Nebraska players met with the media Saturday after following the Huskers’ 21-13 loss to Northwestern. Linebacker Luke Reimer, running back Dedrick Mills, defensive back Dicaprio Bootle and tight end Austin Allen were the four to speak.
Here is the full transcript from their question and answer session.
Linebacker Luke Reimer
On how he played:
“It felt good. I missed game one against Ohio State with an ankle injury but it felt good to get out there. Wish we came away with a win but it felt good for me to just get the nerves out a little bit on that first drive. It felt good.”
On what changed after that first drive by Northwestern:
“I think really just settling down. Nerves were through the roof and just really settling down and playing our game. Knowing what we need to do and just doing our job. That was the biggest thing I thought after that first drive on the first half the second half.”
On the mood in the locker room after the loss:
“This one hurt. This one hurt for sure. We knew we should win this game. We think we have the best team. This one just hurt for us. So pretty somber mood.”
On the top one or two priorities for stopping Northwestern:
“I think we just came in with a mentality of just running to the ball. Sound tackling and just playing aggressive and just playing physical. I think we did a decent job but obviously not good enough. We still have areas to get better just doing our job and playing more physical and tackling better.”
On leading the team in tackles:
“There’s always stuff to improve on. I missed a couple plays I should have made. There’s always stuff to improve on. Again, we just need to win games. Plain and simple. It hurts right now. There are always things to improve on. We will be better.”
Running back Dedrick Mills
On Scott Frost taking the blame for the loss:
“It hits pretty hard but you know it isn’t all his fault. We are a team. It’s a little bit of everybody’s fault. We all have to come together and just figure out what we got to do. We need to come out and get a win in these games.”
On the spark from Luke McCaffrey:
“He gave us a good spark because Luke gives more tempo. He moved the ball more productive and faster. He just looked to the sidelines and gets back under center with everybody set up. He just snapped the ball quick. It’s just all about getting the defense on their toes and making them tired. That’s what Luke brought to the game.”
On keeping the faith late in the fourth quarter after an interception:
“Coming back to the sideline knowing we are still in the game. We had a chance to come back and tie the game up. It’s just knowing that we still in the game. Coming back out on the field and just executing the plays.”
On what the team’s problems are right now in the red zone:
“I just say just everybody got to give 100%. I just think that’s something that we all not given when we get to an area. Everybody’s got to give 100% and we’re going to score every time we get down there.”
On if he felt like Nebraska had the momentum after his touchdown:
“I felt the momentum once Myles [Farmer] got that interception and returned it to get us to the three-yard line, I knew I had to get us into the end zone. We came back out again for another drive like right before half. We had momentum and everybody was just feeling good. So, we just got to keep that going every time we get on the field.”
On how he thinks the offensive line handled the shuffling around:
“I think they handed out the situation pretty good. It was a quick change up because of Cam being out. You can put anybody in the game. I felt like the whole offensive line just has more experience after coming back for another year. It wasn’t hard. It wasn’t anything I had to worry about it. Everybody knew each other assignments so it was just easy to get in the game and play with them.”
Defensive Back Dicaprio Bootle
On the emotions of the team after the loss:
“It is hard but it’s definitely on us. I think everybody in that locker room understands what happened just now was unacceptable. We just need to find ways to win at the end of the day no matter what. Guys just got to keep pushing from a loss like this. It can either split a team or bring a team together. My job as a leader is to keep these guys together. Help them see the good in the game. We had to learn from this game, 100%, but is definitely heartbreaking for sure.”
On the performance of Myles Farmer:
“He answered the call. His number was called him and he answered. He showed up big time for us. Gave us big opportunities for our offense, getting them the ball back and just basically being the baller that he is. He earned a lot of respect from a lot of people today. I didn’t expect anything different but going forward everybody’s just got to continue to work. He understands that and having him today was a big boost.”
On the defense adjusting after giving up the first touchdown:
“We just understood we needed to tackle better, run to the ball and just be where we are supposed to be. Obviously, a couple errors led to a touchdown. The best thing about it was we stay poised. We believed in each other and continue to rally to the bal. That’s something that we just need to continue to do from this point forward.”
On keeping faith in the offense during the game:
“We have full faith in them no matter what. Whether they got a penalty, went backwards, or a 20-yard gain. We don’t stop believing in them not for one second not even towards the end of the game. As a defense we just understood that they do their thing and we do ours. Once it’s our time to go out there we were having party flying to the ball. We will do our best to get the ball back.”
On the message in the locker room to turn things around:
“Keep on pushing. Just keep on pushing. In football you’re going to get knocked down. In life you’re going to get knocked down but you get back up. You get knocked down 10 times as long as we get up each time. That’s something I live by regardless. We just got to continue to practice hard and just go out there and then believe.”
On the mindset of this team:
“We just got to find ways to win. Finding ways to finish it. When we have opponents back against the wall keep them there. We just got to find a way point blank period. Nobody in our locker right now is okay with losing. Nobody. Just know that it saddens us. We really feel that. We all got to look each other in the face. Look ourselves in the mirror and understand that we got to stay together. We got to unify throughout this whole thing. Just continue to push. Turn some of these close games into wins. Turn the losses into win. Just keep on going.”
Tight End Austin Allen
On the frustration of gaining yards but only having 13 points:
“Yeah, it’s for sure frustrating. As an offense we put up that many yards. The score didn’t dictate it. We got to be better in the red zone as an entire offense. It’s promising to see what our offense can do driving down the field. We just got to get detailed when we get to that fringe and red zone area.”
On if he was open in the end zone on the Northwestern interception:
“Obviously Adrian’s got his reads and he went through it. Got to me, he threw it up. Being 6-foot-8 I got to go make a play on that. Feel like I let it come down a little too far. The DB was able to make a play on it. That’s where I got to plant my foot in the ground and go up and make a play. Use my size to my advantage.”
On the mood in the huddle before the final drive of the game:
“We do that situation every week in practice. It’s called the clutch period. We put ourselves in situations just like that. We run that exact scenario. We drive down the field every week. We were confident that situation. Just when it came time to make a play, just things didn’t fall our way. But the mood, the mood was this is our time. This is our time to go win a game for us. For the state of Nebraska and the university. Just didn’t get it done. We got to be better.”
On the spark when Luke came in the game:
“I trust both those quarterbacks equally. They’re both good. They’re both playmakers. They’re going to get things done. They obviously both have their skill sets. They bring something a little different to the table. Adrian in there, Luke in there, I feel confident in both. There wasn’t necessarily a big mood change like here we go we’re going to do it now. But Luke’s a competitor, Adrian’s competitor, we competed. And that was that was my mentality toward it.”
On how much the little things hold the offense the back:
“Yeah, we’re just on drive stars we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. When we start up drive with a false start. They were they were doing some stunts and movement right up front pre-snap. We knew that coming in and we just had to be a little bit more locked in. As leaders, we got to step up and dial those things in. This upcoming week Penn State, they’re great team, they’re coming into our house. We just need to step up as leaders and try and shock the world next week.”
On if the game felt out of reach in the second half and encouragement from the defense:
“It never felt like the game was too out of reach at any point. We knew we drove down the ball. We drove down the field the first half and we kicked field goal after field goal. The defense was playing their tails off for us. We knew we’re putting ourselves in situations we just needed to execute in the red zone. That’s where we lacked today but we’ll dial that in this week. We’ll learn from this film. We do every week. We’ll come back stronger.”
