Nebraska coach Scott Frost met with the media Saturday afternoon following the Huskers' 36-31 loss to Ohio State. Frost addressed whether or not Saturday was a step forward, his defense creating turnovers and taking confidence from this game.
Check out the full transcript from Frost's time at the podium.
On if Saturday was a step forward:
“We had every chance in the world to win that game. I felt the defense did a great job in the first half. The offense did great on the first drive. They came back in the second quarter and did really well. Man, we just needed to get a stop and go get a score in the third quarter. I don’t think we played really well in the third quarter for whatever reason. A couple breaks here or there and chances we didn’t take advantage of. The great thing coming out of the locker room, our guys are upset. They are mad they didn’t win the football game. Coaches are mad we didn’t win the football game because they came here expecting to win. That is a big step forward.”
On what pleased him the most and what plays he’d like to have back:
“Right after a game we don’t win, there’s not much that pleases me. I probably won't evaluate that until we get back and watch the tape. What pleased me was the heart of this team. This was a long time coming. A lot of things had to happen to get a team ready to go fight a top-ten team like that. Six weeks ago, we went to Ann Arbor and played a team like that. We had no chance. We walked out of there with our tail between our legs. Now seeing how the guys are banding together and fighting going blow for blow with a team like that, I’m excited. At the same time, I am really upset and disappointed that we didn’t find a way.”
On how big creating turnovers was:
“That was huge. We finally got the ball bouncing our way a little bit. We had a chance for a couple more that were bouncing around we didn’t get. We put one on the ground in the redzone that might have been another score that could have been a difference. A couple balls we should have caught might have changed things. It seems like we come up short six inches to get a first down more than we get them by six inches. It just feels that way right now. We still had every chance in the world to win the game. I’m thrilled that we are starting to get turnovers. The guys are starting to play the football. JoJo Domann has been a real spark for us and is going out there making plays for us. There were tipped balls that we had chances to get. We had hits that are causing fumbles. That stuff didn’t exist for us early in the year. You got to have those things to win and we are starting to get it.”
On the potential onside kick early in the game:
“We had a great look to get the onside but we didn’t execute it. We gave them a short field and the defense did a great job of going out and getting a stop. Coming on a road trip to a team with their record and ranking, we scored first and were going to try to get two and be aggressive. It certainly didn’t look like what we practiced.”
On the blocked punt:
“One guy didn’t do his assignment. Those things are going to happen, do your assignment. It’s not happening as much anymore. The guy that was responsible is one of the guys that we can count on. Special teams have been a battle all year. We are getting better with it but it certainly didn’t go in our favor today. Their punts bounced to our one and our punts bounced backwards. It seems like the clouds were out half the time and not the other times. Those guys couldn’t see the ball. Depending on if there was cloud cover or not if you could field it. JD [Spielman] couldn’t see it and that certainly put us behind the eight ball.”
On the long incompletion pass to Spielman:
“I saw it from behind. I thought it was completed then I saw the ball bounce. It’s hard but JD is one of our warriors and a guy that makes plays for us every single week. We have to come up with big plays when it matters. We had chances to put this team away and we didn’t.”
On thinking about going for it on NU’s own ten:
“I thought about it. If we were going to be aggressive enough to play the way we did with the onside kick and things like that. At that time, we were down two points. Giving them a touchdown and being down nine. Even if we had punted and they only get a field goal, you are only down one score. I thought about it for a second then I came to my senses.”
On taking confidence from this game:
“It doesn’t matter how confident I am. It’s all about our team. I think our guys are having fun playing football and are more confident than since I’ve known them. My message for the team is that I’m disappointed and ticked off for them but I’m proud of them. The one thing I feel bad about it is this thing keeps getting better. It’s going to be really good and really fun. Some of the guy that are helping us build it..the Giffords, Stoltenberg, Stanley, Tanner, Jerald and a bunch of these guys that are helping us get things right aren’t going to get to see where it goes because its their last year. I told the guys we have to send them out the right way. The guys have the right mindset to get back to work and try to win the next game and the next game and the next game. It’s building and I would love to see those guys have some success on the way out.”
On the performance of Adrian Martinez:
"I'm going to get tired of talking in superlatives about Adrian and complimenting him. You guys see what he is. There's been some freshmen mistakes, but not very many. I'm sure Mario [Verduzco] in much more colorful language told him that was a bonehead play. It shouldn't have happened, but he rallied, and made plays for us and gave us a chance to win even though we were down two scores. So, he just such a good kid and good teammate on to of how good a player he is. I’m glad he’s on our side.”
On thinking about an onside kick late in the game:
“No, we had already tried one and it didn’t go very well. We had two timeouts and I burned one trying to see if they’d jump offsides. I wish I had that one back. Being down five if you onside it and don’t get it, even if you stop them they’d probably get a field goal. Then you’d need a touchdown and two-point conversion just to tie it. We talked about it for probably a minute after the touchdown and decided we’d give our defense a chance so we could get some better field position. You always question yourself when things don’t go the way you want it. Now I would have tried the onside because I see the result but at the time I thought it was the best decision."
