Monday was the day the music died at Nebraska’s practices, but not the season, which the head coach and players made very clear they still expect to be a success despite Saturday’s disheartening result.
“There’s a lot of investment here on this end,” said quarterback Adrian Martinez. “We are going to get this right. So stick with us. We are going to play our tails off every week.”
“We’re going to bounce back. We’re not going to let one game decide our fate,” said wide receiver Samori Toure.
In a minor note, and trust us when we say minor here (no one was making a big deal about it), the Huskers turned off the music that usually blares at Monday’s practice. Players need to bring the energy and noise, said wide receiver Wyatt Liewer. The word was that they did, although everyone knows it’s all about what shows up or doesn’t on game Saturdays now.
Two days after a mistake-prone showing on an important season-opening Saturday that led to a 30-22 loss to Illinois, Scott Frost ran through a variety of topics, including the offense’s issues and some of what contributed to them.
Frost said he called the plays, adding, “We collaborate. The whole staff collaborates. It was just an interesting game because about half of our game plan was kind of out the window when they came up and lined up the way they did. So we really had to scramble and go to an alternative plan and try to adjust, and did some good things but not enough.”
Illinois came up in an even-man front after the Huskers had guess they’d be in odd, which is what the Illini played in all of their Spring Game. Not very often does half the game plan get thrown out, Frost added, though he noted Nebraska did take a day in the midst of extensive planning for the Illinois to work on contingencies Nebraska could see.
“But hey, we got to be better, we got to establish the run,” Frost said. “We got to be ahead in the game so we can commit to the run. When you get behind in the game, then you’re forced to do a few more things. A lot of factors that led to that.”
Freshman left tackle Turner Corcoran said change-ups by the opposition are part of the beauty of football. “You’ve got to adjust on the fly.”
Now, the Huskers must find the winning formula fast on the fly, with Fordham just ahead in the home opener, but then a tricky schedule to navigate after.
What else?
– Frost wants guys to understand that if they want to play a lot of reps, they have to practice well all week. “There’s certain guys that I think we planned on playing more, and wish would’ve played more, and some others that need to step it up and practice during the week to earn playing time.”
The coach believes Nebraska needs to rotate its receivers even more. “Toward the end of the game we could have kept some fresh guys on the field, because we have a lot of guys ready to play.” Oliver Martin and Wyatt Liewer received the most reps because they have been really consistent and haven’t missed time.
– Zavier Betts was in at kick returner to start but didn’t get much or any reps at receiver. The plan was for Betts to play more “and I expect his reps to go up as we go on here,” Frost said. “Zavier’s a super talented kid. He’s been improving every day since he’s been here. Like I said, consistency has to matter to some degree – him and everybody else. You got to do it all week, and give the teammates and coaches and everybody else confidence that you’re going to be in the right place and do the right thing.”
– Travis Vokolek and Casey Rogers are two key players who weren’t on the road trip due to injury. “They’re getting close.”
– Effort wasn’t an issue at all in the coach’s eyes. Frost said game film showed about what his first impression was after the game on Saturday, as far as the missteps go. He’s not down on the effort though. he called it “outstanding” and he didn’t find anyone loafing. “The guys played really hard. We’ve got to do a few things better and then we had just a few catastrophic plays that changed the whole game.”
– Daniel Cerni had a tough first game at punter, but Frost said he’s shown a lot more in practices. “Both punters have been doing exceptionally well in practices. His first effort. I expect it to get a lot better. Probably some nerves and things there. But there’s a lot of hidden yardage. They got a few punts that pinned us and we had a chance to do that and didn’t.”
Frost said he thought the coverage units did well, when highlighting a positive on special teams.
– Illinois had five sacks in the game. “It was a little bit of a lot of things. I didn’t think we protected well enough. That’s one of the things we really drilled down today and talked to guys about. And they did a good job. I give it to them. There were twists and things that were tough to pick up that we didn’t. But in general we have to have more time for our quarterback to throw.”
Nebraska being behind and being one-dimensional also contributed to that, he thinks. “We had every opportunity to be in command of the game at halftime and made some critical errors that turned it into a deficit at halftime, and that changed the style for both teams.”
– Martinez said he had some moments but missed some plays too and owes more to his coaches and teammates. Although Wyatt Liewer also took blame and said he could’ve probably come up with the one throw in the end zone that was missed.
Frost thought Martinez also made some “unbelievable throws” with too much pressure on top of him. “So we got to make sure he’s cleaner to make the throws that we’ve seen him make all spring, all fall. He missed two. But when we get layups we can’t miss them.”
– The Huskers moved QBs coach Mario Verduzco down to the field during the game, which Martinez liked. So did Frost. “I think just better communication having him down there. Also, some of the things we’re doing having Coach Held in the box gives us some eyes that see things a little differently. We decided to go that route, and that part worked out pretty well.”
– What about the flags on Caleb Tannor? “He’s got to be smarter not burying him into the turf. I assume that’s what they called. That play right there was probably the biggest play in the game. Caleb has been playing wonderful all fall. I thought his level of play in that game was good, but there’s critical moments where you have to make a snap decision and a smart decision … and there’s a few times in that game when we didn’t.”
– The mistake by Cam Taylor-Britt isn’t going to make the Huskers turn permanently to Oliver Martin as the punt returner or anything. Frost said Taylor-Britt is one of the team’s best players. “I love him like a son. He’s a Blackshirt. He’s a captain. You can’t make a play when you’ve been trained to do something else. He’ll learn from it.”
– Gabe Ervin became the first Husker true freshman running back to start an opener in the modern era. Frost said that Ervin and Markese Stepp had the best week-and-a-half of prep leading into the game deserved to play. Rahmir Johnson got called on more when the Huskers got into two-minute offense, where they felt his game might fit best.
“Every week at certain positions, there’s going to be competition and guys who practice the best are going to get more time.”
– Frost was remaining upbeat about his team. “We just got to play well (this week). In a lot of ways we did play well. I said it after the game, but I really like this team. Our team has a chance to win a lot of games if we play well. The self-inflicted wounds can’t happen. Every chance we get a chance to get on the field and execute at a higher level, and get a little better, it’s going to make us a better team down the stretch.”
While there’s some belief the sellout streak of 375 straight games could end this week, Frost is eager to play in front of home fans again, calling last year’s games before an empty stadium almost depressing.
“I hope nobody lost excitement after Saturday,” Frost said when asked about the sellout streak maybe being in jeopardy. “This team has a chance to be really good. I think this team is going to prove a lot to a lot of people. If there’s still some tickets out there, buy them up and watch this team. It’s a special group of kids with a lot of character, a lot of talent. We can’t wait to play in front of the fans. We need you there.”
