Noteable Quotes from Nebraska vs San Jose State

1 comment so far September 7, 2008 by Jason Siffring

For many fans, Saturday's narrow victory over San Jose State raised more questions than it answered. Players and coaches from both teams faced the media after the game and offered their insight.

Continue reading for their unfiltered comments.

Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini Said...

On Nebraska's reaction to adversity

"I thought that they reacted well. I thought that there was no panic on the sideline. There's no finger pointing, there's nothing like that. I liked the demeanor, how the team stuck together."

On Nebraska's first-half performance

"We needed to play better. We were very sloppy in the first half. I mean, when you talk about penalties, we had a multitude of errors in the first half. Tackling was sloppy in the first half. We were our own worst enemy in that first half. We have to play better and we have to coach better to start the football game.

On Nebraska's running game

"We're not all on the same page. In order to run the football, it has to be 11 guys doing their job. When you have a breakdown here and a breakdown there - it wasn't executed very well. And the times when we did execute, we didn't run it very well. We need to take advantage of some things. We'll get back to work on Monday."

On Nebraska's penalties

"They're very concerning. It's coaching. Myself and the staff, we have to do better. We have to get more disciplined. We have to fix that."

On Nebraska's performance

"We came here to win the game. I'm going to enjoy the win. I've been coaching long enough that you learn to appreciate coming out with a 'W' and being 2-0. Reality hits me when I put that tape on in the morning and I understand where we are and where we want to get to. Until we see perfection on that tape, then it's definitely back to work, and I don't think we'll ever see perfection."

San Jose State Coach Dick Tomey

"We're very disappointed. We believed we could win. Nebraska deserves all the credit however because they dominated the fourth quarter, and that's what you have to do to win. So we didn't get that done. The result was very disappointing. I think there are some signs that we can be a good football team, but obviously we've got to play four quarters. We've got to find some players that can replace some guys we lost through the course of the contest, but again I think Nebraska got stronger as the game went on, and that's what you have to do. The kickoff and the play down on the goal line, the interception, were huge plays."

On his defensive gameplan that shut Nebraska down for three quarters

"I don't know, we just played our defense. I think we have a possibility of having a good defense. We gave up too much at the end, but we have a chance to be a good defense. So we didn't do anything different, we only got two days to practice, so we weren't able to do anything different, but we certainly felt we could make plays, felt we could stop them, and we just didn't stop them enough. We stopped the run, but when they threw the ball, we let them have too high a percentage. Again, that was good play on their part, and not good play on our part. But we held them under 100 yards rushing, barely, which is what we're trying to do anybody."

San Jose State Wide Receiver Kevin Jurovich said...

On what was effective against Nebraska

"I thought we moved the ball pretty well, except when we got down to the red zone. We just didn't convert. That's a credit to Nebraska and that's a credit to their defense. But I thought offensively we moved the ball pretty well.

On the stadium atmosphere

"I thought the crowd...they were nice people. Walking out there, they were just congratulating us, even before the game. I think once the game starts, more than anything, it's just football. Yeah you hear the crowd a little more. It's a little louder, but other than that, you just kind of get in the zone and just play ball."

Defensive back Carl Ihenacho said...

On stopping the Nebraska running game

"All week we watched a lot of film. Our scouts gave us a good look. They have the same scheme. They executed well and we executed to the best of our ability. I think we were just trying to be physical from the start. I think we just had a lot of mental busts. We made mistakes here and there. Later on down the line, Nebraska outexecuted us in a lot of ways."

On getting pressure with the front four

"Our strategy out there was pretty well though-out. We got there with our front four. We got there with our linebackers. I think our mixture of things was executed well

Nebraska Quarterback Joe Ganz said...

On Nebraska’s struggles on offense

"We just couldn’t find a rhythm. Once we did one thing right, we would do a couple things wrong. We just can’t keep putting ourselves in that situation. We were 3rd-and-long on too many times. In the first three-and-a-half quarters, our offense was anemic. It took Niles (Paul’s) kickoff (return for a touchdown) to jump start us. It’s just something we can’t let happen. It’s something that we can fix. It was good. Now, we realize that we aren’t as good as we thought we were. We can go back to work on Monday, learn from everything and just try and get better."

On a close game being good for the team moving forward

"It was good. You have to give all the credit to defense and special teams. We had two scores, but one was set up by the defense. The defense played great. They played their tails off. It was an awesome sight to see how hard they played.

On Nebraska not panicking during the game

"We didn’t panic. That’s not the type of team we are. We’re not going to point the finger. That's not the type of team we are. It's just one of those days where you couldn't get anything going. It's going to happen."

Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska Defensive Tackle) said...

On his interception for a touchdown

"They're (defensive touchdowns) huge. That's one thing our coaches preach to us: If one unit is down, the other two units need to pick us up and make sure that we're carrying the load and give the offense a chance to get in their own rhythm, and they did. I think the offense last game took most of the toll and helped us out quite a bit last game. It's reversed roles with defense and special teams this game."

On the performance of Nebraska's defensive tackles

"It was a combination of things. Ty (Steinkuhler) and I work well together. We knew that it depended on us to control the inside and allow our linebackers to drop a lot quicker into the coverage if they needed to if they saw it was a pass. We took and understood that we needed to control the interior."

Niles Paul (Nebraska Wide Receiver) said...

On his kickoff return for a touchdown

"It felt great. It was my first college touchdown. I appreciate the blocking. I was more proud of the blocking than my touchdown. I paced myself and watched Alfonzo (Dennard), because he told me to follow him. He picked up two blocks."

Matt Slauson (Nebraska Offensive Guard) said...

On the importance of the defense performing well as the offense struggled

"It's huge for us. When you see your defense playing like that when your offense is doing so bad, it's really easy to get up after that and say, 'They're doing it. We need to go out and do it.'"

Nate Swift (Nebraska Wide Receiver) said...

On if San Jose State was loading the box like Western Michigan

"I wouldn't say it was as bad. We couldn't get by whatever they had in there. We have to figure it out on Monday and go from there."

Zach Potter (Nebraska Defensive End) said...

On his interception

"I thought he threw it high, but he threw it right in my gut and I caught it. I forgot how to high-step out of high school so I got caught by the quarterback. Oh well, it's a interception."

Quentin Castille (Nebraska I-Back) said...

On his fumble

"I don't really get that many opportunities to break outside and I got to happy. I saw the play before it happened. The linbacker called it out and yelled 'Option Option!' He had to take one of the two, and if would of let Joey (Ganz) go it would of been a touchdown, and if he would of let me go it would of been a touchdown. He let me go, and I bobbled the ball. I ran before I caught the ball basically."

Related: Bo Pelini's transcript, audio | Dick Tomey's transcript | SJSU players' transcript | NU players' transcript #1, #2 | Joe Ganz audio | Matt Slauson audio | Ndamukong Suh audio | Niles Paul audio

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