Oct. 9, 2007
Head coach Joe Novak, defensive end Larry English, running back Justin Anderson and defensive tackle Alex Krutsch met with the media during Tuesday's weekly press conference to preview NIU's homecoming matchup with Western Michigan on Saturday. Below are selected quotes from the media session.
Head coach Joe Novak
Opening statement
"I feel we are just finding more and more ways to not get it done. The kids are frustrated but they are hanging in here. I have been through this before in my career, and we just need to keeping swinging, that's all you can do. We have six games to play and if you look down the schedule, every one of them is going to be a tough game. It will be a challenge for us to get some victories, but we will see what happens."
Analyzing the season to date
"There have been breakdowns here or there, and whenever we try to fix something, something breaks somewhere else. We have had our share of injuries but so has everybody else and I will never make that an excuse. We have had three games where we `coulda shoulda woulda' against Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, and now Temple. Those are games that if we could have won we would be 4-2 and everything would be different right now, but we didn't. We did not get it done in those games. I don't believe in curses or bad luck, we just simply did not get the job done. Winning and loosing is so fragile. It is not so fragile at USC, Michigan, or Notre Dame because they recruit the best players in the country. When you are talking about a mid-major, it is such a fine line, and right now it is not going our way for whatever reason."
On making personnel changes
"If we have done anything here correctly it is this - we have got a foundation that we believe in and we stay with it. You are looking at personnel everyday and if a change needs to be made it gets done. You start out playing the guys you think are the best players or otherwise you wouldn't be playing them. You are always open, we have made a couple of personnel changes along the way, but that always doesn't get problems solved. The obvious thing right now is that we are simply not making the plays to win. We are also missing some speed, especially on the offensive side of the ball, and that is hurting us. We are getting in the red zone, but we are not getting the ball in the end zone. Turnovers have killed us as well; we are minus-11. Penalties; We are holding too much. Those are things a good football team cannot do. Those are the things that are keeping us from being a good team right now. It is being addressed, we are working on it, we just need to do it on the field and we are not."
On the outlook for the future
"We've got six games to play and 95 percent of this team is coming back. I owe it to these seniors; I owe it to the rest of the kids. If you are looking towards next year, next year starts Saturday. I told the captains, all of which are juniors, and the team. You know what we could start seeing next year, but if we are going to do that, next year starts right now. We need to get that winning taste in our mouths that we once had and it is not there right now. That will help us next year. Right now we are just focused on what we can still get out of this year. Is it going to be a great year? Obviously not. Is it going to be a winning season? It is going to be awful tough. But we can still come out of this thing with a more positive taste and feeling than we have right now."
On the team's attitude
"I like our kids, I think they are working hard but they are frustrated. If I did not think we were getting effort, and if they didn't care, there would be a problem. I ask for them to care and I ask for them to work at it. When I walk around, I watch them, I watch their eyes in meetings, those things are important. Do they care and are they trying? As long as they are doing that, that is all I ask. I expect them to care; I expect it to be important to them. I want them to care, and I want them to work at it."
On how he feels about the team
"I learn everyday about the team as a coach. Every team is different. Every youngster on the team is different, and every team member has a button. One kid you kick in the butt and the other kid you don't. Every kid on the team is different, the personality of every team is different, and every kid on the team is different as well. I'm still trying to figure these freshman kids out and sometime as a coach you don't figure them out until they are seniors. That is a continual process because the team changes every year. I am surprised how much the personality is different from year to year because you lose a group of seniors and then a new group of freshmen come in to replace them. Your team turns over 35 to 40 percent every year. As we knew going into this year, we are lacking a little leadership from our senior class. We just don't have the seniors to lead the team and the juniors are working as hard as they can. That is not the excuse for turnovers and missed extra points, but that leadership is so darn important. Five of our seniors are out with injuries. I am not being critical, but it is a fact.
On Western Michigan
"They have a great receiving core. Number 27 [Jamarko Simmons] is an outstanding receiver for them. He is about 6-2, 220 and a receiver who is really good and has caught about 55 passes for them. He is a real talent, and the thing that scares you about him is if you are not right there when he catches it, he is a hard guy to bring down because he is so darn big and physical. They also have a tight end named [Branden] Ledbetter #82 out of Florida who really runs well and like a wide receiver. They are a really balanced football team. Two running backs that run it very well and both are very capable, but very different. One is a little bigger and stronger and the other one is smaller but quicker. I think they are a very good offensive football team. They are 2-4, but they have lost to West Virginia, Indiana, and Missouri, all of which are top 25 teams or were. They beat Toledo on the road which does not happen and they lost a close one last week."
Defensive end Larry English
On the team's attitude
"We just have to keep working on the same goal and working hard each week. We have had a lot of tough luck and tough losses but it is important for us to move on and make the best of it. I do not think we have been consistent enough. At times the offense has been up, then the defense is up, and they are just not on the same page. It will be hard for us to stay consistent when stuff like that is going on."
On correcting the team's 1-5 start
"I think the blame has to fall on all of us. We are a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team and that is just the way it is. I really feel that we are backed against the wall and we need to start fighting back as a team and stick together."
Running back Justin Anderson
On facing Western Michigan on homecoming
"We need to go into the game with a chip on our shoulder and acting like we are hungry for a win. We have to realize though, that Western Michigan is not just going to give it to us. It is a rivalry and they are just as hungry as we are for a win because they are 2-4. It is homecoming and a lot of people are coming back, and they are going to want to see a win, just like anyone would. We need to work hard this week to prepare ourselves for this game."
Defensive tackle Alex Krutsch
On the team's weekly practice regiment
"We have not changed anything that we are doing in particular; however, we have been working harder and harder over the past few weeks. Like coach said, we just simply are not making the plays to win the game and we are beating ourselves. Those are the things we have been concentrating on in practice and we are going to try to correct those things before Saturday."
