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Opening Statement
“As I have been saying all month, it is not easy in November. Big Ten football. Conference football. The weather gets a little interesting so we are really proud of our guys and what they have done over the course of this month going 3-1 and coming off and rebounding off a tough loss at the start of the month. Just really proud of how this team has answered every challenge that has been thrown in front of them. And today was no different. We started fast I thought. We wanted to do that obviously. I have a lot of respect for the big-play ability that Nebraska has and suspected they would make a push and they certainly did that second half. Our guys stood tall and really did a good job.
“Thrilled to get the victory. Keith Duncan, what can I say? Twenty-nine field goals in Big Ten play now and 48, 49 yards (today). One being the longest he has had. That was outstanding. Defense I thought did a great job. We gave up the one big play but other than that really made them work so that certainly was critical for us. Really all three areas made big plays and made contributions to the success of things.
“In a nutshell A.J. Epenesa, what a phenomenal effort by him. Full defense played well but he was certainly a catalyst for us out there. Nate Stanley continues to lead our football team. Those last three throws he made – the one ended up being ruled incomplete – those last three throws were all big time throws by him. Then obviously Duncan the job he has done all season long. Just really proud of our football team. Proud of the staff. Everyone hung in there. Nicest thing about winning on Friday is that you get Saturday off. So we will watch everyone else sweat tomorrow and maybe eat some turkey on top of it.”
On deciding to go for the game-winning score at the end of regulation and if he has done that much in the past
“I can think of one in particular and probably the biggest difference is first-year quarterback, first-time starter in 2009. And now you have a veteran quarterback. We have evolved a little bit in 10 years and it was just our thought. We thought we might have a chance if we executed. There is some risk and reward involved there but we felt the reward was outweighing the risk.”
On overcoming adversity to win
“That’s football. The game is designed to be tough. It’s tough on you physically. It’s tougher on you mentally probably so if you are doing things right you just have to learn to push through the good and the bad. Sometimes the good can be more distracting. Just try to keep your eyes where they need to be down the middle of the road and do what you need to do. But it takes the right type of players. We got guys that are just high character guys. They work hard. They are able to sustain something like we did a month ago. Go through a tough loss like that and show back up on Monday with their eyes straight ahead. A lot of things have to happen for us to end up in this spot where we are at right now but I’m just really proud of how the guys stayed focused and stayed together and stayed focused on what really is important, not what is outside that may be good or bad.”
NU Athletic Communications
