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Opening Statement
“I thought the guys played hard. [It was a] disappointing loss when you have more total yards, more first downs. I think our third-down efficiency was a little bit better than them. To come up short, that tells you what a big stack of turnovers, you can look at explosives all you want to, but still it was a game of turnovers, and (Nebraska) did a great job creating them and capitalizing on them. That’s one good football team. I am also proud of the way the guys played. I thought we sustained a high level of intensity through the first half. I thought our defense really did a great job keeping them off the scoreboard twice before the half. We talked about the middle aid being very important. I thought we kind of won the part right before halftime and then obviously the game turned. The second half of the middle aid is where the game turned, and they created some turnovers and got some points. We couldn’t sustain out there, and I thought the guys fought hard to the finish. But, the game was lost in that middle aid. We need to more hard to correct that.”
On team attitude
“The biggest thing we’ve been preaching is sustaining, maintaining. It’s either who you are or not who you are. Generally, at some point in time, who you are comes out and today it got right there on the brink and then that was when I threw my little....to make sure, you know hey we are not going to go there. We are not going to go there. I loved the way that the guys finished. They picked everybody up, and I think we went out, I think we got the turnover on the punt, then we were able to get seven on the board, then defense went out and got another stop, and then we actually cut it to seven after being down. These guys have fought really hard. Our big deal was regardless of the score, regardless of the whatever was to sustain all the way through. We had a lull, but I don’t think it was an attitudinal feel or anything like that, just mistakes that we made. Then I think, their character kind of showed up. I thought we finished really well. We just kind of ran out of time.”
On crediting defense
“We’ve been talking about our defensive linemen being some really good players, and our linebackers. Those guys played really well. They played good. We were able to keep those guys fresh. Coach Stewart and that defensive staff really did a good job of mixing up his fronts and not necessarily showing them the same thing down in and down out. I think that maybe that helped us out. We have really good players on the defensive front. One of our preseason all-conference guys, he went down in the second series. We went without our highest rated defensive lineman. I’ve been telling everyone to send [senior defensive end] Jeffery Whatley praises and Sean Brown’s and [Jordan] Beaton’s since the spring. Those guys really played. [Senior defensive end] Rocel McWilliams making his debut since his Achilles last year. I thought he played really well. I thought [junior bandit Riley Cole] and [redshirt freshman full safety] Taj Bickman, both of those guys played really well. A.J. DeShazor played really well, kept it straight. I saw you all talking to Roy Yancey, he broke his leg the first game last year. You see what a difference it made. I didn’t see the play-by-play, but he had a bunch of tackles.”
On crediting Nebraska
“What we told our offensive line is that they are really struggling running the football against our defense, and you all get to go against that everyday. We’ve got to be able to create some creases. But, to give Nebraska credit, I thought their defense played extremely well today. I thought they did a good job stopping us. Two good run-game defenses, two defenses that I think that as we move forward, Nebraska is good on offense, they’re going to score a bunch of points against a lot of people. Ohio State and Michigan, people like that, they’re going to score a bunch of points. They’re good on offense. Our defense has gotten after us and through preseason scrimmages. I would hearten to say that Nebraska’s defense is much improved. I watched all 12 games all summer. They are better. That big nose guard that transferred (Darrion Daniels), he helps them. (Mohamed Berry) is a great player. (Alex Davis) is a great player. Those two brothers at the defensive ends (Carlos and Khalil Davis) are really good players. The corners, I think, separate them from a lot of people. They have great corners. The corner blitz created two turnovers, I think. That’s 14 points.”
NU Athletic Communications
