Safety P.J. Smith

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Sept. 10, 2012
Pre-Arkansas State

Sr. Safety P.J. Smith
On how hard was it to go back and watch film from UCLA
“Hard, frustrating, especially at the end. We just killed ourselves. On the defensive side of the ball we missed a lot of tackles. It was just frustrating, I watched it yesterday and it wasn’t us.”

On the swing pass and why they could not stop it
“Just about communication, and seeing it. A couple of guys we miscommunicated to it and we weren’t on the same page, then missed tackles like the rest of the game.”

On how the team is feeling
“Hard to describe, I can’t use certain words, but it is pretty frustrating. I mean, the good thing about it is our main goal to win the Big Ten is still out there, this is just a minor setback. This week we have to get better and take care of business.”

On what he expects on the offensive side of the ball from Arkansas State
“Really what a lot of spread offenses do. Try and pass the ball and they have a running game too. We need to be ready for the challenge that they will bring us.

On how do they start to finish plays on defense
“Practice, just taking them down at practice. I am sure we will do that this week against the scout team. Like I said, we were there, we just need to make the plays.

On what he thinks practice will be like this week
“I mean every practice is intense, but this week we need more of a sense of urgency at our practice. A sense of getting the job done and hold everyone accountable.”

On if they were over confident
“I don’t think so, on defense we knew we would be challenged, but we knew if we went out there and did what we needed we would have won. We let the team down on defense, we gave up too many yards and points, and like I said before, missed tackles.”

On if he thought they missed too many tackles while he was in the game
“Yeah it crossed our mind a lot, we went down on the sideline and talked about if we made this tackle right then and there then we would have been off the field a lot faster.”

On how quick does he want to get back on the field after a loss
“Bad, just to erase that bad taste I have in my mouth. So this morning I was talking to Damion (Stafford), like let’s just go to practice now instead of class, so we can get this taste out of our mouths. I wish it was Saturday right now so we can get that winning mentality back."

On what went wrong on D
“To me everything went wrong on defense, from the first play to the last play, that’s just how I saw it when I watched film. One thing Coach Joseph and Coach Papuchis say is if we win first and second down, then third down is our money down. And I feel like we didn’t take care of first and second down, because when they came up on third down it felt like it was third and short. That is what kills us, if it is third and short, then it is really tough to stop them. We just shot ourselves in the foot bottom line. It is time to get better as a team and move on, offense, defense and special.” Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONE