Opening statement: “Tough game for us. Came out on the short end of the stick obviously. Starting out, felt good about matchups. Felt good about competition. Felt good about what we brought to the table today. Game started, usually we start out positive. Started out, I think the first ball was deflected, second ball, we didn’t bring that in. And there was just not a rhythm. Then we came out and Shedeur did something very uncharacteristic of himself. He never makes a bad decision, especially in that part of the field which they got a pick-six. After that, we were just trying to play catch up. Defense surrendered some things early but I’m really, really pleased with the way they played in the second half. Seems like we’re a team of second halves defensively. We’ve just gotta get it going earlier. But overall, certainly not happy with the outcome, but positive things, the way we competed in the second half. We had no give up, no quit in us whatsoever. We’ve gotta do a better job offensively in protection as well as trying to figure out how to establish a run game and be consistent with that. I’m just excited. You’ve gotta understand, when you’re in a situation like this, you’ve gotta find something to hold onto that you can encourage your team (with). And I’m truly excited about the second half of football that we played. You would’ve thought, offensively, we would’ve came in here and did half of what we did a week ago and it would’ve been a better contest, but they had the advantage the whole entire game it seemed. The young kid (Dylan Raiola) did a good job at protecting the ball and not turning it over as well. I’m looking at 23-for-30, that’s pretty darn good, 185 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers. Not happy about nine penalties for 104 yards whatsoever. The game got truly sloppy at the end. It seemed like it was just flag after flag after flag. They had 12 for 105. Normally, with that type of output of flags and penalties you usually come out victorious, but both of us were horrible in that aspect. Third downs, 4-of-14 is not who we are. Fourth downs, we had two shots at one point to get a yard and we didn’t accomplish that. That’s truly frustrating when we prepare for those types of situations. We were in those types of situations in practice several times this week. I make sure we prepare for those situations but we didn’t get it. So it was what it was. Hats off to Coach Rhule, his staff, coached a heck of a game. Great guy. Like I said, we came in the class together as coaches so I’m always rooting for them unless they play us. But I’m happy, if we’re gonna get our butts kicked it might as well be him. Let’s go.”
On why it was so difficult for the offense: “I have no idea. If we would’ve known that answer I think we would’ve responded quicker. Seemed like we just never got it going until it was too late. Seemed like we just never got it going. Protections were a problem. You know, I’m trying to be polite. Because I could say the same thing you’re thinking, but if I say it, you’ll say I’m throwing guys under the bus. I’m not doing that whatsoever. Protections were a problem. We gotta figure out a way to prevent that and do a better job with that.”
On if he was surprised at the offensive line’s poor performance: “Well, first game I think they did a good job protecting. I’m not gonna say that. This game they didn’t. So we hadn’t run the ball like we wanted to consistently. But, rarely do you have a great running offense and a great passing offense, rarely you have that. One is gonna have to be the lesser of the two. We’ve gotta figure out a way to have some type of running game, because we have backs that can flat out do it. We really do. Like what I saw out of those guys as well.”
On the injuries: “I think the injury report, I think (Isaiah) Hardge did something with his foot on one of the punts. Shilo I think suffered — I don’t know the extent of the injury but I know he did something to his forearm that put him out for the rest of the game. Chidozie (Nwankwo), I think it’s an AC joint or something like that. I think he’s gonna be alright. I think he’s gonna consequently play this upcoming week. I don’t know about Shilo. Shedeur got dinged a bit on that, what’d they call it? Helmet to helmet or whatever they call. Targeting. So he got dinged a little bit, so we just wanted to take care of him and get him out of there.”
On what was most frustrating: “Knowing that we have a tremendous offense. Knowing that we can move the ball, we should be able to move the ball on anyone. We should be able to protect with the experience that we have offensively, and we just couldn’t get it going today. We had some spurts and some great moments. We had some timing routes that we timed right up, but the way we started is just not indicative of who we are. And we just never got it together. I don’t know, sometimes you have those games, sometimes you have those days, and it was just one of those games and days simultaneously. No excuses though.”
On if Shedeur Sanders is okay: “Yeah, I just talked to him. He looked pretty darn good to me. We just wanted to make sure we got him checked out and we have every precaution because now you’re looking forward to next week. This week, that was over. By the time he got out of the game, it was a wrap. So we wanted to make sure he was gonna be okay, so we wanted to get him checked out.”
On the lack of running back runs: “That was the flow of the game. Flow of the game. Pat (Shurmur) has done a wonderful job, I’m not gonna go there whatsoever. Pat has done a wonderful job of putting us in situations. But we’ve gotta want that. We’ve gotta want to run the ball. We’ve gotta have those guys salivating that, ‘Coach, let’s run! Let’s run! Let’s go get it. Let’s go get it.’ We’re gonna get to that point.”
On how the offensive line can improve: “No it’s not reps, it’s not reps. Those guys have a plethora of reps in their resumes, don’t they? I don’t know if it’s (lack of playing together) because that’s the same guys who were out there last week. I think they just had our number today. Simple as that. Sometimes you’ve just gotta take your hat and say you got me man. You got it. They did that. They played a great game, they really did.”
On if the same issues are lingering from last year: “Yeah and no. I wish I could’ve struggled with no one really scoring on us in the second half for I think two weeks straight. I wish I could’ve had those struggles a year ago. Those are good situations to be in. Now we’ve just gotta put it together in the first half. So there’s always progress my man. And I’m looking for that progress, and that’s the thing I tell our guys. Don’t looks for the wrong, look for the right in the midst of the wrong.”
On where the disconnect from practice to the games is: “Pressure. We’ve gotta be there under pressure. Not just the pressure of, I’m not saying them rushing the passer. The pressure of the game, the pressure of the moment, the pressure of the time. Everybody wanna be him until it’s time to be him. We’ve gotta be able to handle that pressure.”
On if that affected them early: “I don’t know about early. As the game progressed. I think it affected us, not really defensively but offensively.”
On if he’s anxious to see how the offensive line responds: “Yeah! That was the whole postgame, not speech but conversation that we had. I can’t wait. Everyone in this room is dealing with some kind of adversity, and our young men are as well. So I wanna see how we all respond to adversity. That’s what illuminates us, that’s what elevates us, that’s what progresses us to the next level. How we deal with adversity. Everybody’s got a piece of adversity they’re dealing with right now. And those young men just dealt with it in front of millions of people. So we gotta see how they handle it.”
On what he said at halftime: “I don’t recall. Because I’m right here now, thinking about you and you all and thinking about what I just said to them. So halftime, I’m pretty sure it was a tremendous challenge. I don’t get angry or upset or anything, I just try to really get in their minds, get in their hearts and just make us — try to propel us to the next level.”
On how they can eliminate penalties: “We can’t do stupid stuff. We’ve gotta stop the foolishness. I’m not gonna say we ended up well because we ended up 9 for 104 but they were 12 for 105 but they won. Decisively. So, it seemed like it was a flag fest at one point, like come on. Come on, guys. Come on now. You can always question things, but the officials do a great job. The one with BJ, I don’t know how serious that was with BJ Green towards the end. I thought he just laid out and was trying to make a play. I don’t think he really meant to rough the passer or whatever they called. But it is what it is.”
On how Nebraska improved from last year: “They didn’t turn the ball over. They didn’t turn the ball over. I think we had one turnover, the pick-six. They didn’t turn the ball over and that was it. They made the plays they needed to make. I mean that darn, should’ve been interception that they ended up popping up and got caught. When stuff like that happens you’ve just gotta take your hat off and say I’m sorry. It’s not our day baby, because that stuff just don’t normally happen. That was crazy. That was a heck of a play, Bentley did a great job, broke on the ball, did everything he was supposed to do but secure the catch. But he played his but off, man. I’m proud of him as well.”
On what he saw from his leaders in the locker room postgame: “I don’t really care what I see after the game. I care what I see in the game. I don’t wanna hear no leader in the locker room leading when you get your butt kicked, I wanna see you lead there (on the field). Because if you don’t lead there, they’re not gonna listen to you there (in the locker room). I could care less who’s rallying them up at the end and leading the prayer at the end. Who’s leading us out there? In the timeout, who’s getting them together. Who’s telling them to run, change of possession, who’s telling them to run back downfield. Who’s calling them up in the huddle and looking them in the eye and challenging them to do right when wrong is just present. That’s a leader. Not the locker room stuff, that’s rah-rah.”
