Sept. 12, 2009
Nebraska 38, Arkansas State 9
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.
Opening Statement<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
"Obviously I'm disappointed. We didn't play the way that we're capable of playing. I have to give Nebraska a ton of credit. I thought they played very, very well. I thought they kept us off balance. Their quarterback had a tremendous night. He was on fire. We were unable to get pressure on the quarterback at times, unable to cover. I thought they played a whole lot faster than we did overall in the game. I think that was a big difference in the game, their speed advantage. We did some things that we can build off of. Overall, (we have) a lot of things to improve on."
On missed opportunities on Nebraska's side of the field
"We had one opportunity early down in the red zone and we fumbled the ball. We had an opportunity there to tighten it up and maybe gain some momentum, but turnovers will kill you, especially down in the red zone. Good play by them and unfortunate for us."
On successfully containing Nebraska's rushing attack
"Some success. We didn't tackle well. We didn't play as aggressive as we can play. We didn't play fast. It's very difficult to gameplan against a team like Nebraska with the strength and speed of their wide receivers and the offensive line and the running backs, and their ability to run the football. We tried to play them as balanced as we possibly could, and I thought they took advantage of some things. And again, their quarterback had a heck of a night."
On defending Zac Lee and Roy Helu
"They're very difficult to defend. They do a lot of good stuff. They've got a great plan and they had some mismatches speed-wise and they took advantage of that. I think that got us pressing a little too much and we became undisciplined, didn't lead our keys and gave them a couple of easy plays that we should have at least defended."
On the Red Wolves' success rushing the football
"They played us with a lot of high safeties, giving us an opportunity to at least gain a man advantage in our running game, our two-back running game. I thought we did a good job at times capitalizing on that, making some plays running the football. It was a good plan by them not giving up the big plays that lead to momentum and easy scores."