Nebraska Cornhuskers College Football Pregame Quote, 11/02/2020

On how Nebraska is dealing with ups and downs over the last week:

I think well. You know we had a scary movie night on Halloween to try to keep our guys from going to parties and doing some dumb things, and we had a lot of the team show up. We’ve officially set a record for most practices with one game under your belt in the history of college football. There’s no question about that, but I think the guys were learning to roll with the punches.

On whether it would be better to have a set red-line whether you are playing or not, health-wise:

You know, I’ve weighed in on my opinion on some of those decisions before and it hasn’t done any good, so I don’t think I’ll weigh in on my decision on their decision on that. I know they left a provision in there for teams to decide if it wasn’t safe in their community or University to play, and that’s what our last opponent chose to do. So we’re onto the next one.

On comparing Northwestern this year to their team last year:

You know, I’ve watched more defense than offense at this point. You know they kind of whipped us on that side of the ball last year and they look the same or better this year. You know obviously their offense, I think so far through two games is doing a lot better than they did last year and looks to be pretty good to me. They’re always going to be a smart, physical, disciplined team on both sides of the ball. Their defense has been good since I’ve been in the league, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.

On Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald saying Nebraska has a big advantage because of the additional rest and preparation for the game:

Maybe if this was week seven or eight, having a week off would be nice. We’ve only played one game. I don’t know. Pat (Fitzgerald) is one of the smartest guys in the country, probably, but I don’t know if I agree with him on that one. We’ve been doing the best we can. Like I said, I think we’ve had more practices with one game I care about than any football team in the history of football. We just want to play. We practiced Saturday, took Sunday off practice today, going to take tomorrow off to practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

On controlling intensity in practice:

We’re making it up as we go along. I’m being honest, you’ve got to have a feeling for where your team is. We played one game and then we’re done for two weeks. It’s hard. It’s hard to predict those things, so we’ve just got to make our daily call and keep trying to get our guys better without risking them, risking their health too much.

On the challenge of managing the emotions of the players through this season:

To this point, the kids are kind of like I am there, they’re kind of callous to the whole thing. We had to scramble to try to find an opponent to fill the game and so we just want to let our kids play. The kids just want to play. Not everybody was available, so in about a few hours we came up with one that’s going to be able to PCR test their kids on a Thursday and Friday and fly here and we could test them again. We told the kids we were going to try. We told them it was probably going to go to a vote of the Big Ten, whether they’re going to let us or not. We tried to do it the right way. I don’t think they were very confident when they heard that, and they were right so we didn’t get to play. You know the kids kind of laugh about those things now. More than anything, they just want to be on the field competing and hopefully we get a chance through this Saturday.

On confirming that Cam Taylor-Britt and Deontai Williams being suspended for the Northwestern game:

Yeah, they’re suspended for the first half. I’ve been through this before. We’ve missed games because of hurricanes two years in a row and because of a lightning storm and now coronavirus and we’re kind of old hands at this. But we had a kid that was suspended and then we miss a game and the suspension carried over to the next game. Certainly don’t think that’s necessarily fair to these kids. You know we’re down 33 percent of our original season now. We’re down to eight games total, if we get to play them all from here on out. So it’s an awfully big penalty, considering I thought at the very least, those calls were, one call at least, was very close and. It’s too bad for the kids that are getting the opportunity to play taken away and are going to miss a half on top of that.

On three-time All-Big Ten linebacker Paddy Fisher:

He’s impressive. You know he just finds a way to make plays. That’s what you’ve got to say about their whole defense. They’re in the right place. Their eyes are good. They all see the ball thrown. They all rally. They tackle well in space. They’re physical up front. They do a great job, the players and the coaches. He’s obviously been the leader of that for a few years now, and I’ll be glad when he’s out of the league.

On valuing the moment of Election Day and taking the opportunity to vote:

I just want them to understand what the country is all about and what their rights are. And you know, obviously you have to be living under a rock to not have heard that a million times this year. We took a straw poll in the meeting this morning and I asked the guys how many guys had voted and how many are going to vote tomorrow. The majority of our team has either already voted or is planning on doing it, so that’s what a democracy is all about in a constitutional republic. I know the guys that aren’t from here hopefully cast their votes back home already and guys that can vote here probably will tomorrow.

On the challenge of starting the season with back-to-back road games:

It’s unfortunate. You know we want to play and we want to play in Lincoln. We want to play in front of fans. You know it’s just not a normal year. It’s kind of Murphy’s Law right now. Missing a game, missing a home game. All the things that are happening. I think our kids have a little bit of chip on their shoulder. I don’t know what will happen on Saturday, we’re playing a really good team, but I know our kids are going to play hard.

On why he thinks the Huskers have a chip on their shoulder:

You can just tell. They wanted to play. They see us fighting to try to get them play. We’ve kind of failed at every turn. They just want to be on the field. You know, I think they feel like maybe some people are out to get them or have an axe to grind against them a little bit I. I think they feel like they haven’t accomplished everything that they could have accomplished. I think they feel like they’ve lost some close games that we could have won, if we had played a little better, a little harder, a little smarter. You know, I think our program is ready to turn a big-time corner, but it’s tough to if we’re given circumstances where we can’t get on the field and get better.

On what he sees in practice that is giving him the indication that the Huskers are getting better:

We’re doing little things better. To win in this league, you’ve got to block, you’ve got to tackle, you’ve got to get open, you’ve got to cover, and you’ve got to play smart. The margin of error in this league, there’s too many good teams, so the margin of error is really thin. I feel like for two years we’ve found ways to not win. Even two years ago up in Northwestern, I think it was 90 yards to five yards in penalties, and we lost turnover battles, and had a 15-yard penalty on the last drive where we pinned them on the 1. They go down to score, and we get to overtime and we get another penalty and then snap the ball through our quarterback’s‚Ķwe’ve just found ways to not win. You can’t do that against a good team like Northwestern, a team that’s not going to beat themselves. I think from a maturity standpoint, our kids have turned a corner. I think they are doing fundamental things better, but we’ve got a win a game sometime and get confidence and build on that.

On adding any players to scholarship in the past couple weeks:

No, just the ones you’ve heard about so far.

On whether he is worried as a coach that his team may stop having a chip on its shoulder and give up because of all the adversity to get a season going:

I haven’t thought about that one time, because I just don’t see it. If we get two or three more games canceled, I don’t know. But I don’t think we have the type of guys that are going to throw their hands up and give up. They just want to play so we are trying to let them play. This is such a broken, messed up year. I see some college teams that have six or seven games played already. Shoot, my kids trick-or-treated on Saturday and I was able to go. That was the one positive out of this. But it’s November and we’ve played one game. They just want to play.

On Nebraska’s total number of practices:

We were just talking about that. I’d have to add them up. I don’t know the number, but we’ve been at this a while. Particularly, at some points when the coaches couldn’t be around the players and they had some captain-led workouts and things. I have no idea what the total is. That’s why, getting another week to practice, we would have rather played a game last week.

On Northwestern forcing seven turnovers in two games:

I think they have really good players. They do a good job of having 11 sets of eyes on the football at all times. You don’t see guys with their backs to the ball. In the Iowa game, they had a couple of tipped picks. That happens when a lot of guys are watching the football, and a lot of guys are rallying to where they need to, they are pursuing well. So they are going to create turnovers but they capitalize on a lot because of how disciplined they are and how good they are with their eyes, and their effort. It seems like it’s been that way since I’ve been watching.

On what he’s looking for improvement from offensive linemen Bryce Benhart and Ethan Piper from Game 1 to Game 2:

Just improvement. I think both played well in their first time out two weeks ago, or a week and half ago. A little more consistency, finishing plays a little better. Those guys are going to be good players for us for a while around here. Some of our young players certainly could have benefited, again, from a game last week, but we’ll keep trying to get them experience so we’ll get better.

On Northwestern not beating itself, and what it takes to get a program to that point:

It’s probably a lot of things. It’s good coaching. It’s having a veteran team. It’s probably having a lot of smart kids on your team. You know, you can’t be a dummy and get into Northwestern. The kids that play football there are probably the type of kids every parent wants their daughter to marry. Smart, extremely smart kids that are athletic and they are going to be successful in life, and those kind of kids are probably pretty good at being disciplined and not making a mistake.