Lloyd Carr Defense Quotations

Obviously, when you're part of a unit that has had as much criticism as the defense has had, I think it's a motivating factor, ... But what I look at it is the way they've worked, and the way they've trained, and the way they've practiced. We're much stronger up front than we were a year ago, and I think that was one of the problems, one of the big problems. We're stronger, we're bigger, we have better depth. I think that is going to make a difference.

I think if you take one play out of the football game, our defense did a very good job,

I think we all understand that a running game allows you to control the game. When we were able to run the football, that allows you to protect your defense and it allows you to do a lot of things that help you to win. We were very, very average running the football. And I think that always comes back to haunt you. I can guarantee you this spring that becomes an area that we must improve in, and we will.

We'd like to tackle the quarterback, ... Traditionally here, we've taken great pride in the way we played defense. Like every other program in the country, the spread offense creates problems. I've said this because when you use the quarterback, really in many instances like a tailback, and yet you have four wide receivers and you spread the defense out, you're going to give up some yardage, you're going to give up some points. I think that's fundamental.

We've worked hard on it, but the key to the Nebraska defense is up-front four. That'll be a real test for us.

When you look at what he did in the fourth quarter, there was not a lot of space in that defense on the last drive.

There's no question it's going to be a different type of team. You don't lose two outstanding players like Navarre and Perry and immediately replace that kind of production, ... But you play to your strengths. If we can stay healthy, our defense is going to be better and I think our kicking game should be very solid. We'll just have to see how we evolve offensively.