Postgame Quotes vs. Michigan (Sept. 29, 2018)

Northwestern vs. #14 Michigan
Ryan Field
September 29, 2018
Postgame Quotes
 
Northwestern

Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald
 
Opening statement:
Give credit to Michigan. Obviously a heck of a fight by both teams. They found a way to make more plays than we did in the second half. We obviously have to do a better job of taking the ball away defensively, not giving up explosive plays. I thought for the most part our guys defensively, really battled. We had a couple of one-down we’re going to look at, schematic and techniques and get that corrected. Offensively, it just seemed like the plays we made in the first half, we couldn’t make in the second half. We had slant throws that were there and were on the spot, and we dropped it. We ended up throwing some no-hitters. I really liked our plan but I will give credit where credit’s due. I thought Michigan’s front dominated the second half and that was the difference in the game.
 
On offensive struggles and adjustments…
“They’re really good. Michigan’s defense is really good. We’re going to have to make them play defense and we did for three drives, we scored 17 points. The plan was to get first downs, do what we do, and to credit them, they had stops in the second half. Might be the best defense we played in a while. I think our guys shied away from the fight. I don’t think we made any plays down the stretch. We have to win our one-on-ones and obviously they won more than we did, so credit to Michigan.”
 
On the offense slowing down after a good start…
“I think we had really discussions at half-time and made really good adjustments. Quite frankly, it just didn’t work. You look at some of those plays that we have right there in our hands and we don’t make them. It’s frustrating. We just have to find a way to help our guys make plans. That’s the bottom line.”
 
On how to alleviate the offensive issues…
“Well if it wasn’t going the whole game, I’d have major concern. It was going there for a while. When you make your adjustments, a lot of those have to do with one-on-one matchups. We felt like we weren’t winning some one-on-one matchups in some areas so we made some adjustments to those guys. Then one-on-one on the other side lost. Now you try to make the perfect call. Credit Michigan, they knocked some balls out that we had in our hands. We had some first down going, momentum going, drives going. Obviously, we weren’t able to get that done in the second half. It’s disappointing, but I think we just keep working. We have a bunch of guys stepped up today and I saw that happen.”
 
On Michigan’s five-yard touchdown run…
“We had a breakdown in communication. We actually practiced it this week, that’s what’s really disappointing. I have to look at why. Whether or not they scored is one thing, but why we had that issue is to me, what we need to fix as coaches. Are we asking our guys to do too much? That is what’s so frustrating to me. I’m not ever going to put it on a kid. It’s on us first.  For us to make that kind of mistake in something that we practice is really disappointing. It can’t happen. We can’t allow it to happen. The biggest question on Monday is ‘Why were you confused?’ or ‘Why did we have miscommunication?’ Because it was a one guy breakdown.”


On calling two timeouts before Michigan’s punt in the first half…
“We had a substitution issue first because Chris wasn’t sure if Nick was in or not. Then they changed the formation.”


On whether the defense was worn down in the second half…
“No, I don’t think we were worn down at all. I think we need to get some first downs. That would help. The best defense is an offense that gets first downs. The best offense is a defense that gets stops and turnovers.”
 
On whether there are updates on Nate Hall and Greg Newsome II’s injuries…
“No, I don’t know. No idea.”
 
On whether kicker Charlie Kuhbander is feeling better…
“I think so. He kicked the ball pretty well this week in practice. I have great confidence in Charlie. A lot of the times it’s amazing how things work out.”
 
On whether his performance will influence future kicking decisions…
“I have to see the ebb and flow of the game and where things are at. But I have great confidence in him from 50 or more based off what he hits in practice. It’s got nothing to do with confidence in Charlie.”
 
On whether last year’s turnaround provides hope for this year…
“I don’t think anything in the past makes you think you can do anything to do with the future. I think last year’s group of offensive linemen played with an attitude and executed efficiently. We’ve got some puffs in their fight. I’m proud of them for going in there. We obviously have to do a better job coaching them because it looked like fundamental, technique issues today. It looks like a young player trying to do too much. I’ve been that guy. I’ve been in the arena and played before I was ready mentally, especially physically. You try to do too much and the game’s going fast. For some of our guys, it looks like it’s going a little fast out there so we have to help them slow it down.”
 
On the execution of the offense…
“I wish I could tell you it’s just one thing. Again, it starts with us as coaches. We’ve got to make sure we’re giving our guys a plan and giving them an opportunity to be successful. I look at every outcome of the game first when I watch the tape tonight. Then the next thing I do is one-on-one matchups. Did we lose because of fundamentals? Did we lose because we just didn’t win the one-on-ones from the standpoint of catching the ball. And then you look at the finish of the play. So there’s a lot that goes into each play with each guy and each position is different. We’re going to continue to work out, I promise you that. I trust in the character of this group of guys. We don’t have to worry about anything other than ourselves. We just keep working and keep grinding and we’ll get better. I think we made a lot of improvement the last two weeks, we just didn’t really get the outcome this week.”



On the performance of the tailbacks without Jeremy Larkin…
“Statistically we probably played the number one defense in the Big Ten as we sit here today four weeks in. I think all three guys ran with some authority, all three guys stepped up. They went into the week not necessarily knowing they were going to be in this role and now all of a sudden they are. So I think they’ll continue to get better.”


On preparing for Michigan’s defense…
“Well on Sunday’s I pray. And that’s usually what I start the week with. And then we go to work. We start from the front to the back. You look at everything–what they’re doing structurally, what they’re doing schematically under that structure. You then look at their personnel and where you think you’ve got some matchup challenges and where you need to give some guys some help, and where you think you have some matchup advantages and where we can go attack. How we anticipate they’ll adjust–what will they go to, what will we then go to once that happens. And then you kick the ball off, you see how things go–the ebb and flow–and we kind of anticipated some of the things in the second half. And I don’t think we got anything that we didn’t expect to get (from Michigan in the second half). It looked like there were some guys that just got beat. And number one I’ve got to make sure they understand that we’ve got great confidence in them. You’ve got to understand how you get better as a player. You keep the pedal down and just grind, you just grind. And you just keep working at it, and working at it, and working at it...and eventually the game starts to slow down a little bit. Sometimes it takes years for guys, sometimes it takes days. And everybody's somewhere in between. So the challenging part when you’re a young player, or an older player who gets in a slump, you start overthinking things. You know is it your batting gloves? Is it your shoes? Did you wear the right shirt to Tuesday’s practice? I mean you really start worrying about the uncontrollables and you’ve got to do a great of honing those guys to focusing on what they can control. One is the mental approach, it’s the way they prepare watching tape and getting ready to study their opponents, it’s the way that they get ready from a nutrition, strength and weight room standpoint and then the way we practice and rest and so on and so forth. So a lot goes into it.”

On the offensive line’s performance…
“Yeah I haven’t watched the tape so it’s hard for me to say this and that and this on all of those plays. It may have happened and where we may have gotten beat: number one, we knew they had an outstanding front, I mean that’s not a mystery. We knew we were going to have to play very efficiently, we were going to get the ball in the quarterback’s hands. And we didn’t. We set ourselves kind of behind the chains in third-and-long situations and we kind of played right into the mousetrap. We played right into their hands and that’s what they wanted. And it looked like we were just kind of a step away, a throw away, a catch away or one more second block away. So they were really close. You just keep pounding on it, you keep grinding and you don’t stop. I mean they’re not going to stop, I promise you that, this team’s got a lot of fight, we’ve got an experienced staff and these guys are going to continue to fight. We’ve got a lot of ball ahead of us and we’ll continue to battle and then we’re going to play a great team next week, that’s what’s fun about playing Big Ten ball. If you feel sorry for yourself you better call home because they’re the only people who care. You buckle up and you get ready to go next week, that’s what makes it fun.”


On the first quarter success…
“Big plays, explosion play by JJ. I think he’s going to be a great player. Our defense forced three-and-outs, which is pretty good. We forced them to play defense and be out there. They’re still outstandings plays and talented. I thought we won the position battle in the first half. We punted the ball well and covered it well. We got some stops and I thought we were pretty solid against the run, so those are the things that worked. Gave up some plays in the second half and then we just couldn’t get ourselves in third and manageable situations.”
 
Final comments…
“We wore the patch, Coach to Cure, and it’s obviously a terrible disease. Our visitor today made us this really cool purple wristband that I wore in his honor, so it puts everything in perspective. It’s tough to lose football games, but I hope fans can go to our website and support this great cause.”
 
Quarterback Clayton Thorson
 
On the difference between the first half and second half performances…
“I’d like to have a few of those plays back and make some of those throws. But, we need to fight. We were up 17-0 and we didn’t finish the job. The past few weeks that’s been the story. We’re up, and then in the second half we don’t finish the job. So we need to do a better job of that collectively, but I need to make some more plays and give us a chance to win.”
 
On how to finish games off better…
“When we go into halftime we get some good adjustments, so we just need to come back and execute. We need to keep the pedal down, and that’s easier said than done. We can’t take plays off, although I don’t think we are. We just need to play better in the second half. That’s really what it’s been, we play really well in the first half and put ourselves in a really good spot, and then we come out in the second half and give it all back to them. That’s a really good defense, that’s a really good team, and they’re going to take advantage of the opportunities we give them.”
 
On parallels to last season’s slow start…
“You know, like you said we were 2-3 last year, and the year before we were 1-3. So we’ve been in this position before, and unfortunately were in it again. But we know how to get out of it, and it starts with us in this room. You guys are great, but you guys are all off the bandwagon. So we need to do it ourselves and shut out the noise.”
 
On Michigan’s adjustments…
“They didn’t make any adjustments we hadn’t seen. They just came out and played well, and we just need to score. We need to score when we get chances… when we get good field position we need to score. Our defense played well, and they gave us a chance to win.”
 
On the offensive mindset going forward…
“I’m really confident with the guys we have. Like you said we had three great drives, and we had other great drives throughout the game but we just couldn’t finish them. But I’m really confident in our offense, I’m really confident we can score a lot of points, we just need to go do it. We’ve shown we can do it against a really good team, and we just need to do it consistently. That’s how we’re going to win games.”
 
On playing his first full game of the season…
“I wouldn’t call it a breakthrough… just following what Dr. Andrews and all the other doctors at Northwestern have to say. I felt good physically, so now just need to keep playing.”
 
On Michigan’s pass rush…
“They’re really talented. [Michigan defensive lineman Rashan Gary] is a first-round, top-ten pick, and those other guys are really good. When you can rotate guys in like that and not miss a beat, it’s pretty special. They’re a really good team and they’ll do some good things this year, but I think we’re also a really good team, and you saw that in how we were able to get some protection and move the ball. That’s the name of the game, protect the quarterback and get after the quarterback. So we just need to keep doing that, and I need to get the ball out, and we’ll win some games.”
 
Safety Jared McGee
 
On the big plays allowed on Michigan’s game-winning drive…
“In both of those plays we happened to be in a Cover 3, and they hit us on the seams. When the ball’s up in the air like that, we just need to do a better job of having an attacking mentality. When we see the quarterback and can make breaks on his throws, we have to take the mindset of an offensive guy and try to take the ball out of the air and make a play on it. But [Michigan QB Shea Patterson] did a good job of throwing to where only his receivers could catch it, and it just didn’t go our way on those couple plays.”
 
On Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson…
“Definitely a better passer than we thought he was going to be. A little more accurate than we thought, and he also made a couple plays with his legs. He was able to extend plays and get some yards, pick up a couple first downs. Definitely a few plays that we would’ve liked to have back, especially a couple of those third downs. He did a good job of taking care of the ball, he didn’t have any turnovers. But that’s another thing we have to be better at is forcing him to make turnovers. But all in all, I think he had a very good game.”
 
On what allowed Michigan to have more success in the second half…
“I think we did a really good job of stopping the run early on. Their offense is often geared towards running, running, and then hitting a play action. We caused them to switch it up a little and do more drop-back passing. That’s where we wanted them, but we weren’t able to make the plays we needed to once we got them to change to that style of play. They did a good job of making that adjustment and then being able to execute.”
 
On the defense’s mentality on Michigan’s final drive…
“Anytime the game is in the hands of the defense, you want to be able to go out there and make that stop to win it. When it doesn’t happen, you go back to the tape and see what you could’ve done better, what they hit you on, what prevented you from getting a turnover or holding them to another field goal in the red zone.”
 
On staying motivated while the offense struggles…
“I think a lot of guys on our defense, we relish the thought of the game being in our hands. We like to be out on the field, we like having the opportunity to make plays. When we see the offense struggling, we know that we have to make stops on the other team’s side of the field in order to give them good field position. So, I don’t think it’s very hard to stay motivated because like I said, we want to be on the field, we want the game to be in our hands. When we can make those plays we’re really good, and when we don’t we lose games.”
 
Defensive lineman Joe Gaziano
 
On Shea Patterson...
“Playing in the Big Ten West we don’t see all of the East quarterbacks, but he’s very mobile and very accurate downfield. He has the skills to throw downfield accurately and make plays with his feet as well.”
 
On missed opportunities and plays that the defense would like to have back…
“We need to get a turnover, bottom line. We didn’t get the ball out or any interceptions which can be forced by tipping the ball or getting pressure on the quarterback, so that’s on the defensive line. I think if we turn the ball over and get out offensive a second drive we have a good chance of winning this game.”
 
On the mentality of the defense while the offense is struggling…
“Every game we have the belief that if we go out and do our job to the best of our ability we can trust the offense to get points on the board and be able to win the game. I don’t think what the offense is doing reflects what we should be doing, I think we should play to the best of our ability regardless of the situation or the amount of points on the board.”
 
On second-half fatigue…
“There’s always going to be fatigue in the second half, it’s part of the game. For us we have an advantage because we can roll guys on the defensive line. It’s unfortunate we had a couple of injuries and some guys missed the second half, but the next man has to step up. We play as hard as we can for as long as we can and then tap and get the next guy in. If we are fatigued in the fourth quarter that on us because we should be utilizing our backups more in the third quarter and first half.”
 
Running back John Moten IV
 
On being the featured back…
“Going into the game I was excited, I felt comfortable and ready to go, especially a few plays in. Obviously, we need to clean a few things up offensively, but overall it was a good experience and I look forward to continuing where I left off.”
 
On playing Michigan’s tough front seven…
“At the end of the day we need to execute. We had the mindset going into the game that it was going to be a four quarter fight, and we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted but I do believe in myself, Isaiah Bowser, and Solomon Vault.”
 
On Solomon Vault returning as running back…
“I found out at the beginning of the week that they moved him back to running back from receiver. I was excited about it as he’s a good player, extremely talented and can contribute to our team.”
 
On going against Michigan’s tough front seven…
“Playing in the Big Ten we see a lot of big, talented players. I tip my hat to Michigan, they are a very talented defense. One thing we focused on this week is securing the defensive end, and at the end of the day we need to focus on working hard and preparing for next week.”
 
Michigan
 
Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
 
On recovering from the 17-0 deficit…
“A lot of guys really left it out there, played their hearts out and had to show what
we were made of. Starting with the quarterback, he really stepped up big, took the
game into his hands in a lot of ways there in the second half. Defensively there is
going to be a lot of guys to single out who played great. After the first quarter our
team really, really played tremendous defense, allowing under 100 yards in 3
quarters of football. We started getting our hands on some balls when we
needed to in the secondary, started hurrying the quarterback, and the adjustments our
coaches made throughout the game, especially after the second half were superb,
they were really working. A lot of guys really showed their metal tonight.”
 
On the importance of shutting Northwestern out in the second half…
“Great. Just great. Don Brown had some tremendous calls…we started getting our
hands on some balls in the secondary and we started applying the pressure that
really helped us. They played a hell of a ball game.”
 
On what it can do for a team to scrape out a win like this…
“It can do a lot. We were being tested and this is the time to find out what we are
made of and our guys really responded. They were in the kind of fashion where
everything had to be done… the guys up front really grinded all night and got it
done.”
 
On what he attributes the slow start offensively to…
“I thought they had a good plan and they have a tremendous coaching staff and their
players were playing good. They were playing good and we didn’t make the first
downs on our first couple possessions and they made first downs, made good drives,
scored the ball in the red zone and had a really good first quarter both offensively
and defensively.”
 
On his adjustments to Northwestern’s offense…
“Just seeing the ball more in the air. Don made an adjustment with the coverage and
just kept dialing the blitzes. [Northwestern] did a nice job blocking our twists and
we countered that with an adjustment … they were well prepared coming off of a
bye and [Northwestern head coach] Pat Fitzgerald has a great staff.”
 
On what this game means and how much they’ve grown as a team…
“It shows what you’re made of. Can you dig down and continue to execute, and
execute better than what you did before. It’s pretty self-explanatory whether you got the
gravel and the gut to win a game on the road.”
 
On how he would rate Shea Patterson’s resilience late in the game…
“A++.”
 
Running back Karan Higdon
On quarterback Shea Patterson…
“I saw a guy with poise, confidence, and belief. A lot of faith when you’re working with somebody like that.”
 
On the contested holding call against Higdon…
“I didn’t even know what happened, I thought it was on someone else, and then I got to the sideline and the coaches were flipping out. I realized quickly that they must have called it on me. How, I don’t know, but…”
 
On the mindset at half time while down…
“Just keep pushing. The game is four quarters for a reason, and the first half they were up, we thought of some of the adversity we faced over the summer, some of the work outs, and we dug deep and came up with the win.”
 
On the frustration of being down at the half…
“You can’t get frustrated in those situations. Like I said, it’s a four quarter game, when you get frustrated and start fighting amongst each other, that’s when things only get worse. We work all summer together for a reason, we work collectively throughout camp together for a reason, for our relationships, and the dependability. So when situations like this come, we know we’re good.”
 
On what the win means to the team…
“It means a lot. In the Big Ten, a game on the road, that’s big time, winning something like that especially in your own conference. Whenever you’re in conference play the teams are going to come in with a different mindset, and to come in here and to finish the way we did, that’s big time.”
 
On how Northwestern took the lead in the first half…
“They came out very disciplined. They didn’t do anything special, we just weren’t executing the way we needed to execute. I think on our side of the ball, it was self-inflicted like the defense. It took us some time to get going, and we did it.”
 
Linebacker Josh Uche
 
On his two sacks at the end of the game…
“The coaches just told me to go out there and go after the quarterback. He struggled with pressure a lot, and they just wanted us to go get him – and that’s what we did, what we were taught to do.”
 
On the defense in the second half…
“After half time, we can’t give them any points, that’s always been the mentality. This is a clutch game, a crucial game, so we had no choice but to pitch a shutout.”
 
On the defensive changes made in the second half…
“It was a lot of self-inflicted wounds. We went into the locker room, got our minds rights, came back and dominated like we were supposed to.”
 
On the ‘self-inflicted wounds’…
“Obviously, we’re on the road so we’re not going to get a lot of help from the refs at all, we don’t expect that at all. We just have to make it clear that there was no penalty so there’s no grey in-between for the refs to throw that flag. Like I said, it was self-inflicted stuff, but we adjusted and came back and fought and won.”
 
Quarterback Shea Patterson
 
On being down and knowing they had to come back for the win…
“Defense played a heck of a game the whole entire game, they put us in good situations, to really get it going, and once we found our flow on the offense … things started to work for us.”
 
On the frustration of missing a touchdown pass (before field goal)…
“After a big play, a pretty good drive by our offense, our o-line did a heck of a job, our receivers did a great job getting open, they gave us the look that we needed, and I didn’t make the throw. That’s frustrating, but it’s important to just keep your composure, and just know that you’re going to get another shot.”
 
On the offensive line…
“We’re just getting better. We’ve been learning, finding out our identity. I can’t express how proud I am, being a quarterback for this o-line, for this university. They’ve been big all day, couldn’t ask for more.”
 
On his running plays…
“On the road like this, it’s pretty much everyone against us. We weren’t getting a lot of calls. When I’d drop out of the zone, drop back, nobody really accounted for me and I just used my legs. The o-line did a heck of a job blocking down the field … it was an all-around team effort.”
 
On the contested holding call against Higdon…
“I don’t even know what happened, someone told me he got a holding call, and that’s pretty weird because he got tackled. That play just describes how the game was called. Don’t really know about that one.”