Coach Bo Pelini

Nebraska Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.
Pre-Oklahoma

Opening Statement on Ndamukong Suh
"First thing I want to do is I want to address the (Ndamukong) Suh situation because I want him to be able to concentrate on football, and told him not to field any questions about it. He got into an accident on Saturday. Everybody knows what happened. I'm really proud of him of how he handled the situation. (He handled it) very responsibly, called me right away. Told me exactly what the situation was, where he was, what happened. It was an accident. I thought he handled it the right way, very responsibly. He is fully prepared to take care of the damages and all that. That's the end of that. Does anybody have any questions on that matter?"

On where this incident fits into the zero-tolerance policy regarding alcohol consumption
"Well, the zero tolerance is for, obviously, drunkenness. That type of thing. He was far from drunk. I know exactly where he was and what he did that night. This doesn't really fall into that category. I deal with those situations kind of on a case by case basis. If somebody's drunk and gets into trouble then they're going to have an issue. That wasn't the case here."

On if there was any internal discipline involved
"Yes, slightly, but that's handled in house. Just because anytime a situation happens that involves our football team there's always going to be something that we deal with. Like I said, they're all dealt with on a case by case matter."

On if Suh called him in the middle of the night right after it happened
"Yeah."

On what his reaction was
"I was just glad he was OK. He explained to me exactly what happened. I was really happy with how he handled it. Obviously, I said we'll deal with it tomorrow. Like I said, I was very encouraged by (how he handled it), he did everything the right way. He was very responsible in how he went about handling it."

On why there was internal discipline
"When somebody gets a ticket, regardless of what happens, let's say an MIP or something, that's not the case here. What I told him was, I understand why he was up that late, but that's probably the thing that I was most disappointed in. Anytime you're up at that hour of the night, and I understand why he was, but in that situation you leave yourself up at that hour of the morning for things to happen. Like I said, it's more of a deal where we dealt with it in house. The Unity Council and myself decided that was the best way to go about it."

On where he was that night
"He fell asleep. He was over some place, he had dinner and fell asleep and got up and was going home to his house downtown."

On how people say him and Bob Stoops are very similar and what differences there are between the two
"He's won a national championship and I haven't. Bob's been doing it for a long time, and I obviously consider him a friend. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I would hope there would be some similarities. If that's the case and people perceive it that way, it means I'm doing some things right because I think he does things right. He runs a great program. He's a tremendous football coach. He's created a program that I'm aspiring to create. That type of program that's up there every single year."

On if he thinks there are any personality differences between the two
"Obviously, we're different people. We have different personalities, but I think if you asked the people that know us both well, it's about competing. It's about competition and how you compete and the type of fire you bring to work everyday to your trade and your job. I think that's probably the greatest similarity. Personality wise, I don't know, I guess there are some similarities. I can't say that we're much different. I don't know. Everybody has their different ways of going about things. That's a tough question. Maybe ask Bob, I don't know. Maybe he has a better handle on that."

On if him and Bob Stoops talk at all during the regular season
"We talk some."

On if it's different preparing for a coach that you have a background with
"No, because I'm not playing and he's not playing. It's not just coach Stoops, it's that whole staff. We're trying to play Oklahoma and all the different things that they do. We're game planning now, but once you walk out there you don't really think about who the coach on the other sideline is other than some of the decisions and schemes and personality he brings to his trade. In that aspect it's not much different. We'll reminisce before the game, but after you shake hands and talk, and catch up for a minute, it's time to go to work."

On how Cody Green looked on the film
"He's a perfectionist. I like the way Cody approaches things. Anytime you go out there, like I say, you do some good things and there's a lot to learn from anytime you walk out onto the field. Especially, it's even more magnified in your first start. I think that was the case with Cody. You hope he gets better because of all the things he learned and that experience. Both from the good things and the things he didn't do well."

On what he is up against when he faces Oklahoma
"It's a hell of a football team. Good football team, very good defense, very well coached. They play real hard. They're aggressive. Very talented and they're deep. It's a good football team, very good defense. As good as we've seen."

On how Kansas State was able to put 30 points on Oklahoma
"Off the top of my head I've watched more cut ups of their defense than I have of what Kansas State has done. I'd have to go back and look exactly at the things that went on in that game. I know they got hit on a couple big plays. I think sometimes, their offense has some things, created some of those situations like turnovers. Like Kansas State, you talk about two returns for touchdowns I believe along with a couple long pass plays. When you have your opportunities against a defense like this you have to take advantage of it. You have to make a big play. What they have been very good at, is aggressive as they are, they don't give up a lot of big plays and they haven't over the course of the season. They've played a pretty high level from start to finish, but no matter how good a defense you are, some people are going to make some plays against you. This year against Oklahoma it's been few and far between. They've played at a really high level pretty much from start to finish."

On what his biggest concern offensively is
"Well, you have to have balance. You have to execute and you have to make plays. They're good up front. They're very aggressive up front. Obviously, to play good offense you have to take control and you have to have some control of the line of scrimmage. To me, that's where it starts. If we're able to do that we'll be able to have some success. That's a must when you play a team like this. Both run and pass, they're very talented up front. Front to back they have a good group and they play defense the right way."

On what he sees as problems for the offense
"Execution, consistency of it. We haven't put it all together. We have been mixing and matching a decent amount trying to find the right combinations where we're limited in some areas as far as having other options. It's obviously, we just have to execute more consistently. That will be even more magnified against a group like this."

On if he thinks the running back spot is one of the positions where they don't have a lot of options
"We have plenty of options in the run game, but we're not executing in the run game. Everyone wants to just completely magnify the running back situation and some of the injuries we've had and some of those types of things. There are a lot of things that go into having a good, quality run game. Once again, that starts up front. We haven't had great consistency up front. That becomes even more magnified when you're limited at the running back position. You have inexperience at running back."

On how he feels about Dontrayevous Robinson
"I think he's done some good things. I think he's young, he's green, and he has a ways to go. I've seen some good things out of him"

On Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones
"Good football player, very well coached. I think he executes their offense really well. Everyone wants to compare him to (Sam) Bradford, Landry has only played probably, I don't know how many games he's started now, five or six. Sam Bradford developed into the best college football player in the country last year. Pretty tough shoes to fill, but I think he's done remarkably well. He has the offense clicking right now. They're doing one heck of a job, and really it all starts with him. The offense really hasn't changed much with him. They run their stuff. I think they are playing really well around him. They're very efficient on offense right now."

On if there is any emphasis on regaining their swagger and home field advantage this weekend
"Absolutely. We need to win a football game and the next one is Oklahoma, if that means regaining that swagger or whatever else. It's about executing and getting better as a football team. That's the challenge we have ahead of us."

On if Baylor schemed against Ndamukong Suh more than any other team this year
"I don't know, maybe a little bit. We've seen some of that, probably not as consistently as Baylor did it. Especially early in the game."

On what it says about Suh if he is still able to get five or six tackles while getting double teamed constantly
"It didn't happen the whole game. Like in the run game, that doesn't happen as much, it's more on how they choose to block in protection and where they want to turn their center when he's free. In the run game, they're going to block the runs a certain way. They can't choose to double team him every time it's a run play. That becomes a little more magnified in the passing game than it does in the running game."

On if he would tell Suh to do anything differently on the play that he got a personal foul on for throwing the quarterback to the ground
"I can't comment on that."

On if he can coach him or advise him to do something different there
"I don't know. You have to always be conscious of personal fouls. They called it and you look at exactly what you did and how it happened, and learn from it. They call it once, they can call it again."

On if they have to have points from their defense or special teams in order to win on Saturday
"It always helps. You never know what's going to happen on Saturday night. How the games going to go, what's going to happen, but I know we're going to have to execute in all three phases of the game to win this football game. Obviously, if you create some extra possessions, create some points defensively or on special teams, it increases your chances."

On if he learned of any weaknesses of Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables when he coached there for a year
"I know one thing, coach Venables is an outstanding football coach. Probably one of the best coordinator there is out there. He has quality coaches around him. Obviously, coach Stoops in a defensive guy and they have good personnel. They're going to be very sound in what they do. They're going to be well coached and obviously they're talented. You have to offset that with good execution. You're not going to find a lot of holes in saying you can exploit them because they're not well coached in this area. That's not the case there. They're very well coached and they execute well. That's why they've had success over a long period of time."

On if his defense is the type of defense where teams still feel the pain a couple weeks after playing them
"I would hope so. I think we have gotten better. I still believe we have a long way to go in a number of different areas. But I know this, we are much better at this point than we were a year ago. It's not even close. But we still have a ways to go."

On if they have something to prove after what happened last year against Oklahoma
"Yeah, anytime that happens, forget the first quarter, how about the four quarters? They took it to us. Is it something to prove? No, what are you going to prove? They proved what happened last year. This is a different year. It's another opportunity and we need to play better."

On if he talks about what his game used to mean with his players
"They know about the rivalry. They understand all that, but we're worrying about 2009 right now."

On how he thought Cody Green responded after his interception and fumble against Baylor
"He's a confident young man with a lot of poise. Things are going to happen; you're going to make mistakes. You have to move on to the next play. It just becomes that much more magnified at the quarterback position. At the end of the day, I thought he handled it well. It's not like I lack confidence. I don't think he'll crawl into a shell, he's not that kind of kid."

On if there is a transition period when there are three or four freshman in the huddle
"No, I don't think so. Our guys, they're in the huddle with them every day. Those things happen consistently. They've been going on since the start of camp. I don't think that's a big issue."

On if he talked to Jacob Hickman or another offensive player about how Cody ran things in the huddle
"It was pretty obvious. I think he handled himself well. I think he managed the huddle well. I think he commanded things well. That's one of his strengths, he's very confident. I like that aspect of how he handled the situation Saturday."

On if he expects Roy Helu Jr. to be 100% healthy at all this year
"I would hope so."

On if he has to sit Roy in order to get him healthy
"Well, he was out there yesterday without a green jersey on. He was feeling good. We expect him to play Saturday night."

On if he has any idea about when they'll get Rex Burkhead back
"Maybe for the last game of the year. In that time frame. Obviously, for sure for the bowl game."