Nebraska Football Postgame Quotes
vs. Oklahoma State
Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Bill Callahan
Nebraska Head Coach
Opening Statement (Audio)
"This is ultimately disappointing for our football team today. I really felt coming into this contest that we were going to play more competitively, but that wasn’t the case. You have to give a lot of credit to Oklahoma State. They did an excellent job, especially in the first half. It was just really tough. We had some opportunities early, and we didn’t capitalize. It took the momentum and it snowballed from there early. There’s not really much to say. We’re just disappointed right now. The best thing we can do as a team is collectively get back to work as soon as we can and get our preparation for Texas A&M."
On coaching like his job is in jeopardy (Audio)
"I’m not worried about that. I’m just coaching for these kids, and that’s why I got into this. I just feel terrible for these players. It just hurts to watch these kids hurt. I’m not worried about my job. I’m just going to do the best I can. Whatever happens, happens. I don’t think you can coach in fear or coach like you’re scared of something. I’ve never coached like that in my life. I’ve been in this business for 30 years, and it sure as hell isn’t going to start now, that’s for sure."
On losing a connection with the team (Audio)
"I don’t think so. I thought the way (we) came back in the second half was pretty indicative of their efforts. I thought (we) came back and competed. I thought (we) ran the ball better. We were getting a rhythm in the second half. We came up on the short end in some short yardage situations throughout the day, but aside from that, I just feel bad for these players. They’re great kids. They work hard. I just want to produce a better result. That’s the bottom line."
On what he said after being down 38-0 at halftime (Audio)
"We just wanted to be patient in the respect that I sensed the kids were a little tense, a little nervous. We got into our first third-down situation, and we drop the ball. I saw us commit a penalty on a first down. I saw some things that were uncharacteristic of our play, especially the penalties in the first half and the first quarter. That had a real effect. I was concerned at that point that our guys were pressing a little bit and were a little tense. I just wanted to calm them down and be patient. That’s why we’re trying to run the ball, especially in the early downs."
On what he sees from the team in practice (Audio)
"I think our players have good intensity. We match up best-on-best throughout the week. We’ve played a lot of snaps in the last few weeks, so I wanted to make sure they were fresh coming into this game. I wanted to make sure our defense was fresh in terms of the snaps they’ve gone. We still had our normal contact and our normal collision drills and techniques. You just have go back to the blackboard and keep grinding and keep helping them and show them where they’re doing great things and where they can really improve. There’s no other way to coach. There’s no other way right now to get out of this. That’s what we’re going to do -- just get back to work and do the best we can."
On the offensive production (Audio)
"I thought early our offense couldn’t get in a rhythm. We were out of sync, and it just didn’t feel right. We couldn’t get the plays we wanted to get to. That was frustrating. We couldn’t make some conversions when we had an opportunity. It was really, really disappointing in that regard."
On using a committee of backs (Audio)
"I thought we ran the ball better today. I liked our younger backs. I thought they contributed. We went in with a plan to feature them, so it was good to see that come to fruition. (Quentin) Castille is going to be a good player. (Roy) Helu is a good player. They’re good complements to Marlon (Lucky). We just wanted to feature the guys a little bit more. They’ve worked hard, and we think they bring a lot to our offense. I think you can see the power that Castille runs with, and the elusiveness and quickness and speed that Helu has. We did run the ball by committee today. That was a goal of mine going into the game."
On keeping faith in the team (Audio)
"There’s always hope. It starts again tomorrow, and it goes through the week in our preparation for A&M. No one’s going to feel sorry for us. We have to go back and fix it to the best of our ability and go back on the field and compete next Saturday against A&M."