EVANSTON-Monday's press conferences with Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald tend to follow the same pattern.

When the Wildcats win, Fitzgerald is usually somber and points out little things his team could have done better. When the Cats are on the wrong side of the scoreboard, the ninth-year head coach tends to be at his liveliest, a solid indication the 24-hour rule has passed.

Following last Saturday's 48-7 pasting in Iowa City, Fitzgerald's theme for this Saturday's home date with Michigan is, "Embrace the Suck.''

"Sometimes you have to embrace the suck," he said. "We were bad and we have to embrace it. There's no magical formula; you just take it."

When asked if he talked to any of his mentors following one of the most embarrassing losses since Francis Peay walked the sidelines at Northwestern, Fitzgerald was at his best.

"Stacy (his wife) was great, gave me a temple massage,'' he said. "I sat down next to Ryan (8-year-old son) Sunday and he said, 'Dad, we got spanked.'

"I woke up Sunday and said, 'Let's rock.' You put your chin up and your chest out. Go back to work, roll your sleeves up. It's not real hard when you get your fannies whipped. It's not like 'Ooh we were close.' You hope to get home safe, roll your clock back an hour and see you on Monday. There's not a whole lot more you can say. We got our butts whipped.''

Saying that he did talk to one of his mentors but not offering a name, Fitzgerald then mocked some changes he was going to employ.

"We're going to put in the wishbone, line up in the Bear front, bring seven guys on pressure, onside kick every kick, go for it on every fourth down, fake every field goal and fake every punt. We're checking off all the suggestions right now and going to put them all in.''

But on a serious note, Fitzgerald said, "My wife reminded me I dropped a really important pass against Oak Lawn my junior year and we lost. It was bad. A corner route, I lost it and we lost the game. You don't forget things like that and I won't forget last week.

"You have to use your frustration as motivation and I can't control anything else, just motivate our guys, prod them to get better. They are great guys, I love them but we just have to coach them better and coach them harder.''