Pat Fitzgerald previews matchup with Nebraska in weekly presser
Pat Fitzgerald sure was impressed with Northwestern’s performance against Ohio.
Can you blame him?
Junior running back Evan Hull had a career day, rushing for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Wildcats flew past the Bobcats 35-6 at Ryan Field in Week 4. With a B1G matchup coming up with Nebraska in Lincoln, Northwestern has a chance to build off that performance and get its first win in conference play.
But Nebraska played well against Michigan State, taking the Spartans to overtime before eventually losing 23-20. Cornhuskers quarterback Adrian Martinez is having a solid year and ranks 4th in the B1G with 252.2 passing yards per game. He’s also 12th in the league in rushing yards, proving he can beat teams in multiple ways.
Fitzgerald addressed Martinez’s performance this season as he previewed Northwestern’s Week 5 matchup against the Cornhuskers. Here’s more of what he had to say:
"Their (Nebraska's) defense is really impressive to watch. They rotate well … this defense is well coordinated. They fly around. They're physical." – Fitz
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
"I think this is an incredibly improved Nebraska team that is playing at a very high level right now." – Fitz
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
"We needed to run the ball, and we got in a very advantageous situation where we could put a hat on a hat," – Fitz on the offensive game plan against Ohio.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
"Adrian (Martinez) is a human highlight reel. He's going to make some guys miss, you just can't give up the explosive plays. He's a true duel-threat who makes you stay up at night." – Fitz
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
Fitzgerald on some of the defense's struggles with tackling so far this season, "It's not a sin to miss the tackle, it's a sin if you miss it the wrong way and if you don't show the right effort trying to make it."
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
"Schematically what Scott (Frost) and his staff do with their offense with tempo, they make you play the whole field." – Fitz
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
"The Duke environment was pretty awful to be honest with you. That was a bring your own juice kind of day. And clearly we played down to it in that first half." – Fitz
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
"You've got to have focus, you've got to have discipline and you've got to control what you can control." – Fitz on keeping the team ready going to a tough environment at Nebraksa.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
Fitz on Nebraska's 2nd half defensive performance against Michigan State on Saturday, during which they allowed 0 first downs — "That was one of the most incredible defensive performances I've seen in a long time."
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
"There's not a lot of teams that can do what they did defensively against Michigan State and Oklahoma two weeks ago." – Peter Skoronski on the Nebraska defense
— Inside NU (@insidenu) September 27, 2021
