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Nebraska vs. Florida Atlantic
Head Coach Bo Pelini
Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014
Opening Statement
“I thought it was a good start for our team. I saw a lot of good things out there, and I saw a lot of things we're going to need to clean up and get fixed. I think we've got to disect this tape and look at where we are. We did what we should have done. We won a football game we should have won. We can get a lot more out of it by really looking at it and going through with a fine-tooth comb; evaluating what we need to evaluate. There's a lot more out there. But I thought it was a good start really in every phase. Fortunately we got a chance to play a lot of guys, so I was happy about that. We got a lot of guys on tape and a lot of guys evaluated. I'll open up for questions."
On what I liked about the game
“Well first of all, we didn't turn the football over. We should have had a chance for a couple takeaways, a couple that we probably could have scored on. We didn't take advantage of those opportunities. I did like that we took care of the football on offense. I thought we were pretty efficient on offense. There are some things I didn't like. It was weird, the penalties that happened. It wasn't like we had a bunch of false starts and things like that. Guys were being agressive and guys were within the play. I'll just have to take a look at them. We had a number of penalties that could have hurt us in the first half, and we were able to overcome that. You're not going to be able to do that consistently."
On the status of junior defensive end Randy Gregory
“We'll find out. He probably could have gone back in the game, but we decided not to. Probably going to take it day to day. It's hard to say right now."
On the performance of senior I-Back Ameer Abdullah
“He's special. I've been saying it. He's really good. He can run inside, run outside. He's a special player. He's a really good back. I think we showed that we have some other guys that can tote the ball that do a pretty good job, too. I thought our guys played well up front and were able to let that happen. I thought we executed pretty well on the running game."
On if he thought the game would be easy
“No. I didn't know. Our guys played hard. They had the right approach to the game. They didn't really care about what people thought or anything else. We went out and worried about us. We tried to execute out football, and I thought that was the right approach to have."
On the overall performance of sophomore quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr.
“You guys saw it. I thought he got better as camp went on and I thought that showed today. He put some balls on the money. There were a couple of throws he'd like back. There were a couple that involved some miscommunication between him and the receivers. But overall I thought he threw the ball well and managed the offense well. He had a good command out there. That has to be that way."
On the number of plays for short periods of time
“We played fast. I know it seemed like that third quarter went on for about eight hours. That was a long quarter. They threw it 30 times. Once it got up, I'm surprised we saw as many passes from them as we did. At the end of the day, we practiced fast and it was up to us to play fast. I really think our schedule through camp helped us a little bit. Our guys were fresh going into this thing and feeling good. That's always a plus."
On sophomore wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp's behind-the-back catch
“I've coached a lot of football, but I've never seen that one. I don't think I've ever seen that. That one's hard to explain. To even have the wherewithall to put your hands back there, it's amazing. I've always said, he catches everything that's near him. He showed that right there."
On the offense's future
“We practice against them on our side of the ball. Obviously I'm more of a defensive guy. This offense puts some stress on you. It's not easy to defend. It's hard to figure out all the different facets of them. We showed a little bit of it today. We didn't open up all the different things this offense can be."
On the performance of special teams
“Punt return I thought was OK. We took a couple shots that we faked that I thought were close. We weren't sure what they were going to give us. We had had an opportunity on the one where the ref picked our guy off early in the first half. If Kenny (Bell) catches that one on a run, we have a chance. He was one block away from going to the house. Overall I thought it was pretty good. I thought their punter had a heck of a day. That guy was good. He was getting hang time. It makes it difficult when a guy gets it that good. Overall, I'm glad we got a lot on film so we can make our adjustments and go."
On freshman wide receiver De'Mornay Pierson-El's future
“We have a lot of confidence in him. He's going to play a lot of football for us. He's a good football player. He's a mature football player who is ready to go. I have a lot of confidence in him."
On if he has reevaluated the offense
“No, I know what this offense has the potential to do. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think we beat a football team we were supposed to beat. I promise you when we look at the film, we're going to see a lot of things we don't like. That's just what our team set out there. We talked about it and our captains said it. We didn't come out here to beat Florida Atlantic. We won a game we should have won. I like the fashion we won it. At the end of the day, I promise you we haven't come close to arriving as a football team. It's not even close."