It’s tough for anyone to find any positives during a six-game losing streak, but coach Pat Fitzgerald is trying — even if it’s jokingly.

“We went from 4 seconds away to 1 second away,” he said. “So I guess we are getting better.”

Each Northwestern loss has been more excruciatingly painful than the last. At this point, the Wildcats want any kind of win in the worst way possible. Fitzgerald said his team has been hurt by its inability to execute on its final drives.

“We have four, maybe even five plays there for us to make,” he said. “If we go zero-for-five, that’s tough. That’s a tough pill to swallow. I told the guys after the game, ‘You’re going to watch this tape and there’s going to be some tough pills to swallow.’ But that’s part of this whole deal.”

Senior quarterback Kain Colter said even though the team might be “cursed,” the players haven’t lost any confidence in themselves.

“We still feel like we could move the ball on anybody,” he said. “It’s a matter of going out there and executing and being able to be put in the position to make plays and going out there and making them.”

NU will have its hands full with Michigan State and its highly ranked defense, but the Spartans are coming off a game in which they gave up almost 400 yards of offense to the Cornhuskers. Colter said he believes Michigan State’s defense is similar to what NU faced last year in East Lansing, Mich., when the Cats won.

“It should give us confidence that we are facing the same guys we faced last year,” he said. “They’re the same guys we moved the ball on last year.”

Other news conference notes:

• Sophomore guard Geoff Mogus and sophomore safety Traveon Henry are both listed as day-to-day. Fitzgerald said Henry has a mid-body injury and Mogus has an upper body injury.
• Junior defensive tackle Sean McEvilly has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a foot injury. He will undergo surgery soon, and the expected recovery time is three months. Fitzgerald said it’s an injury that has been bothering McEvilly all year.
• Fitzgerald also disclosed that junior quarterback Trevor Siemian was injured during NU’s loss to Wisconsin. He said he elected not to say anything about it because Colter was not going to play in the game. He said Siemian was still hurt for a few weeks after the game even though he went out and played. “He’s probably as healthy as he’s been since the Wisconsin game,” Fitzgerald said.
• Colter accepted an invitation to the 2014 Reese’s Senior Bowl. He is listed as a wide receiver, not a quarterback.
• Fitzgerald said he’ll “see what’s left” when asked if he would bid on any of the Wounded Warrior jerseys on nusports.com.
• This Saturday marks the final game the seniors will play at Ryan Field. Fitzgerald praised this class and all that the players have done for the team and the community. “It’ll be a great legacy that they have left, and hopefully they can put an exclamation point to it in the next couple of games.”

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Twitter: @John_Paschall