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Here’s what Pat Fitzgerald said after Northwestern’s victory over Rutgers
By Nick Schultz
Published:
That’s the bounce-back game Northwestern needed.
Two weeks after getting blown out 56-7 by Nebraska, the Wildcats came out of the bye week to beat Rutgers 21-7 at Ryan Field in Saturday afternoon’s homecoming game. Northwestern, which allowed a B1G-worst 449.2 yards per game coming in, held the Scarlet Knights to 222 total yards, including just 63 rushing yards.
South Carolina transfer Ryan Hilinski looked good at quarterback, completing 18 of 33 passes for 267 yards and 2 touchdowns in the effort. It was his second start at Northwestern, and he looked much better this time around than he did against Nebraska.
Northwestern is now back to .500 with a 3-3 record. Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald met the media after the game to talk about the much-needed victory, Hilinski’s performance and more.
Here’s what he had to say:
"Offensively, we had a lot of explosive plays," Fitz said. "We gotta finish drives and we can't have self-inflicted wounds though."
— Inside NU (@insidenu) October 16, 2021
"Big shout out to our student section," Fitz said. "I hope they have some good clean American fun tonight."
— Inside NU (@insidenu) October 16, 2021
Fitz says that the defense responded really well to adversity today.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) October 16, 2021
"To start a fire, you've got to have a spark," Fitz said. "Hopefully, this is the spark. We've kind of been our own worst enemy here in the first half."
— Inside NU (@insidenu) October 16, 2021
"He's been through a lot injury-wise," Fitz said on JJ Jefferson. "It was good to see him back out on the field, to have him make some plays for his teammates was awesome."
— Inside NU (@insidenu) October 16, 2021
"Just changing some things up," Fitz said on deciding to receive the kick to open the game. "Sometimes you've gotta flip the karma."
— Inside NU (@insidenu) October 16, 2021
"I thought that we were one week better. That's all that matters, just keep getting better. We've still got half of the season in front of us," Fitzgerald said.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) October 16, 2021
Nick Schultz is a columnist and breaking news writer for Saturday Tradition. A 2020 graduate of Loyola Chicago, he covered the Ramblers' 2018 Final Four run from beginning to end and has worked at NBC Sports Chicago. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickSchultz_7.