Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini

Nebraska Football Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Texas

On how big this game is

“It’s big because it’s the next one. I guess I don’t get the question. They’re all big I think.”

 

On the build-up for this game

“I don’t know anything about that video that came out. We treat this like any other game. The build-up, that’s all about the media and the fans. We’re preparing for this football game like we do any other game.”

 

On how tough it is to settle the emotions of the players for this game

“Last year’s game has nothing to do with this Saturday, nothing. That has nothing to do with it. It's different players, different teams, different time, and nothing that happened last year is going to impact what happens on Saturday. Nothing. It’s going to be won in-between the lines on Saturday.”

 

On the Texas defense

“They’re an outstanding group. It’s a very talented team defensively. They run to the ball well. They play hard. I have a lot of respect for Will Muschamp. I think he’s a tremendous defensive coach. We’ll have our work cut out for us. They’ve had two weeks to prepare. It will be a big challenge for our offense.”

 

On if there are weaknesses in the Texas defense that he thinks Nebraska can exploit

“One thing I know is there are good coaches over there, and the things that they maybe struggled with I promise you they will get those areas fixed. It’s about executing our offense. It’s about us. You can’t go spend so much time going and trying to do this and do that, what somebody else did. You have to execute what you do and be sound in what you do. That’s how you play good football, and I would say that the coaches over there would probably say the same thing. Obviously, there’s always some new wrinkles you want to throw in, and that happens every week.”

 

On going against a younger quarterback

“I think he’s an outstanding player. I think he has a big arm, makes good decisions. I think he’s really good. I don’t think the environment, I hope it’s loud and all that and he has to deal with that, but he went in the National Championship game on a pretty big stage and played pretty well. This guy is going to be a really good player for a lot of years to come for Texas. I think he’s a really good football player.”

 

On Texas’ running game

“I think they have some talented running backs. They haven’t been able to run the ball consistently. There’s a lot of reason behind that. At times they’ve run it real well. At times they’ve done some really good things. The same thing what a lot of teams are facing this time of year, it’s a consistency issue.”

 

On if Texas’ week off makes him wonder if they are going to come out with anything different

“You always have to expect that they’re going to have something different to throw at you. I expect that every week.”

 

On if there are any changes that will be made in the special teams this week

“No, we’re going to get fixed the things that we needed to get fixed. Maybe a couple personnel changes here and there. That’s about it.”

 

On if it’s possible for a team to come out too fired up and lose focus

“Yeah.”

 

On if he has been around that type of situation

“Yeah, after the initial emotion is over, I mean you’re going to have adrenaline no matter what, but you have to play within yourself so you execute. It’s about technique and fundamentals and executing your game. The whole fired up thing, I hope our guys are fired up every week. You have to play within yourself. The key to being a good football player is keeping your focus to where it needs to be focused on, and channeling your adrenaline and excitement into the right direction. If you don’t channel it in the right direction it’s not a good thing.”

 

On Texas being unranked, and if he stresses that they are still a very talented football team

“I would beg to say that there’s no question in my mind that Texas is one of the top 25 football teams in the country. Where they’re ranked I don’t care. We have a lot of respect for their program, the talent over there, the coaching staff. That’s something they can’t control, we can’t control, but I understand fully, and our team understands fully, the challenge that’s coming in here Saturday.”

 

On how important it is to be fairly healthy this far into the season

“Obviously, you’re a better football team when your guys are out there playing for you and not on the sideline watching. That’s always a good thing.”

 

On how confident he is in Taylor Martinez not getting freaked out by this big stage

“Well, in my opinion they are all a big stage. Every time you walk out on the field there is a responsibility to execute and do all those things. I don’t see it as any bigger stage than what they faced last week or the week before that. Like I said, it’s about directing your focus, preparing the right way, and the more prepared you are the better you’re going to play.”

 

On if Taylor has been fairly consistent with his emotions so far this season

“Yeah, he’s a pretty calm, cool and collected guy. Obviously, there’s times when things go well for you it’s easier to handle, and when you have to face adverse situations it becomes a little bit more difficult. The more experience you get the calmer and more confidence you have, it’s easier for you to handle any situation that comes down the road. That’s just part of the growing process with all these young guys. Everyone focuses on the quarterback, but that’s the truth across the board.”

 

On if Martinez's disinterest in talking to the media helps him

“I don’t know if that’s his focus or he just doesn’t like to talk. He doesn’t say much. He’s a quiet guy. He’s quiet around us. That’s just who he is. Whatever works for a guy.  You don’t want to make him do anything he doesn’t feel comfortable doing. I think the more he grows into the situation he’s in, I think he’ll open up and be more inclined to talk to the media. I think all those things happen in time.”

 

On if he would prefer Martinez to be more of the face of the program

“I don’t believe in anybody being the face of the program, me included. It’s a team game. But I also understand that he’s getting a lot of attention. I understand that’s part of it, too.”

 

On if there is a different feel to this game because it will most likely be the last time they play for a long time

“No, not really. Not for me. That’s more a question for other people.”

 

On the significance of this being the last game between the two

“I don’t really know what you want me to say. It is what it is. It’s the last game for a while.”

 

On the players using last year’s Big 12 Championship Game as motivation

“Everybody’s motivated by different things. Like I said, those wristbands or that one second isn’t going to win the football game for us. If that provides certain motivation for certain people then that’s all well and good, that’s great.”

 

On if the play of the offense this year has allowed him to change his philosophy on defense and take more chances

“No. You never know what’s going to happen. You have to be prepared defensively on any given day to do what it takes. You don’t know what the offense is going to do. You don’t know if they are going to put up 50 or seven.  You can’t change your approach defensively.”

 

On if last year’s loss against Texas hurt more than other losses

“Not really. At that time it was a pretty emotional situation. You thought you won and you look up and see zeros, and then it’s changed. You look back and you say what could we have done to win the football game, which there were a lot of things that we could have done better. We had our opportunities and it didn’t happen for us. I kind of look at it after you take the emotion out of it; you look back at it and say why it didn’t happen. I take a more black and white approach. I try to take the emotion out of it. You can’t turn back the clock. You take situations like that and hopefully get better for them.”

 

On how that game legitimized what they are doing at Nebraska and the direction the program is going

“I think when you lose a football game it doesn’t do anything for you. That’s just my approach. That’s my feeling on it.”

 

On the differences in preparing for last year’s game against Texas and Saturday’s game

“They’re different in some ways. They’re pretty similar in some ways, too.”

 

On what the similarities are that stick out the most from last season

“Wide receivers, I think the quarterback can make all the throws that the other guy did. Probably the biggest difference is they don’t run this quarterback as much, but I know one thing he is capable of running. He showed that on film. We have to be prepared for anything. If anything, it makes it a little more difficult because they had become so engrained in what they were doing with Colt McCoy that you kind of knew what to expect and this is what they do and of course they did it really well. Now they expanded a little bit more, but they can still go back and use a lot of the things that they used in the past. You have to be prepared for a lot.”

 

On if this kind of game presents more of an opportunity to show the program to recruits

“Yeah, if you play well and you win. It can work both ways. Especially these games, you’re trying to showcase for your recruits and your program every time you go out there. Me, I believe your reputation is at stake any time you walk out there on the field. This one being on TV and getting some of the hype that it’s gotten, maybe a little bit more.”

 

On if this game has drawn more interest from recruits to come and visit

“Well yeah, I think the time of the game was a little more locked in. We always seem to get a number of recruits at this time of year, and it just so happened that Texas fell on this date. You start getting into October when high school seasons are well into play and then before the playoffs start, this is the time of year when coaches are a little more comfortable with their players going to take visits.”

 

On what the plan is for Will Compton returning from injury

“The better he feels the more he’ll play. I thought he did pretty well out there yesterday.”

 

On what he saw from him when he was injured

“I didn’t see anything from him when he was out. He wasn’t at practice. He worked hard to get back. I think he is doing pretty well. I thought he looked good out there yesterday. He went for a good three-quarters of the practice and then we shut him down.”

 

On if he would feel comfortable putting Compton and Lavonte David on the field at the same time

“Depends on what package we’re in. You will definitely see that as the season goes on.”

 

On how much he stresses to his team to be the hunter as opposed to the hunted

“That’s the only way to go. You become the hunted you’re going to go down fast.”

 

On what he has seen from Cameron Meredith this season

“Cameron has played well. He’s really gotten better. I think he plays physical. He’s a good football player.”

 

On what has impressed him the most about the secondary this season

“I think it’s a lot of things. It’s the way you play, its execution. There are a lot of things that go into playing good pass defense.  It’s not just the secondary, it’s the linebacking corps, the pass rush, and all those things go hand-in-hand. There are strengths and weaknesses to everything that you do. At times I think we’ve played well. There are still a lot of things that we can get better at, and we are getting better as the year goes on.”

 

On the play of the offensive line

“I think they are playing well. I thought we played sub-par football a couple weeks ago, and I thought our guys responded last week. I do still think there are a lot of things we can still improve at, but I thought we played well the other day, especially inside.  I thought our guards played really well.”

 

On what they are looking for when they recruit junior college players

“We don’t spend a lot of time recruiting junior college guys, but when we do we’re very specific not only on the kid, but the situation, the type of kid he is. There are a lot of things that go into that. We really do our homework as far as that’s concerned.”

 

On if they spend more time evaluating a junior college player because they know they have to be right about them

“Like I said, we’re very specific and very picky when it comes to that.”

 

On the team’s response after last year’s loss to Texas

“I was proud of our football team and how we responded against a good Arizona team. I knew our guys would respond the right way.”

 

On what’s the one thing that concerns him about Texas the most

“Their team speed is tremendous. They are a very talented football team.  You couple that athleticism and speed with good coaching and it’s a formidable challenge.”

 

On if the Texas game last year was the game when the players realized they could play with anybody in the country

“I thought our guys - well before that - thought they could play with anybody.”

 

On how he would evaluate Eric Martin and Alonzo Whaley so far this season

“They just have to keep getting better. There are a lot of things to improve upon. They are both young and inexperienced, and they have a lot of things to learn. I’m seeing progress. I’m seeing it daily in practice. They just have to keep working at it. It’s not something that happens overnight, especially at that position.”

 

On if their progression was accelerated with the injuries of Compton and Sean Fisher

“Absolutely, you start gaining experience, you start gaining real experience on the field. Guys are going to improve from that.”

 

On if it is possible for a team to have a mental edge over a team based on history

“I think I’ve said that already. It’s going to be won Saturday. Whatever happened in the past, be it last year’s game or the last 10 years, they have nothing to do with what’s going to happen Saturday. None of those people that played in those games are playing this week. It’s a different time and place. The team that earns it is going to win. One of the things I wanted to say is I know our fans are going to be great this Saturday and it’s going to be loud, but with all the hype, especially you guys are giving this football game, I trust that our fans are going to treat Texas with tremendous respect. Throw everything else aside and all the things outside that people putting this on the game and that on the game. The last time we play Texas, I trust that our fans are going to treat Texas with tremendous respect and show these players and coaches and their program the respect they deserve, because I think they’ve earned that over a long period of time. I know our fans are great fans and I know that will happen.”