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Football

Nebraska Player Quotes

Nebraska 55, Louisiana-Lafayette 0
Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.

Wide Receiver Chris Brooks
On how it felt to have such a productive day

"That is what I’m supposed to do. You can’t make too much of it. That’s why I’m on scholarship and what they brought me here to do."

On if he feels like it is a long time coming
"Yes and no. When you get a couple of catches, you think this is what it feels like. I’ve been playing since last year; I had a couple catches last year. Now I am one of those guys that they have become more dependent on. It feels good to be in that situation. I’m glad coach can close his eyes, and know I will get the job done."

On how good this feels
"It felt good. We went back and looked at film of things we didn’t do right (against Virginia Tech). We still had a chance when we didn’t this week. We just want to continue to get better, get the red zone scoring up as much as possible and try and be 100 percent."

Linebacker Sean Fisher
On what he was thinking on his fumble recovery
"I was excited. I got the ball, and realized I hadn’t been tackled yet. I saw open field and was thinking am I going to score. It disappeared pretty quickly."

On the defense tonight getting the shutout
"I think it was big for us. Obviously last week’s game was pretty tough. To come out here and get a shutout and hold them like we did was good for our confidence."

On how much pride they take in shutting a team out
"I think it’s a big deal. Once you get down to the later stages of the game when we may be subbing some guys or doing things differently, sometimes you get a score there, but we played all four quarters today. Everybody did a real good job of playing until the end of the game."

On the 300th sellout
"I was just trying to soak it all in. It was a really cool experience, 300 consecutive sellouts. That is a big deal. Just to have the support of all the fans, everybody stayed around until the end of the game regardless of the score. As I was walking off, I was trying to catch a glimpse (of the video) and just enjoy it all."

On if he felt more intensity out there from the defense
"Yeah, I think some of that was a function of the overall atmosphere of the stadium. We were really determined to come out and play four quarters of defensive football."

Quarterback Zac Lee
On being pretty sharp tonight

"Yeah, that was important for me personally. After Virginia Tech, I made an effort to be sharp and get back on track and make sure I refocus myself."

On if his thumb bothered him during the game
"No, once you get going you just don’t really notice it. It’s there."

On if he expected them to stack the box and take away the running game
"They are a heavy, heavy pressure team. We saw that on field. They did it a little differently than we thought they were going to do. That is what they do; they try and get in the box to stop the run and force you to throw the ball quickly. They just did it a little differently. We were prepared for it and did pretty well against them.

On what this week was like for him
"I just made sure I kept my focus, like any other week, keep all this outside stuff out of the way and just focus on ball. Coach Watson and I met a few times to make sure we were doing just that. We just kept it like any other week, you have to move on and have a short memory."

On being part of the 300th consecutive sellout
"Honestly, at the start of the game our focus was to get back on track, not to take anything away from the 300th sellout. Obviously, it’s an amazing thing. It’s very special to Nebraska and it will never happen again. As the game wore on, we found ourselves looking around and saying this is pretty cool. We’re going to be the answer to some trivia questions someday. As the game was starting and as I was playing I was focused on winning."

Linebacker Phillip Dillard
On his quarterback sack

"It felt pretty good. I said it last week, we could either go up or go down and we chose to go up. That’s what we came out here and tried to do, try to make statement that were going to come back strong, regardless of what obstacles come in front of us."

On if there was something different about this defense tonight
|"Yeah, there was a lot of spark, a lot of determination. I’m not saying that we haven’t had that, but we had a big chip on our shoulder. We said regardless of what happens, we (would) came out and prepare the way that we have been and we weren’t feeling sorry for ourselves, nobody was, and we came out there with determination that we were going to get the job done as a team. That’s what this team’s goal was and that’s what we did."

On what Larry Asante’s interception return did for the defense
"That just really showed that, regardless of what the score was at that point, even though we had a decent lead that were still going to fight. We need that kind of play, you have to play the same way if the score was 3-0, and we’re going to play as if the score is 0-0 every down. That we have something to prove and that we have to score regardless of what the score is and that’s what we did. Larry made a good play on that and it just gave us even more of a spark. It showed that we didn’t just give up after a turnover, that we were fighting."

Center Jacob Hickman
On tonight’s game

"Well it’s just great to come to come back after last week and come out there and perform. Nobody dwelled on it at all. We moved on and played the game (tonight) the way we wanted to. To have that kind of crowd with you to it gives you a little extra excitement in the game. It was good to see everybody playing the way they did."

On why they were so successful on offense
"The defense really tried playing us tough on the run, putting eight or nine guys in the box. With the kind of athletes we have in the passing game, we kind of took advantage of that. It’s good to have dual threats like that. If they want to cover all our guys, then we’ll run the ball. If they’re going to fill up the box like that, we’ll let Zac (Lee) run wild a little bit. We took what they gave us and had a good time."

On how important it is to be balanced on offense
"It’s huge. It allows us to take what the defense gives us. It will be big later in the season. If they’re going to try to take out our pass we’re going to run the ball all day. It’s definitely huge for us and I hope we continue to do that."

Wide Receiver Curenski Gilleylen
On how long pass plays always seem to come to him

"Yeah, I have no problem with that. If he wants to keep throwing them I’ll do my best to keep catching them."

On if he seems himself as a big play guy
"I definitely want to be a big play guy. If they want to go deep then I definitely want to be the guy that’s going in there to take advantage of some of the speed I have. I definitely want to be a big-play guy. I don’t know if I’m labeled as that though."

On was kind of bond he has with quarterback Zac Lee
"We’re really great. He trusts me being out there. He wants me to play fast every time. He tells me play fast all day long every time before the game. He definitely seems to trust me and I know that he’ll find me and put the ball where it needs to be and I’ll do my best to catch it."