Meet the Press: Coach Wannstedt Discusses the upcoming Nebraska Game

9/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football

Sept. 12, 2005

Dave Wannstedt

Nebraska Press Briefing

Sept. 12, 2005

Opening Remarks:

In reference to the Ohio University game, after studying the film I was very pleased with our defense. We know how disappointing the Notre Dame performance was and we knew that we were better than that on defense. The key for the Ohio game was to come out focused and play with the intensity it was going to take and I feel like they did that for the entire football game.

When you look at the statistics, Ohio's longest play from scrimmage was the 18-yard screen pass. We held them to seven first downs (excluding four gained by penalty) and a field goal. After we went for it on fourth and one and didn't get it, the defense kept them from gaining any more yards and Ohio missed a field goal to give our team an opportunity to win the game. I feel like they made some strides as a defensive unit, while we continue to play young guys. It was good to get Thomas Smith and Clint Session back in action, but players like Gus Mustakas, Rashaad Duncan and Nick Williams will also see time.

The turnovers are what I was disappointed in. When you turn the ball over for touchdowns or in the red zone, you are not going to win the game. Tyler Palko is our leader. He has won a lot of games around here and he will continue to win a lot of games. The two of us sat down and went over the film and saw what went wrong. A lot of the problems are not just on the one person making the decision. As a team we need to run better routes and protect Palko better. Our passing game was not balanced. There was pressure on the passer, we missed some throws and dropped passes. We really didn't throw, catch or protect the ball the way we needed to.

The running game was better against Ohio. Raymond Kirkley and Rashad Jennings both had running plays over 20 yards. We ran the ball for about 175 yards prior to the subtraction of sack yardage. It's not where I would like it to be but it is progress. I thought we made progress on special teams, too. LaRod Stephens came out excited to play. Josh Cummings continues to make field goals under pressure. Adam Graessle's punting and kickoffs were better this week.

On changes at wide receiver:

We need to be more of a threat with speed on the field. Derek Kinder and Marcel Pestano will get a chance to see if they can help push the ball down the field. As for Greg Lee, after a good year you can't surprise people as much. They are going to have coverage on him on every play and we need other guys to step up.

Kinder came out of the spring in our minds deserving an opportunity to start but in camp he started slow. We need to be able to run down the field with speed to come up with big plays. Joe DelSardo is going to be a major part of the game plan but we need to juggle some things around and see if the younger guys will develop and help us overall.

On depth chart changes:

The offensive line is injured right now and we are hoping that they will all be able to play. C.J. Davis will get more time at the guard position and Chris Vangas will play more. We will continue to move those defensive linemen. Thomas Smith and Rashaad Duncan are all going to play. Hopefully some of these guys will separate themselves some more. Brain Bennett will work with the first team this week and Clint Session is close to coming back.

On the running game:

Kirkley is doing a great job. Now, he is playing as good as he did in the past. We need to get Stephens the ball. He is the guy that has the chance to make a 40-yard run.

On the status of Dom Williams and Mike McGlynn:

Williams and McGlynn hurt themselves on the same play and are both questionable. McGlynn came back in the Ohio game so he should be okay.

On Tyler Palko being ready for Nebraska:

I am Palko's biggest supporter, he's our guy. I believe in him and he'll bounce back this week. We don't know what leads up to interceptions. If you're under pressure, receivers aren't beating their defenders, then you become hesitant and it adds to the cause of an interception.

On Corey Davis' status:

Davis was bothered by a thumb injury last week. He had a cast on it to enable him to play, but he wasn't at 100 percent. We decided to play a few of the other guys instead. He will be back for this weekend.

On the effect on the players after the loss:

I hope that this loss did affect them. It seems like it did. After watching tape you tend to come down on yourself by saying that if we would have had one interception or if we could have ran the ball here. But I told them that sometimes we need to understand what loses games before we can understand how to win games. For instance, jumping offside at the end of the game will lose the game and that is something no one talks about because the interceptions are obvious. There is more to it than what you see.

We will see this week what we can correct. We are moving upward. Nebraska's defense is fast and plays with a lot of confidence. Our offense is going to have to meet the challenge at another packed stadium.

On the team's confidence this week:

I think the defense is really making strides and special teams are also improving. We are more confident that we can run the ball. We lost to Ohio because of turnovers, not because we didn't run the football, play defense or have a productive special teams. When you turn the ball over for touchdowns you are going to lose. Our guys need to understand the separation and grow from it.

On crucial penalties last week:

Penalties are like turnovers. There is only one easy way to stop them -- if you keep committing penalties you can't play. We work on it with maturity and we will be able to stay away from them and get better.

On H.B. Blades' status:

Blades is better. He went back in the game after coming out with his injury. We expect him to play this weekend.

On Allen Richardson's status:

Richardson will continue to practice. I think he has learned his lesson.

On how big a setback the loss was:

I think that if we had done this before and it didn't work, if we were using offensive schemes that didn't work in the past, or running things that the coaches didn't know about, then it could cause setbacks. We started out slow this year so now we need to fight our way out of it.

On Nebraska:

They have two or three good running backs and their quarterback isn't running as many motion formations as before. It looks like they have simplified things from when they played Pitt last year. They have a new quarterback that they are trying to get in rhythm. Their defense and special teams have carried them through the year so far.

On the offensive line:

I think that we need to remember that we have young guys in there and make adjustments for them. Some of the younger guys aren't going to know what some things are. We want them to be in a position to be successful.

On the slow start:

Notre Dame may be better than everybody thought. Last week's disappointment falls into that category for us. I don't want to lump the whole team (in that category) because we did make progress in certain areas of our team. We need to continue to clean up in the other areas and put it all together. We need to play all three phases at a high level to beat Nebraska.