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Mike Riley postgame: 2015 Iowa @ Nebraska

On mistakes today and why they happened
“This game was about turnovers. The penalties were about even, but the penalties really hurt us. It was penalties and turnovers and I think that was probably the difference. The other thing was the big runs by them. I think those three parts of it, whether they scored fast or we turned the ball over to them… one time a penalty took away a turnover that we had. We really shot ourselves in the foot. The production was crazy different. They were 0-for-9 on third down. There was a lot of good stuff in the game; it was just those other parts that we couldn’t overcome.”

On the thinking behind the 4th-and-1 pass
“That play has options. One of the options was a hitch route or a converted fade. There is also a combination on the other side. Certainly, he (Armstrong) is able at times to take that fade. You would like to think that we could hit it, but at the same time there were other options on that play.”

On being 5-7
“I told them, we don’t know what is going to happen. This team fought all year; there was never a game where they didn’t compete in. I appreciate that about them. There is a lot of things there we wish we could get back, there’s a few plays here and there, but that’s not life. I think it will all help us as we go forward. Whatever it is, whatever happens with this team… there is enough stuff here where we will be excited about working on it in the near future.”

On similarities between Nebraska and Iowa despite the records
“Michigan State and Iowa lead the Big Ten in turnover margin. Statistics can be pretty telling and that is a huge one. In some of those key defensive categories, they (Iowa) are in the upper half of the league in almost everything and we’re not. There in-lies a difference. Point totals are the things that allow you to win the tight games. Our third down deal with them was really about the same and we actually won that part of it tonight. The big-play turnovers and the big-play runs outweighed it all. Those are the differences in ballgames.”

On if he feels they can fix mistakes in the offseason
"Oh yeah. I'm excited about the next phase. It's a little early to say that right after the game but the next phase of this thing will be exciting to me. We are going to lose some key offensive linemen and we'll have a lot to look at but the next phase of it will be exciting to get to eventually."

On what he saw in Iowa watching tape
"I think what we saw is why they won today. It is not overly dramatic, but I guess the best way I can put it is, that is a solid football team. The things that they ran today were the things they've been running. That stretch play, the zone play, the bootlegs off of it. They hit a bootleg for a touchdown. They hit a stretch play for a long touchdown. A good example of what they have done all year is have that play like that throwback tight end screen that got them points or in the position to get points in a long yardage situation. In general, all the phases were pretty darn solid."

On what he learned about Big Ten football
"I learned in the Big Ten that I would say it's very competitive. If you want to be the champion of your division or win the conference, you're going to have to compete week-to-week and win the close games which is what championship teams have to do anyway. If you look at the score of the majority of these guys games or you look at Michigan State's games through the year, everybody has some close games. A lot of them are one score games. This ended up being a one-score game. They win them. They find that way to win them. I found it to be nicely competitive. It makes for a good league."