Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010
Pre-Texas A&M

On the comments he made about the crowd during the Kansas game
"It was just an observation. I'm not talking about that anymore. It's over and done with. There are going to be some fans that are always a little disgruntled."

On Texas A&M Head Coach Mike Sherman and the relationship they have
"He's doing a heck of a job at A&M. He's a good football coach. He hired me back when I chose to leave New England, whatever year that was, '99 or somewhere around there and went and talked to him and ended up working for him for three years. It was a good experience."

On if he thinks he has an advantage because he knows his offensive tendencies
"No, that was a different time, different place. Obviously, I know some of the things he does. It's different when you're coaching college as opposed to pro. Some things have changed. You can't do quite as much volume. I know he's a good football coach. They're a well-coached football team."

On how he would describe the Texas A&M offense
"Multiple. Good balance in it. Disciplined. I think the quarterback makes good decisions, and they have good talent, good skill people. It's a very well-thought out offense and they stretch you in a lot of different ways."

On how different they are with Ryan Tannehill at quarterback instead of Jerrod Johnson
"I think he's been decisive. He's playing well. They have done a good job of coaching him and getting him prepared. I don't think the offense has changed a whole heck of a lot, I just think they're executing at a little higher level right now."

On what he means when he says Tannehill is being more decisive
"He makes good reads. He understands the offense. He understands where to go with the ball. I think he does a good job of running the offense."

On if there is a risk for a disconnect between the fans by making comments about the crowd
"I don't think that deserves a disconnect with that fans. It was just an observation."

On Nebraska being a pretty proud fan base
"They should be. They're good fans. I don't get disgruntled when people criticize me. I could care less."

On if fans should have to bring their own atmosphere to the stadium or if they should have to wait for something to happen of the field
"Everybody feels a little different about that."

On how he feels about it
"I'm not talking about that anymore. I'm here to talk about Texas A&M."

On what Texas A&M does on defense that makes them so effective
"They play hard. They're talented. They fly around. I think they play really aggressively. I think that's the key to playing great defense is you have to fly around, you have play hard, and they're doing that. They're aggressive and they execute well."

On how important it will be to pressure the quarterback
"It's always a key. You want to get after the quarterback and make him uncomfortable. I think what they do well is they have good balance in their offense. I think they do a good job of self-scouting themselves. They stress you in a ton of ways. He doesn't get into a ton of third-and-long situations, and that helps you manage a game a little bit better from the quarterback position. It makes it harder to get after him. They do a good job of protecting him. You have to do a good job of making him uncomfortable and that's changing up your looks a little bit and mixing your defenses. Make him feel the pressure in the pocket."

On how much he emphasizes this week that they can clinch the Big 12 North title with a victory
"We don't' even talk about that. That all takes care of itself in time. All I'm concerned with is playing the best football we can on Saturday. That's just part of it. I haven't talked about it with the team, and I won't. I'm sure they understand it's out there, but we've got plenty to be motivated by beyond that."

On what motivations the team has past the Big 12 North title
"The No. 1 motivation we try to put on our football team is to get better each week and get better as a football team each and every day, and living in the moment. I believe all those other things, everything else that comes with it, it comes in time. It comes if you put your work in and you play the way you've been coached, you keep improving as a football team, you win football games, and the other aspect of it comes with it. You can't jump ahead."

On if he has seen his team improve
"I have. I think we're getting better in a lot of different ways, but I think there is a lot of room for improvement."

On if the team has developed the way he thought it would
"It's coming. Wish we had one more win than we have right now."

On if they are going in the right direction
"I think we are getting better. I think we've improved in some areas we needed to improve in. I look at it from a coach's standpoint, there are always things you can get better at. I still think there's a lot out there for this football team, a lot to improve upon. I think we've gotten better in some areas we needed to get better at because some of the guys who didn't have experience going in have grown and got better. I think we have to fix some things with our consistency."

On what the team needs to improve on
"The ball security bothers me. Some of the unnecessary penalties have bothered me and our consistency at times. It's a fight week in and week out to keep improving and keep getting better."

On if they have been able to figure out why they are having trouble with ball security
"No, not really. We emphasize it. We drill it. You have to take it to the field. I thought we went a couple weeks there where it really dramatically improved. Our execution improved, and then it kind of crept up the other day again. We just keep talking about it and keep working it. Some of those fumbles have been exchange problems out of the gun and some in the read game that comes with experience. It's an area we have to continue to clean up."

On Austin Cassidy's play over the past three games
"He's played good football. He's smart. He's tackled well. He's prepared himself well and he's taking it to the game on Saturday. He's played good football for us. He's made a lot of plays. I think he's only scratched the surface of what he's going to become. He's continuing to improve. Every time you start, every time you walk out there, I think his confidence is growing because he is playing well. It's one thing to do it practice, it's another thing to do it when it's happening for real and be able to execute. You grow through that process. I think that Austin has done that."

On the atmosphere at Kyle Field in College Station
"It's a great environment for college football. It's loud. It's a really good environment. The fans are into it."

On if there are similarities between Husker fans and Aggie fans
"Our fans are better than the Aggie fans. They have a good culture around their program. They support it well. They're into it. It's a unique environment. I don't know what they call that, I know they have some type of thing on Friday night, like cheer practice or whatever, so there are certain unique traditions with every program, and I think they have their own. They do a good job with it."

On how important it was to get Martinez in last week knowing he was going into this hostile environment this week
"I thought it was big. You didn't want him to be sitting for two weeks. We were a little guarded with Taylor early in the game, and I think Taylor was a little bit guarded. He wasn't sure where he was going to be, and I thought as the game went on he grew more confident, which was a big key. We didn't want to sit him for two weeks. I thought it was important for him to get reps. That's one of the reasons he was in at the end of the football game was to continue to get him some more reps. He hasn't played a ton of football. This is only his first year, so you miss a week you're going to be a little rusty. I think that was part of the deal."

On if it's tough to not look back at the Texas game
"I really don't look back. It's about looking forward. I look back for like one day and then it's time to move on and continue to move forward and keep getting better. That's the furthest thing from my mind right now is what happened a month ago, or however long that was. You look back when the season's over to learn from what happened, and hopefully we've already done that and be able to progress and move forward."

On if he likes hearing Taylor Martinez say it's, 'his team'
"I don't know what he meant. I didn't hear the comment, but that's the type of attitude every guy should have. You hope that's the attitude across the board on your football team."

On how much pressure Rex Burkhead and the wildcat take off Taylor Martinez
"It's just another piece of the puzzle, another thing people have to prepare for. I think Rex does it well. I don't think we executed it as well in the last game as we have, but it's all part of the puzzle."

On Alonzo Whaley
"He continues to get better. He's improving. He's a good football player. We needed some guys to step up when a couple of the injuries happened and I think he's done that. He needs to continue on the road he is on because I see him getting better each and every day."

On if it will be harder to recruit Texas now that they aren't playing games down there
"No, I don't think so. I don't know. Time will tell on that, but we've had good reception down in Texas. You hope to continue the relationships that you've had. You have to ask me that a couple of years down the road here, because I think there are a lot of unknowns as to how the move will affect you in a number of ways."

On if the opportunity to play in Texas was something they told recruits they were pursuing from the state
"Somewhat, but most of the time families now travel. It's not that hard to get to Lincoln and to come to games here. Bottom line, you see Big Ten teams recruiting well in the state of Texas. It's not like we would be down there alone. There is a lot of talent down there, a lot of people, so there's more to choose from obviously when you're talking about a population base like you're dealing with in Texas"

On if Alfonzo Dennard showed any rust last week after missing the Iowa State game
"No, I thought Alfonzo played well. I thought it was good to get him back out there. He was excited to get back out there. I thought he played well."

On if the way Dennard approaches the game adds something to the defense
"He's a competitor. Alfonzo really competes. I love the way he plays and he's and integral part of our defense. He brings a type of attitude and he really brings that every day. He just loves to play the game. I think it shows in the results that he brings."