Northwestern University Athletics
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
The Skip Report: "It's Already 'Before You Know It'"
11/13/2017 4:51:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: Two years ago, back when Clayton Thorson was a raw redshirt first year and Justin Jackson an established sophomore star, opponents stuffed the box, intent on stopping the running back and daring the quarterback to beat them. Purdue defended with the same intent when they visited Ryan Field last Saturday, and so Monday Pat Fitzgerald was asked if his team confronted then what they had confronted two years ago.
"Did you say two weeks ago?" he asked back.
"Two years ago," he was told.
"I would say two weeks ago," he clarified. "Yeah. Yeah. It's the same thing that Michigan State did."
So Clayton's gotten no respect over the years?
"I don't know about that. No. I don't know about that," Fitzgerald said. "You've got to make teams one dimensional. You've got to pick your poison. We've played teams that have defended us differently. That's why you go in with a plan and then you've got to make adjustments to your plan based on how you're seeing things."
When he says that teams have defended the 'Cats differently, have some actually decided to shut down Clayton and take their chances with Justin?
"Yeah. Yeah."
Who'd be that stupid?
"Quiet, Skip," he said, and then he smiled.
THE WAY IT WORKS: The 'Cats netted 94 rushing yards against the Boilers, but Thorson singed them with a four-yard touchdown run and an 11-yard touchdown pass and that got him the last laugh. The defense, in turn, even more-thoroughly throttled the Boiler running game, limiting it to an average of 1.8 yards-per-carry and forcing their quarterback Elijah Sindelar to throw 60 times. He would complete 37 of them for 376 yards in a loss, which Fitzgerald emphasized when asked Monday about that inflated yardage.
"What did we give up? Thirteen points? You win a lot of games when you give up 13 points," he said here. "I could give a rat's behind about yards. I've been well quoted (saying) stats are for losers. So. Stats are for losers. The most important thing is the score. You score one more point than your opponent. They took a lot of hitches. Go ahead. Go ahead."
"Their longest completion was 35 yards (actually 34). A lot of it was dinks and dunks," safety Kyle Queiro would soon echo. "With the defensive line and the front seven playing the way they're playing, we need to understand we're going to get a lot of passes from a lot of teams. Especially in the second half of this season, teams have constantly abandoned the running game. With that understanding, we know in the back half we're going to get attacked. We have been all year. It doesn't help our stats. But numbers are for losers. We only gave up 13 points."
IN THE WAKE: After their victory over the Boilers, which pushed their winning streak to five, Fitzgerald talked to his 'Cats about potentially getting bored with winning.
"We weren't as quick to jump around, do our dances, stuff like that. That's something that caught his attention and immediately he wanted to nip that in the bud," Querio said, explaining why. "It needs to be an infectious, contagious thing. It's hard to win in the Big Ten and we need to continue doing it.
LOOKIN' BACK EVEN FURTHER: The 'Cats Saturday meeting with Minnesota is Senior Day, their last home game of the season, and that is why some of Fitzgerald's Monday presser was given over to reminiscing about those who will be honored that morning.
"Kyle," he said of Queiro, "it's a family affair there. I had the privilege to coach both him and his brother Cam. His mom and dad, it seems like yesterday that I walked into his house in New Jersey. So it's, it's, it's an emotional week for me. I go back with a lot of these guys to the start of their recruiting process, when they were 15, 16 years old. To see the men that they've become while going through our program, I'm just really proud of them."
Is it like yesterday with all of them?
"Yeah. Yeah. It goes way too fast. It's one of those things, when you have your first team meeting, you talk about how you set your team room up, where your freshmen sit. You tell them, 'You can't hear this clear enough. This is going to go faster than any other aspect of your life. You've got to start it, you've got to go attack it and don't wait your turn because before you know it, you're going to wake up and it's going to be Senior Day.'
"When I talked to the seniors today, the group came together, they all kind of looked at each other like, 'Wow. This went really fast.' It's a little bit different having three more games. This one plus two (at Illinois on Nov. 25 and in a bowl). As we go through these next whatever weeks together, it'll hit them more and more emotionally. But, no matter what, you've got to use that emotion the right way. I know coaches throughout the country who won't have a Senior Day because they're afraid the emotion will be a distraction. I look at it the other way around. I think that's a positive emotion. I think it's more for the guys' families, this weekend, for their sacrifice and dedication. If you're a parent and you raise a young man to be a Northwestern student-athlete, you've got to check the box of well done."
THE EXEMPLAR: Defensive tackle Tyler Lancaster wears number one for a reason. His picture is in the dictionary next to the phrase "Wildcat Way." But back when he was being recruited, he was a high school center who came to campus for a summer camp.
"I felt there was going to be no problem with him being an O lineman. I wanted to see if he could be a D lineman," remembered Fitzgerald, thinking back to that occasion. "He came to camp and just dominated. I don't recall who he went against, but he just dominated. And did it so fundamentally sound that we had our post-camp meeting and I said, 'We're offering him as a D lineman.'
"Marty Long (who coaches the D line) went, 'OK. I guess that's what we're doing.'
"So I brought Tyler and his mom and his sister I think up to the office and said, 'We're going to offer you a scholarship. What position do you want to play?'
"He said, 'I'll play anywhere.'
"I said, 'Cool. We're going to offer you as a D lineman.'
"He went, 'All right. Sounds good to me.'
"I said, 'If it doesn't work out, we'll move you to O line.'
"I think he's a prospect for both on Sundays. As the scouts have come through here, they love his size, they love his strength, some of the teams have liked him as a D tackle prospect, and some of the others go, 'He should grab that ball again and snap it.' That's beauty's in the eyes of the beholder. He's a great D lineman for us. He's an All Big Ten D lineman. I mean, nobody's moved him. He has been a force inside all year. That's why's we've played him there and he's had a great career. But to say he couldn't be an All Big Ten O lineman too, I think he could. But the head coach played defense. So. That's the way it goes."
"I thought I'd be an offensive lineman, but my dream was to play college football," Lancaster himself recalled minutes later. "I set my eyes on Northwestern, this was the prize. I came to the camp and I think Brad North (the current center) committed the day before. They already had a bunch of offensive linemen in my class. So they tried me at D line. Coach Long saw me broad jump. It was nine (feet), four (inches). He's like"—and here he mimics Long's distinctive tone—"'Wow. We don't have DBs that can do that.' So they offered me and he asked what I wanted to play and I told him whatever would get me onto the field."
AND FINALLY, Lancaster, on Senior Day: "You're so focused each week, this game, this game, this game. It's that one week, and they fly by. I didn't even realize this was the last home game until after the last game since the last game is what I was focused on last week. It really came fast, especially from the beginning of the season. We had a captains' meeting (back then) and Coach Fitz said, 'Hey, we're going to be at the last one before you know it.' It's already 'Before you know it.'"
NUsports.com Special Contributor
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: Two years ago, back when Clayton Thorson was a raw redshirt first year and Justin Jackson an established sophomore star, opponents stuffed the box, intent on stopping the running back and daring the quarterback to beat them. Purdue defended with the same intent when they visited Ryan Field last Saturday, and so Monday Pat Fitzgerald was asked if his team confronted then what they had confronted two years ago.
"Did you say two weeks ago?" he asked back.
"Two years ago," he was told.
"I would say two weeks ago," he clarified. "Yeah. Yeah. It's the same thing that Michigan State did."
So Clayton's gotten no respect over the years?
"I don't know about that. No. I don't know about that," Fitzgerald said. "You've got to make teams one dimensional. You've got to pick your poison. We've played teams that have defended us differently. That's why you go in with a plan and then you've got to make adjustments to your plan based on how you're seeing things."
When he says that teams have defended the 'Cats differently, have some actually decided to shut down Clayton and take their chances with Justin?
"Yeah. Yeah."
Who'd be that stupid?
"Quiet, Skip," he said, and then he smiled.
THE WAY IT WORKS: The 'Cats netted 94 rushing yards against the Boilers, but Thorson singed them with a four-yard touchdown run and an 11-yard touchdown pass and that got him the last laugh. The defense, in turn, even more-thoroughly throttled the Boiler running game, limiting it to an average of 1.8 yards-per-carry and forcing their quarterback Elijah Sindelar to throw 60 times. He would complete 37 of them for 376 yards in a loss, which Fitzgerald emphasized when asked Monday about that inflated yardage.
"What did we give up? Thirteen points? You win a lot of games when you give up 13 points," he said here. "I could give a rat's behind about yards. I've been well quoted (saying) stats are for losers. So. Stats are for losers. The most important thing is the score. You score one more point than your opponent. They took a lot of hitches. Go ahead. Go ahead."
"Their longest completion was 35 yards (actually 34). A lot of it was dinks and dunks," safety Kyle Queiro would soon echo. "With the defensive line and the front seven playing the way they're playing, we need to understand we're going to get a lot of passes from a lot of teams. Especially in the second half of this season, teams have constantly abandoned the running game. With that understanding, we know in the back half we're going to get attacked. We have been all year. It doesn't help our stats. But numbers are for losers. We only gave up 13 points."
IN THE WAKE: After their victory over the Boilers, which pushed their winning streak to five, Fitzgerald talked to his 'Cats about potentially getting bored with winning.
"We weren't as quick to jump around, do our dances, stuff like that. That's something that caught his attention and immediately he wanted to nip that in the bud," Querio said, explaining why. "It needs to be an infectious, contagious thing. It's hard to win in the Big Ten and we need to continue doing it.
LOOKIN' BACK EVEN FURTHER: The 'Cats Saturday meeting with Minnesota is Senior Day, their last home game of the season, and that is why some of Fitzgerald's Monday presser was given over to reminiscing about those who will be honored that morning.
"Kyle," he said of Queiro, "it's a family affair there. I had the privilege to coach both him and his brother Cam. His mom and dad, it seems like yesterday that I walked into his house in New Jersey. So it's, it's, it's an emotional week for me. I go back with a lot of these guys to the start of their recruiting process, when they were 15, 16 years old. To see the men that they've become while going through our program, I'm just really proud of them."
Is it like yesterday with all of them?
"Yeah. Yeah. It goes way too fast. It's one of those things, when you have your first team meeting, you talk about how you set your team room up, where your freshmen sit. You tell them, 'You can't hear this clear enough. This is going to go faster than any other aspect of your life. You've got to start it, you've got to go attack it and don't wait your turn because before you know it, you're going to wake up and it's going to be Senior Day.'
"When I talked to the seniors today, the group came together, they all kind of looked at each other like, 'Wow. This went really fast.' It's a little bit different having three more games. This one plus two (at Illinois on Nov. 25 and in a bowl). As we go through these next whatever weeks together, it'll hit them more and more emotionally. But, no matter what, you've got to use that emotion the right way. I know coaches throughout the country who won't have a Senior Day because they're afraid the emotion will be a distraction. I look at it the other way around. I think that's a positive emotion. I think it's more for the guys' families, this weekend, for their sacrifice and dedication. If you're a parent and you raise a young man to be a Northwestern student-athlete, you've got to check the box of well done."
THE EXEMPLAR: Defensive tackle Tyler Lancaster wears number one for a reason. His picture is in the dictionary next to the phrase "Wildcat Way." But back when he was being recruited, he was a high school center who came to campus for a summer camp.
"I felt there was going to be no problem with him being an O lineman. I wanted to see if he could be a D lineman," remembered Fitzgerald, thinking back to that occasion. "He came to camp and just dominated. I don't recall who he went against, but he just dominated. And did it so fundamentally sound that we had our post-camp meeting and I said, 'We're offering him as a D lineman.'
"Marty Long (who coaches the D line) went, 'OK. I guess that's what we're doing.'
"So I brought Tyler and his mom and his sister I think up to the office and said, 'We're going to offer you a scholarship. What position do you want to play?'
"He said, 'I'll play anywhere.'
"I said, 'Cool. We're going to offer you as a D lineman.'
"He went, 'All right. Sounds good to me.'
"I said, 'If it doesn't work out, we'll move you to O line.'
"I think he's a prospect for both on Sundays. As the scouts have come through here, they love his size, they love his strength, some of the teams have liked him as a D tackle prospect, and some of the others go, 'He should grab that ball again and snap it.' That's beauty's in the eyes of the beholder. He's a great D lineman for us. He's an All Big Ten D lineman. I mean, nobody's moved him. He has been a force inside all year. That's why's we've played him there and he's had a great career. But to say he couldn't be an All Big Ten O lineman too, I think he could. But the head coach played defense. So. That's the way it goes."
"I thought I'd be an offensive lineman, but my dream was to play college football," Lancaster himself recalled minutes later. "I set my eyes on Northwestern, this was the prize. I came to the camp and I think Brad North (the current center) committed the day before. They already had a bunch of offensive linemen in my class. So they tried me at D line. Coach Long saw me broad jump. It was nine (feet), four (inches). He's like"—and here he mimics Long's distinctive tone—"'Wow. We don't have DBs that can do that.' So they offered me and he asked what I wanted to play and I told him whatever would get me onto the field."
AND FINALLY, Lancaster, on Senior Day: "You're so focused each week, this game, this game, this game. It's that one week, and they fly by. I didn't even realize this was the last home game until after the last game since the last game is what I was focused on last week. It really came fast, especially from the beginning of the season. We had a captains' meeting (back then) and Coach Fitz said, 'Hey, we're going to be at the last one before you know it.' It's already 'Before you know it.'"
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