Monday Press Conference

[vailhusker]

Frost, Husker players discuss postgame scene following Saturday's loss​

By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 5 minutes ago







In the stillness that often immediately follows defeat, Scott Frost said a small piece, and then he left it to players to drive their peers. The captains and veterans got the floor in the locker room following Nebraska's 28-23 loss to Purdue that dropped the team to 3-6 and in severe danger of a fifth straight losing season.

Frost expounded during his Monday press conference on the approach following the loss to the Boilermakers.

"My leadership needs to be steadfast and consistent," said the Husker head coach. "Unfortunately, when you've lost a bunch of close games, you feel yourself kind of saying the same thing over and over to the guys. 'Can't make those mistakes. Got to make the play when it matters.' We did a ton of good things in that game. Purdue had five turnovers against Wisconsin and lost. We had four turnovers against Purdue and lost. That's how football works. So I can go in the locker room and say the same thing. I addressed the guys and said what I thought was important and then I turned it over to the captains. I think in that moment that was probably a little bit more powerful because of where we are.

"That's probably the impetus for the motivation that needs to happen here at the end of the season is the guys decide, 'Hell, yeah, we're going to buckle down and get some of these games done at the end of the year.' And that's the team I saw at practice (Monday)."

Junior cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt understood exactly what Frost was doing.


"Everybody's tired of hearing his same speech, man," Taylor-Britt said. "We go back and forth about the same things day in and day out, and then we get to the weekend and we have the same result. It's the same speech. So he'd rather (they) hear from the players because it's really a heart-to-heart thing and we're on the field together. He's not on the field with us. He's our head coach and we feel for him. But us players have been here a long time. There hasn't been a change yet, so I feel like they need to feel that from us to change this culture, man."

Did he think peers felt it?

"They have to feel it. They've got no choice. They came in today and you could see a chance in practice."

Taylor-Britt said he was first up to speak. His basic message: Don't do more than your job. Put everything on the line.

"Why not? We've got a couple games left. Don't give up now. I'm a senior. I'm not giving up nothing. You're going to see me giving 110 percent until I'm out on the field, laid out on the grass. That's what you're going to see from me. I was just telling the other guys, 'It's not over, bro. I understand we may have some losses under our belt, not the wins we want. But it's still football. We came here to play football. You've been playing football your whole life. Why stop now?'"

Taylor-Britt, who is technically a junior but may be in his final season as a Husker, still believes he can't "spread my fingers apart in how close it is" to Nebraska's defense being a top-tier group and thinks the Husker talent can stand close to this week's foe, Ohio State. "It's a little hump, a little speed bump maybe, a pebble maybe," the corner added of the defense making that next move to turn close losses to wins.

The words extended beyond just the team captains. Ben Stille mentioned fellow super senior JoJo Domann was "definitely vocal" in the locker room. "Quite a few people spoke after the game."

Nebraska sophomore defensive lineman Casey Rogers said he agreed with what Domann said after Saturday's loss that this remains a tight-knit team despite the losing record.

"He said, 'When you wear 'N' on your helmet and on your chest, you don't have a choice but to come in and work everyday as hard as you can, and there's no giving up,'" Rogers explained. "And I think that we've done a great job on this team of setting the standard that we're not going to give up no matter what. No one on our team has really given that indication that they're going to set it in and give up. That's just now how that locker room rolls. If there is someone like that, we usually squash that pretty quick."

Husker junior nose tackle and co-captain Damion Daniels said it was probably good for fellow players "to hear what's on our minds and everything that we see." While it's good to hear from coaches, "Hearing it from us, we're going to keep it real with our boys. Just like our coaches, they're going to keep it real with us. But we're all in the same locker room, the same area, it hits home when one of us is really saying it."

 

[vailhusker]

Frost amid job speculation: "I owe it to the kids to give them my everything'​

ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 83 minutes ago

In a week where speculation about his job status is taking laps around the track, Scott Frost wants to keep his eyes straight ahead on his lane, and getting his team ready for a monstrous challenge against Ohio State.

"You know, I don't pay any attention to it. It's kind of hard to ignore talk in any situation," the Husker head coach said of the noise. "There was an article written about me six games into my first year when we came up undefeated and lost our first six here. And they were already writing stuff. You learn as a coach not to pay any attention to that. I owe it to the kids to give them my everything, for the coaches, and we are. And the kids are giving us everything they have right back because of our relationship with those guys. Everything else doesn't matter. We can only control what we can control."

Frost, who is 15-26 as the Husker head coach and 10-22 in Big Ten play since taking over in 2018, was asked how long he thinks it will take to get it where he wants it to be.

"We're close," he said during his weekly Monday press conference. "I don't want to overstep here, but I'm really excited about the rest of this year. I'm really excited about next year. I hope we get it. I think we should. With the young guys we have coming back, and the opportunity to go out and get a few more pieces to add to that, I think this thing could be really good. I really thought this year it would pop. And we've been so close. When you're so close and you don't get it done, unfortunately you have a mindset (from) when we got here that we've been beat a lot. Winning is a habit, losing is a habit. Trying to break that cycle just takes a few wins in a row, some momentum, and a little more belief.

"The kids believe but you really believe when it happens. Gosh, we've been so close. I just want to see it happen for these guys."


Frost was asked to clarify what he meant by "I hope to get it." The coach said wins. "We've got to get the wins. The wins take care of everything. Despite all the improvement I've seen, that hasn't improved. We've had a tough schedule and played some really good teams. Got to get them done. We've been so close. Got to get them done. And that's the nature of the business. I understand that. The kids understand that. We'll keep fighting everyday to make it happen."

Husker athletic director Turd Alberts hasn't showed his hand too much about what he's thinking in his first year in the position, though he has at times offered remarks of encouragement about the team's effort in games like Michigan State, Oklahoma and Michigan.

Nebraska seemed on a positive trend, even after a close loss to Michigan, but has followed that with losses to Minnesota and Purdue to set the record down at 3-6 with the Buckeyes up next. Alberts was not at Saturday's game because he was at his son's wedding.

"That's more important than a football game," said Frost, who did have one of his regular weekly chats with Alberts on Sunday after the 28-23 loss to Purdue.

Does Frost, in his conversations with the A.D., sense Alberts sees the team as close to climbing the hill as the coach does?

"Those are questions for Turd. You watch the games. I watch everything. There's no doubt we're better. Just haven't got it over the hump yet and we'll keep working to get that done."

Frost said the staff is constantly self-critiquing itself as the season goes on.

"That happens after every practice, after every game," Frost said. "We watch film on everything we do. There's always two or three calls after every game, whether you win or lose, that you wish you had back. 'This play didn't work. That play did.' The way we approach practice, drills during practice, all those things change based off what the team needs. And we had a long time to look at that during the bye week. We did a lot of really good things in the bye week that led to better play in certain areas. Honestly, it was enough to win without the turnovers. We'll keep doing that as long as we're coaching."

He was asked how close he thinks the Huskers are to getting the most out of this team.

"We're getting the most out of a lot of guys," he said. "When you turn the tape on and watch Luke Reimer get 19 tackles, and JoJo Domann play as hard as he did, and Cam Jurgens played really well, and I could go down the list. We're getting a lot out of a lot of guys. There's a couple details, a couple spots that I think we can continue to improve. Those things are obvious when you put on the tape too. The thing that needed to get better Saturday was turnovers obviously.

"We're getting better, as frustrated as I am. I want this so bad for Nebraska fans. Our receivers are young and are starting to play really well, when you watch the tape of Omar (Manning), and Samori (Toure), and Zavier (Betts). Some of those guys. We're separating. We're getting open. There's a lot of position groups that are continuing to improve. Obviously things we need to work on, but a lot of guys getting better."

As far as getting a little more of that "grit" that Frost spoke about in his postgame Saturday, to make that extra winning play, the coach noted it's something building, but has needed some time.

"I don't know how tough I was when I came back to Nebraska (as a transfer) in 1995. It was a locked in culture that you had to be," Frost said. "I think you get tougher when you're doing tough things everyday. It doesn't happen overnight. You usually have a lot better chance of being tough and gritty when you're 22 than when you're 18. That just takes time. We got a lot of guys that are near the top of where we want them to be, and a lot of guys still climbing that hill. But as a team, definitely a lot better than it has been in the past."


What's the gap between Nebraska and a team like Ohio State still? It might not be as important as the Huskers showing they're better than the rest of the Big Ten, frankly, but Frost was asked that too.

Frost said Saturday could give a better answer, but added, "There's no question we're infinitely more talented than we were year one or year two here."

 

[vailhusker]

Husker co-captain Allen: 'We are still competing for the state'​

ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 5 hours ago

When Scott Frost left the postgame locker room after Saturday's game to let the captains have the floor, Austin Allen wasn't laying into others as much as pointing the thumb.

The Husker junior tight end, who seems to be positioning himself with his play for a possible NFL decision at season's end, was ticked off about the loss and at himself for not securing a pass that popped into the air and was intercepted as Nebraska was desperately trying to rally in the 28-23 loss to Purdue.

It was a tough-luck play in many ways. Allen got popped just as he was bringing the ball in, and it popped into the air and arms of a Boilermaker defender. It was already 28-17 Purdue at the time, but NU still had all its timeouts at the moment and was heading into opposing territory. Allen used the play as an example to show how he needed to be better too.

"Frustration for me is at an all-time high because I didn't control what I can control," Allen said. "There were two points in that game where I caught the ball and didn't tuck it away right away. Got away with the first one. The second one cost us. I let my team down in that situation. We had momentum. Driving down the field. Five minutes left. I didn't do my 1/11th. On that certain play I let them down. I told the guys that I failed them and nobody was going to work harder this week. ... Not only did I let my teammates down, I let the whole state down."

That's a lot to put on one's back, and no one but Allen would have been putting that much weight on his for the defeat that was well shared in blame.


The frustration of Nebraska being 3-6, and now needing to run the table against stiff competition to avoid a fifth straight losing season, is amplified in a place where passion runs so deep about the football program. But, as Allen more or less said in the postgame, that type of pressure shouldn't be viewed as a burden. It's just part of the deal. It's honestly why you want to play here in the first place. Or should be.

“This is the University of Nebraska," he said. "There is always going to be pressure whether you are winning or losing. I don’t think there is added pressure. We are playing football. We are working our tails off week in and week out trying to win games. There is not necessarily added pressure. This is just Nebraska football.”

There was a point in Saturday's defeat when it looked like the Huskers just might lean on Purdue and be able to run their way to a win. It felt a possibility at least as Jaquez Yant ripped off runs of 33 and 18 yards on two plays on a touchdown drive to make it 14-7.

But Yant would finish with just six carries for 60 yards. The Huskers had 105 yards rushing on 13 carries between Yant and Rahmir Johnson at halftime. NU ended up with just 130 total for the game.

"Seemed like we didn’t have a whole lot of plays (run in the second half). Some things we just didn’t execute in our game plan," Allen said of the disappearing run game. "We had some things to call on our play sheets that we didn’t and some things we didn’t execute on.”

Husker head coach Scott Frost called it just a very poor second half all around, which cost NU another game after a very poor first half against Minnesota largely settled that matter two weeks prior. Two quarters in two separate weeks that come at a high cost in how this season is being viewed now.

Even with those rough halves, Frost knows his teams left plays on the field that could have turned the tide. Like a pass slipping through Samori Toure's fingertips just before halftime Saturday that was a sure touchdown. A third-and-long stop that NU's defense couldn't get late. Even an onside kick that, for a moment, appeared to be Nebraska's with a chance to pull the game out of the fire.

“I don’t think (having an) edge is the problem," Frost said. "I think it's the gritty competitor that's going to go get it done when it matters. We had a chance to recover the onside kick. I have to see the replay but I thought we had it. There's the play and there's 20 of them in every game. There's the play and we fail to make that play more often than we need to in order to win games.”

What's confusing to the matters is the veteran tight end Allen had been eager to see this team play on Saturday after the bye week. The time off the feet, he thought, was going to do them well. Of course, going minus-four in turnovers will bury you in league play most weeks. There's "not necessarily a rhyme or reason why" the four turnovers popped up, with four picks ultimately credited to Adrian Martinez, but Allen called it unacceptable going forward.


For the team, no matter what is being said or speculated, pushing forward with an eagerness to take on a top-five Ohio State team is what has to happen. It's a captain's job to try to make sure it does. And so the Aurora native was trying to build that mindset even after another disheartening defeat.

“Right now there are three games ahead of us," Allen said. "There is still Nebraska across our chest. We are still competing for the state. There is a lot to play for still. We’ve got everything in front of us. Push the reset button. What happened, happened today. We are moving forward ... and on to Ohio State.”