Post Ohio State Press Conference
There is no other way to say it, today stung. But I have to say as a whole I am surpised with how much better Nebraska looked today vs last week at Indiana. For the first time in a long time we had a field goal kicker make 3 long field goals of 39, 56, and 47 yards which kept us in the game and in a position to potentially win at the end. But the Huskers just were not able to get it done this Saturday. There are still many things this team needs to improve upon down the stretch if they want to win out, but at least this team showed signs of improvement and desire to win.
After the game Head Coach Matt Rhule held his usual press conference, here is a rundown of what he had to say;
– Coach opened his press conference by giving credit to Ohio State for doing what they needed to do down the stretch to win
– Rhule said that the hardest part about his previous rebuilds was getting the team to stop expecting to lose, to stop focusing on what is wrong and what is right.
– Rhule said he knew this week would be a good week for Nebraska and he expected to win
– Coach does not want this to sound like a moral victory because he is here to win, the University of Nebraska is here to win
– Rhule emphatically stated that he was proud of his team today, he is not yet satisfied but proud
– This is the first time since Rhule has been here that he felt there was a championship mindset in that locker room. He challenged his team to grow up this week and they showed up to play and win
– For those who believe in doing things the right way, the hard way, Rhule hopes that they are proud of what they saw today.
– Coach felt the defense was dominant all day minus three plays, tackling was good and they got after the QB
– The defense played physical and got off blocks and slowed down a good rushing team today
– On the 4th and 2 goal line attempt the coach said that he thought Lloyd was down at the one and was surprised with the spot
– FB Barret Liebentritt was injured today so Nebraska used defensive players on short yardage plays
– Rhule mentioned how good of a day that Dante Dowdell had running the ball
– On the championship mindset that Rhule discussed, he mentioned that the way out of the “woe is me” mentally is that you have to push the team through that
– Rhule felt that the process was of his build was playing out in the half time in the locker room and he feels relieved yet despondent because he thought we were going to win the game
– Coach feels like he is doing his best to give people a step by step picture of his process at Nebraska, noting that he loves Nebraska fans because he feels we know football
– He hopes the players watch the press conference because he wants them to know just how proud of them he is and how excited he is moving forward
– Building a championship caliber program without winning is a challenge for Rhule, but he feels he is here to fix that and build the program
– If Nebraska goes out and loses next week then all this mindset talk is for not, according to Rhule
– Rhule noted that he has said on record in the past that John Hohl is going to be a good kicker
– Coach Maher told Rhule not to worry about Hohl’s confidence and just send him out there today
– In regards to last week the team was just out of whack and expecting one thing and saw another and never got it together
– Rhule wanted to be the most physical team on the field today
– The little things that Raiola does that we don’t see really sets the Huskers up for success later in the game
– Though Nebraska did not win, today was great reps for Raoila and some of the other young players
– Rhule thought that Nebraska would need to have a successful screen game to win, but early on decided that the screen game wasn’t going to work, stating that the screen game was not good enough today
– The Huskers finally got the run game going in the 3rd quarter which allowed them to be in a position to potentially win today
– Rhule tried to get a time out back when Ohio State had an injured player in the 4th quarter, but this time the Refs decided not to give the TO back
– On Raiola’s potential injury Rhule said he did not know what that was
Coach Spoke for around 20 minutes after the game today and gave what felt like a very honest and heart felt talk about Nebraska’s current situation. I highly recommend that you go and watch it for yourself.
