Northwestern University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
10/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 24, 2009
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Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement...
"Wow, what a game. It was the tale of two halves. I thought our guys, early in the game, didn't execute very well, and that's on us as coaches. I thought we had a good week of practice. I thought we came in prepared, but we sure didn't execute very well. To Indiana's credit, they made a bunch of plays in the kicking game and obviously the one long run. It set us behind, but to our young men's credit, they kept on fighting and we re-captured momentum in the second quarter. I thought at halftime we made some subtle adjustments in all three phases and our players did a good job taking to those adjustments and went out and made it happen. The defense pitched a shutout with a big fourth down play down at the goal line and getting us off the field. Then obviously our offense was able to pick us up. The big punt block was key. Obviously we have a lot to improve on and a lot to get better at this week before we take on the Nittany Lions. But I'm proud of our fight, I'm proud of the job our coaches did and it's a great way to get a win here for homecoming."
On the first quarter...
"I thought that we just couldn't get a rhythm in the first quarter on offense. We had the ball for about five minutes, they had it for nine and we just couldn't get that first, first down. We were just a little out of sync and a little out of rhythm. I liked the conversations that the offensive staff had on the headphones. We stayed the course and just said keep going with the game plan and eventually we'll settle down. And, we did. I think we have played pretty well early, it's just we haven't been able to get over the hump in some areas, so when we're not playing well to start, I put it on the coaches' shoulders. We have got to do a better job. I mean today, it wasn't a Picasso, but it was a win, so we'll take it."
On the turnovers...
"Well, I think the stats are a little misleading. I think it's really like 3-to-1, because that blocked punt is really a turnover. But it's pretty hard to win a Big Ten game and lose the turnover battle. I think it's more of an anomaly from that standpoint. We need to do a better job, the ball was out a couple times and we had our hands on the ball a couple of other times, and didn't get the picks. But you have to give Indiana credit, they've taken care of the ball for the most part when they've been successful, and for those first 28 points, they had it rolling a little bit. We didn't get a chance to take the ball away. So that seems like a little bit of an anomaly."
On making the big plays...
"We saw some things on video that we thought we could take advantage of throwing the ball deep and I thought the offensive staff had a really good plan going into the game. There were a couple of other shots that we missed that were really close. We'd love to stretch it as much vertically as we can horizontally, but it just depends on how we can attack the defense and take advantage of what they're doing, and also with how it fits our offense. I thought we called a good game and the men went out and made plays."
On the play of Corey Wootton...
"It's been a hard road for him this year. The great thing about Corey is that his attitude has been unbelievable. For a young man with the expectations that he has on himself, I could not be more proud of him. (On his sack), I just said 'finally, there it is' and he just started laughing, but it was good to see him get that first one."
Northwestern Player Quotes
RB Scott Concannon
On his return...
"It's always good to get back in the game. I had a couple hits to the head earlier in the year, but it's good to get out there."
On the competition between the running backs...
"Any one of us would prefer to be the feature tailback on the team. We, as a running back group, are all open with each other. There is friendly competition. No one is ever down on anyone else. I would like to take this game and flush it, and do better next week. But I'm sure when the others come back there will be competition again. But, I'm here to do my best for the team and to help them win."
CB Ricky Weina
On being prepared to replace Sherrick McManis...
"I had a little bit of a warning. I got to talk to him a little and find out what's going on in there. He gave me some advice, but you always have to be ready to pick up the flag. That's what Coach Fitz says."
On Sherrick McManis' advice to him...
"He gave me some pointers with the receivers. He told me what they're doing to try to do, and how they're going to try to get open, and about their speed."
QB Mike Kafka
On the offensive line...
"I thought they played tremendous. Coming into this week, the only blitz that Indiana ran was a max blitz, and they did that on Andrew's [Brewer] touchdown and they gave us the great protection. They maxed blitzed us, and Andrew got open and we were able to get it over the top and let him go score. I think they're doing a great job. Right now they have some great momentum, they have a lot of confidence, and we will try to build on that for the next week."
On the turnovers...
"It's definitely something that we need to work on. There was a little bit of miscommunication throughout that resulted in one of those picks. I take responsibility for all of them, without a doubt. It's definitely something we can fix up and clean up for next week and it's obviously great to get the win and be able to have an opportunity to learn from those mistakes."
WR Zeke Markshausen
On his long receptions...
"Yeah it was great. I'll take what I can get anytime; whatever helps the team out. If it's short passes then it's short passes, if it's long it's long. The 'W' is what's important and that's what we got today."
On Scott Concannon's game...
"He's always into it and he always gets everyone jacked up. He's as good on the field as he is off the field with getting guys motivated and making plays."
WR Andrew Brewer
On Northwestern's slow starts...
"In the back of my mind, I'm sure these guys can relate, and agree with me. It's kind of like, 'What are we doing here?' Let's play the way we know we're capable of playing, and for some reason this season, we are starting out late and having some tremendous finishes, playing really well in the second half and just imagine how good we could be and how the score would look if we played both halves that way."
DE Corey Wootton
On his halftime speech...
"I just felt like it was the right time. I just spoke from my heart and said what I meant, and the guys responded well. In the second half on both sides of the ball, I thought we did a great job."
On giving speeches in the past...
"No, we've done it before but I think this one meant more because this was one of the most important games that we've played this season. It was really a defining game for us."
Indiana Head Coach Bill Lynch
Opening Statement...
"It was a tough loss for us and I have to give Northwestern a lot of credit because they certainly battled back from a deficit early on in the game. It was really a game similar to the game that we told our guys all week that it was going to come down to the last possession of the game. That is what it has been the last three years that we have played them and that is what it has been. They did more plays then we did down the stretch and I am going to have to give them a lot of credit. I thought that our kids played hard. Did not make any plays the second half offensively to score points. Although the defense gave up some yards I do think that they created some turnovers; their inability to take advantage of that eventually caught up with us."
On the play call on Mitchell on fourth-and-goal...
"It wasn't what the play was supposed to do. It was going to be a pass to Troy Wagner out of the run formation and they grabbed him and covered him. He had nothing to do so he reversed his view and tried to make a play. So it wasn't a reverse type play. It was supposed to be a quick pass to Troy but they grabbed him off the ball and didn't let him out. It's all or nothing down there. It was one of those plays on 4th and 1. We thought a touchdown is what we needed. I sensed that was a game that was going to take some points and a field goal, we were on the 1-yard line like that. At worst you make them go 99 [yards]."
On play calling...
"That was big. The combination of all those [interceptions] was really big. Each turnover was great. Matt [Mayberry] made a great catch, a last minute catch and run. Nick [Polk] made a great catch, so the defense kept fighting. That's a good offensive team. We knew they were going to hurl. How many times did they end up throwing it? We figured they were going to throw it 45 or 50 times so they're probably in that range."
On Nick Freeland's 59-yard field goal attempt...
"I have seen him hit field goals at times from a distance and you do not know how far that really is. But in that situation you have the wind at your back and what are the odds of throwing a Hail Mary in for a score? We don't trust that with five seconds that you will be able to execute a throw and a catch and an out of bounds. We were not going to leave the field with no clock left and try a five-yard pass to gain five more yards. So the decision is between throwing it into the in zone or trying to run a field goal. It was pretty gusty down there at the end and you just never know. Looks like it to me that he hit it pretty good. We felt like that gave us our best chance at that time."
Indiana Player Quotes
QB Mitchell Evans
On the fourth-down play at the Northwestern 1-yard line...
"It was a play that we put in this week. It worked all week. It was good, but Northwestern just did a good job covering it. (Tight end) Troy (Wagner) got held up a little bit. The guy stuck to his hip the whole time so I just tried to make the most of it and it was close, but it's just one of those things where they made a good play. I think I tripped over (center) Will (Matte). I'll have to see it on film. I think he was trying to make a block and we just collided a little bit. We were just trying to sell run as much as possible. With that package, you've got a lot of bodies in there so they're obviously thinking run. We were hoping that they'd pull out. It worked all week, but [Northwestern] just did a good job with it."
On not having any timeouts remaining in the last drive of the game...
"That would have been nice. But I think the timeouts we used, we used when we needed them. It could have hurt us if we didn't use them at those times. We just have to be smarter throughout the game so that we can save those for the end of the game when we need them."
QB Ben Chappell
On the disappointment of losing the game...
"It hurts, no question. We let it get away, but give Northwestern credit. They never quit, like we knew they wouldn't."
On the play of the Northwestern defense...
"They twisted that front a lot. We knew they were going to. They caught us in a couple of run blitzes on play-action and kind of lucked into it. But that was a good play by them. They made some good calls."
CB Ray Fisher
On any changes or adjustments Northwestern made after falling to an early deficit...
"We went in knowing it was going to come down to the last couple of plays, and that it was going to be a fourth quarter game. That's how it's been since we started playing them two years ago. All of the games have gone down to the fourth quarter, so we knew it was going to be a fourth quarter game. We weren't able to hold on."
On what to tell the younger guys who haven't experienced this kind of devastating loss...
"We just need tell the young guys to keep their heads up, because there is always another day. You can't get down from games like this, because if you get down from games like this, what's going to happen when you are a senior and aren't able to respond to it?"
LB Matt Mayberry
On the disappointment of losing the game...
"It's very tough. Obviously every time you come up on the losing end, it's a bad result. But it's even worse when you're out there fighting and then it doesn't go our way. But we've just got to get ready to go back to work and it's a great opportunity to go and play Iowa next week."
On Northwestern's offense...
"We knew what they were going to do the whole time. They're not really looking for the big plays. They're getting the ding and dong, here and there, with their passing game and short yards. They moved the ball and kept doing that and did a good job of doing that."
On the play of Indian's defense...
"It's tough. We've just got to go out there. Coach said we always need to get turnovers. Good defenses find a way to get turnovers. Whether the offense capitalizes on it or not, we can't really worry about that. We've just got to do what we do as a defense."
DE Jammie Kirlew
On the team's loss...
"We are upset, but we just have to work on finishing games. We had a great start, we played a tough team. They were resilient. We just need to find ways to come out with the win. The good thing is, we have four games left, and we start with Iowa next week. We just have to come together, watch the film, put this behind us, and get ready for next week against Iowa."
On whether Northwestern followed the gameplan Indiana was expecting...
"We knew they were a tough team, and that they weren't going to give up. We knew they were going to hit passes here and there, try and run the ball and grind us out, and go for four quarters. When we got the lead on them in the beginning, emotions were high and we felt good, but we knew that they were a team that was going to bring it all four quarters. So we tried to stay ahead and keep pushing, they just found a way to make a couple more plays than we did."
