Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini

Nebraska Football Weekly Press Conference
Monday, Nov. 23, 2009
Memorial Stadium - Lincoln, Neb.
Pre-Colorado

On Colorado

“Well, I see a team that’s very capable. They have some good talent. At times they have played really well. They’ve struggled with some inconsistency. It’s their last game of the year and they have a lot to play for. I know we’re going to get their best shot. It’s a challenge. We’re on a short week, they’re on a long week, so we have that challenge sitting out there for us. We have to be ready to play good football. Bottom line is, we haven’t played our best football yet. We have to get better as a team.”

 

On this week's preparations, considering Nebraska does not need to win to qualify for the Big 12 title game

“Well, we do need to win this. That’s the way I approach it. I don’t want anybody to talk about the Big 12 title game around me. It’s Colorado. That’s all our focus is on. We have to have even greater focus and hopefully a short week enhances our guys' preparation knowing that we are facing a short week and we don’t have time. I told our guys, there is no patting yourself on the back or anything else. It’s time to play football. It’s a rivalry game. It’s a big football game for this team. We need to go out and play well, and we need to prepare that way.”

 

On how the offense is better than a few weeks ago

“I think we’re playing, not as consistent as I want to, but I think we’re playing more physical. I think we’re blocking people better. We’ve developed a little bit of an identity in being more physical and running the football downhill on some people, and I think we have a good mix of run and pass going. Believe me, I know we have a long way to go, but I’m seeing some things that we’re doing better. We’re doing what we need to do to win football games.”

 

On how Zac Lee has been better over the past couple weeks

“Well, I think for the most part he has been managing the game better. I didn’t like how he managed the end of that one drive towards the end of the first half. We’ll learn from that and hopefully get better because of what happened on that drive. For the most part he has taken care of the football. He’s playing within the offense. He’s doing what Wats (Coach Shawn Watson) and the offensive coaches are asking him to do. I think we have been pretty efficient.”

 

On if he thinks Zac is more comfortable than a couple weeks ago

“I think he’s just more comfortable period. Success breeds confidence. I think that’s the case with Zac right now.”

 

On how Nebraska may be limited in its preparation because of the short week

“You can’t get a lot of rest. You just have to combine what you do preparation-wise into one day less. Fortunately, I have been around that a lot in my career in playing in these short weeks from my NFL days. I played in a number of these Friday after Thanksgiving games, so I’ve been in this situation before. We talked about it beforehand. We started getting our preparation ready to go. You have to make a lot quicker decisions. Be a lot more detailed earlier in the week and you have to get your guys up to speed in a hurry. You just can’t gradually put the game plan in. You have to move things at a faster pace.”

 

On how big of a weapon Alex Henery has become

“Well, I think he’s done really well. We thought he would coming into this year. He’s hit some big-time punts. I think there were a couple back there that he would like back, but I thought ultimately he’s done really well. He’s a pretty special football player.”

 

On how much of a no-brainer it was to give Alex a scholarship after last season

“Well, when he made that 57-yarder against Colorado, I think it became pretty clear to me. He bailed my butt out. I tried everything I could to lose that football game and he bailed me out. He earned it right there in my mind. He’s done so much. What more can you ask of a guy. If anybody has earned it, he has.”

 

On how married he is on playing the Friday game after Thanksgiving

“It’s really something I don’t control. It’s been the tradition. Who am I to buck tradition? I don’t care whether we play Wednesday. You have to get your football team ready to play. We’re looking forward to it. We get a good national audience watching the football game. I always enjoy that because it’s good for our program at this point.”

 

On why he thinks this game is rivalry game

“I get the feeling from the fans. I judge that from the fans. I haven’t been a part of this program for a real long time, but I know this is a game special to our fans and I think it’s special to the Colorado fans. It's two states sitting side by side. It’s very special to our great fans out in Western Nebraska because they are right there in the Colorado zone and they want bragging rights. They make a lot of sacrifices in driving a long way every week to come see us play, and we have to have their back on this end when we play Colorado. That’s all part of the deal.”

 

On reasons why the defense has played so well, in addition to Ndamukong Suh

“I just think we have gradually gotten better. Suh has obviously been a big part of it, but you talk about our guys up front, when you play well up front, which we have this year, it gives you a lot of options. It gives you the ability to handle a lot of problems and it makes you better. We got better up front towards the end of last year, and as the year went on I thought that’s why we developed as a defense. Just front to back we’re playing better. We’re not shooting ourselves in the foot as much. It still happens at times. Our best football on the defensive side is still out there for us to go play, but we’ve come a long way, and it’s been fun to watch these guys develop.”

 

On why this team plays well on the road

“I think it’s your approach. When you go on the road you have to have a certain mentality. You have to bring great energy to the field knowing that you don’t have that crowd to juice you up. It has to come from yourself. You have to match the energy of the opposing team and you have to have an attitude about yourself when you take the field. An us against the world type mentality. That’s one thing our guys have learned is how to approach it mentally. Ultimately, forget about the environment, it’s won between the white lines and you have to go out and execute, whether you’re at home, whether you’re on the road, or wherever you are playing. You have to block out all your distractions and execute your football.”

 

On if he has seen a difference in their focus on the road

“Yeah, I think they have grown. They have matured. They understand what’s in front of them. I like the way we budget our time on the road and how we approach it. It’s worked for us.”

On how big of a momentum-breaker it would be to lose to Colorado before the Big 12 Championship Game

“I don’t even want to talk about that. I know what we have in front of us. I know it’s going to be a challenge. I know we have to play good football. I fully expect to go win this football game. Texas, that means nothing to me right now. The only thing that matters to this football team is Colorado. I told our people in the offices, the coaching staff, I don’t want to hear about plans, about travel plans, about tickets, or anything else about the Big 12 title game. That means nothing. That time will come. Our full focus is on Colorado.”

 

On how close this season has been to matching the strides he would like to see in this program after the second year

“Well, it’s close. I just know we have a long way to go. The only thing that I say is we haven’t played our best football yet. This team has not reached its potential yet. We have done some good things. I think we let some games get away that we shouldn’t have let get away, and we would be sitting here in a much different situation, but we didn’t do that. All you can control is the present and what I try to do is keep focused on the process and the day-to-day activities of this football team, and keep progressing. I think we’re getting better. I think we’re making strides as a program, but by no means have we arrived. I think everybody would agree with that.”

 

On how much ball-security drills helped them after the Iowa State game

“We’ve done ball-security drills all along. We didn’t execute in that game. We didn’t make the plays necessary to win that football game. We as coaches didn’t get it done and the players, we didn’t hold on to the football. We didn’t do what was necessary to win the football game. We don’t make any excuses about it. It happened. You take responsibility for it. You point the thumb and you let it make you better. I think we have made some strides penalty-wise the last few weeks. We have been playing more disciplined. We’ve been continuing to emphasize some things and the players are starting to buy into that emphasis.”

 

On how big of deal it is to him that the players aren’t thinking about Texas

“There’s no doubt. Everywhere I go I hear, Texas, Texas, Texas, and people talking about it. I’m sure Mack (Brown) is down there in Texas doing the same thing about the (Texas) A&M game. Coach (Nick) Saban (Alabama) and Coach (Urban) Meyer (Florida), the coaches that have these games coming up, you have to take care of your business. You have to take care of the here and now. It’s very easy to buy into distractions. People are going to focus on what they have to focus on. People are going to talk about going to Dallas and everything else, but we don’t have the luxury. We have to make sure we stay on track.”

 

On if making sure his players don’t overlook Colorado might be the toughest part of the season

“Yeah, but that’s something you have to do as a coach every day. I always say that the toughest thing as a coach is keeping your guys on track in a day-to-day manner. Make sure they’re focused on the task at hand and make sure their focus is in the right direction to get better every day. That’s our challenge as a football team this week. We have to get better this week in preparation for the next step. Fortunately, we have two more steps. This is just the next challenge that lies ahead of us. That’s my approach. It’s really no different than how I approach any other week.”

 

On if it would be easier if Colorado had more than three wins

“Not really, because the way I approach it is you have to expect that you are going to get their best. You have to expect that they are going to play their best football game of the year, so you have to be ready to meet that challenge head on.”

 

On if Colorado played their best game of the year last year against NU

“I think so, and I think we contributed some to that. We didn’t play our best football that day. We weren’t as good of football team at that time. I tell our team, we still have not put our best effort out there yet and that’s what we’re chasing. It’s not about Colorado. It’s about us executing our football.”

 

On if there is anything about Colorado as a team that jumps out at him
”I think they are athletic. I don’t know. We had to get up to speed on them in a hurry with the short week. Like I said, at times I think they are very good. I think they are young in some spots. But at times I think they are very good. They’re just not real consistent. They are like we were a year ago. Sometimes they shoot themselves in the foot. They don’t execute as well as they should, but at times they play really good football.”

 

On what he is telling NFL scouts about Ndamukong Suh

“Pick him. You know what they’re telling me? We’re going to pick him.”

 

On his skill set and if he is NFL-ready right now

“He’s special. I believe this, there is no one that leaves college football that is NFL ready. There is a lot to learn. I think that is what makes Suh special and it makes the guys that have been great players special. I see Milt (Tenopir) back there, he coached a lot of guys that got taken and did well on Sunday’s, and they were great college players, but when you go to the next level you have a lot to learn. You have a lot to develop. It’s a different game, different speed, all those things. I’ve said it before, I’ve talked to some great players, and guys that are in the Hall of Fame now, that say they didn’t come close to reaching their potential as a player until they were beyond their prime physically. That’s the beautiful thing that’s out there. The age that these kids are that are going into the pros, if they have the understanding that they have to keep working, that they aren’t as good as people are making them out to be, that there is a long way to go until they reach their full potential, those are the guys that really reach greatness because they keep working every day and they keep that hunger. I think Suh understands that. I think when he developed that mindset is when he became the player that he has become now in college.”