Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule Pre-Iowa Press Conference
Opening Statement
“Happy Thanksgiving week to everybody. Just a couple things. First of all, I want to congratulate all the teams playing for state championships here. I wish I could be a part of it, I wish I could go out and watch and celebrate their excellence. I want to make sure that we congratulate them. I want to congratulate Coach (John) Walker and the women’s soccer team on making the Elite Eight. That’s a big deal in our house and we’re very excited for them. I want to congratulate Coach (John) Cook and the women of Nebraska volleyball for being Big Ten champs, and I look forward to them making their run. It’s great to be here, great to be able to be around excellent teams and be a part of a great athletic department. When it comes to this Friday – and I know you guys will have lots of questions – I just want to express my deep, deep, deep gratitude for the probably about 24 guys that are going to walk out on Friday as seniors. There’s a couple guys who, because of COVID, are still making some decisions. You can’t do this job without buy-in from players and these players, while I think they’ve bought into us, more importantly, I think they care deeply about Nebraska and Nebraska football. When I see Ethan Piper, when I saw Nick Henrich limp off the field the other night, they’ve given us everything. They’ve absolutely given us everything. I’m just very, very, very grateful. I’m also grateful for all the student workers. I asked if they could be honored in similar ways. We have equipment managers who ride six, seven, eight hours on the buses, student recruiting workers, student operations workers, student nutrition workers, and other areas. I’m just really grateful for all those young people and all the things that they do to allow us to have a chance to play the game. With that, I’ll see what questions you guys have.”
On the approach to the short week
“It’ll be just like Illinois. Obviously, Illinois, coming off of Michigan, we practiced that Sunday. We didn’t practice last night. We met, we watched the tape, we got back late. I wanted the guys to go home and sleep. We met and we went over the game tape from Saturday night. We got started with the guys on their Iowa prep. They’ll be in tonight, we’ll practice tomorrow morning. There’s no school Wednesday, so we’ll practice Wednesday morning. I’ll cut the guys loose, let them go home if they’re local. Bring them back Thursday at some point and walk through and have a normal week. It’ll be similar to what we did against Illinois with the same amount of practices.”
On players that are deciding between using eligibility or leaving
“They’ve already said to Susan (Elza) and Kiara (Mayo), ‘hey, I’m walking’ or ‘I’m not walking.’ I’ve had several come into me and say ‘Coach, what do you think I should do?’ Mainly, those ones are the ones who have a chance at the NFL. To each one, it’s their own personal decision. Those guys know that they might walk this week, but they still haven’t made their mind up. They want to get to the end. It’s really important to me that we allow each one to do what they want. We have some guys that might say they’re a junior but they’re on their fifth year. It’s really, it’s a unique time. I said to (Thomas) Fidone, I called him a sophomore. He said ‘well, technically I’m a freshman.’ Technically, he is. It’s just with each one, I’m available to these guys. That’s really been our message all the time. We’re never going to give them advice that’s not in their best interest and really, we’re not going to give them advice other than to just give them facts and information. One of the hard things about making the pro decision, and I ran into this last year with Garrett Nelson, is you can’t get a pre-draft grade for a COVID year. If I’m a third-year player and I’m going into my fourth year, I can apply to the NFL and they’ll give me a draft grade. If I’m a fourth-year player and I’m trying to decide if I want to come back for a fifth year and that’s a COVID year, they won’t do it for that. Luckily for us, we have a lot of connections. We’ll ask guys where they see, guys will try to give them an idea and guys can make their own decisions. I’ll just say, yesterday, I started the day off – you come back and lose a game like we lost in overtime. It’s the third time that, on the last play of the game, the game was decided. You’re hurt for your guys. I had guys walking in and saying ‘Coach, I want to come back next year and play again.’ I had recruits saying ‘Coach, I want to come there.’ It was really a great day from that regard. Each guy is kind of making their own mind up and I would probably produce that list right now, but I know some guys might change their mind over the course of this week, so I want to be respectful of that for them.”
On Quinton Newsome and Ty Robinson getting pre-draft grades
“Quinton is done, so he just goes into the process. Ty wouldn’t be able to get a grade because he’s not a junior. He’s used his eligibility. That’s kind of what happened with Garrett (Nelson) last year. Even the grades are like first, second, I can’t remember if it’s third or go back. But if they give 80 guys a third-round grade, there’s not 80 guys in the third round. They have a tendency to slip. It really depends on how many people actually go into the market, if that makes sense.”
On the bowl game as a motivator
“I’m motivated every week. I think it would be great for our program. It would be great for our young players. It would be great for our older guys. I know our older guys are motivated. Look at the last three weeks. We get knocked down and we get right back up and they come back each week. I don’t think there’s any question that they’re motivated to try and get it done and try to get this win. Like I said when we were at 5-3, I didn’t want to just win one more, I wanted to win them all. I don’t want to win five or six, I want to win each week. I truly believe it when I say go 1-0 each week. I know they want to win. They’re sitting here, it’s senior day, a lot of these guys, it’s their last game in the stadium. They’re playing a ranked team with a chance to go to a bowl game. If they lack any motivation, it’s all there for them. I’ve seen this group do nothing but fight every week all year.”
On Chubba Purdy’s status
“He’s healthy. He’s good.”
On how Chubba Purdy played
“I thought Chubba played well. He came in on Sunday and he and I sat down. I think the thing that takes you from good to great is when you go back and look and say ‘hey, what are the plays I could have done?’, not just concentrate on the things that you did well. I think there were maybe four, five, six plays where the first progression wasn’t there, maybe he scrambles in the backside and cuts wide open, but a couple more reps over the course of the season, maybe he gets back to that a little easier. But I thought he was in command the whole game. I thought he protected the ball. I thought he had great energy. I thought he was making a lot of good decisions. I harken back to the Minnesota week. If you look at our scout team for the Minnesota game, Chubba was the quarterback, Emmett (Johnson) was the tailback. Those guys the last two weeks have taken us down on drives with a chance to win the game. There’s always things to get better at, but overall, I thought he was a real spark in the game.”
On Chubba Purdy’s mentality going into the game and during the game
“I thought he did a really nice job of that. I don’t think he predetermined anything. You come out in that game and they’re a four-down team. They were playing basically what amounts to a nickel to our big people. He just played the play. He’s got the ball in the pro ability when it was there. They went back after the first two drives to the four down stuff. I thought he played the play. Like I said there’s maybe three or four plays, but I think for every quarterback there’s four or five plays. I thought Chubba was in the moment and he kept playing the play. The one thing I said to him late in the fourth quarter was ‘don’t just try to win the game, play.’ I know how badly he wanted to win the game, but you win the game by playing each play as they come. There were a lot of really good plays that he made and he gave us a chance on the road, the crowd noise. I thought he looked comfortable.”
On Chubba’s (Purdy) journey making it to starting quarterback
“I think when you see someone have success it usually stems from their ability to overcome adversity. I think he’s learned and grown a lot over the course of this year. I’ll let Chubba and Heinrich (Haarberg) speak on the things they’ve endured in their time in college. I won’t speak for them. I think coming into this year I challenged Chubba a lot in the spring and I challenged him in the fall. If you go back to my statements I’ve said that I thought he was having a great camp. He got hurt. He’s gotten healthier and healthier. The speed he has. He’s got moxie and toughness. I told him before the game, not after the game but before the game, ‘you’re going to play well and people are going to say why didn’t you play earlier.’ I show these guys a lot of different videos, I show them Kobe Bryant one of the best weeks and him going through adversity to become a great player. I think Chubba has endured some of the physical adversity of not playing and gotten just better, and better. He’s played on the scout team, he’s taken the reps when we’ve given them to him. So, when he went out there, he played free and he played the play. I don’t know if I’m answering your question, but I told him that ahead of time. I knew he was going to play well and I could see that when he went out there last year. I could see that in practice this past week.”
On challenging Chubba Purdy in the spring
“He was just pretty far down on the depth chart. I’ll let him speak on it more. I don’t want to say anything. I just challenged him a lot. He answered the call. He is a fighter. He’s not a quitter. He’s a fighter. He got better in the spring. I thought he really got better over the summer. I thought he got better in camp. I thought he suffered some adversity in camp. I thought throughout the course of this year we’ve given him some chances in practices over the course of the year but I thought when he went into the game we saw what he does on the scout team. The scout team runs around and makes plays. I thought he played free. This week with pressure and with a whole week of preparation and a game plan he went out and played the same way. You’ve heard me talk about guys overcoming that thing that holds us all back. Maybe he did that over the course of the week. Maybe he will sit up here and tell you something different. I don’t tell the players what to say. He might say, ‘Coach Rhule is messed up. He should have played me all along.’ Him and Heinrich (Haarberg) are best friends. Let Heinrich tell you what he’s been through to get to this point. You know we are sitting at the game and everybody was happy about Chubba. Heinrich was 5-3 as a starter for us too. He didn’t get to finish that last game. You know ask him about his journey to get here. I’m proud of all the guys. When they go out to represent us I can’t tell you how hard our guys work. I’m really proud of Chubba. He could have folded. He could have quit and he has never done that. That’s the mark of a guy who ends up being a good player.”
On what stands out about Iowa’s defense
“Everything. In Big Ten games they are giving up 12.8 points per game. They are giving up three yards of rush. They don’t give up big plays. It’s all together. The thing about Iowa and what people try and talk about is that they want to talk about the defense and special teams but ‘oh if the offense,’ that’s not how it works. They know who they are. They have a formula. It’s integrated football. They’ve punted the ball 56 times in Big Ten play. I go play like when we were in the NFL we’d go play the (Bill) Parcells/(Bill) Belichick guys. That wouldn’t kick the kickoff in the endzone, they’d kick it to the three and make you return it to the 15. Then they start just playing the field against you. Which is what these guys do as well as anybody is. They are dominate up front. They get off blocks. Coach (Phil) Parker has been playing this defense forever. The minute you lineup you run a stem they know. They’ve eliminated it from like 50 options down to three. They are great at what they do and they have really good players. And they work really hard. And they can pressure you. They are going to control the clock on offense and they are going to run the football on offense. They aren’t going to beat themselves. When you look at a lot of statistics, they are similar on offense and on defense. But they only have 12 turnovers in Big Ten play. They have protected the ball better than we have over the course of the year. Great players across the board. Really physical. Stop the run. Force you into bad decisions and then eventually they make a play. They are so comfortable in a 7-3 game. They are so comfortable in a 10-9 game. Their heart rate doesn’t go up. They have been doing it for a long time and they have kind of built that way. Our guys are getting used to it. Last couple of games have been like that for us. They have been doing that a long time.”
On athletic directors taking a hands-on role when it comes to coaching staffs
“No one ever has with me so I can’t say that. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for Brian Ferentz and Kirk Ferentz that they’ve never thought about anything other than their team. Great coaches, great leaders. Protect those they lead and stand out front and take care arrows, slings and that’s what they do. My kids are up here. I love my kids more than anything. I can’t imagine Coach Ferentz and Brian. I don’t know Brian personally. I thought about trying to hire him in the NFL if I could. He’s one of the great offensive line coaches. Tight end coaches. Running back coaches. He’s done a great job for many years. I have so much respect for that family and what they have done and how they’ve banded together.”
On how much the Heroes Game means
“I don’t get outside the building very much but that’s definitely something I’ve felt since I’ve gotten here. I know how much it means to our players. Obviously last year I took the job here before the game or the morning of the game. I can’t remember how exactly it played. Probably the night before. Then watched the game and saw that. I think it has a tremendous impact on the community and the team and all those things. For me the game is about these seniors. The game is about our team. I love them. I care deeply about them. Grateful for them. I want to see them win.”
On watching the Iowa game live last year
“The job had been open for awhile and kind of like all the jobs that were open, you were kind of watching them each week when they were on TV, some teams weren’t always on TV but Nebraska’s always on TV so we watched it every week. I just remember that game just how free and loose they looked, how explosive they looked. You look at this defense, Trey Palmer hitting a deep ball, they don’t give those up very often so obviously he’s a great player but I just remember seeing the guys play and I remember watching the video afterwards, seeing Garrett Nelson crying as he exited the field and how much that meant to those guys personally.”
On players buying in
“I would say that if my gut, if you did an autopsy and you cut open the football program here, it’s as healthy as it can be. They feel as invested into and as poured into and as coached and as developed as possible. I wish we would’ve blocked the kick against Maryland and won the game, I wish we would’ve won the game in overtime the other night, those results would probably be more tangible, our guys would feel better, they’d be more tangible to the outside world, I get all that but the development is the development and the improvement is the improvement and more than anything else, players want to know that they’re getting better. The transfer portal is going to open up all across college football and so many people are going to be making a decision about if another situation better based upon how much they’re playing and my statement to guys is always, ‘How do you want this to end?’ When you’re a senior, do you want to be an NFL player? Are you trending toward that direction? Not your current state, but are you improving and developing? So I don’t think I’ve ever stood up here with you guys and said, ‘Hey geez, we got that guy hurt and this guy’s hurt.’ I’m actually proud when we put the third quarterback in, you guys say, ‘Well how come?’ That means we’re probably practicing well and doing some things well like I’m proud that we put Justin Evans-Jenkins in and Teddy Prochazka in, Teddy missed all of training camp and he’s out there playing left tackle against Wisconsin and the crowd noise and playing pretty well so on the bye week, Jaylen Lloyd, his parents were deciding if he should play or not or if he should redshirt and now Jaylen’s hitting those seam balls for touchdowns and we talk about buy in from parents and we talk about buy in from players. I couldn’t be happier about where we are and I couldn’t be angrier about our record if that makes sense. Two things can be true.”
On reaching a bowl game
“The number one thing is the practice. We need the reps, the practice. I think (Jason) Maciejczak is about to be a really good player. Ru’Quan Buckley has been making the move over to the offensive line. He’s going to be a dynamic guard I think, I want to give him another month at playing o-line. Obviously there would be the, ‘hey we got there for the first time in however many years’ for everybody else and I get that, trust me. But to me it’s about the reps and the development and the opportunity to compete again but more importantly, it’s about winning the game to get there. We have to go win the game. You wake up on Saturday morning before the Wisconsin game and you’re watching other games and they’re putting up the Big Ten West and we’re in second place to start the day but we didn’t win so you don’t get to stay there so I want our guys to win one of these games so that a) they know that they’ve achieved it, b) we get practice, c) we get to move some things around and try some things. If you think about it, we go to Wisconsin and our punt returner was a true freshman and our kick returner was a true freshman who’s actually redshirting this year, give me another month to practice with those guys. That’s to me the benefit, it’s the guys we’re playing but it’s also the redshirting because when you’re redshirting and you’re not playing a ton, you start to say, ‘Am I good enough?’ You start to have a vision of, ‘Man they know I can play, they know what I can do.’ I can’t wait for you guys to see Dylan Rogers. I can’t wait for you guys to see D’Andre Barnes. Jeremiah Charles played for the first time, it’s still his redshirt year. Those guys are going to be excellent. I can’t wait for you guys to see Brice Turner. Another month with those guys would be great but most importantly, to go win the game. To go win a game and earn it. It’s what good teams do down the stretch.
On managing the team leading up to the day the portal opens
“I honestly don’t see any of it as stressful. I 100 percent am in this position to help young people say they had a better life because they played for me, that’s 100 percent why I do it. People might not believe that but that’s 100 percent why I do what I do. I could be home, sitting out and be in the job cycle right now and probably be okay. I love it, I love being around young people, it’s been one of the best years of my life and so if one of our players’ lives is going to be better for having gone somewhere else, ‘Hey Coach I really want to play and I don’t think I’m going to play,’ I’m going to help them. There’s an added thing nowadays where sometimes other teams are trying to buy your players, it happened last year and I don’t know if some of those players left because they got more money somewhere else, I don’t know if that was the right thing for them. When I look at the stats sometimes, maybe that wasn’t the right thing for them but my job, just like my kids, my son’s deciding where he wants to go to college. I don’t tell my son, ‘Oh you have to go to UNL.’ I say, ‘Well go look at South Dakota State, go look at…’ He makes the decision. I look at next week as an unbelievable opportunity to sit with players and talk about what you see with them and what you see with what they can be. I don’t know if young people get that enough. I’m going to sit with every single player, walkon and scholarship and just talk about where I see them and what I think they can do and then have them talk to me. The good thing for me is most of those guys I have that kind of relationship with already where I’m sitting down with them but it might be right for somebody to go somewhere else, it might be right for someone to sit here and tough it out so I have those conversations all year long. Jaidyn Doss and James Williams last week, we have those conversations all year long with everybody. I’m having them with seniors today and I bet some guys will want to stay here. It’s a really great place to be, it’s a really great program to be in. If it’s not right for somebody, then we’ll help them with all that we have.”
On meeting the team’s needs through the transfer portal
“I think you’re always recruiting. Part of recruiting now is the transfer portal. When I left Temple to go to Baylor it was in my contract that I couldn’t take a player that we offered and recruited to Baylor. Then coaches started to bring their commitments to schools that used to be a no, no. Now coaches are leaving and taking their roster with them. I'm not here to judge anyone. If I could’ve brought Brian Burns and Frankie Luvu everyone would be pretty happy right about now. I just didn’t get the chance to do that. If you noticed we didn’t take anyone from Baylor, we didn’t bring anyone from Baylor. There’s an ethic thing that I’m always going to do. But anyone who goes into the portal we’re always going to look at every single thing. We’re going to build the base of what we do with a homegrown roster and supplement it, and add to it when need be. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the portal. I just don’t know any teams that are winning by bringing in 25 guys right. I just think that can create some chaos when all we want to do is build a roster with a nucleus of guys that are all here and understand what we're doing. When a guy comes a long, it may be five one year, it may be one, one year. I don’t know that answer, but I love high school recruiting. I love getting guys here and I love having them here for four to five years. What I don’t ever want to do is have a short term fix. We’re in the building phase right now, some day when we get to the contending phase. Whenever that is, that may be the time. I’m learning this as I go. Please don’t take the way I say this as I have it figured out. I don’t, I have coaches calling me that are friends of mine. That are up for further jobs and they’re asking me questions. I don’t think anyone has it all figured out. It’s changing by the day too.”
On assistant coaches possibly getting calls and job offers during the season
“Go get a job. I told Tony (White), a firm called me asking for Tony’s number and I said, ‘Yes you should hire Tony White, Tony White should be a head coach. He’s excellent.’ I told Tony, ‘Don’t take the wrong one. Don’t take the wrong job now.’ Like don’t take a job with no resources, don’t take a job with no support. Don’t take a job without a great recruiting base. Don’t take a job, here me when I say this, this is deep, where the expectations outweigh the commitment. If I want to be in great shape and I workout one day a week, you want to be a 10-win team and you’re spending at the middle of your conference, the expectation. I do that with all my guys because it’s like the players, I want them to want to be here. I want them to advance. I don’t want guys who only want to be here. I’ve brought guys back, when I see Elijah Robinson at (Texas) A&M, I get proud. Evan Cooper been with me, but he left and went to Miami and came back and worked for me again so in season, we have so much time. We have so much time. Our coaches are here at night, there’s guys that show up at four in the morning, not me. Our guys are professional, they would never ever put anything but the players first but yeah anybody that’s called me about Tony being a head coach, I’ve said, ‘Yeah give him a shot.’ I tell Tony, ‘Pick the right job, don’t pick the wrong job.’ We’re going to be good on defense here for a while. The stark reality and maybe people like it, maybe people don’t is everywhere I’ve been, we’ve had a good defense. Everywhere I’ve been, we’ve had kind of a middle of the pack offense. We’re not quite middle of the pack yet on offense, I’d like to get to be more dynamic. I’ve never had athletes like this. Wait until Malachi (Coleman) and Jaidyn (Doss) and Kwinten (Ives) and all these guys grow up, I think we’re going to be pretty darn good but we’re going to be really good on defense for a while if Tony decides to stay. If he gets a head coaching job and he wants to take it, I’m going to hug him, love him, wish him the best and then we’ll continue to play good defense.”
On if Tony White would keep being offered jobs in different coaching cycles
“100%.”
On why Tony White is ready to be a head coach
“I’ll say this. Being a coordinator and being a head coach is like the difference between being a cardiologist and an oncologist. If they diagnose you with cancer, you’re not going to go see the cardiologist. But you both went to medical school. You both did all the training. The things that come across my desk every day, very few of them have to do with the weak side iso. They have to do with everything but. They have to do with players and now the portal. It has to do with all this other stuff. I think you have to have this knowledge of football that allows you to always paint a picture for the guys of how we want to win. You have to have a philosophy that’s embedded that doesn’t sway when the results aren’t there. You have to be a person who cares about people and has relationships and genuine relationships, not just relationships with the people who can do something for you. You can’t be this. You have to be this. I see that from Tony. I see him being able to stay even-keeled, be the same guy every day. Joey McGuire worked for me, he’s done a great job at Texas Tech. He’s never been a coordinator, but he’s a head coach. I think I see all those things from Tony. I hope he gets an opportunity. We don’t have enough coaches of diverse backgrounds. As much as anything, I think he’s just smart. I think we have other guys who are ready to be coordinators. I think we have other guys who are ready to be head coaches. If he gets an opportunity, it's unbelievable for him. But make no mistake, being a great coordinator has nothing to do with being a good head coach. It has everything else to do with everything else, in my opinion.”
On clock management
“Let’s be frank, I’m assuming you’re saying I probably should have called a timeout earlier. I’d rather address it directly than not. As I said after the game, for me, it was really important in that game that I gave the defense a chance to win the game. Too many times, we haven’t given the defense a chance to win the game. When you look at it from an outsider’s perspective and you haven’t seen the Minnesota ending. You haven’t seen the ending last week. From a traditional perspective, I completely understand it. Because we had missed one earlier, because we have a freshman kicker, because it was cold, because of all those different things, I wanted to make sure we got the ball down in a certain area. Because we didn’t get that third down, I didn’t want to give them the ball with 40 seconds left because, if you go back to last week and what happened, they went down and they kicked a field goal. I didn’t want to throw an interception in the end zone. I wanted to be conservative and get the first down, I wanted to make sure we got the first down and not give them time to kick the field goal. I thought we were playing really well on defense and we would stop them in overtime and win the game or we would have a chance to take a shot at the end zone. If I could go back, like I said after the game, I would have called a timeout with 30 seconds and had two shots in the end zone. I don’t know for us, how many shots we’re going to hit from the 18, 20-yard line. I say all that to say, you make those decisions based upon your team. In the offseason, we do it based upon other teams and the analytics. The analytics told me to go for it on 4th and 2 on the previous drive. My gut was to punt the ball down, that we were going to stop them. That was right. My gut was Michigan State, to go for it on 4th and 7, that’s what the analytics said. Punted the ball down, we got the stop. I take the analytics, they give it to me to kind of take what we have. I’ll be perfectly honest with you, we take that ball to overtime, we have a 3rd and 10 and a 3rd and 8. Unfortunately, we just don’t make the play. I stood in front of the team and I said ‘hey, guys, I wish I would have called a timeout with 30 seconds and given you two shots. In terms of practicing it, we practice those things every Friday. We practice those things every Thursday, either or. We practice them all offseason. I think when you see a quarterback who’s been on the scout team not get a ton of reps and he takes the ball from the 93 or the 94 and drives it down, it’s pretty good coaching by Satt (Marcus Satterfield) and Garret (McGuire) and all those guys. We took the ball down last night with three minutes left. There’s just a fine line there of ‘hey, let’s guarantee a field goal. Let’s try to score a touchdown and end this game. But let’s not give the ball back to them.’ Unfortunately for us, I had a lot of people say to me ‘why didn’t you guys just run the ball the week before against Maryland?’ Because we would have kicked a field goal and given them the ball back with two and a half minutes left. The week before, they got the ball at the 25-yard line and they went back and kicked the field goal. It’s a fine line there. In terms of balancing it, we go through all the different things. We have parameters of when to use timeouts, when to not. When to use the analytics, outside service, we practice it. In the end, you have to make a decision. What I don’t believe in is resulting and that’s when you balance your decision based upon how the result comes out. You make the best decision. If I had to go back, I would have called a timeout with 30 seconds. I would have given them two shots. What I didn’t say after the game because after the game, you’re pretty emotional, is that I just did not want to kick that field goal with 45 seconds, make the field goal, and give them a chance to go down to win the game. I wanted to at the very least, get it to overtime because I thought I was really starting to see our defense emerge. And we had two third downs that we gave up. We had a penalty on offense, just didn’t make the plays. As with everything else, all those things fall squarely on my shoulders. Like I said, I’d much rather answer it directly like this. I told the team, I said ‘guys, I wish I would have done this for you. I wish I would have given you one more shot.’ That’s part of all this. I have players come into me and sometimes they have tears in their eyes and they say ‘hey, Coach, I would have done this.’ We do the best we can, we come out the next week. But it was thought out. It wasn’t like it was ‘hey, we don’t know what we’re doing.’ I just felt like I owed it to our defense to guarantee that the game continued.”