Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald addressed the media on Sunday to talk about the challenge his team faces on Saturday in the Big Ten Championship Game against No. 4 Ohio State.

Here are our takeaways:

Tough test awaits: Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald had nothing but praise for Ohio State on Sunday night. He complimented the Buckeyes’ tremendous talent across the board, and their discipline.

"They attack you in areas where they feel like they have an advantage," Fitzgerald said. "They're just an outstanding football team."

All of this has led to a 5-0 record for Ohio State and the No. 4 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Fitzgerald has yet to beat the Buckeyes in seven tries during his career. In four of those games, the Buckeyes won by five touchdowns or more, and only once, in 2016, were the Wildcats within one score, in a 24-20 loss in Columbus.

This will be the third straight season in which the Bucks and Cats will butt heads. In 2018, the Buckeyes beat the Wildcats 45-24 on the same stage at the Big Ten Championship Game. Then Northwestern lost 52-3 to Ohio State last year in Evanston in an embarrassing showing.

“They shouldn’t have even turned off their buses last year with how we played,” Fitzgerald said.

Day is the Coach of the Year to Fitzgerald: The last time Northwestern played for the Big Ten championship, in 2018, Pat Fitzgerald was named the conference's Coach of the Year. This time around, Fitzgerald thinks it should be Ohio State’s coach Ryan Day.

Fitzgerald said that he voted for Day to get the award this season. He complimented Day for his relentlessness in making sure the season got started.

"I think he knew the weight that the Ohio State head football coach carries," Fitzgerald said.

He also credited Day and the entire Buckeyes’ coaching staff with being the reason their team is so fundamentally sound and doesn’t beat themselves. Not only do they have the best talent in the league, but Ohio State plays to its strengths and "stresses you" in many different ways.

"They are so well coached," he said.

Running game hopes to keep rolling: Northwestern’s running game broke out in a big way, on Saturday finishing with 411 yards against Illinois, the first time they cracked the 400-yard barrier in 17 years.

It also marked the first time Northwestern had eclipsed even 80 yards rushing in three weeks, and the only time they managed more than 150 since the opener against Maryland.

The Cats need to continue at least some of that success on Saturday against Ohio State if they want to be crowned Big Ten champions.

Fitzgerald lauded the play of the offensive line against the Illini, as well as running backs Cam Porter and Evan Hull for running hard and through tackles. He said that the Wildcats amassed more than 200 yards after contact against the Illini.

But this week represents a whole different challenge for the Wildcats against Ohio State front seven.

"They're violent," said Fitzgerald. "They're beyond physical, they're just violent."

In fact, while watching film with his graduate assistants on Sunday, Fitzgerald said he had to walk out of the room, knowing the mountain the Wildcats would have to climb against the Buckeyes.

Early start is no problem for Fitz: Most college football fans aren’t big fans of 11 a.m. starts. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, was actually happy that the Big Ten moved the title game from a night to an early-morning kickoff.

Two years ago, Northwestern played Ohio State in primetime . To Fitzgerald, that was too much waiting around before the game. His team is accustomed to early starts, and he'd rather get on with the game as early as possible.

"Have some oatmeal, and let's tee it up," Fitzgerald said.

A win would mean a historic celebration: When asked what it would mean for Northwestern to beat the team that's dominated the Big Ten for the better part of two decades, Fitzgerald kept it simple.

"It would mean the Big Ten championship," he said. That's one of the goals of his program every year.

He said that winning a conference title that has eluded him in his 14 years in Evanston would be a big step for the Wildcats and would make him proud of his players and coaches.

It was all a neat and tidy, coach-speak answer.

However, Fitzgerald did admit that the celebration should the Wildcats prevail would be memorable.

"I would celebrate the heck out of it on Saturday night," he said. "I'm not gonna lie to you. It would be a helluva ride home on I-65 "