By Ethan Cohen
Coach Fitzgerald spoke to the media Monday, Nov. 17.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Go24BNfxF8&w=560&h=315]
- Offensive player of the week: Kyle Prater
- Siemian was “a couple drops away from having one of those games that goes down in Wildcat history”
- Defensive player of the week: Ibraheim Cambell
- Specialist of the week: Jack Mitchell (duh)
- Purdue has been dynamic offensively since making the QB change
- Probably the best special teams unit they’ve seen this year, critiques return units against Notre Dame
- Talked a lot about being a playoff situation, the team has its back against the wall
- Thought 4 of the 5 offensive linemen played very well
- On defense we shouldn’t have given up as much as we did
- “our holder outplayed their holder” that’s what the game came down to
- Miles Shuler is out this week, Greg Kuhar needs surgery for a lower body injury, and he’s out for the year
- “the hardest thing to do is to respond to success” despite the win, there were a lot of mistakes that the team is going to look at internally
- Being able to hug his father after the win was “really special”
- Prater’s catch in the two minute was a “big time play” for a great football player
- Offensive line success is due to them taking their play personally and have stopped thinking as much
- Siemian being mobile allowed him to feel more confident, also allowed the team to do different things schematically
- Fitz talked to Gary Barnett on the way back and facetimed his sons in the locker room after the game
- Also heard from a lot of other Big Ten coaches
- Fitz hopes they can keep playing that game going forward but it might be difficult given the schedules
Jimmy Hall: the turnovers were really key. After the PI call was thinking that the game couldn’t end like that.
Matt Alviti: Part of the reason I chose Northwestern was to go to Notre Dame and beat them. Fitz said that after the ND win in 95 they lost to Miami (OH) at home the next week.
Nick VanHoose: with our backs against the wall it increases pressure to “keep the family together”