Huskers Talk UCLA Trip - News, Weather and Sports for Lincoln, NE; KLKNTV.com

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Coach Bo Pelini and members of the Nebraska football team met with the media on Monday at Memorial Stadium to discuss the Huskers' upcoming battle with the UCLA Bruins in Pasadena, Calif., Saturday.

Kickoff between the Huskers and Bruins is set for 6:30 p.m. from the Rose Bowl, with live national television coverage provided by FOX.

Pelini told the media on Monday that he was eager for the opportunity to take his 1-0 Huskers to California to square off with the 1-0 Bruins.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. We're playing a good football program, a coach I have a lot of respect for, a program that has a lot of history," Pelini said. "It will be a heck of a challenge going on the road for the first time with this team."

Pelini also said the Californians on the Husker roster were excited to get close to home while playing a tradition-rich UCLA program at the Rose Bowl.

"I think they are excited to go back there. I'm sure they'll have a lot of their family and friends. It doesn't happen a lot. The last time we went out there, other than the Holiday Bowl, was when we went out to Washington. I know those guys will be excited to go back home, and I'm sure they're all going to be looking for tickets."

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Sept. 3, 2012
Pre-UCLA

Head Coach Bo Pelini
On if there is an update on Rex Burkhead
"No changes there. He had a good day today. He's questionable and day-to-day. We'll see how it goes."

On when he had an MRI
"Sunday. It was just as we thought."

On if he'll make the travel roster
"Right now he does."

On the efforts of Ameer Abdullah and the other running backs against Southern Miss
"I thought they played really well. We have a lot of confidence in those backs. They are talented guys. I liked how they played and how they responded. They had a really good day."

On when he saw Abdullah become a reliable guy
"He was a young guy and a true freshman last year. He started to get comfortable about midway through the year last year, maybe towards the end of the year. He was more of a specialty guy last year, and we'd give him special situations and bring him into the offense a little bit slower and use his talents in certain ways. Now he's shown he can be an every down back, and he can run inside and outside and he's really similar to Braylon (Heard). They are talented guys that can really put stress on a defense in a number of ways."

On if there are adjustments to the offense with Rex being out
"No. We didn't change a thing offensively."

On if the decision to bench Rex was made right away
"I don't make that decision. That comes from our medical staff. Obviously with a guy like him, you're going to be very guarded. He's a guy that knows his body and felt something. That goes to the trainers and the doctors and they look at it and make a decision. You're not just thinking about the next couple quarters, you're thinking about the whole season. It's not only about the future of the team, but it's about Rex's future."

On if Rex fought that decision
"Yeah. He did. He always will. Like I said, we have a lot of confidence in the other guys that are playing running back for us. To me it was a pretty logical and easy decision for us."

On if the backup running backs were already in the game plan
"Yeah, they were already playing. They were all going to get their snaps anyways."

On if it's an injury that will require surgery after the year
"No. If there was surgery that was required, we'd have it done right now. There's no surgery involved with this."

On what he liked and disliked about the defense after watching the film
"Like any other game, you expect some positives, things that we left out there. I want to say we had 11 tackles for loss, and I think we left four or five out there on the field. We left a couple sacks out there. There are just some little things here and there we need to clean up. Some techniques and adjustments and communication errors. That's to be expected in game one, especially in a game where you didn't have a whole lot to go off of going in. Our guys adjusted pretty well. There were a lot of positives, but like all phases of the game, there are a number of things you have to get cleaned up."

On what the breakdown was on the kickoff return for a touchdown
"There were a couple of player breakdowns on the play. Obviously I'm not one to name names, but we didn't execute the way we needed to. There were three or four guys to blame. If one guy gets out of his lane or makes a bad decision (things go bad). We had two guys that were unblocked. They didn't respond the right way. After that, I think our guys learned from what happened."

On if he told Brett Maher to kick it through the end zone every time after that return
"The whole game we wanted to. On that particular one, he hit it a yard or two deep. He just didn't hit it the way he normally does."

On what the key is to stopping mobile quarterbacks defensively
"Play your responsibilities. Every team that has a mobile quarterback has a different offense. Your challenges are different. You have different plays, different structures you're going against. We're going to call different defenses. There's extra keys in who you're keying, why you're keying that guy, you're understanding he has to be good. That's an entirely different element. That's why people do it."

On if the majority of the work is with the guys up front or the guys in the back
"It goes front to back. It depends on what the call is, what the defense is. Everybody has their part to play and handling it, and if you're going to handle it the right way."

On how UCLA's offense compares to Southern Miss
"I don't get into comparing one team to another per se. UCLA has some talent. They have a very good back. I think the quarterback is very capable. They have a highly rated tight end. They have a couple wide receivers on the outside that can really make plays. They have good offensive skill. They have some guys that can make plays on you. I think they showed that against Rice."

On if he recruited UCLA's quarterback
"I don't know. I know we looked at him, but I can't remember. That was a long time ago for me. He's a good football player, though."

On what it will mean for the players from the Los Angeles area to play close to home
"I think they are excited to go back there. I'm sure they'll have a lot of their family and friends. It doesn't happen a lot. The last time we went out there, other than the Holiday Bowl, was when we went out to Washington. I know those guys will be excited to go back home, and I'm sure they're all going to be looking for tickets."

On if he has steered away from recruiting in California at all
"No. Not at all. We've continued to have good success out there. We've had good interest. A lot of good California kids are not afraid to go away. We pick our spots and we've had our success, and I think that will continue. Last year we got Thomas Brown and Corey Whitaker. We've got some good football players from out there just by looking at last year's class. We just got a quarterback committed to us from out there. It's been a good spot for us and we're going to continue to recruit out there."

On if they will do some recruiting and go out to a Friday night game because they will be there
"Possibly. We'll see how the week goes."

On Ben Cotton's status
"I'm sure he's going to play."

On what happened on Saturday to Ben
"He was just sore and uncomfortable. He went back in for a little bit at times. He wasn't really responding the way he wanted to respond. He felt a little bit hampered in his movement, so we shut him down."

On how often he got tidbits of what Southern Miss's offense was going to do
"Never. But we've never had to do that. We didn't have anything to go off of. We don't have the luxury of watching them practice. There was total guesswork going into that game defensively as far as what we were going to see. We didn't know if they were going to run ULL stuff. It was an unusual situation to say the least. We prepared our guys for a lot. There was a lot involved. I spent a lot of late nights at the office. There were a lot of what ifs. You try not to do that to your team. We had to find a balance as a staff of what to show the guys, what to just keep in our back pocket if they did some things and there's a happy medium you have to find. You don't want to give your players so much that you don't have any idea of what to do. Especially with a team that was going to pull out three different quarterbacks, how much the quarterback running game was going to be involved, what personnel they were going to use. We didn't know any of that. We had to guess and get ready for a number of different things."

On if he's excited to play in the Rose Bowl, given all its history
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. We're playing a good football program, a coach I have a lot of respect for, a program that has a lot of history. It will be a heck of a challenge going on the road for the first time with this team."

On how he is going to prepare for UCLA since they've only had one game
"Same thing (as Southern Miss). You look at some past things that the coordinators have done. They played a different team than us. There's always that element of 'what are they going to do?' That element is going to be there, but I think we have a little more to go on this week than we did a week ago, but there's still going to be some adjusting that has to go on."

On if the uncertainty gave him more confidence in his defense for further down the road
"I think our defense has the potential to be very good. It has a chance to be outstanding. I think we're ahead of where we were a year ago. There's no question in my mind. Every week presents its new challenges. I think in a number of positions, our guys grew not just playing the game last week, but the preparation going into last week. I think their understanding gets better when you're in a situation like that. You have to be two steps ahead just in case they do this or that. Your players, especially your young guys that haven't been through that contend to grow from that."

On if Taylor Martinez's performance was one of the best he's seen from him
"I thought he made really good decisions. There were a couple instances I think he'll want back. He left a couple plays out there, but he went through his reads well. At times, he went to his second, third or fourth options. He was on the money. He made a lot of good decisions. He got us out of some bad plays and into some good plays. He ran the offense well. He did a heck of a job during the game. He made his share of mistakes, too. He'd be the first one to tell you he didn't play a perfect game, but I don't know anyone that has. He did a good job. That's what I expected from him."

On if he's said anything to Martinez about playing in front of his family and friends
"No. Taylor's a pretty grounded guy. He's been driven. He'll be ready to play."

On UCLA Head Coach Jim Mora
"Jimmy I knew from my days in the NFL. He came into San Francisco when I was heading into New England. We've known each other over the years. He's a heck of a coach, a great person, a good family man. I have a lot of respect for him. I know UCLA made a heck of a choice in hiring him. I think he'll do a tremendous job for them."

On how he and Mora's defensive strategies compare
"We have different backgrounds on defense, but we've had some crossover. He worked with some of the guys when I left San Francisco. There are some correlations there. I don't know how involved he is with the defense. I have no idea what he's doing. But he has a 3-4 background from when he was with the Saints. They are doing a little bit of 40 front, a little bit of 30 front. You kind of see a mix and match of what his background is. You can see a lot of different things."

On if he talked with Brett Maher after Saturday
"Brett will be fine. I have tremendous confidence in Brett. That's a blip on the radar as far as I'm concerned. He's a prideful guy and an outstanding player. He's the least of my worries right now. He probably suffered from trying to be an All-American on every kick instead of just doing what he does. Sometimes guys do that. My message to him will be to just do what he does. I think he'll be fine. I have a lot of things to be concerned about, but he's probably the least of my worries."

On if Abdullah was more comfortable because of the carries he got in the spring
"We gave those backs equal reps through fall camp. That's kind of how we practice. We practice with multiple groups, we get guys a lot of reps. I think we reaped the benefits from that the other day. A lot of guys contributed. I think that competition makes you better going forward."

On what he saw from Alonzo Whaley
"I thought Alonzo did some good things. I thought he did some things that need fixed. I think he'll learn from some of the things that happened out there. I don't think he's different from anyone else. He made some really good plays and decisions. He did some things I know he'd want back. I thought he did some good things. He was active, I thought he adjusted well. There were some positives there."

On how much the missed tackles concern him
"You look across the board and that's probably the thing we need to get better at. We were sloppy tackling in a few instances. It's the first game. Usually you get better. I feel that going from your first game to your second game, you've got to make your big jump. Usually that's your biggest jump throughout the year. Hopefully that will be the case. Hopefully we have a great week of preparation."

On if the team needs to make adjustments playing on grass this week
"We've practiced on the grass, more defensively than offensively. It's not a whole heck of a lot different than playing on FieldTurf. Most of our guys wear grass shoes anyway. It's not a really big adjustment. That grass out there on the Rose Bowl is about as good as you're going to play on."

On the timeline on Tim Marlowe
"Surgery went really well, so it's just as long as it takes that bone to heal. Hopefully by the end of October. He'll be here for the stretch run I think."

On who the team will rely on now at the wide receiver position
"We have a lot of options there. We have a lot of guys we can put back there and guys we have confidence in."

On what he learned about his secondary
"I like our secondary. It was a different kind of game last week. You've got to play what the offense plays. I thought the secondary did a good job executing, a good job adjusting. For the first time out, I thought there were some positives. I have confidence in that group."

On the safety battle
"I thought they both played well. I thought they tackled well. They had some good hits. I thought they helped take charge of what was going on out there. I like what I saw."