Sept. 24, 2001

On last week's practice: "I thought we had a good week of practice. It was designed to do a lot of competing and one's against one's."

"Obviously Nebraska is a great football team. They're one of the top teams in the country. Generally you watch video on teams and find weaknesses but with them you find none."

"It's a great challenge for us. It's a great opportunity for us to get ready. We'll practice hard and get ready for a big game.

On the extended time off: "I refuse to go there because if we lose then we blame it on that."

On Eric Crouch: "He puts a lot of stress on the defense. Crouch-the thing he can do is he's so experienced now that he can add another dimension. He can run the option or throw the ball. He's a great player. He's exciting to watch. He's got a very good supporting cast but that's why they're a top-five team."

On his team's progress: "I think we're better fundamentally (after practicing this week). Are we good enough? Probably not-we're not quite where we need to be. The name of the game is to win and hopefully we'll play better."

"We felt that overall there's no question that we improved as a football team (this week). You always work on fundamentals but as the week went on we added a little bit of Nebraska and yesterday concentrated on Nebraska, and this will be a regular game week."

On playing Nebraska: "The big difference between a top-five team and the 15th-20th-25 team. Those are good teams but top-five is a different caliber. There are generally no weaknesses. It's just what kind of level they play to."

"I've never circled a team and said 'we're going to prepare harder for this team.' I want to win all our games."

"They're very deserving of their national ranking. They might be the best team in the country."