Matt Rhule 
Nebraska Head Coach
Postgame Quotes vs. Maryland (Nov. 11, 2023)
Maryland 13, Nebraska 10

Opening Statement
“We obviously have a pretty disappointing loss. For it to go back and forth like that and have the ball at the end with a chance to take the lead with three minutes left and to have that interception happen, to turn around and have a big run and a pass interference on 3rd and long – obviously extremely disappointing. Credit to Maryland, they found a way to make one more play but I know the guys in our locker room are pretty beat up right now. As I told them, the things that cause winning and losing, it’s not this mysterious thing out there. It’s winning the turnover battle, fourth quarter shutouts, all the different things that we were not able to do tonight. We still had a chance to win. I know we’re pretty disappointed, but we’ll regroup. I’ll see what questions you guys have.”

On the decision to play Chubba Purdy 
“Heinrich (Haarberg) went out there. We had discussed he’s been a little beat up lately. Maybe we’ll give Jeff (Sims) a series. Heinrich came out with the ankle. They cleared him to go back in but he was trying to run and he looked like he was laboring. So we went with Jeff. We had two turnovers, really three. The fumble, it’s a quarterback counter. It’s not there. We don’t reverse field at some point. We have to execute plays out there. We don’t want guys to make plays that aren’t there. 2nd and 7 get to 3rd and 5, go for it on 3rd and 5. Let’s give Chubba (Purdy) a shot. Chubba started moving us down the field. We were in a position to win the game. Anytime you put the third guy who hasn’t gotten many reps, things can happen. The same play he pulled the ball on, it looked like a bad snap. Where I am looking from, you can’t tell why he ran the ball. We wanted to run the clock there and get the ball tight. Have a safe third down call and kick a field goal, then let the defense go win it. Even with the fumble, I told the team there will always be different narratives. It’s not good enough when you have that many turnovers yet again. It has to stop at some point. I do expect our defense to go out there and get that stop. They got the pass interference, made a couple of plays and kicked the field. All of us have to say in times like this ‘what can we do better, what can I do better?”

On the turnovers
“The first one, as you could probably tell, was pretty animated. I think you could probably tell, we made a double move and I felt like we ran a slant and go and I felt like it should’ve been pass interference. I thought he got grabbed and I was pretty animated. The quarterback sees the guy come running out of it. The second one, that’s a quarters beater. That was man. The play has to be checked, it wasn’t checked. Jaylen (Lloyd) ran right by the safety. I think anytime you get to your second and third quarterback, they’re not getting the same reps. The fumble obviously is a problem, we can’t have that happen. I think anytime when it’s happening across multiple players, as a staff, you have to sit there and say ‘we’re obviously not getting it done.’ The last thing I want to do is get up here and blame players. There’s certain things that have to happen, which is okay to say that, but it falls on my head to get it done. You saw the impact of us taking the ball away a few times and as I said to the guys, it’s just a shame. It overshadows all the other good things that they’re doing when you get four turnovers and you lose 13-10. That’s pretty hard to do. It means that we’re being physical and running the football and doing some other decent things, but the passing game is really just not where it needs to be for us.”

On the defense
“It’s the same thing, it’s the same game. They’re all the same games for us. It was pretty dominant on defense for long stretches and then an explosive pass. Dominant on defense, an explosive pass. If we continue to minimize those things, we could be even better on defense. They took the ball away today, which was great. I don’t know if we sacked the quarterback or not, maybe once or twice. I thought the defense came to play. I thought our special teams – we ran the fake punt early in the game on the first drive. We put Kwinten Ives out there as a true freshman kick returner. Ethan Nation is a true freshman punt returner. We were going to play to win. Offensively, I thought there were long times of just dominant downhill run game. But if you don’t convert third downs or have explosiveness, it’s hard to maintain that. As I’m sitting out there, not that I would ever want someone hurt, but some of their guys were kind of beat up. You have to put the ball in the end zone when you have those opportunities. We just weren’t able to do that.”