Pressing NU needs win-out for bowl berth

When Pat Fitzgerald addressed his players Monday about their recent fourth-quarter struggles, he talked about grade-school basketball rather than Big Ten football.

"You're a team that runs a good offense; you play a really good 2-3 zone," the Northwestern coach analogized. "Then, all of a sudden, you decide in a certain point of the game, just out of the blue, to start pressing. You're not a press team, (so) you get yourself in trouble."

Unlike the team in the story, Northwestern hasn't overhauled its schemes during a game. But pressing, in the psychological sense, has been the Wildcats' biggest problem as of late.

NU has been outscored 35-0 and outgained 339-23 in the fourth quarter in its last two games. The late-game letdowns have put the Wildcats (5-5, 2-4) in a win-out situation to reach a bowl game.

"We're trying to make things happen that we don't need to," Fitzgerald said. "We're pressing. You worry about winning more than you worry about doing what winners do. … Sometimes winning can be a distraction. Winning is a byproduct of what you do when you do things well."

Fitzgerald acknowledged that NU has pressed in 4 of its 5 losses (Duke, Michigan, Purdue and Iowa). The problems have ranged from poor passing decisions to not fitting in gaps to not finishing blocks, "little details that make a big difference," Fitzgerald said.

Quarterback C.J. Bacher has completed just 15 of 39 passes after halftime in the last two games. He threw 3 interceptions in the final 16 minutes Saturday against Iowa.

"Sometimes the best throw is the one that's in the fourth row," Fitzgerald said. "You need to make a good decision and just respect the football more than anything. For the most part, C.J.'s done a tremendous job of doing that."

Part of the problem for Bacher and the Wildcats is how they won games earlier this season -- with exciting fourth-quarter spurts and stupefying plays.

"We've been successful so many times that you look around like, 'Who's going to make the play this time?'" guard Adam Crum said. "It might be the curse that some guys might, instead of being like, 'Oh, I'll make the play,' they'll be looking for someone else to do it."

Added running back Tyrell Sutton: "Coach said the champions and the winners don't make extraordinary plays. They do the ordinary things better than other people."

Caving in: NU allowed 5 sacks in the fourth quarter Saturday, but Adam Crum said the breakdowns weren't caused by increased pressure from Iowa. Unlike Purdue, which blitzed the whole game, Iowa excelled by rushing only its front four.

"It was little, simple mistakes," Crum said. "When you run twists, if a tackle sets up just a little bit too wide, it opens up a rush lane."

Inches to go: Kickoff time for NU's regular-season finale at Illinois will be determined Sunday. The game will begin at either 11 a.m. (ESPN) or 2:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network) … Pat Fitzgerald expects to have a more definitive update on backup running back Omar Conteh (sprained ankle) after today's practice. … Fitzgerald expressed condolences to Northwestern sports information director Mike Wolf, whose father, Dr. Jerome W. Wolf, died Saturday in Vandalia, Ill.