Opening Statement
It should be an interesting week for us as we prepare for Kansas State and prepare to head down to Manhattan and play a great football team. If you look at it, we are an improving football team, and to line up against them and get done what you want to get done, you have to be hitting on all cylinders. We hope that as we prepare for them, that we come out of it with an excellent gameplan and excellent attack, and a defensive gameplan that?s going to be able to control them a little bit. As you look at them they are a great offensive football team. They are second in the country in scoring offense right now with an I-Back that has great acceleration and a great ability to make you miss, along with a quarterback that has the same kind of speed and ability to make you miss. He is a big-play quarterback right now in the running game as well as the passing game, and they?re very physical up front. It?s a good kind of combination for an offensive football team. Their scores are averaging well over 40 points per game. If you look at their last three games you?re talking about a team that?s averaging from the mid 50?s on up. They?re really on a roll, they?re playing very well, they?re very talented and they have a great deal of speed.

Defensively, they?re a great football team. They are a team that is never out of place, and are very well-coordinated. They get to the ball very quickly, they have great corners, and that makes it tough to match up in terms of the throwing game, and just count on beating them consistently with the throwing game. If you look back at the teams they?ve played and their schedule, they?ve had a good mixture of teams that have tried to do both against them, but they have pretty much taken a lot of teams out of the running game early, which has caused teams a lot of problems in terms of trying to put points on the board.

They?ve always had excellent special teams. That?s no different this year. You look at Terrence Newman as a return man. They also use him in punt block situations. He?s a great athlete with great speed and they utilize him very well in terms of special teams. It?s obvious they work a great deal and spend a great deal of time on special teams plays.

They are a football team that right now is playing on top of the game, with no weaknesses and it will be a challenge for us.

On the Iowa State vs. Kansas State score
I think that Kansas State has the ability to perform well on any given Saturday. They really played exceptionally well on both sides of the ball. The thing that Iowa State had happen to them, is they?re not used to turning the ball over. They had a number of turnovers in that game, (six). If you look at the penalties they had, they?re one of the better teams in the conference in terms of not having penalties against them, and they had something like 10 penalties against them. That?s a pretty bad combination of things to have happen and expect to be in the game against a team like Kansas State. On the other side of that, the reason they were having problems is because Kansas State was causing them so many problems. That?s what caused the turnovers and that?s what caused so many of the penalties.

More On Kansas State
They?ve been consistent in making big plays from the offensive standpoint. They?ve gotten it from their I-Back, they?ve gotten it from their quarterback, in both the running and the throwing game. Field position has been something they?ve been able to establish in a lot of different ways throughout the course of the year. Some of that is from just playing great defense forcing people to punt at three and out, some of it from the offensive end of it. If they don?t put points on the board, they do a great job of moving the ball down the field. Special teams has played out as a plus for them. If you combine all that, you can understand why they?ve been able to be so dominant in some games.

On Linebacker Chad Sievers
Chad will have knee surgery and is done for the season. The surgery will more than likely take place either Sunday or the early part of next week. It?s very unfortunate. He did play a number of snaps with the injury in the game. But, from the MRI and the evaluation of the knee from the medical staff, it?s obvious he?s going to need to have some repair work done.

He did more than just provide depth for us. He?s been getting a lot of snaps and playing exceptionally well from the Mike linebacker spot and also from special teams aspect of it. If you look, he was one of our leading tacklers in the game this past week. He?s got excellent movement, the ability to make plays sideline to sideline. He?s very bright young man, and so he was able to contribute in a lot of ways to what we?re trying to get done, and that loss will be felt. The good part about it is that Barrett Ruud is also playing very well at the Mike linebacker spot, and that will just cause Barrett to have more snaps on the field.

On the Kansas State Defense
There is no question that they are as good as we have seen so far. I would imagine that they will stack up with anybody in the country. You don?t have the kind of stats they have unless you are one of the very best, or the best in the country. They definitely are at the top.

More on Kansas State
In terms of Kansas State and how they?ve operated against everyone they?ve played, they?ve played very well. There?s not been a time when they lined up and played poorly. Once they got into the Big 12 there were many challenges, but they?ve faced those challenges very well. The two losses they had could have gone either way. If you look at where we?re at in terms of the games we?ve played and you look at Texas which was a common opponent for us, Texas played both teams very well, and of course the thing that you look at a little bit is that Texas was not able to get a great deal of offense going against Kansas State. They did get 17 points on the board against them in a very close ball game that came down to the end. I don?t think you can put too much into comparing the scores. Certainly timing of when you play teams and what you?re team is all about health-wise and what the opponent is all about healthy-wise, always enters into it. But, I have not seen Kansas State line up and not play good football.

On Nebraska?s strengths
We are an improving football team and we have rushed the ball well. We will, to no surprise, make an attempt to rush the ball. I think as a whole our defense is playing much better and is coming close to playing four quarters of excellent football. They have really started to control the rush to some degree, and that should be a challenge this week against Kansas State in terms of the option game. They run very good option game, the read option the sprint option. They have a very good power game. They line up with big guys at the fullback spot, and get into two and three-back setups. All of that will be a challenge. Our defense has gotten better at stopping the run, and doing a better job against the throwing game. You can look at individuals, we?ve had quite a few that have stepped up and made big plays, and as a unit I think we?re an improving football team in all aspects of it.

On Terrance Newman
Terrance (Newman) is certainly one of the best athletes in the country. When they line him up at the corner, they will at times utilize him at one side and then put him on the other side. They try to make sure that you don?t line up and try to work away from him. He has the ability to match up one-on-one with anybody that he comes up against and the things that you also notice about him is that he?s a physical football player. He?s not out there as a corner that just runs. Whenever he?s supporting on the run he?s a very physical football player. He?s used very well in regards to special teams, kick returns and in attempts to block punts.

On the 11:30 a.m. kick off time
We want to get up and play the game. This will give us the opportunity to do that without having to sit around all afternoon. Of course, the longer everybody has to prepare on the Saturday before the game, fans, there?s more preparation that can go into an evening game than a morning game. On the other side of it, the bottom line is, regardless of when you line up against these guys you?re going to have to play great football. You?re going to have to block out fan reaction and just be focused and play your very best.

On the difficulty of playing at Kansas State
They have excellent players. We have not lined up against them for some time now without them having excellent players. They are very much into their football in Manhattan, and the fan reaction is such. That?s a tough combination, but the bottom line is, when you have really good football players you have a chance to get some things done, not only at home but on the raod, and they?ve done that.

On playing winning at Texas A&M and how that helps this week
Not everybody shows up at Kyle Field and wins, and wins from the standpoint of a comeback. That was a very encouraging part of our season and it certainly raised the level of our players in terms of confidence. That was a great moment for our football team. Now, another opportunity is there for us, certainly a very challenging opportunity. But, we?re looking at it as such, and we?re anxious to get down and play the game.

On the balance of the offense
It would be nice to balance it out more. But, if one phase of the game is not going well, you?re probably not going to have balance. Ideally, we?ll be throwing the ball well, protecting well and whatever number of throws we have, 15 or 20 throws, hopefully we?ll be able to utilize the throwing game to our advantage and make some plays out of it. I think that will be important. I don?t think you just line up and run at Kansas State and never have the chance to make some plays in the passing game. When the chances come you need to make them work. If you look at the history of it, we have not thrown the ball particularly well against Kansas State. That probably doesn?t surprise many people. But, neither have other teams. The best anyone has thrown the ball against them this year was Baylor. Other than that, the great teams that they lined up against did not throw the ball very well percentage-wise against them.

On the physical aspects of the game
It will be a great physical football game, it always has been. Coach Snyder and the staff has done a great job of turning their program around, and they?ve been a very physical football team. If you look at what they?re attempting to do offensively, you now see a Kansas State football team that is running the ball right at you. If you go back four to six years, that?s not exactly what you saw in terms of what they were trying to get done offensively. They have changed their approach a little bit, and some of that change has resulted in them being a very physical offense that comes right at you. They?ve always played physical defense. I think it will be a great and fun matchup for both teams, and I think both teams would like to get down to it.

On the Kansas State kicking game
I think both teams have very good special teams. If you look at some of the problems they?ve had, more of it has been along the lines of extra points than field goals. Right now they?re on a roll with field goals, and I think from 30 to 39 yards they?ve made something like eight in a row. I don?t see that as being a problem for them anymore. There was a point in time when they had a combination of things happen that caused them to get some kicks blocked and miss some kicks. I think for the most part that?s probably out the window now. They?re doing very well on that end of it. The rest of it, when you look at kickoff returns, kickoff coverage, punt returns, punt coverage, they are excellent in that.

On the similarities of the Nebraska and Kansas State offenses
I think there are a lot of similarities in the two teams. Both teams utilize a running quarterback and have a power running game, but also run a number of options throughout the course of the game. Both teams rely on play-action passes, although they?re good at dropping back and throwing the ball. They really try to build around their running game and come off of that with a number of things that have been very productive for them. That?s really our philosophy and what we?ve been about for a number of years.

On the improved running game of Kansas State
I think a great deal of Coach Snyder and his staff. He is a guy that is very much on top of what is happening around the country in college football. He is also a guy that is not afraid of change and making changes when he feels it?s needed and will be advantage for them. It?s obvious that he felt the best approach for them would be to work very hard on establishing a running game, and still recruit the kind of quarterbacks they?ve recruited and be able to throw the ball as well as run it with great I-backs, but also be able to run it with quarterbacks in a scheme that?s designed for power football from the quarterback carrying the ball and also a scheme designed to utilize the skill of his athletes in the option game.

On Importance of the game
Although there?s not a lot on the line in terms of our end of it, in terms of the national championship in terms of Big 12 championship the bottom line is, our players have prepared to play well every week and have stepped on the field to win football games. That?s what we?re all about, regardless of whether we?re in the race or in the hunt for a Big 12 or national title. We do plan on playing our best and they will get our best.