Postgame Quotes vs. Maryland (Oct. 14, 2017)
Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium
October 14, 2017
Postgame Quotes
Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening statement:
“I want to start off first of all thanking our great fans here in the DMV. To see that type of fan support that we had today, as a program we had talked about when Maryland and Rutgers were added to the Big Ten, it’s about all of alums that are here in this region. And to see the outpouring of support and the alumni association, I think we had it sold out today, 600 alums that were there. To see that type of support we’re very, very thankful and it was awesome. Our guys were fired up about it in the locker room after the game. We need them to come to Chicago next week, we’ve got a really tough opponent.
Really good team win, great job bouncing back by our offense, especially our offensive line, to get Justin Jackson to become the all-time leading rusher in our program’s history. That doesn’t happen without an O-line that’s been in front of him. That’s probably well-documented that even people in this room went after him a week ago and I think they handled it well. It’s deserved. When you don’t play well and you have high expectations, I think they shut the noise off and went to work. They did a good job today. Obviously, it’s special with Justin. It’s unbelievable. I think at times, we all take for granted special players because they’re so consistent. But it seems like yesterday that Justin came into our program and now to have him at this mark. Incredibly proud of him, honored to be his coach, and just very thankful for his production. Great team win and we’ll get back home and get ready for another big western division opponent next week.”
On Maryland’s offense:
“We knew we were going to have to weather Maryland’s storm. They obviously didn’t have the outcome they wanted a week ago and it kind of got away from them in Columbus. You come back and we’ve got to play them on the road. So you knew in that first 10 minutes there was going to be a push from them and we saw that. And I thought we weathered that pretty well. Then I think we just started clicking. We started executing, I thought our offensive line started to impose their will a little bit, looked like the line of scrimmage started to move, which then gives you those horizontal cuts and what we need to do. It’s no secret, schematically it’s no secret, we’ve got to run the ball to win. And to be able to do that today was a great credit again to our O-line, super backs and wide receivers.”
On WR DJ Moore:
“He’s pretty good. We won. There’s always guys. We lose the turnover ratio, gave some explosive pass plays. There's a ton to correct. I’m not going to nitpick anything without watching the tape.”
On limiting the Maryland run attack:
"I'm not going to tell you about gameplan. Sorry, I've been doing this for 12 years and I'm smarter than I look. Our guys executed from a standpoint number one, we fit things well. When you start getting plays they're running, it's really almost option without a pitch. You've got to be able to be sound with what you're doing. The Maryland offense gives you a lot of problems schematically. I know the job that DJ and his staff are doing in recruiting. This is going to turn around for them. He is an outstanding football coach and a great guy and he has a great staff. As we looked at things schematically, there were a lot of challenges there. Mike Hankwitz, our defensive coordinator, and our defensive staff came up with a good plan. Most importantly our kids executed really well."
On the decision to elect to receive in the first half and kickoff in the second:
"We had two defensive guys who were in the locker room, so I wanted to potentially have one less defensive series in the first half and make that up in the second half when we get two of our starters back."
On the health of Justin Jackson and when he knew he looked himself:
"About a week ago he was starting to come around. You saw it in his production [in the Penn State game]. We missed a few things a week ago up front to be able to pop. He is the all-time leading rusher without the face mask call [last week]. Really, a week ago. Which, that was unique. At any rate, what is he? The G.O.A.T, right? He's the greatest of all time running the ball at our program. We've won a lot of football games because of him. It starts up front and our o-line takes a beating. It's unbelievable. They've just produced the all-time leading rusher in our program's history. I get it. The credit starts up there and there have been a lot of guys who have been here throughout his career. I'm sure he is going to give credit to the offensive line. He is a special man. I'm just incredibly honored to be his coach. Very thankful he is a Wildcat."
On the play of sophomore superback Cameron Green:
"I'm really proud of Cam. He has been throughout a lot in our program. He is growing up. I gave him a big ol' hug when we were in the locker room. He has been through a lot. That is private between him and me, but to see him have this type of day when he had to step up with G [Garrett Dickerson] out, it's a great credit to him. Hopefully, his confidence goes up from it."
On the Wildcats' turnovers and the play of the offense:
"There were a few things we would like to have back, without a doubt. The second interception I thought was a really good [play] call. They were jumping our routes and we tried to make a double move and it looked like we stumbled out of our cut then the throw gets picked. Mick called a great game and Dennis Springer did a great job this week. Our receivers were not pleased with their inability to make plays the last two weeks. Like our offensive line, they worked really, really hard to get better this week and I think it showed."
On first-year kicker Charlie Kuhbander and going for it four times on fourth down:
"I have great confidence in Charlie [Kuhbander]. I don't think he understands that he is a first-year. He has been really consistent since he has gotten into our program. I'm talking more demeanor and his approach to getting prepared for games. He learned a lesson last week. We were kind of in that mode that we were probably going to go for two then it was too late to go for two, so I kicked an extra point. You were there. You saw that line drive that hit flush on the facade of the locker room facility and came right back and almost hit the official. We had a lot of fun with that this week, making fun of him. We'll make those decisions based on the flow of the game and where we see things at. I was really disappointed on the short yardage we didn't get. It was fourth-and-two and we didn't get it. Looked like we got too high at the point of attack and didn't get out pads down to get a good enough push."
On the improved play of Clayton Thorson against Maryland's defense:
"This was a great bounce back game for him. We have played two top-10 teams the last two weeks. Two top-10 defenses. We were right there in the thick of it and made a bunch of mistakes and self-inflicted wounds. You learn from those and I think Clayton learned from that. I think he will learn from this. There were some opportunities there to run today that I thought he didn't take advantage of. Maryland is playing max drop coverage or bringing a fifth or not sound and he could have taken off and scrambled. There were a couple of throws where you should just run and run six, run and get four and we're alright. There was a throw across his body that I didn't like. He had the long run and he came over and gave me a double-handed shove because I was yelling at him to run. It was a pretty funny moment. Our guys have great character, man. That is who we recruit. That is our program. It's what we are built on. We are going to get knocked down, but they're going to get up. That's what I saw today. Our guys had two tough weeks. When I say that, I mean collectively as a program. We got knocked down and we got up. We have high expectations and we have to live up to them. This is a good step in the right direction."
Northwestern Junior Quarterback Clayton Thorson
On their receiving:
“I think they won on a lot of man coverage. Our coaches did a great job calling the right plays on third down, as they usually do. Great game plan going in so credit to them.”
On fourth down conversions:
“Yeah, we love when coach gives us fourth down territory. I think he’s got a lot of faith in us. We’ve got to keep picking those up and calling them. We love that though.”
Northwestern Senior Running Back Justin Jackson
On breaking the school’s rushing record:
“No, I don’t know when exactly I broke it. First quarter early on when we were down, I definitely wasn’t thinking about that. Running behind these guys today, I think they were challenged by not only our coaches but our team. And I mean, what a response. I think they did a great job. We came in with a great plan and came out an executed. Wasn’t perfect, but we just kept playing. That’s what we were talking about in the locker room and all week. Just go out there and play.”
On what it means to him:
“It means a ton, doing it with these guys around me. It’s pretty cool to have some consistency back there and I can trust these guys, trust our work ethic, and go out there and just play. Play free, play fast, and you can do that with guys like the guys I have around me. Just means a lot.”
Northwestern Senior Linebacker Brett Walsh
On defending Ty Johnson:
“We wanted to eliminate the outside runs, they run a similar offense to last week (Penn State) so we wanted to get rid of the power read. After that we were just playing ball.”
On his fourth quarter sack:
“With that specific set, there was something we wanted to do, so I did what I was taught to do. I just took a step in and went up to the quarterback.”
Northwestern Junior Linebacker Nate Hall
On defending Ty Johnson:
“Like Brett said, they run a similar offense to Penn State, trying to get the edge, so we wanted to take that away with our fundamental base defense and do what we had to do to limit those guys.”
Northwestern First-Year Defensive End Samdup Miller
On pressuring Bortenschlager and the pass rush:
“We knew we had to affect him, and with any good quarterback you have to affect him, and I think we did a good job of being relentless”
