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Jake Cotton
Senior, Offensive Guard
Nebraska Football Weekly Press Conference
Monday, Sept. 8, 2014
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
On what he hopes to find out about his team on the road this week
“Your first road test of the year you kind of see maybe the maturity level of the team. How well we can approach the business trip, because that’s what it is. So just seeing how we take that approach this week. It’s going to be interesting. I expect that we will take it seriously and treat it like a business trip.”
On being on the road
“We love playing at home, we love our fans. With going on the road, it’s just the guys. I’ve always kind of liked the fact that you live in that bubble. More so when you’re on the road. Distractions are minimized. Everybody’s living in that bubble so to speak.”
On what happened on the tripping play and the ineligible guy on the field
“Both of them had moves by me. Tripping play I thought they were going to bring thunder backside. Technique would try to cross my face. They bluffed and I threw a cut when I shouldn’t have thrown a cut. The guys behind me, I left my leg up to try to get them down. So that’s on me, a bone-head play by me. As a senior, as a captain I can’t do that at that point in the game. I have to be smarter than that and I have to execute better. Downfield, it was 3rd-and-2, we ran a sprint out. The way the crowd reacted I thought Tommy (Armstrong Jr.) was downfield making a run and he actually ran back the other way. I was just trying to block, get a block downfield. Even then it’s an idiotic play by me, it was stupid. I hurt the team because Westy (Jordan Westerkamp) had a great catch. Really both things come down to me not being smart and kind of letting the game get to me. Just trying to play outside of the offense maybe, trying to do too much. Both definitely hurt us and I’m lucky that didn’t cost us the game.”
On the pressure mounding and trying to keep this going after making a mistake
“You just have to execute. You just have to run the offense. McNeese State thought that they could win. That’s the same team we played at the beginning of the game and at the end of the game. They were doing their dances before kickoffs and stuff like that. That’s who they were. They came in and they expected to compete and they did compete.”
On Fresno State
“Good bunch. They look like a good bunch of guys. Their record doesn’t really speak the type of team they are. They’re big and they’re aggressive so it will be a tough challenge.”
On Fresno State’s defense
“Well they’re an odd team. Mainly guards aren’t covered. Kind of like Georgia in the bowl game. I’ve had quite an experience with odd, and most of the other guys in our room have had experience with odd. Going back to when we first got here and we played several opponents last year. It’s definitely different. We’ll just have to spend a little extra time in the room and get the feel for it and get a better idea of what we’re doing on certain plays.”
On this being his senior year and making the Fresno State a good game
“Obviously I want to go out there and get the W. I don’t think that too many guys are thinking back to UCLA two years ago thinking well we lost last time. This is a new group, this is a new team. We have several of the same faces around but we certainly don’t feel like we can’t play out in California or we can’t play on the road because I don’t think that’s true. We’re excited to go out to California and compete against a good football team.”
On the 7:30 p.m. (local) kickoff time under the lights in California
“We don’t schedule it but that’s football. You just play whenever they tell you play. Whether it’s at 11 a.m. last week or 7:30 p.m. this week. Your approach doesn’t change. You just have to go out there and execute.”
On getting ready during the game
“You look at your notes a little bit, throughout the day. You can’t really cram for a game. If you’re up there in your room all day Saturday trying to look up as much as you can then you’re not prepared. You didn’t do your work during the week. You have to do a little of both. Look at notes and kind of relax a little bit. You just have to stay focused.”
On sending a message to the nation or just getting a win as a team
“I don’t think we’re too concerned about sending a message to the nation or the conference. I think we know we didn’t execute as well as we should have on Saturday and I think we’re just looking to prove to each other as a team that we can go out and do certain things. This group isn’t concerned about national news or local perceptions. I think we’re just disappointed in how we played because I think it hurt our team. We’re going in to this week trying to prove to ourselves and to our teammates that we are a better team.”