Here is a full recap of Nebraska's weekly press conference today at Memorial Stadium, as the Huskers get ready for this week's Big Ten opener at Northwestern.
Head coach Mike Riley is scheduled to meet with reporters around 11:30 a.m.
***Riley is up.
***Riley said after today they won't be talking any more about Oregon. They're already moving on to Northwestern.
***Riley praised the play of special teams on Saturday, especially the kicking game with Caleb Lightbourn, Drew Brown and De'Mornay Pierson-El. He said DPE's 45-yard runback was their longest return in two years.
***For the third week in a row Riley praised Brad Simpson for his play on special teams. He said Simpson was the leading point scorer on ST this season.
***Riley really liked the balance on offense, but they did have "the one really bad turnover", three false starts and a holding penalty, and just overall inconsistency most of the day.
***RIley singled out Tommy Armstrong, Jordan Westerkamp, Devine Ozigbo, Tanner Farmer, Nick Gates, and Bryan Reimers as offensive highlights. Riley said he's been saying all along that Reimers was going to be a good player.
***Riley said the tackling on defense was good and bad, especially with the open field tackling. He said overall the defense continued to play hard the whole game, which was great to see.
***Riley noted Nate Gerry, Aaron Williams, Kieron Williams, Michael Rose-Ivey, Joshua Kalu, Ross Dzuris, Freedom Akinmoladun as highlight players.
***Riley said "we know what we're going to get here" with Northwestern this week. He said they know the Wildcats are always going to play hard and make you earn everything, and he thinks they're much better than their 1-2 record.
***Riley said the thinking behind putting the Oregon win behind them so quickly goes back to always wanting to improve and grow as a team. You can't sit back and feel overly good about one game, because they know they still have to get much better going forward.
***Riley said there was an "electricity" around the team in practice all last week, and that has to continue this week and all season.
***Riley said Armstrong was doing fine after dealing with some severe cramping on Saturday. He said NU came out of the game "in pretty good shape" injury wise.
***Riley said Mick Stoltenberg played great in his return, but added they need to rotate more on the defensive line than they did. That includes playing guys like Alex Davis more.
***Riley said Brandon Reilly is still questionable this week. He said Reilly has been doing some running and they're hopeful he'll be able to return for Northwestern.
***Riley said the staff learned the Big Ten "was all very, very competitive" in their first year in the conference last season. He said the whole league is "rising competitively" and was getting more and more even as they year went on. He said that's the case again this season.
***Riley said "you have to be versatile in the Big Ten", but said you don't really want to be a team that throws the ball 50 times a game in this conference. He said they know how important winning the line of scrimmage is to success in the Big Ten every week.
***Riley said his feelings on the Big Ten going to a nine-game conference schedule was "appropriate" and that he thinks every conference should do it with the change of the College Football Playoff. Only the SEC and ACC still play eight league games among Power 5 conferences.
***Riley said the key following a big win is "to emphasize growth". He said you obviously want to enjoy the win, "but the next day you have to move on." He said there's generally "a euphoria over winning the game and then a reality when you watch the film."
***Riley said the way the fan base travels would always be a huge advantage for Nebraska. He said the scene on Saturday was "the perfect picture of college football."
***Riley said Cethan Carter got the wind knocked out of him towards the end of the game and will be fine. He said they have to continue to get Carter the ball going forward because he's such a great weapon.
***Riley said Pierson-El's big return "could be great for him personally" in terms of building his confidence back up to where it was before his injury last year. Every step like that is a step in the right direction.
***Riley said the qualities of a good road team in his experiences were teams that had great confidence no matter who or where they played. He said the more you can carry over your game week routine on the road and keep your focus the better chance for success you'll have.
***One thing Nebraska will prepare for this week is Northwestern's natural grass field. He said he's been told Ryan Field has "the tallest grass you've ever seen." Nebraska will practice on the grass practice fields all week.
***Riley said he didn't know why Nebraska decided to go with their alternate uniforms for a road game. He said he liked the idea of changing it up.
***Riley said Lightbourn will continue to grow in confidence with every game, and his performance on Saturday will start to become the norm. He said he's really proud of how Lightbourn has responded to a huge challenge this season.
***That's all for Riley.
***Jordan Westerkamp is now up.
***Westerkamp said the margin for error gets even smaller in Big Ten play because any team and beat anyone on a given week. He said Northwestern definitely is a team that embodies just that.
***Westerkamp said he'll have probably over 100 family and friends at the game this week for his last game in Illinois.
***Westerkamp said he doesn't think it will be hard to move on from Oregon. Instead, he thinks the Huskers will use that momentum going into Big Ten play.
***Westerkamp Northwestern's grass field will be an adjustment, but he thinks the offense will prepare for it fine on their grass fields.
***Westerkamp said the team is excited to wear "in my opinion the coolest uniforms we've had since I've been here."
***That's all for Westerkamp.
***Tommy Armstrong is now up.
***Armstrong said he's just been resting as much as possible. He said he was still cramping a bit on Sunday and was "real sore" like he would feel after a really hard workout. He said he's just now starting to feel better and is looking forward to this week.
***Armstrong said they aren't putting any stock into Northwestern's 1-2 start, saying every team in the Big Ten is 0-0 right now and the Huskers have to be ready to battle on Saturday.
***Armstrong said Reimers has nicknames of "Reim Dog" and "Odell Reim" in the locker room. Armstrong said Reimers has been "working his tail off" ever since he got to Nebraska and earned his first catch and touchdown.
***That's all for Armstrong.
***Caleb Lightbourn is now up.
***Lightbourn said Saturday was a huge boost for his confidence, and now he thinks he's gotten a system down that works for his preparation through the week. The biggest thing was improving his focus in practice and also taking better care of his body.
***Lightbourn said one of his high school coaches used to play at Oregon, "and he wasn't really pleased when we beat them."
***Lightbourn said the last thing Sam Foltz told him was to "go and do you, kick the ball the way you know how to kick the ball." Lightbourn said he knows Foltz would have been proud of him on Saturday.
***Lightbourn said the biggest hurdle for him this season was being mentally ready. Obviously the circumstances didn't help in that regard, but he said he was more mentally prepared before Oregon than he had ever been, which is why his performance was so much better.
***That's all for Lightbourn.
***Kieron Williams is now up.
***Williams said the key to road games were focus and "making it about business". He said you can't let the distractions get in the way of your preparation. He said one of the best examples of doing that in his career was at Northwestern two years ago.
***On Nebraska fans going to Northwestern over the years, Williams said "I don't even understand how we have so many fans travel to games, especially there."
***Williams said the secondary's nickname of "Lockdown U" is a mentality that "you no longer represent yourself, you represent the group." He said that goes for on and off the field, and that mentality is what makes a secondary great. Brian Stewart came up with the nickname.
***Williams said the alternates were "just a uniform". He said once you start worrying so much about uniforms and stuff like that, "That's not football, that's modeling."
***That's all for Williams.
That wraps up today's press conference. Much more coming later.
Head coach Mike Riley is scheduled to meet with reporters around 11:30 a.m.
***Riley is up.
***Riley said after today they won't be talking any more about Oregon. They're already moving on to Northwestern.
***Riley praised the play of special teams on Saturday, especially the kicking game with Caleb Lightbourn, Drew Brown and De'Mornay Pierson-El. He said DPE's 45-yard runback was their longest return in two years.
***For the third week in a row Riley praised Brad Simpson for his play on special teams. He said Simpson was the leading point scorer on ST this season.
***Riley really liked the balance on offense, but they did have "the one really bad turnover", three false starts and a holding penalty, and just overall inconsistency most of the day.
***RIley singled out Tommy Armstrong, Jordan Westerkamp, Devine Ozigbo, Tanner Farmer, Nick Gates, and Bryan Reimers as offensive highlights. Riley said he's been saying all along that Reimers was going to be a good player.
***Riley said the tackling on defense was good and bad, especially with the open field tackling. He said overall the defense continued to play hard the whole game, which was great to see.
***Riley noted Nate Gerry, Aaron Williams, Kieron Williams, Michael Rose-Ivey, Joshua Kalu, Ross Dzuris, Freedom Akinmoladun as highlight players.
***Riley said "we know what we're going to get here" with Northwestern this week. He said they know the Wildcats are always going to play hard and make you earn everything, and he thinks they're much better than their 1-2 record.
***Riley said the thinking behind putting the Oregon win behind them so quickly goes back to always wanting to improve and grow as a team. You can't sit back and feel overly good about one game, because they know they still have to get much better going forward.
***Riley said there was an "electricity" around the team in practice all last week, and that has to continue this week and all season.
***Riley said Armstrong was doing fine after dealing with some severe cramping on Saturday. He said NU came out of the game "in pretty good shape" injury wise.
***Riley said Mick Stoltenberg played great in his return, but added they need to rotate more on the defensive line than they did. That includes playing guys like Alex Davis more.
***Riley said Brandon Reilly is still questionable this week. He said Reilly has been doing some running and they're hopeful he'll be able to return for Northwestern.
***Riley said the staff learned the Big Ten "was all very, very competitive" in their first year in the conference last season. He said the whole league is "rising competitively" and was getting more and more even as they year went on. He said that's the case again this season.
***Riley said "you have to be versatile in the Big Ten", but said you don't really want to be a team that throws the ball 50 times a game in this conference. He said they know how important winning the line of scrimmage is to success in the Big Ten every week.
***Riley said his feelings on the Big Ten going to a nine-game conference schedule was "appropriate" and that he thinks every conference should do it with the change of the College Football Playoff. Only the SEC and ACC still play eight league games among Power 5 conferences.
***Riley said the key following a big win is "to emphasize growth". He said you obviously want to enjoy the win, "but the next day you have to move on." He said there's generally "a euphoria over winning the game and then a reality when you watch the film."
***Riley said the way the fan base travels would always be a huge advantage for Nebraska. He said the scene on Saturday was "the perfect picture of college football."
***Riley said Cethan Carter got the wind knocked out of him towards the end of the game and will be fine. He said they have to continue to get Carter the ball going forward because he's such a great weapon.
***Riley said Pierson-El's big return "could be great for him personally" in terms of building his confidence back up to where it was before his injury last year. Every step like that is a step in the right direction.
***Riley said the qualities of a good road team in his experiences were teams that had great confidence no matter who or where they played. He said the more you can carry over your game week routine on the road and keep your focus the better chance for success you'll have.
***One thing Nebraska will prepare for this week is Northwestern's natural grass field. He said he's been told Ryan Field has "the tallest grass you've ever seen." Nebraska will practice on the grass practice fields all week.
***Riley said he didn't know why Nebraska decided to go with their alternate uniforms for a road game. He said he liked the idea of changing it up.
***Riley said Lightbourn will continue to grow in confidence with every game, and his performance on Saturday will start to become the norm. He said he's really proud of how Lightbourn has responded to a huge challenge this season.
***That's all for Riley.
***Jordan Westerkamp is now up.
***Westerkamp said the margin for error gets even smaller in Big Ten play because any team and beat anyone on a given week. He said Northwestern definitely is a team that embodies just that.
***Westerkamp said he'll have probably over 100 family and friends at the game this week for his last game in Illinois.
***Westerkamp said he doesn't think it will be hard to move on from Oregon. Instead, he thinks the Huskers will use that momentum going into Big Ten play.
***Westerkamp Northwestern's grass field will be an adjustment, but he thinks the offense will prepare for it fine on their grass fields.
***Westerkamp said the team is excited to wear "in my opinion the coolest uniforms we've had since I've been here."
***That's all for Westerkamp.
***Tommy Armstrong is now up.
***Armstrong said he's just been resting as much as possible. He said he was still cramping a bit on Sunday and was "real sore" like he would feel after a really hard workout. He said he's just now starting to feel better and is looking forward to this week.
***Armstrong said they aren't putting any stock into Northwestern's 1-2 start, saying every team in the Big Ten is 0-0 right now and the Huskers have to be ready to battle on Saturday.
***Armstrong said Reimers has nicknames of "Reim Dog" and "Odell Reim" in the locker room. Armstrong said Reimers has been "working his tail off" ever since he got to Nebraska and earned his first catch and touchdown.
***That's all for Armstrong.
***Caleb Lightbourn is now up.
***Lightbourn said Saturday was a huge boost for his confidence, and now he thinks he's gotten a system down that works for his preparation through the week. The biggest thing was improving his focus in practice and also taking better care of his body.
***Lightbourn said one of his high school coaches used to play at Oregon, "and he wasn't really pleased when we beat them."
***Lightbourn said the last thing Sam Foltz told him was to "go and do you, kick the ball the way you know how to kick the ball." Lightbourn said he knows Foltz would have been proud of him on Saturday.
***Lightbourn said the biggest hurdle for him this season was being mentally ready. Obviously the circumstances didn't help in that regard, but he said he was more mentally prepared before Oregon than he had ever been, which is why his performance was so much better.
***That's all for Lightbourn.
***Kieron Williams is now up.
***Williams said the key to road games were focus and "making it about business". He said you can't let the distractions get in the way of your preparation. He said one of the best examples of doing that in his career was at Northwestern two years ago.
***On Nebraska fans going to Northwestern over the years, Williams said "I don't even understand how we have so many fans travel to games, especially there."
***Williams said the secondary's nickname of "Lockdown U" is a mentality that "you no longer represent yourself, you represent the group." He said that goes for on and off the field, and that mentality is what makes a secondary great. Brian Stewart came up with the nickname.
***Williams said the alternates were "just a uniform". He said once you start worrying so much about uniforms and stuff like that, "That's not football, that's modeling."
***That's all for Williams.
That wraps up today's press conference. Much more coming later.
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