Postgame Quotes
9/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 12, 2009
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement...
"On the heels of 9/11, it was Heroes' Day today. Our entire program would like to lift our thoughts and prayers up for those impacted by 9/11 and to our troops defending us throughout the country. On to the game; great start. For the first 15 minutes we got out of the gate the right way, and then (there were) self-inflicted wounds and not continuing to play our style of football. To Eastern Michigan's credit, they took advantage of our miscues. They went out and made plays. There will be a lot in all three phases [of the game] that we can fix, correct and grow from. For us to continue to be 1-0 on Saturdays, we're going to have to correct those in a hurry. That's on us as coaches. Obviously not being able to stop the run allows a team to have balance. Our inability to not have penalties, to turn the ball over multiple times, put our defense in a tough situation. We need to respond to that better; to put the fire out. There's a lot to learn from, a lot to grow and we'll get to work right away tomorrow. "
On Eastern Michigan's ability to run the ball...
"I would say that it's very similar to some of the drills we do every week, and we didn't execute very well. I wouldn't say we were out-schemed, I'd say we were out-played."
On when momentum shifted in the game...
"Probably on that punt play, when they were able to get the short field on our defense. We had a chance to get off the field, and to the quarterback's credit, I moved our young free safety and he was able to make a play, throwing a touchdown in the corner of the end zone."
On the play of kicker Stefan Demos...
"Well as I told him after the game, great job doing your job. He's got a real calm presence about him. He's really mature, he's kicked very well all throughout camp. It's a good job, he begged for the opportunity and he's taken advantage of it. I'm proud of him, I really am. It was a great job putting a smooth swing on it, and I think it probably would have been good from 55 or 60, so it was a great kick."
On the general play of his team...
"To win a game the way that we did is worrisome across the board. We need to execute better in all aspects. It's easy when you see the ball run the way it was today, to point the finger at the defensive line. But I'm not prepared to do that yet. I need to watch some video. It is disappointing. We should be better than that. Obviously today we need to give credit to Eastern Michigan. They went out and made the plays and did things they needed to do to stay in the game."
On interchanging quarterbacks Mike Kafka and Dan Persa...
"We're going to try and play both of them, and play them to their strengths. I thought Mike was taking what the defense gave him. I thought from the standpoint of having his second game under his belt, he's continuing to progress and continuing to improve. We're going to try to use Dan because he's a tremendous athlete. We're going to try and use him in different ways. Each week might be a little bit different how we're going to use him."
On the play of superback Drake Dunsmore...
"It's two games in and I'm really excited for him to be back out there. He's a dynamic athlete, he catches the ball well. He's blocking better and better each week, and he's going to just continue to learn and grow. At this time, he's basically a red-shirt sophomore. He hasn't played football for two years, and it's been pretty tough on him. So I'm excited to see him out there."
On what changed for the team in the second half...
"There was poor execution on our part, and not capitalizing on momentum plays. There were some momentum plays that they made, and obviously we didn't go out there and seize them back. That's the game of football, it's a game of momentum. You've got to sustain it and use it to your advantage. When you lose it, you have to fight, scratch and claw to get it back. To Eastern Michigan's credit, they kept it, but I thought we managed the end of the game pretty well."
On what he takes from the game...
"It's exciting to win, I know that. It's great to be 1-0 today. You feel a lot better, you feel you can coach guys harder and get after them, and be a little bit more demanding. Especially after a win like this, you continue to have your points of emphasis. You're up 21-0, but on the sidelines you need to think it's 0-0. For the most part, the guys paid attention, but obviously our lack of discipline and our inability to put a team away when we have them down cost us dearly."
Northwestern Player Quotes
Junior kicker Stefan Demos
On his game-winning field goal...
"It's a kicker's dream to have the opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal. Kickers have limited opportunities to really help their teams out, and I was very blessed to have the opportunity. Would I rather have them score a touchdown? Absolutely. But Coach Fitz showed all the confidence in the world in me sending me out there. I was just doing my job for the team, but it's a kicker's dream and I'm happy to help the team out today.
"Luckily we actually had the wind at our backs a little bit. That was the side in warmups, that south end zone, where I didn't miss in warmups. So I had a lot of confidence going into that kick. Coach did a good job of getting the ball in the middle of the field. That's where I like it."
On if it's been a long wait for him as a place-kicker...
"It has. After last week, that was my first field goal since 2005. After punting and kicking off the last two years and redshirting...it's been a long wait. But with Coach Fitz showing the confidence in me this year all through camp...he's stuck with me through bad days and good days. Our offense and defense did a great job today. Our O-line protected on that field goal. It was a great snap by John Henry Pace, Zeke Markshausen with a perfect hold and I just went out there and did my job."
Senior safety Brendan Smith
On if it feels like a win...
"It does. The scoreboard doesn't lie. It just shows that we have to work even harder this week. Last week we weren't satisfied, but we didn't do the correct things to learn from those mistakes to try to fix them and get better."
On playing defense following a turnover...
"The odds are on their side for them to put up points. We just have to put more effort into it. It has to mean a little more. That's with everyone on the team. Every aspect - whether you're on the sideline or on the field - we just have to want it more and play with a little more energy and have greater focus and a sense of urgency to make those plays. We want to be out there. If those mistakes happen, it's part of the game. We're here to play defense and we want to be on the field, so it shouldn't matter whether it's after a turnover or after a score. We want to be on the field to make plays."
Sophomore linebacker Ben Johnson
On his interception that was returned for a touchdown...
"I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. Anybody else on the team probably could have made that play. The ball ended up in my hands and I just had to run with it.
"I read three-step (drop). I was supposed to keep contain and if I see three-step, I have to drop out. Honestly, I don't have much of a coverage there. It was just kind of thrown right to me."
On the play of the linebackers in the game...
"We came out real quick and then in the second half we let down and we let them back in the game. Eastern Michigan did a great job of fighting the entire second half. They brought it to us. The backers have a lot of work to do to be a great corps."
Junior running back Stephen Simmons
On keeping up the intensity the entire game...
"We just need to play like it's 0-0 the whole game. I think we just started looking up and seeing that we were up and thinking it was going to be similar to last weekend. This team battled back and we didn't respond the way we should until the end."
On what he expects to learn from watching the game film...
"I think it's going to be a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. There are a lot of things that we can learn from. It's going to be all about learning and getting ready for the next week. You can't focus on all the bad things and you can't focus on all the good things. There's going to be a lot of teaching I think."
On the offense using multiple running backs...
"I think we're always fresh. When you come in, you're not winded at all. As soon as you start to get a little winded, someone else is coming in to take the spot that is completely fresh. That's more that the defense needs to worry about. They're not getting subbed in and each of us runs differently. They have to prepare for four or five different running backs who all have different styles and are completely fresh every time they come in the game."
Senior quarterback Mike Kafka
On the difficulty of preparing for Eastern Michigan's pass defense...
"We saw a lot of looks in practice throughout the week. I thought we were very prepared. Offensively, I though we did ok passing-wise and protection-wise. They didn't really show us a whole bunch, but for what they gave us, we were prepared and we made some adjustments. I thought we did a pretty good job adjusting."
On responding to adversity...
"As an offense, it's huge to get momentum. Some penalties might have hurt us a little bit throughout the game, but we responded. We came back in the two-minute drill and when we needed to get it done, we got it done. Stefan (Demos) made a great kick and we got away with one."
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Ron English
Opening Statement
"We have to learn to finish. We didn't finish the game. I thought in the last kickoff, we didn't execute and obviously allowed [Northwestern] to get in field goal range. Their kicker was good enough to kick it through."
On making up a 21-point deficit...
"We knew at halftime that the score should have been a lot less. We knew we could perform and so it was just a matter of guys believing. We had some successes but we didn't finish some things that we knew we had a chance to, if we finished and executed, to come back."
On pinning Northwestern inside the 2-yard line twice...
"We have one of the great punters in the country in Zach [Johnson] so it's just a matter of getting guys down there to field (the punt). But we do have one of the great punters in the country."
On building toward future games...
"We just want to get better every week. That's what we wanted to do this week so we want to win. I want to sing that fight song. We have a fight song that we sing after we win and I haven't sung it yet so hopefully, next week, we'll sing that.
