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Grades and Players of the Game from Nebraska's 9-7 loss to Iowa State

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Traye Robinson, running back. His fumble was the most understandable of the bunch, and he ran with forward lean and toughness. Robinson wasn't worried about picking through holes – he wanted to gain yards. Novel idea, huh?

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ndamukong Suh and Barry Turner, defensive linemen. Both spent a lot of time making tackles and making life difficult for Iowa State quarterback Jerome Tiller when he did choose the pass. Phillip Dillard and Sean Fisher had strong games as well.

GRADES

QUARTERBACK: C Zac Lee stayed on rhythm in the first half and threw a whale of a deep ball to Niles Paul – which should have been the touchdown that broke the game wide open – but that confidence disappeared in the second half. So did his accuracy. Lee is a below-average quarterback right now, and has been for a month. He can't roll out, he can't run the zone read and he can't locate receivers over the middle without throwing behind them. Shawn Watson and Bo Pelini are apparently comfortable with that.

RUNNING BACK: D Robinson played pretty well; Roy Helu, who looked hurt, really did not. Two costly fumbles from NU's best offensive player – when he's healthy. Marcus Mendoza made a token appearance. It would seem Nebraska's fortunes rest on getting Helu healthy and Robinson holding on to the ball.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: D Drops, bizarre fumbles, so-so perimeter blocking, an inability to catch anything that isn't in stride – this stuff gets old. Lee doesn't help these guys much, and they don't help him much, either.

OFFENSIVE LINE: B There were moments where the big boys dominated up front. But, once again, when Nebraska claimed it would trust the line to plow open some holes, it kept retreating to the passing game whenever it had the chance. Mike Caputo subbed nicely for Jacob Hickman, at first glance. This game wasn't on the line. It could have played better, but it was, in many ways a clean game.

DEFENSIVE LINE: B+ Iowa State gashed a hole here and there, especially on drives near its own goal line, but the Cyclones found little daylight on many plays. Suh and Turner were outstanding, while Cameron Meredith subbed in well for an injured Pierre Allen. But Jared Crick has to stay on that fumble.

LINEBACKERS: B+ Phillip Dillard, Sean Fisher and Will Compton all played quite a bit – and quite well. Dillard was a bit tardy once or twice on the zone read, as was Fisher, but it was a physical, hard-hitting effort. Now – cause a turnover, will you?

SECONDARY: C Iowa State only tried one long pass all game. It worked for a touchdown. No matter what else the secondary did in the game – ultimately, for better or worse, it gave up the winning touchdown on a poorly thrown jump ball. A shame.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B Alex Henery redeemed himself with two excellent punts downed inside the 10-yard line. ISU's fake punt obviously hurt, but the Cyclones just made a good call and executed it nicely Niles Paul and Tim Marlowe were OK on kickoff returns.

GAME MANAGEMENT/PLAYCALLING: C- Cody Green should have started. Should have played, at the very least. By not even giving him the opportunity to win the job on Saturday, offensive coaches are essentially requiring him to outlearn and outperform Lee in a practice lab environment. Which he probably can't do. Beyond that decision, we thought's Watson original plan – quick throws on screens and stop patterns – was a good one. The switch to power football seemed to work, too. Then, in the fourth quarter, he ditched it. Why? Nebraska was not good in the two-minute drill, either, for either half. Defensively, Bo wasted another blitz midway through the third quarter, when he brought heavy pressure on ISU QB Jerome Tiller, who simply rolled out and found an open man.

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Smaller, slower and not as talented. With less depth. And a head coach without the pedigree, personality and national championship ring of Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini. Plus – one hand tied behind its back without a starting quarterback or running back.

You know what Iowa State had Saturday that Nebraska didn't? Momentum. Confidence. Trust. Positive energy. Luck. The first four produced the fifth. ISU hit harder, played smarter and stuck to its minimalist plan of zone read and the occasional rollout, playaction pass. It was boring. It was plain. It didn't do much more than eat up some clock.

But the Cyclones won, you see, by asking its defense to be scrappy – it was – in hopes of making the Huskers so sloppy – they were – that they'd eventually melt. Which Nebraska – with the game absolutely in reach – most certainly did.

Nebraska had something going in the third quarter. A downhill power game. Center Mike Caputo, subbing for Jacob Hickman, looked good. Nebraska was finally starting to get under ISU's pads. And the Huskers were not running horizontally, but vertically. Then, while fighting for extra yards, Traye Robinson had the ball torn out by ISU defensive tackle Nate Frere. That's what Iowa State does. Heck, the Cyclones did it last year with a different head coach. They're good at it.

But just after that fumble, NU's fifth turnover, the Huskers abandoned that power game, headed back to the shotgun, and gained 25 total yards on the next four drives, with three turnovers. At the moment Nebraska needed to keep leaning on the Cyclones, it pulled off, and tried throwing the ball downfield into the wind.

Why? Why did Nebraska do that? Why is NU's ball security among the wide receivers shaky for the second year in a row? Why is Nebraska's offensive line leaky vs. ISU's unit of future haberdashers and carpet salesmen?

And what's Bo Pelini going to do about it? I repeat: What's he going to do?

Fans need to stop demanding these answers from the offensive staff. I mean, they'll answer how they answer. They're entrenched in their philosophy, like most of us would be, and bound, to some extent, to circular logic. Coaches are proud. Most of us are.

Ted Gilmore will continue a rotation of players looking for courage first, good hands second. Tim Beck is forced to juggle around Helu's shoulder injury and deal with the very real consequences of Quentin Castille's dismissal. Ron Brown is ever the dutiful soldier, even if his unit is criminally underused. Barney Cotton will be habitually under fire, as he always is, although it's becoming clearer, to me, that Nebraska doesn't run an offense that caters to his or the line's strengths. Shawn Watson will remain an artful dodger who really is capable of running a great offense, but doesn't want look backward (the early 2008 offense) to go forward.

It gets old, holding them accountable every week. After all, they work for Bo. And, as he ever so forcefully put it last week, the buck stops with him.

Bo knows defense, clearly. Nobody debates that.

But if Bill Callahan had to be responsible for Kevin Cosgrove's defense, then Pelini has to answer the bell now. There's no real pleasure in trotting out those two names, beleive me, but that's what the $2 million is for, right? Now - Bo can provide any answer he wants to, or he can provide none at all. But they're his answers to provide. He's got to solve it.

Zac Lee isn't Watson's quarterback. He is Bo's. Cody Green isn't ready? Fine. It's Bo's decision to let Lee continue to incompetently run his part of the zone read. If NU wants to leave Antonio Bell on the sidelines for better blockers like Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleylen – who are absolutely not useful in the two, four or six-minute drill – that's Bo's call. If Watson wants to start out with a short-passing game that works, shift to Power O, then screech into a shotgun passing gear in the fourth quarter against the wind, then Bo can explain it.

And Bo will account for it. That's the kind of guy he's shown himself to be. It'll be the account itself that merits examination.

We've spent two weeks whaling away at Watson. Enough of it. Let's not turn him into some misuse of a scapegoat like we did Cosgrove. Let's not relive that. Bo can hold Watson responsible, and fans can and should hold Bo responsible for Watson.

Bo tried adjusting intangibles after the loss to Texas Tech. He tried circling the wagons, casting the media and the fans as a horde who turned on the Huskers. He took the green jerseys off the quarterbacks. In a show of unity, the team locked arms during the Tunnel Walk. It was the Huskers-against-the-world.

To quote Ndamukong Suh, that's all “good and gravy” until the world forces eight turnovers. The button was pushed, and a cataclysmic upset came out of the ticket dispenser. A hardened heart doesn't win necessarily football games.

Which button is next? Tougher practices? Heart-to-heart chats? All-night fumble games? A media freeze-out? Personnel changes? All of them? None of them? Something else?

"It's coaching," he said to explain eight turnovers. "It's coaching and want-to and we didn't get it done. We got beat."

That's all up to Bo.

The buck is on his desk, awaiting instructions.

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A program-making win for Iowa State. A full, dark shudder for Nebraska, especially its offense, which came unglued with a school-record eight turnovers in every awful way one can imagine.

ISU – without its starting quarterback and running back, with just 239 total yards – stunned NU 9-7 Saturday afternoon in front of crowd of pale, grim faces, who hadn't seen the Cyclones beat the Cornhuskers in Lincoln in 32 years. Who hadn't seen Nebraska commit eight turnovers in 37 years. Who had to settle with themselves, for that particular moment in time, that Nebraska had just suffered one of the more deflating, infuriating losses in its recent history.

“I'm disappointed in our football team,” a subdued head coach Bo Pelini said. “I'm disappointed. We didn't – I'm disappointed. And it starts with me...we were our own worst enemy.”

Said tight end Mike McNeill: "We knew coming in. It's something we talked about before the game. They like to try and take the ball away, they like to try and rip the ball. They did a good job of it."

Ten nightmarish Husker blunders stood out. Some were mental errors, some were excellent plays by the Cyclones, and a few were total flukes. But all of them counted against Nebraska just the same:

*A fumble by Roy Helu on the game's first play that became a 52-yard field goal by ISU's Grant Mahoney.

*An underthrown pass from Zac Lee to Mike McNeill near ISU's goal line turned into a tip drill and a Cyclone interception, snuffing out a probably Alex Henery field goal.

*Iowa State punter Mike Brandtner waited until Nebraska's punt return unit had cleared the left side of the field. Then he took off, ball clutched in his left arm, for 20-yard gain on fourth down. On the next play, Tiller froze the linebackers with a playaction fake to Jeremiah Schwartz and lofted a deep ball to Jake Williams, who beat Eric Hagg on a fly route. Hagg turned the wrong way, and Williams caught the ball in the end zone for a 47-yard touchdown.

*After receiver Niles Paul caught a long pass from Lee and seemed headed for the end zone, he fumbled while trying to stay in bounds, recovered the ball briefly at the three, then fumbled it again into the end zone, where it was recovered by Iowa State's James Smith.

*Jared Crick failed to cover a fumble late in the second half that would have set NU up in Henery field goal range.

*A second Helu fumble inside ISU's five-yard line recovered by the Cyclones in the end zone. Officials originally ruled Helu down, but reversed the call.

*True freshman Traye Robinson accounted for NU's fifth turnover when ISU defensive tackle Nate Frere ripped out the ball, again, at the Cyclones' 5. Robinson was chewed out by left guard Keith Williams as he left the field.

*Menelik Holt fumbled on a inside screen pass for the sixth turnover, marking the first time since 1976 that Nebraska had lost five fumbles in a game.

*The seventh turnover. Lee threw slightly behind Curenski Gilleylen on a post route, Gilleylen tipped it, and the pass was intercepted by Michael O'Connor.

*The final Lee interception, thrown directly to ISU linebacker Jesse Smith, the best player, along with NU's Ndamukong Suh, on the field Saturday.

Lee finished 20-of-37 for 248 yards and three interceptions – two on Nebraska's last two drives. He completed 14 of his first 16 passes, but hit only 6 of 21 thereafter. Pelini said said it was an “easy decision” to start Lee over true freshman Cody Green - “Cody's not quite ready yet” - thought Lee played well despite the interceptions.

“Zac Lee was the least of our problems today,” Pelini said. “We didn't play well around Zac.”

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We're back again with another installment of guess the score! We've yet to have anyone hit the nail on the head, but when someone does - they'll win a Husker Throwback Poster!

Last week, only Bootlegger predicted a Texas Tech victory, so he gets the nod. No one had Nebraska scoring less than 21 points, by the way.

Give us your predictions for this week! A score, an offensive MVP and a Defensive MVP.

Fire away!

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There are no quick fixes, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini likes to say. There are probably no instant leaders, either.

But after two lackluster performances, NU's offense stand to get a few more..

The consensus, really, is that Huskers' O has one who's up front, center Jacob Hickman, and two supporting players behind him. We'll get to them in a minute.

“Hick's the guy who really captains all of our calls,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. “He's a real leader.”

It's not necessarily common for a center to fill that role, although Dom Raiola and John Garrison did that years ago. But Hickman - a senior who's sampled nearly every offensive line position and thus knows the scheme as well as anyone – has been up to it.

A cerebral type, mature, already married, Hickman's a certain kind of leader, a strong, thoughtful hub of the Husker community. Ndamukong Suh happens to be that guy, too. Suh calls himself a “silent killer.” The phrase fits Hickman, to some extent, too, even if he's talking quite a bit during the game, calling out defensive line shifts.

But Hickman is not a red rump. I'd use another choice word, but we're still, you know, read by families and stuff. At any rate, he's not going to crawl down your skin. He's the good cop, the “calm down” guy.

“I get more annoyed when people yell at me than anything else, so I'd feel hypocritical if I got too riled up,” Hickman said.

But sometimes, he said, it's been necessary. Hickman stepped on the emotional gas pedal at Missouri, he said, getting the intended response in the fourth quarter. He did it again vs. Texas Tech, to no particular avail.

“I got a little frustrated,” Hickman said. “I got a little talkative.”

Who else?

“I don't really think we've had anyone stepping up and say “I'm the one taking control of this offense,'” tight end Mike McNeill said. “Hickman's done a good job, but I don't think we've had one guy who just stands out and says 'this is my offense, and I'm running it right now.'”

Said Hickman: “It really helps sometimes to have a guy get riled up like that.”

You already know Nebraska had that in 2008 with quarterback Joe Ganz.

“Nobody was quite as vocal as Joey,” Hickman said.

But the Huskers had Nate Swift, Todd Peterson and Matt Slauson, too. None of them had Ganz's swagger and personality, but each of them carried authority and experience.

Is the latter of those two traits always necessary for leadership? Not for head coaches, right? There are tons of first-timers, - Pelini included – who just have the “it” factor when it comes to commanding a group of men. They don't need to prove it at every level of football before they arrive in college.

With players, though – that's a leopard with different spots. For every Peyton Manning and Tommie Frazier, who just walks with an air of authority and confidence, there are thousands of guys who haven't properly paid their dues yet.

At a top five program, that's probably how it should be. For Nebraska, which aspires to get there again, a transformative leader wouldn't hurt. No matter what class they're in.

Besides Hickman, two names popped up from several sources for co-leaders: Roy Helu and Niles Paul. Paul does it, Hickman and Watson said, with his work ethic in practice. Helu's leadership skills are evident when you visit practice and talk to his teammates, but the junior, publicly modest, deflects all attention. Nebraska's best offensive player – the best Husker running back in a decade, from this vantage point – is thoughtful, lighthearted and sometimes deadly serious in the span of three minutes.

Is he healthy enough to put the team on his back?

“Roy's been hurt lately, which is tough,” Hickman said. “It's hard to be really in the forefront of leading when you've been hurt.”

Of course, Hickman was sick and a little hurt, too. Maybe not as much as Helu, but this season hasn't been sundaes and rose petals for No. 67.

Zac Lee was also establishing himself, Hickman said, but he's in the midst of a quarterback competition again.

“It's tough when you don't have many seniors out there,” Hickman said. “It's the nature of the game sometimes.”

Tougher still when you don't have many red rumps.

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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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It stung. Then it swelled. Then it went stiff.

Yeah, Austen Arnaud's throwing hand was in a bad spot during Iowa State's 24-10 win over Baylor last week. The junior quarterback thwacked his hand on the helmet of a Bear defensive lineman on the fourth play of the game. He played through the second quarter.

“Then the cold got to it,” Arnaud said. “And it started to stiffen up. It got to the point where I couldn't get a grip on the ball.”

The inconsistent-yet-athletic straw that stirs the Cyclones' drink should be fine for Saturday's 11:30 a.m. game with Nebraska, in part because he sat out the fourth quarter with a rare condition, at least in Ames: Iowa State was actually comfortably ahead. Alexander Robinson, the Big 12's leading rusher who fights a chronic groin injury every game, took a seat, too.

The two of them – along with dynamic backup quarterback Jerome Tiller – help power an ISU running attack that averages 213 yards per game – and only has one senior on the offensive line. Robinson - an undersized (5-9, 187) slasher whose cutback style fits Iowa State's new zone blocking scheme to a T - has 737 yards. Arnaud has rushed for 434, almost three times the amount of any other quarterback in the Big 12.

“You've got to stop the run to beat these guys,” Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “They're very committed to it. They're very patient with it.”

The Cyclones – a surprising 4-3 when most observers expected three wins for the whole season – balance that spread rushing offense with a play action passing game that's equally potent, Pelini said.

“You've got to shift from that run-stop mentality on the fly,” Pelini said.

Part of what's tricky, Pelini said, about ISU no-huddle approach is how it's using Arnaud in a variety of run packages. He'll run power plays through the middle, or designed sweeps toward the sidelines. Sometimes Iowa State replaces its wide receivers with tight ends for a power spread formation. Other times, the Cyclones will empty the backfield and throw on rhythm.

Robinson compliments that approach by being one tough cookie. He's battled through the groin injury much of the season, still enjoying a 152-yard game vs. Kansas and 100 yards vs. Iowa's stingy run defense. It was Robinson who accounted for ISU's only big play of NU's 35-7 win in Ames last season: A 67-yard touchdown run right through the heart of the Husker defense. His relative absence in a 24-23 loss to Kansas State – Robinson carried just four times, but gained 47 yards – was one of the reasons the Cyclones lost.

“He's been playing with a bad wheel for awhile now and he's still gaining yards for us,” Arnaud said.

Robinson said he evaluates his pain level pretty much every day. ISU coach Paul Rhoads joked that the staff has to hide Robinson's helmet to keep him from re-entering games.

“I'm just being smart about it,” Robinson said. “And they're helping me be smart about it. Sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't.”

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Ndamukong Suh didn't smile much during his time with the media during Tuesday's press conference. During the week after a loss, Nebraska's football team tends to shift into shoulder chip mode.

But the do-everything defensive tackle busted out a grin when asked about one of his favorite subjects: sophomore linemate Jared Crick, who had a sack and three more quarterback hurries in the 31-10 setback to Texas Tech.

“Jared is a helluva player,” Suh said. “I'm excited to see how much more he can grow. He's just a young pup. He's got a tremendous amount of potential.”

And that talent is coming into view, a train driving closer to the station. Look at the last four games, Suh said, and Crick's improved with each one. Last Saturday, he frequently beat his offensive blocker, including Tech guard Brandon Carter, a preseason All-Big 12 candidate. The Red Raiders were not able to double-team Suh nearly as much because Crick – and defensive ends Barry Turner and Pierre Allen – were winning their one-on-one matchups.

It reminded Suh of the end of last year, when Ty Steinkuhler and Suh formed a formidable pass-rushing duo during a four-game winning streak. Like Stein – and Suh - Crick channels his fire inward.

“He's kind of a silent killer,” Suh said. “He celebrates but he's not too over-excited. He keeps himself in perspective.”

An example: Crick said Tuesday NU probably had its best pass-rushing game of the season – we constantly had pressure all day,” he said – but Tech's ability to run the ball in the fourth quarter, and near the goal-line, gnawed at him.

“Some of it we weren't expecting,” Crick said. “And down by the goal line, they beat us up front. Can't really say much more about that.”

A handful of plays aside, Crick said, the front four's confidence is higher than ever, especially against the pass. Don't want the blitz. Don't need it.

“We know we have the talent level to get to the passer without any blitz,” Crick said.

Now, Suh said, throw in a turnover. NU's All-American candidate would have gladly handed back all of Nebraska's five sacks on Tech quarterback Steven Sheffield for just one of them.

“We got after the quarterback pretty well, but we were just tackling him,” Suh said. “We can obviously strip the ball, get some turnovers. A turnover in that game would have been huge. It would have sparked us...it allows things to snowball in a good way.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Nebraska's quarterback job is back up for grabs.

Head coach Bo Pelini said he wouldn't name a starter between junior Zac Lee and true freshman Cody Green until Saturday, when the Cornhuskers play Iowa State at 11:30 a.m.

“It'll be a gametime decision,” Pelini said. “Right now, nothing's changed. If and when it changes, we'll announce it.”

Asked specifically if the job is open, Pelini said, “it's always open. That's how we approach it.”

Green twice replaced Lee in NU's 31-10 loss to Texas Tech Saturday. Green's second stint in the game produced a 13-yard touchdown pass to Khiry Cooper. It also produced an interception.

“Cody did a couple good things,” Pelini said. “He didn't grade out exceptionally well. He was a young guy that went in there in a tough situation. He made a couple plays. He made some mistakes. He made a number of mistakes.”

Pelini said he's “not real big on rotating quarterbacks” but didn't rule out it as an option.

“It's hard to get a guy in a rhythm,” Pelini said. “But we'll see how it goes and how they practice and we'll go from there. There's a lot of variables. There's a lot of things that could happen. But it'd be hard for me to look into a crystal ball.”

NU, at 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12, will not be making wholesale schematic changes to the offense, Pelini said, although “you always look at personnel.”

“You've got to do what you do and do it better,” Pelini said. “You can't panic...we know how to address the situation and it's being addressed.”

Pelini said both defensive back Alfonzo Dennard and Chris Brooks are “day-to-day” and would be held out of Monday's practice.

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Mike Gundy breezed into the Big 12 Media Days Monday looking like a lawyer out of a Sydney Pollack movie or something. Light grey suit, purple tie, a little pocket blush to match.

Let his 15 minutes begin.

It’s Gundy’s Oklahoma State crew who goes on the clock in 2009 as the hot upstart team in the Big 12, and it was OSU that got the most attention – just slightly more than Nebraska and Texas A&M - on day one.

The Cowboys have arguably their biggest non-conference game in history on opening weekend, hosting Georgia. Gundy, whose spiky hair can sometimes match his demeanor, was all smiles and business on Monday.

“Oklahoma State is better off now as a football than we’ve ever been,” Gundy said. “Because of where we’re at, the continuity we have and the new facility we have and the direction we’re going. But we’ve got to earn it.”

Gundy fielded questions of all kinds, but two subjects came up the most: Zac Robinson and that last richly-paid assistant that’s supposed to put OSU over the top, defensive coordinator Bill Young.

“He’s mature, confident,” Gundy said. “He’s been great for us in the staff room. He’s a great hire for us. The players like him. They’ll adapt to the system.”

Gundy added Young’s defense will fit his talented trio of linebackers “to a T.”

***

Best story of the day had to go to A&M Coach Mike Sherman, who was watching football games on Thanksgiving weekend – depressed, since his Aggies had just finished a losing season by getting hammered by Colt McCoy and Texas – when his 9-year-old daughter plopped down in his lap, sensing her daddy’s sadness.

Sherman expected to hear those three magic words.

He heard three words, all right.

“She said ‘Daddy, get over it,’” Sherman said to a media room of laughter.

And so Sherman has tried. Sounding a great deal like former Nebraska coach Bill Callahan, Sherman, an offensive line guru and former NFL coach, too, said the Aggies struggled in 2008 in large part because of…wait for it…the transition to a West Coast Style offense.

“You have to put it on me, the transition part of it,” Sherman said. “It didn’t go as well as we had hoped.”

But the adversity of a 4-8 season, Sherman said, “brought the team closer together.” In the spring, A&M finally started acting like a “a team that competed in practice every day.”

As if this didn’t happen under Dennis Franchione, apparently. Isn’t that always the way?

In a Callahanesque manner, Sherman pointed to his most recent recruiting class “as a stimulus package of our own, so to speak,” especially along the offensive line, where the Aggies played hurt and hobbled throughout 2008.

***

Iowa State Coach Paul Rhoads was practically jumping out of his skin with passion at his first Media Days as head coach. Rhoads, a native Iowan whose “mom and dad live 20 minutes” from Jack Trice Stadium, is trying to resurrect, once again, an ISU program from the ashes of an awful season. In 2008, it was an ugly 2-10 campaign that saw the Cyclones lose their last ten games of the year.

Rhoads previously worked under Dan McCarney at ISU in the late 1990s, so he’s seen one coach do it. And Iowa State, in terms of facilities and player development, is well ahead of where it was back then.

“We used have every practice outside in some awful weather,” Rhoads said, and he’s probably not complaining. Trice is set up like a wind tunnel, and, past October, the practice conditions are somewhere close to frigid.

As far as expectations, Rhoads won’t put a win total on it. Good idea. He may want to forego that next year, too, when Oklahoma and Texas move onto the schedule.

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Even though some writers in Missouri find it absolutely nuts to do so, the media went ahead and did it anyway, picking Nebraska’s football team to win the Big 12 North in a preseason poll released Thursday.

NU got 17 of 32 first place votes and 172 points overall. Kansas was picked second with 12 first place votes and 164 total points. Two-time defending North champion Missouri, Colorado, Kansas State and Iowa State rounded out the North side.

In the South, Texas and Oklahoma technically tied for first with 174 total points, but UT got two more first-place votes. That means some voter placed the Longhorns third, presumably behind Oklahoma State. OSU finished third in the South poll, followed by Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas A&M.

The votes:

North Division
1. Nebraska (17) 172
2. Kansas (12) 164
3. Missouri (3) 124
4. Colorado 100
5. Kansas State 81
6. Iowa State 33

South Division
1. Texas (17) 174
1. Oklahoma (15) 174
3. Oklahoma State 130
4. Texas Tech 89
5. Baylor 75
6. Texas A&M 33


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In preparation for Big 12 Media Days, Husker Locker will be counting down and breaking down each of the teams in the conference. We hope you view this series as more interesting, comprehensive and definitive than what you may find elsewhere. Where we can make strong takes – we will.

We rank the teams 12 to 1 in overall strength. Then we’ll provide for you the North/South breakdown – and the preseason All Big 12 team, as well.

Enjoy!

Today: Iowa State

Coach: Paul Rhoads
2008 Record: 2-10 (0-8)

What’s Changed Since 2008: The old coach, Gene Chizik, quit and left for Auburn. The AD shed tears over it. In an effort to define irony, ISU hired Auburn’s defensive coordinator, Paul Rhoads to become the new head coach. The defense, awful last year (453 yards and 36 points per game), lost five of those players who made it so awful.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule: Aside from the annual tilt with Iowa, an embarrassment. But Iowa State will struggle to win three games out of four. Home-opener vs. North Dakota State screams trap, and Craig Bohl’s boys have done it before. Next the Cys host Iowa, then travel to Kent State, then host Army. The Knights will run the triple option. ISU will struggle to stop it, we’re sure.

2009 Conference Schedule: A pail full of kittens, comparatively. Toughest road game is at Nebraska. Other road games are A&M, KU, and Zou Zou. Hosts Okie State, Buffs, Baylor. Kansas State will be held in the Chiefs’ revamped Arrowhead palace to give ISU fans a change of scenery.

Offense: Spread/Pass, No-Huddle
Coordinator: Tom Herman, a 33-year-old wunderkind – the guy’s a Mensa! - who studied under Art Briles for a cup of coffee before calling plays at Texas State for a deuce and ditto at Rice. The Owls set records under his tutelage, and finished 10-3 last year. That said, Rice went 0-5 vs. major conference foes in his two years and lost by average of 33 points. As we’ve said: Not the scheme, but the team.

Strength: Austen Arnaud is smart-but-cautious QB; he racked up scads of meaningless yards among his 2,792 in garbage time of games already lost. He rushed for 401, too, but ISU punted an average a four times per game, tied for most in the Big 12, so the offense wasn’t particularly efficient. He averaged just 5.9 adjusted yards per pass attempt when you figure in interceptions. Still, he has a decent arm, a good pocket presence, and can get on hot streaks. He needs more playmakers and needs to get a touch faster as a runner. The offensive line has four returning starters, but who knows what’s that’s really worth.

Weakness:This just isn’t a team of playmakers. The receiving corps is experienced, but not dynamic. Save one big run vs. Nebraska last year, Alexander Robinson mostly plodded for few yards in between tackles. Mostly, though, Iowa State was out of so many conference games after a heartbreaking 35-33 loss to Kansas that it simply never had to produce against a properly motivated defense. The one time it did, vs. Nebraska, the Cys looked like kids.

Defense: 4-3/Cover 2
Coordinator: Rhoads/Wally Burnham, who previously coordinated South Florida’s defense, where the head coach Jim Leavitt, did most of the playcalling. That’s why nobody wanted the job after Burnham left.

Strength: Iowa State isn’t going to try and outsmart itself, which we like. Linebacker Jesse Smith is a bit slow afoot in pass defense, but he’s a capable run stuffer. Safety James Smith doesn’t fall from that apple tree, either. As a true freshman, cornerback Leonard Johnson (47 tackles, 2 INT) was one of the best players on an awful, maligned defense. Short/squat Nate Frere has his days at nose tackle, we suppose.

Weakness: You can’t give up 176 rushing yards per game and expect to be any good. ISU probably had one of the slower, and certainly the smallest, defenses in the league. When you don’t have one lineman over 290 pounds or one defensive back taller than 5-10, you’re simply stacking the deck against yourself. Bigger, stronger, faster offenses simply overwhelmed the Cys over the last half of last year.

Special Teams Johnson led the Big 12 in kickoff return yard average, but he notched one-third of that total (1089)in one game vs. Oklahoma State (319 yards). Grant Mahoney cost ISU a win over Iowa, but he was generally a pretty good placekicker (17-25, 5-8 from 40+) otherwise. Mike Brandtner was a fair punter, which is common in the wind tunnel that is Jack Trice Stadium.

Intangibles: Iowa State has no real tradition to speak of, it ran off the one mildly successful coach it did have in Dan McCarney, and it’s putting its chips on a lifetime defensive coordinator with ISU ties in Rhoads. Yep. Not a lot a karma in Ames these days. Oh well – the grass turf at Jack Trice is really nice. Wish Nebraska would get it.

Best-Case Scenario: 5-7, with wins over Kansas State, Colorado or possibly Baylor.

Worst-Case Scenario: 0-12 with the easiest schedule in the league.

Our Take: The schedule plays into ISU’s favor. The Cys will have some chances to steal a win or two at home. But, fundamentally, installing a no-huddle in Ames, in that potentially bad weather, with that lack of speed, size and talent, is courting disaster. Iowa State could play itself right out of games in the first quarter. Previous coach Gene Chizik spent most of his energy recruiting fourth-tier types from California and Florida, guys only the MAC and Sun Belt Conferences were after, in an effort to jolt the overall speed profile. But Florida and California generally spawn more pro-style, rush-oriented offenses. So ISU has redirected its focus now to the cutting edge Texas high school market.

All that to say this: The rebuilding process two years ago at Iowa State seemed manageable. It now seems daunting. Here is, officially, the first MAC school to enter the Big 12. It’s gonna be that way for the next three years. At least.

See other Big 12 Breakdowns: No. 12 ISU, No. 11 A&M, No. 10 CU, No. 9 BU, No. 8 KU, No. 7 KSU, No. 6 Texas Tech

Agree? Disagree?Tell us about it.

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(Photo courtesy of ESPN.com)

For nearly a half, Nebraska’s 77-61 win over Iowa State looked like a scary replay of the Cyclones’ victory in Ames. ISU forward Curtis Brackins was shooting over the top of the smallish Cornhusker front line, and guard Lucca Staiger was draining 3-pointers straight out of a P-I-G contest.

But on NU’s Senior Night, two Huskers senior fittingly turned a 31-29 deficit into a 34-31halftime lead in a matter of seconds. Guard Steve Harley banked in a long 3-pointer as the shot clock was nearing expiration. Then, his defense helped force a steal that turned into an Ade Dagunduro layup just before the halftime buzzer.

Nebraska’s press then melted ISU in the first ten minutes of the second half, giving coach Doc Sadler a rare opportunity to clear his bench and get each senior a standing ovation from the more than 9,000 fans in Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Following a three-game losing streak , it was hard to imagine a more therapeutic win for the Huskers last home game of the regular season.

“For some reason our energy wasn’t what it needed to be to start that game and Coach told us we had to find a way to get some energy,” said Dagunduro, who continued his late-season tear with a career-high 24 points. “So we took it upon ourselves to boost our energy. We got a couple of scramble plays and that gave us some momentum going into the second half.”

Although NU (17-11 overall and 7-8 in the Big 12 Conference) gave up two Staiger treys to start the second half, the defensive tone had been set, and the Huskers then went on a 17-6 run, forcing a glut of turnovers in a row, and 17 for the game. Repeatedly guards Cookie Miller, Sek Henry, Harley and Toney McCray trapped the Cyclones (14-16 and 3-12) on both sides of the half court line, forcing a travel and two over-and-back calls.

Aside from the tall, possibly NBA-bound Brackins (25 points) and Staiger (17), ISU’s entire roster scored just 19 points, many of those coming after the game was out of reach.

“A lot of them are just hurried mistakes and not taking our time and not reading the floor,” Iowa State Coach Greg McDermott said. “When we read the floor, we attacked the pressure and got layups. It’s unfortunate, but we kind of melted down against their pressure.”

NU, meanwhile, got a balanced scoring performance to compliment Dagunduro’s work. Miller scored 14, rattling home two treys. Forward Ryan Anderson, having nailed almost 50 percent of his 3-point attempts over the last eight games, hit three more to finish with 11 points. Harley chipped in ten and didn’t force many jumpers outside of the scope of the offense.

“If Steve can get into double figures for us, especially down this stretch, and we’ll have a chance to win some games,” Sadler said. “But we have to get Steve into double figures and he did that tonight.”

Senior Night gave Sadler the opportunity to start Dagunduro, Harley, Paul Velander and Nick Krenk, all of whom were honored before the game with a video and a framed jersey. Dagunduro said NU battled nerves in the opening minutes; it showed when ISU jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

“I would have been devastated if we went out with a loss,” Dagunduro said. “But that’s a credit to our guys, they wouldn’t let us seniors down and they did a good job rallying.”

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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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After what used to be considered a routine victory, today it feels like winning the Super Bowl. This is more of a reflection on how much lower the bar was moved over the past four years than anything. But these days of lowered expectations are apparently numbered, because yesterday marked the re-appearance of our old friend, Dominance.

It seems our old friend was alive and well, but living in Ames, IA, of all places. And who the heck is Jack Trice, anyway? Is that the farmer that donated the field? Who hurts worse today, Iowa State, or Chase Daniel?

If you missed the Texas-Mizzou game yesterday, it was a thing of Lone Star beauty. Before Sunday is over, we'll hear just how dirty Texas can be, I'm sure. The Horns kept running this play I like to call, "The Alamo", where Texas does not leave any Tigers standing. The bottom line is, Mizzou now has two losses in the Big XII, and they have yet to play KU. NU isn't out of this yet. In the unlikely-but-anything-can-happen event that NU beats OU..and KU..and KSU...well, we shall see. It may not be in our best interests to win the North, since we'd then have to play those very same Longhorns.

The Husker Offense: Was brilliant. Simply brilliant. Mixed well of runs and passes, we owned the clock...again! Joe Ganz was outstanding, and Marlon Lucky seems to be moving with more confidence and less tiptoeing. Watson seems to have found his groove in terms of schemes.

The Defense: Bo needs to invent a "gray shirt". With only a few exceptions, the defense had a really solid day. Now if they can just say healthy...

Next Up: Baylor - No doubt we will hear how "tough" Baylor has become since last week. Yeah, yeah. You can't sell tickets if you can't hype the game, this we know. Of course, Nebraska is long past the point where hype is needed. If Memorial Stadium could sell out with the Bill and Kevin show, they'll sell out no matter what, even if we have another Depression. This would be a great opportunity to play a lot of the back ups, just to get playing experience. They may need the following week.

This game, like most of the others this year, has had a lot of positives, which seem to get better every week, save one. By the time the season is over, the Huskers ought to be pretty good. The coaching staff seems to be finding chemistry that works, both within the staff and in the play calling.

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Player of the game: Nate Swift, receiver. Swift had one of the best games of his career – eight catches for 112 yards - and set the tone early with a terrific first quarter. Swift made a particularly tough catch-and-run on his 19-yard touchdown.


Best offensive play of the game: You could take your pick, really, but we’ll go with that first touchdown. Swift’s effort was matched by quarterback Joe Ganz, who rolled out, used a pump fake to freeze an Iowa State defender, and found Swift in the zone defense.


Worst offensive play: Ganz getting sacked midway through the second half against a three-man rush. That shouldn’t happen.


Best defensive play: Pierre Allen forcing a fumble just inches from the sideline. It’s about time.


Worst defensive play: ISU’s long touchdown run, obviously. It looked like Nebraska stunted right into the Cyclones’ blocking scheme, and NU’s safeties took poor pursuit angles.


GRADES:


Quarterback: A Another terrific performance from Ganz, who carved up Iowa State’s defense in the first half. Ganz needs to work on holding onto the ball too long, though. He’s also not a natural option guy,


Running back: B+ Maybe that unit’s best game, all things considered. Marlon Lucky, Roy Helu, Jr. and Quentin Castille all had their moments. Castille showed why he’s been playing with a strong fourth quarter performance. Castille finally ran with some authority.


Offensive Line/Tight Ends:B+ Solid protection of Ganz, decent holes, and NU finished the game off with a big fourth quarter.


Wide Receivers: B- Way too many fumbles, two of them lost. It looked like ISU’s defenders hit NU’s pass-catchers a little harder than they’re used to. Still – Swift and the gang run strong routes and consistently catch what’s thrown to them.


Defensive Line: A- Aside from the one long run, it was a fine performance by Carl Pelini’s bunch. The front four consistently put pressure on Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud without any help from the blitz. ISU’s plan to single-block Ndamukong Suh pretty much failed.


Linebackers: B+ Sure does look good when Phillip Dillard and Cody Glenn are back in the lineup. Both helped stuff the running game, and Dillard crunched Arnaud on an option play.


Secondary: B- Wasn’t tested too much by the Cyclones’ ultra-conservative gameplan, and the safeties continue to take bad angles at ball carriers. Still – Armando Murillo made a couple big plays with a pass breakup and a fumble recovery.


Special Teams/Kickers: C Is there a punter in the house? Aside from that, the work was fine. Rickey Thenarse forced a key fumble, and Niles Paul recovered it.


Game Management/Playcalling: A Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson had his second straight stellar week, even tossing in a few wrinkles. He quickly and correctly identified ISU’s fear of Nebraska’s running game and tight ends and adjusted accordingly. Penalties weren’t nearly as big an issue, although Castille picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct late in the game. Nebraska finally seems to be developing a cohesive identity it can take through the season. And the Huskers have looked very mature on the road; that wasn’t the case last year.

Photo courtesy Huskers.com

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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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Nebraska’s football team held its third strong practice of the week, head coach Bo Pelini said, and just might be defining its identity as it prepares for Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. game at Iowa State.



“I like the way they come into practice,” Pelini said. “I like their attitude, I like their work ethic. Slowly but surely it’s becoming who are. It’s not like we have to go out there and prod them to practice hard. They come out here with the attitude to get better every day.



“Progression is becoming who are. I just them now: We need that to continue. It’s setting an example for the younger guys, and eventually it becomes who you are as a program. It doesn’t happen overnight.”



The 3-3 Cornhuskers conducted their two-hour workout inside Memorial Stadium Wednesday afternoon in full pads. Media is not allowed to watch practice, but Pelini’s comments echoed his brother Carl’s praises on Tuesday.



NU continues to take a wait-and-see approach with linebackers Phillip Dillard and Cody Glenn, both of whom did not play at Texas Tech. Dillard looked very good, Pelini said, while Glenn still seemed a little gimpy on his injured ankle.



“They’re getting closer to 100 percent,” he said.

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It was in Ames, Iowa – that cozy, windy, math-minded community north of Des Moines - where Nebraska offensive line Barney Cotton spent one of the best years of his coaching career.

And we’re not even talking about the three seasons he spent as Iowa State’s offensive coordinator.

“I volunteered at Ames High School and a got a chance to coach my son,” said Cotton, whose son Ben now plays tight end at NU. “And the other two kids, I never missed a game of theirs. I got a chance to rejuvenate myself and got a chance to realize what coaching is all about.

“It’ll be good to go back there. That was home for four years.”

Cotton joined the Cyclones in 2004 when then-coach Dan McCarney hired him. When McCarney was fired in 2006, Cotton was not retained by current coach Gene Chizik. Still, he knows many of the ISU players who will line up against the 3-3 Cornhuskers in Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. contest on Versus.

After the final gun, he’ll seek some of them out, shake their hands and reminisce a little. Cotton handled a similar situation in 2004, one year after he had been Nebraska’s offensive coordinator under Frank Solich.

Before that, he said, he won’t think much about it.

“Too much is made out of playing at old school that you worked at,” Cotton said. “When I worked over there and now that I work over here we were working our butt off just to win the football game. You don’t really worry about who you’re gonna play. At least I don’t.”

No argument from right guard Matt Slauson.

“He’s been even-keel all year long,” Slauson said. “He’s put no extra emphasis on this game. Every game seems like there’s extra emphasis on it, because that’s the way it needs to be."

Cotton’s primary concern has been ISU’s defensive line, which has helped caused nine fumbles so far this year. Ends Christopher Lyle and Kurtis Taylor have combined for seven sacks and 15 tackles for losses, comparable to the numbers compiled by Nebraska’s unit.

It’s a bunch, Cotton said, that got his team’s attention the film room.

“You see them playing with a lot of energy,” Cotton said. ‘A lot of times that translates to turnovers. They’re playing very hard – especially their pass rushers.”

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They’re not twin case studies, Bo Pelini and Gene Chizik.



Chizik is a Southern boy. Pelini hails from Youngstown, Ohio. Chizik cut his teeth in college. Pelini did so as an NFL assistant. Chizik is head coach at Iowa State, where a 2-4 record is pretty common – even if Chizik isn’t happy about it. Pelini is at Nebraska, where 3-3 is close to a change in DEFCON levels.



Yet they’re both risk-taking defensive coordinators who have won national championships – Chizik at Texas, Pelini at LSU. Both are trying to flip a losing culture at their respective programs. And both are battling against the inconsistency of their teams.



In Iowa State’s case, the squad has shown flashes of excellence - jumping out to a 20-0 halftime lead on ranked Kansas, overcoming a 21-point deficit at a decent UNLV team – mixed with stretches of bad football, like the brand ISU played in a 38-10 loss to Baylor.



“We know what we can do, obviously,” ISU defensive back James Smith said. “We came back at UNLV. Kansas, we came out on fire. We know that we got it in us, we just gotta go out and do it and stop talking about it.”



Sound like something a Nebraska player could say?



How about this:



“One side of the ball feeds off the other side of the ball,” Chizik said at his press conference. “…We’ve got to coach ‘em better, we’ve got to be more consistent. We can’t put it all together and win one of these big games.”



Like Pelini, Chizik said he tries to maintain the same emotional quotient each week, win or lose. Last week was harder than most, as ISU blew a chance to upset Kansas, giving up 35 second-half points in a 35-33 loss. Then, backup quarterback Phillip Bates quit the team Wednesday. Bates had been rotating with sophomore Austen Arnaud until the KU game, when Arnaud took all the snaps.



“I’m like the last guy standing,” Arnaud said. “We’ve got two freshman here and we want to keep their redshirts on, and that’s fine with me.”



Chizik addressed Bates’ departure with the typically kind parting words. Then he closed the book on the matter, saying he’d only talk about players on the Cyclones’ squad, which is still finding its way.



“We need to grow up a little bit,” Arnaud said. “People say we’re young and that’s true, but this is our seventh game now and we need to grow up and make plays and be Big 12 football players”



Said: Chizik: “When you talk about dealing with the mentality of 18-to-22-year-olds, there’s a fine line between hearing the same thing every week and saying ‘here we go again,’ and really challenging them to understand that every week is a new challenge.”



Pelini preached that message in his press conference Tuesday.



“As a coach, as a program, even as a team, if you ride the emotional rollercoaster, you’re going to play that way and have a lot of highs and lows,” Pelini said. “If you take a business-like approach to it, a very cut and dry approach to it - let's look at the reality of it, let's look at the facts win or lose.”



The facts reveal mixed results for both teams.



NU is generally strong on offense, but kills drives with penalties and turnovers. ISU is 11th nationally in turnover margin, but it has one of the nation’s poorer run defenses. The Huskers have been very good in the red zone, but struggled, at times, to get across midfield. Iowa State has moved the ball well between “the 20s,” but not always translated those yards into points.



Both Arnaud and Joe Ganz have been the straws that stir their respective offense’s drinks. Both also try to do too much at times. Arnaud has thrown for 1,087 yards, run for 137 and accounted for 12 touchdowns. But three of his four interceptions cost the Cyclones dearly in a 17-5 loss to Iowa and the 35-33 loss to KU.



“Austen's done some really nice things. He's growing as a quarterback. He's played in half of a season and there's growing pains that have come with that,” Chizik sound.



“We've done some nice things. We've done some things that I
wish we could take back.”



Sounds familiar.

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Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik thinks it's terrific that the Big 12 Conference finally decided to emerge as college football's best league.


It just might have been nice if the gang of 12 had done in a few years instead of 2008.


"It's a blessing for college football right now that the Big 12 has become so good," Chizik said on the Big 12 Coaches Teleconference. "It's my curse that I'm trying to build a program at Iowa State. But that's what makes it fun. That's the challenge of it."


ISU, 2-4 and 0-2 in the Big 12, is coming off an ugly 38-10 loss to Baylor, in which the Cyclones' defense took the last train for the coast and the usually effective Iowa State offense had a hiatus, too.


"It was definitely the worst game we've played to date," Chizik said. "I don't think we were ever really in it."


Nope, and it probably had something to do with a letdown after two heartbreakers - an overtime loss to UNLV, and a 35-33 collapse against Kansas - and the chaos surrounding backup quarterback and Omaha North product Phillip Bates quitting the team last week.


Not that Chizik would go there. Instead, he pointed to the relative inexperience of his team, which is unable, at times, to pull out of quarter-long, or in this case game-long, ruts.


"We get on streaks," he said. "When things are going good they have a lot of confidence and we play well when we play with confidence. When things are a little shaky, I'm not sure there's enough maturity in our football team and leadership for those guys to know we can overcome those things."



Chizik called 3-3 and 0-2 Nebraska a "very good football team." Several times, in fact. But he didn't go much more into detail.


"They've lost to some great teams," Chizik said of NU. "This is a very good football team. They play a great football team Saturday and had a lot of chances to win."



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