Pat Fitzgerald discusses slow starts, self-inflicted wounds in loss to Duke
While there are several reasons why Northwestern lost at home, some of the biggest reasons explained by head coach Pat Fitzgerald in the post-game press conference were a lack of focus on defense, turnovers, and mental errors.
Northwestern followed up a stellar 31-28 win over Nebraska in Ireland in Week 0 with a disappointing defensive performance in its 31-23 loss at home versus Duke.
"We can't allow for that to continue to happen. That's a recipe for disaster in the long-term" Fitz says, on feeling like NU is always playing from behind.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 10, 2022
"Any time you have self-inflicted wounds it comes down to us as coaches and you ask why," Fitz says on how small fundamental mistakes can come from what he and his staff are and are not doing right in practice.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 10, 2022
"I don't have a solution for that except tackle the guy," Fitz says on the 51-yard bobbled catch the NU secondary let up.
He says they can't expect to put themselves in holes because of plays like that and climb out of it.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 10, 2022
The defense of Northwestern allowed Duke to account for 461 total yards, with 221 of them coming from the rushing game. Northwestern’s defense allowed an average of 18.5 yards per pass with one of the key passes coming from a bobbled pass given up by the secondary.
Duke only turned the ball over once, while Northwestern turned the ball over three times.
Northwestern was also overpowered at the line of scrimmage as Duke’s defense accounted for 7 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 14 pass breakups.
