Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Purdue (Nov. 11, 2017)
Northwestern vs. Purdue
Ryan Field
November 11, 2017
Postgame Quotes
Northwestern
Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening statement
“Thanks everybody for being here tonight. You know it was really special to have Tom Hruby and two of his sons here with us today as our honorary captain. On Veteran’s Day, there’s so much to be thankful for and men like Tom and his teammates, the men and women that defend our freedom to allow us the opportunity to coach and our guys to play this great game. We’re very thankful for their sacrifice, we’re very thankful for their dedication and their willingness to serve our country. And obviously it puts everything in perspective, excited we won the game, but reality is the fact that men like Tom give us that freedom and that liberty. So very thankful, it was great seeing him the last 36 hours. He gave a great message to the team yesterday. And he and his boys had a great time so that was fun. So thank you to all our great veterans.
To the game, we knew what we were going to get into. Purdue’s a much-improved football team. Jeff [Brohm] and his staff have done a really good job. They basically did what we thought they were going to do and that was load the box. They did everything they could to stop Justin [Jackson] and at times we looked like we were about a block away, and so credit Purdue. They were obviously able to get off blocks or skate off things we didn’t finish to be able to bottle that up. But we needed Clayton [Thorson] and the receiving corps to step up and they did. Especially from an opportunistic standpoint. From a defensive standpoint, some big stops. I thought the defensive line again was really solid, holding a team to that yardage output in the run game was outstanding. And then they basically went two-minute offense for two and a half quarters of the game and we gave them some nickels, but for the most part we stayed pretty solid. So, all around great team win and obviously we’ve got to heal up, we’ve got some guys dinged up, and we had to have some guys step up and I thought our younger group did.”
On Bennett Skowronek stepping up…
“Productive, had some yards after the catch, had a big catch in the corner of the end zone for a big touchdown. You know Bennett’s been a guy who’s been really consistent throughout the whole course of the year. Maybe he hasn’t gotten the catch totals to have you ask me questions, but I think he’s been really consistent. He’s run good routes, he’s blocked physically out on the perimeter and I think he’s been really locked in during the week. It’s a by-product of his preparation and just the consistency that he’s going throughout the year.”
On how big the stop was on fourth and short at the end of the first half…
“I think the right call by Jeff, right? When you’re in a game like that you’ve got to go for it, you go for the win. And I think our guys just really stepped up. And we did that a number of times here today. And I think it always starts up front when you’re able to get that type of push. From my vantage point I couldn’t see who made all the tackles per se, but it just looked like we controlled the line of scrimmage on those plays. And they had been pretty efficient in that situation in our scout of them. Great job by our young men, especially up front on our defensive line.”
On scoring a touchdown right before the end of the first half…
“Big momentum swing right there. That’s like a 14-point swing. And I thought Mick [McCall] put together some great calls, we go out and execute the two-minute drive and some big plays down the stretch by our guys. It was an outstanding flip of momentum. And I thought we started the third quarter out pretty fast too with the great drive. Obviously, you want to get points out of that to make it a three-score game, thought for a little bit about going for it, but wanted to make it a three-score game. Charlie [Kuhbander], I thought had probably one of his better games today too, pretty solid for a young kicker.”
On not having to win in overtime…
“You know you’re the third person to ask me that. I just want to win. Obviously, we’ve been working hard for ratings here the last few weeks. But again, I want to thank our facilities team too, I thought the field was awesome based on the weather that we’ve gotten over the last 36 hours. And I thought the facilities crew did a great job getting everything ready to go today. And to be done in regulation, you know it’s only 10 o’clock so it’s better than having to be done by 11. It seems like it’s been four hour games the last few weeks. It’s funny the guys, we’ve been through a lot here over the last month—a lot of tough games, a lot of one or two possession games and I think it’s like 25 freshmen or redshirt-freshmen that we’ve got playing for us right now when you include the specialists. It’s a lot of young guys, a lot. And we’re going to continue to have that group step up because they go unseen. Bennett Skowronek is a sophomore you asked me about, right? And you asked me about JJ and some different things, but the unseen things that are happening are the [Rashawn] Slaters, are some of these guys covering kicks. The [Paddy] Fishers of the world may be the guys getting attention but it’s the young guys that I think are slowly starting to grow up and understand what it takes to play the Wildcat Way. And it’s not only great for now but it’s exciting for the future.”
On if the team was feeling the cold to start the game…
“No, I think both teams were just slugging it out. I think it was a pretty darn good defensive battle. And I know that’s not what everyone wants as a fan, I know everybody wants what was it the shootout today in Ames between Oklahoma State and Iowa State? I can say that because I got to watch some football today. That’s great, if we win that’s cool, I’ll take that. But, this is Big Ten football. And it’s hard to gain inches man, it just is. And Coach D[antonio] says that all the time. And I respect the heck out of him because he’s right. And you guys may chuckle, but as someone who’s been out in the arena, and the way that these guys are, I think these guys are all really well coached in this league right now, I think the coaching is outstanding. And I think the talent is at an all-time high. And anybody can win on any given Saturday. And as a fan, that would be what would be fun to me. Just watching the competitive nature of our league top to bottom right now. And it’s hard to win, especially to win conference games, so I’m proud of our guys, without a doubt. They’re putting in the work and they’re getting the return on the investment.”
On what the defensive front was doing to be so successful against the run…
“This really sexy thing called fundamentals. I mean just coming off, at a really good pad level. It looked like we were being really solid with our hands and fitting plays right, which again is not anything that’s really ‘wow’. But to me it is, that’s art to me. Executing what we’re trying to get done, being on the same page, doing it fundamentally the right way, is a work of art to me. And I think for the most part, obviously I saw the Minnesota game today and we’re going to have our hands full next week with their rushing attack. So, we’ll enjoy this tonight but then we’ve got to get ready for that because they obviously were really dominant today, to say the least.”
Defensive Lineman Jordan Thompson
On the defensive line’s success against the run game…
“I think it was just focusing on our first step. Coach [Marty] Long really emphasizes explosiveness in practice, and I think we were just able to replicate that really well tonight.”
On Purdue throwing the ball 60 times…
“You kind of change your mindset. As an interior lineman, you want to think you’re going to make contact with your guy every play. But when they’re passing a lot, you kind of want to switch it to that pass-rush mode, so you can get off the line, get his hands off you and try to make plays.”
On three straight short-yardage stops to force a turnover on downs…
“I think the mentality is just to get it done, no matter what the down and distance is and no matter where the ball is on the field. We know we just have to make those stops because if we don’t, they score and we lose, so we just need to buckle down and make those plays.”
On winning five straight games…
“It’s great. Winning games is always good, especially Big Ten games. You only get so many opportunities to walk out onto that field, so to walk off it with a W is huge.”
Defensive Lineman Trent Goens
On the impact of the cold weather…
“I think for us it’s not that big of a deal. We practice in the mornings and it’s pretty cold in the mornings, and we try to simulate the game as much as we can. I think for us it was just another factor that goes into the preparation for the week.”
On stopping Purdue three different times on fourth-and-short…
“Yeah in a game like this, that was huge, when there was back-and-forth for most of the game and it was very close. So being able to get off the field on fourth down and change momentum, especially on the goal line, was huge and takes points off the board. It gave momentum for our offense to get a touchdown in the two-minute drill and momentum for the second half.”
On winning five straight games…
“For us, as you know, we go one week at a time and try to go 1-0 each week. We focused on Purdue this week and we’ll focus on Minnesota starting tomorrow. It’s just doing one thing at a time and preparing the same way we do each of the previous games, and learning from our mistakes and getting better. Our goal is to improve each week of the season, and I think in the past five weeks we’ve done that.”
Quarterback Clayton Thorson
On what to think about when the opposing defense focuses on Justin Jackson…
“I think we just have to get the ball on the perimeter, make those guys outside play if they’re going to load the box with eight guys, sometimes nine. We have to make those guys on the edge play. Credit to Bennett and those receivers that made some big plays. They were loading the box, and some big plays by Macan [Wilson] on some of those slant routes, some guys breaking free on man coverage. Receivers played great tonight.”
On the relationship built over the season between him and Bennett Skowronek…
“He’s playing great. He’s been playing well all season. He’s aggressive, which is nice. When the ball goes up in the air, I’m pretty confident he’s going to come down with it or get a call. It’s nice to have a guy like that, we haven’t had someone like that in a while. He’s worked hard throughout the week, and every week he does that, so I’m really happy with how he’s playing, and we have to just keep it going.”
On a spark after Riley Lee’s touchdown was brought back…
“We did score after that. It was a great return by him, too bad he got called back. But great run by him. We just have to get going a little sooner. There were a few things in there that I have to do a better job of, putting the ball on guys, but we can’t wait for something like that to happen for us to get going.”
On the five-game win streak…
“It feels really good. To win five straight in the Big Ten against the teams we’ve played is pretty impressive. I’m really proud of these guys. It’s been a fun stretch of games. It’s been a fun stretch of games with these guys, with these seniors. We were talking about it earlier today and last night, but we only got these last two weeks and then a bowl game with this team. This group of guys is pretty special. It’s fun. It’s fun to win, it’s much more fun to win than lose.”
On the drive at the end of the first half and the rhythm of it…
“I love it. Just taking what the defense gives us. A few big plays there by Ben, Flynn [Nagel]. We’ve been pretty good at the two-minute offense this year, and so that’s something we’ve got to keep up in order to be successful.”
Wide Receiver Bennett Skowronek
On his successful game…
“It feels great, but you know, as an offense, I thought at times we left some plays on the field. But overall, it’s great to get a Big Ten win. Clayton played great, the offensive line played great, and our defense played great. All around, I thought it was a good night.”
On the touchdown he caught…
“That’s something Clayton and I actually worked on Wednesday after practice for a couple minutes. It’s something we do every day, almost. Clayton threw a great ball, perfect spot, so all the credit to Clayton.”
Purdue
Head Coach Jeff Brohm
Opening Statement
“We got outplayed, we got outcoached. Northwestern came ready to play and they're a good football team. We think our guys tried to improve in the second half and get some things going. We've got a long way to go, and I think people can see that when they watch. We've got to handle it the right way and understand that there is plenty of work to be done by all, and that if we all put our mind to it we can improve, but if somebody wants to give in and give up they're more than welcome to. We're going to find a way to have a room of guys who want to fight and get better. We lost to a good football and they deserved to win.”
On the 97-yard drive allowed at the end of the first half...
“We had a hard time defending the pass today, and really all year that's not our strength. We've got to find a way to get better at that, but we've got a way to go. I thought our guys played hard and we had certain players step up, we just don't have enough guys who could do everything we asked them to do consistently. They were able to get open. Wide open at times, on numerous plays, and they had time to throw the ball. We could tell coming into the game that they've definitely improved, and they did a good job against us.”
On playing man-to-man defense...
“We thought we could man them up a little more than we had, and there's a reason that we don't play a lot of man. You're going to have to at times and it's disappointing that we couldn't execute when we did. They took advantage of it, they got open, they made throws, they protected. They did a good job.”
On fourth and shorts...
“We weren't able to run the ball all game, especially at the beginning. You'd like to be able hit it up the middle. When it's fourth-and-less-than-a-yard you'd like to be able to go off tackle. I guess we got to get back to doing a little trickery and play-action pass, but I just thought we could hit it up in there and we weren't good enough to do that.”
Safety Navon Mosely
On the last drive of the first half...
“The first play on the last drive they gassed us. Cover two, he hit the honey hole right there at corner, [I] probably should have dropped in there. They got some confidence, and just moved the ball well. Definitely a critical drive.”
On the team's fight...
“I know my guys, I know my team. Everybody on this roster is fighting for their life right now. I can't just sit back and be sad about it. It's over now. We've got to learn from our mistakes and move on.”
Wide Receiver Jared Sparks
On gaining confidence as a receiver...
“I felt like I got a little bit better at the receiver spot tonight, along with some of my teammates as well. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how many receptions I get, as long as we get the dub. And by the dub I mean the win. We didn't get it tonight, and I'm not at all satisfied.”
On the better second half offense...
“We weren't doing things we were capable of doing. We made a point to say we're not going to lay down. We're going to come back and try to win this game, any means necessary. We just went out and did what we do every day in practice. We knew what we were capable, and we just got to do it early on.”
On the loss impacting bowl hopes...
“We're just pissed off with greatness. What I mean is that we're pissed off, and we want to be great.”
Quarterback Elijah Sindelar
On his heavy usage...
“I realized we were going to throw a lot early in the second half. We came in with our first six plays that were mostly passes, and that's when I realized we were going to have to throw it a lot. We did have some good run plays in there in the second half that set us up, which was good. We just have to have a full package, and I think we just got it started too late. We got it going too late. That's on me, and I've got to get it going earlier, in the first and second quarter.”
On the slow start...
“Early we had a couple batted passes which usually I don't have a problem with. They were doing a good job of getting their hands up, so I've got to do a better job of finding lanes, because I'm not used to getting my balls batted. As a tall guy, my ball comes out a little higher, so that was a little interesting and we made some adjustments, but I've got to find lanes when they get their hands up.”
On fourth down struggles...
“We had a good plan. We handed it to Markelle [Jones], and pitched it to DJ [Knox] on one of them. It's been good for us, I just don't know. We've got to come off the ball, we've got to believe in ourselves a little bit more, and really take pride in what we're doing, and have that desire, and want it more than the other team. That's all we have to do.”
