Nebraska Postgame Quotes
Nebraska 17, Kansas State 3
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.
On defeating Kansas State<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
“That was a good win, a good win for the program. I’m happy for our football team. We’ve kind of been through a lot up to this point. They persevered. I still think our best football is out there for us to play, but we have to keep working to get better. We’ll enjoy tonight, but we have a short week ahead of us and a heck-of-a challenge at the end of this week, with a short week for us and a long week for them (Colorado). It’s an accomplishment to win the Big 12 North, but we want to make sure that we turn our focus now to Colorado.”
On the differences between NU’s defense at the beginning of the season and now
“I think you see a mental toughness on how we play on defense. I’m still not happy with how we gave up too many yards and we had some little things, (like) assignment mistakes and some execution mistakes. But we held them to three (points) and we found a way. We’ve come a long way and I give credit to those kids and the coaches.”
On Larry Asante's play
“Larry played well, but I thought across the board we all did some good things. Once again, we had some execution mistakes and had some little things ? some that hurt us and some that didn’t hurt us. Overall, I thought at times we played really well. At times we didn’t execute the way I’d like to, but that’s why we practice. That’s why we go back to work on Monday.”
On Nebraska’s special teams
“I thought he (Alex Henery) did some good things. He made some good plays for us. I’ll tell you also, I thought Adi (Kunalic) kicked really well on his kickoff. (Brandon) Banks is a dangerous returner and he (Kunalic) kicked it deep. We executed well. I thought our special teams played really well, other than when we had a protection issue on the one punt. Other than that we did some good things.”
On Nebraska’s offense
“Offensively, we did some good things. We have a lot to correct. We made a lot of mistakes. I thought we left some points on the field, especially in the first half. We didn’t manage things real well at times, but overall it was a good effort and we did what we needed to do to win the football game. It was a good team win. I thought we played kind of like it’s been. I thought we played pretty well in all phases of the game, but we have a lot of things we need to clean up.”
On if this win is fitting for the season
“It seems like a recurring thing a little bit. I think we still have a long way to go as a football team. There’s a lot more out there for us. There’s a lot better football out there to be played. That’s a good thing. That’s a good impact. I think that our kids are still hungry. On to the next challenge though.”
On differences in Kansas State from last year until this year
“Obviously, Coach (Bill) Snyder is a good football coach. His staff has done a good job. The kids are playing harder. They’re executing better. They’re just a better football team now. They’re to be commended, their coaching staff and the kids, for getting that much better this year.”
On sharing this moment (winning Big 12 North) with his family
“My family is everything to me. They’re excited. Believe me, I couldn’t have success if it wasn’t for my wife, my best friend, and the person who supports me, who allows me to do what I do. You have to be a pretty special woman to deal with me on a daily basis. My kids and my in-laws were here. I had a lot of friends here. It was a pretty special day for me.”