Nebraska Football
Postgame Quotes vs. Bowling Green
Sept. 12, 2026 (Lincoln, Neb.)
Nebraska 56, Bowling Green 7

Opening Statement 
“Appreciate you guys for being here. Obviously happy with the win. Happy with the win. That’s the way we thought we should play and we would play. In many facets, I think Bowling Green has a tough, hard-nosed football team. They’re physical, they have some good players, they play hard, I think they did good on some things they did systematically against us. They forced us to defend some of the RPOs and some of the things we saw last week. Instead they were able to move the ball at times and credit to them. I think for us, our approach is what we were supposed to do. There’s still some things that are glaring that we have to continue to improve. There were some close games in the Big Ten today. We were lucky to be able to address those things in a game that wasn’t necessarily as close. Certainly I wasn’t happy about the third quarter and we got the second group in. We wanted to get the third group in on offense. Obviously good play on Malcolm (Simpson), they got a fumble so defense had the chance to get more guys in. It’s important to me that every kid that practices and prepares for our team has a chance to play. They all didn’t have a chance to play. Our special teams penalties, to be quite honest, were on me. We had two last weeks, three this past game. We’re coaching a very aggressive style, which has been the way they’ve let us play the past few years and it’s being officiated differently, so I have to do a better job as a head coach of adapting to it. We certainly adapted kind of late. I wasn’t anticipating a difference in philosophy in terms of what’s happening. We have to anticipate moving forward to see what it’s like in two weeks. There were certainly a lot of flags in the Big Ten last week and there certainly were some today. We just have to get into the game and see how they’re officiating. It’s not anything about officiating, I just have to do a better job of adapting as we go. I thought offensively and defensively, we came out with a much cleaner approach to the game, the start of the game and we finished the game. I was happy to see the kids on the second offense go in and play and get the ball in the endzone. Before I begin, I don’t do this very often, but this one warrants it. I want to wish Ms. Barbara, who I had the chance to send a video to this week, she’s turning 100 this weekend. She’s an avid Husker fan, so I want to make sure I wish her a happy birthday, by sending her a game ball from tonight. I want to send Mekhi Nelson and his family the best wishes for tomorrow, he’s expecting a son tomorrow. He’s a good family man. He’s been through a lot and emerged through the other side. I’m very proud of him. There’s no greater gift in the world than to be a father. I’m excited to see the man he’ll continue to become.”

On the difference in types of defense
“I think I have to watch the film to make a concrete decision, but they certainly look like it on the field. You're always going to look a little slower when the other team is zone read and the other team is zone RPO because by definition you have to play your assignment as opposed to sprinting to the football. I thought we did, when you hold a team a team under, I think it was nine first downs, obviously that’s home under 100 rushing, that’s is gonna be a pretty good day, but we are not operating as a scoreboard we are operating as our standard so I probably have to watch the defense the film to see how exactly we looked but it certainly looked like that on the field.”

On the impact of having Owen Chambliss back
“I’d probably have to see the film. Obviously as a teammate he's a great teammate and he's a great leader, there's a lot of that. He played a lot more tonight. They came out and there was a lot more spread. Not necessarily tempo but spread motion screen RPO’s stuff to start the game and then as the game went on they go into a little bit more bigger people, so we played with some three linebackers sets with Dexter (Foster), Owen (Chambliss) and V-9 (Vincent Shavers) out there and then also Dawson (Merritt). But you know Owen’s a really good player. I just feel like I haven’t seen enough of the tape to know exactly what he did well, but I’m sure it was all pretty good.”

On Anthony Colandrea’s accuracy
“I didn’t have any issues with anything. I thought the ball he fit into Luke Lindenmeyer on the little sail route when the boundary was an unbelievable throw. The one to Nyziah (Hunter) was about up but we just didn’t quite get there who that was and the angle and all that I have to take sometimes sitting there with those guys, because you’re coming out certain angles reading the corner and hitting the deep ball to Jacory (Barney Jr.). It seemed like it was pretty good to me. I was probably more disappointed with some of the pass protection at times. No. 23 (Dom Woods) for them is a really excellent player and I said that at the beginning of the press conference on Tuesday or Monday that I think he is a he’s an excellent player and he got to us too much, but I thought we played well but again I have to watch the tape to know exactly how everyone played.”

On Kwazi Gilmer as a weapon
“The first thing Kwazi Gilmer does, he’s a true pro, Jacory Barney is probably one of the best practice receivers I’ve ever been around and Kwazi’s right there with him. I’ll walk on the field on a Wednesday at noon and he’s got his helmet on and he’s catching balls off the jug, he’s just relentless. He draws a pass interference what it feels like every week, at least he got one today. I thought the throw from Anthony (Colandrea) to him was absolutely outrageous. He’s the one at halftime as we’re running in saying ‘please let us keep playing.’ “He’s just kind of a football dude, my kind of guy.”