Nebraska vs. Ball State
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Opening Statement (Audio)
"We want to commend BallState on their efforts today. They're a fine football team. As you can see, they played loose, and they're talented. They have a lot of weapons, and they certainly gave us some problems today. I am proud of our football team. I'm proud of the way they came back and the resiliency that they showed time and time again for the duration of the second half. To come out and pull out this win is big. I'm really proud of our guys. We put out a lot of guys today on both sides of the ball. They stepped up when they had to, and I was proud of everyone's effort collectively."
On Nebraska's defense (Audio)
"It's obvious that we have to amend some things, but overall our defense made some plays at the end to win this football game. I was proud of the way they stopped the run. They were in a couple of zero blitzes where they had to put pressure on the quarterback to throw it away quickly, and we did. They had some opportunities to score as well, so it could have gone either way. The play at the end with third down was huge. There was a huge play by (Steve) Octavien, and the pressure we put on the field goal was outstanding."
On Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller (Audio)
"I thought Sam did a heck of a job with the yoke today. I was really proud of the way he competed throughout the day. He was never rattled or fazed. He showed great demeanor and disposition on the sideline. He was always upbeat and encouraging. I come away with that with a lot of positives."
On comparing this week's defensive effort to the USC game (Audio)
"I think it was a completely different game. There were different types of offenses. I think you saw a little bit more of a spread open, four wide receivers, a lot of different play action, bootlegs and things of that nature. It was a completely different game than it was last week. Of course, every game is different in that regard."
On BallState quarterback Nate Davis and BSU's offense (Audio)
"He was good. He showed a lot of poise coming in here, but it's nothing we didn't respect. We had great respect for their football team. Just watching them over the span of the last two years, they are an improved football team. The quarterback is dangerous, and the quarterback can make plays out of the pocket because he does have vision. He did that today. That was my concern going into this game, and I felt that if you shut down the primary, then he would stay alive and continue to make some plays. Their receivers had good speed, and I thought we matched up pretty well. They just made some great plays against tight coverage. Having watched them go out to Annapolis last weekend, I had the feeling their confidence was growing."
On drawing positives from today's 41-40 win (Audio)
"(This is) a step forward because it's a win. These wins are hard to come by in this day and age of the way people are playing football. We see that across the country. Our ability to stay in the game -- stay focused, concentrate, keep rallying, keep applying pressure to their defense -- was outstanding.
"I'm just proud that our kids found a way to get this one done today. There are things that we'll look back on and correct, but I'm proud that we showed the resiliency to come back and win today."
On linebacker Bo Ruud's interception (Audio)
"I felt that we needed a spark. I felt that we needed something defensively to get us going. We hadn't had that all day up to that point. That's what we needed. It gave us hope and encouragement to come right back and put points on the scoreboard. That was a big play, and it gave our defense a little more confidence as we finished out."
On calling back-to-back timeouts in the last minute (Audio)
"We had 17 seconds left, and you have to consider the fact that if you burn those two, you're looking at a situation with desperation mode when they kick it off. If they did score, then you're looking at a squib attempt, and that clock is going to dwindle down. I thought it was good to ice them twice and let the crowd get into it and try to unnerve them and get them feeling a little tense and put a little pressure on them."