Defensive Coordinator Carl Pelini

Nebraska Football Weekly Press Conference
Pre-Kansas State
Monday, Oct. 4, 2010
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)

On Kansas State running back Daniel Thomas
"He's as good of back that we have faced since we've been here. He runs with power, and yet he'll make you miss. You have to be great tacklers. You have to keep your heads up. You have to really keep your leverage on him. He's very patient in the backfield, so he allows that big offensive line to keep working blocks, and he lets them develop, and then when he decides to go he's got great acceleration. It's going to be a great challenge for us."

On his ability to get yards-after-contact
"That's what great backs do, right? He spins. He lowers his shoulder and runs with power. He can use his foot speed and make you miss that way. All kinds of different things. It's hard to really key in on really one way he makes tackling difficult. You have to try and get a lot of hats on the ball and practice good technique when you get there."

On the differences between Kansas State's offense and the rest of the Big 12
"(They are) Different from what we'll face in the Big 12, but in this early season we faced teams that schematically give you some of the same stuff. Coach (Bill) Snyder, they do a great job, Coach (Dana) Dimel, Coach  (Del) Miller, of keeping you off balance. Even though you called it a run-oriented attack, they have great variety in that attack, and they keep you off balance. You have to be disciplined and read your keys, and play with good fundamentals. It's going to be a hard-nosed, hard-fought football game."

On Kansas State quarterback Carson Coffman
"He manages that offense well. He plays within the scheme. I think he understands what his role is there. I call him a very accomplished game manager. He understands the offense. He understands what he is being asked to do, whether it's in the quarterback running game, the option game, and the passing game. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. He's a smart guy and runs their offense really efficiently."

On if this game is statement game for the rest of the country
"We try not to get involved in making statements. We try to win the game. Obviously, the Thursday night game and our last year in the Big 12, it will be a hostile environment. The juices will be revved up more than usual, but once the game starts it just becomes a football game again, and it's about execution."

On how important this extra time off was for Lavonte David and Eric Martin
"Eric Martin, Lavtone (David), Alonzo Whaley, I think it was very beneficial. We were able to last week, kind of go back to training camp for a couple days and do a lot of good against good, really work on areas we felt we hadn't performed very well in over the course of the first four games. I think it was very beneficial for those guys. It gave them a chance to take a deep breath and school themselves up a little bit on our scheme."

On how hard it is to correct errors when you don't have a bye week or time off
"It's difficult to do. What you try to do is look back and say maybe we weren't very good in this area. If it's applicable to the next game then you can spend a lot of time working on it and trying to better yourselves, but if the two offenses don't connect or crossover at all into that area, then you don't want to spend too much time, other than the corrections in the film room, because you have to move on and start looking at your next opponent. Just having the extra days of practice, I hated it as a player, but I love it as a coach. I wish there were two weeks between every game."

On what contributes to the success that they have had on the road
"I don't know. I like our road schedule. I think our guys focus well on the road. We try to keep their schedule exactly the same as it is at home. We don't dwell on it at all. We kind of prepare the same way we prepare for the home games. We don't talk a lot about it. That old saying, if you make it a big deal it becomes a big deal. If you just treat it like it isn't a big deal, the players don't think much about playing on the road. We have some veteran guys and some good leaders. Hopefully we can continue some success on the road."

On what he likes about P.J. Smith's play so far this season
"I like everything about P.J. I think he is a very heady player. He understands our defense. He tackles well. I'd like all our guys to become better tacklers at the point of attack, but P.J. tackles as well as anybody we have back there. And he's smart in his coverage. He understands route combinations and where he is supposed to be. He gives us the depth we need at safety to be able to bring (DeJon) Gomes up and play that dime position. Without P.J., it would be very difficult to do what we do personnel-wise."

On how much getting in last season helped Smith this year
"I don't know if getting in a few times benefits you as much as he ran as a No. 2 all last year, and as we practice our No. 2's and 1's get the same amount of reps. Even though this is his first time in that starting role, he was prepared last year every week as if he were the starter. I felt like he was more of a veteran than a rookie coming into this season."

On if the defensive front four has picked up their intensity over the past week
"I think our front four guys are very intense guys every week. I think they are very workmen-like. They work hard every day. They are intense every day. I don't know that they changed the way that they are preparing."

On if tackling is one of the most important aspects of a defense when going against a team like Kansas State
"Yeah. They are very well coached fundamentally up front and they have a running back that can hurt you. The fundamentals of defensive football, period, have to be, and have been a point of emphasis for us over the last week or so. Not that they aren't always, but this was a week that we felt like with the extra time we needed to keep improving just how we take on blockers, how we come out of our stances, how we tackle, just the little things that make you a great football team. We really, really emphasized that over the past week."

On what's the best way to approach this last trip through the Big 12
"It's funny, the best way to approach it is to just approach it and not treat it as a motivator and not downplay it. We're very honest with our guys. They understand the situation. We don't talk about it. It gets talked about probably in the media 20 times more than it ever gets here. I don't know if we have every mentioned it to our guys, or it's ever been a topic of conversation that this is our last year in the Big 12. We try to focus on the next opponent and just leave it at that."

On if it's tempting to use the move from the Big 12 as a motivator for the players
"No, I mean half our guys won't even be here when we leave this conference. This is going to be 4-0 Kansas State, and a 4-0 Nebraska. It's going to be a big game whether we're in the WAC and they are in the Big East, it just doesn't matter. It's a big football game for both teams and both teams are going to go out there and give it their best shot. I don't think the other stuff plays all that much into it outside of the fans."

On what the biggest difference is in conference games
"I don't know that I notice a big difference, quite honestly. I think probably the fans get more juiced up for the traditional rivalries. Obviously, our players maybe feel certain teams are bigger rivalries for us. When you're playing a familiar team, you have a little bit more to go on and so do they, a little bit more to go on in terms of film work and an understanding of what we do, so you have to be a little bit sharper. I think other than that, not a big difference. I think it's the familiarity that changes it."

On the strides Austin Cassidy is taking this year
"Austin is very solid player for us. He's a tremendous back-up as he showed in the Big 12 Championship Game last year. He showed he can step in at any moment, and we wouldn't have a drop off. We're very high on him, and he's an important player to us."

On the added importance of playing a Big 12 North opponent
"Like I said, every game is a big game to us, but when you start out in the conference, like you said every game is important. There are a lot of good teams in the north, and it's going to probably be a close race down to the end, so every game is even that much more important."

On if you use the hype surrounding Daniel Thomas as motivation to stop him, much like they stopped Jake Locker
"No. To me you can't make it all about stopping him because there are a lot of players on Kansas State's offensive side. If we make the whole game about stopping him, someone else is going to hurt us. We just have to make the game about executing and playing all facets of defensive football. We have to be good against the run. We have to be good against the pass. We have to be great on special teams. If we do those things, we'll have a chance and that's all we need."