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Nebraska vs. Iowa
Nebraska Player Quotes
Saturday, Nov. 29, 2013
Redshirt Freshman Linebacker Michael Rose
On how much the game wore on the defense
"I think we did a great job of persevering throughout the whole game. We were put in some pretty rough spots but I think all in all we did a great job of continuing to play and continuing to fight. It was just unfortunate we were put in those situations, but we have to respond. We did sometimes. Sometimes we didn't. That cost us the ball game. All in all I believe we played a pretty good game defensively. We just continued to fight. There were so many things going on this year. Outside and inside distractions. Things that could've taken the season to a really bad place. We continue to fight and we continue to be with each other. I don't see anything different happening as we get ready for the bowl game."
On the speculation
"I don't think (it bothered us). Coach Bo (Pelini) did a great job this year of making sure we focus on what we need to focus on. I think guys played really hard today. I think we were just unfortunately not able to get the victory. Like I said, we still have a lot of things to work on and improve on in the next month or so until our bowl game."
On Pelini
"He's a guy that will go in the ring and fight 12 rounds for you and give it his all. He's been a guy that's helped so many of these guys get out of situations coming from home. He's been a father figure to a lot of guys who don't have a father figure in their lives. He's been a great teacher in terms of life lessons as well as football-wise. I think the main attribute anyone will say is he is willing to fight for his players. I think that's been our mentality. We've been put into a corner and told we're not going to be able to do this, we're not going to be able to do that. And we just still kept swinging. And that's the attitude he's helped us develop over time within this program, which goes beyond on the field but also off the field. We do a great job in our community of understanding perspective and understanding what are the important things in life. I couldn't ask for a better leader or a better guy to help us get to those places as men, more than just as football players. He means a lot to everyone on this team. I'm sure everyone has stories individually that they can give you and whatnot. I know he's a man that is willing to fight for you. And I can respect that and I appreciate that from him."
On if the defense was in disbelief at times
"No I don't think so. Sometimes you get dealt a bad hand and you have to play it. That's kind of what we got but we still have a job to do. That doesn't mean they have to score or they have to put points on the board. We still have to do our job. At times we were able to do that and at times we weren't. Another thing we can work on is putting our foot down and saying, 'no, you are not going to score on this drive.' Regardless of the situation you are put in, it's not always going to be sunny outside, so you have to be prepared for the storms and adversity that comes your way."
On a play they wish they'd stopped
"The outside stretch play when (Iowa) got down to the goal line and then scored on the next play definitely was one. I believe we were still down seven at the time. A stop there would've turned the game around for us. But we were unable to make the stop. That was one of the things, but I don't think one play particularly justify a win or loss."
On how physical Iowa's offense was
"It's a Big Ten team. It's a Division I team. There's going to be physical guys up there. I thought we were prepared with the way we played Michigan State and as well as we played Penn State. They're a Big Ten team. They're a Division I team. They're going to play physical. I think we matched their physicality today. Like I said, we left some plays out there that I wish we would've gotten. We'll watch the film and get better at those things."
On if Iowa did what they expected
"They maybe ran four or five different plays just out of different sets. Just trying to wear us down. But I thought we did a great job of hanging in there in times when drives got long or when we were put in those situations. I just appreciate those guys, especially the seniors out there who kept fighting and kept fighting. The outcome didn't come our way but I just want to say publicly that I appreciate those seniors, thos guys just because I know coming into the year the linebacker core was looked at as a weak spot. We were looked at as, 'what are we going to do with this group of guys?' Guys kept putting trust in us and faith in us, like Ciante (Evans), and Jason (Ankrah) and Thad (Randle). Guys just kept putting trust in us. We had our faults and our mistakes but they continued to put confidence in us and give us tips and just be helpful. Just be mentors and great leaders and great teammates. My heart goes out to them. I wish we would've gotten the 'W' for them but we weren't able to."
Senior Quarterback Ron Kellogg III
On how he's feeling
"I'm fine."
On looking sick on the sidelines
"It was something I had to get over with. And get over it because we still had a football game. Just a little sore throat. That's all it was."
On if it affected him at all
"No. Not really."
On the early interceptions
"I think it was just bad decision-making on my part. I could have helped it by going quicker. But at the same time, it's something I can fix for the bowl game. And then we were able to fix it throughout the game because we were able to move the ball down the field."
On what affected the running game
"It didn't really affect too much. We were still able to get chunks of yards, which is what we want, especially on first down. We want to get at least four or five yards. We could've helped it a little bit by spreading them out on play action. (Iowa is) a good opponent and their linebacker (James Morris) is a heckuva player."
On the last time he took that many shots in a row
"Penn State."
On if it was as intense as it was at Penn State
"It was about the same but I'm not going to lay down and quit since that's what any other individual would do. I still have a job to do. I just want to make a point that we are still going to fight regardless of if we are up or down. It happens."
On what the bowl game means to him
"I'm sure it's going to affect everyone. Everyone is going to want to put forth a lot of effort and obviously win their very last game. A lot of the seniors are disappointed, including myself. Not to get a victory in your last home game...there's a lot of stuff we can look at off of this film and learn from. (We need to) fix mistakes and carry it over into the bowl game."
Senior Offensive Lineman Jeremiah Sirles
On the loss
"Starting right away with those two early turnovers, we put our defense in a pretty bad spot. You don't want to start a game like that. That's just been something that's happening to us. It's almost become who we are, and that really sucks. It's almost like we can't hold onto the ball for certain things. We showed some life there at the end of the half when we drove down. The upsetting thing is that we played so poorly and there were two times we were within seven points with the ball. We fumbled with that one and we went 3-and-out with the other one. It just shows that if we can take care of the ball and take care of ourselves, we can drive the ball and score even with a beat-up offense."
On the coaching speculation affecting players
"We all come to work every day knowing that we have a job to do. If it's the coach, he knows he's coming to coach. If it's me, I know I'm coming to block. If it's Ameer, he knows he's coming to run. Yeah, at times it can get distracting, but at no point in time was I ever concerned about it. I love Coach Bo (Pelini). I love our coaching staff, and I have the utmost respect for this entire coaching staff. They're like fathers to me, every single one of them. Yeah, it sucks that sometimes people talk about that, but that's the nature of the beast around this place."
On Coach Bo Pelini returning next season
"I sure hope so. I've spent five years with this guy, and he's made me the best man that I could possibly be. It wouldn't matter if I went to any other school that I had offers to. I'm the best man possible because of that man upstairs and what he's done for this program. He's turned a no-bowl-game team into an eight-win team with a chance to win nine, going to another bowl game. He's accomplished a 3.0 GPA for the first time ever. The strives he's made for us, not just as players but as individuals, is huge. I sure hope he returns, because this program can only go up. I hope he returns because I hope that in ten years I can bring my wife or my girlfriend and I can say, 'This is Coach Bo. This is who made me who I am.'"
On the offense's season
"It's been one of the most frustrating years, but it's also been one of the most humbling years. We started off the year with everyone back: an All-American offensive lineman, a first-team All-Big Ten quarterback, myself as second team, and Ameer (Abdullah) second team. We had all these high hopes and then it seemed like one after another Taylor (Martinez) goes down, Spencer (Long) goes down, I go down. The great thing was that a lot of guys showed how tough they were and how they were able to step up. I think Ron Kellogg III would have told me I was crazy if I told him he was going to be starting the senior game his senior year. Ryne Reeves, too, if I would have told him he was going to be starting over Spencer Long in the senior game. You can go right down the line with Tommy Armstrong Jr., Brandon Reilly and Sam Burtch. You can go right down the line with guys who just stood up and fought. I think that's the way our whole offense has been this year. Nothing's been pretty. We didn't have the games like last year where we put up some 60-some points. We had to fight for every point we earned and every yard we carried. We found a way to have Ameer have a great season, and it's just a testament to who we are. That's another part of our culture here. It doesn't matter who's up. It doesn't matter who's down. It's just the next person in the fight. You just have to keep rolling with it."
On how close he thinks the team is to where they want to be
"This is the closest team I've ever been a part of. I think you saw from the beginning of the year on our defensive side. You saw the struggles, and now let's call a spade a spade, they're carrying the offense right now. They come out there and they're playing lights out. We give them the ball inside the 25 three times, and there's three touchdowns. Any time you do that to any defense, it's tough. I think that just shows the growth and the understanding on the defensive side of the ball. I think it was big that Tommy (Armstrong Jr.) got a lot of reps this year. Tommy's going to be the leader of this quarterback race with Tommy and Johnny (Stanton). Ameer (Abdullah) is coming back. Kenny (Bell) is coming back. A lot of the young guys who played on the offensive line are coming back next year. Like I said, the only place they'll go is up. I think next year, and even in the bowl game, we're going to get a lot of work in. We're going to get in a lot of good work with the older guys and the younger guys, and we're going to come out and have a successful bowl game to lead onto some momentum for those guys going into next year."
On what he'll remember from this team
I'll just remember the fight that this team had. It's not easy losing a quarterback or an offensive lineman; your captains. Two captains go down in a season. That's tough. I'll remember the fight and resilliency that this offense and this team had. People were saying that our defense was terrible this year, and they come back to where they're carrying the offense. I'll remember how we fought for each other, how we played for each other, how we played for the coaches upstairs, and how the coaches coached for us. I'm just going to remember this season as a group of men (because there are no boys on that team) who came together to achieve a greater goal than just themselves."
Junior Wide Receiver Kenny Bell
On how the game got away
"Turnovers, man. It's the same story, different week. We have to get it fixed, and it's players. Players have to figure it out. It's gotten to the point where there's not much more the coaches can do for us. They coach us high and tight. We run the drills. We do it over and over and over again, and we turn the rock over. As a coach, you can't do much about that. It's a frustrating thing as a player, knowing that we're making mistakes to lose us football games. It's real frustrating."
On what Bo Pelini has meant to him
"Bo Pelini is a father figure to me. He's literally changed my life. I would play for Bo Pelini against Satan himself and a team of demons at the gates of the underworld. I love Coach Pelini, and I can say that with confidence for everybody in that locker room, every guy that's played for him. People don't appreciate how much more this game is to the guys that do it every day. Yeah, it's a fun thing to play on Saturdays, but it's a livelihood for us. It's what we do. It's fun at times, but on days like this you really have to rally around each other and look at what really matters. Coach Pelini and this staff have changed the culture of the men around this place. You can see it in everything that we do."
On overcoming the bowl-game hump
"I would say we're going to prepare the same way we always do, but that hasn't worked for us in the past couple years. We'll see where we're heading, but we're going to prepare. We've never had issues practicing. We've had great weeks of practice. We prepare our tails off, but injuries and turnovers have really been the bug this year. We're winning football games with offensive linemen at 75 percent and wide receivers with bilateral MCL strains. I mean, it's been a rough year with the adversity that hit this place. 10 weeks ago, if you would have told me that Ryker Fyfe had a chance to throw a touchdown pass to Lane Hovey in this game, you would have been like, 'Who?' That could have been a possibility. If Ron (Kellogg III) would have gone out, Ryker Fyfe would have been in. Not to take away from Ron, but who foresees something like that throughout a season? I'm proud of our guys. I'm proud of our fight and how we respond to adversity. It just wasn't for us today."
On his response to those doubting Bo Pelini
"The proof is in the pudding. If you win eight, nine ten games every year, especially where I'm from, Boulder (Co.), are you kidding? If they had a nine-win football season, they would be ecstatic. One thing I would say is just that we're a family. People are saying it's about the wins, but the man has the wins, and the way he's going about it is life-changing to guys around here. Look at some of these guys and where they come from and how they were raised, myself included. Words can't really describe how much I appreciate the head man."