Notable quotes from Nebraska’s 27-17 win over Rutgers.
Mike Riley on the defense carrying the offense:
“I’ve seen growth since the first week, take out the first half of the Oregon game, come to the second half, and there has been growth. Lots of good teaching, lots of good football today. I think again that it was really telling how they drove down and scored right away and then really didn’t again. There was the pick-six and that was really about it. Pretty impressive. I thought the kids played sound and I thought a lot of the next-men-up had to step up. We lost Aaron Williams early, and we’re already playing without Josh Kalu. We don’t have two starters out there and Kieron Williams gets in there, Antonio Reed plays, and Marquel Dismuke goes in. There’s a lot of new faces playing a lot of ball. I think that’s pretty good.”
Rutgers head coach Chris Ash on the pick-six by Kly Hester:
"It was a great play actually. One that we have talked about all week. We brought a lot of coverage to that play. We actually talked about it in our walk-thru this morning. It was our potential first third-down call. Kiy made a great play, and he took it into the end zone. That was a great play of the game and it really felt like we were playing good defensively at that point. We stopped them and were able to punt the ball and pin them inside the 5-yard line and that drive broke our back. That was the difference, the 97-yard drive. We were playing good football until that drive, then we were tired and made some penalties in costly situations and that was really the game.”
Rutgers defensive back Saquan Hampton on their defense getting worn down:
“Yeah, we got worn down. We’re thin on the D-line right now in terms of depth, so I think as the game got on, we got worn down as a defense.”
Huskers offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf on Devine Ozigbo:
"I just thought he had a solid fall camp, but he really showed some stuff at the beginning of the season. All of the last three weeks he’s just practiced well, he’s been a guy that you go ‘he’s deserving of playing.' We just felt like, because of his effort and his attention to detail and his focus that he needed to play.
"I think he’s really itching to play, wanting to get in there. He’s a competitor, he wants to play and I think that showed in his practice reps.”
Jerald Foster on Tanner Lee leading the 97-yard drive:
“It just shows that that guy, he really does play by next snap, where the snap before doesn’t matter, it’s about the next snap. I am happy, having a quarterback in Tanner, having somebody that understands the game, as serious as he is to keep us going. Putting it on his back is easy. It definitely is. As an offensive line I feel like we definitely get our encouragement, we get our push and the grind from that guy. He definitely helps us go forward.”
Luke Gifford on pleasing Bob Diaco and not giving up the lead:
“We showed signs. Last week we had that one drive where we had an opportunity to shut it down and we didn’t. Then this week we give up that drive to start the game. We knew it was it. We were making sure it was the last drive that they were going to get. Then soon as we got that lead back this time, we pointed to last week and said, ‘That’s not happening. It’s not happening this week. We have to make a stop and once the offense gives us a lead, we were going to keep it.’”
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.
