Post Game Quotes

Terrance Turner
On a the game:
“Both defenses played a heck of a game. We both came to play and we were able to shut each other’s offenses down. What more can you say, the game was a defensive battle.”

On the offensive battle:
“It seemed like we were able to move the ball. That’s what it is all about for our offense. We knew they would be hard to stop, but I think we tried our best.”

Darius Johnson
On adjusting to the standing defensive end position:
“I feel like the defense as a whole is playing a lot better these past few weeks. Now we have to keep going and keep doing what we need to do and executing and we should be fine. We have generally been holding teams under 13 or 15 points these past few weeks. I like what we have been doing and we need to keep getting stronger. ”

On Northwestern’s offensive strength:
“You have to keep fighting like coach says, we have to finish. Obviously they had a few huge plays and we came up short. They executed well, and Northwestern played well.”

Ted Bolser
On today’s game:
“Our defense played really well today. Our offense moved the ball. It was when we got close to the red zone that we started to have some issues. We had some penalties that held us back. That is a place that we struggled, in penalties and the red zone.”

On progressing with the season:
“We are just treating every game like it’s our next. I think that we will be fine. Every game is important. We are going into Iowa next week and we are just going to keep practicing like we have been and hopefully come out with a win.”

On moving forward from today’s game:
“When things don’t go our way, we just have to persevered through it. We have to take the consequences of our mistakes, we have to accept it, and there is no way of getting around it. We will be fine.”

Ben Chappell
On today’s overall performance:
“I have to give credit to Northwestern. They had a good game plan and obviously we just didn’t execute. To me, it’s a matter of going back to film and looking to see what we aren’t getting done, whether it’s throwing, running, catching or blocking. It’s a matter of moving to the next one and that’s all we can really do.”

On momentum at the end of the first half:
“That was a good drive, we had 97 yards which felt good. We just couldn’t put it together as well in the second half.”

On the impact of the loss:
“It’s never easy to lose a football game. We put so much into it and the coaches put so much into it. It’s not easy but all we can do is move onto the next one.”

On the offense:
“We had some throws off of play action and stuff like that we did well we are going to continue to expand on that. There were just a couple of missed cues and on third and one we blocked it wrong, so it comes down to execution.”

——————————————————————————–
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening Remarks:
“It’s great to find a win on the road. I knew this was going to be a huge challenge with the history between these two teams – the last seven games now have been decided by 26 points. I give a lot of credit to Bill (Lynch) and the staff at Indiana. I thought they were right there, but we found a way to win.
“I thought our defense was outstanding. Outside of two plays the whole game, I thought we played really, really well. It shows how dynamic Indiana is. They can make you pay when you make a mistake, and we can’t let that happen towards the end of the game. But besides that, I thought we affected the quarterback. I thought we had good pressure. I thought we mixed things up. We knew the challenge coming in, and I think we answered that.”

On the whether the Northwestern team was down after its loss to Michigan State:
“No. We always put an emphasis on finishing in our program. It’s not something new in our program. We re-emphasized it the last two weeks, and we finally found a way to get it done. In crunch time in Big Ten play, it really comes down to executing and making plays. And obviously today we had the opportunity to do that, and we did.”

On Evan Watkins:
“I think we have a great problem: we have two really dynamic quarterbacks. And I have two guys that I will hopefully be able to redshirt that I think will be very good too. We’ve been getting Evan ready for opportunity. I don’t know what it’s been about our last two trips down, but we’ve had our back-up quarterback play. Evan missed Thursday’s practice because he was sick and to have him come in today and play the way he did, I’m very proud of him.”

On Jeremy Ebert:
“He’s pretty good. I think that that is what an All-Big Ten receiver looks like. He’s dynamic and makes plays all over the field. He makes the tough catches. He blocks well. Again, he’s a very dynamic player, and I’m proud of the way he has improved.”