Pat Fitzgerald press conference notes: NU-Minnesota

We got to the press conference late because Minnesota's ushers had no idea where the media room was, but here's what we made it for.

- Fitz: "When you stand around and play in a slow-moving offense's mentality, you get that."

- Fitz: "You're going to have to press a little bit."

- Fitz: "I'll take third and manageable. If I'm going to be in third down, I'll take third and 6 all day. I think we can get those."

- Fitz wanted NU to press a little bit more. He said NU and Wisconsin are "exactly the same." He said last week they got explosive plays and big plays, and this week they didn't. If the offensive plan was predicated on having as much luck as last week against Wisconsin ... yikes.

- On the kickoff return, Fitz said a couple of players "overran the ball."

- Fitz said NU gave the game to Minnesota. That seems like an unfair statement, since both teams were pretty similar statistically, but the Gophers made fewer mistakes

- NU was going all out to stop the run. VanHoose: "We were playing heavy run pretty much the entire game. If they make the pass, they make the pass."