Nebraska vs. Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Va. (Lane Stadium)
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009
Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini
Opening Statement<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
“Great effort. I take my hat off to Virginia Tech. It was a hard-fought football game. In the end, we had plenty of opportunities to put that football game away and we didn’t do it. And, they made the play at the end. I take my hat off to them. End of story. You all watched the game.”
On the final touchdown pass
“You have got to go make the sack. You have got to go get them. We didn’t do it. The guy (VT quarterback Tyrod Taylor) was scrambling and he got them to stop and hesitate. The guy made a play. Good job by them.”
On Nebraska's final drive of the third quarter:
“Obviously that hurt us. That was a key point in the football game. I thought if we scored there, we’d be in pretty good shape but it didn’t happen.”
On defensive play in fourth quarter
“Played well. Did some good things. Didn’t finish it. We all take responsibility for not finishing the deal. You have to finish the job and we didn’t do that. Each and every guy that walked on the field had a hand in us not winning that football game. Coaches included. They made the plays. We didn’t. Pretty simple. In a game like that, you’ve got to make a play."
On Nebraska I-back Roy Helu, Jr.
“He did some good things. He ran well. He ran hard. There were some tough yards out there.”
On Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee
“I thought Zac did some good things. It was his first time on the road. He did some things he’ll have to fix.”
About the opening
“We talked about it going into the football game that there’d be an initial surge by Virginia Tech with the emotion, the energy; and obviously the kickoff return didn’t help things. But when the guys settled down, we were fine.”
“We did some good things - a lot that we need to get fixed. In the end, we didn’t make the play. I don’t measure on yards or how we play, you’ve got to win the football game. We didn’t win the football game so we didn’t play good enough in any phase of the game. I measure it on results. That’s how we measure things around here.”