It's Week Zero, But Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald Is Already In Midseason Form On Sideline Temper Tantrums

Pat Fitzgerald shares a name with my uncle but otherwise I can't really relate to him. That is to say, would I have run the ball on 3rd and 10 to set up a field goal early in a regular-season opener, rather than air it out to try to extend the drive? Nope. Classic Throwback Vintage Scrappy Gritty Football Guy Philosophy at work there.

To his credit, Fitzgerald did allow his offense to stay on the field for a 4th and 1 on this drive, which set up the goal-to-go situation that's the subject of the footage above. Whatever my misgivings might be with his football tactics, Patty Fitz is NOT someone you fuck with. He'd done a masterful job conserving his timeouts precisely for situations like this. The referees flagged the Wildcats for a delay of game.

All's well that ends well, though, as Northwestern ultimately got the tuddy to take a 17-14 lead into halftime.

Had that not happened, I'd be checking my six if I were anyone from that officiating crew heading into the locker room. Hell, if Nebraska finds a way to pull this one out, the zebras should scan the international flight logs to make sure there wasn't a last-minute standby passenger aboard their aircraft on the lengthy flight home from Dublin, Ireland. We might just see another viral fight video aboard a plane if Coach Pat can't cool down from this, because we can never have enough of those.

Twitter @MattFitz_gerald