admo
Heisman Trophy Winner
Some highlights from the presser...
Linky Binky
Sark bites --- Nebraska edition
Posted by Bob Condotta
ON NEBRASKA: "I think this is probably a top 5 well coached team in America. i have the upmost respect for Bo Pelini and his staff and what they do in all three phases. Defensively, this is as sound a defense as I have seen in 10 years playing against really good teams. They are extremely sound, they play together, they play hard, they are all over you in the run game, they are all over you in routes. They do an excellent job of route reading, seeing which routes are coming, and jumping those routes, that's why they create so many turnovers, and offensively they've changed their approach some. They've got a freshman quarterback in Taylor Martinez that can really run. they spread you out and cause a lot of problems for you. We'll be counting on our crowd and our fans and we'll be counting on husky stadium as always when we're at home. I'm a big guy in looking at facts and trying to find things that really matter that we can give to our team and you look at our last three ball games at home our opponents have had 9 pre-snap penalties on offense in the last three ball games combined. That's 7 false starts and 2 delay of games and that's a tribute to our fans and the energy and enthusiasm they bring that not only does our team feed off of but also has an effect on our opponents. We'll be calling on all our Dawgs to bring it on Saturday.''
ON NEBRASKA'S SECONDARY: "The first thing they do is they play a lot of DBs. At times they'll have 7 DBs on the field together. and by doing that they are able to cover a lot of ground and they understand your route concepts really well. And when they know they go, which I think is a unique trait for a DB to have, and it seems like their entire secondary has it. When they know a route is coming they go get it and in turn that's how you end up getting five interceptions in a game.''
DO YOU EMBRACE THIS CHANCE TO GET SOME NATIONAL RECOGNITION IF YOU BEAT NEBRASKA? "I just went them to prepare very well and go out and prepare close to our abilities, if not at our capabilities. I'm not concerned about the exposure part of it. That comes with wins and wins over time and consistency over time. My concern is, I just want to see us maximize an opportunity. We've got to go out and play against a really good football team at Husky Stadium, in front of our fans and our friends and our family, and to perform in the way that we are capable of performing. I think if we do that, I don't know if that's necessarily going to result in a win or not -- they could perform that their abilities, and who knows what's going to happen. So I think the challenge for us is to embrace the opportunity and then prepare really well. And we've got to prepare really well today, and then worry about tomorrow tomorrow, and Wednesday Wednesday and Thursday Thursday and so on and so forth.
.
"I think that our team has gotten to that point. We've continually talked about that as we go on and on and continue to move forward as a program: Not to worry about the end results of a season. Don't worry about a bowl game. Don't worry about exposure. Don't worry about awards. Worry about the task at hand and what's in front of us. And this week it happens to be Nebraska."
ON THE UNIQUENESS OF NEBRASKA'S DEFENSE: "Well, they're a two-gap defense, and nobody in our conference really plays a two-gap defense, meaning their defensive tackles are playing two gaps, not one, where they're forcing a play. They'll sit and get their hands on offensive linemen. They're big, strong, powerful guys that have the ability to throw linemen to make their plays. And by doing so, they're able to play with a lot of two-high-safeties look, and they can cover down and double coverage guys and it makes it a tough task.''
ON WHAT TO DO SCHEMATICALLY AGAINST SEVEN DBS: "One, you'd like to think you have better odds of running the football, but they hold up pretty well. The minus is, they've got defensive backs not only covering your wide receivers but covering your tight ends and covering your running backs out of the backfield. So they're able to stay close to guys. There's not a lot of error, not a lot of room to throw balls. So there's a real onus on the quarterback to know what coverage it is and anticipate throws and be accurate.''
ON TAYLOR MARTINEZ: "Yeah, I knew him very well. We recruited him; we looked at him hard. He's a tremendous athlete. He led his high school team, Corona Centennial, to a state championship and a 15-0 season. He's a good football player. I actually was at the championship game, the one to win the CIF championship, I went to that ball game. He's a talented kid, a great athlete. I think it was somewhat of a steal for Nebraska because I think so many people viewed him as just an athlete, and possibly people were recruiting him as a safety or different position, and not just a quarterback. It's a credit to Coach Pellini and his staff to really view him as a quarterback. And he's turned out to be a nice player for him.''
Linky Binky
Sark bites --- Nebraska edition
Posted by Bob Condotta
ON NEBRASKA: "I think this is probably a top 5 well coached team in America. i have the upmost respect for Bo Pelini and his staff and what they do in all three phases. Defensively, this is as sound a defense as I have seen in 10 years playing against really good teams. They are extremely sound, they play together, they play hard, they are all over you in the run game, they are all over you in routes. They do an excellent job of route reading, seeing which routes are coming, and jumping those routes, that's why they create so many turnovers, and offensively they've changed their approach some. They've got a freshman quarterback in Taylor Martinez that can really run. they spread you out and cause a lot of problems for you. We'll be counting on our crowd and our fans and we'll be counting on husky stadium as always when we're at home. I'm a big guy in looking at facts and trying to find things that really matter that we can give to our team and you look at our last three ball games at home our opponents have had 9 pre-snap penalties on offense in the last three ball games combined. That's 7 false starts and 2 delay of games and that's a tribute to our fans and the energy and enthusiasm they bring that not only does our team feed off of but also has an effect on our opponents. We'll be calling on all our Dawgs to bring it on Saturday.''
ON NEBRASKA'S SECONDARY: "The first thing they do is they play a lot of DBs. At times they'll have 7 DBs on the field together. and by doing that they are able to cover a lot of ground and they understand your route concepts really well. And when they know they go, which I think is a unique trait for a DB to have, and it seems like their entire secondary has it. When they know a route is coming they go get it and in turn that's how you end up getting five interceptions in a game.''
DO YOU EMBRACE THIS CHANCE TO GET SOME NATIONAL RECOGNITION IF YOU BEAT NEBRASKA? "I just went them to prepare very well and go out and prepare close to our abilities, if not at our capabilities. I'm not concerned about the exposure part of it. That comes with wins and wins over time and consistency over time. My concern is, I just want to see us maximize an opportunity. We've got to go out and play against a really good football team at Husky Stadium, in front of our fans and our friends and our family, and to perform in the way that we are capable of performing. I think if we do that, I don't know if that's necessarily going to result in a win or not -- they could perform that their abilities, and who knows what's going to happen. So I think the challenge for us is to embrace the opportunity and then prepare really well. And we've got to prepare really well today, and then worry about tomorrow tomorrow, and Wednesday Wednesday and Thursday Thursday and so on and so forth.
.
"I think that our team has gotten to that point. We've continually talked about that as we go on and on and continue to move forward as a program: Not to worry about the end results of a season. Don't worry about a bowl game. Don't worry about exposure. Don't worry about awards. Worry about the task at hand and what's in front of us. And this week it happens to be Nebraska."
ON THE UNIQUENESS OF NEBRASKA'S DEFENSE: "Well, they're a two-gap defense, and nobody in our conference really plays a two-gap defense, meaning their defensive tackles are playing two gaps, not one, where they're forcing a play. They'll sit and get their hands on offensive linemen. They're big, strong, powerful guys that have the ability to throw linemen to make their plays. And by doing so, they're able to play with a lot of two-high-safeties look, and they can cover down and double coverage guys and it makes it a tough task.''
ON WHAT TO DO SCHEMATICALLY AGAINST SEVEN DBS: "One, you'd like to think you have better odds of running the football, but they hold up pretty well. The minus is, they've got defensive backs not only covering your wide receivers but covering your tight ends and covering your running backs out of the backfield. So they're able to stay close to guys. There's not a lot of error, not a lot of room to throw balls. So there's a real onus on the quarterback to know what coverage it is and anticipate throws and be accurate.''
ON TAYLOR MARTINEZ: "Yeah, I knew him very well. We recruited him; we looked at him hard. He's a tremendous athlete. He led his high school team, Corona Centennial, to a state championship and a 15-0 season. He's a good football player. I actually was at the championship game, the one to win the CIF championship, I went to that ball game. He's a talented kid, a great athlete. I think it was somewhat of a steal for Nebraska because I think so many people viewed him as just an athlete, and possibly people were recruiting him as a safety or different position, and not just a quarterback. It's a credit to Coach Pellini and his staff to really view him as a quarterback. And he's turned out to be a nice player for him.''
