Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule Pre-Maryland Press Conference

Opening Statement
“First of all, I want to wish the women’s soccer team luck today as they find out their draw in the NCAA as the Big Ten Champs. I am really proud of them. I want to wish best wishes to the men’s and women’s basketball teams as they start their season today. Excited to see what they can do and that we get to start watching them play. We’re excited about this football game this week. It’s an excellent team coming to town. Dynamic offense. Taulia Tagovailoa is as good of a quarterback as there is in the Big Ten. I know Mike Locksley. He was college friends with my cousin, so I’ve known him since I was about 15 years old. So a lot of respect for what he’s done and the process he’s done building that team. It’s an as athletic and explosive team we will face all year. Third-ranked offense in the Big Ten. Will be a real challenge for us and one we’re excited for.”

On Princewill Umanmielen’s Injury
“He was in protocol and wasn’t able to get out of it. Wasn’t healthy. So potentially we could see him this week.”

On looking over film on the offensive side
“The shame of it to me was that there were times like the first drive in the second half we’re running the ball and getting 12 yards, 15 yards. The two things we need in order to score, we need explosive plays and converting third downs. I know that seems pretty obvious but those aren’t always happening for us. On both touchdowns, we had an explosive play – Heinrich (Haarberg) on a scramble and Heinrich on another scramble. In terms of hitting a big pass or hitting a big play, we didn't have enough of those in the flow of the game until the game got behind us. We had runs who got to the last available tackler and he’d make the tackle. They came out in the second half much more aggressive. They pressured us. I say that every week, kind of how people play us, they pressure us. We’re not quite beating them to the level we want. Came out with the reverse, it’s a play away from being a homerun. We have to make some of those plays to win these games, we have to score more points and help the defense out. Especially on a day when the defense isn’t quite its normal self. I thought down the stretch, I told the team this could’ve been one of those days where we showed our team forever. This is how you handle the fourth quarter and you’re down 10 points, you get these stops, you get the ball back. If you get to the 40-yard line, we’re going to kick a field goal and I think he’s going to make it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the last 15 yards. Hopefully for us it’s a growing experience. We’ve got those three freshman receivers out there and they’re play man and real aggressive and grabbing us. I warned them during the week it’s going to be like backyard football, you’re going to have to rip off. Hopefully from what was a disappointing game, there will be some things our guys will take away from it. I’ll say we had some real missed opportunities on offense that to me, you have to win to win games in November. 

On how the defense and keeping the team healthy in November
“We got beat on the first drive man to man. The guy doesn’t play his guy and extends the drive. Tampa too, the middle player comes running down on a draw fake and the ball gets thrown over his head. Double pass, the corner comes running up. Touchdown pass, the guy jumps outside thinking it’s a fake, runs a slant. None of that has anything to do with that. What we’re learning is that everything is about learning how to win. I think we’ve learned how to win, but winning in November is completely different. You get everyone’s best. When you come in, they game plan you, they attack you, they take their shots at you. We’re in man to man with a middle defender, they’re throwing posts down the middle of the field and we have to pick those balls off. They are plays I know our guys can make that we just didn’t go make them. That falls on me. My job is to teach them how to win in November. You have sacks, sack fumbles, balls get batted up in the air, we catch in the red zone and we drop it. Not to talk about Mikai (Gbayor) dropping it, I just think Mikai can catch that too. I don’t think it’s wear and tear cause they might have had a run here and there but we stopped it like normal. We got the quarterback. If you look back through the course of the year, our defense has done a lot of good things, but we have not taken the ball away enough and we give up explosive passes. It’s one thing when the guy jumps up and catches a ball on you, you keep playing. It’s another thing when we’re just not doing our job. I say this with the greatest respect for our players. I love our players. I just want them to understand they don’t have to do anything special. They just have to do what they do. I thought this was the game the offense answered and we didn’t get it done. And on special teams we didn’t get it done. I hold myself accountable for the punt returns. I should’ve given Ethan (Nation) more chances on punt returns. As I looked out there I saw the gunners running down and being in their faces. I didn’t want to put  a freshman out there for the first time in that type of ball game. I called him in on Sunday and I said ‘Ethan I should’ve given you more of a chance,’ cause when he got it he was ready. I hold myself accountable just like everyone else. I think it’s a discipline to do exactly what you’re trained to do and not do something different when it’s perceived as a big game.”

On not being called with penalty yards
“We had a couple where we were hitting guys out on the sidelines and out of bounds that could be called against us. It’s a unique game to talk about the officiating. I have a lot of respect for officials. I do have to say something in defense for our team too. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be out there and call a play. I don’t usually say very much, like the pass interference on Malachi (Coleman) and the face mask on Heinrich (Haarberg). I’m not out there doing what they do. If we don’t have officials, we can’t have sports. I don’t want to complain about those things. We’re sitting here at 5-4. This is my fourth head coaching job and year 11 as a head coach. I’ve never had a touchdown wrong on replay. We lost two games by three points. We were wrong twice this year. We were wrong in Minnesota and it was wrong here. That doesn’t mean we lost the game, we aren't excuse makers. The type of the team we are right now, we can’t have seven points spotted. Again, I am not complaining about the officiating, it's the replay. It's difficult for me to understand. I know the people at the Big Ten are working hard on it. I have a lot of respect for them. I would’ve liked to have one more shot from where we were at the end of the game at the 45 yard line. I would’ve liked to hit cut and take a knee and kick that field goal. I feel bad for our players about that. So we're sitting at 5-4, we own 5-4. We’ve had one game where the team scouted us and we had two games where replay was wrong. That's tough to swallow. That’s where we are. The issues about giving up sacks and turning the ball over, those are the main issues we are gonna work on controlling.” 

On if he got feedback from the Big Ten about the officiating
“I’ll just leave it at this. I think everybody is on the same page that that was not a catch for the touchdown. I think everybody is on the same page that that was not a fumble and either should have been ruled or gone to replay and overturned. There’s a difficulty with the speed of those things sometimes, and I don’t have a timeout to challenge it because we used our timeouts at the end of the game. I think everyone is on the same page. Even in replay, there’s a human error factor. But our players did deserve one more play and that shouldn’t have been a touchdown. But that is what it is, we have to play better to not put ourselves in those positions moving forward.”

On quarterbacks' situational awareness
“I think we’re always talking about situations. I think the biggest thing is, with young quarterbacks, a lot of times there’s expectation. It’s 3rd and 12 and you’re trying to force a seam route when the shallow is open and sometimes you catch that ball, and maybe he runs for a first down. Sometimes you have to play through those things. I think you’re trying to always teach those. There’s a fine balance, I think, between letting guys play and sometimes you have to jolt them back into the moment. Hopefully you build up enough trust with the guys that they understand when you’re doing which and why you’re doing it. I think there’s a science to coaching and probably an art to coaching and it’s probably about doing a little bit of each.”  

On how Heinrich Haarberg is growing and learning from games like Michigan State
“Here’s what I love about Heinrich. Not everyone would want to be the quarterback in this situation right now. There’s a lot of pressure. There’s a lot riding on your shoulders. If you don’t play well, if you don’t execute the option well, if you don’t execute the zone reads well, if you don’t execute the power sweeps well, if you don’t throw the ball well – there’s not a lot of margin of error for us on offense right now. We don’t play well. Every play is really kind of squarely on his shoulders. As we continue to grow, you hope that you just hand the ball off every once in a while and we’re just playing at a level where it’s not all on his shoulders, but to go out and be the quarterback on a team that’s battling every week in close games. You have to want to do that. Everyone says they want to do that, you have to want to do that. That’s what I respect so much about Heinrich. He wants to do it. He wants to be out there. As I’ve told him, when I coach Heinrich, I’m not coaching him for right now, I’m coaching him for next year and the year after. Not that we’re not trying to win right now, but we are going to address everything as it comes and we are going to push him through because I think he’s a winner. I think he’s tough and I think he’s learning on the job. He didn’t play for a couple years, so he’s catching up. It’d be one thing if we were sitting here at 2-6 or 2-7 and no one was paying attention and you can make mistakes. Here, the games are all in the balance and everyone is watching. Over the years, I’ve always found freshmen tell me they want to play, and then all of a sudden every game is tight and every game is close and they don’t quite want to play anymore. They go ‘Coach, there’s a lot of pressure here.’ Let me redshirt and get to next year. Heinrich wants to play. He wants to compete. We try to go through everything. Even in the game, the throw to Malachi (Coleman) and some of the throws he made were unbelievable. The one to (Thomas) Fidone was just a little high. If that ball is just a little bit lower, then Fidone catches that ball. We’re always working with Heinrich on his accuracy and we’re asking him to do a lot of things. We’re asking him to drop back and throw it, play action throw it, run the option. He’s battling for his teammates. As I said, I have the ultimate respect for him and the way he goes about his business. He’s learning on the job, as we all are right now.”

On Ethan Nation - punt returning and redshirting
“I think it depends on Billy (Kemp). To be honest, we had a lot of guys work at punt returner and when we lost a guy, not many guys really have the confidence to be able to go out there and do it. Ethan has the confidence to go out and do it. Last Wednesday, he put a couple on the ground and he was out there Wednesday night and he might have caught 400 balls on Thursday. He’s working at it. He was out there last night catching balls again. He definitely wants to play. I think for us, just seeing kind of where Billy is and if he’s able to truly go this week would affect that as well.”

On if Isaac Gifford’s return gives them more flexibility to move Malcolm Hartzog back to corner
“Malcolm got knocked out of the game. Malcolm is questionable this week, we’ll have to see where he’s at. I think for us, especially when you face a tempo team like Maryland, a lot of those guys have played a lot of football – just making sure we have enough rotational guys. Malcolm can play corner, he can play safety, we’ve used him at both. (Marques) Buford obviously gives us a lot of flexibility. We used him in a limited role this game and we’re hoping that this week, he can play more if needed.”

On how he feels about corner play opposite Quinton Newsome
“I think Tommi Hill has been dominant. Tommi Hill got beat on a double pass, then came back on a slant afterward. Tommi has to bounce back, just like Quinton. Quinton got beat on the touchdown, whether he caught it or not. I put my arm up and said ‘keep playing.’ He’s played a lot of football. I think our corners have played well. Again, the shame of it is, it’s not like people are just running by us. The guy at Illinois caught a deep ball on us, the guy caught a deep ball last game. You play man, you’re going to give up one or two of those here and there. To me, the things that bother me are the trick play, the tight end down the middle, the shallow cross that no one tackles. Just us being a little bit more locked in to be where we’re supposed to be and do our job. And in fairness, I sat here last week and said to you guys, we won the game against Purdue but there are some things that are showing up that are a warning. I think specifically I said, if it’s cover two and we’re jumping up and the ball gets behind us – that happened on the first drive. My job is to try my best to warn the players ‘hey, fix this before it happens.’ It came up and bit us because the other team is doing what I do. They’re watching the tape not to celebrate, they’re watching our tape and saying ‘where are their vulnerabilities?’ So, I try to watch the film on offense and defense like the other team’s head coach and I go in to Tony (White) and say ‘I would do this. Hey, Sat (Marcus Satterfield), I would do this.’ Unfortunately, it got us, but it will make us better.”

On how he manages a quarterback with turnover issues vs. a wide receiver or running back
“I think you always go back to why. Some of the things that happened to Heinrich two weeks ago is when he kind of came out against Purdue and the play was dead and he didn’t really know what to do. So we worked hard on that this week. The one in the pocket this week – I’m not going to call the last one a turnover, he was throwing the ball forward, I can’t concern myself with that one – the one where he had two hands in the pocket, I expect him to have two hands in the pocket. Climb the pocket, knowing that they’re going to try to rip the ball out. I thought he was better as he ran the football this week, carrying the ball. We’re constantly just working on our feet and making sure that we’re on time. I just think it’s reps. That first post, it was kind of like a punt because it went down to the four-yard line. That’s a play that I’d hope that we can hit and make. It’s 3rd and 19, we hit them on a double move, kind of like they hit us. We’re just going to keep playing. P.J. Walker – I think he’s 2-0 in the NFL as a starter for the Browns. P.J.’s sophomore year, I think he had more interceptions than touchdowns. We just kept coaching him. We were hard on him, he grew. Pretty soon, he wasn’t that. I think it’s always going back to ‘why is this happening? Is it decision, is it technique, do I have two hands on the ball in the pocket, do I not? Where are the opportunities that are there?’ I’ll just say this – Heinrich is like a lot of other guys on our team, it’s just he’s more magnified. We’re all making small mistakes as we grow to become a better and better and better team. He’s just doing it, unfortunately, more visibly. If he doesn’t scramble and make those two runs, we don’t score those two touchdowns. Trying to eliminate the bad and accelerate the good.”

On if the plan is still to redshirt James Wiliams
“He’s like the guy I was telling you guys about last week. I think if someone can help us win, we’ll continue to use them. His usage, I should say, went up this week, not just in the pass rushing. I think you can see him really going like this right now. We’re going to play this game and see where we are, but we’re going to play to win every game, provided the player wants to play. Like I said, his career always comes first – whether it’s Ethan (Nation) or him – if they want to play and they’re going to play meaningful reps down the stretch, we’ll play them. Right now, we have the luxury of focusing on this week, and we’ll need it this week. If you watch the quarterback, he’s like Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray back in college. He runs left, right. You don’t see many quarterbacks in college football that can roll to their left and still make explosive plays. He can do everything that you’ve seen his brother do. He does it with a lot of flair – no look passes. Guys like James, we’ll need those guys. Hopefully we have Princewill (Umanmielen). We’ll need everybody to try our best to contain him.”

On how he saw Malachi Coleman take a step against Michigan State
“In our team chapel this week, Ron Brown, before the game, for the guys that go to chapel – chapel, whatever. Life skills, whatever – Ron showed him blocking last week. His blocking against Purdue was as good as I’ve ever seen a receiver block in a game. He got punched about three times and he would just stand up and put his hands up. He doesn’t show up on the stat line, but he dominated and affected the game in the ways that he could, yet never threw a punch back. Some of our older guys haven’t understood that but Malachi has. To me, Malachi has affected every game he’s played in since that Northwestern game. I thought he blocked well. We’re asking him to go in there and crack linebackers. We’re asking our wideouts to do a lot of things right now, ship defensive ends. Malachi did all of it, and when the moment came, he had the chance to go make some plays. What I love about him is we threw a fade to him down the left sideline and his take from the game was ‘I have to go make that play.’ When you have guys who are making plays and yet they’re not satisfied, they’re always trying to get better – as I say to our young guys, the fact that on offense, we have a sophomore quarterback, a freshman fullback, a sophomore tight end, a freshman tailback, three freshmen receivers, and they’re playing in games like ‘hey, if you win it, you get this,’ they’re playing in games that have these consequences. That’ll pay off in the long run. You have a freshman left guard. It’ll pay off in the long run. They went out and they played man against us, and they grabbed it and they made us. The Jaidyns (Doss) and the Jaylens (Lloyd), they had to adjust to that. A team like Michigan State, everyone keeps talking about their record, I kept thinking back to two years ago when they won 11 games. You win 11 games, you don’t just quit. They made those championship caliber plays. I think that Malachi having those opportunities, recognizing ‘hey, I can do it. What do I need to work on?,’ we’ll need him this week. They’re going to come out, they’re going to play man against us, they’re going to pressure us, and the Malachis, the Jaidyns, the Jaylens, the (Alex) Bullocks, the (Ty) Hahns, we have to do more to get them involved.”

On the quarterback depth chart
“We give Jeff (Sims) reps at the ones at times. He gets to rotate in. We aren’t like your traditional practice. We get more guys reps. They were times last week early in the week that Chubba (Purdy) took some reps with the ones. Here and there but not as much. He gets more two reps and some three reps. Jeff does get reps with the ones obviously as does Heinrich (Haarberg).”

On the sacks against Michigan State
“One was unfortunately a quarterback draw that had an RPO with it. You should just throw the RPO and probably have a pretty good play. We went to run the quarterback draw and we kind of just stopped. I can’t count that one. One obviously was at the end of the game and while we did get hit it was an incomplete pass. Two were on the tailback. I just think it is kind of across the board. I don’t say that to blame the tailback. I just want all of our guys on offense to recognize like ‘hey all of us just have to keep getting a little bit better.’ Like I said for Emmett Johnson he is our third-down back. He is a freshman. He needs to learn these lessons now. He got hit with a pick game and they came back and hit us with the same pick game later. We made the same mistake twice. So when I walk in on Sunday morning I walk right into E.J. (Barthel) and I’m like ‘did we do this on the sideline? How could this possibly happen?’ I go back to Emmett (Johnson) too. And me I say ‘Ok I have to do a better job of teaching these lessons.’ So we watched this tape as a team together everyone at once just so we all could see how you win and how you lose. I would say protection kind of goes across the board. I don’t necessarily pay as much attention to sacks as I do to how often the quarterback is under duress. Even on those two long runs he’s bumping around hitting people everywhere. Our protection has to be better. We have to train harder. To me it’s not necessarily always talent. It’s about bringing your technique and out-working the other team. Same thing on defense about out-working their offensive line. You get down to these games at the end of the game and we have to give our quarterback a chance to win the game. As a quarterback once you’ve started to have to run around a little bit it starts to affect you. Whether that is the wideouts getting open quickly or the tight ends chipping in protection or the o-line. Everyone has to do their part and that’s why I said earlier that we talked a lot about Heinrich (Haarberg), Heinrich, Heinrich but there are ten other guys that have to allow him to be successful and give him the best chance to be successful.”

On Michigan State’s pass-rush
“The pick-stunt was new but none of that matters. Any team is going to do something new. You better adjust to it on the sidelines. When we get beat with something new on-site, you go ‘hey let’s correct it.’ When we get beat by something twice on offense or defense or special teams that’s what bothers me. Either the coaches have to do a better job or the communication has to be better. Again in year one of us trying to build something here for us to be in these types of games I think it is really valuable. Only thing I say to our older guys is don’t let all of this wisdom benefit the younger players. I want the older players to go out. I mean you win games in November by your best players making huge plays and showing up. We have some players that I need them to make plays that come to them. We need a pick-six and a sack fumble. We need those things. That’s how you win in November.”

On how to prepare for Maryland’s throwing offense
“Yeah it’s a heck of a challenge and an opportunity. The great thing about Maryland is that all of our guys know how good they are. They’ve seen them and they know who Maryland is. It was 17-17 against Ohio State late in the third quarter. They are an excellent, excellent football team. To me the challenge for us has always been to humbly prepare for the other teams and the opponent but to never make it about the opponent. To not sit there and say, ‘What if they do this and do that?’ Instead make it about us. We are studying them. We know what they can do and how explosive they can be but we got beat last week when our eyes weren’t where they were supposed to be. When we are in the third and we come running up on a run play and the ball gets thrown with a double pass. So again the lessons always go back to just, ‘Hey guys trust yourself. Trust your technique. Do your assignment. Play hard. Play together.’ And we are probably going to have a chance to win games. And even though we didn’t do that the whole game it’s still 20-17 late in the game. So you still had a chance with the ball to win the game. So let’s just build off of that. It’s a really explosive offense. It’s a real challenge for our guys. They know what’s coming and they won’t be surprised. They will have to play their best to have a chance against this offense.”

On the reverses
“You’re right. We would love for those to be longer. To me those plays are kind of like what the Miami Dolphins are doing now. We kind of consider those just end to round type plays. They aren’t really like a true down the line. We probably should run them more of a traditional reversal. Those are gap-scheme end of round. Trying to utilize him (Jaylen Lloyd) as an extra rusher. I always say like ‘Hey guys when we run those plays, get five yards. Get six yards.’ But I just think it is guys down the field making more blocks and again when I look at things I’m always like, ‘How far away were we in that game to having the explosive play that breaks the game open.’ We kind of aren’t that far away. Honestly I took a piece of turf after the Colorado game and put it into a box and said, ‘Hey guys you guys were this far away in Colorado from batting that ball down.’ And I just kept showing them the blitzes when the guy takes a pop and side step and he gets to Shedeur Sanders’ hands here and we’re here. The difference in winning and losing is this much. You take that approach but then you start to win and you start to forget. We get to this ball game and they throw the double pass and we come running up and kind of stop our feet and then we jump. He’s throwing the ball and we’re this far away. So that’s how I feel sometimes on offense. We are this far away. Even that last pass. He’s throwing the ball to Jaidyn (Doss) and if that ball doesn’t get knocked out of his hands, Jaidyn’s got an explosive play and we are going to kick a field goal. Again, can we strain that much harder to prepare that much better? Can I coach that much better? That’s the difference in winning and losing when the margin of error is tight for us. This is where the margin of error is so we’ve got to strain more. We’ve got to battle more. We’ve got to prepare more. Same thing on those reversals. Same thing on some of the plays in the first half. We’re just that far away. One guy is making a tackle and all I know to do is I just keep going back and pounding the rock and hoping that it splits this week. Then all of the sudden we score more points. This is an excellent run defense so you better do it against them.”

On his young team after a loss and if it’s easier
“I don’t know. At the end of the day we have who we have. I really trust our older guys. I trust Luke (Reimer) and Ty (Robinson). There is no group of guys I would rather be doing this with. I told our freshmen, at the University of Nebraska moving forward, every game in November had better be a big game. It better matter. It was like, ‘Well we should have taken the pressure off of them.’ That’s what’s wrong. You’ve got to learn to be so comfortable with all the pressure in the world on you with the game hanging on your shoulders. Yeah we put pressure on the players. Yeah we put pressure on ourselves. I am glad that they recognize if they won that game they had a chance to go to a bowl. I’m glad that they knew if they won that game they were kind of a lock for maybe winning the Big Ten West. You have to come face to face with your demons and fears and say, ‘Hey when that was happening did I play free and loose or did I play tight?’ The guys will tell me last year at Iowa, ‘Hey the season was over.’ Coach Joseph, who they obviously really respected, Iowa was coming and he wasn’t going to be the coach. They kind of just said, ‘Hey let’s go play.’ And then just went out and played. Anybody can play when there’s no pressure, but can you play with pressure. That is what we are trying to learn. I want to take the pressure off my kids. My kids have to learn how to deal with adversity and the pressure and deal with all of these things because when you do you become unflappable. We are so lucky that in November we are learning these things. We are seeing the adversity. I talked about the replays. We aren’t making it about that. That happened and we still have to overcome it. We are talking about the turnovers. We aren’t going to make it about any one thing. Every player and coach has to be better under pressure and that’s again here we are this week. If we win the game we get to be bowl eligible. Ok well how did talking about that last week help us? It didn’t. The football mattered. I am talking about for our team, not you guys. Just go 1-0. When you are playing a third just play the third. When you are blocking the d-end just block the d-end. Just do what we do and play football. In the most pressure with everything on the line if you can just be in the moment and say, ‘What’s my job? To block the guy.’ And you block him exactly like you always have. That’s when you become a good team. The great players – that is the benefit of them. Christian McCaffrey could sit there with all the pressure in the world and he could just hear the play call and play it as hard as possible and not let anything affect him and say, ‘What’s next?’ We didn’t do that on Saturday. We were kind of like this. We have another chance this week so I’m glad that we are in that moment.”

On losing to one team that scouted Nebraska
“I feel for our players. At the end of the day they are out there battling for bowl eligibility. We are sitting there with a 5-4 record. You have a touchdown taken away from us at Minnesota and a touchdown added to them at this game. I called Harlon Barnett on Saturday night and texted back and forth with him Sunday morning. I don’t want to do anything to diminish Minnesota or him. I’m just saying for our guys, I gotta sit up in the front of the room, and they say they’re watching ESPN and watch Ryan Walter speak some facts and saying ‘what do you think coach?’ My number one job is to advocate for these guys and push them to be great. I wanna say that it’s kind of crappy. It’s good for our guys to learn that no one cares, no one feels sorry for us. Those plays happened in this game last weekend and it doesn’t change the score. The other thing happened. It is what it is and we can control what we can control.”

On where he’s at in terms of sign-stealing conversations in the Big Ten
“No one is having conversations with me. At the end of the day, what’s the Husker prayer? Dear Lord, the battles we go through in life, we ask for a chance that’s fair. That’s all I want. Every game, I want the 60 minutes of the game to be fair, not tilted one way or the other. I just think I want to do things right so our players learn the difference between right and wrong, even in competitive equity. I think it’s a shame when people say ‘well, it wouldn’t have mattered.’ It is what it is. Other people have talked about it. It happened, whether it affected it or not, none of that matters to me. I just feel bad for our guys. They look at me like ‘hey, coach, what are you doing about this?’ So I do feel like I need to say something on their behalf. We carry this record, but I just want everything to be fair. That’s all I care about.”

On how he keeps track of a large staff
“There’s not an analyst on our staff that wouldn’t be at an away or home game with us. At a home game, there’s not one person who doesn’t have duties designed. At an away game, there are some people that we’d leave behind. There’s not a coaching analyst on our staff that doesn’t travel with us and have a job. I’m trying very hard here. At the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m only speaking for our team. I don’t ever want to cast shade on other people or other teams. I’ve been that guy, when the whole world is kind of taking shots at you. I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is I just want the 60 minutes of the game fair. That’s all I want, the 60 minutes of the game fair, and if we have a game and it’s a big game and we have recruits from all over the country come in and the game gets ugly quickly and ugly right away and those kids all look at me. Even if you lose, it’s more entertaining if it’s a little closer. I want everything to be fair. At the same time, when I called my son after the game, he said to me ‘tough calls, dad. Control the controllables.’ That’s my 18-year-old son. We’re going to control the controllables and I do appreciate the Big Ten and the way they handle things. They’re very communicative and if you send a play in, they get back to you. They don’t always agree with you but you learn a lot about them. They’re doing everything right. It is what it is.”