Bryce Kirtz
Northwestern Wide Receiver
On the offense’s performance
“All week, our focus point was, being physical, playing fast, starting fast. I just felt like we weren't physical enough. I felt like they had a lot of pressure on the quarterback. I mean, seven sacks, that's unacceptable. It's hard to win a football game when you have seven sacks. I would say really just the physicality we lacked, especially in the run game. I felt like we just have to bring it more and keep working on it.”
On not converting his 66-yard reception to a touchdown
“Yeah, it's definitely frustrating because you always want to capitalize off a big explosive play like that, especially in the situation that we were in. We were in a one-score game trying to score. It definitely hurts. It takes the momentum away almost because we had momentum and then they stopped us. We got three points, but it's hard. It definitely is hard to bounce back from that.”
On Brendan Sullivan
“He's definitely poised. I love the way Brendan goes out there and he plays. Every time he steps on the field, he wants to score. You love to see that out of a quarterback, somebody that can lead the guys and lead the offense. Because at an away game, it's hard, especially in front of all those fans, but he didn't flinch once. So I just hope that he continues to show that as the season goes on.”
On the mood in the locker room
“The mood is not high, obviously. We didn't come here to lose. That's for sure. Guys aren't too happy about the way things went. But the biggest thing is we just have to bounce back. Coach (David) Braun, he has a big 24-hour rule. 24 hours, then you flush it onto the next week, so hopefully come Monday, we throw this in the back of the rearview mirror and we're ready to go for Maryland next week.”