Preparation the problem for Northwestern's QBs
EVANSTON-Head coach Pat Fitzgerald hasn't been shy this year when talking about Northwestern's problems on offense, in general, and at quarterback, specifically.
Even after Saturday's 45-6 rout of UMass, the Wildcats' first win after seven straight losses, Fitzgerald came right out and said that his team looked like "dog you-know-what" on the offensive side of the ball. And that was after they put up more points than they had in the previous five games combined.
On Monday, Fitzgerald followed that up by talking extensively about the quarterback issues that have plagued his team all season. He blamed himself and his coaching staff, but the root cause in his mind is the preparation that his quarterbacks didn't put in before the season.
"It’s obvious that some of our guys didn’t do the things they needed to do to prepare for the season," said Fitzgerald. "That showed and manifested itself pretty quickly.
"Roles change quickly. Roles changed dramatically for some guys and obviously the production – lack thereof – is a statement to preparation. I think it starts there."
The Wildcats opened the season with a quarterback competition that carried over from spring ball between fifth-year senior walkon TJ Green and hotshot Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson. No one was sure who was going to be the starter until Johnson trotted out with the first team at Stanford Stadium.
But Johnson struggled right out of the gate and Fitzgerald turned to Green to give his team a spark. He did, briefly, but then broke his foot in the third quarter of the loss to the Cardinal.
That season-ending injury to Green turned out to be much more significant than anyone could have imagined. While many thought that Green's misfortune opened the door for Johnson to take charge, in reality, it sent the position into a tailspin. Looking back, Fitzgerald thinks that Green was the only signal caller who was ready to lead the team at that point.
You don't have to be an offensive coordinator to diagnose the Wildcats' quarterback problems. On Saturday, for example, the Wildcats gained a whopping 363 yards on the ground against UMass, but just 76 through the air. Quarterback Aidan Smith was just 7 of 13 passing -- with all seven completions going to Riley Lees -- and he threw two interceptions in UMass territory in the first quarter. So, he connected with more Minutemen defenders than he did Wildcat receivers.
After that, Fitzgerald battened down the hatches and ran the ball a total of 52 times.
Fitzgerald sounds tired of the whole quarterback ordeal, and he has been more and more willing to call out the lack of production at the position in recent weeks. If you don't take him at his word, just look at the statistics: Northwestern ranks 130th (dead-last) in passing efficiency in the nation, 124th in total offense (290.2 ypg), 126th in passing (125.4) and 129th in scoring (14.5 ppg). In all, the Wildcats have thrown for just four touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 10 games.
Fitzgerald said that he expected the Wildcats to experience some problems at QB this year, but there's no way he envisioned this.
"We knew we were going to go through some growing pains with a four-year starter [Clayton Thorson] being graduated," said Fitzgerald, who has already matched his single-season high of eight losses, with two games still to go. "Should I have anticipated that our play would have been this inconsistent? Nah, not really.
"But then once we saw that it was, we tried to do some things a little bit differently. But we can’t have quarterback play the way that it is right now and expect to compete to win games consistently and compete to win championships."
Johnson, who started the first four games, looked overwhelmed and indecisive, despite his five-star high school pedigree. He got dinged up against Wisconsin and Smith has been the starter since. (Johnson, we learned later, also sat out three games in October, at Fitzgerald's behest, as his mother battles breast cancer.)
Neither QB has been productive and both have been prone to mistakes. Smith has the worst passing efficiency rating in the country (82.9), but Johnson's is even worse (77.0), he just doesn't have enough attempts to qualify to be ranked. Smith has completed 50.3% of his passes and has three times as many interceptions (9) as touchdowns (3). Johnson owns a 47.2% completion rate, with one TD and four picks. Both average less than 100 yards per game.
Andrew Marty and Jason Whittaker both got snaps at QB against UMass, but neither attempted a pass. Fitzgerald says they are both "chomping at the bit for an opportunity" to play.
Fitzgerald's comments after Saturday's game, the Wildcats' 10th of the year, were similar to what he said after the opener, and just about every week in between. Turnovers. Missed opportunities. Lack of production. Poor decisions.
Again, he pointed to preparation as the primary culprit.
"Mentally (preparing). Film study. Prep. Understanding the ins and outs of the offense. Where to go with the ball, where not to go with the ball. Then, competition. We were really close, I thought, at the start of the year. TJ’s injury, obviously, was pretty catastrophic because he was our most experienced guy.
"But those are all excuses. We’ve got to do a better job coaching them. We’ve got to do a better job developing them. We obviously will add competition to the room too...
"As I talk about things will get fixed, that’s the No. 1 room that I will get fixed. Period. End of discussion. It’s not hard. It’s not complicated. It’s painfully obvious."
While Fitzgerald almost made it sound easy, it's curious that so little progress was made in the 12 weeks the QBs have had to work on their games since Aug. 31, the date of the opener. The passing game has never really gotten into a rhythm and has yet to reach 200 yards for a game.
Fitzgerald said that "a lot of it is snowballed negativity. They didn’t play very well and then they lost their trust in themselves and confidence."
So Job No. 1 for Fitzgerald and his coaches this offseason will be to restore the quarterbacks' confidence. Then comes teaching fundamentals. Lastly, they have to find the scheme that they can consistently execute at a much higher level than they are now.
While Fitzgerald's comments seem more like tough love than positive reinforcement, he said that his QBs "are all great kids" and that he is confident that they can turn things around and get the job done.
"I believe in all of them," he said. "I believe they’re all good enough to help us win."
That had better be the case because next year, there will be just one new face in the quarterback room, incoming freshman Aidan Atkinson.
The personnel won't change much. The production has to.