Nebraska vs. Florida Atlantic
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.
Opening Statement
“I saw some good things out there. I’m disappointed with some things. It was a good start. Like I said going in, you play that first game and it gives you a bench mark, it gives you an idea of where you are. I saw some good things out there. We got to play a lot of guys, but I also found out we have a lot of work to do. We were sloppy at times and not real crisp, but that’s to be expected in an opener. I also know, like I just told the team, you have to make a big a jump between your first game and your second game. If we do that then we’ll continue working in the right direction. It’s a win. It’s 1-0 and that’s what we came here for. We’ll enjoy it tonight, relax a little bit, and then it’s time to go back to work.”
<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
On Nebraska Quarterback Zac Lee
“I thought he played the way he’s been practicing. Other than he made a bad decision, he really just didn’t get (the ball) high enough on the interception. But I thought he played outstanding. He made good decisions. You can see how confident he is and he carries himself the right way. He leads this football team and leads that offense. I liked what I saw from him.”
On Nebraska’s offense
“Probably the thing we were most frustrated with is the times when our tempo wasn’t real good on offense. We didn’t get in and out of the huddle like we like to. You saw a number of times when we let the play clock run right down. It was more because we weren’t getting out of the huddle in time. That’s something that our offensive staff really stresses and at times it wasn’t happening. We need to have more crisp tempo and get up and down on the ball a little bit quicker and more consistently. That’s pretty easy to fix though.”
On Nebraska’s defense
“I saw some good things out there and I saw some things I was disappointed with. It’s just kind of the same with the whole football team. There were some positives and there are some things we need to get fixed and that’s to be expected the first game.”
On Roy Helu
“Roy’s a heck of a player. He played that way and he played very well. I thought (Rex) Burkhead played well for his first game. I saw a lot of good things out of our running backs.”
On Helu’s 44-yard touchdown run
“It was just a guy making a play. That doesn’t surprise me from Roy. He’s as good of back there is out there. I think he showed that at the end of last year and it’s just a guy making a play.”
On Nebraska’s Special Teams
“Obviously I was disappointed in the blocked punt. There was a just a guy blowing a protection. Overall it was pretty good. I saw some good things out there. But like every other place in the game, there are some things we need to fix and that we need to get fixed quickly.”
On getting Huskers playing time
“That was huge. For a lot of guys, that was the first time they had walked out there and the first playing time they’ve had. It’s good to get a lot of the guys out there and get them playing time because we’re going to need every able body as the season goes on. It’s a long year.”
On Cody Green
“I think it was pretty obvious I thought he played well. He handled himself well. He handled himself the way he’s been doing in practice. He’s a confident young man and very talented. We wanted to take that opportunity to get him out there because we’re going to need him. Eventually you’re going to need the guy. Very seldom do you make it through a season with one quarterback. That doesn’t happen very often so we’re going to need him at some point.”