Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Opening Statement…
“We are looking forward to getting back on the field. We had a good practice this morning and are really trying to move forward after last week’s game with North Texas. The quickest way to do that is to get back out on the practice field and get to work again. We had a good first practice for the week. We know we have a tough game this weekend at Nebraska. They are a great opponent and this will be one of the greatest environments in all of college football. Their fan base is incredible. It will be a lot of fun for our players to experience that and go up and play against a great opponent. They are very big on defense. Offensively, they do a great job of running the football. They want to play a physical style of football on offense, defense and special teams. It will be a great challenge for our guys to match that and be able to compete. We are going to have to have a lot of great effort with the offensive line and defensive line. I am excited about the challenge ad looking forward to getting up to Lincoln, Nebraska to play this football game and finish out our non-conference slate.”
On quarterback Hank Bachmeier
“We are still trying to determine the extent of the injury and we will know more as the week goes in terms of his availability and ability to throw the football and how effective he can be with that shoulder injury.”
On quarterback Jack Turner…
“Jack was ready and prepared to go in. He executed well and a did a good job of moving the football. We said all along we have a lot of confidence in Hank and Jack they are both good players. They both have gotten better because of each other. They both are in the film rooms together. They do a great job of supporting and challenging each other at the same time. Jack did a good job bringing us back. Hopefully all of our quarterbacks will be available Saturday but I was pleased with how Jack was ready to get in there and compete.”
On running back room…
“We have sustained some injuries in the running back room and Coach Teddy (Veal) has done a great job of getting the next guy ready to go out there and play. Charvis (Thornton) it will be interesting to see how his week goes to determine his availability. I expect Tyre (Shelton) to play. I am encouraged by Marquis Crosby. I do not know if it will be this week or next but I think he is getting closer to helping us and getting back. He has been out for a significant amount of time so we will have to be smart about how we get him back going and involved in our offense… Keith Willis is definitely out for this game and the forseeable future with a high-ankle sprain. We do have our hands full there and we are going against a team that is one of the top five in the country in rushing defense. They are only allowing around 55 yards a game. We are going to have to be creative with what we do in being able to run the football. We are going to have to be able to do that against a great opponent. I have a lot of confidence in Coach Teddy and a lot of confidence of those guys in the room. The running back room has displayed a lot of courage and grit through the first part of the season.”
On Nebraska defensive line…
“There is definitely an awareness on our part with how big they are on the defensive line and how disruptive they are with their linebackers and defensive front. They do a great job rushing the passer and they are the biggest defensive front that we will play. They are huge up front and very active and athletic. There is definitely an awareness from our standpoint in pass protection and putting our guys in the best position to be successful.”
On Nebraska’s turnovers…
“I saw the difference with them last week. With any transition from one offensive scheme to another you are getting a quarterback’s feet wet and it takes time to get rhythm and timing. Any time there is a transition it will take awhile with a quarterback. Some of the things you see in practice with a quarterback is the speed of the game is a little bit different and fast paced. Getting into the rhytym of the offense I think they did that last week. They do a great job in terms of running the football, their play action shots and they played smart football last week.”
On preparing for heavy run game…
“We are going to have to figure out ways to get extra hats in the box. Both quarterbacks do a great job of running the football with zone reads and quarterback draws and with quarterback power. We are going to have to find ways to get extra hats to the box. As a result, we have to be really good in coverage on the outside. They do pose some problems. It is a lot different in terms of a structure standpoint than what we just faced. Chandler (Rogers) created plays with his feet because of the spread he was able to get some running lanes and take off. This is a little bit different because you have an idea where everyone is going to be at it is just in terms of executing. They are really good at what they do. From a defensive standpoint 40 snaps out of 40 snaps, we have to be exactly where we are supposed to be to be able to stop their run.”
On slow starts offensively…
“We had six plays in the first quarter. On two third downs it is just execution to keep those drives alive. Hank threw a beautiful pass on the first drive of the game to Ryan Rivera. Ryan is a sure-handed kid. He has some of the best hands on our football team and he has made that catch numerous times. It is just getting guys settled in. This is Ryan’s first and unfortunately only season with us. He is getting used to playing in a completely different offensive system than what he played at Cal Poly. From that standpoint, it is going out there and the next time that opportunity arrives I expect Ryan to make that play. Last game it was very easy to see that we did not convert out third downs. We had two of them in the first quarter and it was the same way the rest of the game. We did not do a good job of converting them on offense and getting ourselves off to a fast start.”
On improving defensively…
“In the second half in terms of reps and fatigue it caught up to it a little bit and part of that was us being able to sustain drives on offense and keeping the defense off the field. Our first drive of the second half we should have came away with points and that would have gave our team more energy. Those are the things, we need to tackle well. In the second half we got a little worn out and missed tackles we should not have missed. We gave up more explosive plays in the past game than we had in a very long time. We have to win our one-on-ones because we play a lot of man coverage on the outside. They are going to know where we are at so we have to do a great job of playing the ball.”
