Nebraska vs. Illinois
Head Coach Bo Pelini
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014
Opening Statement
“Well we're happy for the win. Like I just told the team, I think there were some positives from this win, but a lot of things we need to get cleaned up. We still have a long way to go as a team. There's no question. Like I said, there's a lot of good things in there, but we're nowhere near what we're capable of being or where we want to be. I didn't like the way we started defensively. I liked the way we started offensively. We've got to quit shooting ourselves in the foot early on in the games defensively. We eventually settled down and played pretty well. But there were some things that were inexcusable that happened early in the game. It was more us than what they did. I didn't like the way we finished offensively. Any time you turn the football over, which we did a couple times tonight, that's going to kill you down the road. So like I said, there were a lot of positives, but a lot of things we need to clean up. I'll open up for any questions."
On if the offense has a pretty good formula for Big Ten play
“It's a good formula if we play cleaner ourselves. There were times we didn't play very clean. At the end of the day, if you want to be a great football team, which we're not yet, you have to have high standards. We do. That's what we hold our guys to. And believe me, I take a lot of things statistically. But the stats don't win football games. We have a lot of things we need to keep going and get better at as a football team."
On the status of senior I-back Ameer Abdullah
“Oh he's fine. Ameer's good. J Mitch (Josh Mitchell) is good. He's fine. He gave me a little scare. I thought it was going to be a bad one. But he's good. It was actually his hip more than his knee, which is good news."
On what he thinks of sophomore defensive back Nate Gerry's interception
“There were a lot of things that turned things in our favor, but I thought Nate Gerry made a heckuva play. We got our hands on and got good pressure. I thought we did a good job at times of executing. We gave the quarterback some different looks and different packages. I thought it bothered him a little bit. And Nate Gerry's a guy who you can put in center field, and if they hang the ball up there, he's going to go get it. He showed that."
On the success on the defensive strategy of the safety position
“Well it's something I've used for a long time. You have to be ready and be able to execute it what we wanted to do out of it. I thought this was a good week. Some weeks fit from week to week. It fit from what we wanted to do against what they wanted to do and what they were trying to do offensively. I thought it was good. I thought it was really effective for us. We had some free hitters. I thought we bothered the quarterback. Threw him off rhythm a little bit. I didn't want to run in toward the end of the game. I tried to uphold that package a little bit more towards the end. I think there's a lot more we can do out of that, but I thought for the first time, for this group doing it, that they were pretty effective at it."
On having sophomore quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. in most of the game
“I didn't like the way we were finishing. And he was fine. It was 38-14. We needed one more I thought to put the game away. We were going to leave him in there until we felt we needed to."
On if he feels that Armstrong's decisions are where they need to be heading into Michigan State
“Yes. I think he's made some really good decisions. Obviously the pick wasn't. He threw late. The old saying is if you throw over the middle, it's a recipe for disaster. Let's face it. Tommy is still a young guy. But he's been really effective, and for the most part has made pretty good decisions. He's been operating on offense with pretty good efficiency."
On the performance of the offense beginning in the first quarter
“I thought we really came out well running the football. You know 190 yards, some teams are happy to do that in the game. We did it in the first quarter. That changes a football game. That wears on people. It takes the wind out of people's sails. There's nothing more demoralizing than when you can't stop the run. So I think that really set the tone for the football game."
On if there is ample motivation heading into Michigan State based on what happened last year
“You know the way it turned out year, it turned out. They're a good football team and it's going to be a heckuva challenge for us on the road to win the football game. Every week is motivation for us. At the end of the day, and I know you probably get sick of hearing it, but we've got to get better. We've got to get better this week to be able to go on the road and win against a good football team. We need to fix us first. We can't start the way we did defensively the way we did today. Can't shoot ourselves in the foot and have the turnovers and things like that. Things that don't magnify themselves tonight could magnify themselves a week from now. I don't know how that game is going to go. I don't have a crystal ball, but what we can control is getting better ourselves to give us the best opportunity to win the football game."
On what he liked from Abdullah tonight
“I like everything I see from Ameer. He's a pretty special player. I mean he got hit in the knee and got a little bruise. We felt the game was in hand. Obviously we have a lot of good running backs. So we pulled the plug on him early in the third quarter and I thought that was the right thing to do."