Giddy from Northwestern’s 33-27 overtime win over Ohio State Saturday night, coach Randy Walker joked about his dog, Magic, and his favorite clown Monday.
“Hey, 20 years from now we’ll have a chance to have a reunion, we’ll celebrate,” Walker said at his weekly press conference. “You guys will wheel me in a wheelchair, and we’ll be Chuckles the Clown.”
But right now there’s no time for chuckling in the Cats’ program.
“I left that game behind quickly,” Walker said. “And we have to get our players to make sure they do that as well.”
Walker said he was impressed with the way NU (2-3, 1-1 Big Ten) responded after a 43-17 loss to Minnesota last week. He explained that the Cats have learned to respond to adversity, and they showed that while playing against the Buckeyes.
“I thought the most critical aspect of the (Ohio State) game was the interception that we threw (in the fourth quarter),” Walker said. “That wasn’t good. We put them in great field position. And our ability to answer, Jeff Backes’ interception to stop that threat, I thought that was huge.”
In Saturday’s win over the then-No. 7 Buckeyes, the Cats displayed the kind of consistency on both sides of the ball they’ve been looking for all year.
NU totaled 444 yards on 83 offensive plays and held Ohio State to 308 yards on 75 plays.
“We finally just stayed focused for a complete game,” junior receiver Mark Philmore said. “We had four games before this Ohio State game and you could see we’d look good one series and the next series not look so good. And we finally, offensively and defensively, were able to go out series after series and put forth a great effort.”
But Walker warned that with Indiana coming to town, the Cats have to refocus. Getting caught up in a big win could have the same negative effects as dwelling on a loss.
“You get back to the present,” Walker said. “Because the reason people don’t play well typically is they are really carried away by something that just happened or really depressed by it.”
Walker also responded Monday to comments defensive tackle Luis Castillo made last week about Ohio State having a “mediocre offense.”
The coach said Castillo’s comment was misunderstood, but he doesn’t condone trash-talking in football.
“I’m not comfortable with that,” Walker said. “I let it go last week. I try not to let distractions in our program. …I don’t think we’ll make that mistake again. And we don’t want to give the Buckeyes a reason to be upset with us, or anybody.”
Although the Cats pulled out a win, they lost a teammate following Saturday’s game.
Walker announced that after an “incident” in the stands during Saturday’s game, linebacker-turned-tight end Braden Jones will no longer be an NU football player.
Jones was arrested Saturday at Ryan Field and charged with two counts of battery after trying to hit one police officer and elbowing another, according to police.
Jones left the team and university in March after being charged with assaulting and trying to rob a taxi driver. The charges were later dropped, and after serving a suspension summer quarter, Jones returned to NU and the team two weeks ago.
He was in the stands Saturday because of a back injury. Injured players typically don’t join NU on its sideline.
“This incident has terminated our relationship,” Walker said. “I’m disappointed for him. We tried to work through some problems and hopefully have a good situation here, but it wasn’t to be.”
Reach Teddy Kider at [email protected].
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