The No. 19 Northwestern Wildcats are 5-0 after knocking off the No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers 17-7 on Saturday in Evanston.
In the postgame interview with ESPN, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald said, “How about these Fighting Rece Davises right here, huh Joey Galloway? How about the Fighting Rece Davises?”
Fitzgerald added, “As long as Joey Galloway keeps talking, we’ll I think appreciate it; I think the guys heard him pretty loud and clear.”
The Northwestern players could also be heard saying Rece Davis’ name repeatedly as they ran off the field.
Pat Fitzgerald refers to his team as the "Fighting Rece Davises" after the win over Wisconsin, in response to ESPN's Joey Galloway saying earlier in the week that Northwestern "has a bunch of Rece Davises running around." pic.twitter.com/P7CLfYHkdd
— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) November 22, 2020
That’s in response to ESPN analyst Joey Galloway saying earlier in the week on television that Northwestern has “a bunch of Rece Davises out there running around.”
Davis — the ESPN studio host — jokingly responded, “High-level athletes then, huh?”
To which Galloway responded while laughing, “Yeah, very athletic, Rece.”
For anyone wondering what exactly Joey Galloway said that got Coach Fitzgerald and the Wildcats fired up, here’s what he said: pic.twitter.com/RYH5LYWTY4
— Andrew Golden (@andrewcgolden) November 22, 2020
In addition to the Fighting Rece Davis jokes, Fitzgerald told the media after the game that he thought Galloway’s comments “were incredibly disrespectful,” and said the comments “really ticked our guys off.”
“I mean, that really ticked our guys off; I’m not gonna lie to you. It was, I thought, incredibly disrespectful. That is what it is. It’s not the first time. I just talked to the guys about putting fuel in their engine, man. Just use that as fuel in the engine and just go out and play the way we’re capable. We’ve got really, really good football players. We’ve got outstanding football players, in my opinion. We’ve got a bunch of guys who are going to be potentially All-Big 10, potentially All-American, and potentially in the NFL.”
Naturally, Galloway was asked to respond while doing ESPN studio work on Saturday: “Let me say this: Rece Davis is a pretty good athlete. And he’s smart.”
Galloway added that his Rece Davis comparison “was a compliment” to Northwestern.
Joey Galloway responds to Pat Fitzgerald’s comments, Part I:
“Let me say this: Rece Davis is a pretty good athlete. And he’s smart.” pic.twitter.com/EP1k8aiufx
— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) November 22, 2020
Joey Galloway responds to Pat Fitzgerald’s comments, Part II:
“It was a compliment.” pic.twitter.com/4Kv1n90OEN
— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) November 22, 2020
Fitzgerald even tweeted at Galloway after the win: “Not bad for a bunch of @ReceDavis’, eh @Joey_Galloway? 😉 ”
https://twitter.com/coachfitz51/status/1330319603101282309
Regardless of what to make of Galloway’s comments, one’s thing for sure: it motivated Northwestern and potentially played a part in a crucial victory for Fitzgerald’s squad.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.