By TOM LEA
tlea@espnwisconsin.com

LINCOLN – David Gilbert admitted to feeling extra pressure on himself after his mid-week comments regarding Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez reached firestorm status.

Following Saturday night’s game, one where he forced a Martinez fumble and finished with three tackles and a sack, Gilbert addressed the media for the first time since Wednesday evening.

“There was a lot of pressure,” he said. “If we all played as good as we could we would have won. It’s back to the drawing board. We’ll go back to Madison, practice, get better and come out next week.”

The junior defensive end admitted the Nebraska players used his comments as fuel during the game.

“It came up a couple times,” Gilbert said. “That’s the spirit of the game. When you say something like that going into the game you’ve got to expect the response. I’m fine with that. I would have done the same thing.

“I have a lot of respect for those guys. They played hard and came back.”

Gilbert, though his words may have added some extra motivation for a Nebraska squad desperate to exact revenge following a 48-17 loss inside Camp Randall a season ago, said his teammates never wavered in their support for him.

“My teammates have my back,” he said. “I have theirs no matter what. I don’t think that was an issue. We did lose. That’s never a good feeling. We’re not pointing any fingers. We’re just going to work to get better.”