Nebraska Football: Iowa postgame nuggets

Here is a quick rundown of what head coach Scott Frost and his players had to say following Nebraska’s 28-21 loss to Iowa on Friday…

***Frost said special teams cost Nebraska once again.

“I’ve got to do a better job of making sure we’re up to speed on that,” Frost said.

“The blocked punt was the game,” he added.

***Asked if this game was enough to hire a full-time special teams coordinator, Frost said: “I’m going to talk about hiring people later.”

***Frost said 99-percent of teams that went through as much adversity as Nebraska did this season “would have folded.” He said he couldn’t be prouder of the way NU fought all season.

***Frost said Logan Smothers “managed the game pretty well and did enough for us to win.”

***Frost: “I’m frustrated. I’m really encouraged by how we played… We’re a lot better team than we have been, but in many ways, we’ve got a long way to go.”

***Frost said the traditional running game had to get better, and that was on the entire offense. “It’s just not consistent enough to count on it.”

***On the final interception, Frost said it was a play call they’d run about 3,000 times. He said it looked like Smothers thought the receiver would keep running, but the WR had an option to stop his route short.

“Wrong throw at the wrong time,” Frost said.

***Frost said this season was “death by 1,000 paper cuts.”

***Looking ahead to the offseason, Frost said getting some guys to stay, getting some “new blood in the program,” and hiring some good coaches would be the priorities.

***Frost: “Coming this close in so many games, it’s heartbreaking.”

***Frost: “With what we’ve been through, it’s human nature to have it in the back of your head, ‘What’s going to go wrong?”

He said the only way to move past that was to start winning some of those games. “Wins take care of that.”

***For the guys deciding on whether to come back, “I think each of them need to make a decision on what’s best for them.”

***Smothers said he found out he would start on Sunday.

***Smothers said there was “miscommunication” on his final interception. “We can’t let that happen.”

***Even though it was a loss, Smothers said his first start was unforgettable: “This is what I’ve dreamed for my whole life.”

***Smothers said he leaned on Adrian Martinez “a ton” while preparing for his first start. “He was in my ear all week.”

***Allen said football was a game of adversity, and how you respond to adversity would tell the story of the game and the season. He said they got “punched in the face” in the fourth quarter, “but I didn’t see any letdown, by any means.”

***Allen said the support Nebraska fans showed all season “for a 3-9 team” was “tremendous” and “meant the world to me.”

***Allen on having played his final game as a Husker: “I’m not sad it’s over. I’m happy it happened.” He said now was the time “I’ve got to take my shot” at the NFL.

***Allen said, “we’ve got some ballers in the quarterback room,” and he was happy Smothers got his chance.