Northwestern University Athletics
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
The Skip Report: Nebraska Upon Further Review
11/6/2017 5:14:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
UPON FURTHER REVIEW. . . .
NEVER A DOUBT: So, for the third straight Saturday, they are again in overtime and, on third-and-goal from the one, Clayton Thorson is stonewalled on a sneak. A field goal now would stake the 'Cats to a lead and hand the matter over to their defense, but Pat Fitzgerald will have none of that. He's going for it.
"We better score," the center Brad North will say Monday when asked what message that decision sent to his offensive line, and here he and his audience laughs.
"No," he then goes on. "It gives us a lot of confidence that he believes in us, and that he believes we're going to get the job done. To tell you the truth, we're out there for fourth-and-one, and we were like, 'All right. We're going to go for the win right here.' We all looked at each other and we're like, 'All right. We're going to get it done this time.' Obviously it worked out."
THE TRANSFORMATION: His line, against the Huskers, not only got push enough for Thorson to sneak it in on fourth, it also kept the quarterback clean on his 35 passing attempts, and opened highways enough for Justin Jackson to average 5 yards on his 31 carries and for Jeremy Larkin to average 6.9 on his 10.
"I thought they handled Saturday pretty well. That (Nebraska's Memorial Stadium) was a hostile environment, to say the least," Fitzgerald would say of it on Monday. But just a month ago, after the 'Cats fell to 2-3 with their 31-7 loss to Penn State, his critique of it was far different, and even North himself would say, "Obviously it's not going well right now. Everybody has to look at themselves in the mirror and figure out what's going on and come back better next week."
So what did they see when they took that look, and just what changed for them?
"I know me personally," he said, "I looked myself in the mirror and said, 'The way that I'm playing is not good enough, especially since I'm supposed to be the leader, since I'm the oldest guy in the group.' I have a higher standard than most of the guys in there. I'm the oldest guy. Younger guys look up to me and they're going to kinda go as I go. So I had to take accountability and say what I was doing isn't good enough. I took it upon myself, and I think everybody in our room took it upon themselves, to take it one day at a time, one snap at a time. We decided to play more physical. I think that's shown over the last few weeks. We're making sure every week that we play and prepare and are getting a week better.
"Every week since Maryland (whom they defeated a week after falling to the Nittany Lions) we've taken steps to get better. We kind of put that on ourselves as a unit. We also have a saying that the offense will go as we go. I'm sure everyone says that, but I think ours is more true because, honestly, nothing can happen if we're not there. So we kind of challenged ourselves, and we've set a precedent now, that we need to put finishes on the board. We need to finish every block possible. We've just changed our attitude and our culture over the last few weeks. It's obviously shown in the results."
IT GOES BOTH WAYS: The Wildcats' starting defensive line does not work against any offensive linemen who may see time in a game. It instead goes against a scout team that runs plays favored by the next opponent. Still.
"They've really brought it," senior defensive tackle Tyler Lancaster said Monday. "They also looked themselves in the mirror after we weren't doing so well early in the season, and they started to bring it. Especially Sam Gerak. I'm going to shout him out. He comes at us every day in practice. He might even, after a play, be in our face trying to fight us. Sometimes we start fighting back. It really helps us get prepared for the game and bring that physical mentality that that we have to have for the game. The practices are harder than the games. We make it that way on purpose. A shout out to those guys."
"Definitely it's a credit to our scout O line, their physicality," echoed sophomore defensive end Joe Gaziano. "It's top down in the O line room. Brad's teaching that to the younger guys and they're bringing it onto the field. Iron sharpens iron. We're getting better out there when they're giving us good looks."
TENDER TO THE TOUCH: Saturday night, when they host Purdue, the 'Cats enter the final quarter of their schedule, and that means this for sure. Not one of them is fully healthy. All of them are feeling the effects of the nine games they have already played.
"Like everybody right now, we're really beat up. We've been through a grind here, like everybody," Fitzgerald himself admitted on Monday. "You're in week two of November, and you've just got to find a way to tough it out. I might have to change practices a little bit this week. Rest some guys. Again. Like everybody, we're beat up and guys have to continue to step up more and more. Especially our young guys. We're playing a ton of young players. This is when they're really going to be counted on, these last three weeks, to help us find a way to win."
There are, in fact, 11 true or redshirt first years on this week's 44-man depth chart, and Fitzgerald has noted in the past that this is just the time of the season when performers so callow often hit the proverbial wall. So how does he guard against that here?
"Like I said, I may have to change practices up a little bit. It's still Monday afternoon. But they've got to step up. That's the bottom line. And it's not unique to us. It's that time of year for everybody across the country. Everybody's real beat up. You're physically and mentally in a place where you've got to find a way, and trust your training and trust in what you've done to get yourself to this point. And find a way to scratch and claw and win. That's the challenge. Most of these young guys are used to being done playing by now. They're already in wrestling or basketball season. So just continue to embrace the grind."
AND FINALLY, Fitzgerald on Saturday's six o'clock kick, which makes it Ryan Field's first November night game:
"I did not know that factoid. So thanks for sharing it. We'll play whenever they tell us to play."
So he has no preference?
"As a coach, whenever they tell us to play. As a dad, I'd like to kick off at eight a.m. I'd like to wake up, have food on the bus to go, so I could enjoy my Saturday with my kids. But I don't think the Big Ten office has gotten that memo from me. I'm a big 11 o'clock fan. Huge. A big fan. Always have been, always will be."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
UPON FURTHER REVIEW. . . .
NEVER A DOUBT: So, for the third straight Saturday, they are again in overtime and, on third-and-goal from the one, Clayton Thorson is stonewalled on a sneak. A field goal now would stake the 'Cats to a lead and hand the matter over to their defense, but Pat Fitzgerald will have none of that. He's going for it.
"We better score," the center Brad North will say Monday when asked what message that decision sent to his offensive line, and here he and his audience laughs.
"No," he then goes on. "It gives us a lot of confidence that he believes in us, and that he believes we're going to get the job done. To tell you the truth, we're out there for fourth-and-one, and we were like, 'All right. We're going to go for the win right here.' We all looked at each other and we're like, 'All right. We're going to get it done this time.' Obviously it worked out."
THE TRANSFORMATION: His line, against the Huskers, not only got push enough for Thorson to sneak it in on fourth, it also kept the quarterback clean on his 35 passing attempts, and opened highways enough for Justin Jackson to average 5 yards on his 31 carries and for Jeremy Larkin to average 6.9 on his 10.
"I thought they handled Saturday pretty well. That (Nebraska's Memorial Stadium) was a hostile environment, to say the least," Fitzgerald would say of it on Monday. But just a month ago, after the 'Cats fell to 2-3 with their 31-7 loss to Penn State, his critique of it was far different, and even North himself would say, "Obviously it's not going well right now. Everybody has to look at themselves in the mirror and figure out what's going on and come back better next week."
So what did they see when they took that look, and just what changed for them?
"I know me personally," he said, "I looked myself in the mirror and said, 'The way that I'm playing is not good enough, especially since I'm supposed to be the leader, since I'm the oldest guy in the group.' I have a higher standard than most of the guys in there. I'm the oldest guy. Younger guys look up to me and they're going to kinda go as I go. So I had to take accountability and say what I was doing isn't good enough. I took it upon myself, and I think everybody in our room took it upon themselves, to take it one day at a time, one snap at a time. We decided to play more physical. I think that's shown over the last few weeks. We're making sure every week that we play and prepare and are getting a week better.
"Every week since Maryland (whom they defeated a week after falling to the Nittany Lions) we've taken steps to get better. We kind of put that on ourselves as a unit. We also have a saying that the offense will go as we go. I'm sure everyone says that, but I think ours is more true because, honestly, nothing can happen if we're not there. So we kind of challenged ourselves, and we've set a precedent now, that we need to put finishes on the board. We need to finish every block possible. We've just changed our attitude and our culture over the last few weeks. It's obviously shown in the results."
IT GOES BOTH WAYS: The Wildcats' starting defensive line does not work against any offensive linemen who may see time in a game. It instead goes against a scout team that runs plays favored by the next opponent. Still.
"They've really brought it," senior defensive tackle Tyler Lancaster said Monday. "They also looked themselves in the mirror after we weren't doing so well early in the season, and they started to bring it. Especially Sam Gerak. I'm going to shout him out. He comes at us every day in practice. He might even, after a play, be in our face trying to fight us. Sometimes we start fighting back. It really helps us get prepared for the game and bring that physical mentality that that we have to have for the game. The practices are harder than the games. We make it that way on purpose. A shout out to those guys."
"Definitely it's a credit to our scout O line, their physicality," echoed sophomore defensive end Joe Gaziano. "It's top down in the O line room. Brad's teaching that to the younger guys and they're bringing it onto the field. Iron sharpens iron. We're getting better out there when they're giving us good looks."
TENDER TO THE TOUCH: Saturday night, when they host Purdue, the 'Cats enter the final quarter of their schedule, and that means this for sure. Not one of them is fully healthy. All of them are feeling the effects of the nine games they have already played.
"Like everybody right now, we're really beat up. We've been through a grind here, like everybody," Fitzgerald himself admitted on Monday. "You're in week two of November, and you've just got to find a way to tough it out. I might have to change practices a little bit this week. Rest some guys. Again. Like everybody, we're beat up and guys have to continue to step up more and more. Especially our young guys. We're playing a ton of young players. This is when they're really going to be counted on, these last three weeks, to help us find a way to win."
There are, in fact, 11 true or redshirt first years on this week's 44-man depth chart, and Fitzgerald has noted in the past that this is just the time of the season when performers so callow often hit the proverbial wall. So how does he guard against that here?
"Like I said, I may have to change practices up a little bit. It's still Monday afternoon. But they've got to step up. That's the bottom line. And it's not unique to us. It's that time of year for everybody across the country. Everybody's real beat up. You're physically and mentally in a place where you've got to find a way, and trust your training and trust in what you've done to get yourself to this point. And find a way to scratch and claw and win. That's the challenge. Most of these young guys are used to being done playing by now. They're already in wrestling or basketball season. So just continue to embrace the grind."
AND FINALLY, Fitzgerald on Saturday's six o'clock kick, which makes it Ryan Field's first November night game:
"I did not know that factoid. So thanks for sharing it. We'll play whenever they tell us to play."
So he has no preference?
"As a coach, whenever they tell us to play. As a dad, I'd like to kick off at eight a.m. I'd like to wake up, have food on the bus to go, so I could enjoy my Saturday with my kids. But I don't think the Big Ten office has gotten that memo from me. I'm a big 11 o'clock fan. Huge. A big fan. Always have been, always will be."
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