Opening Statement; on the blackout, USC game and Dylan Raiola
“It’s about the all blacks and how they had been an iconic team that had kind of lost their way and then they had to rebuild. When they rebuilt they went back and studied their past. They have 15 rules that they started to live by and one of them was “plant trees that you’ll never see”, and it's about leaving places better than you found them. I was obviously disappointed after the game. I really wanted our seniors to have a chance to continue and battle and fight to be a CFP team. You think about planting seeds that you’ll never see. You know, we’re obviously disappointed about the game, we’ll never accept losing, we’ll never make excuses about losing, but I do want to say that I thought the effort of the guys that won’t be here in the future when all those things come to fruition, I thought the way they rallied around Dylan (Raiola) when he got hurt and then rallied around TJ (Lateef), the way that they carried themselves, the way that they played. I think it’s the first time that they’ve been held under 21 points this season. For USC’s offense it’s the first time they’ve been held to 337 yards since 2023. I thought the way they fought and battled and competed for each other when they had some bad breaks; I think those are the things you can build off of. I thought with Troy Dannen and Kortne Gosha and Brandon Meier and our marketing team and what everyone did with the blackout will have a profound impact on what we’re trying to get done moving forward. I thought our crowd, our student section, I mean I’m standing out there with five star after five star after five star after four star after four star saying look at that student section and guy say I’ve never seen anything like it. While we’re disappointed, we still show up the next day to work and we meet with all the recruits and we talk with them and they’re ecstatic about what they saw here. I do think it is important that while we are disappointed and angry and upset to also be very very very grateful for that atmosphere, for that crowd, for that opportunity. To be honest, I didn’t sleep on Saturday night. I came in to watch the tape first thing, and it’s some of the best football many of our guys have played, significantly. So, we’re sitting here at a crossroads right now as a team, and it’s an unbelievable opportunity for us. If you go back to my first year at the press conference at Big Ten Media Days I said something like, we have to learn to get people to respect Husker football again and we’ve had a chance to play Michigan, we lost by 3 points, we had a chance to play USC, we lost by 4 points. We have to chase those 3 points and those 4 points, we have to get better, we have to continue to recruit, we have to lift and run and do all those things, but I also think these next three games are some of the most important times for our team and for our program moving forward. A, this team, the guys that are here, they deserve to leave as winners. They have done everything that we’ve asked them to do, and B, we have to, on a national narrative, we have to become someone that people respect and it starts with ourselves. When we respect ourselves and don’t talk trash about ourselves and don’t go out there and not do things right, like when we do things at a high level and we show respect for our program and our future, I think people nationally will. I know for me this week I am going to do the best job I can for TJ Lateef because leaders insert themselves in the point of friction to try and take stress off, and I know Ceyair Wright and I know Javin (Wright) and I know DeShon (Singleton) and I know Rocco (Spindler) and all those guys; every single person in our organization are going to try to do a little bit more so that TJ Lateef can be successful. I think that we could be like an average team and just go out there and be disappointed that we lost last week and have a bad week or we could come together and so I told our guys either you’re in or you're out and they’ve all said that they’re in. I would say that to everybody. It’s going to take every single one of us, but people nationally will never respect us until we respect ourselves. I’m talking about our conference and the decisions that they make, I’m talking about the national media, I’m talking about fans, I’m talking about recruits. We have to, in my opinion, at this time, come together and absolutely sow seeds that will manifest themselves in the future. I wanted my team to hear that. I believe 100% in TJ (Lateef) and what he’s going to get done and we’re going to put a great game plan together for him. I hate it for Dylan (Raiola). I love Dylan. If anyone says anything about Dylan just know this, the kid had a broken leg and he was warming up and begging me to play. That’s all you need to know about that kid to know who he is. I got home that night, I didn’t know when I was sitting here with you guys I thought he had an ankle sprain, when I got home literally my daughter was the first person to tell me. I go one way and my daughters were walking through and they found out as he found out in the training room and the doctor called me to tell me. What character and what toughness; I’m very grateful for him. Grateful for the O-linemen who haven’t gotten reps at tackle and all of a sudden Tyler (Knaak) has to go out and play tackle. We’ll come together as a team this week. Sorry for that being so long, but I thought I would at least address the positives of Saturday.”

On getting TJ Lateef ready
“I think making sure we put together a plan and that he’s comfortable with everything he needs to do. As I said, guys are going to have to do a great job of being strong around him. Even in the game, he came out with a check down in the red zone and he saw zero, he checked it to a tunnel screen. Jacory (Barney) is wide open and he would’ve walked it in, just dropped the snap. He’s mentally, though, at a really, really high level. He just needs reps. When you’re the backup quarterback, you’re getting reps but not as many. Now, he needs reps. Jalyn (Gramstad) needs reps. Anybody else we use at quarterback will need reps this week.”

On shutting down USC’s pass offense but giving up 200 yards rushing
“I’m never going to be okay giving up 200 yards rushing. Last week, you guys asked me about this being one of the most prolific offenses in football coming off a bye with everyone healthy. Notre Dame was able to hold them to 396, we held them to 337. What I showed our team was, there were six plays. We stopped them on second down, on third down they threw a big fade. Then ran a zone read, and our guy didn’t do his job, unfortunately, and they ran it. Ran a zone read again, ran a two-point play. Then they got the ball back and threw an incomplete pass and threw a flea flicker. In six plays, they had 107 yards. What our team needs to do and what our coaches need to do and what I need to get us to do is settle down in those six plays, once things start going badly against us. Just play the next play a little bit more focused and not worry about everything. We gave up 337 yards, we gave up 107 of those yards in six straight plays. If they don’t get the pass interference in the end zone to put the ball at the two, we were playing good red zone defense, which was one of our challenges this week. We held them to two field goals early on. DPI in the end zone, they put the ball at the two. That’s obviously difficult sledding. Who knows if we were able to stop that one? We’re obviously never going to be okay with 200 yards rushing. It’s not like we’re sitting there in a box playing pass. We’re playing the run, but they ran the quarterback and we had a quarterback play there. We have to make those plays. They’re an excellent running offense and we knew it was going to be a challenge all night and I was really proud of the guys. They tackled well. The least amount of yards after contact we’ve had in several weeks. They had their best week of practice, preparation, everything, and they showed up to play. Wish I could’ve helped them get a few more points.”