HUSKER FOOTBALL: Joseph Reflects on Lessons Learned and Progress Made

LINCOLN–(NU Athletics Oct. 13)–Nebraska interim head coach Mickey Joseph met with members of the media following Thursday’s football practice. Joseph opened by reflecting on the week of practice and looking ahead to Saturday’s game.

“Great week of practice,” Joseph said. “Great week for the kids. Great week for the coaches. We are excited about this opportunity to play a top-notch football team. I think they are only like seven points from being undefeated. They are really good on all three phases of the game. We are going to have to play well when we go there.”

Joseph commented on the strengths of Purdue.

“They have a lot of experience,” he said. “When you can play in college football with seniors and juniors with the COVID year, that means some of them are fifth-year juniors and sixth-year seniors so that is some maturity level. They are a very mature football team so that means they will not panic under distress, and it is a team that we are going to have to execute against.”

He talked about what he has learned in the last month of being the interim head coach.

“I learn a lot every day,” Joseph said. “Every day I learn a lot on the job about this position. It helps that I have Coach Whipple with me who has been a head coach and Coach Bill Busch who understands me and knows what I want and Coach Beckton and Coach Fischer and Applewhite, the ones that put me in my place and say ‘hey you probably should not do that.’ So I am still open, and I am still not the guy that has all the answers. I think when guys think they have all the answers, they know nothing. I am still open for suggestions from my staff because that is why they are there. They are there to help me and they are doing a wonderful job of helping me in this position.”

Joseph also discussed the attitude of the team.

“They are going to take on my mentality,” he said. “They are going to take on my makeup. My makeup is to be aggressive and to get after people. Right now they are believing that they can do it, but what they have done is they have bought in to what I am asking them to do and what the coaches are asking them to do. You see smiles on their face. You do not see doubt in their eyes. You do not see doubt in their body language. They feel like in a game we know there are going to be slugfests. We know there are going to be tight football games, and we are not scared to be in those situations any more.”

The Huskers will kick off against Purdue at 6:30 p.m. (CT) in West Lafayette, Ind. The game is set to be televised on the Big Ten Network.