Northwestern University Athletics
Weekly News Conference Transcript
9/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 28, 2009
Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Weekly Press Conference Transcript
Opening Statement...
"One thing I'd like to stress before we get going is that the thoughts and prayers of our staff are with Don Patterson down at Western Illinois. He's a tremendous coach and a great man. He decided to step aside due to some health reasons, but Coach Patterson and I have been in contact quite a bit over the years. Obviously he has ties to the University of Iowa and we competed against teams coached by him so we'd like to express our prayers to him as he battles and hopefully get him a little more energy.
Also a big thank you to our students, I thought they were great on Saturday, it was great to have them back and hopefully their second week of class is as exciting as their first week. I thought they did a tremendous job and we're going to need them back here in a couple weeks. I hope a couple of them can make a safe road trip to West Lafayette as we go play a very good football team.
From an injury update standpoint, Bryce McNaul will be out and Stephen Simmons I'd list as doubtful based on where we are to start the week. After seeing the video I don't have a whole lot more to shed light on about Saturday's game. We need to make the plays we're capable of. We're hungry to do that and get back on the practice field. We'll be back at it Tuesday morning so with that I'll open it up to questions."
On yards after the catch (both offensively and defensively) in the game vs. Minnesota...
"From a tailback standpoint, we hit our number. At the wide receiver position we were just short of it. On defense we saw a lot of missed tackles and in the kicking game it's irrelevant."
On the effect of the quarter system at Northwestern University...
"I believe the quarter system is a huge advantage for us. This year our guys played three games without having one class. If you multiply that over the course of a career you're basically playing a whole season of games without having to be enrolled in class. It's a good opportunity to come together as a team and to build that chemistry as we go through two-a-day camps. Then to have that change of pace once we do start school is a good distraction. I definitely think it's an advantage and I think it plays into the success we've had academically in the fall quarter. We've already been here for a while on campus, it's not like we're only here a week or 10 days and then guys are thrown into classes."
On NU's missed tackles vs. Minnesota...
"We do the same thing every week (in practice). We just need to keep our eyes up and trust our technique and fundamentals. We've got a great plan and our guys have executed it about 90 percent of the time. Unfortunately, in the 10 percent we've given up big plays or we haven't made the plays we're capable of. When you're a few plays away from being 1-0 four times you don't just start changing everything that's not broken. You just have to do it better and to the best of your ability and we've got to coach them that way. I don't know if there's a team that practices tackling more than we do in more scenarios than we do. We just keep working at it and working hard and I know our guys will too."
On NU's options at quarterback...
"Both guys (Mike Kafka and Dan Persa) are doing a really good job. Mike's giving us an opportunity to win football games. He'd like to have a few plays back at the end of games, then he gets the blame. But there's other guys that are right there along with him. He just needs to keep playing consistent and continue to work on the things he's doing."
On Arby Fields' role at running back with Stephen Simmons out...
"I thought Arby played well on Saturday. We need to run the ball better there's no question about that. If we take away the sacks, the numbers aren't as skewed as they look. I still don't understand in the infinite wisdom of the NCAA why sacks count against your rushing yardage. I think it should take away from your throwing numbers, but it is what it is. We ran the ball pretty close to being efficient for the game, which is around 55 or 60 percent in the game. We need to do a better job to get there."
On the changes at Purdue since head coach Danny Hope took over...
"There are a lot of similarities. On offense, Ralph Bolden has had a great start to the year, he's a very dynamic runner with great feet and great vision. He's extremely hard to take down in the open field. (Quarterback) Joey Elliot is spreading it out to his weapons, I was very impressed with the game Keith Smith had against Notre Dame. Kyle Adams is catching the ball well and the whole receiving corps is doing a good job. Up front, they're playing hard. Offensively there's a little bit more two-back but there are some similarities to under Joe Tiller and on defense they're being aggressive with a lot of zone pressure. It starts up front with Mike Neal, who's as big a force as there is in the league, and Ryan Kerrigan. I said a year ago that I liked Ryan when I saw him on film, he's playing fast and physical. It's a team that's going to be a great challenge for us."
On keeping the team focused off the field following a loss...
"Goal No. 1 every week is to consistently prepare for victory so that's how you build the momentum. You get prepared by hitting video before practice to know what you will see in the reps at practice. You need a great enthusiasm and passion to improve. If you have those things in place you're probably going to get better during the week and if you get better during the week, you bring it on the bus and go play that way."
On Purdue's rushing attack through the first four games...
"Watching on film, I don't know if (opposing defenses) did anything magical other than maybe outnumber them in the box. Notre Dame used a little bit more zone pressure than Northern Illinois. (Bolden) still got his yards just maybe not as many explosion runs as he had against Oregon and Toledo."
On the play of the defense...
"A lot of guys on the defense are tackling. The issue is when we're missing multiple tackles on a given play, that's when we're giving up explosion plays. Same thing applies to our kickoff team. We broke a single-game record for missed tackles on kickoffs on Saturday. I don't have a solution to that besides tackle the guy with the ball. Stop diving, run your feet. When we do that we're good, like on Charles Brown's last play on kickoff. We can do it. We believe we can do it. We know we've done it in the past and we did it Saturday. To point to a single guy would be unfair. We just need to do the things we're capable of. Guys aren't very pleased around here but you flush the bad things that happen and learn from them."
On what NU can improve on...
"You look at the plays we gave up, we have to fit better, we have to tackle. You look at the plays we gave up on defense and we need to tackle better and play with a little more emotion and energy. Our guys recognize that. On offense, we need to make the plays we're capable of. There's points out there and we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties in the red zone. Stefan (Demos) is kicking the ball pretty well. There's a number of things across the board we're doing well that we can draw from when we go play a very good football team and try to find a way to get a win."
On how much film he watches after a loss...
"The tape doesn't lie. I was done watching our tape before I was done watching the Notre Dame-Purdue game. I can come back and watch it again and again but I'd rather take a ballpeen hammer to my temple. You just see what you see, correct it, coach them up and have some fun. As a football team we can play better, we can coach better, we need to stick together. That's the key thing: just stay the course and stick to the plan. We're in the first game of the second quarter of the season. There's a lot of football left to be played and no game is going to get any easier. That's the good thing about playing Big Ten football, you need to trust yourself. Nobody's very pleased around here, I have secretaries yelling at me, it's awesome, I couldn't be in a better mood right now."
On the development of leading receiver Zeke Markshausen...
"That will show you why you take great character young men to put in your program. He's a guy who reached out to us and said he wanted to walk on. We sat down with him and the great family he's from and he said I think I can play at this level. Each year he's just worked his tail off to get out and have a ball, and find a way to get on the field. At first it was in the kicking game. He runs good routes, catches the ball well with his hands and does a nice job blocking on the perimeter. It's real important to him. What I think is neat about Zeke is his demeanor, he's a calm guy, goes about his business the same way each and every day, very devout about his faith and he's a tremendous young man with a very bright future."
On the team's attitude entering this week...
"We just have to find a way to win. What's important now is getting better. All the things we need to work on we practice, we drill, and you typically achieve what you emphasize. We'll go to work on the things that you need to do to win football games. I just met with our leadership council and I thought Mike (Kafka) said it best, we need to make the plays we're capable of making. That's coming from your quarterback, who I think is playing as well as anybody in this league right now, and I like it. Mike's in a great place, doing a great job leading the offense. I see a nice look in Corey Wootton's eye and he's continuing to play better. Those are two of the better players in the conference and two of the better players on our team so if their attitude is right I know they'll make sure our team's attitude is right and that guys are getting back to work."
