Aug. 12, 2009
Media Day Photo Gallery (Buy Photos!)
Coach Fitz complete press conference transcript
By Skip Myslenski, NUsports.com Contributing Writer
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The sun is shining and the breeze is wafting and, underfoot, the grass is lush and verdant. It is, truly, one of those mornings oft described as picture perfect and that is only fitting and proper. For this is Wednesday, football media day at Ryan Field, that annual day when players are healthy and records are unblemished, when hopes soar unchecked and optimism reigns supreme.
That is the case on campuses across the country, not just on this Northwestern campus, but here, not unimportantly, there is something else extant as well. There is, around the rose-colored glasses worn by all, rims fashioned by reality and tempered to a hard edge.
There is, quite simply, no feeling of satisfaction despite the pastoral setting, no sense of accomplishment despite the successes accrued just a short year ago. In a past not long gone, in an era not yet erased, those nine wins and that stirring performance in the Alamo Bowl would have been causes enough for celebration. But now, on this morning, here comes 'Cat senior safety Brendan Smith and he delivers a soliloquy that is as telling as it is blunt.
"We have to take it back to the start," is what he says. "What we did last year was good. It gives us a good foundation. But we can't just assume that we're going to make gains. We can't assume that we're going to grow from that. The past is the past. Last season was last season. Once that ended, we had a bad taste in our mouth. In my mind, we improved. But we didn't play like we're supposed to. We should have won more. We should have finished the right way.
"Now we have to take it like it didn't happen. We have to use it as motivation to do better and work harder and pick up on the little things that we did wrong. We have to take it one day at a time, one game at a time. That's one of the things Northwestern obviously hasn't had -- well, they did in '95 and '96 -- but they haven't put themselves in a spot where they're favored to win, where they're used to winning. So when we start winning, it's easy for guys to go, 'Oh, we're going to win.'
"But winners have to prepare. Winners have to go in everyday because teams are going to come searching for them. They're not going to take them lightly. So winners actually have to work harder to do what they do. They have to prepare more. So we have to take (last season) as a stepping stone and just keep on improving."
"The consistency in our success, you look at our records, we're 83-79 since 1995. So we've gotten over that hump of being a consistent winner," echoes his coach, Pat Fitzgerald. "When I was being recruited back in 1993, that was the only thing used against Coach (Gary) Barnett's staff. They'll never win there consistently. But being 6-6 is not the destination. Being right around .500 is not the destination. The hallmark of teams being consistently successful is winning bowl games. That's our goal. Our goal is to win a bowl game. But that's down the road."
On this Wednesday that is further down the road than the first winter storm, yet even here, on this morning given over to unrealistic expectations, there are pragmatic reasons to believe that goal is attainable. Corey Wootton is one of them. After an off-season spent rehabilitating the knee he damaged against Missouri in the Alamo Bowl, the senior defensive end is fully healthy.
The line he anchors is another. It is deep and it is talented and it is experienced, which is also the case with the secondary that roams behind it. The offensive line is part of this too. It contains a half-dozen hogs with starting experience and this is an asset that should not be underrated.
Their names are Kurt Mattes and Desmond Taylor, Doug Bartels and Ben Burkett, Keegan Grant and Al Netter, and, as usual, they are little known by any beyond family and close friends. What is unusual, in stark contrast, is that Fitzgerald is right when he sweepingly states, "On offense, none of you guys know any of our guys names."
They have been lounge acts throughout their careers, that is why they are unknown, but now they must move onto center stage and perform under the harsh spotlight that once shined on C.J. Bachér and Tyrell Sutton and receivers like Ross Lane and Rasheed Ward and Eric Peterman. Mike Kafka, Bachér's successor at quarterback, was glimpsed briefly last fall and he did produce some moments fit for the highlight reel. But he, like the litany of performers hoping to run and catch the ball, are still works in progress, unfinished products better known for their potential than their accomplishments.
Their development promises to be a recurring theme as August makes its way toward the September 5 season opener against Towson and just how they handle their star turns will help determine (largely) if these `Cats can get the school's first bowl win since '49. "That's definitely a mountaintop we want to get over," Fitzgerald will again admit. "You have things on your check list, your to-do list. It's obviously one of our goals, to win a bowl. To take the next step for our program, to eliminate questions, that's what you have to do. You have to win bowl games and you have to do it consistently and you have to do it on the national stage.
"Obviously, we've been on the national stage a bunch the last 13, 14 years and we've won our share. Unfortunately, we've ended up on the short end of some of those games. As long as we continue to consistently win those games, we'll be able to take the next step and be one of the upper echelon teams in the Big Ten and consistently compete for the championship. That's our goal."
Is that the goal, Brendan Smith is later asked.
It would, here on this day when hopes soar unchecked and optimism reigns supreme, be easy for him say yeah, sure, obviously. That would surprise no one. But that is not what he says. He instead again reveals the reality rife in these new `Cats, reveals it by replying: "The goal is to win one. We've got to make it out of camp healthy and then we've got Towson first.
"That's the goal. Hopefully we can stick to that."
Catch Wildcat action in person! Buy Tickets Here!
Relive your favorite Wildcat moments with our Official Photo Store!