Nebraska Player Quotes

Nebraska Weekly Press Conference
Player Quotes
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006
Memorial Stadium

Zac Taylor
Senior, Quarterback
On drawing motivation from last season’s loss to Kansas
"I think sometimes you can. That was just a game where we played badly. Whoever we were going to play that week, it just wasn’t one of our finer games. Kansas just happened to be the team that got the best of us. That kind of really spring boarded us into the success that we’ve had. After that game we kind of regrouped and it gave us the chance to come together as a team and rebound from that loss."

On how Nebraska has come together since that game
"I think the thing about that game was that nobody played well so no one could point fingers. It was a collective group effort. We just didn’t play well. Everybody just knew we had to step up for the next game and since that point we’ve been 6-1, so we’ve been pretty successful."

On how far Nebraska has come as a team since that game
"Offensively these last seven games we’ve improved. I think that was really the turning point. That K-State game last year was when things really started to click. It’s a whole different offense, a whole different team than we had a year ago. We’re much improved and we all feel really comfortable in the system."

On the difference between starting conference play last season versus this season
"It’s not even the same team. We were all uncomfortable and still trying to get a feel for each other going into that Iowa State game last year. This year is just different. We really know our team's identity. We’re really playing well together. We’ve made some mistakes but I think we’re making great progress every week."

On his completion percentage
"The offensive line is giving me a lot of time and guys are getting open, so it’s just a matter of me not missing guys at this point. I think I’m doing better at not forcing balls. Last year I threw some bad balls and got picked early in the season. I’ve been picked a couple of times this year, but I think I’m doing a better job of making smarter throws than I did at this point last year."

On looking to throw the ball more often this season
"I hate running to be honest. If I’m going to throw the ball away versus getting two yards running, oftentimes I’ll get the two yards running. I prefer to check the ball out to a running back, which is what I should have done a couple of times instead of running the ball. Watching the film, there were a couple of times when Marlon (Lucky) squeaked open and I wasn’t looking in his area. If I was aware of that we probably could have gotten more yardage instead of my two or three yards running. I prefer to stay in the pocket for as long as possible and throw the ball down field. I don’t like running and getting hit and I’ve just got to be smarter with my check down."

On Marlon Lucky’s performance
"He did a good job of hitting the creases. The holes were there. It’s not easy to see for everybody, but watching it on film he was real smooth in his running. He accelerated and made guys miss. Some guys had the angle on him early on and he just outran them to the end zone. It was good to see that he was just playing fast."

On Kansas’s defense
"We’re going to use both our running and passing games against them. I think we’ve used both the first four games. It’s been pretty balanced so that’s going to help us going into this game. Against a team like Kansas, you can’t really rely on one thing or another. They are really disciplined. That’s what I remember about last year. They didn’t do anything fancy. They were just really disciplined and didn’t give you much. We’ll do the same this year. I’m sure it will be equal run and pass. We’ve seen some things on film that we’ll try and attack, but they are a disciplined defense. They’ve got a lot of new guys, but they’ll be solid."

On the mentality heading into the Big 12 season
"It’s a whole new season. Right now everybody is 0-0. Really these first four games it would be great to be 4-0, but even if we were 0-4 it wouldn’t matter. We’d still have the same goals in front of us. It’s a whole different season and we really need to start out with a win in the Big 12 Conference. That’s big. At this point, this is obviously the most important game we’ve played all year."

On the effect of the familiarity between the Big 12 teams
"I’m sure it will be tougher. They will be more prepared because they’ve seen us for the last two years in this offense. They’ll be familiar with the players we have because we have a lot of guys coming back from last year. It will be tougher than the first three teams that didn’t know a thing about us and they didn’t know what to do to try to stop us. So it’ll be a tougher task."

On Nebraska’s desire to beat Kansas after losing last season
"It’s tough to forget when you lose a game like that. But we’re doing our best to put that behind us and just focus on being 1-0 in the conference."