Pre Wisconsin Press Conference - Head Coach Mike Riley

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Monday, Oct. 2, 2017
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Pre-Wisconsin

Head Coach Mike Riley
Opening Statement 
“We were pretty clean in the last game but Mikale Wilbon sprained his ankle, hurt his ankle. I’m very hopeful he’ll be ready to play, but I don’t think he’ll be doing much today at practice. Tyrin Ferguson has turf toe, was actually cleared to travel to Illinois the day before the game with us – didn’t do anything in the game. Hopefully he’s feeling better and can practice. Aaron Williams has had a neck soft tissue, a matter of comfort and handling the pain, so he’ll be limited in practice but should be able to play. [Joshua] Kalu will return to practice and we’ll see where he is. Marcus Newby was going to return to practice today, but got sick, so will miss today. I’m hopefully that he’ll be back tomorrow. David Knevel continues to get better. Cole Conrad the same way. Matt Farniok [is] limited. He’s got a big club and can play, has been cleared to play. Stanley Morgan [Jr.] as you guys saw made it through the game. I think he handled that all very well. Hopefully he just gets better and better during the week. De’Mornay [Pierson-El] has had shoulder issues and an ankle but I think he’ll practice today and be alright. Bryan Reimers should be better and Chris Jones has been basically cleared to start practicing and as I mentioned the other day,  it’s been a long time since he’s played football, so we’ll see where he is. Being cleared and being ready and practiced up to playing in the game are obviously two different things… Tre Bryant is not going to be ready this week and we don’t know what that means after that. All we can do with Tre right now is hope he gets better and we don’t think he’ll be ready to play this week. I can’t really go into any more medical specifics – I’d be crazy to try to do that – but he’s had knee issues before. It was aggravated in an earlier game and it has not gotten sufficiently better to play.”

On the Illinois game
“Offensively, I would say more efficient than we have been at any time we have been this year. The running game, the passing game complimented each other. Tanner [Lee] had four drops, with 17-for-24 and threw two balls away, made good decisions. When you’re having efficiency in the quarterback position, your third-down efficiency is usually reflected in that. We were 7-of-11, which is good. Both running backs (Devine Ozigbo and Mikale Wilbon) I thought had good games. Stanley Morgan [Jr.] and De’Mornay Pierson-El both played well. We had two offensive penalties --  a hold and a personal foul at the end of the game, 13 explosive plays, which is a good number. Defensively, I thought the two red zones stops, making them kick field goals, was really good defense. We had to handle a sudden change where we fumbled the ball and gave them really good field position and actually [Illinois] lost yardage from there on that following series. [Illinois] only had five explosive plays in the game, so the big-play defense was good, big-play prevention. Luke Gifford had a good game. Ben Stille – as has been noted – had a good game. Chris Weber had one of his best games. Aaron Williams and Carlos Davis also played well. Drew Brown continues to be real solid - kickoff, kickoff direction. Jordan Ober – I need to mention him all the time, because you won’t, because he’s always pretty consistent, very consistent and so it kind of goes unnoticed unless he snaps one over the punter’s head.”

On Wisconsin
“We’re playing a really good all-around football team, offensively, defensively, running the ball, run action, a good runner, very efficient quarterbacking. The defense has been like this for a while. They play hard, their well-coached, very, very aggressive. I think they had eight sacks against Northwestern the other day. They’re hard to run against and they rush the quarterback well. We’re going to have to find out balance and be real good in those areas. We’re going to have to protect the quarterback and we’re going to have to run the ball.”

“Overall, personnel around the board, and with what they’re doing, it’s probably the best. The other team, with some outstanding people and very good athleticism defensively was Oregon. We’ve seen those types of athletes, but when you’re talking about the big picture, playing team defense, being in sync, this is the best football team and the best all-around offense, defense, put together, the best team we’ve seen.”

On the offense being prepared for the 3-4 defense
“We all think that having the 3-4 defense to practice against in spring ball, all through fall camp is a good thing for us. We think the preparation of what we’ve seen, which is when you look at that amount of time – from spring ball all through fall camp – you’d like to say you’ve probably seen the kitchen sink. Everybody probably has different flavor to it. The other thing about practicing against a 3-4 team is, in nickel situations, it can morph into a four-man front. So you can get a variety of practice, probably more so than going the other way. We used to run a three-man front in our dime situations once in a while, but that was about it and it was a whole different animal, as far as rushers. It was more about coverage, than it was about playing against it on first down. I think it’s beneficial. I think obviously the work will be good and now it will be contending against the personnel we’re going to play against. Obviously, any different style and wrinkles we’re going to see that’s different than what we’ve seen in our own defense, we have to be ready for.”

On Nebraska’s confidence level
“I think this team has prepared themselves in the last two weeks in a very good way to compete. I would say there’s an excitement about playing football right now for them that is contagious throughout the team. The work has been really consistent with this team. It’s a good group of people that have always worked hard. We’ve been rewarded with better and better play in the last little play – they have been– and I expect that to continue. What we absolutely need to win this next game is to get better and I think this team will work to do that. I think they’re built that way as people and I think some of the success they’ve recently had should be a confidence booster for them.”

On the game coming down to the last play the last two times Nebraska has faced Wisconsin
“The thing that is evident in the games against Wisconsin, is you have to be the team that finishes. We had our opportunities a couple years ago here to finish that game and didn’t do it and gave them an opportunity to get in position to kick a field go and then we had the ball with a chance to score and win it last year and didn’t do that. It’s really about finishing the game at a high level, being able to produce and make plays, offense and defense.”

On red zone defense
“I think our team is well-prepared for all situations and playing each game as it stands in its own particular situations – 1st-and-10, minus 35-yardline –there’s got to be, everybody’s got to have an alarm factor about what they have to protect there and what they can’t give up. Third down is a key situation. There has always been an emphasis on playing well in the red zone and being sound. I think that the thing about playing in the red zone, I know there’s a part that has to be real physical because you can’t give up yardage just running at you, so you’ve got to be physical the closer it is. Each yard is crucial down there so you have to be physical. Everybody has their play in there to score. We ran a naked boot with a pulling tight end coming underneath for a touchdown last week so everybody has their ways to score….that’s where you see that stuff. So besides playing physical you have to have great eyes, you have to do your job. The emphasis in coaching is beautiful down there because it’s all about playing good sound football and then being physical at every point of attack so you don’t give up yardage. It’s kind of a microcosm of the game. It’s all condensed. You’ve got to be ready for just about anything and you’ve got to be really physical to stop them from scoring and you’ve got to be really smart to keep from getting tricked.”

On Ben Stille:
“Through the time that we’ve had him here, we’ve seen really, really good, hard, consistent work that has, basically, paid off for him by taking advantage of an opportunity that was presented to him a few weeks ago where he got a chance to play in the game, and it was just a week ago, really, at a new position that he had had a little experience with. He had bounced from a defensive end to a boundary linebacker, and, with the injuries we’ve had, he slides in, takes advantage of it and physically, has done a very good job. He’s very conscientious. He has always been an extremely hard worker, and that’s what’s happened. It’s pretty simple.”

On similarities and differences in Wisconsin’s offense to Nebraska’s:
“I think that (Wisconsin head coach and former Mike Riley assistant) Paul (Chryst) probably runs more of a gap power based offense than we do, for sure. So, pullers – when you watch Wisconsin, you’ll see multiple pullers sometimes on power plays, or gap-type plays, where [an offensive lineman] blocks down, pulls and comes around the edge. I think that they’re definitely heavier in that area than we are, and those are more downhill power-type plays. We run similar edge plays, we run similar inside plays with zone plays, and we run similar play-action-type passes with zone-type action. There’s also similarities in part of the game that we played, and initially did together, with post and angle game. Those are repeated deals there. Now, knowing it and defending it are two different things, I mean, it’s all for a good reason. Those are parts of it. We probably are a little heavier draw team than they are, but by game, they’ll pull it out time to time, too. I’d say there’s similarities in that regard, except, probably, an emphasis like I mentioned in the running game, which keys a lot of what you do in the play action pass game too.”

On whether the athleticism of Wisconsin’s offensive linemen plays a role in helping its run game:
“Absolutely. I think, even before Paul was there, but when Paul was there as an assistant, the same style, same stuff, and even some of the players were there when he came back. And so, the development in that way continued through time. I think the use and the athleticism of the offensive line are key factors in why they run like they do.”

On Nebraska’s offensive linemen pulling more this season:
“I think that we made a concerted effort to do more [pulling], because we were not going to be as heavy in that zone read. So, to have the capability of still running some zone running plays, but the ability to either pin and pull from the outside, or to run a gap-type play… our best runs have been kind of a power play without the puller that we’ve mentioned before, called “Csonka,” that’s been one of our best runs, and so, those plays basically involve the ability to double-team off to somebody in the back end, and so everything ends up, pretty much after the double-team ends up in good one-on-one blocks. Zone blocking is just what it is and it’s still part of what we do, and we’ve been only partially successful with our zone stuff. So, we added more pulling either for outside run or inside power to complement our game because we didn’t have necessarily the quarterback run to complement it.”

On looking at playing two top-10 Big Ten teams:
“Do I have to talk about anything past this week? I’m not thinking about that. Why do I have to think about a stretch? This isn’t baseball. I only have one game to think about this week. We don’t play any doubleheaders that I know of so that’s my answer.”

On the right tackle situation:
“Right now, as it stands today until we know the day that (David) Knevel practices, practices full time and feels good, it’s not yet that final conversation. We think he’s healthy so we will look at it this week, but if we were playing today, (Brenden) Jaimes would start.”

On center position and injuries:
“It’s definitely a factor there. It’s definitely a big discussion by us. We really appreciate both players (Michael) Decker and (Cole) Conrad, and we’re thankful. As we know can happen that your team can sometimes get stronger eventually even though the injuries can be devastating. You lose Knevel, you lose Conrad. If those other guys can go in and play well, play better than your team when the other guys get back, will be stronger and how that sorts itself out will be based on strictly about competition and how we feel who gives us the best chance to win.

On Wisconsin freshman running back Jonathan Taylor:
“Really like. I really like him. We were talking about him today. He might be as good as they’ve had that we’ve seen since we’ve been here.”

On home night game experiences:
“It’s awesome. All the games are an unbelievable experience, but the night games are really electric. I understand why they do that.”

On freshman running back Jonathan Taylor:
“I think he’s really versatile. He’s a really good athlete. He’s big, powerful and great balance. You see his first touchdown run the other day? That was pretty impressive. He should’ve been down, somehow stayed up, had a hand on the ground and catapulted himself into the end zone. Good play.”

On in-state recruiting:
“Most of these guys that are coming in, we’ve had long-term relationships with. Almost every one of them have been here, kind-of have chosen, when they have an opportunity, if they have a bye they can take their official visit during a time like this. We will just continue to basically build that relationship. It’s always great to have them here. It’s always great for them to be reminded of what a game at Nebraska is like. To be involved in a game weekend for any recruit, no matter how many times he’s been here is always special. Obviously, the reason that many of them have either chosen to visit or have committed is that we have a shared vision with them about where we are going so it’s always good to see them.”

On recruiting size:
“It’s grown a little bit with some stuff that has gone on. I think we’ve come to the conclusion that we might be able to get 18.”