Opening Statement
A great opportunity awaits us. One of the great things in America is going to Yellowstone Park, or going to Mount Rushmore, or going to Nebraska for a football game. We are not necessarily going as tourist but we will enjoy the trip and enjoy the process. One of the greater venues for sports in the United States and it's certainly one of the kings of college football, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They are a very storied tradition and a very storied past. The football program really embodies a lot of the things that every other school in the United States at any level is trying to become, tradition, respect, aspect. It's certainly a very unique perspective on the sport given that their fans base travel from all over the Nebraska to come to games and they make it a unique game day environment.
Kramer on playing Nebraska
For it's a great opportunity for us to play in a great environment. The point is we are trying to prepare ourselves the best we can to win the Big Sky Conference Championship and that does not go through Lincoln, Nebraska. For us that begins against Sacramento State. Our immediate goal is to get out of the game a better football team then when we went into it regardless of if we are playing Black Hills State or the University of Nebraska.
Kramer on improvement on the field and what he wants the player to take away from this.
We want to make sure that we play at pace, at speed and that we play fundamentally sound and correct. We can't turn them loose. We can't turn any football team loose and give them long plays. You want to prevent any scores; you want to prevent the long scores, the scores that happen in a matter of seconds rather than a matter of plays or drives. Defensively we want to cap their long plays and something that Nebraska has been able to feature this year has been the long quick score, the quick strike, especially in the first quarter. So we have to survive the first quarter and be able to settle down an buckle up and make sure we adjust to how we want to play and not necessarily how Nebraska wants us to play.
Kramer on Taylor Martinez
Well he's pretty fast. The one thing about it is a lot of teams will overplay the play the run. Both the running backs are showing the ability to get up and get around the corner. So their offensive front gets a great push at the point of attack and the whole defense seems to over pursue the play. And what is happening is their pistol offense or in their option offense, Martinez is the guy that is the counter. He is their counter play and we have to make sure that we stay at home for with some respect for his ability to run the football off of the dive play. But the dive play will kill you if you don't get enough people at the point of attack because their offensive front is getting excellent push and both Burkhead and the young guys Abdullah are getting great turn and they are putting their foot in the ground and pushing up field.
Kramer on how he is feeling about the team
We are preparing to win the Big Sky Conference. Again the fact that we play a nonconference game this weekend allows us to be able to make sure we have folded ourselves into the concept of being able to come back and play at home next weekend for our conference opener. For us this is a continued opportunity to prove how much better we are than we were last week against Black Hills State. And I thought we got better during our bye week and hopefully it will translate into being more positive, more explosive, more able to play our positions in all aspects of the game against Nebraska.
Kramer on increase on percentage
We got better 42%. We are better in terms of plays, with thoughts three aspects on every play and every position we are 42% better on Tuesdays practice than we were last Tuesday. And I'm pretty happy about that. 42.87% is the exact amount. I feel like we are getting a better understanding of what is expected of us all over the field, particularly our offensive line, which still remains dreadfully young heading into Nebraska game or a Sacramento game or a Black Hills State game. We are still two sophomores, two freshmen, and one lone senior that I think is pretty good on our offense front. Those guys have to continue to be the group to evolves and give us more of a confidence factor
On Offense's Pass Protection
Whether we are playing Nebraska or Green Bay Packers or Black Hills States Jv's our pass protection continues to be the focus on the improvement that this team has to make. We feel if we can give Kevin enough time to throw he's really getting good and getting into a rhythm and finding open receivers. And every receiver, at any level, against any defensive player is open for a fraction of a second. If Kevin can deliver that ball to the receiver in the fraction of a second, that enables the play to have success. We saw last night one of the great players in the history of the sport not find that second in the early drives as Peyton Manning struggled with three interceptions early. In the passing game you have to be in a rhythm, be able to find your receiver when he is open. We feel that every receiver is open for a fraction of a second in every play.
Kramer on Nebraska Defense
They are a multiple defensive front team. They rely very heavily on their defensive front. They have a history of having very good defensive front guys. They can push on the pocket, they don't like to blitz. They don't like to gamble defensively and give you a lot of zero coverage which we refer to as suicide. They play a lot of safety over the top and try to make you beat their man to man coverage but they always have a layer of security behind the man coverage. So it's a matter of finding a way to give Kevin enough time early in the play to be able to whip a ball out to receivers that we know are momentarily open and thoughts guys have to make catches and get racks get first downs and extend drives.
Kramer on acquiring turn overs
We want to play with a better feel for where the ball is at. Whether you see the ball or not is not as important as understanding the concept of where the ball is at, where the ball carrier is carrying the ball, where you can reach and grab for the ball when the ball carrier has his hands on the ball. And for us that is how we can cause turnovers. Interceptions are caused by defensive front pressure or maybe fooling the quarterback so he will throw the ball errantly. For us the way Taylor as played early in the season he is throwing to wide open guys. We have to able to shadow and hang on to their receivers and not allow them to run down the field by themselves. The problem is of course they are such a fearsome running team that you push your safeties hard at the run and it opens up the seam routes.
Kramer responds to question on win this week a progress of the team
I would just say if we play successfully, it would tell us that we are mentally tough then we have been in the past. For us the mental toughness part of it, is the hallmark of what good teams have. I wouldn't say this program is as mentally tough as we need to be. We need to be more competitive on every play. And there will be 205 to 220 plays on Saturday and we will measure the 11 guys that are on the field to see how mentally tough they are. I will know more at the end of the game where we are at as we prepare ourselves for Big Sky Conference play.
On Nebraska environment
87,000 people who care about how they handle themselves. It is a very respectful venue. It's an exciting opportunity for us to play. More importantly it is the last opportunity we get to play a nonconference game as our drive continues towards the Big Sky Conference Championship.
