Everything Pat Fitzgerald Said About Michigan State
Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald met with the media following the Wildcats' 38-21 loss in their home opener against Michigan State Friday night. You can watch the full press conference at the top of this page.
On areas in which the Wildcats can improve:
"Obviously, it wasn't the performance that we prepared for or we wanted, so first and foremost, we have to give credit to Michigan State. They were able to win the line of scrimmage, and that's the bottom line. They were able to get explosive runs, and we missed tackles, missed fit gaps, and the guys were able to take it the distance. I did think at times we did respond and we shored some things up, but obviously not consistently enough."
"I thought Hunter [Johnson] played pretty solid for getting back out there for his first start in a couple of years. I thought he made some big plays. I think he'll really learn from this and grow. And the same thing with our receivers; I thought they played pretty well for a handful of guys that are pretty young and inexperienced. So a lot to grow from, but more importantly, a ton to learn from, a ton to teach, and ultimately it's my responsibility to have us be able to be more consistent in our execution than we were today in tackling, and then obviously in our red zone efficiency when we had the ball across the 20 multiple times and didn't get any points. That's obviously problematic."
On how QB Hunter Johnson handled pressure from the Spartan defense:
"I think he handled it really well. I thought he was really poised on the boundary, and I thought he was talking to the guys the right away: 'Let's get a first down, let's go score.' Again, a guy who's older, maybe doesn't have a ton of experience, but he'll grow and build off of this from a standpoint of efficiency."
"There are a lot of areas where we can still help him as a coach, and that's what we were talking about there at the end of the game. When we've got empty trips in the red zone, we start with us as coaches. We have to find ways to put those points up on the board, be it the kicking game, and also obviously touchdowns are critical there. So we have to look at our plan, and then we have to look at the way we executed it. But I thought that Hunter was pretty resilient throughout the whole game."
On how the team plans on establishing a more consistent run game:
"Well I thought from a standpoint down 14-nothing, we were a little bit shell shocked, but I thought the guys responded. We were able to get the run game going a little bit and get some explosive plays of our own in the run game, but obviously just not consistent enough. So we'll take a look at the scheme first, and then we'll take a look at what we did execution-wise to get it shored up and get better for next week."
On if Michigan State had introduced anything new to its offensive scheme this season:
"Not really. I mean, a couple of nuances, but nothing that we weren't overly prepared for. I think they just executed pretty clean, and it's a credit to them. They've obviously made some changes personnel-wise and upgraded some of their speed in some areas, and it showed today when they were able to get out in the open and make some big plays."
On how to overcome challenges in the Wildcats' kicking game:
"You just get to work. I mean, it's one game, right? Unlike the pros, you don't get any exhibition games, so when you come out and you have a lot of self-inflicted wounds against a good team, a talented team, a more improved team than maybe anybody gave them credit for, it's tough to beat two teams. I don't want to discredit Michigan State's effort, but obviously, we made a lot of mistakes."
"So number one, we have to execute better in the kick game. Those six points make a big difference at the end of the game, and probably a difference in momentum a little bit also. And then, the trips into the red zone without points when we have first and goals, when we have the ball inside the 20, and we end up having self-inflicted wounds, either a penalty or a blown assignment or just a mistargeted thing. So we have to look at all of it and make sure we have our plan shored up, but again, if I'm going to draw a positive from today, I thought I saw a lot of growth from Hunter [Johnson], and I'm really proud of him."
On RB Evan Hull's late-game appearance:
"Ev [Evan Hull] has been nursing a lower body issue [since] the middle and the end of camp, so we were trying to bring him along a little bit slowly today. But we have 100% confidence in what Ev can do and [that was] obviously showcased in that big explosive run, and other runs too. We're going to need all three guys, there's no question about that, so I look forward to having them all grow and learn and get back out here. I can't wait for next Saturday. I'm not gonna lie to you, today was a long day, and the way the Spartans got after us made it longer, so I'm looking forward to getting out to practice next week."
On if Hunter Johnson will remain the Wildcats' starting QB:
"Absolutely, 100%. I thought he gave us every opportunity to win the game. I thought he had poise today. I thought we saw quite a bit of pressure from Michigan State that at times I thought we picked up well, and other times, he had pressure in his face and he made really good decisions with the ball. At the end, he's maybe trying to make a play that you'd go, 'Ah, don't throw that one, just throw it away.' I thought that's what Peyton [Ramsey] did a great job of last year, he didn't force the ball."
"I mean, he's got three touchdowns, no picks, and was 34 for 43 for 283 — not a bad day for [someone who has] I don't know how many college starts now, but it's less than 10. We'll build upon that, and we have to be better as coaches helping him too. There was a lot of that chatter going on during the end of the fourth quarter about things that we have fresh in our mind that we want to build upon moving into next week and beyond."
On the Wildcat defense's many missed tackles:
"[Defense] has been pretty much a hallmark of who we are and what we do. We have a tackling circuit every day that we do, we work it every day in the offseason, but first and foremost, I'm going to give the athletes at Michigan State the credit for making us miss. I got a feeling it's going to come down a couple of things. We misfit some gaps, and now we're making arm tackles. Maybe we weren't aggressive enough for our run fits or we overran some things. That's what it looked like especially at the end, when we had guys about ready to be pulled down and we weren't running our feet."
"Those fundamentals start and end with us as a coaching staff, and we're going to get those fixed because I know how much pride our guys have on defense. We gave up more rushing yards today than we maybe gave up in about four weeks last year, so there are a lot of things we can improve on and fix."
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