Here are some quick notes to pass along from Nebraska’s post-game press conference following Saturday night’s 43-10 victory over Fresno State…
***Head coach Mike Riley said they started thinking about ways to honor Sam Foltz since the beginning of fall camp, and that it was maybe A.D. Shawn Eichorst who came up with the idea to only send 10 players out for the first punt. Riley said a lot of things the players did was not planned by the team.
***Riley said he had “really mixed emotions” about the game because there was such drastic ups and downs. He said there was “lots of stuff that has to change”, especially some of the “silly” mental mistakes like personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
***Along with the penalties, Riley said the errors on special teams were “just sloppy”, especially the “horrible” punt block.
***Riley said they obviously came into the with the plan to run the ball, and overall he thought the offense did well in that regard. The passing game clearly needed to improve, he said, even though they only threw the ball 10 times.
***Riley said Nebraska needs to adjust to the new emphasis on targeting calls, especially when it comes to hits on the quarterback. He said he didn’t know why Luke Gifford was called for targeting but Aaron Williams was not.
***Riley stressed that were a lot of good things he saw from his team, particularly limiting big plays on defense and not turning the ball over on offense.
***Riley said having Jordan Westerkamp handle the punt return duties over was mostly a matchup decision, and it probably wouldn’t be the same all season. He said FSU’s punting was so unpredictable that they were just concerned with catching the ball.
***Tommy Armstrong said he missed some throws that could’ve kept drives alive, but said he was overall happy with the game plan and how the offense executed.
***Armstrong said “it was an incredible feeling” to see all of the tributes to Foltz. He said “it touched my heart a little bit” to see the overwhelming love shown for Foltz.
***Armstrong said not being able to establish the run early led to a slow start, and part of that was not knowing what to expect from Fresno State’s defense. Once they settled in by halftime, he said the offense finally was able to get rolling.
***Drew Brown said he's still trying to process all of the emotions from the game and the celebration of the life of his good friend Foltz. He said he wanted to make sure hardly anything they did was scripted or overly planned out. They wanted to do things that just came to them and felt like the right way to honor Foltz.
***Brown said it was a "special" moment to carry Foltz's jersey out onto the field with Spencer Lindsay when the specialists came onto the field for warm-ups.
***Alonzo Moore credited receiver coach Keith Williams for how far he's come over the past two years. Not having Williams on the sideline was definitely different, but not having him in practice the past couple of weeks helped prepare them.
***Devine Ozigbo said the change in the offense in the second half came down to taking on better mindset and making it a point to execute and make plays. Once they did that, more big plays started happening.
***Ozigbo he definitely liked getting 17 carries in the game, but as long as the offense is moving the ball he'll take whatever workload he can get.
Here are some addition game notes from NU Media Relations:
100: Tonight’s victory marked the 100th career college coaching victory for Head Coach Mike Riley. Riley was the all-time winningest coach in Oregon State history with 93 wins and has seven victories at Nebraska. Riley is one of 10 active coaches with at least 100 victories at a Power 5 Conference School.
30: Nebraska won for the 30th consecutive time against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference and improved to 35-2 all-time against Mountain West foes. The Huskers are 3-0 all-time against Fresno State. Nebraska plays host to Wyoming of the Mountain West next Saturday.
18: Nebraska won its 18th consecutive night home game at Memorial Stadium and improved to 44-5 all-time in home night games. Tonight marked the 33rd time in 44 home victories the Huskers’ victory margin was at least 13 points.
103: Sophomore I-back Devine Ozigbo rushed 17 times for a career-high 103 yards and a career-best two touchdowns in tonight’s game. His yardage total bettered his 80 rushing yards against UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl. Ozigbo had one rushing touchdown last season as a true freshman.
57: Senior receiver Alonzo Moore had a 57-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the fourth quarter, marking the longest reception of his career. His previous long was a 44-yard touchdown catch at Rutgers last season. Each of Moore’s past four touchdown catches have covered at least 32 yards. Moore finished with a team-high three catches for a career-high 92 receiving yards, bettering his 84 yards at Minnesota last season. Moore also had a career-long 24-yard rush and had two carries for 34 yards.
292: Nebraska rushed for 292 yards in tonight’s game, marking the second straight game the Huskers have topped 200 rushing yards after NU rushed for 326 yards in a bowl victory over UCLA.· Nebraska rushed the ball on 20 of its first 21 offensive plays in tonight’s game, including 15 of 16 first-quarter snaps.
8,000: Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. became the second player in school history to surpass 8,000 career total offense yards, joining Taylor Martinez. Armstrong now has 8,148 yards of total offense in his career, second at Nebraska behind Martinez’s 10,233 career total offensive yards. Armstrong accounted for 150 yards of total offense tonight, including 108 passing yards and 42 rushing yards. Armstrong accounted for three touchdowns in tonight’s game (2 rushing, 1 passing).
31: Nebraska limited Fresno State to just 31 rushing yards, marking the third time in four games dating back to last season Nebraska has held its opponent to less than 100 rushing yards. Nebraska finished ninth in the nation in rushing defense.
***True freshmen making their Husker debuts tonight included punter Caleb Lightbourn, defensive backs Lamar Jackson and JoJo Domann and I-back Tre Bryant.
***Huskers making their first career starts in tonight’s game included offensive tackle David Knevel, offensive guards Sam Hahn and Tanner Farmer, defensive tackle Mick Stoltenberg, safety Kieron Williams and punter Caleb Lightbourn.
***Junior safety Kieron Williams had a career-high 10 tackles and an interception. His interception was the first of his career. His previous high in tackles was two in two games and he entered the game with 16 career tackles.
***Senior defensive end Ross Dzuris had a career-high two sacks in tonight’s game. Dzuris had 2.5 sacks as a junior in 2015.
***Junior defensive back Joshua Kalu had a six-yard sack in the second quarter, marking his second career sack. His previous sack came against Southern Miss in 2015.
***Senior wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp had one reception for six yards, marking his 27th straight game with a catch, the fourth-longest streak in NU history.
***Junior defensive back Chris Jones had an interception in the endzone in the fourth quarter, his third career interception. His first two both came last season.
***Nebraska’s 80-yard scoring drive in the first quarter was the Huskers’ longest in terms of yards since a 91-yard game-winning drive against Michigan State last season. The drive consumed 6:25. Last season Nebraska had just three scoring drives of 6:25 or longer and just five scoring drives that took at least 6:00.
***Nebraska did not commit a turnover in tonight’s game, the first time the Huskers did not turn the ball over since a win at Minnesota last season.
***Nebraska has won 30 of its past 31 season openers and owns a 47-7-1 record in season openers since 1962.
***Head coach Mike Riley said they started thinking about ways to honor Sam Foltz since the beginning of fall camp, and that it was maybe A.D. Shawn Eichorst who came up with the idea to only send 10 players out for the first punt. Riley said a lot of things the players did was not planned by the team.
***Riley said he had “really mixed emotions” about the game because there was such drastic ups and downs. He said there was “lots of stuff that has to change”, especially some of the “silly” mental mistakes like personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
***Along with the penalties, Riley said the errors on special teams were “just sloppy”, especially the “horrible” punt block.
***Riley said they obviously came into the with the plan to run the ball, and overall he thought the offense did well in that regard. The passing game clearly needed to improve, he said, even though they only threw the ball 10 times.
***Riley said Nebraska needs to adjust to the new emphasis on targeting calls, especially when it comes to hits on the quarterback. He said he didn’t know why Luke Gifford was called for targeting but Aaron Williams was not.
***Riley stressed that were a lot of good things he saw from his team, particularly limiting big plays on defense and not turning the ball over on offense.
***Riley said having Jordan Westerkamp handle the punt return duties over was mostly a matchup decision, and it probably wouldn’t be the same all season. He said FSU’s punting was so unpredictable that they were just concerned with catching the ball.
***Tommy Armstrong said he missed some throws that could’ve kept drives alive, but said he was overall happy with the game plan and how the offense executed.
***Armstrong said “it was an incredible feeling” to see all of the tributes to Foltz. He said “it touched my heart a little bit” to see the overwhelming love shown for Foltz.
***Armstrong said not being able to establish the run early led to a slow start, and part of that was not knowing what to expect from Fresno State’s defense. Once they settled in by halftime, he said the offense finally was able to get rolling.
***Drew Brown said he's still trying to process all of the emotions from the game and the celebration of the life of his good friend Foltz. He said he wanted to make sure hardly anything they did was scripted or overly planned out. They wanted to do things that just came to them and felt like the right way to honor Foltz.
***Brown said it was a "special" moment to carry Foltz's jersey out onto the field with Spencer Lindsay when the specialists came onto the field for warm-ups.
***Alonzo Moore credited receiver coach Keith Williams for how far he's come over the past two years. Not having Williams on the sideline was definitely different, but not having him in practice the past couple of weeks helped prepare them.
***Devine Ozigbo said the change in the offense in the second half came down to taking on better mindset and making it a point to execute and make plays. Once they did that, more big plays started happening.
***Ozigbo he definitely liked getting 17 carries in the game, but as long as the offense is moving the ball he'll take whatever workload he can get.
Here are some addition game notes from NU Media Relations:
100: Tonight’s victory marked the 100th career college coaching victory for Head Coach Mike Riley. Riley was the all-time winningest coach in Oregon State history with 93 wins and has seven victories at Nebraska. Riley is one of 10 active coaches with at least 100 victories at a Power 5 Conference School.
30: Nebraska won for the 30th consecutive time against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference and improved to 35-2 all-time against Mountain West foes. The Huskers are 3-0 all-time against Fresno State. Nebraska plays host to Wyoming of the Mountain West next Saturday.
18: Nebraska won its 18th consecutive night home game at Memorial Stadium and improved to 44-5 all-time in home night games. Tonight marked the 33rd time in 44 home victories the Huskers’ victory margin was at least 13 points.
103: Sophomore I-back Devine Ozigbo rushed 17 times for a career-high 103 yards and a career-best two touchdowns in tonight’s game. His yardage total bettered his 80 rushing yards against UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl. Ozigbo had one rushing touchdown last season as a true freshman.
57: Senior receiver Alonzo Moore had a 57-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the fourth quarter, marking the longest reception of his career. His previous long was a 44-yard touchdown catch at Rutgers last season. Each of Moore’s past four touchdown catches have covered at least 32 yards. Moore finished with a team-high three catches for a career-high 92 receiving yards, bettering his 84 yards at Minnesota last season. Moore also had a career-long 24-yard rush and had two carries for 34 yards.
292: Nebraska rushed for 292 yards in tonight’s game, marking the second straight game the Huskers have topped 200 rushing yards after NU rushed for 326 yards in a bowl victory over UCLA.· Nebraska rushed the ball on 20 of its first 21 offensive plays in tonight’s game, including 15 of 16 first-quarter snaps.
8,000: Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. became the second player in school history to surpass 8,000 career total offense yards, joining Taylor Martinez. Armstrong now has 8,148 yards of total offense in his career, second at Nebraska behind Martinez’s 10,233 career total offensive yards. Armstrong accounted for 150 yards of total offense tonight, including 108 passing yards and 42 rushing yards. Armstrong accounted for three touchdowns in tonight’s game (2 rushing, 1 passing).
31: Nebraska limited Fresno State to just 31 rushing yards, marking the third time in four games dating back to last season Nebraska has held its opponent to less than 100 rushing yards. Nebraska finished ninth in the nation in rushing defense.
***True freshmen making their Husker debuts tonight included punter Caleb Lightbourn, defensive backs Lamar Jackson and JoJo Domann and I-back Tre Bryant.
***Huskers making their first career starts in tonight’s game included offensive tackle David Knevel, offensive guards Sam Hahn and Tanner Farmer, defensive tackle Mick Stoltenberg, safety Kieron Williams and punter Caleb Lightbourn.
***Junior safety Kieron Williams had a career-high 10 tackles and an interception. His interception was the first of his career. His previous high in tackles was two in two games and he entered the game with 16 career tackles.
***Senior defensive end Ross Dzuris had a career-high two sacks in tonight’s game. Dzuris had 2.5 sacks as a junior in 2015.
***Junior defensive back Joshua Kalu had a six-yard sack in the second quarter, marking his second career sack. His previous sack came against Southern Miss in 2015.
***Senior wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp had one reception for six yards, marking his 27th straight game with a catch, the fourth-longest streak in NU history.
***Junior defensive back Chris Jones had an interception in the endzone in the fourth quarter, his third career interception. His first two both came last season.
***Nebraska’s 80-yard scoring drive in the first quarter was the Huskers’ longest in terms of yards since a 91-yard game-winning drive against Michigan State last season. The drive consumed 6:25. Last season Nebraska had just three scoring drives of 6:25 or longer and just five scoring drives that took at least 6:00.
***Nebraska did not commit a turnover in tonight’s game, the first time the Huskers did not turn the ball over since a win at Minnesota last season.
***Nebraska has won 30 of its past 31 season openers and owns a 47-7-1 record in season openers since 1962.
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