Northwestern University Athletics
Weekly News Conference Transcript
11/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 16, 2009
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Weekly News Conference Transcript
Opening statement...
"I'm excited for Saturday. It's an opportunity to honor our 21 great seniors and you can see the great things they've accomplished in their four and five years here. It's a chance for us to come back home to play in front of our students that are seniors in their last chance to participate in a game day at Ryan Field and I know guys are excited for it. We just wrapped up our Leadership Council meeting and that was one of the main topics of our conversation.
We came out of the game relatively injury-free and I hope we have a better week this week than we had a week ago. In other areas there was a lot of room for improvement. You hope to be playing your best football in November and I think for the season at this point we're playing our best football."
On his seniors being bowl-eligible four of the last five years...
"The foundation of success that they've laid is unparalleled in our university's history. You look at the adversity they've had to overcome throughout their four years and it's just been remarkable. The on-the-field success they've had speaks for itself but the job they've done academically and giving back to the community will prepare them for life, prepare to be great fathers and role models in the community in life after football. Obviously this is a huge game for them and for our entire football program. We're playing a very good Wisconsin team. They're an outstanding football team and it'd be a great way to honor our seniors. We need to perform the way we're capable of and give ourselves a chance to compete."
On Sherrick McManis' interception vs. Illinois...
"Well, number one, he had a great break on the ball. The ball was there and available for him to go take and he did, he took it. If you want things in life you have to take it, nobody's going to give you anything. He made a great play on the ball and had the presence of mind to stay in bounds. It was one of those maybe one-in-a-lifetime type of plays. It was a great play by him and a great way to finish up a game against your rival."
On Wisconsin's strengths...
"I think they're balanced in all three phases. They're very sound, very well-coached and very talented. They play with all of that wrapped in as much physicality as you'll see in the Big Ten. I think it's going to be a tremendous challenge for us. It's going to be one of those Big Ten slugfests and it's going to come down to who plays more physical, who executes and who finds a way to make big plays."
On NU's rivalry with Wisconsin...
"I believe this is a team we've played second-most of anybody in the league. I know it's another rivalry that is built out of respect. I think we've gone 5-5 in our last 10 meetings with each other and they've been phenomenal football games. Last meeting we obviously didn't play very well up there and their last trip here I think anyone on the defensive side of the ball was wishing that they weren't. They're two programs built on foundations of respect for each other. That question's out of my control obviously, whether or not we play each other every year but I know both schools really respect each other and Bret (Bielema) and I have the utmost respect for each other."
On similarities between himself and Bret Bielema...
"I like to the think the similarities begin with success. He's done a tremendous job building on the legacy that Coach (Barry) Alvarez created there and the tradition of success that Coach had over the years. I competed against those teams as a student-athlete and so far have only had the chance to compete against Bret one time. I think there are a lot of similarities, though maybe different styles from the standpoint of what we do on offense. But we're both Big Ten guys, both from Illinois so maybe there are some similarities there. There's age, we're both part of the Atari generation -- Atari came out when we were growing up. We're both defensive players at heart and defensive coaches at heart. I think we both are pretty passionate, love the game, love the opportunities it gives you to be a teacher and a mentor. I respect the job he and his staff do and I think they do a tremendous job."
On Mike Kafka's ability to throw the ball this season...
"Mike's done a tremendous job. He's given us an opportunity to win in every game he's played and I believe he's playing quarterback as well as anybody in this conference, maybe in the country. You look at a quarterback who makes the other 10 guys on the field better and that's Mike Kafka. He makes everybody around him that much better, he makes plays, he's feeling a lot better than he did two weeks ago on a Monday. He's done a tremendous job taking care of the ball, leading our offense and making the plays he's capable of without doing too much. I'm proud of his development. Am I surprised? No. I said earlier in the year he's going to throw it better than anyone's going to give him credit for but let's just let it play out. For our sake it has. As a senior, a Chicago guy, a St. Rita graduate, you couldn't be more proud of the job that Mike's done. I think he's played pretty level the whole year. He's played efficient, he's had a high accuracy rating and completion percentage all year. You go back to earlier the year when he went 17-of-18 at Syracuse. He's been accurate and making great decisions with the football, he's running our offense and there's no secret that we throw it a little bit but he's done such a good job managing it."
On Wisconsin's running game...
"I go back to when I was a student-athlete and I thought of Wisconsin's offense it was "four-wheel drive." That's what I would categorize the Badgers as for a number of years. They've got great complements in their playaction pass game and when you load the box up they're going to take their shots deep. I don't believe their identity's changed a whole lot. Paul's done a great job with their offense and they're just really, really efficient."
On the possibility of safety Brendan Smith returning before a bowl game...
"Meaning this week? Based on my report from yesterday, no."
On the success of players who come from NFL bloodlines...
"It's a little bit of a coincidence but it's not a surprise at the end of the day. When you look at (Wisconsin wide receiver) Nick Toon, what a great receiver he is and what a great player his father was ... (Hunter) Bates made a great recovery on a surprise onside kick, one of the best plays in the kicking game maybe this year. He read it, it looked kind of like their pooch kick, he was decisive and went up and made a play. That's what you hope to do, to teach your guys to be decisive, and that's what he was."
On Wisconsin's offense...
"They've had a model for a number of years and they have stuck to that plan and now have weapons across the board. It's not just that they can run the ball. When you see (Garrett) Graham is an All-Big Ten and All-America candidate at tight end, they've gotten (Lance) Kendricks involved a little more, they run some wing reverses to him. (Isaac) Anderson and Toon, they're tremendous receivers and they get a lot of single coverage because you have to load the box to stop the run. It's not just (John) Clay they've been playing (Zach) Brown and (Montee) Ball back there too. They've got weapons across the board and I've been really impressed with Scott Tolzien. He'd been in the cutups a little bit but you don't really study their offense too much because we have contrasting offensive styles. I've been very impressed with him in my film study; he's very accurate, he puts the ball where it belongs, he doesn't make a lot of bad decisions and he's done a really good job."
On NU's running game...
"All four of our guys got on the field and were nominated for player of the game, not just at running back but in the kicking game -- Jeravin (Matthews) and Stephen (Simmons), Arby (Fields) was in the kicking game as well. I thought Scotty (Concannon) ran hard, we're blocking a little better up front, we're finishing the edge and guys are blocking with more of an attitude. We can kind of roll guys in as we see fit, playing to their strengths, and I think it's worked well. It's going to be a great challenge Saturday, I think they lead the conference giving up about 70 rushing yards per game so we're going to have our hands full."
On if NU did anything different defensively after going up 21-3 vs. Illinois...
"No not really. We made some changes at halftime and obviously we were prepared for (Eddie) McGee to come in at quarterback and I thought when he did come in our plan to stop the quarterback running game was very efficient and very effective. We gave up the one big pass play that hurt on a wheel route that we anticipated seeing and we just didn't execute on that play, which is disappointing. They put together one drive where they executed pretty well. We had opportunities to get off the field, we caused fumbles and didn't recover either of them. We gave up opportunities for big plays and we just need to eliminate some of those."
On the benefits of a player having an NFL family...
"First of all on high school tape you can see they understand football a little bit better than some of the other kids we were looking at. They've been around the game a lot, either as a child watching their father play, some of them had an opportunity to have their dads be their coaches. They've got a good understanding of the game. For some they're getting on the field a little bit sooner than the others. At the end of the day we're looking for the right fit and I think it's been more of a coincidence than anything but I think it definitely shows when you're evaluating them in high school that they've got football in their life from a young age."
On recruiting Drake Dunsmore, whose father played for the 1985 Chicago Bears...
"I just wanted to see the (Super Bowl) ring, I was kind of fired up. I was 10 years old. The Super Bowl shuffle ... I'm not singing it for you, ever, but I could if I wanted to. That pretty much got me hooked on football for life. It was great, I remember the home visit. Drake's really starting to come on and I'm really proud of him. He's overcome a lot and played well. It's a neat story to have all these guys whose fathers played in the NFL. Like I said earlier, it's a testament to their families. These guys were playing for so long how about their mothers? They were football widows for a long, long time and pretty much raised these guys to become mature young men and great students so I really respect them. Their dads get a lot of credit but I think it hails in comparison to what their moms did."
On how he gears his team up for November games...
"I tell our guys all the time that people forget what you did in September and October and they remember what you do in November. That was etched in my brain by (Gary Barnett). We're playing our best football right now. Like I said a couple weeks ago, we came out on the short end against the Nittany Lions but we gave ourselves a chance to win we just didn't make the plays down the stretch. We have to continue that momentum this Saturday. It's going to be a very physical game and we have to meet and then exceed Wisconsin's physicality in order to give ourselves a chance to win. The exclamation point would be for our seniors and that's what this game's about. We'll be excited but we need to make sure we're not overly excited and that we stay focused to execute."
On how he played as a freshman at NU...
"I was pretty bad. I have video evidence. I wasn't ready but I remember when Coach asked me to play. I remember my first play like it was yesterday. It was first-and-goal against Boston College on the goal line. I got trucked, touchdown BC. I was out on the next kickoff and got my lips knocked off. I was looking out my ear hole and Chris Martin guided me back to the sideline. It was a bad day but we won. I wasn't a very good football player as a freshman here."
On the parity in the Big Ten this season...
"You go back to the change in scholarships, the reduction to 85 and I believe there's been a lot of parity in this league with a lot of Big Ten champions. I know Ohio State's had a great run and I have so much respect for Coach (Jim) Tressel and his staff and his program, five straight years. I got asked a bunch before the year who I thought the team to beat was and I said until somebody knocks off Ohio State it's going to be the Buckeyes. We didn't play them this year but there's been great parity. We've been right there with three Big Ten championships since 1995 and to have back-to-back winning seasons guaranteed with back-to-back bowl games, in position to have one of the best two-year runs in our program history is exciting. It's a foundation of success laid by our seniors and those that came before them. I'm excited not only about this opportunity and the one that lies ahead but for the future of our program. I'm really excited and I'm looking forward to finishing the right way for our 21 seniors."
On kicker Stefan Demos...
"We have been relentlessly making fun of him since the end of the game. He's a pretty easy target but we've had a lot of fun with him. He's been outstanding all year. He put three really good swings on those kicks but it was just his aim in the target and we talked about it after each kick. He's been pretty unflappable, his attitude has been tremendous, but we were pretty relentless on him this morning. He'll have a big week this week, I'm excited for him. Last week he got put on the Lou Groza semifinalist watch list and we all gave him a big hand for that but we made sure he understood he was voted last on the Ray Guy Award list. (laughter) We humbled him pretty quickly. He's done a great job, he's been outstanding. Ideally we'd like to have those duties divvied up and in the future we may because there's competition. Other specialists are doing a really good job in practice -- Steve Flaherty, Jeff Budzien, Brandon Williams are all doing a really good job but Stefan has solidified himself as our starter. He's done a great job all year and it's time for him to finish, and he will. I'm really pleased with where his attitude's at."
On Demos' first punt at Illinois...
"That was awesome, wasn't it? He hit the ball boy. We told him we were aiming for the boundary but not the guy wearing the "X" 12 yards away. Unfortunately it happens. I've played golf with you and you've played with me, right? It happens. He's done a great job all year, he really has."
