Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: No. 19/19 Nebraska 38, Northwestern 17
10/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Northwestern vs. Nebraska
Ryan Field
October 18, 2014
Postgame Quotes
Northwestern Head Coach
Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement...
"First, an update on Miles [Shuler]: obviously we've got an unbelievable medical team. I want to give great credit to them for handling that situation flawlessly. Things were done for precautionary reasons and the information that I got is that the test came back clear. Which is obviously a positive and we'll see how we progress from there.
"Looking back at the game, it's obviously a tale of two halves. I thought the way we started the game and the way we finished the half, our offense responded after a really terrible two-minute drive by our defense, gave us really solid momentum going into halftime. And then in the second half we had a little bit of attrition offensively; we had guys go down, we couldn't get out of our own way and that's obviously a credit to Nebraska. They had great adjustments at halftime and really just shut us down offensively for the rest of the half, which put our defense in too tough a situation. They were out there way too long against an explosive offense.
"Number one, we've got to get to healthy. That's our first priority. We've got to get rested up, we have stretch run with some big games as we go forward, and obviously some big opportunities. I want to thank our students and our fans who came out for Homecoming. Hope they had a good weekend, sorry to disappoint them in the outcome of the game."
On if the team has changed over the last two weeks in the losses...
"I don't think there's been anything different. I think they've worked really hard. I think we've definitely improved. The way we played in the first half today and the way we played for the majority of the game last week gives an opportunity to win a lot of football games. Anytime you get into conference play, especially into the heart of it in October and November, one play here or there can be a big momentum swing and you just don't know when that's going to happen. I think that's been the difference in the last two weeks; we had opportunities we missed last week and then in the second half today, like our inability to sustain drives and put up some points, while giving up some explosive plays that led to big gains for them in the second half."
On adjustments heading into the second half...
"I thought we had a really good plan. I thought our guys had our eyes in a bad spot a couple times, and they ended up running the same plays they ran in the first half and we just didn't fit it right. They ran one play with that Armstrong run that I don't think I saw one time in the breakdown. So credit them, credit Bo [Pelini], that's a good scheme. They had us on that, though we should be able to win on that play still. They started putting everybody in the box to stop our run, and at that point we had to be able to throw the ball, and we were unsuccessful with that in terms of being able to consistently sustain drives."
On the lack of big plays...
"There were plenty of opportunities for us to seize momentum and we didn't get it done. So it's disappointing. You lose the turnover ratio, 1-0 That's been a recipe for our success. So we lose there. We thought going into this game that was going to be important. We thought winning on third down was going to be important; we were 5-of-16 and they were 8-of-15. So that is loss number two. And loss No. 3 was on the scoreboard. Those were two areas we thought were going to be very important and we lost both of them."
Northwestern Player Quotes
S Traveon Henry
On the hardships in this game...
"We didn't show up the way we should have in the second half and that's something we need to fix. Abdul's a great back, and you can say he was running really strong in the second half. We just needed to show up a little bit more. It's on us to get the job done, needed to have more pride in it."
On if NU was worn down by Nebraska in the second half...
"I don't think we got tired. We're a well-conditioned team, both in terms of offense and defense. I wouldn't attribute it to being tired, it's just us needing to show up. As a defense, we needed to create more turnovers. Going into the game we knew that if we created more turnovers we would win the game and we just didn't get that done. We didn't get any turnovers at all."
On frustration with performance and the outcome of the game...
"I wouldn't say it's frustration. I'd say it's more fuel to our fire. We still have a lot of Big Ten games left in the season that we're looking forward to. We just have to be able to fix those things, those big plays."
WR Tony Jones
On if there was opportunity to win the game...
"Definitely, especially going into half-time when we were up three points. We had the momentum, we just have to come out stronger in that second half. We had the opportunities."
On the benefits of the upcoming bye week...
"It's definitely important to use this week to get healthy and spend a couple days off of our legs. To use this time to get in the video room and really study up on our next opponent."
DL Dean Lowry
On his impression of the defense's play...
"I think, defensively, it was consistency. I think we had a pretty decent day. I don't think we played with our technique and aggression in the entire game, as we should've."
On the lack of big plays on the day...
"It was frustrating on defense. Usually when we have our big wins or play really well we win a turnover margin, defensively, we get the ball back. Today we didn't do that as well, so we definitely need to create turnovers."
On stopping Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah...
"I thought it was all right. Like I said, consistency. I thought it wasn't good enough to stop. I think that if we had tackled better or taken better angles, we would've gotten him down. We've faced two really good backs right now - [Wisconsin's Melvin] Gordon and Abdullah -- so I think we're improving our run game, our defense."
On the upcoming bye week...
"Yeah I think also playing against three really physical teams the last few weeks has been tough. This bi-week is coming at the right time. This week is just about improving and preparing to beat Iowa in two weeks."
Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini
On offensive coordinator Tim Beck's playcalling ...
"De'Mornay [Pierson-El] played quarterback some in high school as did Alonzo [Moore] some, so it's a play that Tim put in for this week and get them thinking speed sweep with one of those guys who were in reverse. I was a little nervous about where he called it because that wasn't quite the area of field we were going to run it on, but that's why Tim calls the plays and I don't."
On second-half defensive adjustments...
"We played better, but we didn't really make a big adjustment. I mean we covered better...I don't know [if] we did some things that were that bad in the first half. I thought we were sloppy tackling earlier on, let some guys leak out, we had one or two miscommunications and really had some opportunities where we were right on guys on third down when they made catches. I just thought we cleaned ourselves up and played a little bit better and were a little more consistent in the second half."
On DT Kevin Williams' spark...
"Kevin played well. I know he was excited to be out there. Kevin, you know what, he had a great week of practice. In my experience when you practice well, you're going to play well. There's no mistake. He's feeling healthy now and I wish the field wasn't the way it was. It was a little bit softened out there. I'm glad he came out of it healthy and it was a little bit of a boost for Kevin. I though Jack Gangwish played well. I thought we played pretty well up front altogether."
On today's substitutions...
"We wanted to sub a little bit more. We got away from them for whatever reason against Michigan State, and like I said when guys practice well they earn playing time and I thought that was the case."
On winning after the Michigan State loss...
"We just needed to come win a football game and I don't want to read too much into it. We're going to meet a challenge next week. We've gotta keep getting better. There's a lot of things that we need to fix, that we need to get better at, as the year keeps going on. We'll stay with what we're doing. If we keep practicing and preparing the way we're capable of, we need to keep getting better and there are some things, especially in that first half, that I didn't like and really things in the second half that we were able to overcome, a couple throws on third down that type of thing or a sack here or there. We just gotta keep trying to get better."
On Ameer Abdullah and the running game...
"You just keep pounding it. You just keep running the football and you know he doesn't need a lot of room. What I was happy with and what I give the offense credit for, is we didn't go away from the run. We stuck with it and kept looking for different ways and different structures and motions and showed Northwestern a lot. We eventually found some things that we really liked and that we were able to take advantage of."
Nebraska Player Quotes
WR De'Mornay Pierson-El
On his thoughts when throwing a touchdown pass to QB Tommy Armstrong...
"Just hit him, don't, don't try to give him a ball down field, just hit him exactly. Put it somewhere where he can catch it."
On learning the play during the week... "Early this week we all laughed at it. We knew it would kind of work, just had to make sure we had to execute it right."
On getting a win after losing to Michigan State on Oct. 4...
"It was absolutely important. A lot of people changed their mind about us and everything like that but we're the same old team. Everybody has off-weeks and off-days, and it just so happened that Michigan State was our off-game. But we bounced back and everything's going to be on a roll."
QB Tommy Armstrong Jr.
On when he found his rhythm...
"Honestly after we started executing more. We were honestly just killing ourselves first half. We just didn't put any points on the board, and I wasn't delivering balls the right way. Guys were miscommunicating on certain routes, and guys weren't doing the right things. But we came in [at halftime] after the first half, fixed those mistakes. We went out there and just played and did the same thing we were doing, just had to make sure we were executing the right way."
On catching the touchdown pass...
"Yeah it was weird. We practiced it all week, and I even told De'Mornay (Pierson-El), `I just hope I don't slip and fall or something like that.'" And the it was great to see how it feels to be a receiver. I know it's not going to come any time soon again, but it was a great feeling."
On rebounding after a loss to Michigan State...
"It was important. It was a tough loss after Michigan State. We weren't executing at all in semblances of the game, when we played Michigan State. And it all started clicking in the fourth quarter, but it was too late. Sometimes you can't do that. We kind of saw the same thing going into the game this first half and we knew that we had to fix something. We knew we had to execute or this team was going to stay in the ball game. We knew going into this ball game that our stuff was going to work, we just had to make sure we executed the right way. It was a great win. These guys beat Penn State and Wisconsin. But we had to make sure that we capitalized and executed in all semblances of the game."
RB Ameer Abdullah
On the message at half time...
"[Northwestern] plays hard every time they play us, but we felt like we had the game in control, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot. Penalties and stuff ... we nipped that in the bud, and the results were nice."
On this win vs. the dramatic games the past couple years...
"The blood pressure was lower. You know, I wasn't scared I'd have a heart attack. So I'm just happy to get a solid win, get us back on the winning foot, and we're going to prepare for Rutgers next week."
