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. 40 Tim Marlowe - Muted impact at wide receiver, where he didn’t catch a pass. As a kick returner, he served beside Niles Paul for the last half of the season and mostly held his own; like Paul in his first year, Marlowe was occasionally too impatient for blocks to set up. He’ll have to work hard to make it on the field as a receiver. He’s a top guy on the return units, however.

No. 39 Dejon Gomes/Alfonzo Dennard - We obviously had these too low, but, then, it was hard to gauge the impact of what were then two backup cornerbacks. Gomes is a stud - athletic, opportunistic, a competitor and humble. Dennard has pro talent in every which way - hops, speed, aggression. Both are on NFL caliber players, and part of the best secondary in America in 2010.

No. 38 Jason Ankrah/Andrew Green - If you had to pick two freshmen that Carl Pelini was most excited about heading into 2010, these two would be neck and neck with Eric Martin. Green, from all reports, is precisely the kind of man/zone corner Nebraska needs. Ankrah is a promising defensive end product with a prototypical frame.

No. 37 Antonio Bell - In hindsight, he should have redshirted and taken a year to bulk up and learn how to block in Ted Gilmore’s system. Bell has plenty of receiving talent, but lacks confidence and physicality.

No. 36 Colton Koehler - After playing quite a bit in the first two games, Koehler fell back to third string linebacker - behind Phillip Dillard and Will Compton - and played sparingly. Still - “Farm Dog” was a good team guy, and a player Husker fans will remember fondly.

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Air Raid. Spread. No huddle. Zone read. Fly sweep. Wildcat.

After years of offensive fads in the Big 12, get ready for a defensive one: The Match Read Zone. The name that’s been given to Bo Pelini’s spread-killing defense. A system that’s not easy to get down but - much like a match-up zone defense in basketball - can be hard to crack.

You can be plenty sure league defensive coordinators have been paying attention to Pelini since he arrived in the Big 12. You can also be sure they took notes as Bo dismantled Texas and Colt McCoy with it.

Why does it work? Because it’s zone, masquerading as man, taking away the simplest throws for a quarterback. Because it’s aggressive against bubble and tunnel screens. Because Nebraska has the back seven personnel - and the four-man pass rush - to pull it off.

It’s a perfect storm of sorts that met the two perfectly vulnerable - though normally productive - spread offenses - Texas and Arizona - at the end of the season.

Bo’s the new fad of the Big 12. With two of the offensive gurus - Mike Leach and Mark Mangino - floating away on rafts made of their own egos, the problem to solve for 2010 won’t be how to stop their passing games. But how to crack Bo Vinci Code.

Two-tight end formations - which forces Nebraska to replace corners with linebackers - might be part of the solution. Straight power football might be another. With a full season of tape to view, offensive coordinators will begin to chip away at the few weaknesses the Blackshirts possessed in 2010. Washington, armed with a good quarterback (Jake Locker) and even better playcaller (head coach Steve Sarikisian) will pit its West Coast principles vs. Match Read excellence.

Much like he declared the Huskers back for good after the Holiday Bowl, Pelini has set the bar for his defense, at, oh, only “five times better” than it was this year. Statistically, trust us, it’s basically impossible. So we can presume Pelini is talking experience, expertise and playmaking ability.

Nebraska looks to have the nation’s best secondary in 2010. Credit Pelini and position coach Marvin Sanders for just about all of it, as Prince Amukamara and Eric Hagg were merely raw prospects in spring 2008, and Alfonzo Dennard, Dejon Gomes and P.J. Smith - all projected starters - weren’t yet on campus. Is it on par with the 2003 unit, Pelini’s first college secondary, that featured three future NFL starters in Fabian Washington, Josh Bullocks and Daniel Bullocks, and led the nation in interceptions? Potentially.

The front four loses Ndamukong Suh. He will be sorely missed - and don’t let pundits or even the Brothers Pelini attempt to sweep his departure under the rug. Suh was arguably most valuable on screens, draws, shovel passes and backside running plays. A stat nobody kept track of: How many first downs Suh - and Suh alone - saved by peeling back to make downfield tackles. And you can’t teach his instincts for pass defense and finding the ball. What’s left is pretty good. But Suh made that unit dynamic and versatile.

The warning flags appear to be at linebacker. It was telling that, in the last half of the season, Gomes and Hagg were serving as de facto linebackers on key downs, as opposed to Will Compton and Sean Fisher. Spread passing teams carry light cargo, and allow Nebraska to get away it. But almost half of NU’s opponents in 2010 can and will go heavy. And if Pelini found it necessary to pick up JUCO linebacker LaVonte David, it speaks, potentially, to the health and inexperience of some of the guys behind Compton and Fisher. Eric Martin is a exciting playmaker as a sophomore, but he won’t see the field until he knows the defense.

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Can NU keep its defensive staff intact for one more season? After 2010, all bets are off, because Carl Pelini, Marvin Sanders, John Papuchis and Mike Ekeler could easily be headed for head coach/coordinator roles somewhere. Can Bo Pelini convince them to see through one more potentially championship-winning season? We’ll know for sure in the next two weeks.

How does Bo adjust to life without Suh? No. 93 can’t be replaced, so that option is out. But the remaining pieces on the defensive line - Jared Crick is chief among them - are pretty solid. Of course NU retains a base four-man look, with Crick at his spot, Terrence Moore plugging the nose, and Pierre Allen and Cameron Meredith crashing on the ends.

Do Sean Fisher and Will Compton keep developing? We have no reason to think they won’t - but, with at least five offenses on the 2010 schedule requiring a nickel-or-base defense - Washington, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Colorado and Kansas State fit that bill - NU needs two - not just one - of Mike Ekeler’s guys to perform at the level Phillip Dillard reached in 2009. And it doesn’t appear JUCO linebacker LaVonte David will hit the scene until fall.

How do Mathew May and Matt Holt fit back into the defense? Both injured in 2009 - May played mostly on special teams, Holt didn’t play while recovering from a torn ACL - these two walk-on breakout players of 2008 will have to fight for time in what’s become one of the nation’s defenses. They’ll get a look, because they have the size - and speed - to stay on the field in a dime set as a hybrid linebacker/safety.

What defensive wrinkles get unfurled in 2010? One option just to chew on: A three-man line that kicks Crick out to a hybrid tackle/end, uses a heftier Meredith at the other end, and sticks Moore - or maybe true freshman Jay Guy at that true nose tackle spot. We suspect Bo and Carl get creative with the players on hand.

Does Eric Hagg stay at nickel, or rotate back to free safety? And, if the latter, does Rickey Thenarse shift down into Hagg’s role? Thenarse is a wild card best used 10-15 times per game then he left on the field for 60 minutes. The rest of the secondary - Prince Amukamara and Alfonzo Dennard at the corners, Dejon Gomes at slot corner, P.J. Smith at strong safety, Austin Cassidy, Lance Thorell and Anthony West as priority backups - seems pretty set. Our take: Keep Hagg where he is, pick your spots with Thenarse, and give Cassidy a long look at Matt O’Hanlon’s starting job.

Who is this year’s Dejon Gomes? Thad Randle? Alonzo Whaley? Courtney Osborne? Smith? Cassidy? Andrew Green? Jason Ankrah? That’s what’s fun about prognosticating, isn’t it?

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The defining image of Nebraska's 2009 defense, if you want to get right down to it, isn't brute, spectacular play of Ndamukong Suh.

He's the best player in college football, deserving of the Heisman. But his interception for a touchdown in last year's Colorado game – and subsequent violent celebration – was the image of 2008. Suh elevated his game in 2009, but that alone didn't make NU's defense one of the most potent in the nation.

Rather, I think of the Oklahoma game. A crucial fourth down as the Cornhuskers clung to a 10-3 lead. OU quarterback Landry Jones tried to sneak a quick out pass to Ryan Broyles, but Broyles was swamped with Nebraska defenders. So Jones searched the middle of the field.

Jared Crick tipped his subsequent pass. Phillip Dillard grabbed it for NU's fourth interception of the game. And then Dillard, as he arrived on the sidelines, received a massive bear hug from Carl Pelini.

That hug, nine months ago, would have seemed inconceivable.

Dillard was overweight heading into 2009 spring camp, his diet consisting in part, he admitted later, of rocky road ice cream. And Dillard was mad about his non-existent playing time in the Gator Bowl. That first day of spring ball, he was fourth in the middle linebacker line. Fourth.

I won't lie: It seemed like a stunt. And it seemed like a stunt in fall camp, when Dillard, having lost the necessary weight, languished on the depth chart. Even more so when he didn't play in the season's first two games despite reports of significant progress.

Then, suddenly, Dillard was switched to weakside linebacker for the Virginia Tech game. Early in the Missouri game, Pelini inserted him as the dime linebacker in a 27-12 win. After Will Compton blew an early assignment in the Texas Tech game, Dillard spelled him again, and never relinquished the job again.

And so that night vs. Oklahoma – Dillard's home state team. The program his half-brother he attends. The program Dillard himself spurned. Early in the game, a sack. Another excellent play on a screen pass. Finally – the interception. And the bear hug.

The 10-3 win is better remembered for Matt O'Hanlon's three-interception redemption. But Dillard, the ultimate lost cause, was located by Pelini, and embraced. And Dillard hugged him back. A pigskin prodigal son story, if there ever was one.

That was Nebraska's defense in 2009. A leap in skill, conditioning, speed, smarts – and faith. Bo and Carl Pelini trusted an oft-burned secondary to change its ways; after a massive meltdown vs. Virginia Tech, it did just that. They asked for Barry Turner to get bigger and transform his game into that of a burly, physical end, and he did it. They asked Jared Crick to fill Ty Steinkuhler's shoes, and Crick busted the seams. They asked cornerback Dejon Gomes to learn on the fly and save Nebraska's hide with timely plays in several games, and the junior-college transfer did the trick.

Talent + teaching = development. The Brothers Pelini worked that formula like a M.I.T professor.

Their summary statement was a resounding performance in the Big 12 title game, well beyond any effort that I could have imagined. NU's defense was jaw-droppingly excellent. Its secondary was in lockdown mode. Dillard pursued and tackled with energy. And Suh, well, you saw the performance. Amazing.

Here's the highlights – and the few lowlights – of the 2009 season defense.

Player of the Year: Ndamukong Suh. He's the defensive player of the decade at Nebraska. Best defender ever? Let the debate begin. And he hasn't reached his ceiling as a player yet. Wait until Suh learns some NFL tricks – especially a more effective rip move.

Most Improved: Phillip Dillard. Transformed himself from a Cosgrove casualty into a guy who will get a strong look from the NFL. Always played with heart, passion and toughness; in 2009, Dillard played faster and smarter, too.

Newcomer of the Year: Dejon Gomes. Other than Suh, he's my favorite player on the defense. Doesn't say much. Doesn't strut or draw penalties. Just covers his tail off. He really knows how to strip the ball, too – his interception in the Texas game was as much a fumble recovery as it was a pick.

Freshman of the Year: Cameron Meredith. Compton probably played more, but, with Meredith, there was no dropoff when he subbed for Barry Turner at defensive end. Size, speed, and a little nasty. Get used to his name and face. In two years..

Best Game: Texas. In a hostile atmosphere, NU did everything but send UT quarterback Colt McCoy back to high school. Nine sacks, three picks, too many hurries to count. It was a defensive coordinator's dream.

Worst Game: Texas Tech. The Brothers Pelini gambled early on some blitzes, and got burned by quarterback Steven Sheffield. Mike Leach had Nebraska off balance all day. If you need any evidence of Leach's game-planning prowess, here you go.

Best Single Performance: Ndamukong Suh, Texas. Suh's play at Missouri and O'Hanlon's work vs. Oklahoma are the runners up. But nothing beats Suh in Dallas. Fathers will tell their kids about it one day.

Biggest Plus in 2010: Secondary. The best in the nation – yes, even with new safeties. Expect nickel corner Eric Hagg to move O'Hanlon's spot, while P.J. Smith transitions to Larry Asante's role more smoothly than you might imagine.

Biggest Question Mark: Defensive Line Depth. Meredith and Pierre Allen need backups to emerge at the end spots. Carl Pelini must decide if Terrence Moore can handle the nose, or Baker Steinkuhler, who's a little too lanky for the position, mans it instead.

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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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Of course you're sick this morning. Drained. Ticked off. Shaking your fist at the lords of football, who like to pit Texas' Lucy to Nebraska's Charlie Brown.

UT 13 NU 12. Feels like a thump to the gut, doesn't it? Stinkin' Texas.

Well, savor the punch. Enjoy the pain. It's been awhile since it's hurt this much. The loss Saturday night dampens spirits in the short-term - and robs NU of some extra BCS cash – but it'll sharpen the Cornhuskers in the offseason.

You might as well put the 00:01 on all the Memorial Stadium clocks.

The Huskers have their ax to grind for 2010. Nearly 16 years after the eerily-similar 1994 Orange Bowl – NU as the underdog, the controversial calls, the dominating defense, the boneheaded penalties – there is, once again, the very definition of unfinished business.

No matter what happens in the bowl game – think Holiday, think the younger Stoops' scrappy Arizona bunch – Nebraska defined its 2009 season with 60 minute of physical, emotion football inside Cowboys Stadium. It's one thing to preach “us against the world.” It's another to actually play like it, drawing admiration and respect, I'm sure, from a giant television audience who expected to watch two quarters of UT's coronation pageant to Pasadena and instead were treated to four hours gladiatorial defense.

The Brothers Pelini had Texas' offense – and its dazed, shattered quarterback, Colt McCoy – dead to rights. Schemed perfectly. The blitzes -except for one, on 3rd-and-16 in the fourth quarter - were smart. Dejon Gomes was spectacular. Barry Turner went into Beast Mode. Prince Amukamara and Eric Hagg mostly held up under withering pressure.

“They proved tonight: They can line up across from anyone in the country and whip their tails,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “That's what we did: 200 total yards.”

And Ndamukong Suh? Well – you saw him, didn't you? It's Heisman time.

“If Suh didn't win the Heisman tonight, it's a disgrace to college football,” Pelini said.

McCoy was reduced, mostly, to throwing jump balls to Jordan Shipley and Malcolm Williams. A few worked. A few drew costly NU penalties. Most of them were quails thrown into the bleachers. Nebraska beat up him up – physically and mentally. (If Texas doesn't luck out, and Hunter Lawrence doesn't nail that kick, McCoy maybe doesn't recover. For years. You saw it on his panic-stricken face. He needed that win like a liver transplant.)

NU's special teams, aside from one wayward kickoff from Adi Kunalic, were superb. Alex Henery pounded out four field goals – second team All Big 12, eh? - and punted so Shipley couldn't make a big return. Niles Paul had two clutch returns. Eric Martin blocked a punt.

In two phases of the game, the Huskers did practically everything right. And those are the two phases into which head coach Bo Pelini has poured the bulk of his authority and trust.

The utter failure of Nebraska's offense is why a loss, painful as it is now, is ultimately beneficial to Bo.

Saturday night, there was no “winning formula” to hide behind. Nebraska, after all, didn't win. Bo didn't make many excuses for his offense after the loss, and he shouldn't. The Huskers gained 106 total yards. They were awful.

The offensive line, slow and injured, had no answer for Texas' speed and blind commitment to the stop the run. Nebraska's receivers couldn't shake UT's cornerbacks downfield. Roy Helu ran without balance or ballast. Rex Burkhead did, but never had a decent hole in which to apply it.

Zac Lee ran the option like a high school freshman. He lacks a ounce of wiggle in his running style, and he is bound, in the bowl game or next year, to separate a shoulder or sustain a concussion if he keeps it up. Many of his passes were hopeful balloons tossed into coverage. Lee cannot throw a competent fade route near the end zone. His short passes are darts. Sometimes catchable, sometimes not.

Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson's playbook has been reduced to a shell of its former self. He didn't call a single trick play. Not a single toss play. Not a single option pass. No bubble or tunnel screens. No empty sets. No throws to Mike McNeill. No deep shots to anyone but Paul. It was a ridiculous plan relying on an otherworldly performance from the defense.

“We have to develop our quarterback and develop our receivers and keep working,” Watson said afterward. He then said, on four separate occasions in five minutes, that NU's offense had “a lot of growing up to do.” And not by getting taller.

Well, it shouldn't take two years for that to happen. Lee's been in Lincoln nearly three years. Aside from Brandon Kinnie and Khiry Cooper, all of Nebraska's receivers had spent ample time in the program. Why haven't they been developed already? How can Gomes step into a much more difficult role as a hybrid running back/linebacker and become a stud, while Lee and his receivers – aside from Paul – have regressed?

And what gave the coaches such jitters about Cody Green? What – he couldn't have thrown for 39 yards and three interceptions Saturday night?

Watson doesn't have to answer to the media. He does have to answer to Bo. And this pitiful showing allows Bo to open the door to change. Whatever it is – NU should take the bowl game, and all practices leading up to it, to start, to at least begin addressing what this offense became during the last half of the season, and whether Lee can be reasonably salvaged as a big-time college quarterback. If not – work like mad to get Green ready and rehab Kody Spano, whom, by the sound of it, was the most mature guy on the bunch before he twice tore up his knee.

Scheme, personnel, coaching staff – all of it should be up for grabs. Especially if Turner Gill goes to Kansas, and happens to be looking for some offensive help.

Bo has to be bold here. Nebraska showed Saturday – it's close. Actually, it's even closer than that. Add a heavy dose of angst, and NU is the Big 12 show pony in 2010.

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For a second, it seemed as though it would slip to the left, just wide of the goalpost. Like it did for Nebraska in the 1994 Orange Bowl – a game that mirrored Saturday night in so many unforgettable, painful ways.

But Texas kicker Hunter Lawrence's 46-yard field goal as time expired held its course. Texas 13 Nebraska 12, as the partisan crowd of burnt orange in Cowboys Stadium exploded with glee.

Lawrence jumped into the arms of his holder, Jordan Shipley. The Longhorn sideline rushed Lawrence to hoist him on its collective shoulder. UT quarterback Colt McCoy, who looked confused and stricken most of the night, his Heisman hopes up in smoke, walked around in stunned disbelief.

The Cornhuskers, meanwhile, felt like they have during all but once vs. the Longhorns in the Big 12 era – robbed. Only moreso this time – as, for a brief moment, Nebraska believed it had won the game on the backs of four Alex Henery field goals when McCoy's final pass was thrown away out of bounds, and the stadium clock expired.

“We thought the game was over,” wide receiver Niles Paul said.

But replay officials reviewed the play, and judged – correctly, by all accounts – that one second remained.

Head coach Bo Pelini said he didn't get an explanation on the field. He wouldn't address that question, or any other about officiating, which, at broad glance, favored Texas.

A composed, proud Pelini instead tipped his white cap to Texas - “I hope they win the national championship – and applauded the effort of his team - which battled UT to the wire – and his defense, which held the Longhorns to 202 total yards, forced three turnovers and sacked McCoy and mind-boggling nine times.

“Our guys got after them,” Pelini said. “It was a tremendous effort...I'm proud of them. They're champions. I'm proud of how they put Nebraska on the map. They just kept fighting. That's what this group has done all year long. Nobody gave us a chance going into that football game tonight.”

The few that did certainly didn't think NU could actually win the game amassing just 106 total yards – the 308 total for both teams was the lowest in Big 12 history - and quarterback Zac Lee throwing three interceptions. The Blackshirts, staking a late-but-vibrant claim for the nation's best defense, kept extraordinary tabs on McCoy and UT's high-flying offense despite some second-half busts of which Texas couldn't take advantage.

Ndamukong Suh made his own case for the Heisman Trophy with 4.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss and 12 tackles overall. On several more plays, Suh harassed McCoy out of the pocket. His most memorable takedown was a tackle at the line of scrimmage – with a one arm.

“They just whipped us,” Texas coach Mack Brown said.

Just to stay in the game – the Blackshirts didn't have much of a choice. NU's offense produced its lowest output in the last 25 years, and needed a late surge on its final drive just crack 100. Given terrific field position much of the night, Nebraska only once moved into Texas' red zone – and that was following Niles Paul's 43-yard punt return. Lee completed just 6 of 19 passes for 39 yards and three interceptions. Nebraska averaged just 1.9 yards per carry. Its longest gain – of any kind – was 17 yards.

“We couldn't get any movement up front,” Pelini said. “(Texas) is a good defense. Formidable group. Very talented. Well-coached. Our formula to win was to hang in there. We had a chance to win at the end.”

Indeed. That 17-yard gain was Lee's zone read scamper at the beginning of NU's final drive. Three plays later, he hit Brandon Kinnie for a 16-yard gain to the Huskers in Henery's field goal range. Henery then nailed a 43-yarder to give Nebraska a 12-10 lead with 1:43 remaining in the game.

“I hit it well,” Henery said. “I was excited.”

Nebraska's defense, which had only allowed one drive over 42 yards all night, merely had to do its job.

That's when the ghosts of 1994 swooped in.

Kickoff specialist Adi Kunalic who had pinned Texas with excellent kickoffs all night, thumped one out of bounds. UT started its drive, thus, just 30 yards away from Lawrence's range.

It took Texas a single play to get in it, as McCoy his Shipley on a slant for 19 yards, and safety Larry Asante was flagged for a horse-collar tackle. Only seven seconds had expired.

Inexplicably, UT – holding a timeout – almost never got to kick that field goal. The Longhorns lost four yards on the next two plays – and didn't call a timeout. And so, with the clock rolling under ten seconds, McCoy leisurely took the snap, rolled to his right when chased by Suh, and threw the ball nearly into stadium seats. He threw it so far, in fact – the stadium clock dialed down to zero.

Nebraska burst off the sidelines. Pelini held a fist in the air.

Wait a minute.

“I thought the time was over,” Suh said. “I mean – it wasn't. From that point on, our job as a defensive line and as a team is to block that field goal.”

Said Paul: “A lot of us were upset. The referee felt like there was one second left on the clock. That was their decision.”

You know the rest, as 13-0 Texas heads to the BCS National Championship game, and Nebraska likely heads to the Holiday Bowl to play Arizona. That pairing should be announced officially on Sunday.

In the first half, it was as if Pelini dictated a script for Nebraska's defense, and Texas' offense, willing stenographers, happily complied. A masterful web of defense that held the Longhorns to just 121 total yards.

NU's front four blasted UT's offensive line into the backfield, immediately putting McCoy on his heels. The Longhorn quarterback, his short options robbed of him, struggled to find receivers downfield, and scrambled fruitlessly toward the sidelines, or into an oncoming rush. Then he'd trudge back to the bench, don a headset and try to figure just what the Blackshirts were doing to him.

McCoy's second pass of the game was batted up in the air by Pierre Allen and intercepted by Eric Hagg at the UT 41-yard line. After Rex Burkhead converted a fourth-and-short – replay officials reversed an official spot that left Burkhead short – kicker Alex Henery nailed a 45-yard field goal.

Two drives later, cornerback Prince Amukamara stepped in front of another McCoy pass, plucked it from the air, and kept his left toe inbounds for NU's second interception. Henery thumped a 52-yard field goal after Nebraska failed to convert a third-and-1.

Halfway through the first half, the Cornhuskers led 6-0. After linebacker Eric Martin partially blocked a punt to begin the second quarter, leaving NU with the ball at UT's 37-yard line, the margin seemed destined to grow.

But UT cornerback Aaron Williams intercepted Lee on the first play, tracking NU receiver Niles Paul step-for-step on a go route, picking off the ball in the end zone when Lee's slow balloon finally drifted back to the playing field.

Texas slowly began to adjust the field position over its next two drives, its defense stuffing every power play Nebraska attempted right at the line of scrimmage. The Huskers rushed 18 times in the first half. They gained 24 yards. When Henery, backed up in his own end, managed just a 31-yard punt to NU's 42-yard line, the Longhorns had the opening they needed.

McCoy hit Shipley for 13 yards. Williams, leaping over Amukamara, for 16. Then, on a third-and-long, officials flagged Hagg for pass interference in the end zone. Texas got the ball at the NU 4, and scored on McCoy's draw two plays later.

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Just in case you haven’t come out of that rain-fueled reverie from last Thursday, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach delivered a public service announcement Saturday. More like a warning, with that 66-14 drubbing his Red Raiders hung on Kansas State. KSU isn’t particularly good. But the Wildcats aren’t 52 points that bad either.

Yes – just like playing at Tech wasn’t as hard as it seemed last year, this year’s game won’t be as easy as it seems. In many ways, the “Air Raid” system is better than Missouri’s spread offense, especially in creating big plays for the running backs, which Mizzou’s system doesn’t do so well.

If NU thinks it can get chuffed and proud, the Huskers had better cleanse their system of that incredible comeback win before Leach and Co. head to town. Once thing about Leach: He simply doesn’t care. He’ll boot players, bluff his own athletic director and happily serve as a hypocrite when he chastises players for the seeking the publicity he hounds. He just doesn’t care. Leach is a football mercenary for hire – Texas Tech has him tied to long-term contract – whose measurement of success is racking up points and yards.

My wife and I were watching a YouTube clip on Leach. Some nonsense about dating advice and pirate obsessions.

“He’s kind of a clown,” my wife said. Molly’s a pretty polite girl; she prefers half-insults unless we’re on the subject of bad officiating.

“Well, maybe,” I said. “But he wins a lot of games.”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “He’s still a clown.”

As we await Leach’s circus on Saturday, we relive, one last time, the Mizzou win.

Five Players We Loved

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: You rarely get to see “legendary” defensive performances from a single player. On national TV, Suh delivered one. I’m not sure even he understood just what he’d done. In the coming weeks, if he makes a push for the Heisman, he will. The Missouri game was his launching pad.

Defensive back Dejon Gomes: He stuck to Mizzou receivers like glue all of Thursday night. Where’s he been? Doesn’t matter. Gomes needs to stay in the game, and off the bench.

Linebacker Philip Dillard: He’s re-established himself as Nebraska’s best linebacker. It took the coaches too long to realize it, but they’ve finally come around to Dillard’s brand of play and leadership.

Running back Rex Burkhead: Made a lot of little plays in the game, including a couple key third-down conversions. He’s excellent in open space, and getting better between the tackles.

Wide receiver Niles Paul: Oh, if only his confidence matched his raw talent. Maybe his fourth-quarter heroics vs. Missouri will clue Paul into the kind of player he can be – every game. He may want it a little too much. Paul needs to let the game come to him a little more often.

Three Concerns We Still Have

Depth and trust in the running game: It’s really hard to account for Nebraska’s deliberate choice to pass the ball, over and over, vs. the Tigers in the pouring rain. We keep hearing about all these guys in the box, but the Huskers pretty much abandoned the run until the game’s final drive and, then, embracing it with the heaviest of the heavy sets (four tight ends!), looked quite good. Where was that all game?

Punt snaps: Freshman P.J. Mangieri needs to figure this out. If Alex Henery wasn’t back there making incredible plays just to get the ball off, NU would have three or four blocked punts by now. Some were critical of Bo Pelini’s minor chew session of Mangieri, but the kid, young as he may be, is only on the team to do one thing. He needs to do it right.

A little too much offensive diversity: Nebraska flashed a ton of formations at Missouri Thursday night, and almost seemed to cross itself up. In big games, it’s not the chess match that wins, but the execution of your best stuff. What is Nebraska’s best stuff? We’re still waiting a little.

Reviewing The Five Keys

Mystery Ingredients: The weather definitely affected Nebraska (although offensive coordinator Shawn Watson called the game like it didn’t) and the flu bug kept five or six players under the weather. The power outage at Faurot Field threw another curveball the Huskers’ way, as the coaches were forced to conduct their locker room sessions by flashlight, essentially. For all that, for NU to still win the way it did – it’s character, plain and simple.

Zac Lee On the Road – Again: I wasn’t encouraged by Lee’s performance through three quarters, but he made some clutch throws in the fourth quarter to redeem the performance. Another plus: Lee put the ball in places where his offensive players could nab it. Unlike Blaine Gabbert, whose vision – not his ankle – was the real culprit Thursday night.

The First Impression: Nebraska’s defense sent a very different message in 2009; Suh and his front four mates made sure of it. Mizzou tried to run NU off the field on the first couple drives, but the Tigers slowed down out of necessity.

Stick or Quit: Missouri’s running game never really got shut down, but never got going, either. The Tigers threw too many passes, and too many of those passes were simply bad, telegraphed reads by Blaine Gabbert.

Pelini vs. Pinkel: Call it a draw, I suppose; both coaches failed to slow the game down with running attack, and both coaches made some gutsy decisions. Pinkel gambled and won on fourth down, while Pelini subbed out three starters – Anthpny West, Will Compton and Lance Thorell – to go with guys whom he thought would get the job done better. He was right.

Three Questions We Have

Is Nebraska ready for more, more, more? NU’s going to see one version or another of the spread from this point forward until Kansas State. Can it stick with the current gameplan used vs. Missouri, or must it alter the plan to fit the needs of each team and quarterback?

Time for Blackshirts? We think so. How about you?

Who’s the real Zac Lee? The kid who knocks em dead at home, or the head-scratcher on the road? Will we really learn anything this week? Maybe. Tech is easily the best home opponent Nebraska has faced this season.

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - Out of the darkness, and into the driver’s seat of the Big 12 North.

Faced with a 12-0 deficit at the beginning of the fourth quarter - having played some of the worst offensive football in recent memory - Nebraska’s football team turned on an unexpected switch, staging the largest final-quarter comeback in school history and taking an early – and crucial – lead in its league division.

NU scored three touchdowns in four minutes – assisted by two interceptions of Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert – to win 27-12 in front of Faurot Field’s 65,286 stunned, soaked fans, who sat through a 15-minute power outage one hour before the game and nearly three hours of the Tigers playing sloppy – but winning – football.

That changed one minute into the fourth, when quarterback Zac Lee – who almost yanked by offensive coordinator Shawn Watson – threw a 56-yard touchdown to wide receiver Niles Paul - who was yanked to start the second half – to cut Mizzou’s lead to 12-7.

“We caught them in a good coverage, and the safety played the middle hook route, and we got a post over the top,” Lee said. “That play really sparked us.”

Then defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh picked off the third pass of his career at the Tigers’ 18-yard line. Lee hit Paul again, seven seconds later, from 13 yards to give NU the lead for good.

“We just kept fighting,” head coach Bo Pelini said. “You can get down in situations like that, when things aren’t going your way and it’s pretty easy to feel sorry for yourself and let the game get away from you. We never let the game get away with us…I thought we showed a lot of character in every aspect.”

Once the Tigers fell behind, NU made sure not to give it back, either. Junior cornerback Dejon Gomes, who’d played sparingly until Thursday night, intercepted another Gabbert pass on Missouri’s next drive, returning it to the Tiger 10-yard line.

“The receiver broke out, I broke out with him, and I was in perfect position to look back at the quarterback,” Gomes said. “The ball was right there.”

Lee then threw his third touchdown pass of the night, an eight-yard floater to tight end Mike McNeill, who was wide open after blocking and pretending to stumble. Lee drew the defense to himself, then tossed into an open space, where McNeill ran under it.

“I just wanted to make sure I caught it,” McNeill said.

So Nebraska led 20-12, and forced a turnover on downs on Mizzou’s next drive, which briefly reached NU’s 22-yard line before a holding penalty – one of eight overall penalties – pushed the Tigers back to the 32. Gabbert threw four incomplete passes after that.

“There were a zillion penalties,” Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said.

NU ran the ball eight straight times for a final touchdown, highlighted by Roy Helu’s 41-yard sideline gallop. Helu, suffering from the flu, didn’t arrive in Columbia until Thursday morning.

By the end, Missouri fans were filing out, while a small, raucous contingency of Huskers waved them goodbye.

“It wasn’t the exact way we wanted to win,” Suh said. “But we’ll take it.”

Pelini said Suh – and the rest of the NU defense, which may be in line for a Blackshirt promotion after this – kept the Huskers in the game while the offense sputtered. Missouri gained just 225 yards, punted eight times and scored only ten points – and all of those came on a short field. Derrick Washington gained 80 yards on 20 carries, but never busted a long one until the game had been decided.

“They played their you-know-whats off,” Pelini said. “They played hard, they played well. And you can say that about everybody who lined up on defense. We played some pretty good football.”

The secondary repeatedly challenged Mizzou’s receivers – and won the battles. Gabbert, meanwhile, seemed out of sorts most of the night, and could have thrown more interceptions than the two he did – the Huskers had their hands on a number of his passes, which often looked telegraphed.

“He struggled a little bit,” Pinkel said of Gabbert, who completed just 17-of-43 passes for 134 yards and two interceptions.

Before the final quarter, Lee struggled a lot more than that. He’d lost a fumble, and completed just 9-of-27 passes heading into the final quarter.

“There was a time I was actually going to put Cody (Green) in and have him sit down and let him look at it a little bit,” Watson said. “But he’s just got great character. I thought about it for about a half-second and said ‘Nah.’

“He’s such a great competitor that he kept fighting through it.”

Said Lee: “The coaches trusted us. They have our back. We have their back.”

Nevertheless, Missouri forged a 12-0 lead with a big help from the offense and special teams. MU scored a safety when punter Alex Henery was forced to throw the ball out of his own end zone after a bad snap - one of several - from true freshman P.J. Mangieri. The Tigers' touchdown drive started on the NU 44-yard line. Its third-quarter field goal drive started at the NU 34.

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