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Roy Helu jumped into the crowd. Matt O'Hanlon flipped the ball in the air. The Memorial Stadium faithful roared with vigor before, during and after every big play, and howled with delight at game's end.

The look, sound and feel of joy in Nebraska's 10-3 win over the Sooners.

It's been awhile around these parts. NU was close in 2006 vs. Texas. Close in 2002, as well. On Saturday night, the Huskers closed their hands on a signature win over a team that's much better than its 5-4 record suggests.

Now it's a Sunflower two-step. The land of toll roads, hoopheads, Flint Hills and poor souls who root for the Chiefs also claim the duo – Kansas and Kansas State – that stand in the way of Nebraska's trip to Dallas for a personal conversation with juggernaut Texas. With more momentum than the program's had since the 2005 Alamo Bowl win, NU can't spend a second savoring the OU triumph. The head-scratching loss to Iowa State has left the Huskers little margin for error.

Of course, we'll savor it a little, and ask some more tough questions. On with the review.

Five Players We Loved

Free safety Matt O'Hanlon: The three interceptions were nice, of course. They'll never be forgotten. But O'Hanlon really earned his bacon in run support, repeatedly tackling Sooner running back DeMarco Murray on those wide sweep plays that would have burned the Huskers in previous years. OU openly challenged NU's speed, and the Huskers were up to it. Kudos to strength and conditioning guru James Dobson for putting NU in the position.

Linebacker Phillip Dillard: Another tackling gem. Dillard snuffed out a couple screen passes, sacked OU quarterback Landry Jones and had a crucial interception after a deflection. After that pick, Dillard, an Oklahoma native, ran to the sideline and gave defensive coordinator Carl Pelini a giant bear hug. That's redemption earned.

Running back Roy Helu: He made a couple “only Roy” runs, a combination of vision and quickness that suddenly gets him into open space. Helu isn't a burner, but he busts long runs because he can evade, almost without effort, several defenders.

Cornerback Prince Amukamara: The kid really knows how to jump a route and redirect wide receivers. Nebraska's defensive backs were consistently physical with OU's receivers, and it left Jones without many options in the passing game.

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: He still had his game face on in the postgame press conference. Fine by me. Suh needs to treat this final three-game stretch like a personal offense to his talent. Everything is in front of NU, with a prize of Texas at the end of the rainbow. Know this: If Suh were to have a monster final month, culminating with a big showing in Big D, his Heisman hopes aren't over. People instinctively want to vote for this kid.

Three Concerns We Have

Dumb offensive penalties: Nebraska nearly self-destructed in its first two drives of the game with false starts and a personal foul for a cut block. Pelini looked like he was about ready to melt down over those minor mistakes. He should. They're getting old. And offensive line coach Barney Cotton needs to continue to answer for them.

Nervous in the Service: That's offensive coordinator Shawn Watson's way of describing how uncomfortable Cody Green looked Saturday night. He's used it to describe Zac Lee, too. You can see the problem here.

One Wrong Hit: On Helu or Alfonzo Dennard's shoulder, and they're back to half-speed. And these two guys are crucial to NU's success down the stretch. Nebraska needs a little luck here that they stay healthy.

Reviewing the Five Keys

Field Position: Nebraska lost this battle all night, really, except once – when it started a drive on OU's 1-yard line. That's field position.

Haymakers: The Sooners tried to knock out Nebraska in the first quarter, but missed two field goals and withered under Bo Pelini's well-timed blitzes.

O-Line Litmus Test: The Huskers' offensive line didn't exactly pass any exams, but it did open a few holes in the power running game.

Little Things That Kill: Nebraska successfully took away OU's short passing game more often than not, but the Sooners kept trying and failing to capture it anyway. Oklahoma tried too hard to assert its advantage in the passing game when it had none.

Gambles Not Worth the Risk: NU won this key. OU played recklessly after the first quarter, rolling the dice too often on fourth down or with risky passes. The Sooners took too many bad chances and didn't show much patience despite never trailing by more than seven points.

Three Questions We Still Have

Zac or Cody? Check out our longer commentary on this matter.

Can the defense roll another 7/11 in Lawrence? Kansas' defense has improved, NU's offense really hasn't, and KU quarterback Todd Reesing is experiencing an unexpected late-career slump. Nebraska may have to turn in an encore to win.

Where's the offensive creativity? Doesn't Shawn Watson have a few reverses in the toolbox? How can he better utilize the speed NU does have? What happened to the middle screen passes Helu ran so well last year? Conservative is one thing. Inert is another.

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It was three hours before Saturday night's kickoff, and Nebraska's football team had just hopped off two red Arrow buses and prepared make the short, winding “Unity Walk” around the north side of Memorial Stadium. As is custom, Ndamukong Suh, headphones blaring, led the team. Linebacker Phillip Dillard and center Jacob Hickman were there, too.

Freshman quarterback Cody Green was right beside them.

Zac Lee was somewhere toward the back, tucked under a red “N” hat. Along the path he quietly, almost sheepishly, shook the hands of the few fans paying attention as he walked by.

It was a startling picture of their momentary fortunes that switched suddenly in the second quarter, when offensive coordinator Shawn Watson pulled Green and inserted Lee, who threw one excellent goal line pass for a touchdown and otherwise made perfectly safe, pedestrian plays that Green could have made. But Green never went back in to make them.

Watson said Green was “nervous in the service.”

Head coach Bo Pelini thought inserting Lee “felt like the right thing.”

“Make no mistake about it, I've got a tremendous amount of confidence in Cody Green” Pelini said. “(But) you've got to go with your gut. I felt that way. Wats felt that way. It played out for us.”

Will they reverse their places in the Unity Walk line this week? Do they both head to the front? Does Green start and Lee play relief pitcher? Does Lee start and Green become a mid-game spark?

Now that the euphoria of Nebraska's 10-3 win over Oklahoma has worn off a bit, the Huskers' offense are left with, among many, this central question: Who be the QB?

Green?

Lee?

Both?

Roy Helu in the Joker? Kidding. Maybe.

It's become a mess to assess, frankly. Watson seems caught between a spread running game and a power one, a quick passing game and one built on long, playaction fakes. The spread attack favors Green, who can run the ball, and isn't afraid to stick his passes in tight spots, whereas the power stuff favors Lee, I suppose, who's a slightly better ball handler and in better command of the offense.

Can Watson really try to run two different offenses? It hasn't worked so far. Green seemed stripped of his wits Saturday night. The quail Green threw into a wide expanse of field was not a good sign. Yet Lee is so comically painful on those zone read and option plays that you wish he'd make an executive decision, and simply change the call in the huddle. He had a “blow the whistle!” look about him every time he ran.

But Lee quite effectively ran three playaction passes. The touchdown to Ryan Hill. A little wide receiver drag route to Brandon Kinnie. And the best of them, a fake-then-throw to Helu, after the defense had vacated Helu's area.

It's baby steps for rebuilding Lee's confidence and skills. He can still throw a mean deep ball. And he's OK in playaction. If Watson wants to start there, and sprinkle in Green on some shotgun stuff, that's a plan that could win Nebraska the Big 12 North.

What about Green's confidence? Outwardly, it's there. You could say the same of Lee, I suppose. Inwardly – who knows?

The kid from Dayton,Texas has been often been presented as “the answer” to Nebraska's struggling offense because he make plays off the board, on athleticism and instinct, that Lee cannot.

But Green is trapped inside a rigid structure of NU's offense, which finally is playing to its dominant defense. Green talks a good game about letting instincts take over, but it's hard to freelance in the thick of a conference race, in the West Coast Offense, in an offense desperately trying to possess the ball behind a leaky, creaky offensive line. Watching the game tape again, Green's setting seemed stuck on “overload” of all kinds – emotional, mental, physical – and the WCO is too precise, even when masquerading as a spread, to accommodate that state of being.

Lee has already been there. Watson still hasn't stripped the quarterback run game from Lee's list of plays, but he has toned some of the other elements.

Is the offense too complex? It doesn't have to be. But you need a staple on the table first. Last year, Nebraska rolled its opponents with a short, controlled passing game of screens, stops, curls and crossing patterns. Defenses crept up to take it away, and Joe Ganz burned them with long throws to Nate Swift and Mike McNeill.

Lee is not a good short-game passer. Green is designed for a free-wheeling attack that allows him to hit the edge, throw all over the joint, and generate mismatches.

There is no good answer. Just survival.

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Players of the game and report card for Nebraska's 10-3 win over Oklahoma:

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Roy Helu. He's back – and just in the nick of time! Helu made a few runs Saturday that only he, on NU's football team, can make. His vision and quick cuts to the hole are rare for a player at any level, and more than once he caught an OU defender peeking or heading the wrong way. He needs to improve with his pass protection. But what college running back doesn't, right?

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Matt O'Hanlon. He called his interceptions a product of being in the right place at the right time, which is true. But MattyO was terrific in run support – his tough tackles help convince OU to move away from the running game, and his one interception return – which helped set up a field goal – was fairlu crucial. Great game for a kid who's earned it.

GRADES

QUARTERBACK: C The position has now shifted into “don't kill us” mode for the rest of the season. Zac Lee and Cody Green didn't exactly make many plays Saturday – but they didn't lose the game, either. Who Nebraska plays from here is anybody's guess.

RUNNING BACK: B+ Roy ran like the old Roy, Traye Robinson had some authority, and Tyler Legate was solid in the blocking scheme. This unit is so much better when Helu is reasonably healthy.

WIDE RECEIVER: I For “incomplete.” They blocked, mostly. Only two receptions by the position all night, both belonging to Brandon Kinnie.

OFFENSIVE LINE/TIGHT ENDS: C Oklahoma has an awesome defense, and NU occasionally held its own in the running game, especially when Nebraska chose the power route with Legate as a lead blocker. But the pass pro was fairly shabby Saturday night. Neither Green nor Lee had much time.

DEFENSIVE LINE A The front four played so damn hard, blunting OU's run game and producing enough of a pass rush on Landry Jones to throw him off his rhythm. The Huskers are as physical and imposing across the front as any defense in college football. The Sooners and Alabama are up there, too.

LINEBACKERS: A Essentially a grade for Phillip Dillard – and we're OK with that. Dillard made two or three key tackles on screen passes, had an interception and a sack, and served as on-field emotional motivation for the defense. He's become an all-conference caliber player in a matter of months.

SECONDARY: A Landry Jones will see these guys in his dreams. O'Hanlon played great, Prince Amukamara and Alfonzo Dennard constantly challenged receivers, Eric Hagg and Dejon Gomes worked over the inside slot routes, Larry Asante provided the hits, and Anthony Blue and P.J. Smith looked good in spot duty. And what about Hagg's big tackle on fourth down? Yep – these guys can play!

SPECIAL TEAMS: B Nebraska's punt coverage units were a little leaky, sure, but Alex Henery's punting was strong overall, and Ndamukong Suh blocked a field goal attempt in the second quarter. Kickoff coverage was excellent. Niles Paul displayed sure hands on punt returns. Gomes needs to be a little more careful out there – he cost NU about 35 total yards on two penalties.

GAME MANAGEMENT/PLAYCALLING: B+ From a defensive perspective – brilliant! Bo and Carl Pelini constantly had OU guessing on offense, and the Sooners kept choosing the wrong door. On offense, coordinator Shawn Watson played it safe and smart. For this week, we can live with it. Expect Kansas and Kansas State to have better plans though, and Watson better figure out a way to move the ball. The offensive penalties early in the game were simply absurd. Why is Ricky Henry cut-blocking the opposite guard's man, 10 yards away from the play?

Buy the NU-OU Game DVD - at a discount - right here!

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Phillip Dillard keeping peeking at the clock on the scoreboard. Five minutes. Three minutes. Two minutes. Under a minute. Under forty seconds.

Nebraska's defense, which had rebuffed No. 24 Oklahoma all night with interceptions, timely tackles and stifling pressure of quarterback Landry Jones, had to do it again. One more time – with a 10-3 lead over the rival Sooners, whose own defense had stoned NU into 11 punts.

“We just had to keep fighting,” Dillard told the huddle. “We've fought this long, we have to find something else down deep inside.”

The Sooners had run 30 more plays, had 16 more first downs and 145 more total yards. They visited NU territory 12 times. An electric, almost angry crowd of 86,115 fans at Memorial Stadium alternately hollered and clutched their hands. Huskers cramped all over the field, including defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who dramatically collapsed to the ground with a thigh cramp on OU's second-to-last drive.

But where they failed at Virginia Tech, the Blackshirts delivered the defining, signature moment of the still-young Bo Pelini era, a 10-3 victory that rested solely on the shoulders of the defense – whom Pelini was hired to rebuild and resurrect. A defense that gave up 62 to Oklahoma last year. A defense that was tired of hearing about the superior Sooners.

“We had to step up and show this defense could play,” Dillard said. “That this defense can ball.”

Consider it done, along with a startling defensive turnaround in less than two years. From 2007 – when NU allowed 40, 41, 45, 49, 65 and 76 points in various games – until tonight, when the Blackshirts set up all of the Huskers' points and withstood OU's withering no-huddle pace and world-class speed to stay alive in the Big 12 North race.

“They sucked it up and found a way,” a drained Pelini said. “I'm proud of that group of men.”

Was it Pelini's best coaching win? Remember, he owns a Super Bowl ring and a national title in previous stints as an assistant.

“This ranks right up there,” he said. “That's a good football team we played out there tonight. Make no mistake, Oklahoma is a helluva football team. That game could have gone a lot of different ways; we just found a way to kind of hang in there and hang in there, and we made enough plays. (Oklahoma) played their hearts out, too.”

NU intercepted Jones five times – all in Cornhusker territory – and turned over the Sooners twice on fourth downs. Oklahoma contributed to its own demise by missing three field goals. Senior Matt O'Hanlon tied the school record with three interceptions – a Husker hasn't done that in 30 years – and added 12 tackles.

Nebraska's front four didn't have flashy numbers, but it spooked Oklahoma's running game enough for Jones to throw an eye-popping 58 passes. He only completed 26. A dozen times, he simply threw the ball away. Jones' final pass of the night with a painful, floating balloon, higher than a punt, that O'Hanlon fielded at the 6-yard line with 27 seconds left. Game over. Party in Lincoln.

“Luckily I got my hands on it,” O'Hanlon said. “I thought it was up there for about ten seconds.”

After the pick, O'Hanlon stood up and threw the ball in the air. He got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. He didn't seem to care. The guy who blew a key coverage in a 16-15 loss to Virginia Tech had his vindication, a place in the record books, and his own chapter in the lore of the NU-OU series.

“After the Virginia Tech game I was down,” O'Hanlon said. “I just needed a kind of breakout game to get my confidence back. This game did that.”

In front of regional television audience on ABC, all of Nebraska's defense had a breakout game, setting up the Huskers' 10 points, including the game's only touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, after OU had already blown two chances at points with missed field goals, NU junior cornerback Prince Amukamara aggressively jumped a slant route and intercepted Jones at OU's 23-yard line, returning the ball to the Sooner 1.

“Huge play,” Pelini said.

After an offsides penalty, quarterback Zac Lee – who replaced starter Cody Green – floated a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Hill.

“For a second I thought 'Oh no,'” Lee said. “Then I saw Ryan. It kind fell in his hands. I was just trying to put it up in the back corner, and he went and got it.”

Pelini said he “felt it was right” to insert Lee after Green's shaky start.

“It was an emotional game and I guess you could say I just got caught up in it,” Green said.

Green's last pass was thrown into oblivion, 40 yards upfield toward no receiver or defender.

“Get up,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said to Lee. “You're going in.”

Lee wasn't asked to do much – he only completed 5-of-9 passes for 35 yards – other than not lose the game and hand off to Roy Helu, who returned to form with 138 yards, most of it after contact.

“Roy Helu played his tail off tonight,” Pelini said. “We just wanted to keep pounding it and running the football. We were going to be fairly conservative, try and keep them from blitzing and some of the things that they did. We stuck with it. We were able to get the lead, which was huge. It allowed us to play to our defense.”

Oklahoma made five trips to Nebraska territory in the first half – and scored only three points. Sooner kicker Tress Way yanked one field goal and had another blocked by Ndamukong Suh. NU thwarted a 15-play OU drive when Eric Hagg smothered running back DeMarco Murray for a loss on fourth down. Only the Sooners' final drive of the half produced points, a nine-play, 59-yard march that ended with Way's 28-yard field goal.

In the second half, OU made six more trips – and scored nothing. Jones threw four interceptions, including the three to O'Hanlon, whose first interception, returned to Oklahoma's 44-yard line, set up Alex Henery's 28-yard field goal. Jones would consistently hit two or three passes on each drive – receivers DeJuan Miller and Ryan Broyles combined for 13 catches – but couldn't finish off those drives. NU often disguised its coverage before the snap, moving its dime defense in and out of man and zone looks. Jones, who took over for an injured Sam Bradford, looked confused and frustrated.

“We were fairly consistently moving it,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “We'd just get behind the chains. You've got to credit them, on third or fourth down, we had our opportunity, and they made plays, they covered us or pressured us or whatever it was to get out of it. That's where we needed to be better.”

Nebraska threatened for a fourth-quarter score after runs of 12, 8 and 24 by Helu, but Henery pushed a 42-yarder off to the left – his first miss under 50 yards in almost two years. NU stopped the Sooners two more times after that. Dillard intercepted a fourth-down pass tipped by Jared Crick, and O'Hanlon caught the Hail Mary punt.

After that, Lee came into the game, sneaked for a yard, and the game was won.

“It feels good to win, no matter how ugly that may have been,” Lee said. “It's probably the best feeling I've ever had in football. The way we hung in there and kept fighting. The way we stuck by each other the entire game.”

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See also: 10 Key Players and Commentary: A Big Measuring Stick for Bo and Five Keys: Oklahoma and OU scouting report and video breakdown. Guess The Score!

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We're 21 games into the Bo Pelini era – please, no counting the 2003 Alamo Bowl – and we've got a pretty good handle on the guy as a coach.

Where Bo's good – namely, defense – he's performed as advertised. He's a little rough on the media, but we can take it. He'll pull the trigger on off-the-field issues (booting Quentin Castille off the team) and playing freshmen.

He left the offense fully in the hands of offensive coordinator Shawn Watson for more than a year, but now he's got his fingers in it a little bit, and the Cornhuskers will, bit by bit, eventually define itself by the same kind of power running game imposed on Watson by Gary Barnett in Colorado. It worked at CU. It'll work here.

The recruiting wonks say Bo needs to work a little harder in the summer, press kids more effectively on their official visits and build more bridges. Eh, maybe. I say Bo's smart not to sell kids a bill of goods, which they repay with a bill of effort.

Pelini's 14-7 overall, and only one those games – Iowa State - was an unexpected loss. NU isn't “back.” It's not eating worms, either.

But here comes the first mid-term. Here comes the measuring stick, being pulled from the closet of expectation, to see how Nebraska stacks up with Oklahoma. How Bo stacks up against Bob Stoops.

"I'm at the infant stages of my tenure," Pelini said Thursday. "I'm not in a position to measure up to what Bob's done. He's won a national championship, he's won Big 12 Championships. I'm finding my way and trying to build a program here. Obviously, he's set a helluva benchmark on how to go about that."

Fair enough. Beat Oklahoma. Or hang with OU for four quarters. Start there.

Considering the variables - reputation, control of the Big 12 North, momentum, a nice TV audience, a huge recruiting weekend – games like this are either a big step forward or several steps back. They don't often break you. But they can make you. And they usually define you.

The process may not be complete, but Bo's put his imprint on the Huskers, no denying it, shaping the emotional and athletic makeup of the team.

It's Bo who redshirted the entire 2009 recruiting class, and Bo who's chosen to burn the redshirts of several freshmen this year. Bo who adjusts like a demon on defense, and Bo who wastes timeouts on that same defense. Bo who argues too much with game officials. And Bo who riles up with players with passionate pregame speeches.

Some of his strengths can be weaknesses, and vice versa. So it is with most of us. The man is who he is. The team is what it is. Time to find out if that's enough to handle the Sooners.

Bo was hired to win the pitcher's duels, the low-scoring games often played in the SEC. Bo knows stalemates and four-quarter games.

Stoops used to win those games without much sweat. These days, the longer a game remains in doubt, the more you can count on the Sooners falling apart.

Can NU keep OU on the burner long enough to hit its melting point?

This is no vintage Oklahoma squad – its weak offensive line and speed remind me of Clemson in the Gator Bowl – but it's still the best team Nebraska's played since the last dance with the Sooners in 2008.

The best lesson from 62-28? Don't get buried early. Stick with the gameplan. Eat clock. Stop momentum. Get some first downs.

Earlier this week, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson seemed to have a pretty good handle on how the game might unfold by calling it “a NFL game.” Manage the clock. Don't waste timeouts. Don't waste time, period, bawling out the referees.

Watson's bound to get cute with Saturday's gameplan at some point. These West Coast Offense guys, God love em, might call three running plays in a row only to switch each of them to a pass because a strong safety might be creeping into the box. It's on Bo to tell Watson “run it anyway.” It's on Watson to know it without being told, which goes back to planning during the week, knowing the hook on which you'll hang your hat.

We'll be watching NU's discipline in the game, too. How about a night with zero personal fouls, false start and illegal motion penalties? How many yards do the Huskers just hand to Oklahoma?

Does Bo switch quarterbacks if Cody Green starts cold? Does he remember to look for crafty punt fakes and onsides kickoffs? When does he dial up blitzes? Do they work?

Remember Clemson? Nebraska was rocked back on its heels by the faster, more athletic Tigers. Ask the NU conditioning crew, and they'll say it was that game that opened their eyes to reality about Nebraska's speed and power. Folks, it's not there yet, as Oklahoma's speed and athleticism will make clear.

But Bo won all the coaching points in the Gator Bowl. Made the right blitzes. Seemingly had plays diagnosed before they occurred. Got field goals instead of gambling for touchdowns. Watson won some, too, pounding Castille in the power run game and schooling then-quarterback Joe Ganz into stepping up in the pocket, and buying enough time to hit big passes.

Coaching won that game. Saturday could boil down to that, too. For either team.

Nebraska isn't favored to win. It shouldn't be. But this game could reveal so much about the team, Bo, Watson and their direction together.

See also: 10 Key Players and Commentary: A Big Measuring Stick for Bo and Five Keys: Oklahoma and OU scouting report and video breakdown.

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Ten key players in Saturday's NU-OU tilt at Memorial Stadium. We avoided the most obvious names to get to the heart of the matchups.

NEBRASKA

Wide receiver Niles Paul: Needs to find his inner big play in a super-big moment against some great Oklahoma cornerbacks.

Running back Traye Robinson: Time to man up and grind out 50 tough yards against a great defense. It's about getting three yards where only one was available, and holding onto the football.

Linebacker Phillip Dillard: Tackle, tackle, tackle. It's big game, and yes, an emotional moment for Dillard. But more than the big hits, he needs to wrap up OU's running backs and receivers on those screen plays.

Center Jacob Hickman: We'll know within two drives whether Hickman is healthy enough to play his best vs. the Sooners' defensive line. They're not Baylor. Hickman needs to take himself out if he really can't go.

Safety Matt O'Hanlon: OU will attack his side, deep, at least once or twice. O'Hanlon needs to be there, and lay the wood to the receiver instead of going for the ball.

OKLAHOMA

Running back DeMarco Murray: He's a top-shelf talent who's forever threatening to bust loose with big plays. Lincoln would be a fine stage for his return to form.

Linebacker Ryan Reynolds: The glue to OU's defense, his job is to anchor down the middle and diagnose any of the funny stuff Nebraska might run. And we expect a little funny stuff

Wide receiver Ryan Broyles: Oklahoma's best weapon, especially after the catch. He sheds tackles better than he fights for balls.

Guard Brody Eldridge: A converted tight end who weighs no more than 270 pounds must contend with Ndamukong Suh and Jared Crick. Good luck there.

Strong safety Sam Proctor: If there's a weak link to OU's secondary, here's the guy.

See also: 10 Key Players and Commentary: A Big Measuring Stick for Bo and Five Keys: Oklahoma and OU scouting report and video breakdown.

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Let's begin with this: It's a shame Oklahoma only rolls into Lincoln every four years. Just the same as Baylor, and half as often as Iowa State. Almost makes you want to stomp on one of those shiny, metal-button Sooner coats Barry Switzer used to wear on the sidelines. Almost.

You know what I'd rather do? I'd rather press Bob Stoops and Bo Pelini – two good friends back Youngstown way – to push for real change in the Big 12 Conference's scheduling practice. Or at least lobby for an exception.

Clearly the athletic directors, Joe Castiglione and Tom Osborne, have gone out of their way to honor Husker and Sooner greats over the last two years. At the very least, they would back their coaches publicly. And the Big 12 isn't thrilled with how league teams have taken that extra non-conference game bestowed upon them by the NCAA a few years ago and chosen to schedule, for the most part, various Taco Bells, shoe stores, and rest homes as opponents. Texas is trying to get a two-game deal with a Grandy's location in Denton.

The league needs - and its fans deserve - a nine-game conference slate complete with permanent division partners. Nebraska and Oklahoma would be the first natural fit.

Unfair, you say, that NU would draw OU and Missouri would, say, draw Baylor? Well, Florida and LSU drew each other in the SEC. Hasn't stopped those schools from winning five of the last 13 national titles, has it? Tennessee and Alabama seemed to have survived, too.

The Huskers would only benefit from playing another elite school every year. As it is, Nebraska doesn't play those teams nearly enough, and not at all in the Big 12 North. Instead of looking at the Sooners as a potential loss, flip the script and realize games against great teams, win or lose, are the best possible barometer of your team's progress.

The ball's in Bo and Bob's respective courts. If they push for change, there's at least a chance of it happening. Do you really think the Big 12 athletic directors would drag their feet so much at the prospect of losing a freebie home game in which the price tag for slaughtered lambs goes up every year, when they'd get, every other year, a fifth home conference game, no strings attached?

Just some food for thought.

Y'all want some keys?

Field position: Nebraska has to win this category. Cody Green can orchestrate 55-yard touchdown drives much easier than it can 85-yard drives. The rule of thumb: Start with good enough position that one 20-plus play puts you on the opponent's side of the field, and one 30-plus play leaves you three simple downs from an Alex Henery field goal. In the 2006 Big 12 Championship game, NU did just that, but didn't have a kicker of Henery's length and skill. Nebraska also fell behind 14-0 and was forever in catch-up mode, which leads us to...

Haymakers: Oklahoma wants to knock opponents out with its no-huddle offense and pressure defense. When the Sooners can't do that, they come down off the high of that initial surge and struggle to make plays. Nebraska must withstand the first quarter barrage and trail by fewer than ten points. A four-quarter game favors the Huskers. But first, they've got to get there.

O-Line litmus test: NU and OU's defensive lines are the proven commodity. Their respective offensive lines, on the other hand, have folded like an elaborate Trapper Keeper in some games. Whichever unit plays smart, limits sacks and tackles for loss and doesn't accumulate dumb penalties goes a long way to determining the game's winner. If ever Marcel and D.J. Jones had a B+ performance in them, Saturday night, vs. Jeremy Beal and Auston English, is the time to bring it out. Line play is so much about good coaching and sheer toughness. Time to see what Barney Cotton's got to give.

Little things that kill: Oklahoma wants to establish a short, screen-based passing game that chews clock and stresses Nebraska's back seven. Not only does it get Landry Jones in a rhythm, it keeps him from getting thrown to the FieldTurf. The Huskers will counter with one of nation's best short passing defenses. Cornerbacks Prince Amukamara, Alfonzo Dennard, Dejon Gomes and Eric Hagg are terrific inside of ten yards, and have been all year. The little success Missouri, Baylor and Texas Tech had in the throwing game were beyond 15 yards or working against linebackers. The Cornhuskers will not give Jones his short passes. That means OU must work over the top, and hope its line holds NU's front four long enough to complete the throws.

Gambles not worth the risk: If there's a distinct difference between coaching staffs, don't expect head coach Bo Pelini to point it out. But here it is: Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops will take bigger risks than Bo to grab momentum. Sometimes those gambles – trick plays, surprise onside kicks, fourth-down calls – pay off handsomely. Sometimes they backfire. We also know this: Stoops is not a premier gameday coach. He builds a program as well anyone, but he's put his team in tough spots before, his defense in even tougher spots, and doesn't always have the time or the talent to dig out of them.

We'll say what others won't: Pelini and Co. can win the coaching battle on Saturday. It might only be worth a field goal – but that could be an important damn field goal.

See also: 10 Key Players and Commentary: A Big Measuring Stick for Bo and Five Keys: Oklahoma and OU scouting report and video breakdown.

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Do you remember how your high school buddies and fat little girlfriends – thanks Mike Leach! – used to scrawl in the back, blank pages of your yearbook, “Stay the same...never change!” Wasn't that about the most common phrase in the last quarter-century of yearbook history? I mean, besides “Have a kick-ass summer!”

If Nebraska quarterback Cody Green brought a yearbook to Tuesday press conferences – caution, belabored analogy ahead – I assure you, the media would fill every page of the book with “Stay the same...never change!” At least when it comes to talking to the press corps.

The kid can talk, he can talk a lot – a 20-minute session of smiles and wisdom Tuesday - and, for now, he says interesting football things. In my racket, that's like dinner with Naomi Watts.

Plus, he's truthful – which is a little different than being skeptically honest – about his game.

He needs to work on the little things, like finishing off zone read fakes.

“At the end of the game, I started getting lazy,” Green said. “Started watching the game. And we always say if you want to watch the game on the field, buy a ticket.”

He knows Oklahoma's defense will “bring the house at me.”

He can joke about himself, like when his high school coach told him he “choked” in the second half at Baylor. Which, frankly, is a little true, although understandable.

He knows that game day is about making plays, not thinking about making them: “I try to analyze everything throughout the week the best that I can and then once game day comes, just go out there and play. Just let my instincts work. I trust my instincts. I’ve been playing football for a while now so I really can just sit back and say, ‘All right, there’s a hole here, I think that guy’s going to run there, take off.’”

The kid can talk. He and Blake Lawrence could go into business together and sell a million widgets in a month.

The question for Saturday is this: Can Green color inside the lines enough to give himself the chance to make one or two spectacular plays when Nebraska needs them? Because, if Saturday goes according to NU's plan, the Huskers limit their mistakes against a faster, more talented OU team, win the field position battle, and keep Green on a reasonably short leash – except for those one or two plays where he lets loose.

“This'll be like a NFL game,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “It's going to be a physical, hard-knocking football game. It's one of those games where it's important to win on normal downs and stay in a manageable third down situation. That's our objective: Stay on the field, move the ball, good things will happen.”

Groan if you wish at the NFL reference, but Watson, fundamentally, is right. NU needs to drag this game in the fourth quarter with a fighter's chance. And it only does that with a NFL-style gameplan: Eat clock, complete the short passes, convert half of your third down attempts and pick your spots for the big shots. That's a winning formula, which is why Watson and offensive line coach Barney Cotton need to whip the offensive line into shape for its best game of the year.

Saturday won't be a game for stat hounds. If the Huskers muster 280 total yards and 17 points, know this: They've done about all they can do with the inexperienced, banged-up materiel on hand.

Green needs to know his role. By his own admission, he got a little loose in the second half at Baylor – the fumble was more inexplicable and maddening, in my view, than the Pick Six – and all of that needs to be tightened up by Saturday.

There is a sense that, despite his poise and confidence, he'll try to make plays outside the system, because he trusts his natural ability and instincts. But OU represents an elite level of speed and defensive talent. The Sooners make some gaffes, at times, overplaying their hand and getting too aggressive. But Green's not going to outrun them. He's not going to fool Oklahoma's master bluff artists at cornerback. Kansas' Todd Reesing and Joe Ganz can attest to that.

He can, however, get three yards instead of one on a zone read. Scramble for a first down or two. Get out on the edge with a bootleg and hit Mike McNeill in a soft part of the zone.

Little things win big games.

The key: Will Green get starry-eyed? Saturday, in the immortal words of Danny Nee, will be an electric zoo in Memorial Stadium. At kickoff, anyway. And then NU will have to settle into a modest game plan that relies on the Blackshirts, Adi Kunalic and Alex Henery.

The crowd may get restless – especially if the Huskers fall behind. Green can not.

See also: An Unforgettable NU-OU Memory

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Ndamukong Suh won't lie. After Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford shredded Nebraska's defense last year for 311 yards and five touchdown in a 62-28 win, the senior defensive tackle was looking forward to a rematch with the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner.

With a severe, season-ending injury his throwing shoulder, Bradford's 2009 campaign never got off the ground.

“I'm sorry he got hurt,” Suh said. “I'd love to go against him.”

In Bradford's stead is redshirt freshman Landry Jones, who grown steadily, Suh said, in his handful of starts, particularly in the last two weeks, when he's thrown for 546 yards and six touchdowns in wins over Kansas and Kansas State.

“There's not much of a drop off,” Suh said. “He doesn't have the hype, the great accolades and the opportunity Sam Bradford did. But, if he wasn't a good player and a great guy that fit their offense, he wouldn't be out there. He just didn't get a chance to evolve into his own person.”

Suh's interior linemate, Jared Crick – who set a school record with five sacks in Saturday's win over Baylor – said Jones has been making “good decisions” with the ball and running OU's offense much like Bradford did.

Although Jones is young, Crick said, he doesn't seem easy to rattle. That doesn't mean Nebraska's front four won't try.

“Get after the quarterback, get in his head, and force indecision on his part,” Crick said.

Crick and Suh have combined for 98 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 13 sacks already this year. NU's front line forced Florida Atlantic quarterback Rusty Smith from the game for lack of production, hobbled Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert into a poor performance, knocked Texas Tech's Steven Sheffield out for the season with a broken foot, and sacked Baylor's Nick Florence seven times. Only two mobile quarterbacks – Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor and Iowa State's Jerome Tiller – have largely escaped a thorough punishing.

“We want to rattle any quarterback we go against,” Suh said. “Our fans can help us with that, but the majority has to do with us in the front four. If we can, we want to get in his face and make him uncomfortable.”

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Barney Cotton smiled and stared. It was the kind of stare you'd like your offensive line coach to have, especially when his unit is under siege after so-so-performances for, well, most of October.

“I don't read the paper and I certainly don't look at the Internet,” Cotton said when asked about the critics of his coaching and his line's play.

From his point of view, there's enough on his plate now, trying to get Nebraska's pipeline somehow flowing smoothly again before Oklahoma, the nation's No. 3 rushing defense, rolls into town for a Saturday night tilt.

The Huskers have rushed for 341 yards on 96 totes – that's 3.5 yards per carry, a full yard under their season average – in their last three games. Not one of those opponents – Texas Tech, Iowa State and Baylor – are juggernauts against the run. OU is. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Cotton's banking on his unit discovering its full potential this week in practice.

What's been the issue? Recently, Cotton said, it's been a matter of “hats on hats.” In the last three weeks, he said, “we haven't necessarily targeted the right guys” on running plays.

“If we don't put a hat on the right linebacker or a hat on the right two linebackers, the play's not going to go very far,” Cotton said. “We've got to make sure we're putting hat on the right guys on every play. Every play.”

Communication and consistency is, in part, coaching. And Cotton shoulders that responsibility.

“We have high standards,” he said. “We want to make sure we're doing the right thing. Offensive line certainly is a focal point.”

The players know it, too. This is Nebraska. The county seat, if you will, of historically good run blocking, of mashing at the point of attack, walling off defenders, and dominating defensive assignments.

Effort and attitude are part of it. After the Tech game, head coach Bo Pelini preached that message to the line: Don't take crap from any opponent. The message has been the same in the last two weeks.

Senior guard Derek Meyer, who's been rotating in at the left spot during the last two weeks to occasionally give Keith Williams a breather, has noticed an intensity building as the offense has struggled.

Not that it wasn't tense before – NU's coaches aren't balata balls, that's for sure – but “since we've fallen into a little slump on offense, they're kinda getting after us a little more,” Meyer said. “But it's something we need and something we expect from them.”

Cotton's not making excuses.

Inexperience? “We're all veterans after eight games,” he said. “We need to go out and put our best product on the field.”

Injuries? “If you go out there to play, you go out there to play,” Cotton said. “Injuries or being beat up is absolutely no factor.”

That's an o-line coach being an o-line coach. Don't kid yourself: Nebraska's never had a moment during this 2009 season where it rolled out its five starters at full speed. Williams missed action early. Center Jacob Hickman has a bum ankle. Other guys have been dinged up here and there, and depth, beyond Meyer and backup center Mike Caputo, hasn't been ideal.

But there isn't much Cotton and Co. can do about that except execute better, persevere and find some way to crack open OU's defense. Against a defense of that caliber, the little mistakes the Huskers' offensive line has been committing could look like giant gaffes.

“Our time to wait is over,” Meyer said. “We need to do it right now.”

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Childhood friends, former colleagues and now Big 12 head coaches on opposite sides of the field, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Nebraska's Bo Pelini both reflected Monday on the renewal of the NU-OU rivalry, watered down as it may be after the formation of the Big 12 Conference and its North and South divisions.

“Anytime you've played for a long time and the games were meaningful, there's going to be a different air to the game,” Pelini said during Monday's Big 12 coaches' teleconference. “A lot of people take it real seriously and we're looking forward to it.”

Stoops said the rivalry has “no question” changed now that the teams only play two out of every four years, but the OU staff – which includes former Sooners Cale Gundy, Josh Heupel, Chris Wilson and Jackie Shipp - “puts it in front of the players” during game week. In the past, Oklahoma has shown a video of classic moments from the series.

“You do your best to educate them on it,” Stoops said. “You'd like them to sure understand where the rivalry used to be and the tradition of it.”

Another common thread in the 2009 game: Defense. Nebraska and Oklahoma are near the top of the Big 12 and the nation in several defensive categories – NU is 9th and 4th in total and scoring defense, while OU is 11th and 8th against slightly better competition – and have accomplished their success in similar fashion: With strong pass rushes – both teams average more than three sacks per game – and tough run defenses.

“Very physical,” Stoops said of NU's defense. “A great front four. Better defenses are really good up front. Strong, physical guys up front and physical guys across the board. Very disciplined, which you'd expect from watching Bo's defenses.”

Said Pelini of OU: “There's some similarities, some differences. They're a little more pressure-oriented than us right now and they've been in the system a lot longer than we have. They do a good job.”

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