Sept. 8, 2001
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes
Head Coach Bob Davie
General
Obviously, we weren't a very well prepared football team. I take
responsibility for that. I don't care how many games Nebraska has played.
I don't care how many people were in the stands. I don't care what the
crowd noise was. There is no excuse. No excuse. I take responsibility.
On The Start Of the Game
I know that early in the game adjusting to the speed of the game, not having
played a game, I was worried about the first drive on defense. Nebraska
takes it down and scores. The first play of the game, the first game of the
2001 football season, we put the football on the ground. Are you kidding
me? Are you kidding me? A team that turned the ball over eight times all
last year, the first play of the 2001 season we put the ball on the ground,
that's my fault. We didn't do a good enough job. Then we throw an
interception, they complete one pass on us, its 14-0. We snap the ball over
our punter's head and we are a team that last year I think had the best
special teams in college football. We go out there and snap the ball over
the punter's head. It doesn't matter that its a new deep snapper. It's no
excuse. At the end of the first half, we have a chance. We have a third
down and 11, I make a stupid call. We zone-fired, they hit the tight end
behind us. Just no chance to win. No chance to win when you are not
prepared to play in the first half.
On The Positives
I credit our guys in the second half for competing. I thought defensively
once we got settled down a little bit, we made some plays and made some
hits, made some contact at the end of the game. That is one positive. The
second positive, Shane Walton blocked a punt. I thought he did a great job
of knowing their scheme. We didn't make the call, he made the call. He
came over and told us that it was there. He deserves the credit, no coach
deserves the credit from that. He blocked the punt and he made the call.
On The Rest Of The Season
As I told our team, we are not going to leave our season here in Lincoln,
Neb. We are not leaving our season out here. We're going to get this thing
right. I'm disappointed right now in our offense. Too many penalties, too
many self inflicted mistakes. Once again, we had that deer in the
headlights look. We got a little bit better in the second half, but still
not enough to win at this level of football.
On Nebraska Tight End Tracey Wistrom
I give Nebraska credit. I was concerned about their tight end coming into
the game. We had a hard time matching up. There were a couple times we had
man to man coverage and we had a safety on him. We couldn't even cover him
with a safety, let alone a linebacker.
Notre Dame Post Game Player Quotes
Quarterback Matt LoVecchio
On offensive performance
"Whatever happened out there, we need fix it quick. We need to put points
on the board. The defensive did their job in the second half, shutting
Nebraska out, and we didn't. Throwing an interception, fumbling the
football, it all led to momentum swings."
Defensive End Ryan Roberts
On defensive performance
"The defense in the first half made some mental mistakes and bad decisions.
In the second half we just made the adjustments, played better and shut them
out. All we did in the second half was play to our ability and eliminate
the mistakes. We showed what we are capable of doing the rest of the
season."
On Nebraska's athletes
"They are not better that us, they just played better than us tonight"
