Northwestern University Athletics
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
The Skip Report: Monday Notes - Illinois
11/23/2015 8:39:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
FIRST DOWN: Wisconsin, down six in the final moments of Saturday's game, were set up up on the 'Cat one, and here its quarterback Joel Stave hit Jazz Peavy crossing in the end zone with Nick VanHoose trailing a step behind. The on-field officials signaled a Badger touchdown even though Peavy lost control of the ball when he landed out-of-bounds, but the replay official overturned that call and ruled the pass incomplete. "It's tough. It's really tough for that kid. But you've got to complete the process," Pat Fitzgerald reflected at his weekly Monday presser.
"There's some interpretation to that. But what I saw on the field, I couldn't see anything. So we were getting ready to talk about the PAT block. Then when the replay happened, I've got--like every coach does--someone up top who watches every replay, and he said you might want to take a time out and challenge it. Just as I heard that, they blew it up. I couldn't see it in the game, but I watched it. It's tough. It's one of those situations, the ball goes into the kid's hands and Nick punches the ball and it moves. So now the ability to make the catch is not done. Now it just starts.
"Now another step happened and it moved a little bit, and then when the young man hit the ground it moved a little bit. So unfortunately for him, from my vantage point--which is a little bit skewed; don't get me wrong--it moved all the way through until he hit the ground. Which is tough. But that's the way the rule's written.You see it every week. So it is what it is."
SECOND DOWN: Stave again drops to pass, but this time he is not only sacked by Deonte Gibson for a 10-yard loss. He is left woozy by Gibson's hit, and appears as if he doesn't know the game clock is still running even after he arises.
THIRD DOWN: The rest of the Badgers hurriedly line up for a spike to stop the clock, but Stave is still adrift and not prepared to take the snap. So Badger running back Dave Ogunbowale jumps under center, accepts it and throws the ball into the ground with six seconds remaining. "First of all, for their running back to do that, what an amazing football play. Just great awareness, just a great understanding of the situation with the clock running," Fitzgerald said Monday.
"We do a Friday practice (of unusual situations) and we haven't practiced, 'What if the quarterback can't go?' It goes on the checklist now. What a great job by him. I asked the officials, and I'll keep that conversation between us. I respected their thoughts. But I asked them if I could challenge it under Rule 4321, egregious error. They started laughing at me. 'Rule 4321?' 'Yeah. I just made it up. But can I challenge it because I think there was an egregious error (the Badgers not being fully set) and I know there's a rule for that?' They didn't feel that was the case. So let's go play the next play."
FOURTH DOWN: Bart Houston, who has replaced Stave, throws toward Tanner McEvoy crossing in the end zone. The pass falls incomplete. "We found a way to get it done," Fitzgerald said. "It was one heck of a Big Ten heavyweight battle. Like I told (Badger coach) Paul Chryst after the game, I'm not sure we deserved to win and they deserved to lose. But someone had to. Sorry. Then I got in the locker room and I really wasn't that apologetic anymore, to be honest with you. I was ecstatic for our guys."
AFTERMATH: Gibson was named the Big Ten's co-defensive Player of the Week, which was no surprise. He had three sacks and a half-dozen tackles against the Badgers, whom the 'Cats limited to minus-26 rushing yards. "Not only Deonte, but I thought our entire defensive line, it was one of the more physical, one of the more dominant performances production-wise that I've seen from that group in a long, long time," Fitzgerald said Monday.
What was a surprise is that the 'Cat coaches selected left guard Connor Mahoney as their Offensive Big Playmaker of the Game, and here is why. Rarely is the work of an O lineman acknowledged, and Mahoney was playing in relief of both injured starter Geoff Mogus and his injured backup Sean Mertz. "That might seem a little funny," even Fitzgerald said when announcing Mahoney had won that award. "But we made the decision, we felt strongly that we had to run the football. (They would net 149 yards against a Badger D that was surrendering an average of just 97.9 rushing ypg.) That's who we are, that's our identity. That's what we decided to do and I thought Connor played really, really well."
SEGUE: Mahoney was not the only former two who stepped in on Saturday and picked up the flag. Center Brad North helped key that running game while playing for the injured Ian Park. And linebacker Nate Hall had a team-leading (along with Anthony Walker) eight tackles while playing for the injured Jaylen Prater. And safety Terrance Brown had three tackles while playing for the injured Traveon Henry.
TO THE PRESENT: The 'Cats close out their regular season Saturday at Soldier Field against Illinois, who topped them by 14 last November. They were a battered group that afternoon at Ryan Field, and the inability of their former twos to successfully handle their promotions prompted Fitzgerald to make some changes. Now, in practice, those backups would get more first team reps than they had in the past. Now, early this season, those backups would be a bigger part of the rotation. Now, Fitzgerald said Monday, "When the program needs them to step up, they're mentally prepared and they're physically prepared. . . .
"Obviously it's devastating for the young men that are injured. But the next guys, it's their opportunity and they need to step up. That's why they're in the program. That's why we put the trust in them to be in the two-deep at the start of the season. Again, I'll go back to our plan. I was very critical of myself and I was very critical of what we did a year ago. We went into this (Illinois) game with 30 guys who'd started for us down, and I did not feel I did a good enough job getting the next guys ready. Now did I imagine we'd have that many out? No, and it's not an excuse. We've got to solve the problem, and that's why we did what we did early in the year and that's why we've done what we did all season. To be prepared if that happens, and not to have that ever be an excuse or allowed to be an excuse.
"The next guys have got to step up. We've got it all over our roster right now."
AND FINALLY, Fitzgerald, when asked if he talks about the possibility of this team becoming the first in school history to finish a season with 11 wins: "I'm not afraid to talk about the realities of situations. Maybe it's counter to the way some people think, but we understand the opportunity we have in front of us this week. . . .That's to get to number 10. We've only done that a couple times in this program's history. Our seniors were part of the most recent one (in 2012), so--if we get that accomplished--they're the only guys in our programs history who can say they've done it twice. That's a pretty special legacy, and that would give you an opportunity to go into some uncharted waters. But all that's important is right here, right now. That's what I addressed with the guys this morning. We talked about it. They know, they're aware. All right. Put the hard hat on, roll your sleeves up and let's go to work. We've got to get our minds right, we've got to get rested up. We just got done with a heavyweight fight, and we're going to get another one on Saturday. Illinois got after us a year ago. They kicked our fanny, and our guys know that. The tape doesn't lie. We've got to play much better than we did a year ago."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
FIRST DOWN: Wisconsin, down six in the final moments of Saturday's game, were set up up on the 'Cat one, and here its quarterback Joel Stave hit Jazz Peavy crossing in the end zone with Nick VanHoose trailing a step behind. The on-field officials signaled a Badger touchdown even though Peavy lost control of the ball when he landed out-of-bounds, but the replay official overturned that call and ruled the pass incomplete. "It's tough. It's really tough for that kid. But you've got to complete the process," Pat Fitzgerald reflected at his weekly Monday presser.
"There's some interpretation to that. But what I saw on the field, I couldn't see anything. So we were getting ready to talk about the PAT block. Then when the replay happened, I've got--like every coach does--someone up top who watches every replay, and he said you might want to take a time out and challenge it. Just as I heard that, they blew it up. I couldn't see it in the game, but I watched it. It's tough. It's one of those situations, the ball goes into the kid's hands and Nick punches the ball and it moves. So now the ability to make the catch is not done. Now it just starts.
"Now another step happened and it moved a little bit, and then when the young man hit the ground it moved a little bit. So unfortunately for him, from my vantage point--which is a little bit skewed; don't get me wrong--it moved all the way through until he hit the ground. Which is tough. But that's the way the rule's written.You see it every week. So it is what it is."
SECOND DOWN: Stave again drops to pass, but this time he is not only sacked by Deonte Gibson for a 10-yard loss. He is left woozy by Gibson's hit, and appears as if he doesn't know the game clock is still running even after he arises.
THIRD DOWN: The rest of the Badgers hurriedly line up for a spike to stop the clock, but Stave is still adrift and not prepared to take the snap. So Badger running back Dave Ogunbowale jumps under center, accepts it and throws the ball into the ground with six seconds remaining. "First of all, for their running back to do that, what an amazing football play. Just great awareness, just a great understanding of the situation with the clock running," Fitzgerald said Monday.
"We do a Friday practice (of unusual situations) and we haven't practiced, 'What if the quarterback can't go?' It goes on the checklist now. What a great job by him. I asked the officials, and I'll keep that conversation between us. I respected their thoughts. But I asked them if I could challenge it under Rule 4321, egregious error. They started laughing at me. 'Rule 4321?' 'Yeah. I just made it up. But can I challenge it because I think there was an egregious error (the Badgers not being fully set) and I know there's a rule for that?' They didn't feel that was the case. So let's go play the next play."
FOURTH DOWN: Bart Houston, who has replaced Stave, throws toward Tanner McEvoy crossing in the end zone. The pass falls incomplete. "We found a way to get it done," Fitzgerald said. "It was one heck of a Big Ten heavyweight battle. Like I told (Badger coach) Paul Chryst after the game, I'm not sure we deserved to win and they deserved to lose. But someone had to. Sorry. Then I got in the locker room and I really wasn't that apologetic anymore, to be honest with you. I was ecstatic for our guys."
AFTERMATH: Gibson was named the Big Ten's co-defensive Player of the Week, which was no surprise. He had three sacks and a half-dozen tackles against the Badgers, whom the 'Cats limited to minus-26 rushing yards. "Not only Deonte, but I thought our entire defensive line, it was one of the more physical, one of the more dominant performances production-wise that I've seen from that group in a long, long time," Fitzgerald said Monday.
What was a surprise is that the 'Cat coaches selected left guard Connor Mahoney as their Offensive Big Playmaker of the Game, and here is why. Rarely is the work of an O lineman acknowledged, and Mahoney was playing in relief of both injured starter Geoff Mogus and his injured backup Sean Mertz. "That might seem a little funny," even Fitzgerald said when announcing Mahoney had won that award. "But we made the decision, we felt strongly that we had to run the football. (They would net 149 yards against a Badger D that was surrendering an average of just 97.9 rushing ypg.) That's who we are, that's our identity. That's what we decided to do and I thought Connor played really, really well."
SEGUE: Mahoney was not the only former two who stepped in on Saturday and picked up the flag. Center Brad North helped key that running game while playing for the injured Ian Park. And linebacker Nate Hall had a team-leading (along with Anthony Walker) eight tackles while playing for the injured Jaylen Prater. And safety Terrance Brown had three tackles while playing for the injured Traveon Henry.
TO THE PRESENT: The 'Cats close out their regular season Saturday at Soldier Field against Illinois, who topped them by 14 last November. They were a battered group that afternoon at Ryan Field, and the inability of their former twos to successfully handle their promotions prompted Fitzgerald to make some changes. Now, in practice, those backups would get more first team reps than they had in the past. Now, early this season, those backups would be a bigger part of the rotation. Now, Fitzgerald said Monday, "When the program needs them to step up, they're mentally prepared and they're physically prepared. . . .
"Obviously it's devastating for the young men that are injured. But the next guys, it's their opportunity and they need to step up. That's why they're in the program. That's why we put the trust in them to be in the two-deep at the start of the season. Again, I'll go back to our plan. I was very critical of myself and I was very critical of what we did a year ago. We went into this (Illinois) game with 30 guys who'd started for us down, and I did not feel I did a good enough job getting the next guys ready. Now did I imagine we'd have that many out? No, and it's not an excuse. We've got to solve the problem, and that's why we did what we did early in the year and that's why we've done what we did all season. To be prepared if that happens, and not to have that ever be an excuse or allowed to be an excuse.
"The next guys have got to step up. We've got it all over our roster right now."
AND FINALLY, Fitzgerald, when asked if he talks about the possibility of this team becoming the first in school history to finish a season with 11 wins: "I'm not afraid to talk about the realities of situations. Maybe it's counter to the way some people think, but we understand the opportunity we have in front of us this week. . . .That's to get to number 10. We've only done that a couple times in this program's history. Our seniors were part of the most recent one (in 2012), so--if we get that accomplished--they're the only guys in our programs history who can say they've done it twice. That's a pretty special legacy, and that would give you an opportunity to go into some uncharted waters. But all that's important is right here, right now. That's what I addressed with the guys this morning. We talked about it. They know, they're aware. All right. Put the hard hat on, roll your sleeves up and let's go to work. We've got to get our minds right, we've got to get rested up. We just got done with a heavyweight fight, and we're going to get another one on Saturday. Illinois got after us a year ago. They kicked our fanny, and our guys know that. The tape doesn't lie. We've got to play much better than we did a year ago."
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, check us out on Instagram and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To interact directly with the #B1GCats, visit our Social Media page!
Players Mentioned
S
/ Football
DL
/ Football
LB
/ Football
S
/ Football
OL
/ Football
OL
/ Football
OL
/ Football
OL
/ Football
LB
/ Football
CB
/ Football
LB
/ FootballA Day in the Life with Marcus Romain | Northwestern Football
Friday, May 01
Football - Caleb Tiernan Draft Night Press Conference (4/24/26)
Saturday, April 25
Jerry Neuheisel MIC'D UP | Northwestern Football
Friday, April 10
Football - Players Pro Day Media Availability (Beerntsen, Stone, Tiernan)
Tuesday, March 17
