Northwestern University Athletics
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
The Skip Report: Monday Notes - Purdue
11/9/2015 3:57:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Watch: Pat Fitzgerald Press Conference | Student-Athlete Press Conference
TOP OF THE NEWS: Quarterback Clayton Thorson, who suffered an undisclosed injury during the 'Cats win over Penn State, should be good to go Saturday when they face Purdue in their final home game of the season. "He's doing fine and we expect him to play," Pat Fitzgerald said Monday at his weekly presser.
Left guard Geoff Mogus and Will linebacker Jaylen Prater were also hurt against the Nittany Lions, and their returns are less certain. "Both guys are out right now," he said of them.
Does that mean they're out Saturday.
"Out today. Out today," he reiterated.
THINKING BIG: The Wildcats were No. 21 in the first College Football Playoff ranking, and should be even higher when the new one is released Tuesday evening. That has them thinking about, and discussing, a special holiday trip. "I'd be lying to tell you that I didn't talk to the captains and The Leadership Council about. . .(how) we're in the mix for a New Year's Six bowl," Fitzgerald said Saturday in his post-game press conference. "You've got to take it one at a time. But. . .I'm not going to shy away from it with the guys. It's reality. You work your tail off for 11 months to make November significant. Obviously, it's significant for us right now."
"At our team meeting today, the bigger picture was addressed," senior right guard Matt Frazier added Monday. "We try to take everything week-by-week. But the bigger picture was addressed, to play in a New Year's Six Bowl was addressed. But then we brought it down to how do we get there. That's by winning each week. But we did talk about the bigger picture and some bowls that we have a chance of going to, and that's a little extra motivation. But like I said, the only way we're going to get there is by winning each week and going one-and-o. I'm sure you've all heard that a time or two."
"A big thing for our senior class, the legacy that we want to leave, if we win out the rest of our games, we'll be the first Northwestern team to have won 11 games in a season," concluded senior corner Nick VanHoose. "You look at long-term goals, that's something you definitely want to achieve. But you've got to look at it as 1-0 each week. It's step by step. If you start thinking of things long term, you forget about what's in front of you."
OFF THE BENCH I: Quarterback Zack Oliver, who had played sparingly this season, performed admirably Saturday after Thorson went down. He operated with poise and emanated an assuredness; threw for one touchdown and ran for another; choreographed two long scoring drives and then, with the game on the line, deftly directed the two-minute offense that led to Jack Mitchell's winning field goal. "He's been through so much," Fitzgerald said of him later that afternoon. "To see him stay the course, preparing the right way and being prepared when the opportunity presented itself, you say that as a coach, but to see it actually happen"--and here he chuckled--"I'd love to give credit to Mick (McCall, the offensive coordinator) or myself. But it has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with Zack. To see him go out and have some success was outstanding."
On Monday, he added this. "I'm really proud of Zack. He's persevered. I kind of made light of it today at the team meeting. He's kind of been the two (backup) for about 28 years around here. I said that in jest. He's been a great teammate. He's been a great team player. He's given everything he's got to be prepared and help our team. He's filled a lot of roles with that, and to step up the way he did Saturday, I'm very, very proud of him. He'll be ready to go again if he's called on to play. I'm just proud of the way Zack played."
OFF THE BENCH II: The redshirt freshman Nate Hall had been in the linebacker rotation throughout this season. But when Prater, the starter at Will, went down on Penn State's first offensive play on Saturday, his role suddenly expanded exponentially. "It's a whole other world when you go from being a special team's player to all of a sudden now being in the mix, being a Big Ten linebacker," Fitzgerald noted Monday. Yet Hall, just like Oliver, responded with a solid performance and finished with a team-high (along with middle linebacker Anthony Walker) 10 tackles.
"He played really, really well from the standpoint of, at the start of the week, not expecting to be in as much as he was," Fitzgerald continued. "I think he prepared well. Fundamentally and technically, he'll be much better this week than he was last week because he'll go into the week operating as a starter and (doing) all that goes along with that preparation."
"I didn't know what happened (to Prater). But I saw that I needed to be ready to go in," Hall himself said about getting the call. "I've been in the game before in the first, second, third and fourth quarter during some big plays, so I wasn't necessarily nervous, but more ready and focused when I went in. Then after the first series I kind of felt more settled down. It's easier when you have guys like Nick and Ant Walker and Drew Smith (the starting Sam backer). Guys like that make it easier for you to be out there because you know they have trust in you and have confidence in you and are always giving you pointers."
QUICK LEARNER: Penn State was looking at a third-and-one when the 'Cats, down one, called a time out with 2:28 remaining in Saturday's game. They needed a stop, that was obvious, and here they anticipated the Nittany Lions once again using running back Saquon Barkley as a Wildcat. Throughout this afternoon he had rushed effectively out of that formation, twice scoring touchdowns after taking a direct snap, and now he took one more and attempted to pick up an all-important first down. He never did. Hall stuffed him. "Coach (during the time out) talked about how you have to trust yourself, trust your teammates," he said Monday, recalling that pivotal moment that gave the 'Cats the chance to mount their final drive. "Me and Nick had good communication and kind of sniffed out the play a little bit.
"I was ready for the play. I knew they were going to come back to it. Just communicated well and read my keys on time and did what I had to do."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Watch: Pat Fitzgerald Press Conference | Student-Athlete Press Conference
TOP OF THE NEWS: Quarterback Clayton Thorson, who suffered an undisclosed injury during the 'Cats win over Penn State, should be good to go Saturday when they face Purdue in their final home game of the season. "He's doing fine and we expect him to play," Pat Fitzgerald said Monday at his weekly presser.
Left guard Geoff Mogus and Will linebacker Jaylen Prater were also hurt against the Nittany Lions, and their returns are less certain. "Both guys are out right now," he said of them.
Does that mean they're out Saturday.
"Out today. Out today," he reiterated.
THINKING BIG: The Wildcats were No. 21 in the first College Football Playoff ranking, and should be even higher when the new one is released Tuesday evening. That has them thinking about, and discussing, a special holiday trip. "I'd be lying to tell you that I didn't talk to the captains and The Leadership Council about. . .(how) we're in the mix for a New Year's Six bowl," Fitzgerald said Saturday in his post-game press conference. "You've got to take it one at a time. But. . .I'm not going to shy away from it with the guys. It's reality. You work your tail off for 11 months to make November significant. Obviously, it's significant for us right now."
"At our team meeting today, the bigger picture was addressed," senior right guard Matt Frazier added Monday. "We try to take everything week-by-week. But the bigger picture was addressed, to play in a New Year's Six Bowl was addressed. But then we brought it down to how do we get there. That's by winning each week. But we did talk about the bigger picture and some bowls that we have a chance of going to, and that's a little extra motivation. But like I said, the only way we're going to get there is by winning each week and going one-and-o. I'm sure you've all heard that a time or two."
"A big thing for our senior class, the legacy that we want to leave, if we win out the rest of our games, we'll be the first Northwestern team to have won 11 games in a season," concluded senior corner Nick VanHoose. "You look at long-term goals, that's something you definitely want to achieve. But you've got to look at it as 1-0 each week. It's step by step. If you start thinking of things long term, you forget about what's in front of you."
OFF THE BENCH I: Quarterback Zack Oliver, who had played sparingly this season, performed admirably Saturday after Thorson went down. He operated with poise and emanated an assuredness; threw for one touchdown and ran for another; choreographed two long scoring drives and then, with the game on the line, deftly directed the two-minute offense that led to Jack Mitchell's winning field goal. "He's been through so much," Fitzgerald said of him later that afternoon. "To see him stay the course, preparing the right way and being prepared when the opportunity presented itself, you say that as a coach, but to see it actually happen"--and here he chuckled--"I'd love to give credit to Mick (McCall, the offensive coordinator) or myself. But it has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with Zack. To see him go out and have some success was outstanding."
On Monday, he added this. "I'm really proud of Zack. He's persevered. I kind of made light of it today at the team meeting. He's kind of been the two (backup) for about 28 years around here. I said that in jest. He's been a great teammate. He's been a great team player. He's given everything he's got to be prepared and help our team. He's filled a lot of roles with that, and to step up the way he did Saturday, I'm very, very proud of him. He'll be ready to go again if he's called on to play. I'm just proud of the way Zack played."
OFF THE BENCH II: The redshirt freshman Nate Hall had been in the linebacker rotation throughout this season. But when Prater, the starter at Will, went down on Penn State's first offensive play on Saturday, his role suddenly expanded exponentially. "It's a whole other world when you go from being a special team's player to all of a sudden now being in the mix, being a Big Ten linebacker," Fitzgerald noted Monday. Yet Hall, just like Oliver, responded with a solid performance and finished with a team-high (along with middle linebacker Anthony Walker) 10 tackles.
"He played really, really well from the standpoint of, at the start of the week, not expecting to be in as much as he was," Fitzgerald continued. "I think he prepared well. Fundamentally and technically, he'll be much better this week than he was last week because he'll go into the week operating as a starter and (doing) all that goes along with that preparation."
"I didn't know what happened (to Prater). But I saw that I needed to be ready to go in," Hall himself said about getting the call. "I've been in the game before in the first, second, third and fourth quarter during some big plays, so I wasn't necessarily nervous, but more ready and focused when I went in. Then after the first series I kind of felt more settled down. It's easier when you have guys like Nick and Ant Walker and Drew Smith (the starting Sam backer). Guys like that make it easier for you to be out there because you know they have trust in you and have confidence in you and are always giving you pointers."
QUICK LEARNER: Penn State was looking at a third-and-one when the 'Cats, down one, called a time out with 2:28 remaining in Saturday's game. They needed a stop, that was obvious, and here they anticipated the Nittany Lions once again using running back Saquon Barkley as a Wildcat. Throughout this afternoon he had rushed effectively out of that formation, twice scoring touchdowns after taking a direct snap, and now he took one more and attempted to pick up an all-important first down. He never did. Hall stuffed him. "Coach (during the time out) talked about how you have to trust yourself, trust your teammates," he said Monday, recalling that pivotal moment that gave the 'Cats the chance to mount their final drive. "Me and Nick had good communication and kind of sniffed out the play a little bit.
"I was ready for the play. I knew they were going to come back to it. Just communicated well and read my keys on time and did what I had to do."
••••••
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