Northwestern University Athletics
#18 Michigan 38, #13 Northwestern 0 • Postgame Quotes
13/14 Northwestern at 18/22 Michigan
Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, Mich.
Oct. 10, 2015
Postgame Quotes
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Statement...
“Credit Michigan on a well played game; great performance by them in all three phases. Momentum got on their sideline pretty quickly with the opening kickoff return. Credit them. Great field return. Looked like we overran the ball at multiple positions which leads to an explosive play. We got some things going a very little bit offensively and then obviously we gave up some explosive plays defensive early is something we have not done in the past handful of games. Again credit Michigan's offense. We just couldn't get out of our own way offensively. We'd put something together and we'd get a penalty, we'd get a drop, we'd get a missed assignment. That is disappointing. Obviously, that starts and ends with me. I believe in that group of guys in the locker room. We've got a darn good football team, but we just didn't get them prepared to play that way today. I've got to give a ton of credit to Michigan. I thought they played very well and I am absolutely ecstatic to see Jake Rudock graduate. He has been a thorn in our side at two institutions. He is a great young man. I want to congratulate him. It's good to see him graduate.
On injury to cornerback Matthew Harris...
"He was doing prety well in the locker room. Most of that was for precautionary measures. He does have a little bit of a laceration that they cleaned up, but it looks like preliminarily everything will check out well."
On Michigan taking the opening kickoff back for a touchdown...
"I think it was a big momentum play. We've given up some big momentum plays in the past and we've responded to it. Michigan's defense obviously outplayed our defense today and that made the biggest difference."
On his fourth-down decision to kick the field goal instead of going for it...
"I really felt like we needed to get points on the board. It was 4th-and-2 and we got half a yard the play prior. I have great confidence in Jack and it looked like he just pulled it a little bit. I felt like any points would have been critical and I was confident in Jack."
On the play of Michigan's defensive line...
"I think they dominated our front."
On if the moment of the game and the Big House was too big for some of his players...
"I didn't get the sense that it was too big. I didn't sense that at all. We knew what we were coming into and we knew the kind of team we were playing. Obviously, I didn't get the guys ready from the start and I've got a suspicion that when I get on the bus and watch the opening kickoff I can tell you exactly what happened because I saw it unfold. Pretty disappointing way to start."
On if anything about Michigan's defense surprised him...
"I think they executed very well today. That is not a surprise though. They had been executing pretty cleanly. Until this game, especially defensively and kick game wise, I thought we had executed pretty well. It had been kind of the secret to our success. Both those phases have played pretty well. We had made the momentum play in the kicking game up until this point and to give it up is not the way you want to start on the road. It's tough to win on the road and anytime we give the home team momentum it makes it that much more difficult."
On the play of Michigan quarterback Jake Rudock...
"I think Jake took what we gave him. You can't take everything away. He was able to find things. He is a veteran quarterback. He has played a lot of Big Ten games and he was smart with the ball, got it out of his hands quickly. Especially when we had some pressure. They are doing a good job. They have a lot of volume in their offense. They build in news things in the first quarter of each game and obviously our guys didn't respond well. You can't anticipate what some of those things are going to be. Some of their plays were off of some areas we thought they would go, but we weren't disciplined enough."
On the Michigan being a veteran football team...
"I said it on Monday. This isn't to discredit the job of Coach Harbaugh and his staff are doing, they are doing a terrific job; outstanding. That is a veteran team we just played. That is a senior-laden football team that is a very good football team. Obviously, Coach Harbaugh and his staff are doing a great job, but we've got to play better and we've got to coach them better. We got beat by a veteran team today and we have to learn from it."
On what he learned from not bouncing back after the loss to Ohio State in 2013...
"The team didn't recover from a standpoint in the terms of wins and losses, but I think they recovered in the way they came back. The disappointing part of the past, was we didn't recover in the win column. That team fought. We fought, we just didn't find a way to win that year. We beat ourselves a bunch that year. That will be some things that I will share with the guys. You think about the way some of those games went down, those were some pretty hard gut punches. A lot of our seniors have been a part of that. Their attitude was right in the locker room just now. I saw Danny Vitale before I left and he said 'We're going to flush it and we're going to move on.'"
Northwestern Players
Senior superback Dan Vitale
On how the team flushes this game and moves forward...
"Just based on the maturity from this team. The leadership of this team has to beat this home that we just have to flush this. We are a much better team than we showed today and we know that 100 percent deep down in our hearts that we are a better team than we showed today. If we can do that and get the attitude back to where we need it to be I think we'll be ok."
On why the offense was unable to find consistency...
"Just one-man breakdowns. The offense has to be an 11-man operation, that's what makes it so hard. You might have 10 guys doing the right thing, one guy makes a mistake and it can screw you up. If we eliminate some mistakes and just execute a little bit better, I think we'll be fine from here on out. We just need to get our attitude back to where it was before this game."
On if this is the best defense Northwestern has played...
"Yeah, definitely. They brought it all day. All the credit goes to them. They fought us all day and put the pressure on the quarterback. They played hard every single play."
On how the leaders of the team can help Clayton continue to progress...
"I thin it's important that at least we all know on offense that all of our goals are still ahead of us. We can still win the Big Ten West and obviously we just have to win the rest of our games and move forward. All of our goals are still ahead of us. If we take it one step at a time, one day at a time we will be ok. We have been in this situation where we have lost a big game like this and we fought every single game after that. It's all just about how we respond and I have 100-percent confidence that Clayton is going to be fine and ready to go on Monday."
Senior defensive end Deonte Gibson
On if this is the best offense Northwestern has played...
"Not necessarily, they just played well. They had a good game plan against us, they moved the ball. They were able to rush the ball with Smith; he's a great back. All in all, they executed on some of our miscues and they just played a great game. They are a great team, so we just have to hit the books running on Monday and get ready for Iowa."
On how the team will continue to have fun despite the loss...
"The team we have now is a cohesive unit and we just learned that every game counts. This is one of the ones we lost, but we have to move forward, keep progressing, have fun and enjoy the ride. Not many people get the opportunity to play college and football and if you wallow in your sorrows, you're not taking advantage of such a great opportunity."
Senior safety Traveon Henry
On the biggest difference between the defense today and through the first five games...
"The biggest difference was we weren't executing. We weren't where we needed to be and we weren't flying around to the ball like we usually do. It was more on us, but Michigan did play well and they executed more than we did."
On if the moment was too big for some of the players...
"I think it's more so one bad performance. We didn't show up like we are capable of. We let a few plays get on top of us and we didn't respond very well. This week we will have to get back on track and focus on what we can. I don't believe the moment was too big for people. I don't believe so."
