NU's Fitzgerald: Great day for football

It wasn't much fun for anyone trying to navigate their way to Ryan Field through flooded roads Saturday morning. Dempster, Golf and numerous side streets all were under water in various spots.

It might not have been the most pleasant conditions to watch a game for the 19,062 who turned out, sitting through a steady rain and sometimes a downpour.

Playing in those soggy conditions?

That's another story.

"I remember growing up playing in the rain so it kind of reminded me of playing when I was younger," said defensive lineman Corey Wootton, who had 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss. "I love playing in the rain, I don't mind it at all."

There wasn't much love getting to Evanston. Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips said he had 20 family and friends call about problems on Dempster and Golf.

Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald wasn't one of them. He woke up at 5:45 a.m. and said it was a "great day for football."

As the band took the field at halftime, the public announcer declared, "The show must go on."

And it did.

Neither team turned the ball over despite the weather. Southern Illinois made its share of mistakes with 10 penalties,

"The way we took care of the ball was impressive," Fitzgerald said. "And my hats off to Southern Illinois, same thing."

The Wildcats were prepared for conditions like this last Saturday at Duke. But it turned out to be a clear night.

"We had a practice last Thursday pretty similar to this," quarterback C.J. Bacher said. "We had the advantage of having some recent experience."

Fitzgerald said the only thing the conditions changed was his decision-making in the red zone. The Wildcats kicked four short field goals, including an 18-yarder instead of going for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1.

That led to a big day for Northwestern place-kicker Amado Villarreal, who set a career high with 4 field goals from 35, 33, 18 and 20 yards.

"These kind of conditions, we talked about making us possession receivers," said running back Tyrell Sutton, who caught 5 passes to go with his 101 yards rushing. "We have to worry about ourselves, not worry about what the weather is."

Something special: Villarreal wasn't the only special teams performer to come up big.

Jacob Schmidt blocked a punt in the third quarter and recovered it, giving the Wildcats first-and-goal at the 5.

Schmidt, a redshirt freshman from Wisconsin, also fought at the bottom of a pile to recover a fumble on a Northwestern kick return in the first half.

"That's all credit to him," Fitzgerald said. "He came to the sideline and said we have something here, we adjusted our game plan a little bit. I was really impressed with our special teams today."

Getting a chance: Fitzgerald started the second quarter with backup quarterback Mike Kafka under center. The junior completed 1 of 2 passes in a quick three-and-out, and Bacher found himself back at quarterback until the Wildcats had built a 26-point lead in the fourth quarter.

"We want to get Mike involved in the game a little bit," said Fitzgerald, who declined to say if Kafka will play again next week against Ohio. "C.J. Bacher is our starting quarterback, don't even think about writing anything different from that. But at the end of the day we want to get Mike some experience, some reps."

Big Ten pride: Fitzgerald's plans Saturday night to celebrate a 3-0 start? Sit down in front of his TV and watch Ohio State-USC.

"I'm going to go home and watch," Fitzgerald said. "Go Big Ten tonight."