Mickey Joseph postgame quotes: 2022 Nebraska vs. Rutgers football

Opening statement:

The coaches did their job with the game plan, they got themselves prepared and ready to come on the short week. It was a great game. We asked them to fight at halftime, and then in the fourth quarter we asked them to finish. We asked them to finish, and they did.”

On what changed in from the first to second half:

We struggled on offense, but the defense gave up some plays. We gave up some deep balls early, and we had to settle down and get things together. We struggled on offense in the first half.”

On Casey Thompson’s health:

Casey’s tough, like I told you, Casey’s going to play. If Casey can get the ball out of his hand, he’s going to play. Casey was raised by Charles Thompson, a grown man, remember he came to Nebraska and did us in a couple of times. So Casey’s tough, Casey’s going to be able to take hits and get up.”

On seeing the players celebrating a win after their second half performance:

Like I told the defense, two weeks in a row they shut somebody out in the second half. You’re happy for them, like I said, they’ve been beat up for a long time. Now they’re feeling the pressure, and they know how to win. Like I said, they prepared themselves during the week, and they got themselves ready to work. We only had one day where we put pads on and we hit, everything else was helmets and spiders. They played till the fourth quarter, and they were the most physical team.”

On Quinton Newsome’s status, and how Malcolm Hartzog and Brandon Moore performed: 

You know what, next man up. We talked to them about that, if you’re a backup, you have to prepare like you’re a starter. So, you take your hat off to Brandon, and you take your hat off to Malcolm. Malcolm started and he struggled, so we took him out for a couple of plays. On Quinton, I’m going to have to find out the state of his injury. He’s a little banged up, I think it’s a groin, so that’s why he was out.”

On halftime discussion:

It was a two-score game, and we knew we had to play four quarters. We knew coming in here that this team was going to be tough, and that we were going to have to play four quarters. In the second half, we were really confident that we could come back and win the game.”

On the players’ outlook on the rest of the season after win:

We take it one game at a time with them. Our goal was to be 1-0 this weekend, and now we are, so we have won two straight. I will tell you this, I think everyone is starting to believe and they are starting to see it. They haven’t done this, this is kind of strange for them. You can see that they’re playing hard, they’re playing fast, and they’re not giving up. I told them in the fourth quarter, there was no doubt in our eyes that we weren’t going to win the game. It was the same way at halftime, they knew they were going to win the game if they kept fighting. We said it was going to be a street fight, but in the type of street fight we’re in, there’s no rounds or time, it’s just let’s keep swinging, and in the end we’ll come out on top.

On the win:

“It’s a great win because we haven’t had many. To get a road win, two straight. This is big for the kids, it’s big for the coaches. This is bigger than me. It’s these players and coaches that have been digging in.”

On Rutgers and the tempo:

“We struggled in the first half. They slowed us down. Rutgers is a good defense. Until the Ohio State game, they were top in the country. They have a really good defense. Greg Schiano is a really good defensive minded coach. It was a chess match tonight.”