10 things we learned from NU's weekly press conference

It seems as if at every weekly press conference of the season, head coach Scott Frost and Nebraska’s players report that they just had their best Monday practice yet.

Now at 0-6, the optimistic reports to start the week have steadily lost their impact to rally the fan base.

But Frost and his players kicked that trend up a notch on Monday, saying the practice was not only their best Monday session, but their ‘best overall practice of the year.’

“I would say it was our best Monday ever, by far. Probably our best overall practice of the year,” Frost said. “I told the guys after practice that showed a lot about who they are with how they responded.”

All that said, Frost is well aware that the next step is finally figuring out how to carry over that effort and execution through the entire week and have it reach the highest point on game day. But he also said despite the historically bad start, the Huskers’ morale continues to strengthen.

“Sometimes I wish people could see inside the walls and see how good the culture is right now and how it’s turned and how much better it is and how much the guys have banded together,” Frost said.

Nebraska has found about every way possible to lose games during its 10-game losing streak dating back to last season.

It’s now been nearly a full calendar year since the Huskers have tasted victory, which is why even with the good energy and enthusiasm still in practices, Frost is worried about losing becoming the assumed expectation with his player.

“The one concern I have – as great as it was today – I don’t want the guys to get used to losing and to be OK with it,” Frost said.

The good news was that none of the four players who followed Frost at the press conference podium said that was remotely the case. Cornerback Dicaprio Bootle said he knows what it looks like when a team has quit on a season – he watched it happen just last season.

Bootle said no player still in Nebraska’s locker room had given up, nor would anyone the rest of the year.

“Last year a lot of times when the going got tough, we quit," Bootle said. "We’d lay down and just let bad things happen. When bad things happen this year, I see a lot of fighters. I see a lot of people trying to fight back and not trying to take no for an answer; just trying to keep things close and trying to win football games.

“Last year when things went bad, we weren’t trying to win football games, we were just trying to get through quarters. This year, things go bad and we’re still fighting. Down by however many, we’re still fighting.”

After Saturday’s overtime loss to Northwestern, Frost was asked about some of the defensive issues and whether he would have done anything differently late in the game in retrospect.

At the time, Frost said he didn’t know because he didn’t call the defense. After having the time to go back and watch the game film, though, Frost said the defensive schemes weren’t the issue.

What he and defensive coordinator Erik Chinander saw as they watched the tape was one technique mistake after another, often times coming at the worst possible times and costing the Huskers will big plays for Northwestern.

Frost guessed that about 200 of Northwestern’s 485 total yards of offense came off of just eight plays where Nebraska’s defense just wasn’t lined up right, didn’t follow its assignments, or just gave up leverage on a play.

Frost added that they also had double coverages called for Wildcat receiver Flynn Nagel – who caught 12 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns – on roughly 25 of Northwestern’s 88 snaps.

“I don’t think it was what we were in on defense; it’s just playing it better,” Frost said. “That’s on us as coaches and the kids to make sure that they’re using the techniques that we’ve taught them.”

Nebraska got some surprisingly good news just before the start of Saturday’s game, as sophomore quarterback Noah Vedral was ruled immediately eligible after the NCAA granted his waiver to play this season.

Vedral was in uniform and available to play at Northwestern but did not see the field. Frost said the ideal plan going forward was to get the former Central Florida transfer some playing time in as many as four games this season without burning his redshirt eligibility.

“I think Noah could make us better,” Frost said. “I wish we would’ve gotten that ruling earlier. On top of everything else, he’s familiar with our scheme of anybody on campus. We’re definitely not going to burn a year with him, but he’s good enough to be on the field for us. If there’s opportunities to get him in for four games, I’d love to see that happen for him.”

Frost was asked if he’d ever gotten any further explanation as to why it took so long for the NCAA to make its ruling on Vedral. From the sound of things, the NCAA wasn’t the issue.

“Yeah, I got an explanation, and it wasn’t the NCAA’s fault,” Frost said. “I’d rather not comment any further than that.”

Going back to the defensive struggles last week, Frost said he had no plans of taking on any further role with the defense this season or in the future.

Frost said he still had full trust in Chinander and the rest of his defensive coaches, and he has always included himself in the defense’s headset discussions when necessary and been available whenever his staff needed his input during games.

But the idea of him adding the defense to his plate along with his head coach and play-calling responsibilities would be overload.

“As a head coach, I can’t be the head coach and manage the game, call an offense, and be involved in defense. I won’t get any sleep,” Frost said.

“That’s just too much, and there’s not a coach in the country that does that. I have really good assistants. They’ve done the job before, they’re doing a good job, and they’re going to get it right.”

Injuries and transfers have hit several position groups on Nebraska’s roster this season, but few units have been as depleted over the first six games as the inside linebackers.

Starters Dedrick Young and Mohamed Barry have taken on massive workloads over the past few weeks, having now played 404 and 368 total snaps this season, respectively.

Young played 89 snaps at Northwestern, while Barry played 81. Backup ILBs Caleb Tannor (11) and Collin Miller (4) played a combined 15.

The problem is that after Tannor and Miller, the next players up in the rotation would be walk-ons Joey Johnson and Chris Cassidy. That means in order to take some of the wear and tear off of Young and Barry, Nebraska needs to give Tannor and Miller larger workloads.

Facing a critical third-and-1 at the Northwestern 25-yard line in overtime, guard Boe Wilson was called for a false start that back Nebraska out to a third-and-six.

After a five-yard pass to J.D. Spielman, quarterback Adrian Martinez couldn’t handle a low snap and ended up throwing the game-sealing interception in the end zone.

Frost didn’t notice anything at the time but said Martinez told him after the game that the music coming from the Ryan Field speakers was being played well into when the Huskers were trying to make calls at the line of scrimmage.

On that false start, Martinez called for the snap but never got the ball because Tanner Farmer didn’t hear him, which was why Wilson jumped.

“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Adrian said the music was still playing,” Frost said. “I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or not, but that’s not supposed to happen. Again, I don’t even know if that’s the case or not.”

It’s been since Nov. 16, 2016, since Martinez has won a game as a starting quarterback.

After he led his Clovis (Calif.) West team to a 41-28 win over Clovis High in the state playoffs, Martinez missed all of his senior season to a shoulder injury and is now 0-6 to start his college career.

But Martinez is probably one of the last players Frost and Co. need to worry about getting “used to losing.”

“I think the winning culture is installed in me,” Martinez said. “I don’t think I’ve known anything different throughout my life. I want to win, I believe we are going to win, and I’m a competitive guy. I don’t think I’m used to losing. I don’t think a lot of the people here are either. We want to win, and we’re going to do anything in our power to win.”

As if the gut-wrenching overtime loss at Northwestern wasn’t enough, it sounds like freshman defensive back C.J. Smith may have seen his season come to an end on Saturday as well.

Smith was injured while blocking on a punt return in the third quarter, and while Frost didn’t have a detailed update on the injury, he said Smith’s chances of returning this year

“I don’t think it looks real good for C.J.,” Frost said. “It’s heartbreaking. He’s a guy that we kept bringing along and thought that he could help us at that position. He was just standing around the pile and a guy kind of whiffed on a tackle and rolled into his knee.

“I’m not sure if we know for sure yet, but it doesn’t look very good for the rest of the year.”

Smith played 14 special teams snaps this season and one at slot cornerback, committing three penalties with no tackles.

Athletic director Bill Moos hinted a few weeks ago that Nebraska would be wearing alternate uniforms for its home game against Illinois on Nov. 10, and they were finally unveiled on Monday.

The uniforms - which NU sponsor adidas named the “Primeknit A1 ‘Memorial Tribute’” – are designed to honor to the 100th anniversary of the end of the World War I and the first Nebraska team ever to play at Memorial Stadium in 1923.

Frost said he hadn’t seen the new alternates yet but was up for anything that might give his team a boost.

“Anything to give us a little bit of mojo right now, I’m all for,” Frost said. “I hope they look good.”

Senior running back Devine Ozigbo had just seen the uniforms before meeting with reporters on Monday, and he said he was a fan. His favorites alternate remains the all-white combo NU wore at Northwestern two years ago.

“They were cool,” Ozigbo said. “I especially like the helmet, I like what they did with the decal and made it look like a leather hat. That was pretty cool.”