Northwestern University Athletics
Skip Myslenski: Just The Facts Following Minnesota
9/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 26, 2009
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By SKIP MYSLENSKI, NUsports.com Special Contributor
In memory of the late actor Jack Webb, who on that old TV series called "Dragnet" portrayed Sgt. Joe Friday, who immortalized the line, "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts."
• The 'Cats, as all know, have long prided themselves on finishing. But, for the second week in a row, they entered the fourth quarter with a lead and did not hold it. "It's everything we do. We start from the way we do our dynamic warm-up to the way that we finish practice to everything in between. Finish is a way of life," their coach, Pat Fitzgerald, later said.
"When you don't accomplish that and it's something you value, obviously our message, the way we're working it, we'll analyze, but more than anything we need to stay the course. . . I feel great about our conditioning level. That's not the issue. The issue is making plays in the fourth quarter. . . That's how you win Big Ten football games. . . That's what we'll focus in on this week. Finishing and making plays."
• Two games certainly do not constitute a trend. But in Saturday's fourth quarter, as the 'Cats worked their way toward a loss to Minnesota, there were some truly staggering numbers. They, in those 15 minutes, ran three series; got off nine plays (excluding punts); netted eight yards; scored no points; and held the ball for 2:42. The Gophs, in stark contrast, ran four series; got off 25 plays (excluding punts); netted 119 yards (despite taking two late knees for minus three); scored a pair of touchdowns; and held the ball for 12:18.
So how do you keep that from becoming a trend?
"We've just got to trust ourselves and be confident in the situation," said Fitzgerald. "I don't have a magic pill. I don't have a magic call. I don't have a magic formula besides trust and confidence and staying together. If you stay together, you have a chance to get the job done."
Are you surprised they aren't getting it done?
"I'm shocked."
• "There's no doubt in anybody's mind, going into the fourth quarter, that we're going to win," said superback Brendan Mitchell, whose fine catch along the left sideline in the end zone gave the 'Cats a three-point lead with six seconds remaining in the third. "We believe. We're a team that believes whether we're one up or one down, a hundred up or a hundred down, we always believe we're going to finish in the fourth quarter and pull it out and win the game. As far as doubt is concerned, that's something that never crosses our mind."
• "We're prepared, man. Practice, believe it or not, we had the best practice I think we had this week," said corner Sherrick McManis, who played extensively for the first time this season. "But that only takes you so far. It puts you in position to win. We were in position to win. But you gotta win."
• Quarterback Mike Kafka ended his day 32-of-47 for 309 yards and a pair of touchdowns, a strong performance that gave his team a chance to win. But on its final series of the first half, his pass to Drake Dunsmore near the end zone sailed high and was intercepted. "I overthrew him. I overthrew him. That was my fault. Just a poor decision," he said of it. Then, on NU's first series of the fourth quarter, he badly missed Sid Stewart, who was five yards behind the nearest Goph defender on a deep post. "It's one of those things we've got to complete," Kafka said of that.
• Also, for the second week in a row, Kafka had the opportunity to author a late game-winning drive and etch his name in lore. Against Syracuse, he threw an interception. Against the Gophs, with the ball on his own 17, he rolled to his right, was stripped and committed the turnover that led to their final touchdown.
"I don't know who hit it," he later said (it was Goph defensive end Cedric McKinley). "But right when I was about to throw, it got stripped out. I'm looking downfield. I was looking downfield."
• We've just got to take care of the football in the red zone," said Fitzgerald. "You can't turn it over going in and you can't turn it over backed up."
The 'Cats got one of their 23 first downs on a penalty. They got only twice that number, or two, on the ground.
• Midway through the second quarter, with the ball on the 'Cats' 19-yard line, Goph quarterback Adam Weber completed a simple out to tight end Nick Tow-Arnett, who now ran through the tackle of safety Brendan Smith; eluded a swipe by middle linebacker Nate Williams; and ran through the tackle of McManis before being downed at the three. That play symbolized much of the 'Cats' effort this day and so it was no wonder that, when asked about their tackling, Fitzgerald veritably snapped, "Awful. Awful."
Was that characteristic, something he had seen in practice?
"Completely out of our character. I've got to give the credit to Minnesota. I guess they either put grease on their pants and their jerseys. Or we just decided not to tackle with our chest and on our feet and play Big Ten football. That's something we'll address and we'll fix immediately."
"He's right. It was awful," McManis later agreed. "It could be better, a lot better."
• Last year's defense surrendered a mere 20.2 points-per-game, the best performance by that unit since the 1995 Rose Bowl team. This year's defense, which features eight returning starters, has failed to pitch a shutout in any of the last 10 quarters and, in those quarters, has given up 12 touchdowns and 93 points. That averages out to 37.2 ppg.
McManis, when asked if the current unit has shown it was good, manned up and admitted: "Of course not. No, we haven't. We've shown we're capable of being a good defense, a great defense. But like I said, we've got to be consistent. Once we all start clicking, once you guys start seeing that, then we'll start finishing games."
• McManis, by the way, finished his first extensive tour of duty with nothing more than the typical aches and pains. Of those he said: "It feels good to be sore, actually. I haven't been sore for a while."
• Defensive end Corey Wootton did manage to hurry Weber on a pair of occasions. But he is clearly not back to being his old self. "I definitely feel like I'm improving every week," he later said. "But I'm still not quite where I want to be."
When will he be?
"I'm not really sure. I'm just glad its getting better every week. The knee feels better. Out there I'm feeling more and more comfortable every week. I can't say a specific date. But I feel when it happens, I'll just kind of know. Maybe it'll be a certain cut I used to do that I'll feel more explosive out of. But I can't really say."
• "I think he's just continuing to work and get better," Fitzgerald said of Wootton. "He's nine months removed from a major injury. I don't know how many of you guys in this room have been nine months removed from a major injury and played Big Ten football. So I'll speak from experience on that. It's one of the hardest things you're going to do in your life. He's fighting through it. He's scratching, he's clawing, he's doing everything he can to help our football team win. I'm proud as hell of him, I really am."
• It's definitely a rough one," Kafka said when asked about the team's locker room after this loss. "We know we had it. We had it in our grasp in the fourth quarter with the lead. We've just got to find that killer instinct as a team and just kick it into gear. We've got to smell blood and get after it."
• "Obviously, I'd like to be 4-0," said Fitzgerald. "We're not."
