Nebraska Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Scott Frost
vs. Michigan (Oct. 9, 2021)
On the fourth-quarter fumble by Adrian Martinez
“I do not know, you know. I feel terrible for him and for the team because gosh, they did so many things tonight. That was as much fun as I have ever had coaching a football game, with the fans, the way they were in the stadium and the way we responded, and they (Michigan) are a damn good football team, I give them a lot of credit.”
On the final few plays
“I told the boys before the game that usually those games come down to one or two plays. Another thing I really love is we took the field on that drive. I think everybody thought we are going to win this and not that this game was not what is going to go wrong. Adrian is a warrior, and he is an unbelievable player. So I hurt for him, but I told the boys do not hang your heads because I do not know if his momentum was stopped or not, but we cannot expect to get those breaks, we have to make them.”
On the first half
“We open it up. We started out kind of shooting our shot, and I wanted to establish the run game, so we tried. They are really good against the run. Their linebackers were fitting fast so they had a good game plan for a lot of the stuff that we did and we shot ourselves in the foot on one drive where we could have got points with a penalty. Looking back, I was trying to win the game. I want to keep the kids aggressive, and I want to be aggressive, but I would kick the field goal knowing how the whole thing ended. But the guys just kept battling, I think we opened it up for a little bit and guys made plays.”
On Nebraska’s final drive
“Great route and catch by Samori (Toure). We had a chance to get a shallow first down and they brought pressure on second. We were really close to hitting the screen on third, one more step out there quicker by a guard I think it creases. And fourth down, they brought zero blitz and tried to take a shot at one of our best players, and they were pressuring us a lot tonight, which I do not blame them. But they have been doing it all year, and we tried to protect Adrian a little bit, too. We got the drive started real well and still really confident at that point, we just needed one more player to keep the change going.”
On taking his first-half timeout to review a potential touchdown run after the quarterback was down
“I don't want to talk much about officiating, but they told me they reviewed it and Ryan Held did a good job in the box. He saw the replay and said the quarterback's knee was down.”
On Nebraska’s defensive performance
“I told the team, you know, we're so close and one more play, one more stop. When we get ahead by seven with seven minutes left, we need to win the game. I think it hurts the defense a little bit we scored so fast in the third quarter, that the defense was out there a long time, and I don't know if they were a little worn out at the end of the game. These type of physical games, you get beat down a little bit, and we wanted to be ahead through that period so we could keep our offense on the field and their defense on the field. We hit some big plays and our defense was out there a long time. So proud of these guys and, gosh, it was fun with the environment and the fans, and as bad as we want this to work for our coaching staff. I want it to work more for the players and for the state, and we’ve got a really good team. I am so proud of them.”
On Nebraska’s first drive of the night
“I did not think we were going to win the game with field goals. We have been really good in the red zone on the one and two yard line with some of the stuff we have designed, and they did a good job taking that away. They had a guy wide. I thought about calling timeout. I thought we could still get him cracked and the guy on him came off and still thought we might have been able to bust it up. I have been there and get it, but I trust our guys the most I have ever trusted a team I have coached here. I want to give them a chance to make plays.“
On Teddy Prochazka and Bryce Benhart’s switch
“Bryce played a lot of football, so that is a really good guy to be able to put into a game. Somebody that has played that much.”
On the early offensive struggles
“We go into the game with a game plan. To be honest, we made a few adjustments. I think that helped. We needed to be running a little bit of our answers to our option plays because the base stuff they weren't giving us the pole and ability for Adrian to get on the perimeter. So we had to kind of manufacture up a few things in the run game. There were some great jobs by Coach Lubick scheming a couple things up. They gave us big plays, and it was the same on both sides. They didn't just run it down our throat, we didn't run it down their throat. You have to hit some big plays and really it comes down to, they probably hit one more than we did.”
On motivation as coaches
“This team loves each other. They love coaches, coaches love them. This is a tightly knit team. And, gosh, I'm proud of them. We've come so far. I thought tonight was the night. In games past, when we have gotten ahead I got the sense that everybody was thinking what is going to go wrong, and I didn't feel that at all tonight. It was different. Defense did a great job, and then offense answers and we're down four and that was a great drive the offense put together to get it down the field and punch it in with seven minutes. You are right there, and you just need to play. We will get there. I am having a lot of fun coaching these guys this year, and I am hurting for them more than anything, but I am so, so happy for them and proud of how far they have come.”
On linebackers Nick Henrich and Luke Reimer
“Nick is a warrior. You win in this league with tough guys and veteran guys and guys with experience. Our defense is kind of there. Nick and Luke are. We're still young, but guys have played a lot of football and they are playing well. We knew when we recruited Nick he was going to be a special player, and he fought. There's some injuries, but he's a great guy and a great football player, and he is going to make a lot of tackles around here.”
On Rahmir Johnson’s performance
“Rahmir was playing the best. We had a second and one in our territory in the third quarter. Our back went the wrong way. I think we would have picked it up, and we didn't get it on third. That was a big play. And he was playing well, so he's running hard and hitting the hole and we wanted our best guy out there.”
On Cam Taylor-Britt
“I thought Cam let the game come to him a lot better today, rather than trying to force it. He made some unbelievable plays on some deep balls. He was playing really well. I do not see our corners giving up a lot of things and, gosh, I love coaching those guys. They play hard. We are a good football team. It's hard to imagine the things that have happened to us, all happening to us, and sometimes you cannot even anticipate them. But I'm proud of these guys, we're going to keep fighting and do our best to prepare for Minnesota.”
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