Northwestern Head Coach Quotes
Syracuse University Football
Syracuse vs. Northwestern
September 1, 2012
Syracuse, N.Y. - Carrier Dome
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
On today’s game:
“The goal was to go 1-0 and we found a way to get the job done. That being said, I’m proud of the way our guys fought; proud of the way we found a way to win. But obviously in between we have a lot things we need to work on. You’ll hear me say this all week, but I think most of the teams in the country would feel the same way, you make the biggest improvement from week one to week two. I know a lot more about our football team sitting here right now than I did three-and-a-half hours ago. I like the way we responded to some early adversity that we created for ourselves. We have to keep better focus, do a better job of keeping the big things small. That’s what we talked about and learned from camp, and obviously today we don’t know it well enough yet. It feels great to win, I’m incredibly happy to be able to get out of here with a win. We’ll move forward and try to find a way to get the guys coached up and do better for next week.
“I thought we executed across the board. I thought we had pretty good protection. We brought a little bit of heat. We missed a couple of throws that are still there. We’ll look at the tape and learn from them. He’ll also learn he cannot take a sack in the red zone, especially in the two-minute situation. There were all kinds of stuff - we can be hear an hour talking about all my notes on the back of my page - that we got to get fixed and we have to get corrected . Number on,e there is a great attitude in that locker room right now. That group is excited that we found a way to win. I think it’s also a hungry group, knowing that we by far did not play our best football. But as always, what are we, 31-11 in games decided by seven points? I don’t know why we always do this but we just do.”
On running back Venric Mark :
“He’s dynamic. I’ll stand by my statement that I think he’s the best in the country. You get him in space and he has a chance. In one game we saw what happened then. So Syracuse started moving the ball around, try to kick it away from him. We’ve got answers for that too. I’m really proud of Dennis Springer and our punt return team, we call it our jet team. I really thought those guys executed well today.”
On Chi Chi Ariguzo:
“I thought Chi Chi was very opportunistic. Right place, right time. In other areas we have a lot of work to do. We went after him in the passing game a little bit today. It’s one of those situations where you walk off the field - that was his first time. He’s been in other games but that was his first time making a lot of plays, the highs of the highs, and unfortunately some things happened to him. He’ll be much better next week.”
On Syracuse’s quarterback Ryan Nassib:
“He’s a pretty savvy kid. It’s not like you are going up against a first-time starter. He had a great understanding of what they were trying to do and how they were trying to accomplish it. They moved their protection around a little bit, they did some different things. They threw a lot of three step drop today. As much three step drops as we have ever seen. I think we have to do a better job of tightening up the coverage a little bit. Ryan did a nice job from coming out from under center, catching the ball and looking our guys off. That’s what it looked like. We have some things that we need to adjust in our game. I don’t think we did it quickly enough and hopefully we’ll be better next week.”
Syracuse vs. Northwestern
September 1, 2012
Syracuse, N.Y. - Carrier Dome
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
On today’s game:
“The goal was to go 1-0 and we found a way to get the job done. That being said, I’m proud of the way our guys fought; proud of the way we found a way to win. But obviously in between we have a lot things we need to work on. You’ll hear me say this all week, but I think most of the teams in the country would feel the same way, you make the biggest improvement from week one to week two. I know a lot more about our football team sitting here right now than I did three-and-a-half hours ago. I like the way we responded to some early adversity that we created for ourselves. We have to keep better focus, do a better job of keeping the big things small. That’s what we talked about and learned from camp, and obviously today we don’t know it well enough yet. It feels great to win, I’m incredibly happy to be able to get out of here with a win. We’ll move forward and try to find a way to get the guys coached up and do better for next week.
“I thought we executed across the board. I thought we had pretty good protection. We brought a little bit of heat. We missed a couple of throws that are still there. We’ll look at the tape and learn from them. He’ll also learn he cannot take a sack in the red zone, especially in the two-minute situation. There were all kinds of stuff - we can be hear an hour talking about all my notes on the back of my page - that we got to get fixed and we have to get corrected . Number on,e there is a great attitude in that locker room right now. That group is excited that we found a way to win. I think it’s also a hungry group, knowing that we by far did not play our best football. But as always, what are we, 31-11 in games decided by seven points? I don’t know why we always do this but we just do.”
On running back Venric Mark :
“He’s dynamic. I’ll stand by my statement that I think he’s the best in the country. You get him in space and he has a chance. In one game we saw what happened then. So Syracuse started moving the ball around, try to kick it away from him. We’ve got answers for that too. I’m really proud of Dennis Springer and our punt return team, we call it our jet team. I really thought those guys executed well today.”
On Chi Chi Ariguzo:
“I thought Chi Chi was very opportunistic. Right place, right time. In other areas we have a lot of work to do. We went after him in the passing game a little bit today. It’s one of those situations where you walk off the field - that was his first time. He’s been in other games but that was his first time making a lot of plays, the highs of the highs, and unfortunately some things happened to him. He’ll be much better next week.”
On Syracuse’s quarterback Ryan Nassib:
“He’s a pretty savvy kid. It’s not like you are going up against a first-time starter. He had a great understanding of what they were trying to do and how they were trying to accomplish it. They moved their protection around a little bit, they did some different things. They threw a lot of three step drop today. As much three step drops as we have ever seen. I think we have to do a better job of tightening up the coverage a little bit. Ryan did a nice job from coming out from under center, catching the ball and looking our guys off. That’s what it looked like. We have some things that we need to adjust in our game. I don’t think we did it quickly enough and hopefully we’ll be better next week.”
