Notable quotes from Nebraska’s 54-21 loss to Minnesota.
Mike Riley on the team as a whole:
“Right now, you have to inherently rely on the character of the people around you, the players and the coaches. I think that it sounds like a broken record, but the coaches will get together to plan and prepare and the players, I think we will just have to call upon on their own personal pride to do the right thing. Whether or not their lights have been on all the way, whatever that is or the opinion of what it looked like today, these are good kids, they have worked hard, they did prepare. We had a plan. We did not obviously prepare for this. We were surprised by it, but I will continue to say that they had good intentions and tried in every way to get ready to play.”
Patrick O’Brien on how he played under the circumstance:
“I thought I played alright. I missed a couple throws, I mean not to get down on myself, but I have to keep progressing. This is my first time playing in an actual game, I felt I did alright but there is always room for improvement.”
Danny Langsdorf on the potential for the team to check out:
"I really don’t [sense that]. If you were at our practice and the energy and the work that they put in, I think it’s very good. It’s easy to say that. It’s easy to say ‘oh they cashed it in,’ and then you have a game like that and they’ve quit. I don’t see that. I don’t believe that. I think they’re trying and I think everybody’s got to do better – coaches, players, everybody. I think there’s a lot of disappointment but I don’t see anybody quitting."
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck on what worked defensively:
"Well I think we were able to get pressure. The first few series they were able to run the ball pretty well, made some adjustments in terms of how we were fitting some people in and things. I thought Rob Smith did a great job adjusting to that. You know they attacked us through the air in some play action pass game from two really fast, really explosive receivers, one here from in the state of Minnesota. We have to keep those types of players here in the state of Minnesota, period. So, everybody listening, whoever you know that’s a great player keep him here, '18 class, '19 class, keep him here because those type of players continue to make us better but they were down the field in play action stuff. We are not very deep in the secondary and they took advantage of it. I thought our players responded to it, they threw their oar back in the water and kept rowing and finished drives."
Gophers safety Jacob Huff on looking forward to the rest of the season:
“We’re putting our head down and trusting the process. We put ourselves in some bad situations earlier in the year so we’re focusing on just winning the next game and the game after that and accept whatever is handed to that. We’re worrying more about the next game ahead than on the postseason."
Greg is the Recruiting Analyst for Hail Varsity and has covered Husker athletics since 2013. He has always had a passion for sports while growing up in the Chicago area. As he got older and had to hang up his cleats and sneakers, he realized his passion for sports went beyond just watching and attending games. He has covered many events from the Rose Bowl to championship boxing matches. If he’s not talking sports, he’s hovering over his grill. He is married to an amazing woman, Kim, and they have a dog that barks when Greg yells at the TV during games.
