Nebraska 20, Boston College 15
Q. Guys, just looking at this game, it started out with some tough sledding, but what allowed you to make that second-half spark and come back in the fourth quarter?
GRAYSON JAMES: I would say just sticking to the plan. The message Coach always preaches into every play has a meaning to itself, taking it one play at a time, never out, it's college football, anything can happen, so you're just taking it one play at a time. Things started going our way and got things rolling, we just couldn't get it done in the end.
Q. Obviously results aside, what do you take most heading into the off-season from this game and just from the year in general?
DAVEON CROUCH: I mean, the off-season we've just got to work a lot harder. We put a good thing together this year coming off of a good three out of four wins our last four games, played a good game today, but this off-season we've just got to get together as a team. We know what we've got to work on, and we've just got to get to work coming back from this little break.
GRAYSON JAMES: I would say just continuously trending upward. That's the biggest thing. Just consistency, continuously getting better every day. We've got a big off-season in front of us. We did some good things this year, saw a lot of good things from a lot of guys, young guys as well out there today, so there's a lot to look forward to.
Potential can be a dangerous word, but I like where this team looks like we're going forward, a lot of guys that are coming in, a lot of guys that we have already, as well, so it's positive looking forward for us.
Q. Grayson, just take us back to your first half. The team fell down 20-2. Were you flustered back there? How did you feel in that first half?
GRAYSON JAMES: Yeah, I wouldn't say I was flustered at all. For the most part, we were moving the ball. It was just about finishing those drives in the red area, and we didn't get that done.
That's a big thing that Coach always talks about; in football whenever you get down there, you've got to get seven, and unfortunately today we weren't really able to get anything going until that second half.
We were moving the ball. We felt confident in our game plan, scheme, coaches, all those things like that, but just didn't get it done in the red area at the end of the day.
Q. Grayson, when it's 3rd and long, 4th and long and you're in no-man's land, like the 30-, 40-yard line, what's your thought process, your mindset during those plays?
GRAYSON JAMES: It's a tough position to be in, but just how can we convert, how can we get it into a manageable 4th down, depending on where we are. But we know Coach O'Brien is an aggressive guy, wants to keep the ball moving. So in my mindset, if we can get to 4th and manageable, it's a play that we like, a play that we're willing to take something shorter of the chains.
But like you said, it's a tough position to be in. We were in a lot of 3rd and long, 4th and long today, so we've got to do better in the early downs to be more efficient to stay out of those situations.
Q. Obviously the outcome of the game wasn't what you guys had wanted, but can you just speak to the experiences that you guys had this week and how those bonding experiences will help you guys in 2025?
DAVEON CROUCH: Yeah, this week it was a lot of fun coming to New York. We seen the 9/11 Memorial, did different events, but it brought us together as a team. Brotherhood, we got closer a lot, and it built trust within each other. So going into this off-season we're a lot closer as a team, and that's a key part of a team is that love, and we built that over this little week we had here.
Even though we lost, we still know what we got coming in the future for sure.
GRAYSON JAMES: Going off what he said, we were able to build on the camaraderie we already have. This team has kind of a different vibe. The brotherhood is different here. It really feels like a family. Everybody cares for each other. We all want to go out there and win and do the best for each other because nobody else knows what we go through day in and day out.
But didn't get the dub. That's kind of all we care about. This trip was fun, but without that outcome, it kind of sours it for sure.
Q. The leaders on this team, the coach was talking about them and how they transitioned his first year for both of you. What did those upperclassmen mean to you this year and growing as a first-year program under Coach O'Brien?
DAVEON CROUCH: It's been good. We had great leaders, especially the ones that's leaving out, the seniors, and made us look at how we should lead the team now with them leaving.
And this upcoming year we've got a lot of good leaders. We took steps of course during this bowl prep, but coming up next, there's going to be good leadership for a good program for sure.
GRAYSON JAMES: I would say coming in being a new guy, it's sweet to be able to see those older guys, the culture that they already had built here and just to see kind of how things go around BC football.
But that was awesome. It was tough we couldn't go out there and get the win for them today. And a lot of those guys, it's their last game in a BC uniform, maybe even football. So I know that's tough for sure and emotional. But like Bam said, we've got some guys are going to have to step up next year, including ourselves. So we're looking forward to that.
Q. Guys, this is a tough game. You never want to go out with a loss, but speak about the mentality and the physicality going into next year and what you learned from this game and what you can bring to the next season.
DAVEON CROUCH: Yeah, the mentality and physicality, we feel like we're there with any team, no matter the conference, no matter the team. We're going to fight 60 minutes.
That's been the theme the whole season, 60 minutes, next play. Going into next year and this off-season, we don't play different conferences, different teams, and we showed everybody that we can play with them. We've just got to finish.
Going into this off-season and next year, our key focus is finishing and just getting the job done and getting these wins.
GRAYSON JAMES: Yeah, I would say all year I think we showed we're a resilient football team. One thing you won't ever be able to question is how tough we are. We're going to show up to come and play every single week. But yeah, got a lot to build on, a lot to look forward to.
We got some young guys in there today, was happy to see them do well. I feel like this team -- I love these guys. We come to work every single day, and we're resilient. We don't give up. We stayed in it all day. Didn't come out in the end, but this team, we're going to come to work every day.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports