He is Northwestern’s coach and contrarian-in-chief.
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After a listless season-opening loss to Cal, Pat Fitzgerald praised his team’s second-half effort.
Yet on the heels of the Wildcats’ 29-6 drubbing of Penn State, Fitzgerald opened his Monday news conference with criticism of linebacker Anthony Walker, who registered a team-high eight tackles and a pick-six of Christian Hackenberg in his first college start.
“He had 10 mental errors,” Fitzgerald said. “He had a lot of those ‘oohs and ahs’ plays, so I’m sure you guys wrote a lot of articles about him.”
He added this gem: “He was the Big Ten’s co-freshman player of the week. They’re giving everyone an award now. Next week we’ll have a co-junior of the week.”
A fired-up Fitzgerald spoke of his team’s “immaturity” — players showing up late for team meals, for example — and saved his harshest criticism for NU’s special teams. Among the problems: Kicker Jack Mitchell missed two extra points and holder Christian Salem declined to feed Mitchell on a fake field goal.
“Our kicker was terrible,” Fitzgerald said. “Our holder didn’t go out for an extra point, was unfocused and then didn’t pitch the ball on a field-goal fake that would have scored. We had two penalties on our punt-return team. The back side of our kickoff return was soft. The punt game was horrendous; our coverage lanes were terrible. We had a lack of discipline and a 3.0-second hang (time), so we gave up an explosion punt return.”
Fitzgerald also said his team missed three chances to block punts, which could have resulted in touchdowns. Without all of those mistakes, Fitzgerald figured, the final score could have been 59-6.
“The guys were realistic this morning (watching film) and saw how poorly we played,” he said. “That was probably more motivation than the win. We’re a long way from being what we can be, a long way.”
High praise: The Wildcats held Penn State’s top rusher, Bill Belton, to 25 yards. The task gets infinitely tougher Saturday against Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon, who averages 7.9 yards per carry and 153 per game.
“He reminds me of Walter Payton,” Fitzgerald said. “He runs like ‘Sweetness.’ “
NU defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo pressured Hackenberg and drew a holding penalty, but Fitzgerald said he remains suspect against the run.
“Like I said to the team this morning, I bet (Wisconsin’s) front is watching him and saying, ‘No. 7 is lunch in the run game!’ ” Fitzgerald said. “That’s your resume on tape, buddy. If I see it, I know they see it. You better not be lunch for ’em.”
Extra points: Safety Ibraheim Campbell re-injured a hamstring and has been ruled out for Saturday. … If linebacker Collin Ellis (concussion) recovers, he will start, with Walker also getting snaps. … Fitzgerald said he’s “hopeful” cornerback Matthew Harris, who got carted off the field but seems to have nothing worse than a sore neck, will play against the Badgers. … Tailback Warren Long stepped in Saturday for injured freshman Solomon Vault.