Nebraska vs. BYU
Sept. 5, 2015
Junior Safety Nate Gerry
On his vantage point of the final play
"We had a plan where I was the jumper and we had some other guys up front that were supposed to kind of jam them and not let their receivers run down the field. Another guy came on the back side ran a deep post, and he went up and got it."
On if it surprised him that the receiver was there because a lot of times he was on the other side
"From my vantage point, I didn't see him until last second, but as a defense as a whole we all didn't execute on that type of play. Those are the types of things that we worked on in fall camp, and you don't think it's going to happen until it actually happens, so it was a tough play."
On if the play felt like it lasted about twice as long as it actually did
"You kind of see the quarterback running around and it's kind of nerve-racking, and you don't know what to do. You just hope for the best and try to make a play, and that dude made a nice play."
On how he felt about the consistency of the defense throughout the game
"It was the first game of the year. We had some young guys out there and we weren't all on the same page on some of the plays. We would communicate one thing and not simply execute it. We let a lot of big plays hurt us. A lot of just fundamental errors from the safeties' and corners' standpoint, where we communicated sometimes but just didn't fully execute the play."
On if he thought about the Northwestern Hail Mary after the last play
"Not until I got in the locker room, I thought about it, it was in the same spot Westy (Jordan Westerkamp) caught his with a backup quarterback to launch it in like we did with Ron (Kellogg), so it's kind of like a good/bad memory. I don't know how you would say it."
On his momentum-shifting interception
"We needed a jump. On the sideline, we needed juice or something to spark us and the best way to do it as a team is for the defense to start making plays, and we were in a cover-three zone, and I just kind of played the wide receiver and made the play. And that's one thing we needed in the game, it's a part of being a leader. A leader's gotta make plays and turn things around and I think that helped us get momentum, but we just couldn't keep it toward the end of the game. We couldn't finish, and that's the one thing we need to work on is finishing and doing the little things right."
On what it felt like playing around a bunch of guys who are young and getting some of the first moments of their career
"It was tough for them getting thrown into a chance like that, but there's a reason they're out there with us. We believe in these guys as a team, and I also believe in those guys and I don't see any difference in us. That's one thing I like in our secondary group is that we do have a lot of depth. We could put any guy in any situation. We had senior DD (Daniel Davie) (go) down and replaced him with Trai Mosley in his first game. It's tough, but you gotta be ready and be prepared and I'm excited that we do have depth in the secondary, but one thing that we gotta work on as a whole defense is we gotta practice better."
On what he saw from the young guys on the sideline and how they handled adjustments
"We were all there once. From my standpoint, I kind of try to just talk them through it and ask them questions like what they're thinking and why we're doing this and why we have to do this, but they made good adjustments with the coaches. They were pretty set back with it but as a secondary we didn't execute the communication going across the board including myself we just didn't play very well as a secondary group."
On what their process is to move on
"We gotta come back and practice Monday."
Junior Tight End Trey Foster
On if he was out on the field in short yard situations
"I was out there for a couple situations, but you know, personnel-wise I probably wasn’t in there for the majority."
On how he felt they played on offense overall
"I feel like we were our biggest enemy today. Penalties really hurt us a lot, but it’s something we can obviously work on, and something that says, you know, we can only get better at this point."
On how do they come back from this as a team and what's the key to responding to it
"Coach talked to us before the game and basically told us, you know, we’ll figure out what kind of guys we are during the game, and when stuff hits the fan, and you know if you’re gonna start pointing the finger, or you’re gonna start coming together as a unit, and as a family, and taking everything on as a team. And, you know, today it didn’t go our way, but I say we did come together as a team. And we will continue to do so."
On if Tommy and Alex talked and what their message was
"You know, not to hang your heads about this. Once again, you got a lot of, you’ve got a good amount of guys that have never played college football before on the big stage, and you know it’s a learning experience for a lot of guys. You know, it’s a tough loss, but once again it’s the first game of the season, so we got a lot of room to make up from here."
On how it felt to come out and have a touchdown
"It feels great. Ankle-wise and in my heart to get my first touchdown in college football."
Asked to go through the play where he scored the touchdown
"You know, at that point in the game I had already kind of tweaked up my ankle a little bit. I went down before that. And we called the play and I knew it was made for me and I was like 'Oh geez, here’s the defining moment. I’m not worried about this ankle right now, I’m just gonna make sure I make this play.' And Tommy put the ball perfect for me and put it on me and I made the play. I’m happy for it, so exciting."
On if that play was designed for him
"No, it wasn’t designed for me, but you know, it’s a great play for me, per se, because it’s another tight end throw."
On if he knew it was going to work and if he had a good feeling about that play
"We’ve been over things a lot in film, you know, with the way certain things look and the way we scouted guys and the way we prepare for games, you know, you kinda get a feeling of what’s kinda gonna work, what’s kinda not gonna work, what’s gonna be difficult, when you’re gonna have to make a play, and when things are gonna come out a little tougher."
Freshman Safety Aaron Williams
On the coaches postgame talk in the locker room
"They told us to keep our heads up, it was a hard fought game. They also said we've got to learn from our mistakes."
On that postgame talk helping
"I mean it helped. The loss hurt on that Hail Mary, but we also know that we did a lot of good things in the game and we just got to clean up our mistakes that were lead to the Hail Mary."
On the timeout talk before the Hail Mary
"They told us to make sure we stay deeply on the deepest man and when the ball goes, to try and take the ball."
On whether or not they were told to be in front of the receiver
"Actually the way our Hail Mary defense is set up, we have three people in back and the rest of the guys defending the front just in case of a tip and also we have one jumper so we wouldn't be confused on the tip ball, but we could'nt execute the play."
On practicing the Hail Mary defense play
"We practice it everyday. We practiced it yesterday too in our walk through."
On which defender is supposed to jump in that play
"In that case, I think it is the place of our safety. I'm not sure."
On Williams location during the play
"I'm on the back side with the single receiver side. I have anything that comes out to the flats or any that hook lateral."
On being involved in a prior game with a finish like this
"One time in high school I was on the receiving end of the Hail Mary, but this is my first time in college."
On the adjustments made after halftme
"When we came back at halftime we were relaxed because we caught our breath and our coach told me and Dedrick (Young) to keep playing. They had the older guys help us communicate to help us play better."
On making major adjustments
"No, actually we didn't make any major adjustments. We kept running the same stuff we were running, we just cleaned up the mistakes we made in the first half."
On the atmosphere of the game
"It lived up to all the hype that was going into the game, because this is my first time playing. They had been preparing us since the weekend and they've been getting our mind right.
On being hyped after the tunnel walk
"I was hyped up because this is my biggest crowd I've ever played for in my life."
On blocking it out
"No (it wasn't hard), once you get to playing the game. After my first series I was calm and relaxed."
Junior Quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr.
On what his message was to the team after the game
“I told them we kind of beat ourselves. We left points out there. We missed a couple field goals. We didn’t get first downs when we needed to. We just couldn’t capitalize when we needed to. I felt like, as an offensive guy, we had a chance to end the game there, with our last play right before we kicked the field goal. We didn’t capitalize when we needed to, and it sucks to have that happen to you. You work your tail off for the whole entire game, and all of a sudden, you get it taken away from you. That was kind of my message. We’ve got to let it go now. It’s in the past. We’ve got South Alabama to look forward to. That was kind of my message, we’ve just got to let it go. It happened. We let it happen. We could’ve avoided that situation, but we didn’t so it’s on us. We’ve got to fix it and not be in that situation next week.”
On what needs to be done to get more consistency in the running game
“We’ve just got to execute up front, be able to block out wide – we’re doing a great job with that. They’re making plays out wide, but at the same time we’ve just got to realize that when we make plays out wide, that opens up gaps for the inside zone plays, and the running game for the running backs. We kind of saw that in the third and fourth quarters, but sometimes it got out of hand and we couldn’t get yards when we needed to.”
On the difference between the first and second quarters
“I wouldn’t say we did anything wrong, we just weren’t being smart. We kind of killed ourselves in certain situations when it came to getting first downs. False starts, holding calls, illegal procedure, things like that just being able to move the chains without a setback, and I think that we’ve just got to communicate (better). We did a great job at it the whole game, I think. There were times and situations where we didn’t communicate well, and that’s what got us to have those kind of plays. When you’re set to have 1st-and-10, 2nd-and-3 to 2nd-and-15 for a holding call or a block in the back or things like that. We’ve just got to be smart, and take care of the football.”
On how he thinks the team will bounce back
“This is the first game. That’s kind of what my message was. We’ve got to move on. We had a long, long game. It’s a long, long season. We’ve got 10 more games in in a row. This is only the first one. We’ve got nicks and bruises, but I think everybody’s going to be fine. Everybody’s going to come back and work as hard as they did this week just to prepare. Nobody likes to lose. We’re looking forward to next Saturday, kind of coming in and preparing like we did this week, and just be able to go out there and have fun with my teammates.”
On what he was thinking during the final play
“Like I was telling Zo (Alonzo Moore), the only thing they had to worry about was just going up and batting the ball down. Don’t worry about catching the ball, just keep your eyes on the ball. Don’t follow the guys that were running, you need to look for the ball. As we were looking, we saw an open hole for the X (receiver) to come around and all of a sudden he swipes up in front of everybody. Once we saw his hands on the ball we knew it was kind of over. It was kind of upsetting, but it happens. That’s probably a 50/50 chance you’re going to catch that ball. We’ve had our shares of catching Hail Mary’s, two years ago we had one, this year we had one against us. We’re on the opposite side of it, but we’ve just got to let it go now and just drive on and try to have a better week next week."
On his individual performance
"I did all right. Stats don’t mean anything if you have a loss. People can say you played a great game, but at the end of the day we lost. (Stats) don’t mean anything. If we could’ve moved the chains a little bit more, converted on certain third downs, we probably wouldn’t have lost the game. That doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day we have a loss and we’ll move on to next week."
On if he knew he would throw 41 times today
"Honestly, (the coaches) just told me, 'Hey, if things are looking right and you’re throwing the ball on point with your receivers, and you’re making plays, then we’re just going to keep doing what you like.' When we needed to throw the ball on third down, when we needed to throw the ball on second-and-long that’s what we had to do. I felt like those guys out wide made plays. They did a great job."
On how he thought the wide receivers played
"I thought they did great. We have weapons, more than De’Mornay (Pierson-El), and Kenny (Bell) has gone already. After having spring and fall camp with those guys, being able to see them progress and see what they do as a receiving corps, they did a great job. They’ve been switching in and out here and there. I don’t think there was a series where I had three of the same receivers for a whole drive down the field. They had guys switching in and out, making plays, and they did a great job. That’s what they’re here for is to make plays. When their number got called, they capitalized. They did a great job."