Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Upon Further Review
9/7/2015 5:00:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
PAT FITZGERALD was happy that his 'Cats had defeated Stanford on Saturday in their season opener. "Absolutely you're ecstatic that you won," he said. He also felt, as he had immediately after that affair, that his defense--especially his defensive front-- had dominated the Cardinal. "I was pretty clear on that. . .and frankly I expect our front to play that way every game. So that wasn't a surprise to us," he also said. But Monday, at his traditional presser, he found very little else for cheer even in the wake of that victory over a ranked team.
"After watching the video," he would instead say in a representative remark, "there aren't too many big heads around here right now. The eye in the sky doesn't lie. The most important picture was that the 'Cats won. That's all that matters. Our number one goal each week is to win. The other things are on all of us. We've got to coach better. The guys have got to take that coaching better. We've got to be more consistent.
"The thing I talked to them about today is I'm tired of being average. And average comes from being inconsistent, and I thought we had a very average performance as a football team on Saturday. I think we can be much better in all three phases."
THE 'CATS, on Saturday, rushed for 225 net yards (to Stanford's 85) and their quarterback, Clayton Thorson, was not sacked even once. But, on Monday, it was the offensive line that was most squarely in Fitzgerald's crosshairs. "I think they were very average. I think we've got a long way to go there," he said of it at one point. "Very inconsistent. Way too many one-man breakdowns. I thought our body language at times was vey poor. We're going to need to play more guys up there, that's the bottom line. That was the group I was probably most-disappointed with."
At another point he added, "I thought, when we really started going with some tempo, the last group to get lined up was the O line. The last group to make a call was the O line. The last group to do what was right was the O line. That's not acceptable. So they've got a lot of work to do. They are far, far from being a finished product."
ON THE FIELD, shortly after Saturday's win, offensive line coach Adam Cushing said this to Fitzgerald. "I should have played more guys. We didn't stick to our plan," he said.
"We wanted to roll more offensive linemen in there and we didn't do it. We didn't do it and we need to do it. We're not consistent enough right now up front," Fitzgerald iterated Monday, and then explained why that would most likely be the case Saturday when the 'Cats host Eastern Illinois. "It goes back to when I was a position coach, and I fundamentally believe this. If I've got two players that are really close, and one is not head and shoulders above the other, I think you should play them both. Let competition not only be Monday through Friday, but Monday through Sunday, and whoever shows up and plays the most consistent football deserves to go out there and at least be the starter and get more of the reps. So. We've got to figure some things out."
FITZGERALD ALSO CRITIQUED superbacks Dan Vitale and Garrett Dickerson, two of his offense's most-skilled performers. "They really had no impact on the game. They're too good of players (for that to happen). G's got to have a bigger impact and so does Danny for us to be successful moving forward," he said of them. And Thorson, the redshirt freshman who had made his first collegiate start against the Cardinal. "He didn't walk in this morning like, 'Wow, I've arrived.' He walked in like, 'Wow, I've got a lot of work to do.' It was his first game experience. He'll be a lot better because of it," he said of him.
And place kicker Jack Mitchell, who has been battling a nagging injury but still kicked three field goals on Saturday. "His trajectory was not good all day. He didn't strike it very well all day, so he's got a lot of work to do," he said of him. And even his defense. "I think," he said of it, "that we had four or five plays where we had communication issues, the secondary wasn't on the same page as the front (seven). Those are the things that get you beat."
FITZGERALD, earlier on Monday, had met with his team, and his message was as pointed there as it was here. "It was. We don't beat around the bush here,"
guard Shane Mertz would avow.
And the players' reaction after the elation they most certainly felt Saturday evening?
"We're trying to be great. We're not trying to be average," said receiver Miles Shuler. "It was a great team win, but we're not satisfied. So we've got to move forward trying to be great."
"Expectations are very high. . .," echoed safety Godwin Igwebuike. "So we have to be better. That's our mentality."
"What Coach Cush always says is it's never as good or as bad as you thought it was," concluded Mertz. "So when you thought you played great, you're going to get taken down a couple notches. When you thought you played terrible, it's never going to be that bad. And, personally, I always like Coach Cush to be more critical of us so we know what we have to do to be elite. So he could have been all happy, 'We beat Stanford. Rah, rah, rah.' But he's only going to do that if he thinks we can't do better. That's not acceptable. We all want to be better. So if there's anything I could have done better, I want to know."
THE CATS' SATURDAY MEETING with FBS opponent Eastern Illinois is potentially a trap game. Logically, then, it can be surmised that part of Fitzgerald's intent here is to get their attention, to keep their hat sizes the same, to make sure they prepare for the Panthers with the same avidity they showed preparing for the Cardinal. But it is logical, as well, to think there is more at work here too, and a glimpse of that was shown above when he said, "I'm tired of being average."
Then there was this, which came near the end of his presser. "I'll never be upset about a victory," he said here. "But when you see what we can potentially be-- I'm done with potential. I want to see production. Period. Production. If you can't produce, you are going to be replaced, and that is the beautiful thing about the 2015 Wildcats right now. I'm not sitting here handcuffed anymore not having somebody to go to. We've got competitive depth. We've got guys who want to play. We've got a hungry attitude and a team that's wants to compete to win every football game.
"Looking back in the rearview mirror, we haven't had that in a couple years. That gives you great confidence as a coach because if a guy's not going to do it the way you want him to do it, he's going to go sit down. He can either figure it out and get it fixed, or he can watch. It's a great seat, standing next to me. But it sure stinks being there. So figure it out."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
PAT FITZGERALD was happy that his 'Cats had defeated Stanford on Saturday in their season opener. "Absolutely you're ecstatic that you won," he said. He also felt, as he had immediately after that affair, that his defense--especially his defensive front-- had dominated the Cardinal. "I was pretty clear on that. . .and frankly I expect our front to play that way every game. So that wasn't a surprise to us," he also said. But Monday, at his traditional presser, he found very little else for cheer even in the wake of that victory over a ranked team.
"After watching the video," he would instead say in a representative remark, "there aren't too many big heads around here right now. The eye in the sky doesn't lie. The most important picture was that the 'Cats won. That's all that matters. Our number one goal each week is to win. The other things are on all of us. We've got to coach better. The guys have got to take that coaching better. We've got to be more consistent.
"The thing I talked to them about today is I'm tired of being average. And average comes from being inconsistent, and I thought we had a very average performance as a football team on Saturday. I think we can be much better in all three phases."
THE 'CATS, on Saturday, rushed for 225 net yards (to Stanford's 85) and their quarterback, Clayton Thorson, was not sacked even once. But, on Monday, it was the offensive line that was most squarely in Fitzgerald's crosshairs. "I think they were very average. I think we've got a long way to go there," he said of it at one point. "Very inconsistent. Way too many one-man breakdowns. I thought our body language at times was vey poor. We're going to need to play more guys up there, that's the bottom line. That was the group I was probably most-disappointed with."
At another point he added, "I thought, when we really started going with some tempo, the last group to get lined up was the O line. The last group to make a call was the O line. The last group to do what was right was the O line. That's not acceptable. So they've got a lot of work to do. They are far, far from being a finished product."
ON THE FIELD, shortly after Saturday's win, offensive line coach Adam Cushing said this to Fitzgerald. "I should have played more guys. We didn't stick to our plan," he said.
"We wanted to roll more offensive linemen in there and we didn't do it. We didn't do it and we need to do it. We're not consistent enough right now up front," Fitzgerald iterated Monday, and then explained why that would most likely be the case Saturday when the 'Cats host Eastern Illinois. "It goes back to when I was a position coach, and I fundamentally believe this. If I've got two players that are really close, and one is not head and shoulders above the other, I think you should play them both. Let competition not only be Monday through Friday, but Monday through Sunday, and whoever shows up and plays the most consistent football deserves to go out there and at least be the starter and get more of the reps. So. We've got to figure some things out."
FITZGERALD ALSO CRITIQUED superbacks Dan Vitale and Garrett Dickerson, two of his offense's most-skilled performers. "They really had no impact on the game. They're too good of players (for that to happen). G's got to have a bigger impact and so does Danny for us to be successful moving forward," he said of them. And Thorson, the redshirt freshman who had made his first collegiate start against the Cardinal. "He didn't walk in this morning like, 'Wow, I've arrived.' He walked in like, 'Wow, I've got a lot of work to do.' It was his first game experience. He'll be a lot better because of it," he said of him.
And place kicker Jack Mitchell, who has been battling a nagging injury but still kicked three field goals on Saturday. "His trajectory was not good all day. He didn't strike it very well all day, so he's got a lot of work to do," he said of him. And even his defense. "I think," he said of it, "that we had four or five plays where we had communication issues, the secondary wasn't on the same page as the front (seven). Those are the things that get you beat."
FITZGERALD, earlier on Monday, had met with his team, and his message was as pointed there as it was here. "It was. We don't beat around the bush here,"
guard Shane Mertz would avow.
And the players' reaction after the elation they most certainly felt Saturday evening?
"We're trying to be great. We're not trying to be average," said receiver Miles Shuler. "It was a great team win, but we're not satisfied. So we've got to move forward trying to be great."
"Expectations are very high. . .," echoed safety Godwin Igwebuike. "So we have to be better. That's our mentality."
"What Coach Cush always says is it's never as good or as bad as you thought it was," concluded Mertz. "So when you thought you played great, you're going to get taken down a couple notches. When you thought you played terrible, it's never going to be that bad. And, personally, I always like Coach Cush to be more critical of us so we know what we have to do to be elite. So he could have been all happy, 'We beat Stanford. Rah, rah, rah.' But he's only going to do that if he thinks we can't do better. That's not acceptable. We all want to be better. So if there's anything I could have done better, I want to know."
THE CATS' SATURDAY MEETING with FBS opponent Eastern Illinois is potentially a trap game. Logically, then, it can be surmised that part of Fitzgerald's intent here is to get their attention, to keep their hat sizes the same, to make sure they prepare for the Panthers with the same avidity they showed preparing for the Cardinal. But it is logical, as well, to think there is more at work here too, and a glimpse of that was shown above when he said, "I'm tired of being average."
Then there was this, which came near the end of his presser. "I'll never be upset about a victory," he said here. "But when you see what we can potentially be-- I'm done with potential. I want to see production. Period. Production. If you can't produce, you are going to be replaced, and that is the beautiful thing about the 2015 Wildcats right now. I'm not sitting here handcuffed anymore not having somebody to go to. We've got competitive depth. We've got guys who want to play. We've got a hungry attitude and a team that's wants to compete to win every football game.
"Looking back in the rearview mirror, we haven't had that in a couple years. That gives you great confidence as a coach because if a guy's not going to do it the way you want him to do it, he's going to go sit down. He can either figure it out and get it fixed, or he can watch. It's a great seat, standing next to me. But it sure stinks being there. So figure it out."
Players Mentioned
SB
/ Football
S
/ Football
OL
/ Football
PK
/ Football
WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
SB
/ 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
