Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
Post-Game Quotes: Northwestern
9/21/2019 9:45:00 PM | Football
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio
Opening statement...
Big, big win. Coming off a tough loss last weekend, had to be able to handle adversity and get through things. So, we're very proud of our football team in terms of what they were able to accomplish. A lot tighter of a game than you would think, than the score would indicate. A lot of respect for Northwestern and what they're able to do. But I thought that the turnovers and being able to capitalize up on those…I thought we played pretty well on special teams. Relative to the win, missed a field goal and dropped a punt. Anyway, opportunistic on offense and we played relentless on defense and that was the formula coming in, so I'll take some questions.
On the final moments with his defense out there at the end to win it...
Well, I knew that sooner or later it would maybe come. To be honest with you, I'm just trying to win the football game. Those things that come with that 110 (wins), I think you sit back at a later time and say 'OK, did this, did that.' It's not an individual thing, it's just so many people working towards it. I was very impressed on just our workman like attitude today. We just came out and if something happened negatively, we just lined back up and played. Defensively, didn't give up any big plays. I think that maybe had one 20-yard run, I'm not sure if they had any passes over 20 (yards). But played extremely well on defense, four turnovers and then on offense sort of workman like. When we had opportunities, we did drive the ball. Just one field goal, but we did drive the ball and scored touchdowns."
On finishing drives, specifically after the first half...
Big pick (interception) by Josiah Scott and then just sort of getting it downfield. I thought we played well working in the two-minute situation and again we scored in two-minute situations so you're not out of it. When you can do that, you're never out of it. I thought he (Brian Lewerke) played pretty well, he's probably thrown for 1,000 yards in four games so he's pretty good. I thought we were running the ball OK. We didn't break the big ones, but we found running room. The magic number is usually around 40 (yard carry) and we were close to 40 on the rushes.
On the offense still being in a discovery process and its growth...
I would think that we still got a couple ways (to go). You measure a football team at the end of the season, but we scored some points and made some big plays. We created some big plays, Cody (White), we were going to throw a double-pass and he runs out of it with it, cuts back and gets a big first down. Then we score, then there's some other things, it's hard for me to remember everything that's going on in the game, but I thought that it was sort of workman-like. On first down, we had a couple penalties, back chops a guy cutting through the line of scrimmage, things that I never really thought to be (a penalty), but whatever. So, when it's first and 25 it's hard to overcome. We had a couple of those situations like that but for the most part I think that we moved the football pretty well consistently and we ran the ball.
On the first quarter stop at the goaline...
Huge stop, that really felt like a turnover to me. They reviewed it, didn't get it in, and then we stopped them two more times. Huge stop, it led with that really because that really sets the tone for the entire game. But 14-3 at the end of the first half, with the two-minute drive, played extremely well on defense, played very well through the third quarter. (We) got points in the fourth quarter as well, all in all, very workman-like. I thought it was a great performance and am very happy for our football team. 3-1, and 1-0 in the Big Ten Conference so just keep chipping, just keep chopping wood.
On building confidence strategy for Connor Heyward...
We went to him late in the game. Elijah (Collins) got the majority of plays. So, we were up and we're going to use all of our (running) backs. We're going to keep working and give people opportunities.
On Darrell Stewart's great start...
Darrell's playing very well. I've always said, (if) you want to have a championship football team your seniors need to have their best years. So far, Darrell's played as well as he's played. So far, Raequan (Williams) has been playing well. So far, Joe Bachie is playing extremely well. You can just start looking around, David Dowell (is playing well). If you start looking around, our seniors, they're playing very good football right now."
On two more games to play on the road..,
I like playing away from home. It's a change sometimes, it's good, but you sort of come together and you go into a different locker room. It's different, you've got Spartan people on the road, fans on the road, you've got a hostile crowd to play in front of. So, it's a little bit like that. I don't know we just lined them up and played them. We knew at the beginning of January that we had three out of four games away in this stretch. The first one is down, the second one goes at home, and then we got two tough ones on the road. That's this conference, you've to be ready to play every single week.
On if the team had anything special to say to him after the win...
They had a lot of smiling, I just think everyone just likes to have a good time. Congratulations. You can't get there without players, can't get there without coaches. You can't get there without past players and current players. This is a very special group of players that we have, I really believe that. Is that going to translate into wins and losses, or wins, I don't know. But it's a special group of people, and I do think you win with chemistry. You always have a chance with good chemistry.
On his family in the locker room
A lot of family came and just to be a part of the moment, (they) came to Chicago for the weekend and to share this with my brother John. My wife was working the sideline, I think. But you can't get there by yourself. You need family that's very supportive especially in this position and you need players that will stand by you. You need administrators that support you when things are tough, and you also need people that are supporters of the program, whether vocally or financially to do all that they do. Appreciative of everybody that has gone in that direction.
Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening statement...
Thanks everyone for being here today. Congratulations to Mark Dantonio. He's the all-time winningest coach in a story book Big Ten program. It's hard earned and well deserved and I want to tip my hat to him and all the guys and staff and families who have been part of that program. It's not an easy accomplishment. It's an amazing accomplishment and behalf of our program we want to congratulate his staff, his players and the Dantonios. Behind any successful coach is an amazing woman and saw her after the game and just congratulated them. It's not easy, so congratulations to Mark and Becky and the entire program.
And about the game…We thought we had a pretty good plan going in as far as taking what the defense would give us. We moved the ball pretty well at times and then there were opportunities that we missed. First of all Michigan State, they're obviously very good offensively but we were not able to sustain drives, sustain first downs, and we got the ball down inside the one and would go backwards. We'll first and foremost look at our plan, was it the right plan? Did we execute it? If not, why? Did they beat us at point of attack? Find the answers and then work hard to correct that. That was a pretty big turning point I think. We can't have that. We've got to take care of the football better, but credit to Michigan State for capitalizing on it. A couple drive routes that we obviously did not cover very well and that hurt our momentum. Then come out the second half, we knew it was going to be critical and I said, it's going to be critical that we sustain drives and field position. Couple that with turnover ratio, it's a recipe for disaster. It's disappointing but what I told the guys is that I've unfortunately had my nose bloody before. I told them we got to stick together. Point thumbs not fingers. You got to work hard to get better individually and work hard collectively to get better on your side of the ball. We've got to work with our guys to improve fundamentally and then get them where we can execute cleaner. Disappointing outcome but a lot of ball ahead of us and we're going to get to work on it right away tonight.
On Aiden Smith...
All of our quarterbacks are young from an experience standpoint. That was Aiden's first time in a game in four years. We went to the bullpen to see if we could get a little bit of a spark in this game and then thinking big picture that we've got to get all of our guys experience. Some of our guys have never been in a game. If I'm not mistaken we were down three scores so I was hoping for a spark. Get some momentum and make it a two score game. That was my decision.
On consistency in September...
We have to be consistent and coach the guys and be consistent. I don't have enough time to psychoanalyze and overanalyze everyone. We've tweaked our camps a lot. Camp has nothing to do with today's game. Last week has nothing to do with today's game. We just have to execute cleaner. We're typically a successful football program when we play complimentary football but were not holding up our end of the bargain on both sides. Not enough explosive plays, not sustaining drives. We're typically a complimentary team and right now we're not playing that way.
Michigan State senior linebacker Joe Bachie
On setting a career high in tackles...
Business as usual like we talked about last week. Refocusing and getting back down to business and that's what we did this week. Offense and defense did a great job and we got Coach D his win today.
On the fumbled punt and momentum switch...
That wins big games. On the road you need stops like that and we were able to do that today so that was huge.
Putting starters back in on the final drive...
We've got to make sure our twos are better than that, that's the main thing we took from that. They moved the ball right down the field when some of the second and third guys were in and we didn't want that to happen again, so some of the ones went back in there to try and end the game. We did a great job and got a nice fourth down stop.
On Coach D reaching 110 wins...
That was huge, walking into the locker room and see the families and the smiles. It was awesome. The guy who recruited me to come here, to see him accomplish this in my time here is awesome… I just said "Coach D, congrats!"
On adjustments coming out of the half...
We made some adjustments in the locker room, we went in there at half and talked. When we went out there and we knew we had to get a of couple three and outs and get the momentum on our side. We did a great job with that, our offense drove down and got a touchdown.
Opening statement...
Big, big win. Coming off a tough loss last weekend, had to be able to handle adversity and get through things. So, we're very proud of our football team in terms of what they were able to accomplish. A lot tighter of a game than you would think, than the score would indicate. A lot of respect for Northwestern and what they're able to do. But I thought that the turnovers and being able to capitalize up on those…I thought we played pretty well on special teams. Relative to the win, missed a field goal and dropped a punt. Anyway, opportunistic on offense and we played relentless on defense and that was the formula coming in, so I'll take some questions.
On the final moments with his defense out there at the end to win it...
Well, I knew that sooner or later it would maybe come. To be honest with you, I'm just trying to win the football game. Those things that come with that 110 (wins), I think you sit back at a later time and say 'OK, did this, did that.' It's not an individual thing, it's just so many people working towards it. I was very impressed on just our workman like attitude today. We just came out and if something happened negatively, we just lined back up and played. Defensively, didn't give up any big plays. I think that maybe had one 20-yard run, I'm not sure if they had any passes over 20 (yards). But played extremely well on defense, four turnovers and then on offense sort of workman like. When we had opportunities, we did drive the ball. Just one field goal, but we did drive the ball and scored touchdowns."
On finishing drives, specifically after the first half...
Big pick (interception) by Josiah Scott and then just sort of getting it downfield. I thought we played well working in the two-minute situation and again we scored in two-minute situations so you're not out of it. When you can do that, you're never out of it. I thought he (Brian Lewerke) played pretty well, he's probably thrown for 1,000 yards in four games so he's pretty good. I thought we were running the ball OK. We didn't break the big ones, but we found running room. The magic number is usually around 40 (yard carry) and we were close to 40 on the rushes.
On the offense still being in a discovery process and its growth...
I would think that we still got a couple ways (to go). You measure a football team at the end of the season, but we scored some points and made some big plays. We created some big plays, Cody (White), we were going to throw a double-pass and he runs out of it with it, cuts back and gets a big first down. Then we score, then there's some other things, it's hard for me to remember everything that's going on in the game, but I thought that it was sort of workman-like. On first down, we had a couple penalties, back chops a guy cutting through the line of scrimmage, things that I never really thought to be (a penalty), but whatever. So, when it's first and 25 it's hard to overcome. We had a couple of those situations like that but for the most part I think that we moved the football pretty well consistently and we ran the ball.
On the first quarter stop at the goaline...
Huge stop, that really felt like a turnover to me. They reviewed it, didn't get it in, and then we stopped them two more times. Huge stop, it led with that really because that really sets the tone for the entire game. But 14-3 at the end of the first half, with the two-minute drive, played extremely well on defense, played very well through the third quarter. (We) got points in the fourth quarter as well, all in all, very workman-like. I thought it was a great performance and am very happy for our football team. 3-1, and 1-0 in the Big Ten Conference so just keep chipping, just keep chopping wood.
On building confidence strategy for Connor Heyward...
We went to him late in the game. Elijah (Collins) got the majority of plays. So, we were up and we're going to use all of our (running) backs. We're going to keep working and give people opportunities.
On Darrell Stewart's great start...
Darrell's playing very well. I've always said, (if) you want to have a championship football team your seniors need to have their best years. So far, Darrell's played as well as he's played. So far, Raequan (Williams) has been playing well. So far, Joe Bachie is playing extremely well. You can just start looking around, David Dowell (is playing well). If you start looking around, our seniors, they're playing very good football right now."
On two more games to play on the road..,
I like playing away from home. It's a change sometimes, it's good, but you sort of come together and you go into a different locker room. It's different, you've got Spartan people on the road, fans on the road, you've got a hostile crowd to play in front of. So, it's a little bit like that. I don't know we just lined them up and played them. We knew at the beginning of January that we had three out of four games away in this stretch. The first one is down, the second one goes at home, and then we got two tough ones on the road. That's this conference, you've to be ready to play every single week.
On if the team had anything special to say to him after the win...
They had a lot of smiling, I just think everyone just likes to have a good time. Congratulations. You can't get there without players, can't get there without coaches. You can't get there without past players and current players. This is a very special group of players that we have, I really believe that. Is that going to translate into wins and losses, or wins, I don't know. But it's a special group of people, and I do think you win with chemistry. You always have a chance with good chemistry.
On his family in the locker room
A lot of family came and just to be a part of the moment, (they) came to Chicago for the weekend and to share this with my brother John. My wife was working the sideline, I think. But you can't get there by yourself. You need family that's very supportive especially in this position and you need players that will stand by you. You need administrators that support you when things are tough, and you also need people that are supporters of the program, whether vocally or financially to do all that they do. Appreciative of everybody that has gone in that direction.
Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening statement...
Thanks everyone for being here today. Congratulations to Mark Dantonio. He's the all-time winningest coach in a story book Big Ten program. It's hard earned and well deserved and I want to tip my hat to him and all the guys and staff and families who have been part of that program. It's not an easy accomplishment. It's an amazing accomplishment and behalf of our program we want to congratulate his staff, his players and the Dantonios. Behind any successful coach is an amazing woman and saw her after the game and just congratulated them. It's not easy, so congratulations to Mark and Becky and the entire program.
And about the game…We thought we had a pretty good plan going in as far as taking what the defense would give us. We moved the ball pretty well at times and then there were opportunities that we missed. First of all Michigan State, they're obviously very good offensively but we were not able to sustain drives, sustain first downs, and we got the ball down inside the one and would go backwards. We'll first and foremost look at our plan, was it the right plan? Did we execute it? If not, why? Did they beat us at point of attack? Find the answers and then work hard to correct that. That was a pretty big turning point I think. We can't have that. We've got to take care of the football better, but credit to Michigan State for capitalizing on it. A couple drive routes that we obviously did not cover very well and that hurt our momentum. Then come out the second half, we knew it was going to be critical and I said, it's going to be critical that we sustain drives and field position. Couple that with turnover ratio, it's a recipe for disaster. It's disappointing but what I told the guys is that I've unfortunately had my nose bloody before. I told them we got to stick together. Point thumbs not fingers. You got to work hard to get better individually and work hard collectively to get better on your side of the ball. We've got to work with our guys to improve fundamentally and then get them where we can execute cleaner. Disappointing outcome but a lot of ball ahead of us and we're going to get to work on it right away tonight.
On Aiden Smith...
All of our quarterbacks are young from an experience standpoint. That was Aiden's first time in a game in four years. We went to the bullpen to see if we could get a little bit of a spark in this game and then thinking big picture that we've got to get all of our guys experience. Some of our guys have never been in a game. If I'm not mistaken we were down three scores so I was hoping for a spark. Get some momentum and make it a two score game. That was my decision.
On consistency in September...
We have to be consistent and coach the guys and be consistent. I don't have enough time to psychoanalyze and overanalyze everyone. We've tweaked our camps a lot. Camp has nothing to do with today's game. Last week has nothing to do with today's game. We just have to execute cleaner. We're typically a successful football program when we play complimentary football but were not holding up our end of the bargain on both sides. Not enough explosive plays, not sustaining drives. We're typically a complimentary team and right now we're not playing that way.
Michigan State senior linebacker Joe Bachie
On setting a career high in tackles...
Business as usual like we talked about last week. Refocusing and getting back down to business and that's what we did this week. Offense and defense did a great job and we got Coach D his win today.
On the fumbled punt and momentum switch...
That wins big games. On the road you need stops like that and we were able to do that today so that was huge.
Putting starters back in on the final drive...
We've got to make sure our twos are better than that, that's the main thing we took from that. They moved the ball right down the field when some of the second and third guys were in and we didn't want that to happen again, so some of the ones went back in there to try and end the game. We did a great job and got a nice fourth down stop.
On Coach D reaching 110 wins...
That was huge, walking into the locker room and see the families and the smiles. It was awesome. The guy who recruited me to come here, to see him accomplish this in my time here is awesome… I just said "Coach D, congrats!"
On adjustments coming out of the half...
We made some adjustments in the locker room, we went in there at half and talked. When we went out there and we knew we had to get a of couple three and outs and get the momentum on our side. We did a great job with that, our offense drove down and got a touchdown.
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