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Skip Myslenski's Wednesday post focuses on the Wildcats offensive line, which is headed by four-year starting center Brandon Vitabile. The senior and his position coach, Adam Cushing, examine what was working well for the 'Cats early in Big Ten play and what missteps occurred in the second half against Nebraska.
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It starts always with the line, which is the very foundation of any team's offense, and for the first 30 minutes of the 'Cats game with Nebraska, theirs was sturdy enough to support a soaring skyscraper. It created lanes for the running backs and shielded the quarterback and when that first half ended, Justin Jackson had 99 yards on 15 carries (6.6 ypc); Trevor Siemian had been sacked but once; and its unit had netted 114 rushing yards (4.8 pc) and 262 yards overall.
The 'Cats, not insignificantly, led here by three, but then came the second half and a metamorphosis as stark as it was unexpected. Now that line was not strong enough to support a shack and in these 30 minutes, Jackson would manage just 29 yards on seven carries (4.1 ypc); Siemian would be sacked three times; and its unit would net just three rushing yards on 10 carries and 28 yards overall on 26 plays. "We were sputtering. We were stuck in the mud, it seemed like," center Brandon Vitabile would say this week.
"Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State, I thought we were taking the right steps with that group. I even think (we did that) in the first half against Nebraska," said Pat Fitzgerald. "Then in the second half, I think we took a step sideways if not backwards out there."
"It's just a lack of fundamentals," offensive line coach Adam Cushing will say when asked why that happened. "I think we were going out there and trusting our fundamentals in the first half. In the second half, I don't know that we necessarily were on a consistent basis. And when you don't do things consistently against a really good football team, you get exposed. That's why we were making progress. We were being consistent. It's not a game of perfect. Coach Fitz said that, he got it from (the late) Coach (Randy) Walker. It's not a game of perfect. But if you go out there and execute what you're supposed to do consistently, good things happen."
"I don't think we were being as aggressive as normal," Vitabile will later say to the same question. "We were too hesitant, too worried about making mistakes instead of just going and playing fast and cutting it loose, which is something Coach Fitz and Coach Cush always talk about. It's disappointing. It's very disappointing. Like Coach said, we had a lot of positive improvement moving forward. Then for one half to just bring us down, it's terrible and leaves you upset because you know we could have done a lot better.
"If anything, it reaffirms the fact that when we do what we're coached to do and play fast and cut it loose and not worry about what if, what if, what if, and just believe in our training and believe what the coaches say, that works. It reaffirms the fact that the coaches are right. Just go out there and go nuts, 100 percent balls to the walls, and just do it instead of being hesitant."
Vitabile is in his fifth season with the `Cats and his fourth as a starter. He is one of their captains and one of their leaders and one of those intimate with the variables of The Pit, and now he begins a dissection of his line's second half failure against the Huskers.
"You stumble a little bit, maybe you think, `We didn't get a first down because of my block,`" he will say when asked why it lost its aggressiveness. "Then you're like, `Maybe I have to do something different.` That's not it. Sometimes they beat you, and sometimes you beat yourself. In the middle of the game, you can't see that. You're not rewinding every play with perfect vision. It's easy on Sundays and Mondays after you watch the film. But during the game you've just got to go out there and trust yourself and know that, if you get beat, just go back and do what you're trained to do. Don't change anything. Trust what we do."
It's realizing it's not a game of perfect?
"It's not. It definitely isn't. I think that's maybe an issue with guys on our team in general. We're so used to being very successful academically. A lot of guys come from prestigious programs in high school. You do a lot of things right to get here. When you get on the field, you expect everything to be crystal clear. `This guy's going to go here and I'm going to hit him and that's it and we're going to score a hundred-yard touchdown every time.`
"But there's no such thing as a ten-run home run. You're not going to knock him out in the first round. That's a hard realization for guys when it doesn't happen the way the coach drew it up and you've got to react to things. It's not perfect. It's never going to be perfect. But you've got to trust the fact that you can be great while not being perfect."
"I don't think that's just Northwestern," Fitzgerald will say when that last quote is read to him. "I think that's kids today. It's hard to realize you don't have to be perfect. You just have to give your best. That's what we talk to our guys all the time about. Trust what we do. Trust how we prepare. And then just go give your best effort and good things are going to work out. If a mistake happens, we're going to coach you to correct it. But at the same time, just go play hard. If you do that, more times than not you're going to be successful."
Brandon Vitabile took his line's late failure against Nebraska personally and he was not the only one. The same was true of tackle Paul Jorgensen, another fifth year and another of the 'Cats captains. "Yes. Yes. They know what we could have done. They know what could have been," says the line coach Cushing. "But the best part about those two guys is they didn't pout about it. They came back to work. They came back to push themselves and their teammates. They came to practice hard."
That was indeed their theme as the 'Cats worked toward their Saturday visit to Iowa. "Paul and I and Hayden (Baker, another fifth-year and his backup at center) tried to push the guys to realize we can be what we want to be," explains Vitabile. "Whatever we set out to do, we can do. But we've got to hold ourselves to that and not accept that nonsense ... It's being positive. Just because you got beat one play doesn't mean you've got to get beat the next play. It's a decision at that point. Are you going to come back with your fist up, or are you going to come back and take one in the face?
"It's a mindset. You're going to get beat in practice, too. But it's how you respond. That's something Coach Fitz and Coach Cush really stress, and something we try to emphasize. You're not going to go out there and go ten plays to the house every time. Sometimes you go three-and-out. Sometimes you go 20 (plays) and score."
Sounds like you guys have to be like defensive backs and have short memories.
"Yeah," Brandon Vitabile finally says. "I wasn't much of a basketball player. But a shooter's mentality. Keep shooting. Keep swinging. Never give up. You've got to flush it. The next play. Short memory."
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