Monday Football Press Conference (11/3/2014)

By Preston R. Michelson

Coming off of a rough loss at Iowa, Pat Fitzgerald took to the dais on Monday to give updates on the team.

— On academics, Fitz says: “We’re best in the Big Ten by ten percentage points, so we’re doing something positive.”

— Fitz: “I don’t know if we won more than three or four one-on-one battles.” He also went on to say that there are 11 one-on-one battles over the course of the game. There were 138 plays on both sides of the ball. Not sure how they only lost by 41, if that’s the case.

— “It’s over, you move on, you flush the bad experience, and you move on.”

— Fitz on what he looks at when he evaluates his staff: “You look at the complete body of work. You look at how they develop young men.”

— On Fitz being too loyal: “I’ve never met those people. Sorry.” He really trusts people who give everything they have.

— “I see guys struggle and I get friggin’ excited about it.”

— “On a day like Saturday, you have to quickly learn from it and then forget.”

— Fitz does not anticipate Collin Ellis will play this Saturday.

— On the loss to Iowa, Fitz made a face as if he had just eaten a sour lemon that was covered in battery acid.

— “Sometimes you have to embrace the suck. … You have to use your frustration as motivation.”

Deonte Gibson, Brandon Vitabile and Tony Jones took questions after Fitz.

— DG: “My mentality is that the game is over. … We have to get back to work tomorrow.”

— TJ: “I just want to win. I’ll do whatever it take to leave this program a winner.”

— TJ on how to improve the passing game: “We just have to make plays.”

— BV on stopping Iowa momentum: “We didn’t do a very good job … If we run it the way we were coached to do, we’ll be successful.”

— DG on Fitz postgame: “He’s honest. He didn’t sugarcoat anything. … We believe that we’re gonna turn it around because of him.”

— DG on pass rush that struggled on Saturday: “Basically upfront, we weren’t aggressive enough in our attack.”