Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini said MSU defensive players drew Nebraska players to commit false start penalties by clapping during No. 8 MSU’s 27-22 win over No. 21 Nebraska last Saturday.
Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi and defensive players addressed the accusations Tuesday. Junior quarterback Connor Cook also addressed his performance which wasn’t as efficient as other performances this season have been.
“Clap-gate”
According to Pelini, MSU’s clapping drove Nebraska to commit false starts.
“That’s something I’ll have to talk to the league about,” Pelini said.
Narduzzi said his defensive players clap within the rules and display other signals to call plays, but he did not believe any of the clapping and signals they do are against the rules.
“We clap, if you watch us we slap our butts, we raise the roof,” he said. “We change it up every week.”
Narduzzi reiterated that he and Pelini are good friends.
Connor Cook
Despite making some incredible throws in tight windows, there were moments when Cook struggled against Nebraska. He finished 11-29 with 243 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
“I think during some of my reads I was locked on some of the guys,” he said. “I think I locked on Tony a couple of times, kind of threw it up to him and hoped he would make a play.”
Cook said his accuracy wasn’t great as well but he wasn’t worried about any long-term problems. He thinks these errors are correctable.
“It’s very fixable,” he said. “They’re all problems I can go in the film room and correct.”
Co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner saw some of the similar problems in Cook’s game that his quarterback did. Despite some spectacular completions, Warner admitted there are further things for Cook to work on.
“I think he got away with a few throws,” Warner said. “We had some fantastic catches out there, as he is watching film he knows he should make a different decision.”
Defensive stand
Bo Pelini said last week that Nebraska has run the ball of MSU before, and they could do it again. On Saturday night, the Huskers struggled on the ground and senior running back and Heisman candidate Ameer Abdullah had his worst game of the season by running 24 times for only 45 yards.
“I think it builds our confidence as a defense,” senior defensive end Marcus Rush said. “It sets the bar of where we can be at high, and we can even be better.”
