Northwestern Postgame Quotes (Sept. 19, 2009)
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Syracuse vs. Northwestern
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
On his team’s performance:
“I give a lot of credit to Syracuse; they came out with a great game plan. We got socked right in the face the first few minutes and went down 17-0, but I’m proud of the way our team responded. We can’t lose the turnover ratio and expect to win.”
On starters battling injuries:
“We’ve got to pick up the flag and keep fighting. Last year, we had nine guys out with injury. If you put on the purple and white and take the field, it’s time for you to step up and do your job and that is what our team did. We’ll look at the game film and coach them up a little better next week.”
On coming back to make it a close game:
“We just settled down and played. We were facing a hostile environment. I give credit to the Syracuse fans. Syracuse has tremendous coaches who are going to do a great job here. When you go on the road, lose the turnover battle and give up the amount of big plays we did, it came down to a one minute football game. We didn’t get the job done and the credit goes to Syracuse.”
On the defense:
“It was a game with a lot of big plays and when big plays happen, it is hard to get in a rhythm on defense. Both sides were reeling on defense at times. You call a play and get attacked in one spot, then you call another play and get attacked in a different spot. We just kept trying to use different play calls to get our team going. We’re gong to take a look at it and be extremely critical of the choices we’ve made.”
Quarterback Mike Kafka
On the offense:
“We did a lot of good things offensively. There are two plays we would like to have back. We’re going to flush it and move on. We have a strong team and strong leadership. We’ll bounce back; I’m not worried about it. I‘m excited for the other teams we’re going to play.”
On breaking records at quarterback tonight:
“I don’t know what records I’m breaking, but it doesn’t matter right now. The team matters and like I said, we’ll bounce back. We have a strong team and strong leadership. Our senior leadership and the guys we have around us are great and we know what we have to do.”
On staying upbeat late in the game:
“We know what we’re about and it doesn’t change if we’re down 17-0. We still think we can win every game no matter what.”
Wide Receiver Andrew Brewer
On the touchdown scored on throw-back pass to the quarterback:
“It was an awesome play call. We’ve been keeping that in our back pocket. It was one of those things we were never going to use, but we had a prime opportunity today. Mike (Kafka) and I traded places and I think we may need to throw him the ball more.”
