Penn State Head Coach Bill O'Brien Quotes

Nebraska Football
Postgame Quotes
Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012
vs. Penn State 

Penn State Head Coach Bill O'Brien Quotes

Opening statement and on the fumble recovery for touchback
"We felt like it was over the goal line, they (the referees) did not think they could reverse it though. There wasn't enough evidence to reverse the call. I think he tried to reach it out. I will have to see the tape. We can't do that, but he was just trying to make a play. Good kid trying to make a play."

On turnovers in the red zone
"They kill you. You can't turn the ball over inside the red zone. These are good kids, Zach (Zwinak) is twisting trying to gain extra yards, I think he gained eight yards on the play. Matt (Lehman) was just trying to make a play, and at the end of the day you have to come away with scores when you are playing Nebraska, a team that is probably going to score a lot of points. That was not good on our part, but we just have to go back to work on Monday, and these guys will, they will go back to work. This is a good group of kids, we have been to this point in the season and have played hard, just got to correct things and coach better, and play better next Saturday."

On if there is a conspiracy theory that the Big Ten is trying to make Penn State lose (going back to the fumble into the end zone)
"I would just say to the fans of Penn State that this is a very... even though it is not a undefeated team, a very special team with kids that are working hard. We don't feel like anyone is out to get us, we are just trying to figure out how to score on offense, and stop people on defense, and be good on special teams. We need the fans of Penn State to stick with us. This football team stuck with Penn State, and we need the fans of Penn State to stick with us at the Indiana game and the Wisconsin game."

On the wind at the game
"At the end of the day I think our kids handled it pretty well. I don't think there were any bad plays because of the wind. It did factor in to certain play calls. They (Nebraska) had a great punt there at the end. I don't know it must have been 70-something yards and pinned us inside the five. That was a great punt."

On Taylor Martinez
"Yeah he is a great player. In this league we face some really good athletic quarterbacks. You look at the kids at Northwestern, Ohio State and Taylor Martinez. These guys are good players, they can run, they can throw, so he was difficult tonight. But our guys played hard. They did the best they could. We just need to go back to work on Monday."

On if this loss is any different than any other loss
"No, losing is a terrible feeling, miserable. It is like a party that dies, it doesn't feel any different, it feels not very good."

On how he felt at halftime
"Yeah we figured they would probably pressure us a little bit more and do some things differently. We have got to do things coaching wise and playing wise. We moved the ball in the second half. We had some good drives there we just didn't come away with touchdowns. We either turned it over or kicked field goals, again we just need to go back to work on Monday."

On the kicking game
"I was impressed, I thought both Sam (Ficken) and Alex (Butterworth) did a nice job."

On the penalty on the sideline
"It wasn't on Coach (John) Butler, I guess the ref was running down the sideline and ran into a player and I guess that is sideline interference."

Closing Statement
"We have a bunch of great kids, just felt terrible that we lost this game. We lost to a great football team, a very well coached football team. We got to get back to work on Monday."