Six strong takes as, at long last, the snow begins to melt.

*Only in a ripple in the college football pond, but the trend of the “dual-threat” quarterback took a hit last week when two of the studs from the 2009 recruiting class - Russell Shepard and Tyrik Rollison - basically ended their careers as Division I quarterbacks.

Shepard, who signed with LSU, played Wildcat quarterback for the Tigers last year, never throwing a pass. Now he’s shifted to wide receiver where scouts insist he’ll evoke memories of Percy Harvin. Rollison signed with Auburn, got suspended in December for a violation of team rules, and is now transferring to Sam Houston State. Both played high school football in Texas, compiling incredible statistics in their career.

Rollison threw for more than 4,000 yards and 51 touchdowns, in fact, in his senior campaign. At Auburn, he was no better than third string as a freshman, and the Tigers recruited another “dual-threat QB” - Cameron Newton - for the 2010 class. Newton started at Florida, headed to junior college, and now expected to become, on-spec, the league’s best QB.

The lesson here for programs: Build an offense around the talents of the dual-threat guy, or buyer beware. While Auburn runs a pure spread, it puts a high premium on accuracy and downfield passing. LSU never trusted Shepard once with a pass. While he could turn out to be a terrific wide receiver, it’s exceedingly hard to switch these kids to different positions with great success.

That lesson needs to be heard by Nebraska, who’s suffering through some growing pains with its own dual-threat guy, Cody Green, while signing Brion Carnes for 2010 and Jamal Turner for 2011. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson has spent most of his career with sturdy, accurate throwers who could run as an escape option. Green, Taylor Martinez and both of NU’s prospective recruits approach the tunnel from the opposite direction. The most polished of them, out of high school, is arguably Carnes, who possesses better footwork and pocket presence than I expected to see.

*After two strong starts that, over the radio, sound like performances of precision instead of power, I think Nebraska baseball fans are ready to get a live glimpse of freshman pitcher Tom Lemke. Two wins, a .084 earned run average and just three walks through the first ten innings of his college career? You’ll take it.

Had Mike Nesseth been able to protect a couple of two-run leads out in Fresno, Nebraska would be 5-2 and smelling like a rose. But 3-4 isn’t bad. NU appears to have some pluck - and newly-rediscovered offense from leadoff hitter D.J. Belfonte.

*I’m sorry I’m prophetic about the Ndamukong Suh backlash. Really, I am.

Now the St. Louis Rams, if you listen to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (who’s good, but who’s also reporting precisely what NFL scouts want him to report) intend to draft Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the first pick of the 2010 NFL Draft. Heh. An accurate-yet-fragile quarterback coming off major shoulder surgery, who’s at least a year away from meaningful snaps, behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines? That’s the Rams being the Rams, right there.

Suh can stomp out all of those rumors with a knockout testing performance at the NFL Combine Monday.

NFL personnel guys, remember, love groupthink. Hate outside the box. A player like Suh worries them. They see a guy who’s too versatile, which is to say he doesn’t fit snug into a role like most defensive linemen do. He’s an elite athlete, with hard-nosed agents (Eugene Parker and Roosevelt Barnes) who want to make Suh a pile of cash before the owners institute a formal rookie salary cap.

*Doc Sadler picked a good time to win a Big 12 basketball game - right after he voiced support for a new $344 million Haymarket Arena project. Sadler wisely sat on the fence for a long time, refusing to let opposing coaches use any requests for a new arena against him until it appeared to be a reality.

And I think it’s close to reality. The vote occurs May 11, and the Lincoln city leaders have all but thrown themselves on the railroad track pleading for voters to approve it. The Lincoln Journal-Star has done such an exhaustive-bordering-on-obsessive job covering the project that I won’t bother rehashing what’s already been written. Begin the dissertation here and prepare for an onslaught of information, that, in my mind, is designed to overwhelm detractors - and succeeds.

I’m a Lincolnite, and I’ll be voting for the arena - though not because of the Nebraska basketball teams. They have a home, and boosters can help upgrade the Bob Devaney Sports Center anytime they please. Always could. Even did a few times almost a decade ago, although you may not have noticed it.

Rather, Lincoln can grab its share of concerts and mid-level sporting events that the Devaney (or Pershing Auditorium) can’t accommodate. I also think the state wrestling tournament belongs in Lincoln - it’s the best high school event, period, in the state - and the Nebraska Scholastic Activities Association would hightail it back from Omaha with new digs in place. The tax burden seems manageable and the city needs an arena that’s not under the vice grip of the university.

In strict basketball terms, a new arena will be swank, I’m sure - and probably a little septic. It may help recruiting. It’s not likely to help Nebraska win games, though - that’s still for the team on the court to accomplish.

For sheer family atmosphere, it’s good NU won’t sell booze; it’ll keep the games from turning into a I’m-single-let’s-mingle night that habitually occurs in the Qwest Center concourses during Creighton games. Of course, that’s a lot of revenue the Huskers won’t capture, too. You wonder how long Nebraska can turn down the extra cash.

NU has to be very careful not to price regular Husker fans out of season tickets, or stick them in the second balcony.

*It’s nigh impossible to quibble with 27-0, but let me repeat a question emailed to me by a friend watching the Nebraska women’s basketball team beat Oklahoma: “Do they always run down the court and take wild shots like that?”

No, not always. But head coach Connie Yori’s style is frenetic-bordering-on-chaotic. The NCAA Tournament often boils down into a halfcourt game for most teams not named Connecticut, which, like the Huskers, runs and jumps and harasses teams into Bolivian. Uconn throws these knockout haymakers at teams, and Nebraska does, too. A Final Four game between them would resemble a ballroom blitz.

I’m curious to see what happens when NU faces another structured-yet-talented team like Iowa State, whose defense often seems to gum up the Husker engine. Tempo is so crucial to Nebraska’s success. The style may produce some unforced errors and an ugly shooting night or two, but it plays right into Yori’s hands, too. She wants to get opponents on the other side of tired - where they give up.

*The Winter Olympics are now over, and the single extraordinary performance of the Vancouver Games - truly excellent, a showstopper of athleticism - was men’s figure skater Evan Lysacek’s short and free skates nearly two weeks ago.

You’ve forgotten about it, most likely, because NBC must slavishly follow the storylines of Lindsey Vonn and Apolo Ohno, and because Canada-USA in hockey was trumped up as a rivalry between two nations that get along just fine, really, but here it is again, for memory.

If you prefer the gold medal hockey game, hey, I’ll give you that, but compare Lysacek’s speed and artistry to Ohno’s playing grab-ass around a tiny track and tell me: Who really should have been on “Dancing With the Stars?”

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Six takes after your morning shower, shave and, well, you know…

*The most important Husker rolling into spring football? Who is it for you? I’ve been asked this via email and personal chats. My answer may surprise you: Niles Paul. Nebraska’s senior receiver is one of the best offensive playmakers, a local kid and a natural, driven leader. He also turned into a pretty dangerous punt and a kickoff returner toward the end of the 2009 season.

When NU’s offense got stuck in permanent mud during the last half of the season, the plan became:

1. Plunge into the line.
2. Modest playaction pass.
3. Bomb to Niles.

Paul is the team’s best perimeter blocker too, so you have a guy ingrained into Huskers’ offense, plus a respected voice in the locker room. With reduced leadership at quarterback, a beaten-up offensive line and running back Roy Helu skittish with the media, Paul will be one of the team’s spokesmen. It‘s notable that, after gaffes vs. Texas Tech and Iowa State, Paul did not duck the media. Nor did he dodge questions - or teammates - after his cop stop last spring.

Until the last half of last season, Paul hadn’t necessarily fulfilled his considerable potential. But he made clutch plays vs. Kansas and Colorado - you could argue he won both games - and his punt return in the Big 12 Championship should have set up NU’s game-winning touchdown.

*Spring football is now officially Cody Green’s proving ground, now that offensive coordinator Shawn Watson decalred senior-to-be Zac Lee out for this spring.

Watson spoke at length to the Omaha World-Herald’s Tom Shatel in an interview, mostly about last season, a bit about what’s to come. Watson artfully dodged a majority of the questions - he’s good at it - but 2009 is over, there is no use in hashing it out again, and 2010 will be the OC’s proving ground.

But, crucially, Watson said Lee “won't be there at all” for spring football.

“He'll get back in the mix later,” Watson said.

That means Green gets his shot. He couldn’t handle the “emotions” of the Oklahoma game last year, Watson said - and Green looked bug-eyed and confused in the Holiday Bowl, too.

Watson and Co. have two years invested in Green. The OC doesn’t bring his entire offensive coaching staff to Green’s high school state title game otherwise. Green doesn’t enroll early otherwise. Green doesn’t hustle back from a minor groin injury to play last spring otherwise.

I don’t blame them - the size, the speed and the personality all scream: Prototypical QB. But in that second spring, you either make the leap or risk getting leapt over. In this case, those frogs would presumably be Kody Spano and Taylor Martinez.

Jury’s out on what Spano can do - he has to play with two previously-torn ACLs, for one thing - but Martinez…here’s a guy who spent most of last fall as a scout team receiver and scout team Wildcat QB. The regular scout team QB most weeks was walk-on Ron Kellogg.

Said it before, and here it is again: That a kid who has been given, to this point, a token chance at quarterback is in the running for the No. 2 or No. 1 job speaks volumes about the state of the position and the direction of the offense.

*Through three losses to Fresno State, Nebraska baseball has twice handed a two-run lead to closer Mike Nesseth in the ninth inning, and he has twice blown that lead. Both a 7-5 loss on Friday and the 10-9 loss on Sunday stung badly, but yesterday’s heartbreaker was compounded by two wild pitches by reliever Chase Adams, one of which served as the Bulldogs’ winning run.

It’s early, but pitching remains the issue. Casey Hauptmann and Jordan Roualdes appear to be on track as the season begins. We’ll see about Sean Yost, who recovered from a shaky start on Friday. Everybody else?

Let’s be blunt: NU could easily start 1-9 or 2-8. That’s a big hill to climb.

*A huge loss by Notre Dame over the weekend (to Georgetown) puts Nebraska’s women’s basketball team in even-better position for a No. 1 seed now. Get past Oklahoma, and there’s just no stopping NU from a regional date in Kansas City. And if Huskers draw a more beatable No. 2 seed - say, overrated Xavier - than all the better.

Should the Huskers lose to OU, but still win the Big 12 Tournament, that top seed is still in the bag. Lose to the Sooners and in the Big 12 Tourney, and NU may need a little more help from the Irish.

Whatever gets Nebraska to Kansas City. If the Huskers land there - regardless of the seed - NU volleyball fans will get a run for their money.

*No matter how the season ends for the Nebraska men’s basketball team, it’s going to be one bear of an offseason for the returning Huskers under head coach Doc Sadler. This team will work, I know that. And weight training will be a priority.

The inconsistency has to be maddening, and I think it’s a combination of lacking attitude, confidence and toughness and just plain speed, man. NU has to get faster in the offseason. And stronger. How does NU keep brawling away at Kansas State Wednesday night, then seemingly back down at home vs. Missouri on Saturday? The Tigers, who are just slightly more talented than the Huskers - certainly not to the tune of 17 and 15 points in two games - just played harder and hit tough shots. Period.

Know this: Sadler won’t sit still after a year like this.

*A few words about Tiger Woods’ statement and apology on Friday:

It appears clear now that Woods had, to brilliant on-course success, compartmentalized his life into various spheres of golf, family, modern-day brothel, ad image, foundation guy, etc. He wasn’t leading a double life, but several lives. He lived them well, in part, because mankind is generally stupid, and we allow a wider berth to rich, successful people. I got a lotta money to make here, so let me carve out time for the GFE! Mankind does so to their general detriment, as it often turns out, for the sake of our own self-satisfied sycophancy but, you know, back to the point.

When two of those many spheres collide, it can have a startling effect. Woods’ game began to decline after his rehab and return from amazing win at the 2008 U.S. Open, and, it seems clear now, the demands of the harem, or whatever you’d like to call the legion of his emotionally-kept women, were beginning to bleed into other areas of his life. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, but I suspect he had friends making sure it didn’t. More than the few who have already been implicated as enablers.

Now. Erase all those enablers and replace them with people who insist the walls are part of the disease - which they probably are - and demand they stay down. That’s a vulnerable state for an elite athlete. Imagine somebody in Woods’ life expressing concern over thrown clubs and muttered curses. To make oneself whole, see, you have to break down every little part. But if one of those parts was the key to Woods’ success on the golf course?

There are advantages to being whole. It’s the real thing, for one. You don’t become an emotional Darth Vader. It also prevents you from becoming the miserable sourpuss Michael Jordan turned out to be, for two. But maybe you lose the “part” you liked the most in the process. You have to rebuild it as part of the whole. Like Woods rebuilds his swing.

Let’s see how he does with his wife and addiction support system tracing his every step. For a man of supreme control to suddenly give it to someone else? Try jumping without a net.

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In the summer and fall, Husker Locker created its “50 Huskers to Know” list for the 2009 season. We now review our list by examining production, injuries and depth chart position.

We’ll present these in five-player increments. Here we go!

No. 20 Mike Smith: Battled all kinds of injuries after left, struggled with false start penalties for a second straight year, but generally protected Zac Lee’s backside through the last half of the year. Smith isn’t an elite left tackle right now. But he’s the best Nebraska’s got.

No. 19 Terrence Moore: A bust in 2009 because of a turf toe injury, Moore better step up quickly in 2010, because his frame and speed is NU’s best fit for the nose tackle position. Moore cannot waste any more time on poor technique and fundamentals. He’ll be pushed fiercely in the spring.

No. 18 Chris Brooks: Got hurt midway through the season late in the Texas Tech game, which derailed a promising year. Brooks probably had the best hands among NU’s receivers. He rarely got to show them off in five years. Chalk that up to whatever you want.

No. 17 Will Compton: A little too much too soon for Compton, who started through the Texas Tech game, suffered some lumps and then watched Phillip Dillard take over in the dime defense and excel. Compton stuck his nose in there pretty well between the tackles; he could have been better on sideline-to-sideline pursuit. Compton has a bright future at NU, but there will be no Dillard in 2010.

No. 16 Cody Green: A maddening season for fans, to some extent. And a maddening season for Green, to be sure. From the highs of terrific running plays in the Florida Atlantic and Lafayette games to the lows of bad passes thrown in Baylor, Oklahoma and Arizona games, Green was the epitome of a roller coaster on the field. Off it, he was humble, smart and humorous. He handled every press situation with intelligence and grace.

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Six strong takes, just as you like them, Husker football right at the top.

*One week ago, I mentioned heightened expectations for Nebraska’s football team. The definition of being “back.” Now that the Cornhuskers are beginning to appear in the top ten of various (and ridiculously early) top 25 rankings, you can begin to get the picture.

NU will be playing a 365-day season in 2010 - not 150. In recruiting, offseason development, spring football, the summer police “blotta” and all the rest, the Huskers will get more play - good and bad - from the national media outlets that control, to some extent, preseason perception and placement. Those things are important, understand, when it comes to bowl pairings later in the year. Possibly even BCS bowl pairings.

In a sense, that’s just another challenge for Bo Pelini and his staff. Whether or not Bo sees himself as a creature of the media - he’s going to become one. There’s something attractive - authentic - about his occasionally explosive sideline style, the emotions worn on his sleeve - hell, his bare arms. Bo isn’t prone to quotables, but his confidence plays well on talk shows and TV programs that crave black/white statements.

Bo has some acolytes in the national media. Jim Rome is one of them. Kirk Herbstreit, a former teammate, is another. Throw Andy Staples of SI in there, too, for all the positive pub he’s given the Big Red. Here’s a New Year’s resolution hoping he reaches out to those guys before spring ball, during spring ball, and throughout the summer. The recruitiniks at Rivals and Scout, too. Hey - those guys know how faithfully Husker fans follow Signing Day in February. Then - you post every one of those appearances and articles on Bo’s personal Web site.

Bo may not personally want that kind of hyper-attention. But it’s the kind Nebraska needs to keep up with the Big 12 South’s primary outpost, Texas.

*Would I put NU in the top ten right now? Upon further review, I guess not yet. Not until Zac Lee’s rehab points toward full recovery.

If Lee rehabs OK, I’d look hard at top 5-7, along with Alabama, Boise State, Virginia Tech, Ohio State and a few surprises.

If not - I’d need a crystal ball detailing Cody Green’s development. Green will never get a better chance at taking the reins than this offseason - his second at Nebraska. These three months - that’s his window, whether he officially beats out Lee or not. If Green makes the leap, he’s the guy, at the very least, in 2011. If not, there will be some freshman nipping at his heels.

*And that freshman, if I had to play a hunch, will be Brion Carnes, Bradenton (Fla.) Manatee quarterback who will take a visit in January. If he can get past being “Tommie Frazier’s nephew” - a hurdle in Lincoln - Carnes possesses many of the skills a new, more physical NU offense desires. Carnes - who was committed to South Florida, but has wavered with the firing of Jim Leavitt - is mobile, has better-than-average footwork, and knows how to make throws on the run.

If not Carnes, than possibly Kain Colter out of Colorado. If not, Colter, then the mystery man, Darian “Stump” Godfrey, the Gilmer, Texas product who accounted for 64 touchdowns and more than 4,400 yards in leading his team to an undefeated season and a 3A championship.

NU is trying to put some tasty frosting on its 2010 recruiting class, as Chicago-area safety Corey Cooper and Portland defensive end Owa Odighizuwa are the biggest names the Huskers continue to pursue, and both seem intent on waiting until Signing Day to make their decisions. If Nebraska gets both, the class becomes a nice comeback after a slow summer. If both go elsewhere, you get the sense that NU may make changes in its approach for 2011. More changes, I mean, than the ones that have already been made.

The best potential recruit of the 2010 class? Jermarcus Hardrick, if he morphs into a Phil Loadholt clone and mans the right tackle spot for the next two years. Among the four-year recruits, Columbia (Mo.) product Chase Rome jumps out as a major defensive tackle in two years, with potential for Jared Crick numbers. Landing Odighizuwa - a bright, athletic end whose background, demeanor and intelligence is eerily reminiscent of Ndamukong Suh - would trump them all.

My sleeper? A guy Nebraska landed almost a year ago - offensive tackle Mike Moudy. A 6-foot-7, 300-pound rock. I just like the way he attacks defenders on film.

*So the SEC won its fourth straight national championship. It has to say something, right? Sure. But I’m not sure it’s saying the same things, year after year.

In 2006, Florida’s speed and defensive aggression forced an over-hyped quarterback, Ohio State’s Troy Smith into a game-long meltdown.

In 2007, LSU was simply better than Ohio State, and everybody knew it. Throw the statistics out the window. The Buckeyes actually competed more in that game than I anticipated.

In 2008, Oklahoma controlled the first half, threw the game away with its insistence on the no-huddle offense at the goal line, and wore down in the second half as Sam Bradford wasn’t protected by penalty flags like he was in the Big 12.

In 2009, you know the ugly story.

The binding statistic - SEC teams all rushed for more yards than its opponents - reflects a consistency of style, a commitment to traditional football, albeit from unconventional (or shall we just say old-fashioned) means: The single wing, the option, the counter trey. Three of the four opponents (Ohio State in 2006, OU and UT) were spread/shotgun offenses that routinely used four and five wide receivers. All of them were stymied in one way or another by the SEC‘s defensive speed, and unable to adjust.

Trends can be tough to detect. Was Nebraska a trend in the 1990s? Not on offense. On defense, though, absolutely: Following in the footsteps of Miami, Washington and Florida State, NU got smaller, faster and more aggressive. That trend remained true until Michigan and Tennessee won national titles with more traditional base defenses/pro-style offenses in 1997 and 1998.

Is there a SEC method that Bo’s trying to copy? You’d hope so, because it seems to work. It’s not exactly foolproof - goodness, look at LSU, post-Pelini, and South Carolina, since forever - but it puts Nebraska in a unique position in the Big 12.

*USC is panicking for the moment, but Pete Carroll’s departure from the program is precisely what it needs. That’s right. Carroll, for all his considerable strengths, was beginning to construct a team of diminishing returns, choosing transfers and freshmen over more seasoned position players, and a green staff over assistants who, like Norm Chow once did, might steal Carroll’s thunder.

While he was far from losing control of the Trojans’ program, Carroll had lost track of it, to a certain extent, and his hubris over Mark Sanchez’s timely departure last year, coupled with his various shrugs at off-the-field issues in 2009, suggested he was as committed to his highly-laudable work in the Los Angeles community as he was to game-planning and roster management. Nowhere was that more evident than in a game vs. Oregon - a team Carroll typically owned - in which the Ducks so badly out-schemed the Trojans that it looked as though USC was back in its Paul Can’t-Hackett days.

The Trojans ought to hire Carroll-lite - Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh, whose shoulder chip is similar to Carroll’s in 2001, with equal charisma and passion to burn - now that Mike Riley is no longer available. Harbaugh has the ego, NFL background and sheer personality to deal with USC athletic director Mike Garrett, who has a history of rubbing folks a certain way.

*Excellent debut for Christian Standhardinger, who scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in a 64-53 loss at Texas A&M Saturday. He got to the line five times and made four free throws. Expect those numbers to continue, and increase.

I know it’s not easy for head coach Doc Sadler to sacrifice defensive possessions and potentially wins in developing Standhardinger and center Jorge Brian Diaz as NU’s primary offensive threats, but everything I saw vs. the Aggies confirmed, again, that putting those two on the floor at the same time represents NU’s best long-term interests. Standhardinger provides at least some resistance on the boards, and Diaz really does have a deft touch around the basket. Plus - they can draw fouls. Right now, who among Nebraska’s true guards - be it Brandon Richardson, Sek Henry, Lance Jeter or Eshaunte Jones - is consistently doing that.

Sadler wants the Huskers to work for better shots instead of settling for long 3-pointer. But I’m not seeing any guards with a first step quick enough to do it. I am seeing two post players, now that Standhardinger is in there, who can create their shots and are serviceable from the foul line.

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So much for motivation, preparation, hangovers, skeptics, doubts or close games in the Holiday Bowl.

Turns out Bo Pelini had a reason to strut in San Diego. A reason to gift-wrap a six-day break for his team before Christmas. A reason to bust out some lofty talk about 2010 in a handful of interviews.

What did Bo know? Something. That’s for damn sure.

Three plays, one Matt O’Hanlon pick, one quick Zac Lee touchdown, a dash of the Wildcat starring Rex Burkhead, Niles Paul as a triple threat, that magnificent golden foot of Alex Henery and Blackshirts, Blackshirts, Blackshirts.

First round knockout. Boom! Down! Nebraska as Mike Tyson, and Arizona as a weak-kneed Michael Spinks.

“We got whacked,” Arizona head coach Mike Stoops.

Yep. Thumped. Striped. Punished. Seems like the two teams did their share of trash talking during the week at joint functions, and the muddy blood carried over to Wednesday night. Like so many fights that start with a couple of loose jaws, it ended with one party - the Wildcats - on the floor - a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone.

Savor this Big Red ribeye of a win, Cornhusker fans. It tasted so good, sizzling from the start - and mostly because NU cooked it just so. In all three phases, I can’t recall a more complete bowl win since the 2000 Alamo Bowl. And even there, Nebraska had a few leaks. You might have to go back to the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. Or the 1969 Sun Bowl, when NU beat Georgia 45-6. Or maybe never. I’m leaning toward never.

At some point, Stoops stopped with his Jimmy Cagney/George C. Scott facial grimaces and submitted to total defeat. His willingness to forego an easy field goal at the end of the game and try for a touchdown - knowing full well his quarterback would face a seven-man blitz - was not merely a nod to his old friend Bo. It was a tip of the cap to the Husker defense as a whole. You’ve earned the right to shut us out. Good for Stoops. Intense guy. Class move.

Yes, the Blackshirts evoked memories of those days of heaven, the mid-1990s, when opposing quarterbacks gazed wistfully into the defense in the mere hope of completing a pass. Foles had that “blow-the-whistle!” look all night, his impressive arm - yes, I’ve seen it in other games - reduced to a bad parody of the Balloon Boy saga. Just 21 snaps in the first half. For 32 yards. And the Huskers didn’t even have to commit a blitzer on the pass rush. TV can’t do justice to how well NU’s cornerbacks challenge and blanket opposing receivers, so Foles, with the relative mobility of Pooh Bear, had no choice but to dance around, fruitlessly searching for downfield targets.

Once again, we saw irrefutable evidence that the best way to great defense is through a quarterback’s rattled cage. How many signal-callers have answered the bell vs. NU this year? In retrospect, just one: Texas Tech’s Sticks Sheffield.

“It’s nothing fancy,” Pelini said. In a sense, he’s right. Challenging receivers at the line of scrimmage, and taking away those easy throws spread teams thrive on isn’t fancy. Doesn’t mean it’s easy, either, but it’s not fancy. And the recipe works.

The secondary was nothing short of brilliant. I doubt Arizona had ever seen such aggressive coverage. A healthy Alfonzo Dennard, coupled with a healthy Prince Amukamara, might be as good a cornerback tandem as there is in college football.

And color me pleased by the offense, and impressed with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson from this perspective: He said NU would travel back in time with its offense, and that’s precisely what we saw Wednesday night.

Nebraska spread it out and mixed pass and run. Zac Lee throws much better out of the shotgun, and runs a competent zone read, even if he takes the ball too often. The big wrinkle - the Wildcat - was more of a no-brainer, considering how good Rex Burkhead was at running it, but it was good to see Watson actually put it on film and put it to good use.

Burkhead is a keeper. He runs hard, headlong, with the occasional surprising flourish - a spin move, a hard cut. A little Correll Buckhalter. A little Derek Brown. A little Josh Davis. Watson has a weapon there, whether or not Burkhead stays at the Wildcat QB, or hands the reins to Taylor Martinez.

Does Watson have a quarterback? Lee took a step forward Wednesday night, but I still think he is inconsistent and a little robotic as a runner. Cody Green, who burned a timeout and nearly threw a bad interception, again looked adrift and ill-prepared on the field. But it’s hard to get a grip in a couple drives when Lee gets the whole game.

Unfortunately, you don’t get the offensive sequel for nine months. You won’t even get a sneak peek trailer for four months. And don’t presume that Nebraska solved its problems in one bowl game. Arizona seemed struck by the stage and the stakes. Stoops’ team needs to grow up some. I suspect that he knew that earlier in the week, and hoped it wouldn’t matter too much in the game. But it did.

Arizona’s at now where Nebraska resided in early 2008. What a journey since then for the Big Red. Despite the kind of losses that make you want to starve for a week, Pelini pulled his troops through, and has them positioned for a national title run in 2010.

I don’t know about the Huskers being “five times better” next year. For one thing, a lot of pro-style offenses roll onto the schedule, and you can’t just trot Dejon Gomes out there at linebacker to stop the inside counter. The Huskers absolutely must find two or three serviceable linebackers.

But, provided Nebraska does that, a trip to Phoenix - for one of two BCS games held there - should be the early expectation. The Big 12 will be ripe for the plucking. The best of NU’s recruiting classes - the 2007 bunch rotates fully into upperclassmen mode. That solid class of 2008 - that included all of the red shirt freshmen, finally begins to contribute more, as well.

Hope springs eternal. Football championships are autumnal. I think we have 33 reasons to put those two sentiments together for next year.

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And so, the final turn of a strange horse race for Nebraska football in 2009, ending in a place where folks still flock watch horses run: Southern California. It’s Nebraska’s second, and potentially last, trip to the Holiday Bowl, seeing that the game swaps places with the Alamo Bowl following this year, and NU has zero intent ever falling back down to fifth or sixth in the Big 12 bowl slots again.

Arizona, the Cornhuskers’ opponent, probably won’t be making the trip again, either. The Pac 10 is hopping to San Antonio, too. Weird that the Holiday Bowl actually wants an also-ran bunch from the Great Lakes in its game, as opposed to the Mountain West champion or runner-up, which hearkens back to the game’s impressive roots. But that’s that nature of bowls today. Remember - they’re about the kids!

Kudos to Qualcomm Stadium getting a full house, though. It’s an atmosphere every bowl game deserves and Husker fans typically deliver. If there’s one gift the best fans in college football give to their team each year, it’s the guarantee of the best possible bowl destination. If only more fan bases poured out their support like the Big Red. Sellouts at home. Clans of cornheads on the road. Can’t beat it.

On with the keys:

Preparation: I won’t say Nebraska has taken it easy during its bowl workouts. That would be inaccurate. The Huskers’ practices are plenty tough. But Pelini invoked no less than an NFL-style prep schedule for this game: Six days of install back in Lincoln, a five-day break, and three more practices in San Diego, all in the morning, with an eye toward letting the players enjoy their afternoons. I don’t much count Tuesday’s walk-through as a practice.

Arizona’s pursued a slightly busier schedule, arriving two days earlier.

What difference might that make? We’ll see. Nebraska’s defense, at this point, doesn’t need a lot of fine-tuning, while the offense needs so much that modesty is probably the best course of action anyhow.

Foiling Foles: Arizona quarterback has the stature, arm strength and feathered hair to make it as an NFL quarterback. He doesn’t jump off the page, but he puts some zip on the ball, and isn’t afraid to stick the ball into a tight window of defenders.

The question for the Holiday Bowl, of course, is whether he can do it against a highly aggressive nickel/dime’dollar defense. Against the nation’s best four-man pass rush.

Arizona will try to scheme success, I suspect. Watch for clearout slants like Kansas State used, and back-shoulder throws against man-to-man coverage, with the intent of drawing pass interference penalties. Any offense must already know how hard it will be to consistently hit passes in the 5-10 yard range. Nebraska doesn’t allow it. Texas tried for two drives, then gave it up. Missouri kept trying, and paid the price.

Only Texas Tech really figured it out. And I still think NU’s safeties are vulnerable against the deep out and throwback plays. Will Foles get the time to make those throws and reads?

Physical speed vs. mental speed: Arizona’s not your typical Pac 10 football team. Built on principles borrowing heavily from Oklahoma (defense) and Texas Tech (offense), the Wildcats are about as quick off the paw as any team NU’s faced, including OU, Virginia Tech and Texas. Because Zona blitzes more than most Pac 10 teams, it’s incumbent on the quarterback - in this case, Zac Lee - to make the right checks before the snap, have his hot reads ready, and fire under pressure.

Color me surprised if the Huskers are able to get in super-heavy formations and pound away at Arizona, although, most assuredly, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson will try. Rather, NU’s offensive success - at least when Lee is in the game - boils down to a short, smart playaction passing game balanced with inside runs.

Green Light? The mini-audition of freshman quarterback Cody Green intrigues me. Is it a half-hearted stab at putting the kid on the field as a gold watch, of sorts, for burning his redshirt? Or is it a full-bodied attempt to exploit his talents and create mismatches on the edge of the defense with zone read plays and moving pockets?

I suppose it depends on how Watson sees a kid like Green. Does he envision a Terrelle Pryor type, who struggles to throw the ball consistently, yet makes dynamic, exciting plays with his feet? Or does he envision somebody like Texas A&M’s Jerrod Johnson, who only scrambles when flushed and play an above-average West Coast quarterback?

Yes, I know I just asked four questions without giving you an answer. Mea culpa.

I’m just skeptical of Watson and Pelini’s plans for the kid, is all. Since his let-it-all-hang-out performance vs. Texas Tech - in which he flashed promising spirit and playmaking skills - Green has been asked to perform the bare minimum in terms of offense, rarely getting the chance to operate the versatile shotgun attack he ran in high school. If Nebraska ties Green to the proverbial tree in San Diego, there’s a better chance he makes a more costly error than if NU turns him loose. Hence, the skepticism. If you place an athlete - used to making decisions on the fly - inside a system that programs those decisions and asks for precision within a window the size of Mike Leach’s dark, cool closet, aren’t you trying to pound a round peg into a smaller square hole.

I’ll let you answer that one.

The Specials: Nebraska will meet its match in the Arizona, which sports excellent returners, a decent kickoff unit (11 touchbacks) and kicker Alex Zendejas, who made 17-of-22 field goal attempts this year. The Wildcats are a bit weak in punt coverage, but, otherwise, they comprise the best special teams test NU’s faced since, well, Virginia Tech. All those little details - snap, placement, lane integrity, creating space to catch the ball, protection on the punt team - will add up to one big play Wednesday. The question is: Who gets the play?

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Six strong takes for your Monday morning coffee. It’s free of snow - we promise.

*Kudos to Bo Pelini granting a long-form interview last week with Tom Shatel of the Omaha World-Herald. Bo needs to do this more, not less, often. The man is sharp and expansive in a relaxed setting, and, dear Husker fans, the man is not in a relaxed setting when he walks off the practice field.

About 25 percent of the chat focused on the future of Nebraska’s offense - as it should - and Bo’s apparently shared vision with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson on its identity and direction. Bo already stated his plans one week ago, but he reiterated them again, drawing comparisons to Alabama - which has an equally good defense as Nebraska, but a more productive offense.

A couple thoughts about the comparison.

1. Bill Callahan didn’t want Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy. Maybe could have had him; didn’t want him. McElroy, as it turns out, has the savvy, intelligence and playmaking skills necessary to be a top-flight QB. Chew and choke on that.

2. Alabama’s offense uses the wildcat with Mark Ingram. Only ten snaps per game, but it works. Here’s the Tide’s left guard Mike Johnson on why it’s been successful.

"When you think about stacking the box, one of the main things we focus on is that we're just trying to get the running back through one gap,” Johnson said. “They can have all they want to up there, but they can't fit nine people into one gap. If we can get the running back that seam, then we'll be successful and gain yardage."

Rex Burkhead - a former quarterback with decisive moves - is an excellent fit for the role.

3. Take a look at Youngstown Cardinal Mooney’s offense and running back Braylon Heard in it. Look familiar? Once Heard packs 10-15 pounds for the college game, he’ll be a downhill runner with wiggle.

4. Alabama’s Julio Jones may not have eye-popping numbers at wide receiver, but his size and ability force defenses to roll their safeties toward him in bracket coverage. That opens up the rest of the field for the Tide‘s receivers and tight ends. Translation: Niles Paul has to be good enough in 2010 to not only make catches vs. double coverage, but draw attention for the Huskers to develop a second option - like Brandon Kinnie.

*Cody Green looks like a lock to play in the Holiday Bowl. Good. Now give him some plays that shows off his athleticism.

Sorry, but the kid’s been caged within a funny structure of playaction passes and slow-moving speed options. When you recruit a quarterback, presumably you do it understanding the attendant risks - which, in Green’s case, includes a shotgun-only, zone-read-heavy high school system. Green without his bread-and-butter running plays is Almodovar without Penelope Cruz. What’s the point? Before Bo goes off into the land of the double tight ends, he may want to make sure he doesn’t have a Robert Griffin on his hands. Right?

Or is that dynamic athlete now Taylor Martinez?

*Missouri sure is courting the Big Ten. Won’t the Tigers look dumb if the Big Ten invites Rutgers, Syracuse or Pittsburgh instead?

If Mizzou wants to bolt, here’s to the Big 12 making a bold choice: BYU. Great, albeit unique, football program. Ask Doc Sadler about the basketball team. The Cougars have a national following, a recognizable name brand, good women’s teams and a committed athletic department. And let’s just address the elephant in the room right now, because the whispers surely would exist behind closed doors in Dallas: Any talk of religion, in terms of an athletic conference, is completely inappropriate. It’s not an issue with Baylor. It shouldn’t be one with the Cougars.

*A recent Sports Illustrated profile reveals Urban Meyer to be a fairly anguished, dramatic persona. So I guess I’m not stunned by the last 48 hours, in which he resigned - telling a rather heartfelt story about his 18-year-old daughter getting her “daddy” back on Christmas Eve - then changed his mind. He’ll take an extended vacation instead.

I’m sure much be will said about this reversal - expect ESPN and other national outlets to hold the guy in deep, abiding reverence - so I’ll just say this: I really, really want Cincinnati to beat the Gators in the Sugar Bowl.

*If Nebraska basketball coach Doc Sadler could just get a healthy team, for one month, who knows what the Huskers might do. But such a reality remains just beyond Doc’s reach. Do the Huskers practice too hard? Not exactly. But nobody practices harder. It bears worth watching in future years.

Good to see Eshaunte Jones getting hot as a three-point shooter - he lit it up in Las Vegas, where the Huskers finished 1-1 - because NU needs his range to help free up Jorge Brian Diaz and Quincy Hankins-Cole on the blocks.

Could the Big 12 be any harder? Nah. But if NU can manage a 7-9 league record, it’ll be in excellent position for a NCAA Tournament berth. That 51-48 road win at USC (now 8-4) looks better every day.

*Count me interested to see how Nebraska’s women’s team handles, well, being really good. We’re talking, Final Four-contending, 25-30 wins good. Of course you’d hate to see Kelsey Griffin and Co. look ahead - or would you? There’s something to be said for seizing the moment. It doesn’t come around often, and head coach Connie Yori officially has lightning in the Bob Devaney Sports Center bottle. The Huskers will draw great crowds for the rest of the year following that huge win vs. LSU last Sunday, and they should be in a race with Baylor for the Big 12 crown.

You can bet the Bears are aiming for a Final Four. Is Nebraska? If you win the Big 12 - the nation’s best conference, three years running - what’s to stop you?

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Nebraska would like to get Cody Green at least one series in the upcoming Holiday Bowl, head coach Bo Pelini confirmed Saturday morning.

"Cody's earned the right to play," Pelini said Saturday. “He’s done some good things. But at the end of the day we’re going to do what we need to do to win the football game, It’s about what we feel is necessary on that given day to win the football game. And those situations always change.

“Who knows how that game’s going to start? How those bowl games go, it could be crazy. You just play it by ear. But, yeah, I’d like to get them both in the football game.

Green was removed as the starter in a 10-3 win over Oklahoma. Since then he's played sparingly, subbing for an injured Zac Lee for two plays in NU's 28-20 win over Colorado and for a single drive - while the Huskers were backed up on their own 1-yard line in the Big 12 Championship game vs. Texas.

"I’ve already showed I’ll make a (quarterback) change on the minus 1-yard line,” Pelini said.

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Shawn Watson, owner of a lonely offense, is usually good for a line or two, and he didn't disappoint Wednesday.

Asked if having the nation's 102nd-ranked offense puts his job as Nebraska's offensive coordinator in jeopardy, Watson smiled and fired this one-liner: “Bo knows. He's been totally on the same page with us all the way through everything.”

Well, yeah. Bo Pelini darn near wrote the book for the last half of NU's season. It's not like Watson would draw the shell of a hermit crab on greaseboard and proclaim to his quarterbacks “Boys – the new attack!” Pelini gambled, placed all of his chips on the equivalent of the pass line at the craps table, and watched opposing offenses try – and miserably fail - to break the house defense.

The Blackshirts pulled a smash-n-grab. They destroyed Texas' beautiful offense, scrambled Colt's eggs. They're on too much of a roll to stop, collaborate and relearn techniques they've come close to mastering.

That's why, when asked whether NU was using much of this Holiday Bowl prep to run the scout team pups through the basics of the Brothers Pelini, Bo shrugged a little, dismissed the notion, and said “We're trying to win a football game.”

As in – who else is going to win it?

Watson, meanwhile, had his troops going through a three-day crash course that mirrored, “ an install, like a fall camp or spring ball.” Quarterbacks worked on drops and read recognition. Offensive line coach Barney Cotton rolled out the chute a couple times for a lesson in getting and staying low. Receivers shifted back to ball skills.

“We had to give ourselves an opportunity to get our wind back in our sails,” Watson said. Nebraska needed that after gaining just 106 yards in the Big 12 Championship, and being “humbled,” Watson said, by the paltry performance.

Zac Lee appears to be the guy again, if Pelini's endorsement on Tuesday means anything, even though he, Cody Green and LaTravis Washington have been getting equal reps during the “back to basics” days. Nor did Watson close off the potential of still recruiting a quarterback for the 2010 class.

What about a JUCO guy, he was asked. You don't typically recruiting junior college transfers, after all, unless the intent is for them to compete, quite strongly, for the starting job. There are a few still out there in the ether for NU to consider: Blinn's Cameron Newton, LA Harbor's Dominique Blackmon, and Fort Scott's Dominique Davis – who is currently committed to East Carolina, but now has three former teammates headed to Nebraska.

“I wouldn't say we wouldn't look at a junior college player,” Watson said. “But I'm not saying that's what we need, either. Don't misunderstand my statement: We'll take the best guy...it's not a must. I don't feel like anybody thinks it's a must. But we would like to bring competition into the room. An extra dimension. Elements we need.”

Read that however you wish, but couple those comments, at the very least, with Watson's answer to the Taylor Martinez question.

“We need to give him a chance to see what he can do,” Watson said. “We haven't had a chance to coach him in the full way. We won't exhaust that until we see what he can do.”

Martinez, of the lauded LA prep pedigree and the funny throwing motion, has been on scout team this fall. Outside of simulating Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor, he hasn't been used much at QB – most of those duties fell to the surprisingly capable, if you talk to NU defenders, walk-on Ron Kellogg – and was often lined up as a slot receiver.

“He can do it all,” said senior safety Larry Asante, who added Martinez is among NU's “top five” in terms of speed. “It doesn't matter. You can never be comfortable when he lines up. He challenges you. He's given us great looks all year.”

The Martinez-at-QB experiment wasn't supposed to last, mostly because he'd be too useful at other positions, especially as a nickel corner or safety. That Watson wants to give the kid a full shake in spring practice – and that he didn't entirely close down talk of a JUCO signal-caller – should suggest this: Mobility is in.

Comfort in one's place on the depth chart? Forget about it.

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Five changes Nebraska's offensive staff should consider for 2010:

Establish firm depth along the offensive line: Because of injuries and inexperience, offensive line coach Barney Cotton was forced to move around some of his proteges to different positions, which reduced some guys, like Derek Meyer (a natural tackle) to jack of all trades, master of none. With an influx of redshirt freshmen and JUCO tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, Cotton can finally begin to create a two-deep roster at each offensive line position, rather than trying out combinations up and down the line.

Find out if Cody Green has the passing skills to be the quarterback of the future: If he does, build the offense around his talents – not the other way around. Green looked like a fish out of water this year; he needs to be put in a system where he's reacting first, thinking second. Green's plenty smart, so if Shawn Watson's approach is too complicated for him, it's too complicated – period.

Set your starting wide receiver corps in spring ball if at all possible: Ted Gilmore dragged out the process until the last week of fall camp. Other than Niles Paul, you saw the result. NU needs more leadership at that position – not more uncertainty. And, yes – if that means Khiry Cooper falls behind because of his baseball career, well, so be it. That's the road he chooses to take. Cooper is more naturally gifted, from this vantage point, than any other pass-catcher on the team. But it doesn't mean much without quarterback chemistry.

Tell Roy Helu “It's time:” He's the best offensive player, when healthy, that Nebraska has. Helu needs to be a spokesman, along with Paul, for that side of the ball. That means the media, asking for the ball when necessary, and shooting straight with coaches when hurt. Helu's earned the right to take ownership. He needs to take it.

Put some speed on the field – and use it dynamically: That is, in sweeps and Wildcat formations and reverses. You can still be creative within the structure of a power offense.

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It's a minor pastime in this sunny room I call my office to gently rag on Gary Pinkel. Round here, he goes, generally, by Pinkel Factor. Although Pinkel has proven himself to be a good coach – one who has gored Nebraska four times since 2003 – that squinty, often-unchanging mug of his suggests a man potentially too deep in thought.

Who else runs shotgun zone reads at the goal line, anyway? Not even Mike Leach bothers to do that.

But, one must admit – the Pinkel Factor could reap some bountiful recruiting rewards come February at the hands of Nebraska's nouveau ineptiche offense.

While NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson was on his Apollo 13 mission/ego diet/Woody Hayes trip over the last six games, quarterback Tyler Gabbert and wide receiver Curtis Carter, two much ballyhooed commits for the 2010 recruiting class, didn't like what they saw. Both, in the days after the Cornhuskers' stirring effort vs. Texas, decommitted, essentially, from an offense they could no longer believe in.

At the top of their lists? Missouri. Natch for Gabbert, whose brother Blaine starts for the Tigers. Carter, meanwhile, forged a relationship with Gabbert during mutual visits to Nebraska, and obviously can't help noticing the kind of season Danario Alexander had for Mizzou.

This development is getting spun every which way on the recruiting message boards. They're like health care reform town halls anyway; this week, they resemble a Pig & Whistle on double coupon Tuesday.

They're a wonderful place, in a sense, yet a face carved up and scarred, as if by a mugger, by the Callahan era, when every other day came a breathless report of some exotic recruit like the boxes of cordials and fruit that went into Jay Gatsby's mansion every Friday. The lurkers and lingerers were like, collectively, Nick Carraway, peering out the window into the great Callahan machine. It was a heady thing for them, I tell you. Seared ribeyes every Monday morning. Bacchanals of stars, power ratings and position rankings every Friday. I guess I'm Nick Carraway to their reverie and lingering addiction to the chase. So it goes.

The initial reaction from any of them, however, is the same: What a blow, so late in the game to NU's 2010 offensive class. And that hunch is correct. Not so much because Carter and Gabbert were immediate impact players next year – although Carter could have been. Rather, the time poured into recruiting both of them, one could argue, has only been equaled, this year, by the pursuit of defensive end Owamagbe Odigizuhwa, who still hasn't committed anywhere.

In Carter's case, NU defensive ends coach John Papuchis cultivated the best relationship – Nebraska offered the kid before anyone else did – over the course of seven months. Mizzou swooped in much later.

Gabbert camped at Nebraska in 2008. He became the Huskers' top target in April when Wichita product Blake Bell committed to Oklahoma. He committed in June. He visited the campus several more times after that. And then, six nights before Nebraska beat Missouri, Pinkel arrived in a helicopter at Gabbert's game. And from that point forward, it was game on. One night after NU beat the Tigers, Watson and head coach Bo Pelini attended one of Gabbert's games. One month later, Gabbert took his official visit to NU.

Do not kid yourself here.Gabbert was Watson's guy. Period. You don't waste all that time, then suddenly decide, four days after a grease fire in Dallas, you don't want the kid.

There were other quarterbacks – including Sean Robinson, who committed to Purdue instead – who were willing to give Nebraska a firmer “yes.” There's in-state prospects like Bronson Marsh that NU doesn't want to pursue. But Watson wanted Gabbert, the 6-foot, 190-pounder with below-average statistics but a big-league arm. He spent 18 months pursuing the kid - putting him through drills at camp, having him talk to other uncommitted recruits – all while ignoring the *MY BROTHER PLAYS AT MISSOURI* sign, in bright neon, flashing above Gabbert's head. Blood is usually thicker pigskin, folks – especially when you're playing the same position.

And when Nebraska's offense begun to resemble Big Ten football on a muddy field, Gabbert had a convenient out clause. Carter, did, too, although his decommitment seems to be more practical, considering NU has not used a 5-10, skinny slot receiver since Watson has been in Lincoln.

Now look. It's still Nebraska, and there's still kids a little down the list who'd love to don that uniform. It's not about coming up empty. If the Huskers really desire a quarterback for the sake of depth – they'll sign one. Or they'll enter another Paulus/Marve sweepstakes.

Instead, it's that Papuchis and Watson poured so much energy into specific guys, landed their verbal commitments, then lost them because Zac Lee and Co. couldn't play its way out of a paper bag, and Watson wasn't creative enough inside the box he drew for himself.

On Oct. 22, NU Director of Football Operations Jeff Jamrog swiftly rebuked a commentary from the Omaha World-Herald's Mitch Sherman that said, in part, the Huskers' offensive struggles could impact the 2010 class.

“Success in recruiting, in my opinion,” Jamrog said then, “is directly related to our coaches' ability to relate and communicate to these young men and give them the feel that Nebraska is the place for them to play.”

I sided, at the time, with Jamrog. Generally, he's right.

Not in this case.

Sherman was right. Sheer lack of performance – and NU's shift to an offense that appeals to almost no one who likes yards and points and stuff – can override the efforts of a recruiter as skilled as Papuchis, who's been responsible for some of Nebraska's biggest coups, including Jason Ankrah, Rex Burkhead and potentially Odigizuhwa. Watson's pretty good, too. After all, he got Gabbert to consider and commit to a rival school, didn't he?

In mid-October, Watson said NU wanted a QB, a running back, two WRs and four offensive linemen in its 2010 class.

Right now, less than two months from signing day, the Huskers have 0,0,1 and 3, thanks to the sudden commitment of Yoshi Hardrick.

Good thing Nebraska's built around its defense, huh?

These developments should be a splash of cold water in Bo Pelini's face, although, I suspect, Pelini doesn't need the wake up call anymore. The Huskers should be reaping the recruiting rewards of a spectacular effort in Dallas, not clinging to its best prospects as they walk out the door.

Yes, coaching counts. Talent isn't everything. And if you simply throw talent at a problem, which Callahan tried to do with his variety of blue chippers and JUCO ringers, only some of it will stick, while the rest peels from the wall and collects in a moldy clump on the tile.

But good recruiting classes are built around certain players. They're the anchors. Whether you or I believe in those players doesn't matter. The coaches believe in them, and show it through their sheer effort.

Last year, that was Green and Burkhead.

This year – don't kid yourself – it was Gabbert and Carter, and two years' worth of recruiting to go along with them.

The criticism for Watson was already rising above the din.

With 0,0,1 and 3 staring back at him, I don't see it getting any quieter now.

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As we delve back into one of the more painful losses in Nebraska football history, I want to step away from the field of play for a minute. Let's head, instead, into the homes of interested viewers.

What do you suppose Syracuse fans, mired in another ugly losing season, thought as they watched NU's defense thunder away at Texas? The Orange could have nabbed Bo Pelini in 2004, you know. Chose Greg Robinson instead. What do you suppose Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne was thinking? He could have taken a run at Pelini in 2006 or 2007. How about Arizona State, which recycled Dennis Erickson? Or UCLA, which tried the Skippy? Or even Michigan, which fixated on Les Miles and forgot to notice the defensive coordinator who delivered all of the crucial wins?

How about Steve Pederson? What do you suppose his thoughts were, after Pittsburgh's miserable defense blew a 31-10 lead over undefeated Cincinnati in the snow? As he watched the Huskers grind down UT quarterback Colt McCoy, who surely is as good as Cincy's Tony Pike, and the Longhorns, who are, in many ways, a mirror image of the Bearcats' offense.

What do you suppose Gary Pinkel, whose Missouri team has been repeatedly humiliated by Texas and Oklahoma, was thinking? Mike Gundy, whose OSU bunch got butt-thumped by both teams? What do you think Turner Gill, prepping for an interview at Kansas, was thinking?

Maybe they were thinking what Alabama, the odds-on favorite to win the national title, already knows: If you can ever manage to acquire primo defensive mind – my goodness, hold onto him and pay him what he needs to succeed.

Amidst all this offense in college football, the story of Championship Saturday was Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, who finally stopped Florida's trickery-based attack, and Pelini, who reduced McCoy, quite frankly, to a child lost in a supermarket. It was akin to Kubrick and Spielberg directing movies on the fly, back-to-back. You couldn't slow down the action to appreciate all the tiny quirks, but you knew it was brilliant, and you knew you couldn't stop watching. Seven hours of guts and gamesmanship worthy of NFL playoff games.

I have debated, with myself, the validity of Florida's offense; it is strangely and powerfully methodical, and yet couched in fakes and feints and funny business, too. Alabama exposed it Saturday night as an elaborate three-card monte, and Tim Tebow as more of an athlete than a quarterback. There are 10 or 15 Sabans in the NFL; I don't know Tebow survives at that level. The more motions and fakes and H-backs the Gators threw at the Tide, the more desperate and gimmicky it seemed, the more Tebow looked rudderless.

Robbed of his dive-and-counter game, UF's Urban Meyer prowled the sidelines – frantically, it seemed - and kept dialing Tebow's number – to no avail. Tebow was given every chance to win the Heisman Saturday night, and he kept double-clutching most throws, second-guessing most decisions. He was initially defiant, then frustrated, further confused and, finally, broken. When Saban takes a player of Tebow's sheer, raw athleticism and turns him into the lead actor of a “Happy Feet” sequel, he's really done something.

The Brothers Pelini produced an incredible encore. They dialed up aggressive blitzes, called for twists and stunts along the front four, and kept daring McCoy to throw it deep. The few times Texas did, it actually paid off with a nice gain or a pass interference penalty.

Both defenses proved this truth: Most college quarterbacks, good as they may be, have been coached within an inch of their life to make the smart, safe throw. McCoy, Tebow, Sam Bradford, Tony Pike, Andrew Luck, Greg McElroy, any of them. It takes a lot of NFL experience, or foolish moxie, to play otherwise.

If you take away that safety blanket - it you can get a 22-year-old to think in the pocket, instead of reacting – you have him dead to rights two downs out of three. So it went for Alabama and Nebraska.

NU did more than that, though – at least in terms of the Big 12. The Huskers stood up to Texas and Oklahoma like no other league team has in the last decade.

The secret is out. The gig could be up. The Russian is cut.

Nebraska didn't knock him down or out – some fans (not I) would argue the Big 12 politburo made sure of that in the final seconds of Saturday night – but the Huskers blazed a path through a dark forest, and left some crumbs behind to consider.

It's up to the rest of the league to wake up and smell the victories. The rest of college football, too.

Defense is back. And Bo is in the vanguard.

Now...about that offense...

Five Players We Loved

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: A performance we'll never forget. Worthy, by itself, of the Heisman.

Now, this week, you're going to hear that Toby Gerhart, in a series of relatively meaningless games, getting the ball in every obvious goal-line situation, somehow earned it instead. Well, folks, he didn't. What he did do is beat Notre Dame on national television. And since the East Coast Heisman voters don't generally know their rear ends from their elbows when it comes to college football, they'll alight on the nearest relative of anything Fighting Irish.

Just one question: If Gerhart is bounding through a hole, Suh is there to meet him and it's one yard for a first down – who wins?

Cornerback Dejon Gomes: Twelve months ago, this kid wasn't even on NU's roster. Ted Gilmore recruited him. Marvin Sanders coached him. Some recruitniks like to bag on Gilmore and Sanders' efforts in this area, but they got this one right.

Cornerback Prince Amukamara: He needs to come back for one more season, and polish off his considerable potential. But Amukamara has turned into everything Sanders hoped he would become.

Defensive end Barry Turner: The quiet man of the Blackshirts – nary an interview during the 2009 season – looked strong and fast Saturday night, consistently collapsing the pocket on McCoy. In the last month of the season Turner finally seemed at full confidence.

Safety Matt O'Hanlon: The back middle was closed for business, and he made some key open-field tackles. Does Matty O get a free agent look from an NFL club? We say yes. There's more than a little Scott Shanle – who starts at linebacker for the New Orleans Saints - in the kid. He could, at the very least, be a valuable special-teamer at the next level – if that's what he wants.

Three Concerns We Have

Quarterback Development: Hello? McFly? Where is it? Most Husker fans wouldn't trust Zac Lee to run a band saw in shop class right now. The coaches apparently don't trust Cody Green to do the same.

Lee made one poor read after another Saturday night. He's entirely too skittish under pressure. Twice, he jumped and rifled screen passes to Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead, too hard for them to do anything with it. His second interception – to Niles Paul – was underthrown, off his back foot. A crossing route to Paul that would have gained big yards was thrown before Paul was looking.

On Nebraska's best shot a touchdown – after Paul's punt return – Lee immediately tossed an ill-advised fade pass to Brandon Kinnie – who wasn't open – instead of waiting for Mike McNeill's slant route to clear over the middle. As Lee released the ball, McNeill broke open for six. One problem: Lee never looked at anyone but Kinnie.

That's development. First – why is Kinnie is the isolation fade route – and not Paul? Second – did Lee have a hot read based on Texas blitzing (UT brought six, which is why McNeill was open). Third – why, if he didn't have a hot read, did Lee ignore McNeill? The QB has to wait for the route to clear. Has to. Even if you get knocked into next week.

Against Missouri, you'll recall, Lee did just that on two touchdown passes. Against Texas, Lee chucked the ball at first sign of danger. And many of his throws were chucks – high, wobbly balloons without precision or placement. Green's lone pass – a bottle of gas thrown into a lake of fire – looked just the same: High, wide, uncertain.

Who coaches those guys, anyway?

No Push: Nebraska's offensive line may look very different in a month, when certain players have had a chance to heal and rest. For now, it's a broken pipeline, and no match for Texas' front seven. Most disappointing: The backside leaks, which eliminated any chance of Helu and Burkhead cutting their runs back to the field. With zone blocking, you have create a crease or a wall for a running back to read and attack. Helu and Burkhead were perpetually caught at the top of a Tetris stack, with pieces piling on faster and faster.

Untimely errors: Adi Kunalic's kick out of bounds. Larry Asante's horse-collar tackle. Eric Hagg, failing to look back for the ball on a third down pass. Nebraska blowing a timeout because Roy Helu didn't know the audible. Blowing another one because Cam Meredith wasn't sure if he should be on the field. Little mental stuff that you can't afford.

Reviewing the Five Keys

Right Break, Right Time: Nebraska got them early. But not in the game's final seconds.

Beyond the Comfort Zone: Oh, Nebraska and Texas' offenses were certainly in that stage of life on Saturday night. But not by their own choosing. NU and UT both stuck much too close to the offensive script when attacked by superior defenses.

Stop Shipley: In relative terms, Shipley's catches – five for 50 – were absolutely huge. He got Texas out of the shadow of its own goal line once, and set up field position for the game-winning field goal, as well. The kid's gamer. I was more impressed with him than McCoy.

The Stage: Nebraska more than embraced the moment. Texas shrunk from the pressure, but benefited from an awful NU offense.

The Heisman Boys: Covered in depth, I believe.

Three Questions We Still Have

Cody for the Holidays? Green deserves at least a shot to start in San Diego. Nebraska has little to lose, and Lee's had plenty of chances. With three weeks to retool, you'd hope NU can shape a gameplan around its talented freshman.

Does Nebraska have a No. 2 receiver? Is it Kinnie now? He played OK Saturday. Is it Khiry Cooper? Is it whomever Gilmore tabs as his best blocker during bowl preparation?

Other than Suh, who leaves the biggest shoes to fill? I'd argue it's Phillip Dillard, who played linebacker with speed, spirit and toughness over the last ten games, collecting 76 tackles and three sacks. Will Compton played quite a bit this year – but, in terms of play recognition and sideline-to-sideline pursuit, he wasn't in Dillard league. Then again, one year ago, Dillard wasn't in Dillard's league. One player I'm not worried about: P.J. Smith, who takes for Larry Asante. Word is, Smith is a smooth, confident player who may lack Asante's thumping skills, but has a better nose for the ball.

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Maybe it's useful, sometimes, to close our eyes and imagine offensive coordinators as philosophers. Instead of the dismal tide of civilization and all that, the subject is, you know, how to use a fullback. Or the value of the wildcat formation.

You could not have divorced John Locke from the idea of tabula rasa, even if you don't agree with it, any more than Eleanor Rigby could throw away her face in a jar. It's what Locke believed. It's the rock upon which he built his worldview. Sages in some circles, fools in others – most folks stick to their philosophical principles.

So it's little surprise, really, when NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, asked for his vision of the future, said, simply: “It would be a team like we were last year.”

Shotgun spread. Zone running game. Controlled passing game. With some power formations mixed in near the goal line. The stuff that didn't work for the first half of this year. The offense never quite reached “diseased yak” stage, but it was taking on the hoof rot, and beginning to look incongruous with, you know, victory.

To Watson's credit, Tom Osborne's help and head coach Bo Pelini's leadership, Nebraska's offensive braintrust enacted an “Apollo 13” scenario, Watson said, hatching a plan to rescue the Cornhuskers from an overrated Pink Floyd album.

WatsOzBo dialed first Cody Green's number. To no avail, apparently – the kid's jersey hasn't been street-side in nearly three games. Now it's the option, the occasional (and successful) house call from Dr. Niles Paul, a rejuvenated Roy Helu and Zac Lee eating his fruits, vegetables and cheap shots from opposing linebackers. A steady diet of big, burly power football, replete with tight ends, fullbacks and all the stuff that makes us think of Osborne, Lassie, homemade deer sausage, and afghans knitted in the parlor and draped over couches in the sun room.

It's also a winning formula, playing to what Watson calls the “best defense in the United States of America.” If not Zanzibar.

“We've all had to diet our egos, and we've all had to put the stats behind us,” Watson said. “The most important stat we all care about is winning. We've done what it's taken to win football game.”

Just know: Watson doesn't intend it to last.

Oh, he'll keep some of the power tools in the shed.

“Some of the problems we encountered last year as our season wore on on was red zone football, red zone running game, and you have to have a lead running game down there,” Watson said.

But Watson will return the Great American West Coast Novel.

“We're going to have to grow into that at quarterback, to be honest with you,” Watson said. “We're going to have to grow into that at receiver. And that's going to be a process.”

Ah, the “p” word again. The single, seven-letter, two-syllable utterance used to explain the countless hours and unknowable effort that goes into the elaborate chess match that is football. It also describes how Velveeta is made.

How long does Watson's “process” take? I find the word equally vague when Pelini uses it, but his revamped defense is a Brazilian tarantula preying on baby toucans. He can call it Parker Posey for Nebraska fans care.

For Watson, the journey may be tougher. Lee knows the words, but not yet the music. Green's on-field development is pretty much over for 2009. The bowl practices and spring football will be an extended audition to see if Green can become a consistent passer and wrestle the job away from Lee. As for Kody Spano and Taylor Martinez – who knows?

At receiver, Nebraska faces a dicier proposition. Paul will be a senior. The guy is who he is. I actually like who he's become in the last month. It suits him. NU's power offense suits him, for that matter. Paul can block, and he can catch the deep ball. This version of DosQuatro seems more helpful than running ten-yard stick routes.

Menelik Holt and Chris Brooks graduate as unfulfilled (underdeveloped?) talent. Khiry Cooper will spend this spring playing baseball. Antonio Bell probably won't be allowed on the field until he can block. Will Henry probably won't be allowed on the field, period. That leaves Curenski Gilleylen, who hasn't caught a pass in a month, and unpolished-but-talented Brandon Kinnie.

Do you see Joe Ganz or Todd Peterson or Nate Swift – three guys who were so discounted that they honed their craft to precise detail – walking back through that door? That trio was so prolific because they shared a desire to prove their coaches and critics wrong. They had no choice but to be precise. They weren't going to play otherwise.

Does Watson appreciate the dynamic those three had? After all, when he talks about “growing” into the quarterback and receiver positions, he's talking about replacing what Ganz, Swift and Peterson brought to the table. It wasn't raw athleticism – it was canniness, mixed with smarts and sheer effort.

But how do you replace motivational lightning caught in a bottle?

You can't, really. So you either alter the scheme – a temporary fix, in Watson's eyes - recruit new guys to learn the scheme, or hire new coaches to teach it. And the last of those three options is never pleasant. But Boss Bo, at the very least, has to put it on the table.

If “Apollo 13” is really the soup du jour, and Watson wants his offense a certain way, then hard questions need to be asked. Why did Holt, Brooks and Henry slide by the boards? Recruiting? Development? How do you handle the quarterback competition between Lee and Green? Can you afford to keep around certain scholarship guys at the bottom of depth charts for the sake of kindness? Why were they recruited in the first place?

We know the questions sound like a broken record - but as Watson said Monday - he intends to return the scene of scratch.

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Among the many conversations Bob Lee had with his son, Zac, about playing quarterback, the former NFL signal-caller once said this: You're not a true quarterback until you've been run out of at least one town.

Zac Lee certainly wasn't sent packing from Nebraska's football program – but the junior was benched during periods of the Texas Tech game, and seemingly for good when freshman Cody Green took the helm at Baylor. Fans and pundits who had seen Lee's on-field confidence and performance waver with each double-clutch and each tentative throw didn't figure the San Francisco native had a second act in him.

They also didn't know Lee's dad, who spent 12 years in the NFL with three teams – mostly in a backup role – had already prepared him for such a moment.

“Taking that to heart, and hearing that for as long as I've heard that – it's just part of the deal,” Lee said. “I've said that before.”

And yet – Lee's confidence went somewhere, didn't it? Head coach Bo Pelini had called Lee “borderline arrogant” during fall camp – Lee bristles a bit at this – but, by the Texas Tech game, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson termed Lee's mistakes as “chasing ghosts.” Misreading coverages. Refusing to scramble.

“Maybe earlier I was trying to make plays passing the ball too much instead of just reacting and going,” Lee said. “Holes close pretty quick.”

A seat on the bench for Baylor – and the first two drives of the Oklahoma game – woke up Lee, Watson said, to the realities of the position. At least the realities of NU's offense right now, as the Cornhuskers try to shift from a shotgun spread offense into a power-based, double-tight without pumping the clutch.

Such a jarring transition needed a steadier hand.

“He saw he wanted to play,” Watson said. “Wanted to be out on the field. Given his opportunity, he grasped what we've been trying to get him to grasp, and that's just managing the game. Start there, and grow from there.”

On the sidelines, Lee found “a little extra hunger that maybe I didn't know I had.”

“It was realizing you've got to do whatever it takes to win,” Lee said. “No matter what that may be.”

Against Oklahoma, that meant handing off and executing safe, playaction passes. Against Kansas, that meant reducing his reads – with the power formations there weren't that many reads to check anyway – and running when the holes were available.

“It wasn't an extremely conscious decision,” Lee said. “I just saw some lanes and took off...if 1 or 2's not there, take it, tuck it and run.”

He rushed for a career-high 53-yards at KU. Threw for 196. Considering the opponent, the hostile setting and Nebraska's so-so defense, Lee agreed it was the best game of his young career.

While Watson prepared some plays designed to utilize Green's strengths in Lawrence, Pelini said they weren't necessary.

“Why make a switch when you don't need to?” Pelini said.

Maybe that's why Pelini has noticed “a little swagger out of Zac.” And Lee has noticed it in himself.

“I don't want to necessarily call myself arrogant, but there's a certain amount of confidence you've got to have when you're the quarterback of a team,” he said. “A certain amount of it comes from just having fun, just playing, being an athlete. I got that back.”

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Be wary. Be plenty wary.

As Nebraska's football team floats into that final bend in the Big 12 river, it is, to borrow a Bo Pelini phrase, pretty obvious that just about anything can happen to the Huskers – that anything can happen to any team in the North division, for that matter.

It's the kind of league, right now, where Colorado, that collection of sunshine boys, has an outside chance at heading to Dallas (er, sorry Nat Geo types – Arlington) for the league title game.

We use the phrase “happen to” because, until a four-quarter defensive masterpiece vs. Oklahoma, NU hadn't fully seized its own destiny in the conference season. The offensive gameplan was geared toward a chess match with the opposing defense – not helping the Blackshirts. Running back Roy Helu either wasn't fully committed to playing hard or was sending mixed messages to the coaching staff about his relative health. Suddenly, of Helu's own volition, he toughened up and turned it around last week with a terrific performance vs. OU.

It seems now, finally, the Cornhuskers have found an identity for the whole, instead of the individual parts. Run big sets. Hope Helu busts a few. Throw playaction to offset the run. Let the defense do its thing.

And so – Kansas.

KU has the worst offensive line the Big 12. That's two years now, and that's on Kansas Coach Mark Mangino. Its defense is better, but still overmatched against stronger teams. But the Jayhawks have three skill players – quarterback Todd Reesing, wide receiver Dez Briscoe and wide receiver Kerry Meier – who can make plays off the board. The kind of guys who can take advantage of NU's momentary lapses in concentration.

It's senior day for Reesing and Meier, and it is might as well be for Briscoe, a junior who's gone, baby, gone to the NFL after this year, considering KU needed glue and chicken wire, so to speak, just to keep the kid academically eligible this year. They're going to put up a fight. As much as defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh would like to run over their collective dog, don't be surrprised if, entering the fourth quarter, you're wary. Plenty wary. On to the keys:

QB Shuffle: No easy answers for Nebraska's signal-caller, but we think the starter is Zac Lee, sprinkled with a dose of zone read from Cody Green. Bo Pelini hinted strongly that both quarterbacks might play in Lawrence. To what advantage? We've no beef with quarterbacks sharing time, so long as they're not out there doing the same thing. Use Green to run the spread game. Keep Lee in hand-off and playaction mode.

Reesing's Last Run: You get the sense that, despite a high degree of competitiveness, Reesing is about ready to move on with life. He's an international business guy, he's been running around behind an awful offensive line for two years, the crowds on Mt. Oread are indifferent, his coach is suddenly benching him for fumbles. Reesing has his magical year in 2007, he has win memorable win over Missouri, he has his place in the KU record book. Expect a loose, exciting effort from him on Saturday. Kansas has lost four in a row. There's not much else to lose.

Short Stuffed: Nebraska's secondary has been consistently excellent against the short pass. Bubble and tunnel screens, quick slants, rub-off routes, stops, curls, you name it. NU's cornerbacks are aggressive and confident 15 yards in. Kansas won't be immune to this treatment. So the Jayhawks have to gamble, and send their talented receivers deep. Reesing has to hit them. If they can't make plays downfield, the short-to-intermediate game will be closed for business, and KU is in for a lot of punts and potential interceptions.

Vengeance: Don't kid yourself. That 76-39 score from two years ago is in the hearts and minds of a lot of Husker players who lived through it – especially guys like Ndamukong Suh, Barry Turner, Roy Helu, Phillip Dillard, Larry Asante and Jacob Hickman. You think they've forgotten? Not a chance. You will see an emotional, hungry team Saturday. They won't give KU an inch. This is intended, after the OU win, as a statement game.

Keep It Together: NU's offensive line needs a half without penalties. Just a itty-bitty half of clean football. No false starts. No 15-yard hi-lo blocks. No personal fouls. No holding. No failing to place one's head at Hickman's torso. No illegal men downfield. A clean half. It would do wonders.

The Beck Advantage: Former Kansas assistant – now current NU assistant – Tim Beck knows the Jayhawks well. He recruited Reesing. He coached the wide receivers. He helped incorporate a spread running game at Nebraska. His knowledge of KU's scheme and personnel was invaluable last year – and it will be again this year. Kansas hasn't changed much since 2007, and the personnel is still similar.

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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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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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Right after Bo Pelini was hired to coach Nebraska in 2007, a good helping of Cornhusker fans, well-versed in both modern and historical college football, pointed to this upcoming week as an early mid-term, if you will, on NU's progress under Pelini.

A home game vs. Oklahoma, the standard-bearer of the Big 12 in the 21st Century, coached by Pelini's old buddy, Bob Stoops. If Pelini had a grace period of, say, 20 games – he's coached 21 thus far – OU, with its balance, talent, speed and reputation, would be an apt measuring stick for how far the Huskers had come – and how far, still, they had to go.

As we stand here now, with both fighters bruised and frustrated, it's harder to see that stick in the mist of injuries, offensive woes and close, painful losses.

But it's still there. And all of Nebraska's goals are still there, too. The Huskers control their destiny. Win out and punch a ticket to Dallas and the Big 12 Championship vs. Texas. Win out, and NU, with its fan base and classy reputation, is guaranteed no worse than the Holiday Bowl to tangle with another of Pelini's mentors, Pete Carroll and his USC Trojans.

Yes – win out, and a fairly cool prize awaits at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box.

NU's 20-10 victory over Baylor isn't the kind you love to relive, aside from one particular performance. We'll do it anyway, with an eye on the big stick that Nebraska would very much like to carry into the final quarter of its season – after measuring up to it, of course.

Five Players We Loved

Defensive tackle Jared Crick: Opponents pay so much attention to Ndamukong Suh that Crick feasts on the single-blocker approach. But Saturday, he tossed those blockers aside and chased Baylor quarterback Nick Florence like a wolfman. Thirteen tackles? Absurd. Crick's small-town persona only adds to the appeal.

Linebacker Eric Martin: He's been threatening to make a big special teams play all year; Saturday, he finally made it by setting up a blocked punt that was returned by Justin Blatchford for the Huskers' first touchdown. If Martin is able to make the leap defensive back Alfonzo Dennard made from his freshman to sophomore season, watch out.

Quarterback Cody Green: Warts and all, Green ran hard, competed bravely and generally seemed in command. He's got some work to do, particularly on timing routes, but he's finally a position to do something about it on the field.

Punter/kicker Alex Henery: Nailed two important field goals – Baylor's Ben Parks missed a chip shot of his own – and made a touchdown-saving tackle on a wild BU punt return right at the end of the game. Athlete first. Kicker second.

Cornerback Prince Amukamara: One terrific interceptions with three more pass breakups to boot. Amukamara rebounded from a so-so game vs. Texas Tech with a strong performance here.

Three Concerns We Have

No Daylight: Nebraska ran the ball 19 times in the second half for 61 yards. How many teams is that going to beat? The beefy offensive line has to earn its keep.

Going Horizontal: Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson laid off the sideways passes for the first half. Then, with a seemingly comfy 20-0 lead, he started getting cute again, trying to burn Baylor for loading the box by throwing 20 yards sideways, in the hopes of creating one-on-one situations on the perimeter. You all know what eventually happened. If Watson wants to go horizontal, here's a thought: Run wide receiver sweeps.

Shaky coverage: Baylor was close on a couple kick and punt returns to busting one open for a touchdown. The Huskers have to keep lane discipline and learn to break down and tackle better, instead of searching for the killshot.

Reviewing The Five Keys

Play to win, not to dominate: Nebraska did just that with a modest offensive gameplan and a defensive strategy that called for maximum coverage and zero blitzes. The result? Seven sacks and three turnovers on defense. Safe to say the plan worked.

Match up and move it: Dejon Gomes, Lance Thorell and Sean Fisher probably were exhausted by game's end, running in and out of the game as NU mixed and matched nickel, dime and dollar coverages, but the Huskers were rarely out of position, and almost always had double coverage on the deep receiver, which led to Gomes' interception. The Huskers were lucky that Florence wasn't more accurate on that skinny slant pattern to Kendall Wright, though.

Neutralize the earth-movers: Baylor couldn't do anything against Crick and Suh, while Nebraska had initial success against the Bears' front four, with that success waning by the second half.

Traye and Jay: Dontrayevous Robinson looked like Nebraska's best running option until he got hurt in the fourth quarter; Robinson, like Green, competes hard on every play. BU's Jay Finley was not a factor.

Bo vs. Briles: Baylor head coach Art Briles threw the kitchen sink at Nebraska, and the Brothers Pelini dodged nearly every bullet and landed some haymakers of their own. NU won this coaching chess match with a big dose of help from Crick and Suh.

Three Questions We Still Have

Is Roy Helu anywhere near getting healthy? Why did he play Saturday? Repeat: Why? If Nebraska couldn't beat Baylor without Helu – and, just for the record, the Huskers pretty much did – then Nebraska had no business winning, period. Helu should have stayed home and nursed his injured shoulder.

Where in the world is Mike McNeill, and how does Watson get him involved in the offense again? McNeill's too good to be wasted on well-covered tight end routes. Give the kid a chance to work on the edge and use his size advantage. He's a mismatch waiting to happen. Isn't Watson all about that?

Can the Nebraska crowd find some inner resolve? And create a nightmarish atmosphere for Oklahoma this week? Memorial Stadium needs to be the toughest environment that OU quarterback Landry Jones has ever played in.

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Players of the game and grades after Nebraska's win over Baylor:

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

OFFENSE: Cody Green. He provided exactly the kind of spark you'd hoped he would. He was poised in the pocket. He didn't waste a lot of time at the line. He scrambled and ran with authority and power. And he was called upon to throw a beauty of a deep ball, he did so with accuracy and perfect placement. The second half wasn't so pretty - but, really, who else deserves it?

DEFENSE: Jared Crick. It was the kind of performance that reminded me of Danny Noonan and John Parrella, a display of power, tenacity, toughness and brute force. Ndamukong Suh made his usual array of plays all over the field; he's still one of a kind. But, on this day, Crick was that tough-nosed local boy that Nebraska used to ride to conference and national championships. Crick's a little nasty, too. We love it.

GRADES

QUARTERBACK: C Cody Green made some solid plays early in the game, and his two scrambles on third down help set up Alex Henery's 45-yard field goal. He also threw a beautiful pass to Niles Paul to set up a touchdown. But his second-half play? Not real pretty. Green has to watch those throws to the sidelines and try not to go airborne on, well, just about any running play, ever. It's a start. Not a perfect one. But a start.

RUNNING BACK: B Given the Huskers' injuries, this bunch did pretty well with the holes they were given. Traye Robinson is a valid option at running back. Roy Helu is hurt. Lester Ward did OK in limited action, but runs too high. Austin Jones didn't have a prayer.

WIDE RECEIVER: C A couple untimely drops were offset by two key catches by Niles Paul, who manned up and made some nice grabs. Cody Green missed a few receivers on top of everything else. The perimeter blocking, especially from Khiry Cooper, could have been better.

TIGHT ENDS/OFFENSIVE LINE: D The shoddy blocking in the second half is unacceptable. When Nebraska needs two yards – the line needs to be able produce those two yards against a team like Baylor. The Huskers were stymied far too often in short yardage situations. Also a costly holding and false penalty when they weren't needed.

DEFENSIVE LINE: A+ Seven sacks warrants a perfect grade in our book. Crick was spectacular. Baylor never got anything on the ground, either. This unit is scary good right now.

LINEBACKERS: A Phillip Dillard and Sean Fisher snuffed out Baylor's junk plays all afternoon, and got after the quarterback when it matter. Nice job by both against the zone read. Fisher, who was running on and off the field all day, adjusted quite well.

SECONDARY: B The Bears busted a couple big throws in the second half, but NU, for the most part, covered well. The Huskers could be a little more aggressive on the short routes, and the safeties could improve on laying out the receiver when there's underneath coverage. Terrific interception by Prince Amukamara; Dejon Gomes' pick was just a bad pass.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A A defensive touchdown, a ton of touchbacks and Alex Henery's key tackle on a wild Baylor punt return – this unit helped save the Huskers bacon.

GAME MANAGEMENT AND PLAYCALLING: B Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson got a little cute in the second half, but, for the most part, he called a tough-minded, simplified game that seemed to suit the Huskers' strengths. His presence on the sideline was helpful, even if it didn't always seem like it with NU's play. On defense, Bo and Carl Pelini kept the gameplan beautifully simple, and let the front four do what it does. No blitz calls on the day? Nice job, gentlemen.

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WACO, Texas - Finally. Maybe. We think. We hope. Sigh.

Yes, it's like that, right now, for Nebraska's offense. For Nebraska, period.

NU seemed to locate its offensive identity Saturday in 20-10 win over Baylor. For a half, anyway. It's not fully-formed, it still remains trapped a bit in the inane intricacies of West Coast Offense, but it's a start. Maybe. We think. We hope. Sigh.

Cody Green at quarterback, scrambling when necessary, running with poise and authority. A power offense designed to punish lesser teams and set up deep passes. A strong, forward-leaning running back in true freshman Traye Robinson. And, at long last, a compliment of big-bodied tight ends on the field – at the same time.

Fireworks, it wasn't. Well – unless you count the ones that got shot off after Baylor intercepted and returned one of Green's two mistakes for a touchdown.

What did you expect after a month of sideways passes, soft-bellied screens and tentative quarterback play from Zac Lee? Sixty points? Saturday was a modest step forward. Finally. Maybe. We think. We hope. Green had all the advantages - a special teams touchdown, a dominant defensive performance, a Baylor offense, set to the melt setting every time it ventured into Nebraska territory. And there were times – like most of the second half – where he didn't do anything with those advantages.

But this is change we can believe in. Finally. Maybe. We think. We hope. It's an offense that, at long last, suits the kind of defense Nebraska has become. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson had to descend from his perch – physically and philosophically – for it to happen. Yes, that was Watson on the sidelines, in his trademark sunglasses, barking excitedly, getting in the faces of his linemen at key moments.

“That was to help Cody,” Watson said. “We've got a freshman tailback (Robinson) that's playing a lot, we've got a freshman quarterback now. I wanted to be there with the guys. Something some of the older guys asked me about. I did that for them.”

It was good to see. He took ownership Saturday. He didn't have much of a choice.

Oh, Watson got cute again midway through the third quarter – and Green got lazy. Watson started calling the horizontal passes again, and Green locked onto receiver Khiry Cooper on a third-down play. The result: A Pick Six that might have had the last remaining members of the Zac Lee camp saying “I told you so.” A fourth-quarter fumble – when Green rather inexplicably left his feet on a quarterback draw – had them roaring a little bit louder.

We think they're wrong. Maybe. We hope so.

It really doesn't matter if NU can't run the ball. Once again Saturday, Barney Cotton's bunch did not deliver on its potential or responsibility. They played hard, but not in sync, and not as a smoothly-operating, confident unit. And head coach Bo Pelini was plenty vocal about it after the game.

“It's a huge concern,” he said. “We've got to be able to run the football better. We didn't run the ball to my liking today.”

This is the tone Pelini has to strike – the same kind of aggression and expectation he shows with his defense. He needs to show it weekly – heck, daily - with Watson, Cotton and that offensive line, which is too big and too experienced to make communication gaffes for the bulk of the second half. Watson tried pounding the ball with big sets, fullbacks, inside zones and the old-school Callahan stretch play. The offensive line didn't respond with enough gashes for Robinson, Roy Helu, Lester Ward and Austin Jones.

Yes, I just named four running backs there. Marcus Mendoza played a couple snaps, too. If Helu isn't 100 percent healthy, the Huskers really have no bellcow. Robinson can only do so much with the time he's been given, and the rest of the backs are not consistently good runners. Baylor wisely took away Green's running lanes on the zone read Saturday, forcing Helu and crew to pick their way through narrow holes, just hoping to stay upright and healthy. Helu got dinged again. So did Robinson.

Even if NU stumbled into success Saturday – even if it's a first step to something better – the Huskers have to healthy and confident enough to keep it going.

Bo pulled the trigger on Green. It was a must. Lee might have given the Huskers some looks in the passing game. But, honestly, I doubt it. NU's receivers were again average. Baylor's corners mostly did stayed with them. The Bears brought two or three blitzes that Green stepped away from for positive scrambles, or withstood in the pocket to throw first downs. Lee wilted under those same blitzes in recent weeks. Green gives defenses an element to worry about. And right now, the Huskers need every element on the periodic table they can get.

But now, Bo has to aim his sights on that offensive line. Whatever they've given already to the team – they've got to dig in and give a little more. The unit is not completely healthy – center Jacob Hickman is nursing a severely sprained ankle – but it's healthy enough.

Time for Cotton – who is a tough, honest coach and a skilled teacher from this point of view – to drive that unit just a little harder, and get them to execute a little better. Oklahoma blows into Lincoln next week plenty ticked off – with a wicked defense to match. If NU can't dent that OU front line, the Sooners will eat Green – or Lee – alive.

This is a unit fighting back the light, folks. The offense remains under siege from pundits and fans. Just one minute into Pelini's press conference, a fan clutching a white gate just feet away screamed a particular insult about Watson.

His boss took it in stride at the moment, but after his media session was done, he walked over to that fence, shook hands with athletic director Tom Osborne, and looked into that crowd. He wanted to know – who had the big mouth? It wasn't the most politically correct moment, but it was vintage Bo. Loyal and tenacious to the last. Nebraska fans may not always like it. But it's what they paid Osborne to find, and Bo to do.

Bo's in the thick of tough, grueling season. He knows it. This is the year that will forge his coaching character even more than he's already forged it himself. And he's fighting back with the best defensive front four I've seen at NU in years.

Now that offensive front five has to do their part.

Can it? Finally?

Maybe. We think. We hope. Sigh.

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WACO, Texas - A special teams touchdown. A home crowd on the road. A day without rain, boos or clouds. Plenty of sacks and turnovers. And the starting debut of a Nebraska freshman quarterback who seems to have the skills and poise to go as far as his long, powerful running strides can take him.

His arm may be another question.

But after two stunning home losses in a row, Nebraska's football team captured a needed rebound victory, beating Baylor 20-10 Saturday afternoon.

Bo Pelini's bunch, now 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12 Conference, inserted themselves back into the Big 12 North race in front 31,702 at Floyd Casey Stadium that included a reporter-estimated 15,000 Cornhusker fans.

“It was real important,” Pelini said. “We needed a win. We got a win. We got a lot of work to do yet. A win's a win. It's No. 5.”

Many of those raucous fans – silenced for whole portions of the second half - were from Texas, and took the opportunity to watch true freshman Cody Green – a native of Dayton, Texas – make his first start at quarterback. The decision was made on Thursday, Pelini said, because “you gotta go with your gut.”

Initally, Green didn't disappoint. His first-half performance – 6-of-9 passing for 85 yards, 25 yards rushing – was a portrait of efficiency. With offensive coordinator Shawn Watson calling plays on the sidelines and simplifying the attack, Green operated mostly out of multiple tight end, power formations. He ran only four times, but two of them were scrambles of ten and six yards on a drive that led to Alex Henery's 45-yard field goal.

All but one of his completions were of the short, controlled variety, but he did hit wide receiver Niles Paul on a 45-yard fade route, Green placing the ball perfectly on Paul's outside shoulder. Two plays later, true freshman Traye Robinson skied into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown. That gave NU a 20-0 halftime lead.

“In the first half, things were rolling pretty good,” Green said.

But the freshman made a giant mistake midway through the third quarter, locking in on receiver Khiry Cooper, only to see Baylor safety Cliff Odom step in front of the pass at NU”s 45-yard line, pick it off and return it for an easy touchdown. Later, Green fumbled right after the Nebraska defense had forced BU to turn it over.

“It was just a late throw on my part,” Green said. “If I had thrown it a second earlier it would have been a completion, but I threw it a second later...one thing you have to do is go back on the next drive and just forget about it. You have to have a memory like a goldfish.”

For the game, Green completed 12 of 21 passes for 128 yards and rushed for 43 yards.

“He had some rough spots,” Watson said. “He did some things freshmen sometimes do first time out. He's got a lot to get better at, but, no doubt – he competed. He gave us some nice runs and did some good things. We didn't ask him to do much. We just asked him to kind of manage us. He had the one pick. Gotta get that fixed.”

Fortunately, Green had plenty of help.

NU got on the board quickly, as another true freshman – linebacker Eric Martin – bulled his way through Baylor's punt protection and partially blocked Derek Epperson's punt. The ball floated sideways and was caught by backup defensive back Justin Blatchford, who darted hard to his left, tip-toed down the sideline, and leaped into the end zone just before he fumbled.

“I just hit (the blocker),” Martin said. “I didn't even know it was blocked until I hear the crowd yelling and I look around, and Blatchford is taking the ball back.”

Just 90 seconds into the game, the Huskers had a bigger lead – 7-0 – than they had enjoyed since the waning moments of the Missouri game.

NU's Blackshirts – particularly defensive tackle Jared Crick, who had a record-breaking game – made sure the lead held up. Tested again and again, the Huskers' defense held up. Cornerbacks Dejon Gomes and Prince Amukamara both notched interceptions of Baylor quarterback Nick Florence in Husker territory. Nebraska chased Baylor's fast receivers and running backs sideline-to-sideline, throwing them down for short or no gain.

And then there was Crick, who benefited from the Bears choosing to double-team All-American Ndamukong Suh. Crick, just a sophomore out of Cozad, had a school-record five sacks.

“It could have been anyone today with all of those stats,” Crick said. “It is just a group effort.”

The final one of the first half, in which Crick bulled through two blockers and engulfed Florence in a massive bear hug, was as impressive as any play Suh's made this season. NU had seven sacks overall.

“Is that a monster game by him, or what?” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “He just plays his tail off. He's strong, he's fast. Offenses? I don't know – they've just got to deal with him, because they started the game putting the center toward Suh, and it just makes them look foolish.”

Said Bo Pelini: “Jared's too good of a player if they're gonna do that.”

For the game, Baylor amassed 270 total yards, but ran 11 more plays than the Huskers did. The Bears (3-5 overall, 0-4 in the Big 12) thrice invaded NU territory after cutting the lead to ten. Once, kicker Ben Parks missed a field goal. On the second foray, Baylor turned the ball over on downs. The game clock ran out on their final charge, which occurred after a bizarre punt return that included three laterals and a touchdown-saving tackle by punter Alex Henery.

“We had plays at the end and we didn't do it,” BU quarterback Nick Florence said. “We fought hard in the second half, it was valiant effort, but it does hurt when it is so close.”

NU was left concerned with its running game, which produced just 145 yards and failed to deliver on several third down situations in the second half.

“Absolutely,” Pelini said when asked if he was concerned. “It's a huge concern. We've got to be able to run the football better. We didn't run the ball to my liking today.”

Said Husker center Jacob Hickman: “It was just missed communications that caused that. The effort was there.”

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“I'm a strong believer in culture. My vision I have for this football team – that process is well under way. I cannot proclaim it has completely taken over yet. It is a process. And it's not something that happens overnight. I understood that coming in.”

-- Bo Pelini, Nebraska Football Head Coach.

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Quarterbacks and boos and media and questions and turnovers and rankings and sound bytes and fans and -

Oh, yeah. Breakfast with Iowa State.

The Cyclones are playing with house money. Free as the bird that serves as their mascot. At 4-3, ISU doesn't have much to lose other than the health of its two best offensive skill players, quarterback Austen Arnaud and running back Alexander Robinson.

Iowa State can pull out the stops, or play it cool to keep it reasonably close.

Nebraska, meanwhile, needs to win, and look good doing it.

Head coach Bo Pelini preaches high standards. That's good. He's not satisfied with nine-win seasons. He asks for perfection because, in his words, “you get what you ask for.” He coaches a tenacious, active game in search of execution and mental toughness. And he's good after a loss - better, maybe, than after a win.

The man was in his element this week. He's got his team buying into an us-against-the-world mentality. Bo served as point guard on Monday with his “buck stops here” comments, and as bookend on Thursday with a similar statement. Fans may perceive Pelini as angry. Not precisely. He's trying to use a difficult loss – a stunning loss, really – as a rallying point to quickly reverse course.

Pelini doesn't believe in a panic button. It doesn't mean he isn't pushing some other buttons.

On to the keys.

Playing Harder and Smarter: Nebraska's offense has been a little too cute over the last two weeks. Power football out of a shotgun spread, four-wide set? Oh, sure, you can do it. But defenses have to respect the quarterback and the receivers. And, right now, that's not happening. Both Texas Tech and Missouri left linebackers on the field to cover NU's wideouts, confident that quarterback Zac Lee either couldn't or wouldn't find open guys.

That hunch was right. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson often talks about taking what a defense gives. But what Tech gave wasn't a schematic advantage. It was an athletic challenge. And the Huskers weren't up to it.

Watson's gameplan was in the right place. But the troops couldn't execute it. Which means – find something they can.

Maybe that's straight power stuff. Maybe that's the zone read with Cody Green. Nebraska can't stray too far from its original design, but it may need to shed a few play pounds to get to the core of its success.

And the offensive line? Well, you already know – don't you? So do they.

Steep incline: If Big 12 defenses were a treadmill, ISU is about to hit a massive elevation change. The Cyclones have not faced a defense as complete as Nebraska's since the Iowa game, and the Hawkeyes' front four is a notch below the Huskers. Throw in a motivated Memorial Stadium crowd – they'll be back Saturday, with a vengeance – and this is toughest game that Iowa State has had this year. If NU can pounce early, ISU won't put up too much of a fight.

Wounded Clones: Arnaud and Robinson won't be 100 percent on Saturday, and how the game progresses may determine the length of time they're in the game. Again – that's why the quick start is so important. ISU coach Paul Rhoads isn't going to worsen Robinson's groin injury by running him while down 21 points.

Arnaud will test that throwing hand early. He's not a great passer to begin with, and his backup, Jerome Tiller, is more of a big-play runner than he is passer.

Where's Mike? Nebraska tight end Mike McNeill has played roughly 50 percent of the snaps in each of the two previous games, and most of those were in the second half. McNeill wants to win more than anything – but he'll never turn down the ball.

“I've ran pretty good routes this year and I'm moving pretty well,” McNeill said. “I think I'm open sometimes. But I'm not always in the quarterback's progression, or maybe he's got another throw he's got to make. It's not like I'm running down the field and no one sees me.”

It's just that Lee hasn't been throwing him the ball very much.

Ditto for the rest of the tight ends. What's happened here over the last several weeks? NU tries to throw the ball to Kyler Reed two times a game, and calls it good. Ben Cotton, Dreu Young and Ryan Hill – all pretty capable receiving options – rarely get their names called. McNeill catches just about everything in the vicinity, but it's like he's one of the fallow parks on the edge of the Lincoln city limits. What gives?

The Specials: Iowa State has some return and kicking weapons that could account for field position and/or a touchdown. Nebraska has to find the vibe it had going before the Missouri game. Even punter/kicker Alex Henery's been a little off.

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So now it's the media. Now it's the fans. So now it's about whether you played college football.

"No one knows what's going on in our meeting and practice room,” Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee said. “Only we know. That's how it is.”

“He feels like the whole state of Nebraska is against him,” head coach Bo Pelini said of Lee. “That would affect anybody.”

“I feel sorry for him tremendously,” competitor Cody Green said. “I wish I could take some of the pain off of him. I just don't want that feeling for anybody, that a whole state would jump on somebody's bandwagon one second, and jump off the next.”

“We won't have a split locker room at all,” Ndamukong Suh said. “I know that's what you guys are looking for, and that's your little thing, you want to see who's going to go for Cody, who's going to go for Zac.”

“Did you play?” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson asked a reporter. “If you did, you would understand what I'm talking about.”

The comments and sentiment seemed designed to rally around Lee, whom Pelini and Watson – not the fans, not the media – yanked twice from a 31-10 loss to Texas Tech.

But this is a team overreacting, frankly, to a situation that happens just about everywhere. Fans boo. The media speculates. You think this is potentially divisive? Head back to 1995, when arguably the best team in college football history was split to the core over Brook Berringer and Tommie Frazier. Head back to 1997, when Scott Frost received a chorus of boos with a 13-2 starting record. Head back to 1999, when Eric Crouch left the program for a couple hours.

It. Happens.

Nebraska's response Tuesday was to take pity on Lee, and re-frame his performance – indeed the whole offense – as part of a great rebuilding/development process. Watson actually talked about how much it hurt to lose Lydon Murtha, Matt Slauson and Jaivorio Burkes in the offseason. He hasn't uttered those first two names since last spring.

Now, suddenly, Lee's “logging time” at the quarterback position, making up for lost reps he didn't get last year because Patrick Witt was the backup. Huh? A month ago, after a dazzling performance vs. Arkansas State, Watson called Lee “lights out, a cool customer.” Two weeks ago, after a 27-12 win over Missouri, Watson said “this is the moment we've been waiting for.”

Tuesday, when a reporter rightly pointed out that Lee is not a new player in the system – he's been at Nebraska for two years now – Watson touched off this exchange:

“But they're playing for the first time. You don't get it. Did you play?”

Not at this level, the reporter responded.

“OK. Well, if you did, you would understand what I'm talking about. It takes time to develop those things. It just doesn't come natural.”
Watson's trying to set the boundaries for his authority and leadership, which is fine. He's taken his share of shots across the bow in the last two weeks; he's allowed to dish a few out.

But his argument doesn't jibe, especially when Nebraska is considering starting Green, an 18-year-old who's admittedly become a “new quarterback” in the last month.

“I'm not going to lie, all I wanted to do is run,” Green said. “If I get in the game, just give me the ball, tell them get out of the way, I just want to take off running. Now I've learned how to manage an offense, when to take chances and when not to. Learn how to be a complete quarterback.”

Reporters tend to read into media performances too much. Joe Dailey, for example. But Green is smooth, assured, and smart for such a young player.

“I'll always tell Coach Watson just let me get hit one time,” Green said. “Whenever I get in, just let me run the ball, let me run right into somebody, let them try to break me, and then the butterflies will be gone, all that, and I'll be focused in. With the run, if I get in there, and we get the called play for me to run, I'm pretty sure y'all be able to see my smile from the press box.”

That kind of spirit is infectious.

Lee can have it, too. His smile after getting thwacked on an option play at Missouri said a lot about him. But that confidence was missing Tuesday. Lee's still the starter, technically, and although he wouldn't be my choice for Saturday vs. Iowa State, he's going to get every chance, I sense, to hold on to his job.

Curiously, he didn't own his mistakes vs. Texas Tech. Or, at least, he didn't own them in a way that suggested he played out of the ordinary.

“That's your opinion,” Lee said. “I didn't necessarily feel like that. There were some decisions that maybe looking back weren't the best decision. There were two or three of those, which is every game.
For whatever reason, we didn't have breakout plays. That's kind of the black and white of it. We didn't have plays we needed to make. And I'm the guy up front. That's just how it is.”

The “black and white of it” is that Lee didn't push the ball downfield to open receivers, and he didn't run for first downs that were available to him.

I'm surprised Lee didn't dimiss Pelini's “whole state of Nebraska” comment out of hand, especially when Lee claimed he didn't even hear the boos, most of which were aimed at the referees anyway.

The comment simply isn't true anyway. After practice Monday, some kids milled around Memorial Stadium, and asked to take a picture with Lee. Were they against him? Of course not.

And while Lee is able to articulate that, he did not Tuesday.

“It's not easy, being in this state and being in this situation,” Lee said. “It is what it is.”

True. It's also a job a lot of kids would kill to have for 12 seconds. Would Lee?

See also: Cool Husker Hoops Photos

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Three days after getting pulled in Nebraska's 31-10 loss to Texas Tech, quarterback Zac Lee brushed off his performance, suggesting the Huskers' woeful offensive output was related to a “lack of breakout plays.”

Asked if he was too hesitant or cautious Saturday – Lee was sacked five times and completed 16 passes for just 128 yards – the junior from San Francisco disagreed.

“That's your opinion,” Lee said during Tuesday's press conference. “I didn't necessarily feel like that. There were some decisions that maybe looking back weren't the best decisions. There were two or three of those, which is every game.

“For whatever reason, we didn't have breakout plays. That's kind of the black and white of it. We didn't have plays we needed to make. And I'm the guy up front. That's just how it is.”

Earlier in the press conference, head coach Bo Pelini said Lee felt like “the whole state of Nebraska was against him” after fans booed Lee's final pass attempt – a fourth-down overthrow of Niles Paul that ended up in the visitors' tunnel, capping a bewildering ten-minute, zero-point drive in which Lee frequently audibled while the clock ticked away and threw dump passes to Marcus Mendoza.

Said Lee: “That could be how (Pelini) is viewing it. It's not easy, being in this state and being in this situation. It is what it is. Nothing I can really do about it except go out on Saturday and do my thing.”

Lee said he didn't hear the boos. Pelini was “disappointed” with fans, but added that Lee has “got to learn to handle that, the 'negativity' and just go out and play.”

Freshman Cody Green, who's now competing with Lee for the starting job, said he “felt sorry” for his teammate, echoing Pelini's comments about the state turning against Lee.

“I just don't want that feeling for anybody, that a whole state would jump on somebody's bandwagon one second, and jump off the next,” Green said. “...on the inside I'm pretty sure it's eating at him, but on the outside he doesn't show it one bit.”

The best remedy?

“You fight through, you persevere, you take a I'll-show-you attitude,” Pelini said.

Lee said he already does that because he was forced to take the junior college route out of high school.

“That's kind of my mentality regardless of the situation,” he said.

Pelini indicated that Lee is technically the starter until Green takes the job away. That said, Green also sat in front of the entire reporting pool on Tuesday for the first time, talking to the media for more than 15 minutes.

Lee said it's a normal practice week for him, as Nebraska's coaches act as if every job on the field is up for grabs.

“I know you guys honestly don't believe that, but we really do,” Lee said. “That's how it is...we compete every week. We don't take anything for granted.”

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Jacob Hickman doesn't like the circumstances that brought Nebraska's football team to a defining moment in its season. But the NU center isn't about to argue with the new offensive game plan.

“They're gonna shift it onto our shoulders this week,” Hickman said.

Meaning the offensive line. The bunch that helped produce just 70 yards rushing in a 31-10 loss to Texas Tech will be counted upon, Hickman said, to carry the load while the Cornhuskers try to settle on a starting quarterback and running back Roy Helu deals with a shoulder stinger.

“We're gonna go out there and run the ball out of every set we've got and see what works best for us,” Hickman said after practice Monday. “When they're committed to the run at that level I really like that. It's now on our shoulders.”

Expect NU, 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12 Conference, to “get big,” Hickman said, and use more heavy, tight end-laden sets that calls for the quarterback – be it Zac Lee or Cody Green – to stay under center. Against Missouri, the Huskers used a four tight-end, “W” set to score the game's final touchdown.

“There's going to be more plays that we like,” Hickman said. “We might get big some more. We didn't get big last year; that wasn't our identity. We're gonna get big sometimes (now).”

To prepare for it, the Huskers had a fully-padded practice Monday, with lots of “good on good,” head coach Bo Pelini said. Typically NU practices in shells on Monday.

“We do that now and then,” Pelini said. “I thought today was the right day.”

Lee and Green split snaps quarterback hours after Pelini said the starter would be determined as in a “gametime decision.”

Both “did some good things” Monday, Pelini said. He didn't elaborate, nor seem interested in breaking down the battle.

“Everybody wants to focus on the quarterback position, “We've got to execute around the quarterback. There's a lot of things that go into enabling the quarterback to play well.”

Hickman said he has a good rapport with both. The senior also added that the Unity Council talked Sunday about making sure the race doesn't become divisive inside the team, no matter how fans or the media might handicap it. Lee was booed by portions of the Memorial Stadium crowd on his last pass of the Texas Tech game, a fourth-down misfire that ended up in the visitors' tunnel.

You can't have picking sides,” Hickman said, “because then you'll have a situation like we had two years ago, when we had some problems with guys picking sides and not trusting certain people.”

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