'This is on me': Interim coach Mickey Joseph shoulders blame for Nebraska Cornhuskers' loss

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska interim coach Mickey Joseph took full responsibility for his team's performance in a 49-14 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday, repeatedly saying in his postgame press conference, «This is on me.»

Joseph was promoted to interim coach last Sunday, after Scott Frost was fired following a 1-2 start to the season. Throughout the week, Joseph promised he would bring more energy and enthusiasm to the program and had his players get back to the basics at practice — while also removing the black shirts that are a trademark of the defense.

But after their first offensive series ended in a touchdown, nothing went right for the Cornhuskers. Oklahoma dominated in every area, as Dillon Gabriel threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns while Eric Gray had 113 yards rushing and two more scores.

The same tackling issues and missed alignments plagued the Nebraska defense, while the offensive line had a tough time protecting the quarterback — making it difficult to gain any rhythm on offense. Oklahoma finished with four sacks and nine tackles for loss.

«This is on me, not my players, not my assistant coaches,» Joseph said. «I've got to do a better job, and I will. I've got to accept responsibility for it, and I have. We've got eight games left, and we're going to get ready to win some games.»

When asked what he could have done differently in his first week as head coach, Joseph said, «I guess I didn't do enough last week to get them ready. We've got to do some individual work, some more drill work next week, less team work and get some fundamentals straightened up.»

Joseph got his players back to tackling again during practice, something that had not happened previously under Frost. He said he plans to do more tackling work