Ndamukong Suh

Nebraska Football Weekly Press Conference
Monday, Oct. 5, 2009
Pre-Missouri

 

Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh

On if they have talked about last year’s game against Missouri at all
“Nope. We haven’t spoken about it. That was last year.”

 

On if it’s hard not to think about how they beat Nebraska last year
“For me, like I said, it was last year. It’s not my main focus. We have a totally different game plan. I’m excited about it. I’m looking forward to getting the opportunity to play against them and get into Big 12 play.”

 

On what this game means for them in the Big 12 North
“For us, it is definitely a challenge. They are in our way for us to reach one of our goals, which is to win the Big 12 North outright.”

 

On how Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert is similar or different to former Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel
“I think he can throw the ball just as well as Daniel. I don’t think he is as mobile, but he can definitely still use his feet to beat you a little bit. I would say he’s a great fit for them, that’s why he is starting. He’s going to be a challenge, but we’ll definitely have the opportunity to get after him.”

 

On if he thinks they are where they need to be at this point in the season
“Defensive-wise, we still have a lot of improvement. I can say that because for me personally, I’m hard on myself and I don’t think I’ve played up to my capabilities just yet. Defensive-wise, I think we’ve started to approach and see what the level we can reach to is in getting to perfection. Obviously what holds us back from that are small mistakes that let certain things out, certain runs out, certain passes out. If we can eliminate those things we can get to where we want to get.”

 

On not receiving their Blackshirts yet
“It’s tough, but I don’t think it is a main focus on our coaches to hand them out. I don’t have a problem with that because the biggest focus is to go out there and get wins. We haven’t gotten them and that is up to the coaches, we can only deal with it. There isn’t much more to it.”

 

On how important the tradition of the Blackshirts is to the players
“For me, I can only speak for myself, it would mean a lot for me to get another Blackshirt. I believe I’ve had three to this point, so I would like to get that fourth one since it is my fourth season.”

 

On if they understand the history behind the Blackshirts
“I think for the most part we do. Like I said, we can only keep working and trying to reach that potential of being a Blackshirt. You have to prove it on and off the field and more or less, on the field. I think we’ve done it to a certain point, but I don’t think we’ve outright done it every single game and every single play.”

 

On what it means personally to have a Blackshirt awarded to you
“It definitely makes it more personal and you have to work for it. It’s not just winning yourself a spot during fall camp is going to allow you to get it. It makes it that much more valuable. You have to not only win your spot, but continue to have great practices week in and week out, and go out there and perform week in and week out against opponents that don’t see you on a regular basis because you don’t know what their weaknesses and strengths are. It makes it that much harder to achieve it.”

 

On if he thinks they are upholding the tradition of the Blackshirts by leading the nation in scoring defense

“I don’t think scoring is upholding the tradition. I think tradition is not allowing teams to run the ball on you, pass the ball on you and if they do, at some point get a chance to break it out, a Blackshirt defense is definitely going to take those yards back off that board. By getting tackles for loss, getting sacks and getting interceptions and getting the ball back to our offense.”

 

On how the defensive performance against Missouri will be different this year than it was last year
“I just think we have a better feel for it. I think we are just more or less getting the opportunity of being able to play. I don’t know the right way to put it. I think our game plan last year was good, we just didn’t execute it. I think we have more of an opportunity to play off of our raw abilities of what we do day in and day out and just play and not necessarily schematic-wise.”

 

On what kind of opportunity is it for the program to play on Thursday night national TV
“It’s just another opportunity to go out there and have another good game. Obviously, it’s going to be a little hyped up being the only game on Thursday, as far as I know, and being on ESPN and giving you the limelight to showcase what you have. It’s a great opportunity, and I think we’ll definitely take that opportunity and run with it.”

 

On if there is a revenge factor in any of the players for this game
“It’s different for every person .Guys that are playing now, especially true freshmen or redshirt freshmen, they didn’t play in that game. They didn’t have anything besides helping us out on scout team, so they can’t say we want to get revenge even though they were still on the team, they weren’t really in the game and going through things of the sort. I would definitely say it’s an individual thing for each person. For me, personally, I don’t foresee it as a revenge game. I see it as them being in our way as far as accomplishing one of our goals and that is to win the Big 12 North. We have to go through that team to do that, so we’re going to go through that team and take care of business.”

 

On how much they’ve progressed as a team since the loss to Missouri last year
“That game is a tough game. I think everybody on this team felt like we had that game in our hands and we let it out of our hands and gave them opportunity to make a play and capitalize on that. Like coach has always said, as long as we take care of ourselves, we’ll always be in a great position to win games. That is basically what we did. As long as we take the air out of our own mistakes and not give the other teams opportunities to make plays or have that opportunity to come back or not bury a team, you need to do that.”

 

On if he wanted a do-over of the game last year to show everyone how they could play
“Definitely would have liked another opportunity to play against that team. Obviously, you only get one opportunity against a Big 12 North foe. You can’t go back and take it, you just have to take the loss and move forward. Going into the schematics, I can agree with Coach Bo and then I can’t because I think our plan was great. I liked it and liked cutting it up and getting in and doing different things, but we just didn’t execute. That is why it looks, to the outside world, that it wasn’t a good game plan. If we executed and did everything and were in the right places, everybody would say it was a great plan because we did everything we were supposed to do. That is why I can say I think this game plan will be a little different because we have the versatility of having both of those in this game plan, being able to get back to our own technique and run through men and play through our man and make plays. We also have opportunities to cut it up and do whatever we want and stunt and do different things. That is why I can agree with what Coach Bo is saying, but then I can’t because we didn’t execute. If we executed last year’s game plan, it would have been a different story. They probably would not have blown us out like that. It probably would have been a lot closer game. That is why I can agree with him and I can disagree because we didn’t execute.”

 

On what the biggest flaws in the execution were in his perspective
“I really don’t know. I’d have to go back and look at it and see exactly. I watched last year’s game recently and there are plays where I don’t even remember what I was supposed to do, just because it was new and it was something put in for that game plan. There were points in that game where we were playing our base defense and being able to play off each other and play through our man. There were plays made and things that we saw that were good that were in the game plan.”

 

On how his mentality changes with a road setting
“It’s just like going to Virginia Tech. It was a hostile crowd and it was fun to go out there and be on the road. I personally like being on the road. It’ll be fun for me, but I don’t know if it is going to be anything different from being a Big 12 game and a non-conference game.”

 

On if they feel pressure about not having a good road record against ranked teams in recent years
“For me, I really don’t care. I just want to win. Obviously, getting this win is getting us that much closer to reaching our goals.”

 

On if this team is a rival for them
“It’s another team we have to go through to win the Big 12 North.”

 

On what it meant to players when the coaches took responsibility for the loss last year
“Our coach has never been, and I’ve never seen him as a guy who points the finger, but with him saying that it means a lot. More or less, it’s just taking another way about it and another way of going about the loss. You have to deal with it that you personally didn’t do it. You personally have to take responsibility for it, each and every one of us, not just him. I think that is just another way of him showing that you have to grow up and move on and get ready for the next game.”

 

On if that helped the team in how they came back the rest of the season
“I could say that it did help. It was last year, so we’re moving on from there.”