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Sept. 12, 2009
Nebraska 38, Arkansas State 9
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.
Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh
On the defense today, how much they improved
“I think we improved on a lot of things, but I think our tackling was poor, I think it was very poor. I didn’t think we tackled as well as I’d hoped and see us tackle in the past. That is one knot that we definitely have to take care of as we get ready for next week. Defensively, they came in and ran the ball. We did an ok job in my eyes, too many yards. A lot of that had to do with mistakes. We were in the right place, but we weren’t tackling and other times we weren’t in the right place with certain situations.”
On his tackles for loss
“Like Coach Pelini said, that style of play has kind of gone away. At least in my eyes, it’s starting to move out of the way and get to where we want. I have my man in the backfield and that’s what we want to do. If you have your man in the backfield you can play off of him and when you make the tackle you’re going to be in the backfield and it will be a TFL. That’s basically what we want to do.”
On if they had any action related to what Coach Pelini said about the defense last week
“Not really. We basically knew, at least in the defensive mind, we knew what we had to do. In talking with Coach Pelini, Carl Pelini, that physical play is by getting an initial punch in, getting your hands in the right place, creating a new line of scrimmage. I feel like the defensive line did that for the most part. That was our main focus, to get our man in the backfield.”
On if the team is ready for next week’s road test
“I think we’re ready. Only time will tell. I think we will be ready and eager to go on the road. It’s too bad we won’t have all our fans with us, but I think we’re definitely up for the challenge. I love playing on the road, so I’m eager to go.”
Wide Receiver Niles Paul
On if he is still frustrated
“No, I’m a little mad that I didn’t block as well as I wanted to.”
On his career-high performance today
“It felt great. I was more happy for my team and the fact that Zac was able to get me the ball and the O-Line was able to give Zac the chance to throw the ball .Without them, those plays would not happen.”
On the reverse
“We’ve been running that since fall camp. We had it on script and I kind of blew it off like we wouldn’t run it. We have it on script every week since last year and we finally ran it. I was happy we ran it. Of course, the big boys got up there and blocked for me and set it up. I wanted to keep the momentum in our favor.”
Quarterback Zac Lee
On if he dialed in today
“Yeah, it was a good day. I ended up with some decent numbers, but hopefully that is how it is every week. That is my goal.”
On when he felt like he was focused today
“I was kind of joking with Coach Watson, saying whatever he wanted to call, hoping I would wake up. He did a good job of calling plays. He knows me pretty well, knows the plays I like. We had guys get open and it’s easy to throw to open guys when you’re protected and hanging out in the pocket. The O-Line did a great job and receivers got open, that’s easy.”
On how he feels going into a big road test next week
“I think that is the fun of college football. You get to go play in places like Blacksburg. It’s going to be a great atmosphere and hopefully we play well. The team is really looking forward to the opportunity we have, especially after what happened here last year.”