When Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald elected to kick a field goal on fourth-and-one at the Michigan State four-yard line, he was immediately facing a furious Tyrell Sutton. The senior running back punched his fist angrily as he stormed off the field, upset that his coach chose not to go for the first down.
After the game, Fitzgerald explained his decision, which came with 11:53 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Wildcats down 31-14.
“If it was fourth-and-inches, it would have been a different decision,” he said. “But when…it’s fourth-and-closer to two than it is fourth-and-closer to nothing, and it’s a three-score game, we’re taking the points.”
The Cats’ coach pulled Sutton aside as he came off the field, and the two exchanged words. Sutton said the two met after the game to clear the air, and both emphasized there was no controversy between them.
“We’re both passionate and fiery guys,” Sutton said. “He just told me we were playing the percentages. The biggest thing I said to him is: ‘I just want to win.’ We didn’t have any quarrels.”
–Quarterback C.J. Bachér was the last of the Wildcats to address the media. The senior’s pointer finger on his throwing was heavily taped, but Bachér did not mention any injuries suffered during the game.
Bachér did not throw during one bye week practice to rest two bruised fingers on his throwing hand, which he injured during the Cats’ victory over Ohio.
While the NU signal-caller did not mention his injury, he did say that his career-high 61 passing attempts took a toll on him.
“(My body) will be sore tomorrow,” he said. “But it’s a long week. A lot of time to heal up.”
–It was a rocky special teams’ debut for junior cornerback Sherrick McManis. In his first game returning kickoffs, McManis fumbled the ball on his first return, leading to a Michigan State field goal.
The junior was little better on his second attempt. He appeared to freeze as the bouncing kick came towards him, bobbling the ball before falling on it at the NU five-yard line.
McManis said the early fumble did not lead to his hesitation on the second kick.
“Coach Fitzgerald always talks about, ‘flushing it,'” he said, referring to Fitzgerald’s mantra for forgetting the past. “And it was flushed. The second ball, I was just indecisive about it. I’ve got to be decisive.”
-Michigan State pulled the first punch returning the opening kickoff 50 yards, setting up good field position for their first score.
Coach Mark Dantonio was interested how his team would respond to the success – and how his team would respond to NU rally.
“We talk about it all the time about how we’re going to respond when things go bad. And also how will you respond when things go well for you,” Dantonio said. “You’re only as good as your last game. You have to have tremendous focus in this conference and against a BCS schedule like we have.”
The Spartans struggled in last week’s game against the Hawkeyes. Running back Javon Ringer was held to 91 yards rushing as Iowa nearly stole the game in Spartan Stadium.
He would have no such setback this week, rushing for 124 yards on 35 carries.
The Spartans responded well to the difficulties they had against Iowa the previous week and to the success they enjoyed at the beginning of Saturday’s game. Michigan State jumped out to a 17-0 lead – that gave them enough cushion to play even with NU the rest of the game.
-The memory of last year’s 48-41 overtime shootout at Spartan Stadium has not left Michigan State. The Spartans had a clear eye on coming into Ryan Field and ruining NU’s Big Ten home opener.
“You want to get revenge, I hate to say it,” Spartans defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said. “As a coach, any time you lose you want to come back and get a win. You lose at home, you want to back to their place and win.”
Michigan State got some measure of revenge for last year’s game in the 17-point road win.
Dantonio said the team struggled last year making tackles and keeping the Cats from making runs after the catch. This year, he said the Spartans did a good job wrapping their opponents up.
