare for the opportunity Saturday. That may sound like coach-speak, but some of our guys are buying into it. We understand that we can only control what we can control."
On the idea of playing schools from Illinois...
"I think it's great for Midwest football when you play Midwest teams. The schedule's been out there for quite a few years and we'll work to try to put teams that fit our schedule. I'm a Chicago guy and a Midwest football player at heart, so obviously if we can stay in the Midwest in non-conference games it's good for our fans to go on the road, it's good for opposing fans to travel and fill up Ryan Field when we don't have students on campus. I like the idea of staying in the Midwest."
On how many guys cramped up during the game...
"Full-fledged I think we had about three guys. We did a great job on our sports medicine staff of preparing our guys. You can't simulate that heat and humidity. I thought we had a good plan going into the game and guys did a tremendous job of hydrating but you just can't simulate that. We had Peterman down for a little while, we had Corey (Wootton) down for a while, we had Kevin Mims and Ben Burkett down for a while. I'm guessing, but I thought we hydrated throughout the game and our staff did a great job overall."
On the rushing totals being down against Duke...
"Again, we didn't know how they were going to play us based on how they played James Madison. There were some plays that we could have made that we didn't. There were plays that maybe we didn't rep as many times during the week that maybe we could have shown the guys during the week. I thought Duke played hard and going back to the first half, if we execute a few more third-down plays, then we're at about 80-85 plays in total offense and that's a different football game. But we won the game and that's something to improve on."
On his preseason expectations of Jordan Mabin...
"Jordan's been competing for the starting corner position since last spring and there was competition between him and Justan all through camp. The week we came back to Evanston we made a decision to go with Justan and put Jordan at the nickel position and he's done a great job with it. He's doing double duty, handling corner and nickel. Our expectations are high for him. He was No. 2 for Mr. Football in Ohio his senior year and we thought very highly of him. He's lived up to the expectations and he's only two games into his career. What I love best about Jordan is that he is very humble, he just continues to work and work. He played the way he practices. He has a great role model in Sherrick McManis who has kind of put him under his wing along with Justan and Michael (Bolden) and he's done a nice job leading that group."
On what he can expect from Southern Illinois...
"We know they have a lot of experience and who their players are but we've had to be creative in finding tape and seeing what their coordinators have done in the past. We'll study that to be prepared. They'll play a lot of different formations and three tailbacks. The quarterback has a big time arm and three weapons they can spread the ball to at wide receiver. On defense they are a 3-4 attacking defense and they try to cause confusion at the point of attack. We'll have our hands ball and hopefully we'll have a better idea than what we thought Duke might do."
On the play of C.J. Bacher...
"As I look back I think about the big plays he made. I think he had eight or 10 big plays, especially to Eric Peterman when they max-blitzed. I thought early there was one throw when we had Tyrell (Sutton) in the flat."
On how the new timing rules are affecting the number of plays NU can run...
"I can see the attack plan by both offenses we've played against and that's to control the clock against us to slow down the tempo and take time of possession away from us. We need to get first downs. If we get first downs on third-downs and get drives going we'll be OK. We've proven we are a good team in the red zone so I think the timing rule can really be to your advantage. You can snap it fast or hold it down as the game is going along."
On Corey Wootton...
"I think Corey is in great shape and prepared well in the off-season. He plays relentlessly on every play and empties the tank, we almost didn't have him the whole third quarter. To have the production and impact he had was pretty good and if he didn't cramp up on the fake field goal I think he might have scored. His impact is huge. He's in great shape and just keeps getting better every week. He can still be better in his attack and with his hands but I think he can challenge to be an all-league performer."
On John Gill...
"It looked like his first game of the year, like he was a game behind. I thought he played better in the fourth quarter than in the first. John just needs to get better in practice. It's tough when you don't experience the opener and then you go out in the heat, it's a challenge."
On Joel Belding...
"We feel like we have six starters and he's in the mix, depending on who plays well in practice and in games. Joel is right there."
