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Nebraska Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Oklahoma State
Phillip Dillard
Sophomore, Linebacker
On his impressions after watching the Missouri game film
“After watching it, we were like ?yeah we could have played better, we could have played harder.’ It is not specifically just one person, or the secondary, or the linebackers, or D-line. We could have played better as a whole. I would not point fingers or blame anyone. It is on everybody. We should have all encouraged each other and stayed more focused during the game.”
On the team's encouragement
“I think it happened after the USC game. We all talked and closed the doors and had people stand up and say what was on their mind. That is what we needed a couple guys to do, was stand up and say what was on their mind. Everyone really believed what each person was saying; we really do need to play more as a whole. I don’t know if anybody was playing as individuals, but if they were, they probably changed it. I really believe this team has come together. Yeah, we came out this week with the loss, but our team is still focused and still staying together.”
On Missouri's level of play
“I would not say that they are that much better. They brought their A game and were ready to play. They executed their plays, they rarely dropped any passes. You watch the film, and we had good coverage, they just made plays. That is what happens in football, people make plays. They obviously came out with their A game and played.”
On leadership when things are going wrong
“Yeah, Sam (Keller) cracks me up because he is never sitting. He is always coming over to the defense telling us 'come on defense, come on defense, keep doing good, keep your heads up.' As a defensive whole, we like that. We like when someone from offense comes over and says something to us. The defense always goes over the offense, especially the O-line to say good job, because it starts with the O-line. Your offense is not anything without the O-line. I think there are quite a few players that will get up and say something during the game.”
On whether the team lacks fire
“I would not say that it lacks fire. Maybe some guys have a lot of pressure and get real down when something happens. It is hard to move on to the next play sometimes, but that is what you have to do.”
On whether pressure is taking its toll on the defense
“I wouldn’t say now. We have a lot of people using the excuses that we have faced teams that have two weeks to prepare. It is not that. If the coach calls the play, we need to execute what they call. Regardless of what the play is, you just need to execute it and believe in it, and do our best in it.”
On his emotion in the game
“I have always been taught, winning or losing enjoy the game. Not everything is just about football. Don’t let anything steal your joy, is what my mom used to tell me. No matter what, winning or losing, I am out there talking and having fun. If people see you down, then they start to think it is OK to be down. I do not like to have my head down. I like to bring emotion winning or losing.”
On whether there is frustration with the defensive play calls
“I wouldn’t say frustration or distrust. Of course, we wanted to get more pressure on the quarterback, but that is on us. We just had to execute the defense, and if we did that we could have got a rush.”
On whether Coach Kevin Cosgrove calls the defensive plays within the course of the game
“During the game, we will tell him we need to run this, because he is checking out of this and that. Sometimes he will listen, and sometimes he will go with what his heart says. That is his choice. If he calls his play then we have to execute that play. If he does choose to go with it then we have to execute that to.”
On whether players are over-analyzing the play calls
“I think guys are worried about messing up. I know I am. If I make a mistake, it is because I am too worried about messing up, and that is not the mindset you want at all. That one second of thinking could mess up your whole rhythm. If you go out there and just play, and know what is going on then you should have no problem, but when you have to think that is not good.”
On whether the defense is too complicated
“No the defense is not too complicated. You are probably thinking about something that happened on the last play. They are in a formation, and you are thinking they run three things out of this formation, and your mind starts boggling because they could run any of these three. You want to be there to stop the play, but if you are wrong then that’s not good.”
On how you move past thinking and just play the game
“Every person has to have more focus on what they are doing. Each person has their own personality and how they think about things. If you study hard, watch film, and do the plays over and over again in practice, there is no reason you should be hesitant unless you are really confused about a formation.”
On blaming coaches or blaming players
“A lot of people are probably blaming the coaches. They see something or see a formation and say don’t run that. Everything is not always on the coaches, they call the plays, were the ones out there playing. If someone gets beat, it is not the coaches fault, its your fault. You are supposed to execute what happened. I don’t think everything that happens should be blamed on the coaches because that is not right. We are the players, we are the ones out there playing, and we make mistakes, too. We are all human, so everything is not on the coaches.”
On the halftime mood of the team in the locker room at Missouri
“Everybody was still up, we all thought we could still win this game. You did not see anybody with their heads down. There was still a lot of football left. You could tell then we were together as a team. We lost the game, but everyone was still focused in the locker room at halftime. We weren’t really worried about the score. We were worried about executing what were supposed to do.”
On the similarities between Missouri's offense and Oklahoma State's offense
“I don’t see it really as a concern. It could really be a positive more than a negative because we have already seen it. Watching film we can work on what we did wrong, and work on doing that right. We should be able to execute a lot better the next game already being through it the previous week.”
On the talent of Oklahoma State's play-makers
“They are pretty impressive. Bowman is a good receiver. They do have good tight ends and the O-line does block very well for the quarterback. It just who comes to play and who makes plays.”
On playing against his home-state school
“It is going to feel pretty good. I get to play against some of the guys I played in high school. It is fun playing somebody from your home state since I did not go there. I see it as fun.”