11/23
NU Athletic Communications
Nebraska Football
Pre-Iowa
Monday, Nov. 23, 2020
Press Conference Video
On coaching the “juice and enthusiasm” to play into a young team
“It's our job to coach it into these guys. We’ve got a lot of guys that have that, it wasn't there as a team. It started in practice all week I thought, and we’ve got to do better job coaching it into them. We certainly tried to coach it into them. I think a little bit, we’ve got a young team that thought they won one game and everything was good, and the next one was going to be a a win, too. That's not the way this game works, so hopefully our young players learned a lesson and we won't let it happen again.”
On coming into a rivalry game with Iowa after a loss being different than coming off a win
“No I don't think so. Our guys have responded this week. Energy is way better. I think they're excited to play Iowa. Iowa is a really good team. It's going to be a black and blue game like it always is against those guys. They're going to make you earn it. We respect them but we want to play as hard as we can, and I think the guys are going to prepare.”
On judging the quarterback performance and instilling confidence in that position
“Pace has been good this year. Those guys are running hard, they’re evading rush when they need to. Timing on throws needs to be a little better. We're really young outside so that it's all on the quarterbacks. But overall our quarterback play wasn't good enough on Saturday, particularly the turnovers. We got off to such a bad start, but just like every week, we are going to let those guys compete. I've been talking to those guys about just what you asked, being confident. Both of them believe in the type of player they are and the type of throwers they are. They both have the capability of doing it.”
Is it harder for the quarterbacks because the receivers are so young
“Oh yeah, that's the passing game. Shoot, we’ve thrown for a lot of yards in this offense and we're not on track to do that this year. We’ve got the kids in the program that I think are going to be great receivers. They're all young. A lot of them are young, couple veterans that are doing a really good job. But our quarterbacks need to trust them, and we need to be in the right spot and we need to be at full speed and all those things. We're working toward that every day, and it was better today.”
On whether this Thanksgiving will be different in terms of preparation for Iowa
“Yeah, this whole year's been rough and trying to manage things, we're going to treat Thursday like it's a normal Friday for us and head over there. We're trying to work through right now how many guys we can let go home but if we go home and get some guys with the virus, that could put our season in jeopardy, the rest of the season in jeopardy. I'm sure our guys after this long haul are ready to go see family but we’ve got a couple more games to play so we're trying to work through that schedule right now. But we’ll treat Thursday other than a nice team meal the same as we do the day before any game.”
NU Athletic Communications
Nebraska Football
Pre-Iowa
Monday, Nov. 23, 2020
Press Conference Video
On coaching the “juice and enthusiasm” to play into a young team
“It's our job to coach it into these guys. We’ve got a lot of guys that have that, it wasn't there as a team. It started in practice all week I thought, and we’ve got to do better job coaching it into them. We certainly tried to coach it into them. I think a little bit, we’ve got a young team that thought they won one game and everything was good, and the next one was going to be a a win, too. That's not the way this game works, so hopefully our young players learned a lesson and we won't let it happen again.”
On coming into a rivalry game with Iowa after a loss being different than coming off a win
“No I don't think so. Our guys have responded this week. Energy is way better. I think they're excited to play Iowa. Iowa is a really good team. It's going to be a black and blue game like it always is against those guys. They're going to make you earn it. We respect them but we want to play as hard as we can, and I think the guys are going to prepare.”
On judging the quarterback performance and instilling confidence in that position
“Pace has been good this year. Those guys are running hard, they’re evading rush when they need to. Timing on throws needs to be a little better. We're really young outside so that it's all on the quarterbacks. But overall our quarterback play wasn't good enough on Saturday, particularly the turnovers. We got off to such a bad start, but just like every week, we are going to let those guys compete. I've been talking to those guys about just what you asked, being confident. Both of them believe in the type of player they are and the type of throwers they are. They both have the capability of doing it.”
Is it harder for the quarterbacks because the receivers are so young
“Oh yeah, that's the passing game. Shoot, we’ve thrown for a lot of yards in this offense and we're not on track to do that this year. We’ve got the kids in the program that I think are going to be great receivers. They're all young. A lot of them are young, couple veterans that are doing a really good job. But our quarterbacks need to trust them, and we need to be in the right spot and we need to be at full speed and all those things. We're working toward that every day, and it was better today.”
On whether this Thanksgiving will be different in terms of preparation for Iowa
“Yeah, this whole year's been rough and trying to manage things, we're going to treat Thursday like it's a normal Friday for us and head over there. We're trying to work through right now how many guys we can let go home but if we go home and get some guys with the virus, that could put our season in jeopardy, the rest of the season in jeopardy. I'm sure our guys after this long haul are ready to go see family but we’ve got a couple more games to play so we're trying to work through that schedule right now. But we’ll treat Thursday other than a nice team meal the same as we do the day before any game.”
