Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini

Nebraska Football Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.
Pre-Kansas State

On the group of seniors<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

“Well, it’s a small group. It’s only 13 seniors and I believe a number of them, I think eight of those seniors, are in their fifth year. They’ve been through a lot. They went through a lot. They have obviously been through a coaching change and they’ve persevered. I think they have represented this program well. I think at least four of these guys started as walk-ons. They all kind of have their own story. They have all been through a lot. They’ve persevered and I think they have done a great job at leading this football team this year. Like I said, we want to send them out winners.”

 

On if this is one of the smallest senior classes he has ever seen during his football career

“No, I’ve been around that before. One of those years, I believe I was at LSU, we had I want to say 11 or something like that. I kind of remember that for some reason. It’s always different, especially now with redshirting and guys going out to the pros early at times. Sometimes your classes get unbalanced. You don’t like that to happen, but it happens in the program sometimes.”

 

On where Ndamukong Suh ranks among players he has coached

“I don’t like to compare guys, but its obvious how much he’s developed and how good of a football player he has become. I think in the last two years he has come a long way. He’s had a special career here. If he finishes out the season the way I think he’ll finish it out, I think he could be a highly, highly decorated senior if things fall the way I think they will.”

 

On what he and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini did to propel him to becoming a great player

“We coach him like we coach everybody else in a very black and white manner, and stress technique and fundamentals and getting better each and every day, and showing willingness to point out how much farther you can go and what you can become. You can’t have a false sense of what you are. I think he’s come a long way since we’ve been here. To his credit, he bought in. He’s worked as hard as any guy I have been around. He’s sacrificed and it’s paying dividends for him. I give him a lot of credit. I believe when I got here, I believe he was testing the waters to see whether he should come out or shouldn’t come out, even his first year there. He wasn’t ready at that time and then he decided to come back again the second time, and obviously it’s paid off for him.”

 

On the impact that Suh has made that may not show up on the stat sheet

“Well, it’s not about stats. He’s played pretty phenomenal. You hear a lot of people, they give him great respect in how they treat him and the different ways they choose to block him both run and pass. He’s played really good. I told him, you can put so much pressure on yourself that you can drive yourself crazy. That’s something he’s got to fight, is not trying to get outside of who he is. He thinks he should make plays no matter how many guys are on him and he has for the most part. He’s made the plays and he’s played really consistently in what we’ve asked him to do. It’s been a tough road to hoe for him, especially this last week. He can get frustrated. I think I sensed a little bit of frustration on him after the game because he didn’t feel like he played well, but when you look at the film he played well.”

 

On what <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Kansas did against Suh that might have frustrated him

“They double-teamed him. Sometimes they even had to back-chip him. They did a number of different things, which showed great respect. Plus, our defensive line is playing well enough the quarterbacks aren’t holding the ball a real long time. That can be difficult on him. You have to make your plays when you have your opportunities. Sometimes your opportunities are going to be more than others. A lot of that has to do with the style of offense and the style of game plan people have against you.”

 

On if Kansas State's offense gives Suh a chance to make more plays this week

“Possibly. Just out of the nature of their running game, he’s going to see some double teams and some gap schemes and things like that. What his stat sheet is at the end, I don’t know. They’re a little more balanced run and pass. I’d say they’re a run-oriented offense, but they still throw the ball some. He’ll have his opportunities.”

 

On Suh and senior center Jacob Hickman

“Well, I think they have done a great job. I think they have both been leaders. I look at that group as a whole, and some of the underclassmen, I think it’s a common culture what’s going on here for the older guys to the young guys. It’s been good to see. It’s been good leadership. There are not a lot of rah-rah guys in that group, but they’re guys that for the most part that do things the right way. They practiced hard, and I think it will make us better for years to come if our young guys follow suit.”

 

On what he means when he says ?common culture’

“I feel like the way we go about things and the approach we take day to day, and the things that we stress as a football program, is starting to take greater hold throughout the whole program. I think that’s one of the reasons why I think we continue to get better, regardless of the circumstances. It’s a very tight-knit group. I think it’s a pretty common team-first theme, and that’s a great thing to see.”

 

On if Nebraska is developing the ability to finish strong

“Every year is different. Every group of guys you have is different. I think part of that is you look at the conditioning of the guys. As you get longer into a year, people are going to have aches and pains. You’re going to be more tired. It’s going to be harder to go out there every single day. I think a bit of that is mental toughness. I think we have gotten mentally tougher as a football program. Hopefully, that will continue because we have a number of challenges lying out there ahead of us yet.”

 

On what he stresses the most

“Hard work, mental toughness, focus, competing every single day, getting better each and every day. It’s hard to do. Everybody wants to talk about getting your team up for Saturday, the biggest challenge is getting your team up every day for practice and to get better every day because you can’t waste an opportunity to get better. That’s probably the biggest challenge you have as a football coach, as a football staff, is how do you get your team to respond every single day, regardless of all the distractions, all the things that they’re faced with on a day-to-day basis, that when they walk in and walk onto that practice field, they zero in and are ready to get after it every day and get better. It’s a tremendous challenge. The emotional aspect of it, you deal with that later in the week, but as far as being able to bring emotion, focus and attitude to the practice field every day, it’s not an easy job to accomplish with a bunch of 18 to 22-year-old guys. Everybody wants to go out there and compete every day, but to have the mental toughness and the focus to overcome human nature on a daily basis and say I can get through this day, I’ll be OK on Saturday, that’s the thing that you have to fight every day.”

 

On if seniors are relied upon to ensure that everybody is working to get better every day

“Yeah, and you have to find different ways to do it as a coach. You have to jaw on players at times; you have to jaw on the rest of the staff. We as a staff have to be cognizant of it all the time, and you want to do it in such a way that you don’t want to wear your team out mentally and physically. There’s some give and take in it, but you have to find a way to challenge them every single day, but not overdue it at the same time.”

 

On if he thought Nebraska would be in position to play a spot in the Big 12 title game in his second season

“I was disappointed last year when we weren’t in that position. I don’t really think about it long term. I really don’t. I just believe this: I believe in my heart that if we do what need to do on a daily basis, it puts you in position to have these opportunities. All we’ve done right now is put ourselves in a position to have this opportunity. Now it’s up to what we do with it. Being in this position won’t do us any good if we go out there and lay an egg on Saturday. We have to go out there and play good football. We need to get better this week. I still believe we have not played our best football yet across the board. I think that’s the great thing about it. I think there is still so much out there for our football team.”

 

On how much of a focus it was to win the Big 12 North when he was hired
”Like I said, I’ve always believed that those things will happen and come as you earn them. I choose to focus on the day-to-day process that’s going to get us to that position. I’ll look back on it maybe when the season's over, if we’re able to accomplish that goal, and maybe have some satisfaction in it, but right now all I’m concerned with is Kansas State and doing what we need to do to get there.”

 

On if the success or failure of one season hinges on one game

“Believe me, in the fans' mind and the media’s mind, I’m sure it will. It can and possibly will. That isn’t quite the way I look at it. Either way, I don’t get too high or too low no matter what happens. The success or failure of the season is going to be on a full body of work and that’s not quite done yet.”

 

On if the rise of the program is helped by the Big 12 North being down

“I don’t know about that. I don’t know what it was like before I got here. You just play the teams that they put out in front of you and try and get better every week. That’s about all I can do. I want to take the football team that we have and make them better each and every week.”

 

On what it’s going to be like playing for the chance to get to the Big 12 title game

“Just the next game on the schedule against an opponent that we have respect for. We know that they are going to be well prepared and ready to play. We have to be up to the challenge. Like I said, I want to improve this week and become a better football team.”

 

On what his thoughts are on his offense changing its look over the past couple weeks

“I like the balance that we’ve had the past couple weeks. To be able to run the football, we have been able to put some numbers up on the ground. I thought last week we threw the football well at times. I thought we challenged some people down the field and made some plays. I just think you become a better offense when you have that kind of balance. That’s one of the things we have lacked consistency on, is having balance on our offense.”

 

On if this year's team or last year's team is better

“Well, it’s a different dynamic I guess. You had to win different ways. We had different personnel. The experience aspect of it was tilted the other way, more toward the offensive side than the defensive side. It’s one of the things you have to do. You have to figure out a way to win and how to play to your strengths. I think we have done that for the most part. I think we’ve adjusted pretty well personnel-wise. Have we been perfect? No. I think we have learned some things along the way. I think slowly but surely we have developed an identity, and I think that’s one of the reasons we have gotten better as the season has gone on.”

 

On if he is satisfied with the rate of improvement this year compared to last year

“I think it’s been a little bit more steady. I think defensively we continue to get better. I don’t like the way we, for four quarters, how we executed on defense the other day. I think for the most part we have gotten better. Offensively, I think slowly but surely we have developed more of an identity. I think we have gotten better the last few weeks on offense. I like some of the things we are doing. I like the way we are progressing. I think special teams-wise we are a lot better than we were a year ago, when you look at an overall picture of what we are doing. Defensively, it’s not even close. At the end of the year we played some good defensive games, but we were not very good defensively. This year we’re a lot better. I’m never really satisfied with how far we have come. I guess I’ll be able to answer that better after the next couple weeks to see how much further we go. I think it’s been a pretty steady progression. I think we’ve gotten better. Compared to last year, I think we had so far to go, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We had to go light years and this year it wasn’t quite as far. I think we took what we did progress-wise last year and kind of carried it into this year, and we continue to get better on that side of the football.”

 

On if the offense needs to change each year, or if change will slow down once the program gets more settled

“I think as you get more established that will change. Obviously, you’re always going to have some bit of having to adapt because your personnel is going to change year to year. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out those personnel, especially when a couple of our key spots are young or inexperienced. Injuries will always play a part in that. That’s one of those things you have to be ready to adapt as the season goes on. I always believe as a coach, having great ideas is fine, but you have to figure out your personnel and one of the things that makes you a good coach is being able to adapt to the personnel, and adapt to varying circumstances. If you’re able to do that, I think you’ll be able to have more success long-term.”

 

On if he has seen other teams try to make major adaptations on their offense like they have

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it a number of different ways. You continue to grow together. What our identity is right now, is that going to be the same next year? Probably not. I’m sure there are going to be some common themes. You grow together. You adapt together. You figure out what you have to do in a given circumstance or in a certain program where you think the long-term success lies and you move in that direction.”

 

On if the offense the last couple weeks has been what he envisioned it to be

“Like I said, I like balance. I know to have success here over a long period of time, you have to be able to run the football. You have to have a physical style running game and you have to be able to run the football. There’s a number of ways to get that done. The only way to create balance in your offense is to be able to run the football. I think when we started running the football and started getting yards on the ground, that’s when other things happen for you. When you can’t run the football and you become one dimensional, you are going to have problems. I think that the games that we’ve had problems, I thought that was the case. We didn’t get a consistency in the run game.”

 

On if it is important for the offense to avoid quarterback rumors going around and to have Zac Lee as the starter

“I think it’s important. Believe me, I think our guys on offense have a lot of confidence in Cody (Green) to. Going into last week I thought you would see a little bit more of Cody. It just didn’t happen that way. It didn’t work that way. I felt like the flow of the game was such that I liked what I was seeing from Zac. Why make a switch when you don’t need to? There were some things that we had prepared for Cody that we felt was there, we just didn’t go to it. I thought I saw a little swagger out of Zac. I saw his confidence grow as the game went on. We have a lot of confidence in Zac. Let me tell you, I don’t know how old he is, 20 or 21 years, and you’ve had the negativity kind of swirling around and the controversy, that will affect anybody. I think that the way the game went, the way he played the other day will really help him as the season finishes out.”

 

On if that is the dynamic of being a quarterback at a place like Nebraska

“Yeah, it’s part of the deal. It’s part of the deal at any level playing quarterback. You have to be strong. You have to be mentally tough. It’s like a relief pitcher. You go out there and somebody hits the game-tying or game-winning home run against you, everyone is going to point at you, but you have to be strong enough to go out there the next time and do your job and fight through that and be mentally tough enough to do that. Obviously, with success breeds confidence. I think that the success he had the other day will breed confidence for the rest of the year.”

 

On if he was uncertain how Zac would respond to being the starter again

“No, because I think one of the things that we’ve done well is we communicated all along the way. Those two young men who are playing quarterback are pretty special guys. They’re very team-first guys. They are team-oriented guys. Even though they both want to be the guy, there’s been no selfish attitude about them. There’s been no pointing the finger or me-first type thing. It’s been the attitude of whatever we need to do to win football games. That always helps the situation because there really hasn’t been any controversy in the locker room or the meeting rooms. It’s been, we have to figure out how to win this thing as a football team. That always helps a situation like that.”

 

On if there are guys that pout when something like that happens

“Absolutely, and I have not had any of that. I think Wats (Shawn Watson) has communicated really well throughout the whole process. I spent some time talking to them. It takes strong character young men to be able to handle the situation the way they did.”

 

On if he would have gone to more power running earlier in the year if he knew how it would play out

“Possibly. I don’t know. We had it in. We didn’t run as much of it. In hindsight, it’s been good for us so I wish we would have done it a little bit earlier.”

 

On if he likes having Coach Shawn Watson down on the sideline

“That’s up to him. That wasn’t something where I pulled him down. I think he thought it was the right thing for him to do. It’s kind of nice having him down there. I probably drive him crazy. It’s kind of nice having him down there because it’s easier for me to communicate with him really quickly. He’s a smart enough guy, he’s coached long enough, he knows how to avoid me, and keep me from driving him crazy.”

 

On if they lose anything from not having him in the booth

“No, because he has really good eyes upstairs. I don’t think he’s felt like he’s missed a beat as far as that’s concerned. All our guys on offense really communicate really well. I think the aspect of it that he likes right now is he gets face-to-face first-hand communication. There’s no middle man when he sits down and talks to that quarterback. He has to get something fixed right there. That’s one of the reasons I went on the sidelines as a defensive coordinator. When there is a problem, it’s good to be able to look at that guy in the eyes and get it fixed, rather than sometimes the message can get lost in the translation. There are a lot of different ways to deliver a message depending on the circumstances. That can help.”

 

On what Athletic Director Tom Osborne has meant to the program

(Jokingly) “He’s been a real pain in the butt. (Laughs). Obviously, Coach Osborne, he’ll give his opinions. He is always very helpful. He’s never overbearing. He understands. He’s a Hall of Fame coach. Any insight he can give is obviously helpful and always has been and will continue to be.”

 

On what the conversation with Osborne is usually like

“It depends on the subject. It depends whether he is mad at me or likes what I am doing. It all depends on the circumstances. There’s not a better athletic director in the country that I would want to work for. It’s not even close. He’s extremely supportive. You couldn’t ask for anything more. Sitting in my seat, you couldn’t ask for a better situation as far as having an athletic director like him.”

 

On if he has ever felt like Osborne is looking over his shoulders

“No, but I look at it as a bonus. I think it’s a great situation for me. I said it before. I don’t have all the answers. I’m trying to get better every day. I’m trying to get better every week. But here’s a gentleman who’s lived it in so many different ways. Forget about X’s and O’s, I’m just talking about being in this position. The things that happen, the mistakes you make, the media, the fans, whatever it may be. Just having his insight there is a tremendous advantage to me. He has a unique way of doing things in such a way that believe me, he makes it real clear to me that, hey it’s your job, you have to run your team the way you have to run it. If anything I wish he would speak up more. He’s not overbearing about anything he does. He handles it in such a professional manner and such a, I hate to say this because I want to make it sound the right way, but I feel like he talks to me like my father used to talk to me, in that he’s extremely supportive, but he’s willing to give his opinion and be real black and white, and say, 'hey I think this is something you need to fix,' or 'I like how you did this, but this is something you should probably think about working on.' That’s a great thing to have. Especially from somebody who was a head coach for however many years.”

 

On if there are any specific examples of Osborne offering advice

“We talk pretty regularly. Some weeks more than others depending on his schedule. I’m trying to think. There are so many. He’ll look at the game tape. There are always going to be some X’s and O’s things that he thinks could help. I’ll just run some things by him, in this situation what do you think. Punting the football or going for it on fourth down. The dialogue kind of happens pretty continuously. Just recently, I talked to him about how I can do it better with the referees. When you get really frustrated, how did you handle the referees? How did you talk to them? How did you do it so you get your point across but you make sure you do it in the right way? Believe me, all those things are helpful. Like I said, there are tons of things week to week that after I walk out of a football game I feel like, hey I did this good, but I need to fix X, Y and Z. How to handle my staff. Last week, coming off of a game against Oklahoma, where our defense played 87 snaps, but I also think we had a lot of improvement to do, what do you think about our practice schedule. How much is too much? How much is not enough in your opinion with what we’re facing. All those things. It’s just good to have another sounding board from somebody who has been there and can help you sort through what you feel is the right thing for your football team is.”

 

On what advice Osborne gave him for dealing with the officials

(Jokingly) “He said give ?em hell.” (Laughs)

 

On if he was surprised KansasState lost on Saturday

“They played a good football team. The things didn’t go their way early. I think Missouri played well. One thing you have to be ready to play every week. Things didn’t go well for them early and I don’t think they recovered from it. I do know this, you look at the history of what Coach (Bill) Synder has been able to do, I think they’ll be that much more ready to play this week. I almost wish they would have won the football game because I think they will be hungry. They will be well prepared. I know we’re going to get their best shot. It’ll be a good football game and a heck of a challenge for our football team. We have a lot of respect for their team and their coaching staff. We’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

 

On you handle the decision to kick or not to kick to Brandon Banks

“Well, hopefully the wind is blowing about 60 miles an hour behind us and Adi (Kunalic) can kick it into about the eighth row. We have a lot of respect for Banks and what he’s able to do. We’ll have some things prepared depending on what the weather conditions are and that type of thing.”

 

On if he takes anything from last year because he took one back

“I take it that I don’t want to see that happen again.”