10 things we learned from Nebraska's press conference

Nebraska head coach Scott Frost and several players met with reporters on Monday for their weekly press conference inside Memorial Stadium, recapping the loss at Colorado and previewing Saturday's home gave vs. Northern Illinois.

Here are 10 of the most interesting things we learned from the day...

For as gut-wrenching as Saturday’s overtime loss at Colorado was for Nebraska’s players and coaches, the leaders of the team were ready to face the music on Monday.

In past years, some prominent players - even team captains - wouldn’t have shown up for the weekly press conference following a tough loss. Some might not have spoken to the media the entire week.

But all four of NU’s team captains – Adrian Martinez, Matt Farniok, Darrion Daniels, and Mohamed Barry – as well as a handful of other prominent starters made their way to the sixth floor of Memorial Stadium to talk about what went wrong in Boulder and how they were going to fix it.

It might seem like a small thing, as saying the right things in a press conference isn’t going to solve any of the issues on the field. If nothing else, though, Monday spoke to the level of accountability within this group.

That’s a pretty important start to regrouping this week and preventing a rough start to the year from snowballing into something much worse.

Nebraska has a laundry list of things it needs to improve upon after the first two games of the season, but bolstering its production in the running game ranks right near the top.

The Huskers currently rank 11th in the Big Ten Conference and 88th nationally at 138.5 rushing yards per game, with a team average of just 3.07 yards per carry.

More specifically, it’s been the inability to establish any sort of consistent production between the tackles that has hindered the offense thus far. While there have been a few chunk runs to help boost the numbers, NU has come up empty far more often than not when it comes to establishing itself on the ground.

Some of the blame goes on the running backs, specially the underwhelming 23 carries for 63 yards (2.7 ypc) from Dedrick Mills. But Farniok said the offensive line was just as responsible, if not more so.

"When the run fails, let’s just put it on the offensive line,” Farniok said. “That’s on us. Regardless of whoever it is (running), whatever happens. As an offensive line, we just have to find a way to make it work."

Junior Deontai Williams suffered a shoulder injury the first half of the opener and then missed the trip to Colorado. Now the junior safety is going to be out for considerably longer.

Frost announced on Monday that Williams, who entered the year as one of Nebraska’s starting safeties, underwent shoulder surgery last week would be “out for the foreseeable future.”

Senior Eric Lee Jr. took over for Williams against South Alabama and had a career day, but he struggled after getting the start against Colorado. As a result, the Huskers moved sophomore Cam Taylor-Britt up to the starting safety opposite Marquel Dismuke on their Week 3 depth chart.

Lee is now the No. 2 behind Taylor-Britt, while walk-ons Isaiah Stalbird and Eli Sullivan are second and third behind Dismuke.

When Northern Illinois came to Lincoln two years ago, Barry admitted that Nebraska had already chalked the game as a win well before the opening kickoff.

Instead, the Huskies pushed NU around for four quarters in a 21-17 upset and sent the 2017 season spiraling out of control.

Though the ’19 Huskers feel like a completely different team than what they were two seasons earlier, several current players were on the field during that NIU debacle and still remember the defeat vividly.

Those who didn’t play in that game have learned all about it as the perfect example of what could happen if you take any opponent for granted.

“When I look back on that loss, I think about how we didn’t give them the respect that they deserved,” Barry said. “I feel like practice was very loose that week and that people were like, ‘Oh it’s the Sun-Belt Conference or whatever, we’re going to beat them, we’re going to dust them, we can play relaxed football, we should beat them by 40.’

“Again, every team we’re facing this year, we’re going to give them the respect that they deserve like they’re the best team. That’s how we’re preparing for NIU.”

As noted earlier, the versatile Taylor-Britt has found a new home as one of the No. 1 safeties this week with Williams now on the shelf.

Nebraska’s coaches have raved about the sophomore’s ability to play and excel at any position in the secondary if needed, which is why the staff feels just fine moving the former high school quarterback into the new role.

Taylor-Britt has been one of the Blackshirts’ top playmakers through two games, ranking third on the team with 10 tackles, second with an interception and two tackles for loss, and first with a sack and three forced fumbles.

He did get beaten on Colorado’s 96-yard flea-flicker, but Frost said he had full confidence in Taylor-Britt no matter where he lined up.

“Cam is a good player,” Frost said. “He does a great job and he’s one of our leaders. He has played nickel, he’s played corner, and now he is going to be pressing duty a little bit at safety, and he can still play other places. We trust him at just about every spot and that is why he as a Blackshirt.”

After missing the first two games of the season with a lingering undisclosed injury, sophomore kicker Barret Pickering wasn’t even listed on Nebraska’s depth chart for Northern Illinois.

Instead, senior punter Isaac Armstrong – who got the start at place kicker at Colorado – will again fill Pickering’s shoes this week.

Though he made all four of his extra points and his first-career field goal attempt earlier in the game, Armstrong sailed a 48-yarder at the end of overtime to seal the loss for the Huskers.

Frost remained confident in Armstrong to handle the kicking duties until Pickering returned.

“He will be fine,” Frost said. “The kid is a gamer and a good person, and he will be just fine.”

NU also moved redshirt freshman punter William Przystup to the No. 2 kicker spot over freshman walk-on Dylan Jorgensen, who started Week 1.

Przystup shared kickoff duties with Jorgensen at Colorado in his first action as a Husker, but he didn’t know he was the new backup kicker until asked about it on Monday.

"Is that what it says?" Przystup asked about the depth chart. "Well, that’s good to know."

Frost dropped a pretty telling stat when talking about how important better efficiency on offense would be going forward.

Of Nebraska’s 14 offensive drives in regulation on Saturday, only four did not feature a sack, tackle for loss, or a penalty. By no coincidence, the Huskers scored touchdowns on all four of those possessions.

Nebraska ended up allowing a whopping six sacks and seven tackles for loss while committing four offensive penalties for 30 yards vs. the Buffaloes. That was after giving up two sacks, five TFLs, and five penalties for 30 yards against South Alabama.

“Our margin for error’s pretty small right now,” Frost said. “There needs to be a sense of urgency to get it done.”

Martinez still hasn’t played a full game to the level many were expecting from him coming into the season as a Heisman Trophy candidate.

But as far as his progress from Week 1 to Week 2, Frost said he saw notable improvement from the standout sophomore.

Martinez completed his first nine passes of the game and finished with 356 total yards of offense and a combined four touchdowns at Colorado. He was also sacked six times, fumbled three times (losing two), and threw an interception, but Frost said there was much more good than bad on Saturday.

Frost added that as long as Martinez’s play would only get better as the weapons around him continued to develop.

“I said before the season we’re going to go as far as Adrian takes us,” Frost said. “I don’t think he played his best game week one. He played really well on Saturday… He operated really efficiently and made some really good plays. I thought he played courageously, and he can still get a lot better. That’ll show up too when we’re a lot better around him.”

JD Spielman has seven catches on nine targets this season, while Wan’Dale Robinson is right behind him with six receptions on 15 targets.

After those two, however, Nebraska’s wide receivers have been on a milk carton for the first two games.

Jaevon McQuitty (one catch for six yards in the opener) is the only other Husker wideout with a reception so far, and Kanawai Noa is the only other receiver to even be targeted (five).

Frost and Martinez both agreed that getting the receiving corps more involved was another critical step in making the offense hit on all cylinders.

“We’re trying,” Frost said. “I’m really surprised the ball hasn’t found Kanawai yet. He did some really good things in the game, blocked well and ran some good routes. The ball just didn’t find him. In game one he wasn’t out there as much, but the ball will hopefully find him in this game and a lot more.

“Some of the other guys, too. We design some things for certain people and the rest of the time we run our offense and throw to the open guy. If they’re open in this offense, the ball’s going to get to them.”

Nebraska’s players talked a good game all offseason, showing a level of focus and swagger you’d expect from a team ready to have a special season.

But after two disappointing performances, that talk has rung hallow compared to the actual product on the field.

Like they did multiple times during last year’s 4-8 campaign, the Huskers said Monday’s first practice following the Colorado loss was one of the best Monday’s they’d had as a team.

That’s an encouraging sign after such a tough loss, but the players know that it doesn’t mean anything if they don’t carry that over to game day.

“Today I said, ‘Enough with the talk, let’s work. Let’s hone-in on the details and let’s get better,’” Barry said. “That’s all that matters, is what we put on that field and what we put on that tape.”