Pat Fitzgerald
Great team win. To sing the fight song was great. Ecstatic for our guys.
Blocked FG return: I thought we were “dog---“ on offense. It was a big play. We were close on other ones this year, Nebraska game in particular. We have to play better on offense at the start of the game.
Early offensive struggles: Things we have to fix. Not playing well in one area in particular (QB). Put us in a difficult position.
Evan Hull: Ecstatic for him. Bright future. Depleted in that position. Earned the starting role. Did a good job today. Look forward to the future with him.
Kickoff recovery: Last kickoff was supposed to be a deep kick. It wasn’t the intention of the kick. Had the ball in our hands a couple other times.
Offensive turnovers at this point of year: We can’t turn the ball over on offense. Put our defense in bad situations all year. Things we stress, emphasize, work on every day… We can’t turn the ball over like we do and expect to win Big Ten games.
Defense: Red zone defense was outstanding. Cleaned things up as the game went along.
Why Whittaker? He’s a QB. That was the thought process. Trying to get those guys action.
Playing young players: Learn from doing, learn from playing.
Benching Smith after two INTs? Yeah, thought about it. Not up to standard we expect it to be. Gotta take care of the football, period. OL took over as the game went along. Set a goal to run for 300 yards. Had some wrinkles we didn’t expect.
Drake shut down: Gotta take care of the ball.
Why not Hunter? He was banged up last week so he didn’t play today. (I don’t remember him playing vs. Purdue, but the stats say he did. I assumed he meant he was banged up in practice, but I’m not sure.)
Joe Gaziano
Close to sack record: Deadpans “What record?” Have to do a better job wrapping up and corralling him.
FG block: Push up middle. Me and two DTs penetrating at the kick point, off center to where the guard was. 3 on 2 at that point. Got hands up and knock it down. Chris Bergin was ready and he’s got the jets.
Struggling early: After first couple series got into flow. Adjust to that. Second quarter more in tune with what we wanted to do, rather than back on our heels.
Snapping losing streak: Got bad taste out of our mouths. Good to get the feeling of a win again. Good to get back on track. Young guys stepped up huge. Evan Hull had a career guy. PJ Spencer, walkon freshmen, got a lot of playing time today.
Atmosphere in locker room: Light years different. Dancing around, having fun, music’s going.
Finishing with Illinois and Minnesota: Have to protect our home turf, execute against a good opponent. Classic Big Ten West heavyweight fights and you hope to have the last man standing.
As a Massachusetts player playing UMass: They were my first offer. Five friends from HS in the stands. Know some guys on the team that didn’t play today. Cool to play them my senior year.
Great team win. To sing the fight song was great. Ecstatic for our guys.
Blocked FG return: I thought we were “dog---“ on offense. It was a big play. We were close on other ones this year, Nebraska game in particular. We have to play better on offense at the start of the game.
Early offensive struggles: Things we have to fix. Not playing well in one area in particular (QB). Put us in a difficult position.
Evan Hull: Ecstatic for him. Bright future. Depleted in that position. Earned the starting role. Did a good job today. Look forward to the future with him.
Kickoff recovery: Last kickoff was supposed to be a deep kick. It wasn’t the intention of the kick. Had the ball in our hands a couple other times.
Offensive turnovers at this point of year: We can’t turn the ball over on offense. Put our defense in bad situations all year. Things we stress, emphasize, work on every day… We can’t turn the ball over like we do and expect to win Big Ten games.
Defense: Red zone defense was outstanding. Cleaned things up as the game went along.
Why Whittaker? He’s a QB. That was the thought process. Trying to get those guys action.
Playing young players: Learn from doing, learn from playing.
Benching Smith after two INTs? Yeah, thought about it. Not up to standard we expect it to be. Gotta take care of the football, period. OL took over as the game went along. Set a goal to run for 300 yards. Had some wrinkles we didn’t expect.
Drake shut down: Gotta take care of the ball.
Why not Hunter? He was banged up last week so he didn’t play today. (I don’t remember him playing vs. Purdue, but the stats say he did. I assumed he meant he was banged up in practice, but I’m not sure.)
Joe Gaziano
Close to sack record: Deadpans “What record?” Have to do a better job wrapping up and corralling him.
FG block: Push up middle. Me and two DTs penetrating at the kick point, off center to where the guard was. 3 on 2 at that point. Got hands up and knock it down. Chris Bergin was ready and he’s got the jets.
Struggling early: After first couple series got into flow. Adjust to that. Second quarter more in tune with what we wanted to do, rather than back on our heels.
Snapping losing streak: Got bad taste out of our mouths. Good to get the feeling of a win again. Good to get back on track. Young guys stepped up huge. Evan Hull had a career guy. PJ Spencer, walkon freshmen, got a lot of playing time today.
Atmosphere in locker room: Light years different. Dancing around, having fun, music’s going.
Finishing with Illinois and Minnesota: Have to protect our home turf, execute against a good opponent. Classic Big Ten West heavyweight fights and you hope to have the last man standing.
As a Massachusetts player playing UMass: They were my first offer. Five friends from HS in the stands. Know some guys on the team that didn’t play today. Cool to play them my senior year.
