Callahan, Huskers Discuss Showdown with USC

Nebraska Coach Bill Callahan and the Huskers welcomed members of the media to Memorial Stadium on Tuesday for the Huskers' weekly press conference. Huskers.com has all the quotes from Callahan, NU players and USC head coach Pete Carroll.  Audio clips from the press conference can be found by clicking here.

Quarterback Zac Taylor
Linebacker Corey McKeon
Cornerback Cortney Grixby
Wide Receiver Nate Swift
Defensive End Jay Moore
Fullback Dane Todd
Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell
Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove
USC Head Coach Pete Carroll

Nebraska Weekly Press Conference
Pregame vs. USC
Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006
Memorial Stadium

Bill Callahan
Nebraska Head Coach

 

Opening Statement
“Well we’re just grinding away on USC.  This is a good football team.  This is a good opportunity for our club and our program to get some national visibility.  To have an opportunity to play on a national stage, and I can tell you our players are excited.  We certainly respect USC in every regard.  A fine staff, excellent players and just a great venue to play a top caliber game.”

On his initial reaction to having USC scheduled
“At that first year of coaching, I was mainly just looking at what was up the next year in 2005.  I wasn’t looking into 2006, but it’s a great opportunity.  It’s a great opportunity to measure ourselves.  The challenge is significant, just in terms of the match-ups.  We’re excited to play and see where we’re at.  Of course, whatever the outcome is it’s not going to define us one way or the other, and we have a lot of season to play. We haven’t even gotten into conference play. But this game will help us get better, no matter what, it will help us get better.”

On the difficulties of transitioning from the success of the first two games to the challenges that USC presents
“I think it’s a natural progression of sorts, where the guys come out of training camp and are looking for new opponents, somebody else to go beat up against.  And that’s allowed us to really progress, especially when you have young players.  So there’s a natural progression where inexperienced players, newcomers, maybe guys that you’re counting on in certain roles get a chance to get a little bit more playing time.  And I could tell you, that’s been invaluable.  It really has.  It’s allowed a lot of guys to play, especially when you get into the area of special teams, you get to see guys cover kicks that maybe you haven’t gotten the chance to see.  And I think that area, more than anything, is where you can really see a lot of young players emerge, at least for us anyhow.  But I think it’s been great, it’s been a good two-game opener for us and it certainly sets the stage for us to go into Southern California and do the best we can based on what we’ve already competed against.”

On whether the game against USC can define the Nebraska football program
“Like I said, one game isn’t going to define this season.  I’m not going to let it for these players.  It’d be great, we’ll treat the win just like we would any other win where we’d celebrate for 24 hours and then we move along to the next opponent.  But this is a game that is important to us. We want to do well, we want to measure ourselves against a great football team and a great program, and then take that into the next game and into the conference play, and that’s our goal.  Our goal hasn’t changed, our goal is still to win the (Big 12) North Division Championship.  We haven’t achieved that goal yet, so we remain focused on that.  And I explained that to our team and our players yesterday that they know exactly what the goals are and we just want to do the best we can and do as well as we can when we go out to USC.”

On comparing the offense of USC to the Nebraska offense
“I think we’re pretty similar in a lot of respects.  I look at our running game and our passing game and there are a lot of similarities conceptually.  I think all the personables are essentially the same. I think a lot of it’s derived from what Jon Gruden (Head Coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) did at TampaBay and what we did in Oakland, at least that’s what I see on film anyhow.  But each coach and each coordinator and program puts their own spin on the West Coast offense.  They’ve certainly done an excellent job getting the correct match-ups they want to get in and featuring the types of plays they want to for those match-ups.  So I think they’ve done an excellent job across the board plugging their players into the system and vice-versa, they’ve done a great job.”

On the health of senior center Kurt Mann
“He’s cleared to go today.  He’ll be a little bit weak, coming off a virus, and we’ll see how it goes.  If he practices when he comes in at 2 p.m. this afternoon then we’ll let him go, but if he’s not well enough to go then the doctor might back him down for the day. We’ll just see where we’re at, but he’s been cleared to go so it’s just as much as how much can he tolerate in terms of his strength and how much he is ready to go, and that’ll be dependent on how he feels this afternoon.”

On the nature of Kurt Mann’s viral illness
“Just one of those viruses I guess.”

On his relationship with USC Head Coach (Pete) Carroll
“I’m acquainted with Pete. I wouldn’t say that we call each other on the phone every week or anything like that.  But last time I talked to Pete I was in Oakland, I think it was the year that he was working for the legal office, prior to the year that he was named head coach.  I would see him there, he came in and was working with the youth program in the NFL, and he came by and we had a good visit one afternoon for a while, and then of course he went to USC so I saw him up at my son's games up in South Concord, where he was recruiting quite a few players. So I’d see him occasionally, but aside from that he’s a good coach.  He’s well respected; I certainly respect what he’s done.”

On the match-up of Nebraska’s cornerbacks and USC’s receivers
“It’s certainly an aspect of the game that you have to deal with.  It’s going to be a great match-up.  They have some great skill, whether it’s their wide receivers, or I think that the guy that’s missing is the tight end.  He’s an outstanding player, so we’re going to have to deal with that as well.  They’re pretty well balanced, they’re not really going to allow you to sit down and double one receiver. They have so many weapons in their two-receiver sets, their three-receiver sets, and they’re backs are just as capable coming out of the back field.  So we have a full agenda to defend when we go into Southern Cal.”

On tactics to relieve pressure on defensive backs
“Blitz, you better get there. You have to get there before the ball goes off. I know that.  But we’re going to everything. In these types of games, in any game, you try to get your kids in a position to have success and sometimes you’re less vulnerable than other times, so it’s a chess match.  You try to put coverages in places where they don’t think you’re going to be and do some things maybe they haven’t seen, I mean that’s college football, and that’s football in general. But we’ll try to do some things to try and balance the board a little bit and to try and put those guys in a position to have success.”

On the knowledge that ArizonaState transfer, quarterback Sam Keller has been able to share from playing against USC last year
“I know James talked to him quite a bit, and I’d like to tell you what he said but I can’t.  But he’s visited with (offensive coordinator) Jay (Norvell), and he certainly has some knowledge about USC. Again, there is a different system, what ArizonaState did and USC did early isn’t really similar to what we’re doing right now.”

On what quarterback Zac Taylor is going to do to keep Nebraska in the game
“Keep us in the game? Well our goal is to go out there and win the game. And he’s certainly a huge factor in that, and we’re doing the best that we can to get him prepared to attack coverages and to attack vulnerabilities in their whole scheme and that’s what they’re doing, too. We’re just getting our guy ready and prepared and he’s certainly capable of handling a lot of systems and he can manage all the switches, but the quarterback and the passing game is only as good as what you are up front. How good you can protect, and when you look at USC’s defense you have to start with that one staple and that’s their pass rush. They have an outstanding pass rush, they can get to the passer. They’re well-equipped, they’re well-versed, they have talent. They know how to rush the passer. They’re experienced and the guys before them have really laid the ground work for these guys coming up. They know exactly what they’re doing up front, and whether they apply a four-man pressure or a four-man rush or a five-man pressure or a six-man pressure, really doesn’t matter. They know how to get to the passer and they feed off that opportunity at long-yardage situations, where they can get to the passer. That’s what they live for. They live for the third down where they can get some heat on the quarterback and get off the field. That’s what they’ve shown, that’s been their history and that’s why they’re successful.”

On whether it will be more of a challenge to hold onto the ball against a better team
“Absolutely, every game is a challenge to hold onto the ball. Hold onto it, secure it, and not turn it over. But especially when you get on the road, you get into a hostile environment, where things may be a little different for you, you really need to focus in and zero in on ball security and proper decision-making. And really when you get into tight quarters, that’s when the ball comes loose. If you’ve watched this team play, they do an outstanding job around the pile. They strip, they pull, they rip and the ball comes out. And when you’re primarily a zone type defense, you have an opportunity to break on the ball and knock the ball out and that’s what they do well. That’s been their history, that’s been their success and that’s how they get that momentum going in that venue.”

On whether the emergence of Nebraska’s tight ends has made the Husker offense more difficult for other teams to prepare for
“I don’t know, we just try to create a lot of different adjustments for people that watch us so they have to stay up a little bit later at night. That’s what we’re trying to do, keep people off balance and try to give them some things that maybe they haven’t seen. If you haven’t seen it, you can’t prepare for it so we try to give people as much as we can, some things to think about as they prepare. We’ll add some things throughout the course, as we always do, after each game. That’s football, that’s what we like to do, and that’s what makes it interesting and fun for our kids.”

On freshman defensive back Corey Young stepping into the No. 2 spot on the depth chart
“Corey really stepped up and did an excellent job. If you watched Corey on special teams last week, he really did an outstanding job in coverage. For such a young player, he’s got a tremendous feel for the game, and I think a lot of it has to do with the program he comes out of (Millard North). I know (Millard North Head) Coach (Fred) Petito has done a great job up there in Omaha. His program speaks for itself, the caliber of players that come from that program. They have great background. They’re well-versed. They don’t flinch. They know exactly what’s going on. They’re really solid football players, and above all, Corey is tough, and that’s what we love about him. He’s got a toughness about him, and a physicalness about his play that’s really inspired us as a coaching staff and his teammates as well. (Junior defensive back) Titus (Brothers) has done a really nice job, and we’ll use everybody.”

On the running backs stepping up to get more yards on each play
“We always tell them, let’s get four yards for the team, or the first-and-10 for the team, and that’s all we’re concerned about. (Marlon Lucky) has done an excellent job in so many ways. I think his opportunities will come as they are created and as he creates them. As he reads off what he needs to do in terms of secondary force patterns, and seeing people in positions where he can make cuts. But he has done an excellent job. I wouldn’t be critical of Marlon (Lucky) in any way in terms of his running ability. He has made some outstanding runs. We’re always looking to get better, but he has made some outstanding runs so far. I think when you keep running the football and you get more opportunities and you see more of the field and his vision expands, I think his opportunity will come.

On the exposure playing USC can give the recruiting efforts of Nebraska
“Well we’ve got 20 players from the state of California on our roster currently, and we’re looking for more. We’re always looking for more. You look at the teams that have succeeded in college football, such as USC and Texas and Florida, they own their own state. There are quite a number of players from that area and that state as well, and when they do go out of that state, I’ve heard Coach Carroll talk about how they go out of state only for first-rounders. That’s pretty impressive if you can do that. It’s interesting to see these guys from those areas, they play good football out west and down south, and up north in the Big Ten areas. Those have all been marquee areas for recruiting. But it’s just a great opportunity to get exposure for our program, to show people in Southern California and the athletes from there that there’s opportunity here at the University of Nebraska to play. We’ve had a lot of success with athletes that have come from the state of California to play here and they’ve done exceedingly well, and we’re just trying to build upon that. We’ve got to win to make that happen. By in large with a winning outcome, you get hot, and guys look at that.”

On not allowing the younger players to get caught up in the hype of playing USC
“I think we just maintain a consistent approach. We don’t change what we’re doing on a weekly basis because of who we’re playing. We maintain a very steady, consistent approach with the players on a week-in, week-out basis.”

On USC quarterback John David Booty
“He’s a good quarterback. He’s a precision passer. His accuracy is outstanding. On film against Arkansas, the play he makes on a back-of-the-shoulder throw to the tight end in the end zone, it couldn’t be placed any more perfectly than what he did. He’s smart, he knows where he’s going, he knows the audible system, knows the check system. He knows when to get out of plays when to stay with a play, he knows how to get rid of the ball quick and he knows how to make quick answers in his mind. He’s got a variety. He’s done a very good job there. Of course (backup quarterback Mark) Sanchez, we loved him when we recruited him. Both of those guys are outstanding quarterbacks who have really mastered the system.”

On the similarities between USC and Nebraska
“We’re pretty similar in a lot of respects. We’ll always have a wrinkle or two that they’ll expose us on. They compete at a very high level, and our challenge is going to be to match that very high level of competition, and that’s going to be fun. Just going into this game, we get to see where we’re at from a competitive standpoint, to match up and compete. Then when we come home on Sunday morning, we’ll want to turn the film on and watch our players compete, and see how hard they’re willing to go. We want to see players flying at the ball, and that’s the beauty of this game, it’s really a chance to measure ourselves on how hard we play, how hard we compete. It’s going to be interesting, because I know they put a premium out there on their program, so it’s going to be a great challenge for our football team.”

On the traits of USC Head Coach Pete Carroll’s teams
“Their overall ability to run to the football on defense, that’s a trait. They pursue as hard and as fast and as quick as any team in college football. That stands out and flashes on the film when you see it. They’ve got tremendous competitiveness and rally to the football. They’re all hungry and they all know the exact technique that they’ve got to execute. If you watch the defensive line they all know how to pass rush with their hands. They are maybe the best ?hands’ team that I’ve seen, and when I say that I mean they are guys that really know how to play with their hands, with the pass rush, run block, jam. Whatever it may be, they really know how to use their hands, and in college football, that’s really not as a sophisticated technique as it is in the NFL, and these guys do as good a job, maybe better, than some NFL teams in that regard.”

On the opportunity to showcase Nebraska’s receivers against a strong USC receiving corps
“We’ll do our best. I can only go back to the challenge it presented. We’ll face that Tampa-2 coverage and some man and bump coverages as well, so it’s a good challenge because of everything they do. They have it all, and they know how to coach it all and execute it all. That’s why they’re a good football team. We’re just looking to go in there and compete as hard as we can, and come up with a first down.”

On the USC running backs
“They’re really good. In a sense you can see them as they gradually went through the Arkansas game, getting a feel for the scheme and the adjustments and the reads. I saw them getting stronger on what they were doing. Their power plays are awesome, their stretch plays are excellent, and they’re getting more of a feel for where their reads are at.”

On the weaknesses on the USC football team
“No, I don’t see any weaknesses. There really aren’t any weaknesses in that system. They’ve got a guy hurt at safety, but they plugged another guy right in. When you’ve got the past four of five recruiting classes as No. 1 in the country, and the one they didn’t finish first they finished third, you’ve got talent. And where there’s talent there’s competition. It’s a great motivator. They have a great level of competitiveness on that football team, and you see it on the field, and that’s the trademark of their football team, and that’s what we’re challenged against in this particular game. They’ve got talent and they’ve got guys in every spot. There aren’t holes anywhere that I can find.

On what the USC defense has to offer
“They’ve got guys that can go deep. They’ve got guys that can play nickel. They can play base. The guys up front on their defensive line are active, they’re physical and they’re quick. There are just more of them. I see solid coaching and depth at every position. Linebacker is very strong because of their activity on that level. They run downhill. They press for the ball. They’re instinctive. They’re just real fine athletes in every regard.”

On what Nebraska can take from the match-up against USC
“We’re going to take out of this game the positives and build on them. This is a long season, and our goal is to win the (Big 12) North. This is a game that will help us get better as a football team, no matter what the outcome is. So we’ll take the positives from this game and we’ll build on them and focus on the areas we can improve on. But we’re always looking to get better. It’s week three, and we’re excited about the opportunity and looking forward to it, to compete against maybe the best team in the country.”