Nebraska Coach Bill Callahan

Nebraska Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006
Memorial Stadium
Lincoln, Neb.
Pre-Kansas State

Head Coach Bill Callahan
Opening Statement
“We’re just getting going on KansasState the last few days of our preparation. Just a few comments about their program and what they’ve accomplished in the last few weeks. We’re impressed with the way that they play. Outstanding team in a lot of respects, especially defensively. They’re a high energy, high tempo, fast, quick defense in all phases, so that’s a challenge for our football team. And the area that really impresses us as a staff and as a team is the quality of their special teams play. They’re very sound and they’ve made a lot of plays in that area. To that respect, we’re going to have to work hard on our special teams. We’re not up to the standard that we want to be at from that perspective, so we’re going to do a lot of things this week. Go back to work, try to shore up our punt game, our protection, maybe a little bit better in our return game and punt return phase of it and really focus in on the protection of our PAT and field goals. Those are some of the things we’re going to focus on this week as we head back to the practice field.”

On freshman quarterback Josh Freeman starting for Kansas State
“I think I commented yesterday to the Big 12 on the Big 12 media teleconference that his play was exceptional against OklahomaState. The finishing drive that put them ahead, the score that he ran for was outstanding. You can see his development and growth starting to happen and occur. Especially late in the games, they put the game in his hands and he delivered and he came back from behind and that’s the sign of a winning quarterback. And again, he did an outstanding job.”

On the reasons that NU recruited KansasState quarterback Josh Freeman
“With just everything you see on film, his size and of course his ability to make plays with his feet and of course he has a strong arm.Those three ingredients are what we looked at when we recruited him.”

On the amount of film of Freeman available
“Well he’s played in several games so far this year. He’s played in a few more games than just the one that we’re speaking about. We have film on him, yes.”

On Freeman changing his mind after initially acceptance a scholarship offer from Nebraska
“That is over. Recruiting is over and it’s time to play, so we’re excited about playing. They’re a good football team and it’s going to be a heck of a challenge.”

On senior offensive lineman Greg Austin’s health
“Greg, from what I hear, is supposedly fine. He’ll be practicing today. That looks very positive and encouraging. It was scary there for a moment on Saturday night, we were hoping for the best. I had a chance to speak with him right after the game and I said to him, ?How ya feeling?’ and he said, ?Coach I’m going to be fine.’ So right then and there I saw that as a positive sign that he was going to bounce back. And talking to the trainers it’s seemingly so. He should practice today, but if he doesn’t we’ll just back him down. We’ll just see how he is when he comes in today, how he feels.”

On the battle that senior offensive lineman Greg Austin has had with health troubles in the past
“It’s uncanny. It’s a situation where a lot of players wouldn’t even be playing. It’s encouraging, it’s inspiring to watch a guy of his caliber and his makeup go through what he goes through every day and just overcome a deficiency is phenomenal. He’s inspiring, as I’ve mentioned many times, and he’s a real model for our younger players as a guy who fights through injury and fights through pain just to play the game. I don’t think he’s going to be denied these last six conference games of his career.”

On any planned attempts to rattle freshman quarterback Josh Freeman
“We’re going to do the best we can, and that’s our objective no matter who we play. It’s going to be a tough task to go down there and perform in the hostile environment that it’ll be, but that’ll be challenging and we’re excited about it.”

On the toughest part about playing in Manhattan
“I think the noise. You get down there and the student section is right behind and the band is right behind you, and I understand it’s Harley (Motorcycles) day so there will be motorcycles going around the track. So there will be a lot of things going on there.”

On the importance of beating teams on the road
“We feel, and believe that it was as crucial to win on the road last week as it is this week. These divisional games that you get into, every one of them is a season of its own. You have to be able to get on the road and play at your best and have the road mentality to overcome distractions, overcome a lot of things whether it’s crowd noise, officiating, whatever it may be you have to have that mentality to overcome whatever’s thrown at you. I think our team has done that, to a large extent our first half at USC was very solid but we would have liked to done better. 

Our game on the road against IowaState was much improved than where we were at USC from handling the flow of the game. But it could be better. We see ourselves in the third quarter of last week’s game where we had some opportunities that we squandered and didn’t capitalize on offensively and had a chance to separate and we didn’t finish. That was disappointing to us as a team, we want to get to that point where we gain a lead and we can separate and put a team away. That’s where we want to be as a program and that’s the challenge for our football team and that’s about where we’re at right now.”

On Nebraska not winning a game at KansasState in 10 years
“I think if you talked to any player on our football team they would tell you that they weren’t here when that occurred so all they can go on, from an experience standpoint, is what has happened within their own careers here. Personally as a staff’s career, we’ve only been here now for our third year and we lost one game down there and that’s all we know. We have to do a better job than what we did the last time we were down there. All those games that were won down there we didn’t have anything to do with and all those games that were lost down there we didn’t have anything to do with. So we’re taking the approach where we’re just going to go down and treat it like its own separate entity and do the best we can.”

On KansasState’s defense
“They’re impressive. From what we see on film they’re a high energy defense. They have a coordinator that has a lot of pro experience that came from TampaBay. They’re running that system, that kind of defense. The mentality is to fly to the ball, to be physical and then to run and hit, and they do a great job. Their ball disruption is excellent. They’ve created 15 turnovers. They tackle the ball, they’re going to get the ball out in some way, in some form. Whether they strip it, knock it out with their helmet, whatever they do they do a heck of a job. And they get a lot of hacks to the ball. So when you watch their defense you have to complement the way that they play. They all zero in on a way of pursuing. They all find a way to get to the quarterback or the ball carrier. And they all have tremendous effort in pursuit down field if the plays away from them. You see those things stick out in flashes as you watch film and study and prepare for their football team. They’re playing a lot of players, they’re playing quite a few players on defense and again they’re putting players out there that have motors and energy and that’s what we’re faced against. A lot of quickness, a lot of speed and a lot of guys that play physical.”

On the importance of clock control
“I think time of possession is a huge factor in keeping your defense fresh, controlling the line of scrimmage, and obviously controlling the tempo of the game. All those facets and elements come into play when you talk about time of possession. I think it’s huge any time you do it on the road, it’s increasingly important, it’s more significant, more valuable if you can do it in someone else's environment and it’s tough to do. But the running game has allowed us to do that, the improvement in our running game has demonstrated that and we have to demonstrate it again. It will be a real challenge to do that against the defenses that we’re going to see this week because they’re much different than what we saw at IowaState.”

On comparing sophomore I-backs Cody Glenn and Marlon Lucky
“I think both of those guys have contributed in a lot of different ways. And as I’ve said before, we continue to use and utilize the backfield the way that we see fit. I’m just pleased that we have team-oriented guys that know their roles, that appreciate their roles and appreciate the opportunity to play. We’d like to get them all the ball more, and we’re trying to do that in the way that we scheme and the way that we design the game plan.”

On when the running backs know how they are going to be used on game day
“Probably by Friday night, by the time we put in the first 15 they have a pretty good idea of how they’re going to be utilized for that particular game.”

On the potential for this Saturday to be the 800th win for NU football
“It’s great, it’s great to contribute to the 800th win of Nebraska football, it’s an honor to have this team be a part of that. But we have a lot of work to do. It has to be earned. It’s not just given to you, so we respect that factor. Of course we’re honored and privileged if we can achieve that, but it’s just a tremendous contribution by every one in the program to contribute to the success, history, and tradition of Nebraska football.”

On the unselfish play of the defense against Iowa State
“Well a lot of our guys are unselfish, and that’s the way they play, and that allows them to complement each other in a lot of different ways. What occurred against Iowa State is we had a lot of different pass rushers in the game, and we were trying to force (Bret) Meyer out of the pocket and force him out of the pocket and to make throws he’s not comfortable; just to put him on the move, away from his natural throwing side. And that’s what occurred, and those guys are unsung in a lot of ways. You’re talking about (Adam) Carriker, but I’ve got to allude to the fact that Ola Dagunduro has done an excellent job. In addition, Barry Cryer has done an excellent job in his ball protection, knocking down two batted balls, and just creating the havoc inside. There’s a movement over the guards that we’ve got to have. Most of the time your sacks come off what your guys inside do, they push off the pocket, they create the penetration, or they create the penetration that allows the backer to get freed up or the adjacent defense end to make the move. So a lot of that work is done by the defensive tackles, and it’s to their credit.”

On where the team is at in preparation for road games
“We feel that we’ve established a pretty good routine on the road. It’s very similar to what we’re doing here at home on a Friday, and on a Saturday for that matter as well. What we do from a routine standpoint is very similar. Players have been indoctrinated now for the last two years, and we’ve tweaked that a little bit as we’ve gone along, and as we’ve grown with the players. But it’s very similar, and I think (our success) has a lot to do with their preparation and their mindset when they hit the field on Saturday night.”

On KansasState using a similar West Coast Offense scheme
“I think everybody has their own interpretation and their own spin, and how they feature their offense. Some guys are just hardcore, split-back, far-back oriented in their backfield sets, and some of them never get into the shotgun. It’s just a matter of what they want to feature. There are so many plays within the system, and the inventory is massive, so it just depends on what you want to select, what you want to go to. You really have great flexibility within the system. I watched (KansasState) last week, and they’re really in a completely different offense then they were in even a week before. So you get that type of flexibility with that type of system, where you can utilize different personnel groupings and things of that nature. I think from a systems standpoint the terminology may be the same, and the general basic concepts are the same, but how you tweak it to fit your people and how they do best, and what you’re going to attack from an offensive perspective has a lot to do with how you interpret the system, and how you protect your quarterback, and the different things you want to feature. So there’s tremendous, tremendous flexibility as far as that’s concerned.”

On KansasState’s game plan against OklahomaState last Saturday
“I looked at their game plan last week, and it was what they needed to do to win. They ran the ball, and they ran the ball effectively. You can’t dispute that. They came in there, and they lined up in 22-man personnel, which is two running backs, two tight ends, and one wide receiver, and they pounded it and got after it pretty good. They’re real consistent, and I’m sure they’re establishing their identity of trying to be really consistent and being a physical football team that runs the ball, just doing what they do best to work around the strengths of their players. From that regard I will tell you it was really well thought out, really well conceived. I thought it was an excellent game plan. They stayed with it and had some opportunities in the end to win it, so it’s to their credit.”

On challenges KansasState Head Coach Ron Prince faces
“I couldn’t tell you, what he feels and what’s going on, because it’s all very different. Each program and each environment you get into, it’s very different. I haven’t had an opportunity to sit down with Coach (Prince), and maybe I will after the season at one of the conference meetings when coaches get together at the clinics or conventions, but I haven’t really had time to sit down and assess where they’re at.”

On freshman running back Leon Patton
“Patton is not only a good runner, but he’s a good return specialist, and that’s what is concerning to me - their success on special teams. They’ve really done a great job, and you can see the energy and tempo of what they’ve done on defense carry over on to their special teams play. That’s what has really caught my eye. They are outstanding in terms of what they’ve done on special teams in punt return, in kick return, they’re up there in the top of the country. They come after you, and they’ll test your punt protection. They’ve had a couple of blocks that have allowed them to take a lead and win a game. Their open-field ability to make plays in the return game is concerning, because you see them make plays, and you see coverages that have good nets and good fits going down the field, and they have the ability with the big play like this young back does where they can take it to the house. It’s a real challenge for us this week and it’s something that we have got to get better at. I’m not pleased as a team with our performance on special teams against IowaState. That’s one area we really looked at hard on Sunday when we came in as a team, and it’s not up to our standard. It’s not where we want to be and it’s not where we want to go. So we’ve got to do a better job on special teams, especially against a team like this, which has done an outstanding job.”

On how the defense will handle running back Leon Patton
“I think the number one key in football is keying the back. When he’s up on the line of scrimmage and he’s in the hole, and he shifts and cuts and he makes plays, that’s different and it’s similar to Cory Ross. Once that play starts going, they can get on the ?wave’ and bounce off of your offensive lineman and get going. Or you can lose sight of where the back is at, but the great facts on the backs that have speed, especially this young man, who has the speed to bounce, is that you can be in perfect position, but if it becomes speed against speed, he can beat you."

On the issues with the shotgun snap against Iowa State
“It’s always a concern. We always want complete, 100 percent accuracy on the shotgun snap, and it’s something that we continue to work on. We emphasize it day-in and day-out in practice, but it’s something where there are times when you get into a game, and you’re so anxious and there is so much communication going on, that all of a sudden you forget that the play is coming and you’re moving on a blitz and the ball is put a little bit right or a little bit left, but I tell you what, to Zac's credit, he’s done an outstanding job of making plays, especially the touchdown that he there right before the half. That ball was off-centered, and he went down to get it and came back up to make a play against the corner. Zac (Taylor) compensated for the inability of the snap to be accurate, but it’s always a concern.”

On whether junior linebacker Steve Octavien will travel this week
“We will see. I’m going back downstairs right now, and I’ll find out a little more about where he’s at during our meetings we have at two this afternoon.”

On the status of senior offensive lineman Kurt Mann
“He’ll practice today like he did last week, and we’ll have a better idea of where he’s at by the end of the week again. He’s gaining his strength, and I know he’s anxious to play, so we’ll see at the end of the week where he’s at.”