Nebraska Players & Coaches on OU

NORMAN | The No. 8 Sooners (10-2 overall, 7-1 Big 12) travel to Kansas City to meet an old rival for the Big 12 Championship. OU will meet the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday at 7 p.m. ABC will broadcast Oklahoma's 56th consecutive TV game to the nation.

Nebraska's players and coaches met with the media in Lincoln for the weekly football press conference on Tuesday. Below are selected quotes from NU head coach Bill Callahan and senior quarterback Zac Taylor.

Quotes are courtesy the Nebraska Athletics media relations office. For more quotes from additional players and coaches, please visit this page at Huskers.com.

NEBRASKA HEAD COACH BILL CALLAHAN
Opening Statement:
“We're well underway in our preparations for the championship game. We're excited to be in this arena playing Oklahoma, a team that we respect greatly. It's a game with great tradition and it should be a lot of fun for our players on Saturday night.”

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On whether this game will be won by the best defense:
“It looks that way on paper. I'm looking at Oklahoma's defense and by gosh they are solid across the board. You look at every statistical area that has to do with defensive football and they've excelled. The thing that you find about the study of their defense is that they are efficient. They're athletic. They're disciplined. They have great gap control and they know how to apply pressure within their package. It's an interesting challenge for our team and our staff, they are very well-versed in what they are trying to get accomplished on the field. They've had tremendous success with a lot of good athletes.”

On what the defense is focusing on this week:
“The big thing is their ability to run the football with the physical nature of their attack. They are a downhill running team, very similar to an old Big Ten football team. Dotting the “I”, coming downhill, trying to run the power counter, some misdirection off of it, but by and large they are coming downhill. You have to give them a lot credit. Their ability to play at a high tempo, play with good speed, and play hard, that's the thing that you notice on film. That's really their trait, that they are a very physical running football team. So that will be a challenge to our front, a challenge to our players.”

On the concern with missed tackles in the past couple games:
“We've looked at that pretty hard and that is a concern. We have to be able to wrap up, tackle, and take people to the ground. By and large, if we can lessen the amount of explosive plays out of their running game then we'd be a better defense statistically. But seemingly there are one, two or three plays that most games come down to. You could play great for 65, 70 snaps, but it's those three snaps within that range that just kill you. So preventing the big play is always huge and that's something Oklahoma has done very well. By not giving up the big play on defense they make you bleed, and bleed slow, in terms of moving the football. They've been efficient down in the red zone area as well, so that's going to be a challenge on defense and offense.”

On the uncertainty of Adrian Peterson:
“It doesn't change anything. (Kevin) Cosgrove (NU Defensive Coordinator) is prepared for everyone that we're going to face. We have great respect for Adrian. He's the best back in the country, or one of the best backs. He is a factor, make no question about it. It just allows them to blend their backs in terms of their groupings and their substitutions. But he's a key back, just allows one more guy to come in there and pound at you and chip away at you. We're preparing for him to play whether or not he does or not, we'll have to wait until Saturday for that to all play out.”

On Nebraska's lack of recent experience in the Big 12 Championship Game:
“I think our kids are pretty focused. I mean they're pretty excited, but they have great respect. They've played big teams and in the last nine months they've played some pretty outstanding teams. They've played the University of Michigan. They played USC. They've been in big arenas. They played Texas. They've played top-ranked football teams, not to disrespect anybody else, but they've been in that arena. We're just going to have to do our best. We're going to have to play championship-caliber football. No mental errors, take care of the ball, make sure we don't turn it over and maximize on opportunities when we get them and play hard. There's no magic formula when you get into a game like this, not at this juncture, not at your 13th game in the year.”

On whether playing in Kansas City creates a home-field advantage to either team:
“We'll see. You still have to take advantage of it and go down and play hard and try to get your crowd into it. But I think both Oklahoma and Nebraska have been in bigger arenas and the players have been in great venues and they've been around energetic crowds, but I would say that both teams won't let the crowd affect them one way or another.”

On the challenges of the OU run defense:
“It's pretty interesting. They're really disciplined in their fundamental techniques up front. I think it begins up front. I look at the play of their tackles and ends - they're really athletic outside on the edge. They've done a great job rushing the passer. They do a great job with their gap integrity. You always see these guys in their gap. They're never out of their gap. You see them separate, and once they do separate I think the biggest difference is once they get off the block they can run, chase and make plays. I think that's the biggest difference that I see.

"Their athleticism really shows up when they separate. They can really fly to the ball. They do a great job up front of separating and making plays along the line of scrimmage or sideline to sideline, or chasing the ball downfield. You'll see them downfield on a screen pass, and they'll retrace and get back into the screen, or they'll get downfield and help with a ball that's thrown in the short area. It's a pretty impressive group of players in that respect.”

On the importance blocking will play in the game:
“You've got to sustain (blocks). That's always the key to blocking. What's a good block? A good block is staying on your man until the runner gets by in the running game. That's a plus play in our regard. It's going to be challenging because they are so athletic. Then, of course, they don't always stay right where you want them to stay -- they move around, they stem, they pinch, they come at you with a number of blitzes. They're pretty intriguing from that regard. They have a lot of dimension to their attack. They create that with their play and with the athleticism of their group, especially the front seven.”

On if the program needs to win on Saturday to get back to where it belongs:
“We're just focused on doing our best. I think that's all you can ask these kids to do. They're excited. I think both of these programs are excited about this opportunity. It would be great if we win. That's what we came here for we came here to win and to be in championship games. This is what this game is all about. It's been some time since both teams have lined up for the conference championship. I'm a traditionalist, I respect tradition, I respect the Oklahoma program, and I really look forward to this game.”

On Oklahoma being able to overcome adversity and advance to the Big 12 Championship Game:
“It doesn't surprise me. (Oklahoma Head Coach) Bob (Stoops) and his staff are outstanding. They're great coaches. Deservingly, I've seen his name pop up on the Coach-of-the-Year ballot. They're very deserving of that. They've done a tremendous job getting their kids to play hard and getting them up for some tough games during the course of the season.

"They've done very, very well to change gears when their quarterback went down and (OU starting quarterback Paul) Thompson has just been incredible. He's done a great job just managing their offense, making plays. He's very efficient as a thrower. Of course, they've had the ability to just get their team better each week. Week-in and week-out you see their team improving, and I think that's the mark of an outstanding coach getting your team ready to play and showing a weekly improvement. I think they've done that.”

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NEBRASKA SENIOR QB ZAC TAYLOR
On playing Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game:
“It's nice. It's going to be a tough team that we're playing against and that's what you have to expect in a championship game. I wouldn't have it any other way.”

On having friends and family travel to Kansas City for the game:
“I think everybody back home knows that there are probably a lot of people coming to this game that don't normally come. I immediately got texts and phone calls after the (Oklahoma) game that said that people were going to come to Kansas City. A lot of people that normally wouldn't come if it was just Nebraska playing are now going to come just because it's Nebraska-OU.”

On playing Oklahoma instead of Texas:
“I really didn't care. Seeing the way Texas kind of stumbled down the stretch and Oklahoma has been playing really well, you want to play the best team. Going into a BCS bowl, you want to be able to say that you beat the best team. Obviously, Oklahoma has been playing really well lately and they have a lot of history in this game particularly. You've got to play the best team and Oklahoma is the best team in the south right now.”

On playing Oklahoma after losing to the Sooners in 2005:
“We're a completely different team than we were last year and so are they. It was a rough game here in Lincoln. It was a close game. I think both teams really are completely different with different styles now. It will be a different game.”

On Oklahoma's defense:
“They are very athletic. They've got some great linebackers. Two of them played against us last year. We know a lot of their ends are back. I played against one of their ends in high school, (Larry) Birdine. He's always been a great player. They have a very athletic secondary. I think we recruited both of those safeties and they are both playing well. And their corners have come on this year and they are playing well, so you can't make mistakes against them. They'll make you pay. You just have to play smart and take what they give you. They don't run anything real complicated, but they are very good at what they do so you just have to adjust and be smart.”

On possibly winning the Big 12 title over Oklahoma:
“It's a great way to go out. We're playing a team I grew up rooting for and that's fun to talk about during the week, but when we step out onto the field, it's just another team. I don't know any of those guys, so for me it's just like playing against Colorado or Texas. It's something fun to write about, me being from Norman and maybe 30 years from now I'll look back on it and think it was special, but for right now it's just another team.”

On Nebraska's progression this season:
“I think when you play against a team with a lot of talent it prepares you for the next team you're going to play. It doesn't allow you to be intimidated. That's the biggest thing. When you play against a team like USC that has been in the national championship the last three years and figure out that you can play with them, then you go up against Texas with the same kind of attitude. Oklahoma is going to have a lot of talent. They've played in a lot of big games, but we're not going to be intimidated by them and I don't think they're intimidated by us.”

On the importance of a win on Saturday:
“We need this. We want a championship. I don't want to finish my senior season second in the Big 12. It's a big game and we knew it was going to be a big game.”

On what kind of defensive packages Nebraska might see:
“They've got a lot of blitzes they've been using all year. They've been successful all year. I think we're pretty well prepared. Our coaches have seen pretty much every blitz in the book. We've played 12 games this season so we've seen all kinds of blitzes. There's not some special blitz you can just come up with, but Oklahoma does a great job of showing things late and they do a good job of blitzes. So if they do come up with something new I'm sure we'll adapt to it.”

On the importance of the Nebraska fans in Kansas City:
“That's huge. That really is huge for us. It sounds like we're going to have a lot more people than they will. That's just great. It will hopefully be somewhat like a home environment. That should give us a couple advantages. It's great when you're playing this close to home and having that kind of support.”

On his familiarity with Oklahoma's coaches:
“I really didn't know them. They didn't really recruit me. They only talked to me once or twice. (Head Coach Bob) Stoops is a great guy, but I never really got a chance to know him. I know the players that play for him really seem to like him.”

On playing for Nebraska instead of Oklahoma:
“I don't think anything could have worked out better for me if I'd have gone to Oklahoma. This is the perfect situation for me. I'm glad things worked out the way they did. I've never been bitter at Oklahoma for not recruiting me. That's just how it is. I'm happy where I am, and they have been successful without me. It will just be fun to play each other on Saturday.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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