Five keys to the non-conference season for NU's women's basketball team, which opens plays Friday vs, Davidson.

Kelsey's Killer Instinct: Nebraska forward Kelsey Griffin is plenty hungry after a season on the shelf, and her enthusiasm can help sweep the Huskers up into a red-hot start. NU has enough experience around Griffin, too, to fall right in line. The Huskers are getting a smarter, hungrier, healthier player than they had at the beginning of last year. That can't help be but a good thing.

The Prep Star: Freshman point guard Lindsey Moore is arguably the most decorated recruit of Connie Yori's tenure, and she'll be able to contribute in a controlled-but-effective role. NU already so many seasoned guards that Moore, unlike her male counterpart in Lance Jeter, won't be called upon to run the team. But Moore is definitely a spark plug with an extra gear in the passing department.

Staying Healthy: It simply goes without saying usually, but, with Yori's bunch, you have to say it. Injuries, really, are the only thing that holds these Huskers back from being a top 25 club.

Slaying the Tigers: LSU is Nebraska's marquee home game of the non-conference season; the Tigers should be in the top ten by the time the game rolls around Dec. 20. NU will have a full week to prepare for the game, and should give LSU its best shot.

Consistent shooting: Nebraska needs its 3-point shooters to post slightly better numbers than the 33 percent they nailed last year. Griffin's presence in the post should help free up those shots. Griffin herself can shoot them a little better, as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just some food for thought.

Y'all want some keys?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The 11-hour drive to Waco goes through Dallas. The road to Dallas, home of the Big 12 Championship game (Arlington if you prefer, at the Cowboys Stadium) goes first through Waco. And then OU, Lawrence, Kansas State and Boulder. One foot in front of the other.

The talk this week has been of quarterbacks and big offensive changes. As it should be. But the game itself, to quote Al Davis (who doesn't know much about the mantra lately) boils down to this: Just win, baby.

The keys.

Play to win, not to dominate: Saturday isn't about style points. It's about putting one foot in front of the other, grinding out a win against a lesser team, and doing it with as little fuss as possible. It's about trusting the defense and taking field goals if you're range instead of taking unnecessary chances toward the goal line. On kickoff and punt coverage, NU has to be safe before it's sorry. It doesn't mean NU should play not to lose. Rather, it should trust its advantages along the offensive and defensive lines and ride its trench soldiers to a victory. Saturday is not about the quarterback. We think it'll be Cody Green, as it should be, but he just has to get Nebraska's motor running. He doesn't have to shoot for the moon.

Match up and move it: Baylor's one real chance on offense is to attack Nebraska's secondary with long passes to its swift receivers. Given busts in the Virginia Tech and Iowa State game – it's a risk worth taking. NU's defensive backs need to locate BU's biggest threats before the snap, lock up and cover their tails off. The interceptions will be there for the taking; that's for sure.

Neutralize the earth-movers: For Baylor to have any chance of running the ball – which would help set up those long passes head coach Art Briles like so much – it has to account for Ndamukong Suh and Jared Crick. Quick hitting plays used by Texas Tech and Florida Atlantic (remember those days?) work better than long developing zone read plays. As for Nebraska – center Jacob Hickman and guard Ricky Henry and Keith Williams will have the task of trying to unseat giant Phil Taylor (6-foot-4, 355 pounds) from his position. Taylor isn't as good as Terrence Cody – yet. But he could be a real impediment to any power game Nebraska would like to establish.

Traye and Jay: Two very key players in the game will be NU true freshman Dontrayevous Robinson and Baylor's Jay Finley, who should be recovered from an early-season injury. Robinson will likely get the bulk of the carries if Roy Helu is too hurt to contribute; after last week, we won't be surprised if Nebraska is a little more cautious with Helu. Finley, meanwhile, leads the Big 12 in yards per carry. Granted, he did that while having quarterback Robert Griffin as a terrific decoy, but the point still stands – he can break a long one or two.

Bo vs. Briles: Excellent match-up here, as Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini – who also calls the Huskers' defenses – will pit himself against Briles, one of the most innovative, tricky playcallers in the Big 12. Briles likes to sneak wide receivers and running backs onto the field at the last second, he freely calls trick plays, and he likes misdirection and playaction. Pelini will have to match those tactics with a smart game plan that keeps his players disciplined and their assignments based on athleticism instead of cuteness.

See also: Guess The Score NU-BU!

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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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No preamble. Let’s just head to the disco.

Mystery Ingredients: Namely, the weather, and a little flu bug that may hamper some members of Nebraska’s offense.

The forecast calls for heavy rain – truly looking forward to driving in it – chilly temperatures and a north breeze, if not a wind. The conditions aren’t what you’d call “throwing weather” and it puts Nebraska in the position of having to test the Faurot FieldTurf on the fly, essentially, especially if there’s a tarp on it before the game.

That rainy weather will also make for a long day of cabin fever cooped up in a hotel. It’ll get boring. Maybe Bo Pelini can dial up some baseball buddies, learn some new card games.
The flu is a different, slightly more manageable distraction. A full day in a hotel bed might actually be good for some of the players, including running back Roy Helu, who was held out of the last two practices. Plus, the flu can, but does not necessarily, keep a player from being effective.

Zac Lee On the Road - Again: Nebraska’s quarterback doesn’t have beat to Missouri so much as make the throws allowed by Mizzou’s relatively conservative Cover 2. We’ve seen Zac Lee throw the deep ball, and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson will certainly dial up some shots – regardless of the coverage. What Lee has to do is hit the short stuff on rhythm – slants and bubble screens and shotgun playaction passes – that keeps NU in third-and-manageable. Then, he’ll have to convert some of those key third down plays.

We’ve got a hunch that, at some point, the Tigers will get aggressive, try to pressure Lee, and force throws against one-on-one coverage. And Lee has to answer that bell. In 2007, Sam Keller left 10-14 points on the field by failing to make quick reads under pressure. As bad as Nebraska’s defense played in that game, Keller played worse, and didn’t recover from it for weeks.

The First Impression: Nebraska’s defense may give up a field goal on Missouri’s opening drive. It may even give up a touchdown. But NU has to send the Tigers a message that 2009 won’t be a repeat of 2008 and 2007. If Mizzou busts another easy score to open the game, it’ll be precisely the emotional juice the Tigers need.

Bo Pelini tends to put his defense out on the field first in games by deferring when he wins the coin toss, which almost automatically means the opponent will choose offense. Let’s see if he changes it up, and gives his offense a crack at drawing first blood.

Stick or Quit: If Missouri’s running game gets shut down early, offensive coordinator David Yost will have a choice to make: Keep plugging away, or put the game on Blaine Gabbert’s shoulders. We think Gabbert’s good enough to do it on his own, but the Mizzou braintrust remains pretty adamant about getting Derrick Washington his carries, especially in the red zone. While the Tigers don’t want to be Texas Tech, can they afford to keep running the ball if it doesn’t work?

Pinkel vs. Pelini: Games like this, blowouts or not, often come down individual plays…and individual decisions made by the head coaches. Pinkel often uses a more tactical, clinical approach. Pelini is aggressive and impulsive. They are pretty apt representatives of the offensive superego vs. the defensive id. Analysis vs. feel.

Pelini is a tactician, don’t get us wrong. Sometimes he overschemes the opponent, in fact. But his basic defensive mindset remains “attack” and he often brings unpredictable blitzes based on a preternatural hunch of what the offense is going to do.

Pinkel’s offense dissects. When a defense bull rushes an offense that prefers to go as much horizontal as it does vertical, the defense loses. That was the main culprit for 52-17 last year.

So Pelini’s plan needs to smarter, but also simpler. Pinkel, meanwhile, may be forced to trust elements of his team - the offensive line, the secondary – that haven’t earned it yet. Can he and his assistants push the aggressive button at the right moment? Or do they bend so much they break?

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Amidst the hoopla, hype and good cheer of NU’s 300th-consecutive-sellout celebration, complete with throwback uniforms, a return of the 1962 team and some swank new additions to the Osborne Complex, there is a game to be played and won and some Ragin Cajuns’ to be sent packing back to Lafayette, Louisiana.

“Our job is to play our football and celebrate that thing by us playing Nebraska football, and that’s with passion, great effort and executing to our standard,” head coach Bo Pelini said.

There are recruits to impress, too. At least seven out-of-state guys, possibly more, will be in the stands. It’s the biggest visitor weekend, probably, until a home tilt with Oklahoma.

If NU struggles – or football heavens forbid – loses to Louisiana-Lafayette, it’ll be one big party, completely pooped. Geraldo opening Al Capone’s empty tomb. Any of the Super Bowls in the 1980s. Tang. The final episode of “Dallas.” Tyson vs. Spinks. Tyson vs. anyone in the last ten years.

You get the picture. On to the keys.

Drop Dead Red: Nebraska suddenly can’t run the ball in the red zone. Twenty carries this year for all of 39 yards, and one-third of that was on the first red-zone run of the season, vs. Florida Atlantic. What gives? And what gives with the 7/13 touchdown/trip ratio, which is hardly the hallmark of an efficient offense?

Here’s what: Defenses don’t respect Zac Lee yet. Not enough. ULL won’t either. It’ll stuff that box as soon as NU gets in scoring territory, hoping to force Nebraska into first-and-second-down passes. Arkansas State got burned by it. Virginia Tech did not. A lot of it is up to Lee and his receivers.

Conversely, ULL’s red zone attack isn’t too overpowering either. When a team is 69th in total offense but only 97th in scoring offense, the gap indicates troubles near the goal line.

Field Position: A fact you shouldn’t let escape your attention: The Cajuns are only averaging 55.5 yards on their kickoffs. Folks, just so you know – that’s awful. Adi Kunalic averages 69.2 yards. That’s a lot of potential return opportunities for Niles Paul and Rex Burkhead, who should be catching the ball around the 10-yard line for most kickoff returns. That’s at least 10-15 yards of field position each drive that swings in NU’s direction – and more, if Paul and Burkhead can bust a big return. Kunalic’s a serious weapon in 2009, more than he’s been in recent years.

Heavy Dose of Helu: After Roy Helu’s career-defining performance at Virginia Tech, muted because of a sudden loss, does NU keep going with the hot hand, or save Helu’s legs for the Big 12 season? The former option gives Nebraska the luxury of making sure Helu’s confidence is sky high heading into the bye week, while the latter option reduces wear and tear.

Does Helu always run like he knows how good he is? Not necessarily. He hasn’t turned in his masterpiece quite yet. His humility is a credit to his character, but it doesn’t mean the junior from the Bay Area should second-guess himself.

It’s Blitz!: The name of a terrific album by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it’s also an apt description for the attacking defense of the Ragin’ Cajuns, who frequently send zero blitzes – that’s man-to-man coverage, everywhere on the field – at quarterbacks with the intent of rattling them into mistakes. ULL doesn’t get a lot of sacks or tackles for loss; indeed, the blitz trademark is so well-known that teams scheme around it.

But it can work on lesser-experienced quarterbacks who don’t like the image of seven guys wanting to tear their heads off. Just like last week, Zac Lee’s going to have to be tough in the face of adversity and deliver throws with ice water in his veins. Easier to do at home than it is on the road.

The 300 effect: Expect the Memorial Stadium crowd to be loud and vibrant as the game begins. Nebraska needs to put ULL in the corner and exploit that emotion from opening kickoff. Memorial Stadium isn’t the toughest place in America to play. Until you’re down 14. Once those Huskers sniff blood, they bring it.

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We seriously debated building this five keys article as a shrine to that TBS Superstation legend Patrick Swayze, who died this week after a long battle with cancer. He was a staple of what we like to call Generation HDTV, that class of twenty and thirtysomething guys with ridiculously big flat screens and hours to burn watching mindless pop culture from their collective youth.

Swayze thrilled us on many a Sunday afternoon in the 12 minutes before the kickoff of early NFL games. When it came to the choice of watching retired football players guffaw through their lead pipe locks, or Dalton take out the trash at the Double Deuce, well, it wasn’t really a choice. None of that processed cheese; give us the sharp Vermont cheddar. Until the kickoff of the early NFL games.

We even had the “key” names picked out according to his movies: Red Dawn, Next of Kin, Ghost, The Outsiders…

But then we realized: It’s Virginia Tech week. And that’s no time for kitsch. Hokie cornerback Stephan Virgil, who forced a key fumble in Tech’s 35-30 win at NU last year, was right:

“We’re going to give Nebraska our best game,” Virgil said. “They’ve played two Sun Belt teams. They’re not Virginia Tech. We’re going to get their best shot, and we’re going to give them our best shot.”

The original Virgil couldn’t have said it any better. Well, yeah, he probably could have, but we don’t know Latin.

On with the keys.

Violent Dance: That’s an apt name for what offensive tackles and defensive ends engage in 30-40 times a game. Last year, Tech’s fast, physical, undersized line won more battles than it lost, consistently harassing Joe Ganz into sacks or errant throws. The Hokies should have even more of an advantage in its home stadium.

Enter Marcel Jones, who held his own vs. Arkansas State defensive end Alex Carrington last week, and will likely be called upon to block VT’s excellent end, Jason Worilds, at least part of the time on Saturday.

“They’re pretty quick off the ball, but they also play with a lot of power moves,” Jones said. “A lot of bull moves. I’m going to have to drop the anchor and sit on them a little bit. Keep my feet ready for counter moves.”

Worilds owned left tackle Mike Smith in 2008 with 1.5 sacks and several more hurries. If Smith isn’t up for the challenge Saturday, look for Jones to swing over there. How NU protects quarterback Zac Lee may determine his success.

The Specials: They’re certainly not an afterthought in this game; Tech’s already returned two kicks for touchdowns in 2009. The Hokies used a blocked punt for a safety and a punt return by Macho Harris in 2008 to quickly put Nebraska in a 9-0 hole.

“What they do, they do well,” said NU coach John Papuchis, who spearheads Nebraska’s special teams units. “It’s not a gimmicky scheme or anything like that. But they’re very fundamentally sound. They do a very good job of getting on and off blocks…we have some keys and things we’re looking for. Basically, it’s a lot of want-to and a lot of technique and execution.”

The Huskers’ kick and punt coverage units are better in 2009 than they were in 2008, thanks to an influx of young athletic talent, and some needed energy from a healthy Rickey Thenarse and true freshman Eric Martin.

We remain unsold on Niles Paul as a punt returner, but in the kick return game he’s a threat, with his straight-ahead speed, to bust one open.

Hustle and Flow: Linebacker is one hard position to play in college football. You’ve got to be aggressive, but patient. Physical, yet nimble enough to tackle some guy almost two-thirds your size. Single-minded, yet versatile. You’ve got to run like hell, but not too much, lest you get caught in the backwash of a cutback play.

If you want to know why the spread offense works so well these days, just consider the stress it puts on 19-year-old linebackers, and how few of them can hold up to it. You can’t just have three good ‘backers. You’d better have six who can do different things, depending on the circumstances.

This week, Phillip Dillard takes the stage to help Nebraska shore up its run defense against the Hokies. Tech loves to run sweeps, counters and occasionally options, and do it with a maximum of pulling guards and tackles. Dillard’s playing style and body type fits this game. He’s good at sitting in the hole, taking on a block with one shoulder and blasting through with his free shoulder. Bo and Carl Pelini wisely moved him away from the middle position, where he’s required to make the calls, to a spot where Dillard can expend that emotion and physicality.

Sean Fisher and Will Compton, meanwhile, are going to get a smashmouth introduction to big-time college football. Tech’s going attack them specifically, you can count on it.

Lane and Lee: Zac Lee’s been to a few road games at Nebraska. Oklahoma. Kansas State. He just hasn’t had to walk out there on the first offensive snap of the game, and feel the weight of the joint pressing down on him.

The biggest road game Lee’s started in was at San Francisco City College, when he quarterbacked that team to the California Junior College state title game. He played in Chukchansi Park, a Fresno baseball stadium that holds 12,500 fans.

So, yeah, this is a step up.

A good running game will help, but here’s the reality: The Hokies are going to force Lee to beat them. Don’t get fooled by Alabama’s plush ground stats in a 34-24 win; it was Tide quarterback Greg McElroy who hit several key passes – two of them right over the head of giant free safety Kam Chancellor – that opened up those running lanes in the second half.

Big-Game Coaching: We’ll talk more about this in a column tomorrow, but we want to see how Nebraska’s braintrust responds to adversity on Saturday. Namely, when Tech makes a couple big plays on offense or defense, and Lane Stadium launches into madness. How will Bo Pelini, Carl Pelini and Shawn Watson digest and respond?

We’ll be blunt: Watson called 10 excellent games in 2008. One, Oklahoma, was out of his hands before he had a chance. Another, Missouri, was a failure of defensive execution. But against Virginia Tech, he bailed on the running game by the end of the first drive, never tried to use the Hokies’ pursuit against them with a trick play, and generally showed Bud Foster too much respect. He pulled a Callahan. And he hasn’t done it since.

The Brothers Pelini, meanwhile, got impatient with their linebacker play and dialed up blitzes to pressure Tyrod Taylor. Taylor calmly sidestepped those poorly-executed blitzes and either ran or passed for big gains. The Huskers practically handed Tech half of its yards by leaving giant swaths of the field wide open. That’s execution, sure. But it’s also coaching, to know that your players can’t do what’s being asked of them.

In other words: When Virginia Tech puts Bo’s boys in the corner, how do they get out?

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Trap game. Tune-up. Upset alert. Afternoon pastry.

You could flip-flop all morning, you know, on just what Saturday’s 1:10 p.m. game vs. Arkansas State represents for Nebraska’s football team.

But, in the state that invented the reuben, we prefer the independent party on this debate: Call the Red Wolves the first of three “sandwich” games. The next is Sept. 26, vs. Louisiana-Lafayette. The third is Oct. 24 vs. Iowa State. All home games. All bridges to and from more important contests. All meant, eventually, to be devoured.

ASU is perched between NU’s season-opening romp over Florida Atlantic – crucial for development and experience – and the game at Virginia Tech. It’s should be a win, but, initially, it probably won’t be easy. Arkansas State is liable to raise more questions about the Cornhuskers than it answers. Consider it a hoagie bun of meat, vinegar, olives – OK, we’ve taken the analogy far enough. On with the keys:

The Buzz Word: Which, over the last week, was “tempo.” Is it college basketball season yet? Did Doc Sadler start coaching the NU offense?

No, it’s still Shawn Watson up in the booth dialing up the touchdowns, and he wants his plays more quickly relayed to quarterback Zac Lee, called in the huddle, and executed. Watson figures – and he’s right – that if Lee scoots to the line of scrimmage with 12-13 seconds left on the play clock, Nebraska can wear out a defense much like a no-huddle offense. Against Florida Atlantic, when Lee and Co. finally got around to establishing optimal “tempo,” some bioengineer got his wings, and the Owls couldn’t stop the run.

That’ll be the same idea against Arkansas State. It’s still humid in September around here. It’s still pretty easy to wear out a smaller-conference team. And it’s still a big, athletic Nebraska offensive line. Even though ASU has two defensive linemen who could play at NU – especially defensive end Alex Carrington – it is, as a whole, is undersized and mashable. It might take a couple quarters, but tempo, eventually, sets in.

Lead Wolf: On ASU’s offense, that’s quarterback Corey Leonard, a scrappy, stocky kid who threw for 2,347 yards last year and ran for 516. He was the team’s second-leading rusher in attempts with 157, or roughly 13 attempts per game. Leonard’s better running north-south than he is east-west, but he’s counted upon for that extra offensive dimension.

“He can run,” NU head coach Bo Pelini said. “He’s a good dual-threat guy. He presents some problems in that way. They’re not afraid to run him, especially when they get down in the red area.”

More of an athlete than a classic quarterback, Leonard runs to set up his passing, and the result isn’t always pretty. He was fairly awful (8-17, 67 yards) at Alabama last year. But Nebraska has to cause him to have a bad day.

Also a boon to Nebraska: ASU is a little vulnerable to the sack monster, giving up 29, 39, 37 and 31 of them in each of the last four years. The Red Wolves may try to play it safe, like FAU did, but look what it earned the Owls. A bag o’ peanuts back to Boca.

Much of the game will be decided on whether NU’s front seven – we’re including blitzers here - can get up close and personal with Leonard.

Lanes: As in keeping them. On punt team, on kickoff, and especially on upfield defensive pursuits. Spread offenses feast on teams with undisciplined defensive lines. The very concept of the sloppy sack, where four defenders just sort loop around aimlessly until one of them reaches the quarterback, doesn’t apply to the spread, which creates lanes so big, and so inviting, that if a player runs through that trap, Leonard, or his running back, Reggie Arnold, are zipping right by.

After a frustrating week against FAU’s timid offense, NU defensive linemen will be tempted to freestyle in order to get to the quarterback. Which is precisely what Arkansas State wants.

The Edges: Nebraska has a subtle, but potentially important, advantage over ASU. NU’s wide receivers will dwarf members of ASU’s secondary. All three starters – 6-foot-4 Menelik Holt, 6-2 Niles Paul and 6-1 Curenski Gilleylen – weigh well north of 200 pounds. None of the Red Wolves’ defensive backs, including strong safety M.D. Jennings, are anywhere near that weight total, or taller than six feet. It’s a fast bunch, but not necessarily a physical one.

Where does that advantage matter most? Running plays. If Nebraska can rebuff ASU’s scrappy defensive line, and running backs Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead can hit the corners, Paul, Holt and Gilleylen should be able to hold their blocks. Blocking, in fact, might be what the three of them do best. Paul and Holt earned some of their spurs last year, while Gilleylen shook down the thunder on Holt’s 28-yard touchdown catch in the Florida Atlantic game.

“I want a complete receiver, I do,” wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore said. “And I challenge them like you wouldn’t believe to block and take pride in it…you can fire up a team without making a touchdown.”

Mix tape: The Huskers only showed a portion of their running game vs. FAU, and what they did show was a little different from 2008. I liked what I saw – misdirection, a little veer action, a counter sweep. It wasn’t Florida’s offense, but it was nice blend of power and finesse.

Saturday may require more of the finesse. Option plays. Toss plays – which Nebraska ran well on Saturday. Outside zone runs out of the shotgun.

“We’ve got a lot of toys in the trunk,” running backs coach Tim Beck said. Not that he was dishing about just which toys offensive coordinator Shawn Watson was going to use, of course.

See also: Guess The Score NU-ASU, Five More Keys, Five Players to Watch, Husker Locker's Top 25 Poll

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Here come the Hooters.

(And if you didn’t think that was coming, you don’t know our Five Keys very well).

In roughly the last 20 years, Nebraska has chosen to make its season opening opponent, with a few exceptions (1994, 1996, 2002 and 2003 among them) soft, fruit-filled pastries to enjoy on a late summer day. The names – San Jose State, Western Illinois, Maine, Florida Atlantic – change, but the games they inspire do not.

Oh, there is this nugget of fear right until kickoff. Is this the year the Cornhuskers come out flat? Then the Memorial Stadium crowd leans in, the opponent makes a bonehead play, and it’s time to look for the kid selling Runzas. Even the Fallen Team of 2007 knew how to cut a pound of flesh from Nevada.

Take last year. First quarter. Western Michigan sets up a perfect trick play, WMU quarterback Tim Hiller steps to throw the easiest touchdown pass he’ll ever toss, and he forgets the ball. Just plum slips out of his hand. You couldn’t dream it up.

But this is what happens to non-major conference programs at the beginning of the year. By midseason 2008, when Illinois had already been beaten down a little by injuries and losses, and Western Michigan had some confidence, the Broncos rolled into Champaign and scored an upset.

Six weeks from now, FAU would be a more dangerous team than it is today. As it stands, we call the Owls a funny name. Beyond that, we preach respect. And, as such, a full, in-depth five keys to kick off 2009.

KIDS: That’s short for: Keep It Downhill, Shawn. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson is much smarter than we are at this playcalling gig, so we figure he can already tell that Florida Atlantic’s defense will eventually crack under the weight and strength of Nebraska’s physical offensive line. Maybe not on the first drive. Maybe not even in the first quarter. But eventually. FAU can only stunt and guess its way into the right defense so many times, right?

Quentin Castille would have been a perfect fit for a game like this, because smaller defenses loathe tackling a load like Q. In Castille’s permanent absence, might NU use some heavier sets, some double tight end packages? Can Nebraska so easily vacillate between power and shotgun spread? We’ll see.

Our long-term concern is the durability of Roy Helu. He’s never been in better shape, and he’s not the kind to beg out of a game. But he has been the kind who’s had to miss a practice or two the following week because of a pull, strain or tweak. There hasn’t been a running back alive who didn’t play with little hurts after the first game, for the rest of a given season. But Nebraska’s coaches need to give their prized junior just enough of a break to keep him away from nagging problems.

If that means a little more Rex Burkhead in weeks one and two, so be it. Burkhead could use the work. Know this: Helu’s money time is in October and November. September is the rehearsal.

36 inches: That’s about the distance separating the facemask of FAU quarterback Rusty Smith from the helmet of Nebraska nose tackle Ndamukong Suh. At least when Smith is under center.

If Florida Atlantic has any chance Saturday, Smith must win the battle between those two players. Yes, between them.

Good quarterbacks don’t hide behind an offensive line all night. Smith can’t and won’t expect his center to stuff Suh every time; it won’t happen. He can’t expect double teams all night, either. Smith and his coaches have to develop a quick rhythm passing game that stares right into the face of the Big 12’s baddest man and throws right over his head. If the Owls spend all night trying to scheme away from Suh, or run around him, the plan will fall to pieces.

As for Suh – if he makes a blowup tackle or a big sack on the opening series or two, the Memorial Stadium crowd will lose its collective head and suck much of the energy out of the Owls. One memorable quality about Grant Wistrom, the last NU defensive lineman of this magnitude: He knew how to say hello on the first drive.

Attack Zac, Zac Attack: When a defense is overmatched, as FAU’s most certainly is, the coordinator is wise to narrow down the number of players who can beat his crew.

If the Owls’ strength is coverage, for example, and NU has relatively inexperienced wide receivers catching passes from a very inexperienced quarterback, the logic flows like this: Put eight guys in the box, dare NU quarterback Zac Lee to throw deep balls into one-on-one coverage, and dare the Huskers’ receivers to do something about it.

"He's new and we want to test him, but to do that we have to make them put it in the air," FAU cornerback Torvoris Hill said.

Western Michigan tried that last year, and Joe Ganz smoked the Broncos with a 61-yard touchdown bomb to Nate Swift that put away WMU for good. Baylor tried the same strategy to nullify Nebraska’s quick WR screen game. Once again, Ganz found Swift behind the coverage for a 60-yard backbreaker of a touchdown.

Just because it burned Western Michigan and BU, doesn’t mean FAU shouldn’t try it. After all, Lee could crumble under the pressure. We doubt it – he’s got more physical skills than Ganz - but he could. Or Nebraska’s receivers, unaccustomed to running deep routes, might not be up for the challenge.

Either way, Nebraska should expect an eight-man box. An option game can loosen it up. A properly timed zone read can, too. Or perhaps, when FAU picks its poison, Lee turns out to be more toxic than the Owls expected.

Young Guns: Great movies, weren’t they? No, they weren’t, but Lou Diamond Phillips was in both of them. Lou also made a movie called “Sioux City,” set in, you guessed it – Nebraska? Apparently “South Sioux City” didn’t make the cut as a title.

We digress.

Nebraska’s roster is stuffed with freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores, many of whom are “Bo guys” he either recruited, or found toiling as walk-ons (Lance Thorell and Mathew May fit this bill).

The youngest of these will make mistakes Saturday. That’s not a specific indictment on them. That’s the nature of football. New guys screw up in their first handful of games, and hopefully they’re athletic enough to adjust on the fly. There probably hasn’t been a more dominant true freshman in NU’s history than Ahman Green, but the prevailing opinion upon his arrival was “Well, he’s no Lawrence Phillips.” Even though, two years later, he was most certainly was.

The Specials: We tend to harp on special teams quite a bit around here, and it’s for reason: It’s a hidden, often misunderstood component of the game that should be won, game in and game out, by the bigger, deeper program.
In the NFL, of course, mandatory roster sizes balance it out. But in college, home teams – especially home teams in major conferences – have the distinct advantage of using athletic specialists (talented redshirt freshmen like Alonzo Whaley and P.J. Smith, useful walk-ons like Wes Cammack, gunners like Rickey Thenarse) where Sun Belt teams are forced to use starters.

So, fatigue, execution and field position becomes an issue. Throw in Nebraska punter/kicker Alex Henery, and NU should be able to create 7-10 points (directly or indirectly) off of this advantage alone.

See also: Guess The Score!

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Here's one more key to add to your five keys for summer conditioning:

The Long Climb Back for Phillip Dillard: Dillard found himself at the bottom of the MIKE linebacker depth chart at the beginning of spring practice. While specifics were never given for why, linebackers coach Mike Ekeler pointed to “we ask certain things of our players.” Dillard, in the coaches’ eyes, didn’t deliver.

Dillard’s a tough, prideful guy. You need both to play middle linebacker. While he isn’t ideal to play against some of the spread offenses NU will face in 2009, he can be a help against some of the more power-oriented teams. And NU will indeed play a few: Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Colorado and Baylor, to some extent.

But his attitude, and his conditioning, have to be in lockstep with his toughness for him to play a significant role in 2009.
We still think it’s possible, actually. Dillard, to us, still represents the best middle linebacker NU has for base situations. But he has to prove it by beating out Colton Koehler and Will Compton for that role.

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See also: Doc Lands Surprise PG Commit out of Arkansas

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As Nebraska’s football team kicks summer conditioning into high gear – and many of the incoming freshmen do, too, arriving last weekend - here’s five keys to building a better Husker squad in June, July and early August:

Follow The Leaders: First, of course, the leaders have to emerge. A few, like defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and center Jacob Hickman, already have, but NU needs one or two more. Don’t be surprised if it’s a junior, either - guys like Roy Helu or Eric Hagg, both of whom are well-liked on the team. After leaders identify themselves, it’s up to the rank-and-file to fall in, bust tail and work toward a common goal.

No Dumb Injuries: Conditioning has become such a science that most dangerous lifts and exercises have died out over the last decade. No more do guys shred their core strength with absurdly heavy power lifts or push themselves to the brink of death with torturous hour-long killer drills inside converted steam room. The best conditioning for a football team is the right mix of burst and endurance exercises, heavier on the short, high-impact stuff, but mindful of that extra dose of fourth-quarter juice, too.

Head strength coach James Dobson is a demanding guy, but he also has kept the team healthy in his short tenure at Nebraska. He’s big on speed and replicating football moves in his training. Look for it to continue, and for NU to be smart with precious cargo like Helu and Cody Green.

Intense 7-on-7 work: Zac Lee has to cement his relationship with a new crop of receivers, while wideouts Meno Holt and Niles Paul need to leave little doubt about their starting jobs, and the secondary needs to practice its aggression to the ball. Players often have to organize these on their own, so it becomes an exercise of planning, dedication and unsupervised competition.

The best teams are built when the coaches aren’t watching, because the team handles problems, pecking order and motivation in house. Sadly, on the NFL level, such a thing doesn’t really exist anymore, as controlled as those environments are. In college, however, it does, and you can rest assured the nation’s best signal callers – Bradford, McCoy, Tebow – run those offseason 7-on-7 drills like generals. It’s Lee’s turn.

Freshman Integration: Most college programs have taken to bringing in its recruiting class – NU invites its preferred walk-ons, too – in early summer to go to class, practice with the team, and generally sink into “the life” without all the craziness that comes with the usual first day of school, which, it should be noted, happened to be one of Nebraska’s worst practices in 2008.

Aside from walk on long snapper PJ Mangieri, there’s no real “lock” on any of the freshmen getting a chance to start next season, so this summer is about fitting in, getting up to speed and adjusting to college classes and dorm life, where the unsupervised free time goes way, way up – as does, sometimes, homesickness.

Stay Off the Blotter: As in, the police radio. Yep, that’s pretty much No. 1 at any college football program these days. Not that the Huskers aren’t, as a whole, a well-behaved bunch of guys. Bo Pelini runs a tight enough ship in that regard, as did, for that matter, Bill Callahan. But it takes only one temptation, one guy in the wrong place, one too many brews and one ill-timed comment for some player to be making the wrong kind of news over the summer.

Lincoln isn’t small, per se. But it isn’t that big either.

See also: A Bonus Sixth Key

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Let us be clear: It’s not the real thing, Nebraska’s Red/White Spring Game on Saturday. Oh, it’s important, and the Memorial Stadium crowd will be tingling with excitement for at least a quarter or two. But it’s not quite the magic of a Husker home game. After all, it’s still a practice.

But head coach Bo Pelini provided the Big Red Nation with a nifty present with his clever, provocative splitting of the teams late this week. His choices will pit, for example, NU’s red offensive line against an equally good white defensive line. No. 1 quarterback Zac Lee faces a secondary of Anthony West, Larry Asante, Anthony Blue and Rickey Thenarse, with Eric Hagg thrown in for good measure. That’s a test, folks. A legitimate “can you beat this?” test.

Jacob Hickman and Ricky Henry vs. Ndamukong Suh for 20-30 snaps? We’ll take that and a chicken dinner any evening of the week.

And Pelini has suggested the game will resemble an actual contest as much as possible. Maybe there will be no running clock in the second half. Maybe Lee (or even better, Latravis Washington) will be forced to engineer a comeback drive. Maybe Alex Henery or Adi Kunalic has to hit a clutch field goal.

If NU’s reportedly physical scrimmages are any indication, this spring game should be an alley scrum between guys fighting for playing time and fall practice snaps. Yes, at some point, the scrubs will take the field. But the Huskers are limited enough at the skill positions to keep those guys on the field for most of the game.

On with the keys:

Why Safe May = Sorry: Nebraska has to protect its remaining quarterbacks with a green jersey. And it’s wise to hold out running back Roy Helu. He has nothing to prove.
But NU’s receiving corps has a great deal to prove after an intense spring of competition. And the more offensive coordinator Shawn Watson dials up plays to see who’s up the challenge, the better the scrimmage will be.

We remain dubious about guys like Menelik Holt, Curenski Gilleylen, Chris Brooks and Will Henry. NU can’t just test their work ethic and blocking ability; the Huskers need to find out who can go out and make a play (or two, or three). Marcus Mendoza and Tim Marlowe, two speedsters on the red team, could really make an impact Saturday. Gilleylen, too. He sure looks the part of a top receiver, and he’s versatile enough to play all over the field. Now - does he have the hands, or is the Huskers’ version of Featherstone?

Clean and efficient: It can’t necessarily be expected in a spring game, but Nebraska’s coaches would like both teams – the offenses especially – to get lined up properly and execute without a dump truck of penalties and mental errors. The schemes will be pretty vanilla, so it shouldn’t be that hard.

Busting the defensive advantage: Just about any coach wants his defense to be a little ahead of his offense right now. The defense ought to know its own offense’s plays pretty well, after all. If the defense is giving up big chunks of yards now, that sure doesn’t bode well for the fall, does it?

Thus far this spring, NU’s defense has outpaced the offense. To be expected, especially when you’ve got new, inexperienced quarterbacks. Still, look for NU coaches to create opportunities where, should the offense properly execute, the potential for a big play is in the cards.

Young pups and unknowns: On both sides of the ball, a bevy of redshirt freshman will be showing, for the first time, if Pelini kept them under wraps for good reason, or as an exercise of discipline. We’re especially intrigued by the four linebackers – Sean Fisher, Will Compton, Alonzo Whaley and Micah Kreikemeier – and tight ends Ben Cotton and Kyler Reed. These guys won’t make or break Nebraska in 2009. But 2010 might be a different story. Never too early to look ridiculously ahead, right?

Then, you’ve got those one or two guys buried deep on the depth chart who can suddenly leapfrog a player or two with fine work in the Spring Game. You don’t think guys like Colton Koehler and Lance Thorell benefited from strong springs last year?

The specials: With Niles Paul suspended for Saturday’s game, Nebraska will be trying out a whole slew of brand new punt and kickoff returners. Who gets the opportunities and makes them most of them? At punter, the battle between Alex Henery and Brett Maher will likely extend into the fall, but the Spring Game should be the best barometer of their skills thus far. Our money is on Henery – but you never know.

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Here’s five defensive storylines to follow for Saturday’s Red/White Spring Game. Enjoy!

*Defensive Line Dominance: Just how good is the new unit? Fans are anxious to see Jared Crick, Baker Steinkuhler and Terrence Moore in expanded action, as well as the return of Barry Turner. If these four can get the kind of push they were getting toward the end of last year – look out.

*Young Pups at LB: Alonzo Whaley, Will Compton, Sean Fisher, Matt May, Matt Holt, Micah Kreikemeier…all of these underclassmen will be getting their biggest exposure come Saturday. Who sinks? Who swims? Who makes big open field plays? We’re most interested in the play of Fisher since he’s most likely to start – and he has little-to-no experience. Out of this bunch, Matt May could be the best, though.

*And Still in the Doghouse: 2008 starter Phillip Dillard is still working with the third and fourth units. If Bo Pelini and linebackers coach Mike Ekeler seriously intend on keeping Dillard down there, he could wreak some serious havoc on second-team guys Saturday. You have to wonder what the lesson is for him, and why he’s willing to learn it as this stage. Still, he’s out there.

*The Ongoing Battle at Safety: Eric Hagg might be playing strong safety right now, but he could be an excellent candidate for free safety by next fall. Let’s see how he, Matt O’Hanlon and Rickey Thenarse perform on Saturday. Kudos to O’Hanlon for fighting back after getting benched and playing with the No. 1 unit throughout spring. He’s a player. Also watch P.J. Smith at that spot, too.

*Speed, Speed, Speed: We’re intrigued to see just how much the defense flies to the ball on Saturday. Pelini’s first recruiting class was a strong nod toward speed and adaptability, and Husker fans finally get to witness what vaunted class of redshirts is all about.

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Aside from the play of Zac Lee – which has its own section the site - here’s five of the most interesting offensive storylines as we enter the Red/White Spring Game.

*Running Back Rococo: With running back Roy Helu being held out of Saturday’s game, and Quentin Castille already a known quantity, look for running backs coach Tim Beck and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson to give the lion’s share of the carries to three young backs: Lester Ward, Collins Okafor and Austin Jones. Out of this bunch, we like Jones the most, because his small size and maximum shiftiness gives the offense –especially the zone read game – a different flavor. Beck favored Ward during the spring, but Okafor might have the most raw talent – and certainly the best speed - out of any of them.

* Open casting call at receiver: Niles Paul is suspended for the spring game, which opens the door wide open for any host of young guys at the “Z” spot: Antonio Bell, Curenski Gilleylen, Marcus Mendoza. Over at “X” receiver, Menelik Holt remains the No. 1 guy, but he’ll get a battle from Will Henry and Chris Brooks in the spring game. Holt didn’t emerge like he – or his coaches – were hoping this spring.

*O (Ricky) Henry: Nebraska’s going to give junior Ricky Henry every chance to win that right guard position; if he can learn the offense, his tenacity is a real plus for Barney Cotton. Let’s see how he does in the spring game – and how Mike Caputo does at center when Jacob Hickman slides over to play right guard.

*The phenom, the project and the transfer: Cody Green suddenly has a window of opportunity in 2009 now that Kody Spano is out with a knee injury. And although the coaches may want to redshirt Green – and a redshirt would be ideal – Green is now the team’s No. 2 guy. So he can’t just look pretty on Saturday; he has to go in and make some of the plays he was recruited to make. Of course he’ll be limited some, but don’t be surprised if Green throws some deep balls and even runs a zone read or two.

As for Latravis Washington…what kind of fun is going to have on Saturday? The kid has very little to lose. He can cut loose, make as many plays as possible and maybe open some eyes. Washington was slated for a redshirt next year anyway.

And then, finally, there is Robert Marve, the University of Miami transfer who will be in attendance Saturday. Will he like what he sees out of the Nebraska crowd, coaching staff and players, or will he find it too much of a fishbowl? Is he scared off by Cody Green? Marve would be a legitimately good addition to NU’s team. If it’s the right fit.

*Tons of tight ends: We’re really excited to see guys like Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton duke it out for playing time on Saturday. How creative does Shawn Watson get? Is there another dangerous walk-on waiting in the wings? Is Mike McNeill the go-to guy for Zac Lee?

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Last home game of the year, if you don't count a possible NIT date (and we don't yet). Here's how it breaks down on senior night:

Shoot for the Loot: On defense, Iowa State is a "night and day opposite" of Kansas State, NU coach Doc Sadler said. The Cyclones will sag off Husker guards and force them to make jumpers. In Ames, Nebraska couldn't do it. How about Lincoln?

Look out for Lucca: As in Staiger, the ISU guard who burned Nebraska in the first game. The German sharpshooter parks himself outside the 3-point line and waits. The Huskers can't lose track of him.

Craig N Carry: The Cyclones might have four genuine Division I players on the roster. We're serious. But one of them - sophomore forward Craig Brackins - is a potential NBA Lottery pick if he ever gets properly motivated on the court. At 6-10, Brackins has to be doubled by NU's forwards. The only comparable guys in the Big 12 are Cole Aldrich at Kansas and Blake Griffin at Oklahoma. And Brackins dumped 42 on the Jayhawks. The guy hits 73 percent of his free throws, by the way, so you can't just hack away at him.

Press for the Best: Nebraska nearly pulled off an amazin Ames comeback by employing a full court press against ISU's so-so guards. Don't be surprised if Sadler uses it Wednesday.

Life of Ryan: Ryan Anderson had arguably his best game of the year against Kansas State. Never too late for a late-season renaissance for No. 44.

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A closer look at five important items as Nebraska takes on Kansas State in Manhattan...

If the front door isn't open: KSU's man-to-man defense is as sticky as any in the league, and it doesn't necessarily rely on as much switching and helping as Nebraska's. Thus the Huskers will try to beat the Wildcats behind their backs, as they have in two recent games in Lincoln. To guard against it, KSU might slip into a zone. But NU, with its shooters, would almost prefer that, because it gives Paul Velander a chance to get some breathing room. Velander scored a career-high 20 in the last contest.

Attack the press: If KSU chooses to press, which they probably will, based on Missouri and Texas A&M's success using it, Nebraska has to respond by trying to score - and not merely survive - against it. The Huskers haven't necessarily been turning the ball over too much against the press, but their offense also isn't getting started until 20 seconds left on the shot clock.

From midtown Manhattan: Kansas State has three of the more exciting guards in the league when it comes to long-range shooting: Denis Clemente, Jacob Pullen and especially Fred Brown. They'll shoot from anywhere, anytime, and they combine for 15 3-point attempts per game. NU's defenders have to stay all over those shooters throughout the game. The more open air they get, the deadly they'll be.

Bramlage Voodoo: Here are the numbers 38.2%, 37.6% and 33.3%. That's the last three shooting performances Nebraska hasn't enjoyed, frankly, at Bramlage Coliseum. It is a tough shooting atmosphere, with seats shooting up more vertically from the ground than other arenas. But here's the thing: One of those games, the 33.3% in fact, turned out to be a win. That's the power of defense, and that's something Nebraska plays very well.

Surviving the Scrum: Look. These are two desperate, physical, effort-based squads with plenty of fire and vinegar to satisfy about three Texas squads. There's a reason that both KSU and NU beat the Longhorns, and it's true as it is cliched: Heart. So neither of these teams will probably give an inch for a good ten minutes. It might be some of the ugliest or prettiest basketball you see all year, depending on your perspective. But after that opening round, one team, we think, will begin to assert its will over the other. In Lincoln, that team was Nebraska. For the return trip? Well, that's why they play em.

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Tough schedule. Gummed-up offense. Inconsistent shooting. For whatever reason, Texas A&M struggled through the first half of the Big 12 Conference schedule, and is now racing to the catch the NCAA Tournament train like a Connecticut businessman afraid to miss a crucial advertising meeting.

Nebraska, meanwhile, spent a week or so on the train, and now the porter's asking for a ticket. And the Huskers are down to checking their last pocket.

What awaits us in the five keys? Shall we see?

Bring the big guys out: Texas A&M is significantly bigger, taller and dare we suggest stronger than NU. That gives the Ags a huge advantage - literal and figurative - on the offensive boards. How do the Huskers counter? By drawing junior forwards Brian Davis and Chinemelu Elonu out to cover two of NU's shooting guards. If Davis and Elonu jump out to guard, guys like Ryan Annderson and Ade Dagunduro drive by. It not, Anderson and Dagunduro must drain the jumpers they're given.

Smart possessions: Every point counts for the Huskers, so going three, four or five possessions without a decent look or any points won't be acceptable. Point guard Cookie Miller has to be more active and precise. Pass first. Hit the big trey second.

Caged Carter: Texas A&M's Josh Carter is the one Aggie capable of going for 25 points on any night; it's all a question of how many good looks he gets at the basket. He'll take his 3-pointers either way. Nebraska must switch off on him effectively and not allow Miller to spend too much time guarding him. That's too significant of a mismatch.

Late Night in Lincoln: Does the 8:30 start help rev up the Bob Devaney Sports Center crowd? Do the Husker faithful know how useful a noisy, hostile atmosphere with NU's back against the wall. NU coach Doc Sadler isn't one to ask for the fans to turn the volume up a notch, but it's time for it.

Which Selection on the Defensive Buffet: Nebraska does it with nine steals a game; A&M does it with five blocks. It'll be up to the individual offenses - the Aggies must handle NU's press, while the Huskers must be smart with their forays into the lane - to negate the defense's strengths.

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The games just keep getting bigger for Nebraska and a road tilt at Kansas just might be NU's last, best chance for a marquee win before the NCAA Tournament. But it won't be any easier than last Saturday's trip to Missouri. And we all know how that turned out.

Our keys:

Believe In It: No use in boarding the bus unless Nebraska intends to compete from the opening tip to the final buzzer. That's what a win over Kansas requires - an almost slavish dedication to overcoming the Jayhawks' talent advantage with smart basketball and hard work.

Remember, Kansas Can Shoot: NU coach Doc Sadler will again craft a plan to bracket and frustrate center Cole Aldrich. You don't want a guy like that dropping 30. That said, guarding KU's perimeter players is no less important. Remember how Bill Self's bunch breaks the opposing team's back: With treys. Remember, too, how Missouri broke Nebraska's back last week: With treys.

No Baloney, Toney: The Huskers need a solid performance from redshirt freshman guard Toney McCray. Eight points, four boards and no serious mental gaffes would fit the bill nicely. Sadler also needs to try to get him involved early in the game. The ball coach talks a lot about involving Steve Harley. but let's face it: Harley is short, he's shooting poorly, and opponents have sniffed out those back door plays he used to feast on. Time to get McCray some looks in space.

Deliver the Punch: Kansas has a terrific atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse. Maybe the best in America, in fact. But its crowd - not unlike the crowd at venerable Memorial Stadium - can be taken out of a game if NU wins those first five minutes of the game. See, the "Rock Chalk" crew expects to win. When expectations aren't fulfilled, even for a minute, they get antsy, nervous. The Huskers can take advantage of that.

Ade's Last Chance: Now, yes, Nebraska might face Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament. It's possible. But, short of that, this is guard Ade Dagunduro's "moment" to cap what's been an impressive senior season and a solid two-year stint at NU.

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Looks like easy/breezy/beautiful "W" on the preseason schedule...

Attack the zone: Colorado extended, trapping zone sucked in the Husker guards in the first matchup - a 55-53 NU win - and stalled the offense for 10-15 seconds per possession. Cookie Miller especially needs to slice and dice that defense and at least get Nebraska started somewhere around the 3-point line, and not halfcourt.

Hot Harley Redux? When Nebraska made its run toward the end of the 2008 season, it did so on the back of guard Steve Harley's drives to the bucket and solid baseline shooting. So far in 2009, it's Ade Dagunduro, and not Harley, who's getting more looks. Time for Harley to start draining that mid-range jumper and burning teams on the back door play.

Buff Duo: Cory Higgins and Dwight Thorne II comprise one of the league's best backcourts, if you can believe it. Higgins, a sophomore, is making a late run at all-league honors, and it wouldn't bother me one bit if he got them - he's a darn good player, averaging 18 points and six rebounds a game. Thorne burned NU for 21 points in the first game.

My Name's Paul: Since exploding for a career-high 20 points vs. Kansas State a month ago, NU sharpshooter Paul Velander's averaged 4.5 points per game and has made just 27 percent of his shot. Time to break the freeze.

Lean On History: Nebraska's beaten Colorado by an average of more than 17 points at home during the last four seasons.

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The biggest game of the year to date against the Big 12's hottest team, No. 16 Missouri.

If Nebraska wants a marquee win - the Tigers would fit the bill. A season sweep over a team likely to be a No. 3 or No. 4 seed would look awful sweet to the NCAA Tournament committee.

Dangle The Bait: As tough as Missouri often can be on defense, the Tigers shoot themselves in the foot just as frequently on offense. This is an impatient, jack-it-up squad that doesn't need to average 20 3-point attempts per game, but does anyway. Nebraska needs to let the Tigers have the shots they don't make and follow around forward Matt Lawrence, who really can shoot, around like a hawk.

Speed vs. Bleed: The Tigers will try, obviously, to overwhelm NU with a full-court trap. But even if they don't cause a bunch of turnovers, the hope is Nebraska will speed up enough to take bad shots of its own. The Huskers must drain the shot clock on nearly every possession possible. It will frustrate the Tigers immensely.

Who Steps Up? On the road, there is usually a guy who busts out and has that crucial performance. At Texas Tech, it was Cookie Miller. At Colorado, it was Steve Harley. At Oklahoma it was Ryan Anderson, albeit in a losing effort. Who is it Saturday - aside from Ade Dagunduro?

Free throws: Nebraska makes 68 percent of its free throws. Missouri makes 67 percent. The potential for ugliness - on both sides - exists.

Banged-up Balham: Kansas City native Chris Balham always seems to give just a little more against the Tigers. He's got those balky knees, but maybe he can give NU 15-20 minutes in Columbia Saturday.

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It should be a road win for Nebraska. Then again, road wins in Boulder rarely, if ever come easy for the Huskers. Our keys:

Cooked at Coors Events Center: Colorado's won six of the last seven in this series at home. So just in case you thought NU was waltzing to victory at the foot of the Rockies -don't count on it. Why do the Huskers struggle? Who knows. Some say Coors is a tough shooting environment because it's dim and there aren't any fans in it. Others point to the altitude. Whatever it is..CU is generally an awful team on the road, but dangerous at home.

First to 60: Probably wins. Colorado will grind the shot clock down to zero. Nebraska, meanwhile, has to try to force turnovers that lead to easy buckets. CU's defense is similar to Iowa State's denying the drive, daring the deep shot. In other words, NU needs to shoot better than it did last year - 34 percent - in a 55-51 loss.

Kid Cory: CU guard Cory Higgins sunk the Huskers as a freshman with 13 points, and he's turning into quite an effective player as a sophomore. He's averaging 17.5 points and 6 rebounds per game. At 6-5, he sounds like a perfect matchup for Ade Dagunduro. Watch for it. Dagunduro barely played in last year's game.

The Talented Mr. Miller: The 5-foot-7 Cookie Miller has suddenly become the straw that stirs Nebraska's drink, scoring, passing and dribbling with equal ease. He's quicker than anybody the Buffs have, although he'll be matched up with a pure, pass-first point guard in Nate Tomlinson.

Ruling the Boards: Both teams routinely get abused on the boards. Tonight, they play each other. Does the rebounding battle end in a tie, or can the Huskers notch the 8 or so offensive rebounds Sadler wants per game?

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The biggest items, in our assessment, for Saturday's game in Lubbock:

Life of Ryan: Nebraska forward Ryan Anderson is second on the team in 3-point shot attempts at 55, but he's only making 27 percent of them. Since Anderson is arguably NU's best rebounder, every time he steps out for a bomb, that's one more play where he's not under the basket. Does Doc Sadler compensate in any way, or will Anderson just keep firing away?

Not-so-red Raiders: Before Tech's loss to Texas A&M on Wednesday, coach Pat Knight said this about his team: "We’ve just gone through a rough patch, but instead of someone stepping up it’s like they’ve all gone in a shell. Kids want to be buddies too much."

That's a glowing review. Knight's already talking about his 2009 recruiting class, which is always comforting to the current group. He's also back, he said, to running elementary school drills. Bob Knight's kid has the same mindset as The General. He just doesn't have the players.

Tech wants to fold. Nebraska has to make it fold.

Points off turnovers: We all know how skilled NU is causing turnovers; Tech averages 15 a game. The Huskers' defense could force well north of 20 against a poor ball handling team like that.

Feeding Ade: He's not Nebraska's best shooter and he spends much of his time battling with bigger, stronger players, but guard Ade Dagunduro has become NU's go-to dude out of sheer toughness and tenacity around the basket. Can he keep it rolling on the road?

Must Wins: We don't expect Sadler to cop to games at Tech and Colorado being any more important than any other game in the Big 12. You know that drill with Doc and his players, and it's served them well. Nevertheless: NU is better than both teams. Ten points better. If the Huskers want to play in the NIT, much less the NCAA Tourney, both games need to end in a "W."

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Our assessment of Wednesday's big tilt between the Cornhuskers and the Jayhawks:

1. Pudge. Kansas point guard Sherron Collins could stand to lose a few pounds, but he's the best backcourt player in the league, a whirling dirvish who often stood toe-to-toe with Derrick Rose in the NCAA Championship game last year. Considering Rose is cruising toward to a Rookie of the Year award in the NBA, well, you get the picture. Cookie Miller will have his hands full on offense, while a host of Huskers will have will struggle on defense. It's easy to tab Blake Griffin as the Big 12's best player, but he doesn't have much on Collins

2. Stretch. That'd be KU center Cole Aldrich, a traditional, back-to-the-basket type who's averaging 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. The Jayhawks always seem to have one of these fellas in the program. The small Huskers either must double him - and try to jump out on KU's young sharpshooter, or...

3. Whither Diaz? If NU head coach Doc Sadler ever were going to use 6-11 true freshman Brian Diaz, this might be the time. Diaz can at least front Aldrich and draw fouls on the offensive end. Nebraska's chemistry is a fragile thing - but so are NU's postseason hopes. The Huskers have to win six more, in our estimation, to draw a serious look from the NIT committee, and nine more for a realistic shot at the Big Dance.

4. Heat on the Fresh Meat. Kansas has a terrific stable of young players. You've got three freshmen - Tyshawn Taylor and the 6-9 Morris twins, Markieff and Marcus - and two sophomores - Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed - who may comprise a national title nucleus in two years. But not right now. While KU guards surely practice against tough defenders every day, Nebraska's defense will be another tough tthing entirely. Let's see how they handle it and the Devaney crowd.

5. Killer Instinct. Can the Huskers finish off an opponent in the last five minutes?

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Without further adieu....your keys to the game!




Reesing v. Ganz: When it comes to the showdown, which one is going to be there? Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing is more of a creative playmaker, while NU signal caller Joe Ganz is more of a smooth operator. Both are skilled leaders. Both take risks. Both have been burned. And both do a lot of burning of their own.




Which one will make the big scramble? Convert the key third down? Throw the climactic, game ending interception? The drama-within-the-drama is as high this week as it’s been for any Nebraska game this season. In three games against the Big 12’s best quarterbacks – Mizzou’s Chase Daniel, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford - Ganz has played terrific against Tech, so-so against Missouri, and poorly against OU. In each, he threw backbreaking interceptions.




Here’s the fourth of five rounds for Ganz (the last is next week vs. Josh Freeman.) Does he answer the bell against one of the nation’s best?




Mark of the Mangino: His weight obscures his coaching gifts to some, which is a shame, but Nebraska doesn’t need any reminder of the magic KU Coach Mark Mangino can weave against the Huskers. Put simply, he schooled Bill Callahan’s staff for three years with a mixture of short passes, quick draws and deep balls. The man knows his way around a game plan, and his teams always do a couple of the little things well.




For one, KU’s receivers can block. All of them. They’re physical, tough and committed to locking guys up downfield. Nebraska’s receiving corps is getting better at this in 2008, but it’s Kansas that reminds me of the old NU receivers who knew how to get inside the pads of a safety and put him on the turf. The Jayhawks don’t have a great offensive line, but they’re terrific on the perimeter. It can frustrate a defense like Nebraska’s, where the strength of the team is its front four.




The other observation? KU’s linebackers can tackle. They’re not great in pass coverage, but James Holt, Mike Rivera, and Joe Mortensen wrap up and take down with consistency. They blitz well, too, combining for seven sacks. It’s a trio of savvy seniors who can give Ganz trouble.




Tim Beck: The first-year Nebraska running backs coach was there as Kansas climbed out of obscurity into dizzying success last year as a 12-1 Orange Bowl team. He recruited many of KU’s players. He knows KU’s offense. He understands the weaknesses of KU’s defense.




Could Nebraska possibly have a better scouting report? Nah. Probably not.




Now, of course, Beck’s downplaying his role. He’s got to do that.




“Maybe personnel, knowing some of the kids,” Beck said. “This guy does this, this guy can do that. But the thing Ed Werner does, the (Kansas) OC, he’s got the whole playbook in his hands, he can call any play at any time he wants. To sit there and say “They’re gonna run this,’ it’s not necessarily true. What am I gonna do, tell Bo? ‘Hey Bo, if you don’t got a guy covering over there, that’s where they’re gonna throw it?’”




Beck dost protest a bit much. Know this: Nebraska’s defense should have a better sense of what Kansas will do out of certain formations based on Beck’s understanding of Mangino’s attack plan. And Beck’s personnel knowledge is useful, too. If he’s got an inside straight on some kid’s weakness, Nebraska can and will exploit it. It’s a tiny little advantage that NU has. Not a decisive one. But worth watching.




Plan B: Both NU and KU will try to establish the running game, presumably with zone read and option plays out of the shotgun. After it doesn’t work – and I fully expect it won’t for either team – chart how long it takes the Huskers and Jayhawks to start passing on nearly every down. Why? Nebraska is 84th against the pass. Kansas is 110th. Neither team has a decent, or particularly experienced, secondary; both have solid, experienced receivers. Do the offenses wait to exploit these mismatches until the second quarter? The second half?




From the jump: Oklahoma’s first-quarter assault on Nebraska last week was called an avalanche, an aberration, a disaster.




I prefer to see it, rather, as a culmination of a problem NU’s had all season in the first quarter of games, home or away.




Since Virginia Tech ambushed the Huskers in the first quarter of its 35-30 win, one could argue that Nebraska has played a strong opening 15 only twice since then: at Iowa State and Texas Tech. And the Tech game is a borderline call at best. The defense is especially prone to big plays early, as witnessed in the Missouri, Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma games. Call it busts, alignment errors, whatever. The reality is, on the whole, Nebraska’s opponents look more prepared at opening kickoff.




Now Bo Pelini and his staff have been pretty adept at adjustments. Give them that. But slow starts are killing NU against good teams. Whatever it is the Huskers have to battle – nerves, uncertainty, confusion – the Kansas game would be a helluva opportunity to overcome it.

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First-round knockout: Oklahoma is a front-runner. That’s not a knock on the Sooners – simply a reality. OU rarely starts slow, and is very good at scoring bunches of points early, putting a team in a hole, and keeping that team at arm’s length with an explosive offense. Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford is often remarkably accurate to start the game. Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson dials up aggressive, physical plays, trying to establish run and pass with brutality. The defense tries to impose its own will. Sometimes, OU switches into a no huddle attack. It’s all designed to get a team on its heels, reeling from all the speed and talent.




But Oklahoma rarely sustains that energy. It would be almost impossible to do it. Over the last five years, the Sooners have either taken quarters off or checked out defensively for whole stretches of a game. If Nebraska can withstand that early barrage and counter the Sooners’ big plays with some of its own, it stands a chance in Norman. But the Huskers have to come out hot and ready, and capitalize when they can.




Clock Chewers: We don’t have to remind you that offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, along with quarterback Joe Ganz and the rest of the NU offense, has provided a three-game response as to why Nebraska runs a version of the West Coast Offense. No, this isn’t Bill Walsh’s two-back offense, or Mike Holmgren’s attack. But Watson was smart enough to scrap the traditional two-back idea earlier in the season when it became clear it wasn’t working. He managed to keep the essence of the WCO – a short, controlled passing game mixed with an effective running game, all while keeping the quarterback mobile – while molding it to the shotgun formation. Good for him.




Here comes the elephant on the schedule.




Oklahoma’s defense is fast, aggressive, and full of gamblers. Now the Sooners lay smart odds and take wise chances, but they still take them.




“They’re gonna try to get you off the field,” Watson said. “They wanna get you behind the sticks right from the very beginning.”




So this isn’t Texas Tech’s please-don’t-break-us defense that plays a soft, porous zone. This is an OU defense that has a terrific front four and confident, if occasionally burned, secondary. The linebackers play uniformly hard, if not always that well. If the Sooners have a weakness, it’s that unit. That means tight end Mike McNeill. That means Todd Peterson, who’s big enough to run those square in patterns. That means – to me anyway – isolating Marlon Lucky or Roy Helu, Jr. on one of those guys in coverage.




Can Nebraska really eat up 40 minutes of the clock again? Doubtful.




Busting Free: Nebraska leads the Big 12 in limiting opponents first downs – just 18 a game. First, that means teams struggle to piece together 10-play drives against the Huskers. Second, it means those aren’t having to spend 10 plays and several first downs getting to the end zone, because they’re picking up chunks of yards on a single play.




Eight games into the season, and the Huskers are still struggling to stop the big play. Really struggling; Baylor used five plays over 30 yards to keep itself in last week’s 32-20 loss.




OU specializes in big plays; it has 70 plays of 20 yards or more this season. Oklahoma isn’t used to taking very long to score, and Nebraska isn’t used to it, either. Taking the last 14 touchdowns scored against NU – we’re throwing out the overtime score for Texas Tech and Missouri’s interception return – and opponents have taken roughly 5.5 plays to go 71 yards per touchdown drive. That’s 13 yards per play.





“I can’t finger on it exactly what’s going on,” safety Larry Asante said of the missed assignments that allow big plays. “All the points that they got is all off of busts. It was just guys misaligned, and guys not being in their gaps.”

Smoking out the screens: Both Oklahoma and Nebraska like to have their quarterbacks throwing short, horizontal passes to their wide receivers. However, what the Sooners and Huskers hope to achieve with them is different.




In the last three games, NU has used screen passes from Joe Ganz to Nate Swift, Todd Peterson and Niles Paul as running plays, essentially – a way to gain four or five yards without wearing out your running back or risking the chance for a big loss. If Swift/Peterson/Paul breaks a tackle, maybe the play becomes a first down, but generally it’s a means of ball control. If OU’s cornerbacks inch up to challenge Nebraska’s wide receivers – and we expect them to – then the quick pass becomes harder to execute. How the Huskers adjust to OU’s aggression may determine whether NU can possess the ball like it wishes to keep its defense fresh.




OU, meanwhile, runs a more drawn out screen designed, like a running back screen would be, to catch the defense off guard and hopefully create a bust, which in turns becomes a big play for the Sooners.




“They’ll hold onto the ball a long time,” NU defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “A lot of teams, they do that in such a hurry you’re able to read it quickly. Oklahoma’s very patient with that screen.”




And very good at executing it. Bradford’s become very good at drifting back just the right amount before throwing, and OU’s receivers are quick and shifty.




“They’re really elusive with the ball in their hands,” Carl Pelini said.




You recall that Missouri and Texas Tech scored their first touchdowns against Nebraska on similar plays. Both times, NU blitzed the quarterback heavily.




Poise in the Moment: Nebraska has played two big night games so far. In losses to Virginia Tech and Missouri, NU didn’t exactly pass the composure test: 21 penalties combined and four turnovers. While the Huskers have grown over the last three weeks, particularly on offense, consider Saturday night, on national television, at a rival, as a final exam of sorts. Does NU come out tight and undisciplined? Or does the atmosphere galvanize the Huskers?

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Seemed like old times around the Nebraska football team this week. After a 35-7 win over Iowa State, NU coaches were in the mood to joke and chat and players were trying to crack each other up as they were interviewed. Even the weather was comfortably crappy and familiar.



It felt like an October from eight years ago, when a speed bump like Baylor rolled into Memorial Stadium for its election-year pounding and rolled out by supper time as Husker fans tucked into a hot beef sandwich and a beer. It can be deceiving like that around Lincoln; easy to forget that NU is 4-3 and in the midst of its second major overhaul in five years.



We’re halfway through year one of the Bo Pelini Project, and the Big Red Nation has reason to be cautiously optimistic. After Nebraska looked undisciplined and disheveled in consecutive losses to Virginia Tech and Missouri, Pelini and Co. reshaped practices. Players responded. Two road games came at the right time for bonding purposes, and the Huskers enter the final stretch looking for three, possibly four wins.



“Now they are starting to have a better understanding of what we’re asking, how we game plan, how we adjust week-to-week,” Pelini said. “As that happens and they become more confident with it, that breeds confidence and it’s going to lend toward, as you’re together longer, less mistakes.”



But Nebraska is hardly polished. A “ho-hum” can turn into an “uh-oh” in the time it takes Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin to bust contain and scramble 60 yards to the house.



The Cornhuskers do not want to let this true freshman, or this team, linger around. A loss Saturday would be a tsunami to the team’s emboldened psyche.



On to the keys.



Trap Game: Here’s how I define a “trap” team: An opponent you should beat - but might overlook because of circumstances – that still has enough talented players to put a stake in your heart.



Baylor fits the bill. Not merely because of Griffin, either. The Bears have a better-than-average offensive line, and two defensive players – safety Jordan Lake and Joe Pawelek – who are NFL prospects. BU has a good punter, a dangerous freshman receiver in Kendall Wright, a shifty running back in sophomore Jay Finley, and some other decent pieces. Baylor doesn’t necessarily play a Big 12 team on television, but it has some guys who would belong on any team in the league,



And these Bears are believers. They crapped out on the road against Oklahoma State, but gave Connecticut – a team that’s about equal with Nebraska – a run for its money. After a disastrous first quarter, BU played Oklahoma evenly for the last three.



The Art Briles Factor:You’re going to know this guy’s name a lot better in four years when Baylor makes its next trip to Lincoln. By then, the Bears could very well have visited the San Antonio’s River Walk in preparation for an Alamo Bowl.



If Pelini is a good match for the Midwestern mentality of Nebraska football, Briles is the same for “who us?” mindset in Waco. Briles’ answer since he stepped on campus has been simple: “Yes, you.”



“He’s not going to let anything get us down,” Lake said. “He’s always in high spirits, talking about how we can do this. It rubs off on the coaching staff and it rubs off on the players. It all kind of trickles down.”



It helps that Briles has cultivated his own, quite successful version of the spread offense. It incorporates the option, bubble screens, wide-open stuff, even some I-formation power football. Like Houston under Briles, Baylor likes plays to “hit” quickly and overwhelm a defense. Briles will often spread a team out, then attack a softened middle. Plays are rarely drawn out unless Griffin does the drawing. It’ll be a tough adjustment for Nebraska’s defense, especially a secondary that, as of two weeks ago, still struggled with alignments and assignments.



Third verse, same at the first two: Nebraska will be facing its third consecutive bend-but-don’t-break 4-3 defense that’s going to give NU the short passing lanes take away the big play and the running game. Lake, the Bears’ best safety, is very good in run support, so Nebraska’s running backs will need to stick to their holes and not try to look for chances to bounce. Quarterback Joe Ganz, meanwhile, just has to do more of the same. Manage the offense, avoid the occasional blitz and find the holes in Baylor’s zone.



One thing to watch: NU’s offense seemed more effective on the road than at Memorial Stadium. Could it have anything to do with wanting to impress the home crowd, and tightening up as a result?



The Specials: Gotta keep harping on it, and now we’ve got a reason: Nebraska is 118th in net punting with 27.4 yards per punt. NU might as well just go for it fourth downs, if that’s all the Huskers are going to get out of a punt.



Baylor, meanwhile, has a solid punting game – 7th nationally. And a good kickoff and punt coverage unit, too. May mean nothing – what’s a couple punts in a blowout game? – and it may mean a lot. You figure the Huskers’ horse has to come in one of these weeks, and Dan Titchener or Jake Wesch has to punt well. You would think.



The New Kid on the Block: We’ve talked a lot about Robert Griffin already. For a true freshman, yeah, he’s special. But Oklahoma State contained him, and Nebraska can, too. The front four has to stay smart, keep their rush lanes and force Griffin to step up inside of out – keep funneling down the middle of the field. At least then he’s less of a threat to throw on the run and beat Nebraska’s safeties down the field.



Then, Pelini has to pick his blitzes well. Briles has Griffin trained not to make dumb throws, and Griffin is such a good runner that he can step backward from pressure and run all the way around it.



Finally, the Huskers really have to shut down the zone read play that gave them such fits last year. Baylor will run it and run it if it can, Griffin has already become deft at pulling the ball out and getting to the perimeter quickly. It’s a staple of what the Bears do on the ground, where they average 182.7 yards per game. If Griffin can make hay here, it opens up the rest of the playbook. If he doesn’t, Baylor is likely to stay conservative and try not to lose.

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Rarely has the middle of a football season felt so much like the beginning.



Nebraska’s football team is halfway through its regular season schedule. Any illusions of a Cinderella run to the Big 12 North title have disappeared. The Cornhuskers are 3-3 overall, 0-2 in the league, and looking square at six, seven or eight wins in 2008. Anything less and this year was a bit of a bust. Anything more, and NU somehow managed to upset Oklahoma in Norman.



The last half of this schedule is about winning, yes. But it’s more about how head coach Bo Pelini gets this team to grow as it wins and loses. A blowout loss to Missouri showed regression. An overtime loss to Texas Tech was a sign of Nebraska’s potential.



Now to Iowa State, a team facing similar issues this year. The Cyclones are led by their own young coach, Gene Chizik, and they have the tools to beat NU on Saturday. Here are the keys that will decide it.



Trenches:Nebraska’s offensive line finally began to find some rhythm against Texas Tech. Iowa State’s defensive line is arguably its best unit, consistently pressuring opposing quarterbacks with heat and playing a big part in ISU leading the Big 12 with 17 takeaways.



“They’re playing really good team defense,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “They pursue to the football and they get all over the ball. And they’re playing hard.”



But the effort-based bunch is undersized, and not so great at stopping the run - tenth in the Big 12, in fact, just ahead of moribund Kansas State and Texas A&M.



Will the Huskers take what the Cyclones give, like they did so wisely in Lubbock?



Turnovers: ISU feasts on them, and leads the Big 12 with 17. Not so good for an NU team that hasn’t won the turnover battle in three weeks and has not, in fact, created a turnover in that same time.



“It’s something that really jabs at me,” Pelini said in his Tuesday press conference. “It’s something we emphasize and it’s something the defenses I’ve been around have always hung their hat on.”



It’s hard to create turnovers when you’re playing teams like Missouri and Texas Tech, whose offenses generally depend on the quarterback having a quick trigger and making rhythm throws to receivers. Still – if Oklahoma State – nobody’s idea of a superlative defense – could force Mizzou’s Chase Daniel into three interceptions, why couldn’t Nebraska get one over the last three games?



Look, for a second, at the team speed on NU’s defense right now. Speed – flying around, swarming - is what causes interceptions and fumbles. Speed best delivers the unexpected element. Speed is the difference between being a half-second too late or right on time.



Why do you think Pelini’s last NU defense, in 2003, caused so many turnovers? Well, just look at it. It had arguably the fastest player in the 2005 draft in cornerback Fabian Washington, two fast safeties in Daniel and Josh Bullocks, and, most importantly, Demorrio Williams. Williams was the key to Pelini’s defense, and, yes, that includes Barrett Ruud, who’s a better NFL linebacker now than Williams.



Pelini used Williams like a mobile assault vehicle to create confusion and frustration for opposing offenses. Teams built their plans around making sure he was accounted for.



The Huskers have a “Williams type” in Cody Glenn, but he’s been hurt for the majority of the last two two games. Pelini doesn’t like to make excuses, and Glenn is sometimes out of position, but he’s also The Guy, the playmaker, the x-factor.



Back to the Base? After spending two weeks in the tropics of college football offenses, Nebraska’s defense returns to something a little more familiar: The basic shotgun zone-read attack. Similar in some ways to Texas, Iowa State seeks to establish the running game through quarterback Austen Arnaud’s ability to either give the ball to one of ISU’s three running backs, or take it himself.



Arnaud isn’t the runner that now-departed quarterback Phillip Bates was, so ISU has been throwing more passes over the last several games.



“Early in the year they were a little more base personnel, a couple of tight ends in the game,” Pelini said. “Now they are a little more spread out. How they choose to go at us, I don’t know yet. We have to be prepared to go at all of it.”



If Phillip Dillard and Glenn are ready to go, look for them to play in a nickel package, or possibly be joined by Tyler Wortman in a base look. If Glenn can’t go, expect to see true freshman walk-on Matt Holt or sophomore Blake Lawrence.



“They will have three receivers a majority of the game,” Lawrence said. “So they pose a threat in the passing game just for pure personnel. But out of that package they do a good job of blocking and setting up the run. So we have to be prepared at all times.”



Jack Trice: As in Iowa State’s football stadium, which is a better home field advantage than most teams in Iowa State’s class (below-average BCS Conference schools) enjoy. Crowds in Ames are lively and loud, and they don’t have a fondness for Nebraska. While the Huskers have won 7 of the last 10 games there, the margin of victory is only 34.3-19.2. And that includes, as you know, some pretty awful ISU teams in the Jim Walden years.



Just in case you thought NU was heading to Ames for a blowout.



Jack Trice has a grass field, which means the surface is probably a little slower than FieldTurf. The stadium is also an unabashed wind tunnel because of its open end zones. In 2005, former ISU offensive coordinator and current NU offensive line coach Barney Cotton recalled, a tornado touched down near the stadium, forcing a two-hour delay of the game, which was played in the kind of winds you’d expect in the aftermath of the tornado.



“All of the offenses scored only going one direction,” Cotton recalled. “Our defense scored going the other direction, otherwise it would have been a tie football game.”



It’s not the kind of place you want to make a mistake like Abner Haynes did in the 1962 AFL Championship.



Having coached there, Watson said he wasn’t worried, that he and quarterback Joe Ganz don’t mind throwing against the wind, which happens to be pretty common around Nebraska, if you didn’t know.



“Bo asks me all the time ‘Which way you want to go?’” Watson said. “We don’t care. Just line up and go. Throw into it. Throw with it. That’s the way the game’s gonna be. We’re not real user-friendly around here.”



Must-Win: NU guard Matt Slauson put it best when he said that, either way, the Iowa State game takes Nebraska off the .500 mark.



If NU goes to 3-4, it has to try and steal a game against Kansas or Oklahoma to reach seven wins. If Nebraska goes to 4-3, it heads into next week’s game at Baylor with poise and confidence.



If you’re merely gauging by Pelini’s comments, this was the best week of practice Nebraska’s had since fall camp. The question is…will it show up in the game?



“That’s the key,” Pelini said Thursday night. “We’ve got to make sure we take the good things we did, make sure we get the things corrected we need corrected, so we can put it all together consistently on Saturday.”

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