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Enjoy these great shots taken before Nebraska's 10-3 win over Oklahoma Saturday night, especially those of former Heisman Trophy winners Mike Rozier, Johnny Rodgers, Jason White, Billy Sims, Eric Crouch and Steve Owens!

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

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

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

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

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

Five Players We Loved

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

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

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

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

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

Three Concerns We Have

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

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

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

Reviewing the Five Keys

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

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

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

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

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

Three Questions We Still Have

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

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

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

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

Freshman quarterback Cody Green was right beside them.

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

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

Watson said Green was “nervous in the service.”

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

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

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

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

Green?

Lee?

Both?

Roy Helu in the Joker? Kidding. Maybe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is no good answer. Just survival.

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The memory is still strong. And keep it going. Buy the 2009 NU - OU DVD right here and own this memory forever. Click here to purchase.

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

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

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

GRADES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Huge play,” Pelini said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEBRASKA

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

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

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

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

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

OKLAHOMA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just some food for thought.

Y'all want some keys?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Little things win big games.

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

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

See also: An Unforgettable NU-OU Memory

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“The fans used to think Oklahoma was the enemy. They actually made us better.”

-- former Nebraska Head Coach, now AD Tom Osborne.


"Early in my coaching career we lost five straight times to Oklahoma which did not go over very well in Nebraska. But I can say each time we lost we learned a lot, we became a better team. We lost seven straight bowl games at one point and I think each one of those losses was very instructional. So sometimes losing can be the most important thing that happens to you. It depends on how you react to it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cotton's not making excuses.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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: No. 2 Oklahoma

Coach:Bob Stoops
2008 Record: 12-2 (lost 24-14 to Florida in the BCS national title game)

What’s Changed Since 2008: That big, dominating offensive line is mostly gone. In its place, a big line that will probably dominate in 2010, but struggle, at times in 2009. OU lost two receivers, as well, but the Sooners generally just reload. Otherwise, this is the same mean, lean bunch it’s been for several years now.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule: Kicks off in Cowboys Stadium vs. BYU, which is being billed as a bigger game than it will probably turn out to be. The key non-conference tilt is at Miami (Fla.), where, we suspect, Randy Shannon’s Hurricanes will already be 0-3, causing Shannon, who will either be fired by then or close to it, or his replacement to throw every stupid thing in the playbook at OU. It could be one of those 24-21 upsets or a 55-14 bloodbath. You just don’t know.

2009 Conference Schedule: Second in difficulty only to Kansas. OU must play Texas, of course, travel to KU, Nebraska and Texas Tech, and tangle with Oklahoma State at the end.

Offense: Spread/Multiple

Coordinator: Kevin Wilson, whose no-huddle offense knocked every team but Florida and Texas for a loop last year. And, of course, the Sooners blew two key opportunities vs. Florida – probably because of the no huddle.

Strength: Sam Bradford doesn’t look like much off the field, but on it he’s a cool customer. Canny – that’s the word for him. He knows where to place the ball and how to get it there. He’s exceedingly accurate, and he’ll press the ball downfield. Tight end Jermaine Gresham is almost – almost – good enough to surpass Keith Jackson as OU’s best tight end in history. We’re not as enamored with running backs DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown as some are, but they do run hard, and downhill. Murray is a superior receiver, and could play that role in the NFL.

Weakness:OU made a killing on the right side last year in the running game. With a brand new guard and tackle, easy yards will be harder to come by. And Bradford, while terrific, can be sacked if he’s pressured. Let’s see how well he holds up without Phil Loadholt and Duke Robinson protecting him.

Defense: 4-3/Attacking

Coordinator: Brent Venables, who loves to stress the opposing quarterback with multiple looks and well-timed blitzes. Occasionally, he leaves his safeties left on an island, and if you can get OU’s linebackers peeking into the backfield and throw behind them, you’ve got a chance.

Strength: The front seven is a jaw-dropping array of talent, really, and it should be even better with the return of middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds. OU’s run defense has been more susceptible to breakdowns in the last two years. Don’t expect that to be the case in 2009. The Sooners’ corners, Dominique Franks and Keenan Clayton, are NFL types.

Weakness: Just the safeties, really, where Oklahoma must replace Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes. If OU’s defense is going to be tested, it’s right down the seam, preferably with playaction. BYU will certainly try.

Special Teams Ryan Broyles is a capable punt returner. On kickoffs, DeMarco Murray was quite good, but can OU risk another injury to him? Jimmy Stevens is a fair kicker.

Intangibles: That no-huddle offense is a real pain to prepare for in just one week; for a bowl game, it’d probably be easier. Oklahoma has chosen to become a rhythm, momentum team, which stuns and pummels lesser foes – Nebraska in 2008, for example - but can backfire against an equally matched opponent. It did against Florida, which weathered the initial onslaught and eventually dominated the fourth quarter, when the Sooners ran out of gas.

Best-Case Scenario: Another Big 12 Championship, another shot at the national title.

Worst-Case Scenario: Three, maybe four losses in the Big 12.

Our Take: It’s OU vs. UT for all the glitz, again, and we like Texas by a hair. And trust us – Oklahoma isn’t winning that BCS tiebreaker again this year even if Christy Turlington personally lobbies on the Sooners’ behalf. 11-1 or 10-2. BCS or Cotton. Bradford third in the Heisman race.

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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: No. 3 Oklahoma State

Coach: Mike Gundy
2008 Record: 9-4

What’s Changed Since 2008: OSU opened its new Xanadu football facility, among the swankiest in college football. The Cowboys also went out and bought A Winston Wolf, so to speak, in defensive coordinator Bill Young, who’s supposed to come in and fix a defense that gave up 56, 61 and 42 points in three of its last four games. And the expectations changed. Super booster T. Boone Pickens projects a calm, friendly exterior, but he didn’t bankroll an overhaul of the program just so the Cowboys could guard a Taco Bell.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule: Every game is at home, but the first two are challenging: Georgia and Houston. OSU is better than both, but it must clear the mental hurdle of Georgia’s name in week one and avoid a letdown in week two vs. the Cougars. The non-conference slate finishes with a rebuilding Rice team and Grambling.

2009 Conference Schedule: Manageable, with road games at Texas A&M, Baylor and Iowa State before Bedlam at Oklahoma to end the season. Texas in Boone Pickens Stadium on Halloween. You won’t get a crazier night in Stillwater than that.

Offense: Balanced Spread

Coordinator: Mike Gundy – He calls the plays during drives, and gameplans - by himself, with his back turned to the field – while the defense is on the field. Gunter Brewer has the title, but it’s nominal. At any rate, Gundy is an excellent coordinator. He mixes spread and West Coast principles together for the league’s sturdiest offensive design; OSU can run downhill with two tight ends, or spread out with four wide receivers. Last year, the Cowboys rushed for an average of 245 and passed for an average of 242. Can’t beat that.

Strength: Exceptional skill players. Seriously – exceptional. Kendall Hunter and Dez Bryant are the nation’s best running back and wide receiver, respectively. Hunter is quick-footed, instinctive runner – think Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams – with a nose for the end zone and the patience to wait for blocking. Bryant, meanwhile, is a cross of Steve Smith and Lee Evans who’s deadly effective in the slot. A possession receiver blessed with good separation skills and takeoff speed. At quarterback, Zac Robinson benefits from the excellence around him, but his feet make him a dangerous dual weapon. Robinson gets a little… too courageous at times, and needs to avoid injury. Russell Okung is the nation’s best pass-blocking left tackle, too.

Weakness:Not much, frankly. Bryant and Robinson can’t get hurt.



Defense: 4-3 or 4-2-5

Coordinator: Bill Young – Architect of Kansas’s one-year defensive renaissance in 2007. Worked with Miami last year. He’s a bit of a gun for hire, frankly. He’s here to win a Big 12 Championship.

Strength: The linebackers. Andre Sexton moves from strong safety to a hybrid safety/linebacker role, and he’s the most active, disruptive player on the defense. Orie Lemon and Patrick Levine are complete players who handle pass coverage pretty well. Perrish Cox is a top-shelf cornerback and kick returner. Defensive end Ugo Chinasa could be ready to make the leap to all-conference caliber in 2009.

Weakness: OSU couldn’t pressure the quarterback last year (only 15 sacks all season) and gave up 4.3 yards per carry. If a team had a good offensive line, the Cowboys were pretty sunk. OSU was badly exposed – beaten up, really – in the Holiday Bowl vs. Oregon, which amassed 565 total yards, 307 on the ground. OSU has to start with the front four, and go from there. Too often in recent years, the front just hasn’t been very good.

Special TeamsExcellent. Dez Bryant and Perrish Cox are the best punt/kick return combo in America. Dan Bailey made 15-19 field goals. Joe DeForest was hired to solely focus on special teams, and it shows.

Intangibles: OSU hasn’t beaten Texas or Oklahoma in five years, despite many chances, especially vs. the Longhorns. Gundy’s teams, in general, struggle in big games. For a couple years, that was related to talent, but that’s not the case now. The other intangible is Gundy himself. He’s part of pop culture thanks to his rant two years ago, and that both works for and against him. No matter what OSU becomes this year – national title contender or disappointing flop – he’ll be the story.

Best-Case Scenario: 11-0 heading the Norman. It’s absolutely possible.

Worst-Case Scenario: Dumping the first two games and struggling from there. It’s absolutely possible.

Our Take: So much hinges on the first game vs. Georgia. We like OSU there, and vs. Houston (whom we’re picking to upset Texas Tech) but we still want to see the Cowboys beat Texas and Oklahoma when it counts. Until then, we must predict 10-2, with an outside shot at the BCS, depending on how OU fares with its difficult schedule. Otherwise, a Cotton Bowl tilt with old friend Les Miles and LSU.

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Nebraska running back Roy Helu doesn't watch film of his old games at NU in 2007 and 2008.

"I'm a different player," Helu said. "And I believe that because of the training. If anything, it motivates me to play better, perform better."

For improvements, Helu said, he'll watch practice. And a couple other running backs - one of whom is still in college.

"I'll watch Darren McFadden and the Oklahoma running back, No. 7," Helu said.

That's OU's DeMarco Murray.

"His blocking, too," Helu said. "Him and Chris Brown."

Both Murray and Brown shared time in the backfield last year, gaining more than 1,000 yards each.

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More speed. More weapons. A clearer vision. All the coaches on the same page. And a tight end corps that every team in the Big 12 not named Oklahoma would die for.

If Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson can simply find a consistent, dependable right guard – and junior Ricky Henry will be given every chance to be that guy – NU’s offense could hum even more than it did in 2008 when, over the last eight games, Watson’s crew was an excellent balance of run and pass, explosiveness and possession.

“They’re a great looking bunch,” Watson said of this 2009 version. “More explosive and faster than they’ve ever been.”

You already the story of last year, of how Watson reassessed his offensive line and skill players practically in the middle of a 52-17 loss to Missouri, found that a simplified running game, based more on zone read principles, should be the Huskers’ identity, and promptly made adjustments before the Texas Tech game. It took about a quarter in Lubbock for the plan to click, but when it did, Nebraska kept the Red Raiders’ terrific offense off the field for most of the game.

NU still lost in overtime, 38-31, but head coach Bo Pelini remembered that contest at the Big 12 Media Days as his favorite of 2008, the one where Nebraska began to forge its identity.

In 2009, the plan will be, at times, more ambitious, taking advantage of an infusion of speed at the wide receiver position, and quarterback Zac Lee’s legitimate 70-yard arm. Wide receiver Menelik Holt talked about tempo, and the efficiency of Nebraska’s two-minute offense.

Might we see some no-huddle in the middle of the second quarter? We might. The Huskers, physically, are in terrific condition. And Watson has talented enough tight ends – Mike McNeill, Ben Cotton, Kyler Reed – to operate as Oklahoma does, alternating power sets and spread sets in the same drive, with the same 11 players.

OU’s no-huddle was so dynamic because it was equally explosive and punishing; opposing defenses couldn’t just run a nickel or dime against it, they had to keep linebackers on the field to stop the downhill running game. Those same defenses were then more vulnerable to covering a guy like tight end Jermaine Gresham, who habitually burned linebackers down the seam. Sub out a linebacker for a nickel corner, and Gresham would catch passes in front of the coverage. And OU’s running backs would make a killing on the outside zone play.

Yes, Sam Bradford operated the no-huddle like Nicola Benedetti plays a Stradivarius, but it was Gresham – and that terrific offensive line – that routinely presented the overwhelming mismatches.

Nebraska has McNeill, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior who had 32 catches for 442 yards and six touchdowns in 2008. And Cotton and Reed, who looks and runs like Gresham does. Reed has the fastest 10-yard dash time for a tight end in the history of the program. But all Husker fans needed to see was his catch and dash in the Red/White Spring Game.

McNeill confirmed he’d line up occasionally as a wide receiver, or as tight end in a “flex” set, out of which a lot – toss plays, bunch routes, play action stuff – can be run.

“As much as (Watson) wants to throw on us, at me, the better,” Lee said. “The more ways we can attack people, the better.”

And then you throw in NU’s young-but-fast receivers. Marcus Mendoza. Antonio Bell. Niles Paul. Brandon Kinnie. Khiry Cooper, who’s already “flashed” in the first couple days, Watson said Sunday.

Summer’s 7-on-7 drills were packed with big plays and daring tries from Lee for the deep ball.

“With Zac’s arm strength and the speed of the receivers we’ve got? I can’t wait,” Paul said.

But, simultaneously, the offense could be more old-fashioned, leaning on a experienced left side of the line – tackle Mike Smith and guard Keith Williams both return as starters – and two road-tested junior running backs – Roy Helu and Quentin Castille - north of 215 pounds.

“Taking the pressure off Zac would be amazing,” Smith said. “If we run the ball, it takes so much pressure off him. People don’t think he needs to make every single play and throw the ball for 300-plus yards every game, so if we can start the year off running the ball, it’d be a big plus.”

Smith stopped short of assuming Nebraska would emphasize the run, however. Last year, the Huskers seemed committed to trying, and it didn’t really work. Watson then stuck Joe Ganz in the shotgun more often, kicked the zone read into gear, and the offense took off.

“We’re going to attack people the way they allow us to attack,” Lee added. “Not worry about experience or inexperience or anything like that.”

That was a common theme among Husker offensive players. Watson’s more about strengths and weaknesses instead of time served.

Whereas Missouri coach Gary Pinkel more or less declared the Tigers are returning to their 2006 offense to accommodate new quarterback Blaine Gabbert, Watson has divulged virtually nothing – in the spring game or in any of his comments – about how the plan might look in 2009. He hints at Lee’s “arm talent.” He likes his receivers. He likes the competition between Helu and Castille, but wants two more running backs ready to go.

You hear comments like that, and think maybe Watson wants to head back to 2001 Colorado, when the Buffaloes shoved the ball down the collective throats of the Big 12. Some in the press corps seem to think that’s an option.

I’m not so sure. The heavy sets didn’t work last year. And they often didn’t work when Bill Callahan, Watson’s mentor, tried them either. You recall the 2006 Big 12 Championship, when counter after counter, zone play after zone play, was stoned by Oklahoma’s defensive line. NU’s Zac Taylor was stuck out on an island that night, without much to help him beyond screen passes and the same medium-rare routes that hampered the Huskers through much of the Callahan era.

In 2009, it’s a new Zac Attack, and although Lee may not be as efficient or savvy as Taylor once was, don’t expect the offense to slow down or regress in terms of sophistication. Instead, Lee will have to learn to live and adjust where Watson now gameplans: On the cutting edge.

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Which Husker offensive player was stopped on the climactic fourth down play in the 1984 game vs. Oklahoma?

A. Travis Turner
B. Craig Sundberg
C. Tom Rathman
D. Doug Dubose
E. Jeff Smith

The answer is Jeff Smith

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Grim and a little frustrated, Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel hustled up to the podium Tuesday at the Big 12 Media Days and immediately apologized for a delay at the Dallas airport that left him tardy for his appointed engagement.

Not long after Pinkel settled in, he was quickly peppered with queries about the immense talent – especially on offense – that he lost in the offseason to the NFL. Chase Daniel. Chase Coffman. Jeremy Maclin.

First, replacing Daniel, that love him/hate him quarterback that put Mizzou in the national spotlight and won two straight Big 12 North titles.

Pinkel shot straight: Former prep phenom (and Nebraska commit) Blaine Gabbert is the guy.

“Any time you have a transition quarterback,” Pinkel said, “everybody sits back and goes, ‘Wow, what's going to happen?’ When you lose a high level guy like that, hopefully, we can replace him with a high-level guy.”

Pinkel said he’ll bring along Gabbert, a sophomore, much as he did Daniel in his corresponding season. Daniel was inconsistent in 2006, alternating between excellent and average. He made “the leap” in 2007. Pinkel’s hoping the same for Gabbert.

He’s not so sure Maclin, the receiving and return whiz, can be replaced. But, he added, this version of the Tigers was his fastest.

On replacing two coordinators, Pinkel referenced the “Bill Belichick approach” of training and promoting from within. Pinkel the admitted he hasn’t lost two coaches, much less coordinators, in nine years at Mizzou.

***

Baylor’s Art Briles delighted the media with clever lines and quick answers. Briles kept referring to “turning hope into happen” throughout his interviews, because, at this point, that the Bears’ next step.

Briles talked a lot of about his quarterback, Robert Griffin, the fast, gifted sophomore quarterback. Griffin has helped with TV exposure, with recruiting, with fan recognition, with everything.

But Griffin, and his Bear teammates, won’t be sneaking up on anyone in 2008. Teams that narrowly escaped with wins – like Missouri, Nebraska and Texas Tech – learned their lesson.

“People are going to approach us differently on the other side, in other staff rooms and on other practice fields because they're going to come into Baylor with a different mindset than they did a year ago,” Briles said. “We understand that. We understand we're going to have to rise up and be better in all facets
of the game, not only physically, to deal with the charges that are going to come our way.”


Briles drew laughs for his stories about accompanying Jason Smith to the NFL Draft, and his comments on the wardrobe of some of his questioners. Briles is going to make an interesting push in the Big 12 South. He’s the first with the raw charm to recruit head-to-head with Mack Brown. His program doesn’t have the facilities, it doesn’t have the tradition, and it doesn’t have any recent success. But Baylor does have Briles.


***


There’s a curious, gentlemanly quality to the way Kansas Coach Mark Mangino handles himself in front of media. You tend to see a lot of different sides of the guy. You see the pride, the attention to detail, the self-made aspect. Just about every coach brings that to the table. But with Mangino it’s something a little more – a vulnerability, perhaps? A love for the little guy?


The coach talked with great care about recruiting quarterback Todd Reesing to KU several years ago, about how Reesing, tiny as he was, just had a confidence, a style, a belief that belied his looks. You could see why that might impress a guy like Mangino, who gets more comments about his appearance than he did his coaching.


Yes, Reesing runs around a little too much – and sometimes gets himself in trouble for doing it.


“But that's what makes him unique, you know, the idea that he believes in himself and that
he can make plays when there's not one,” Mangino said. “Kind of really reflects his personality; that he always thinks he can overcome. He always wants to prove the opposition wrong. Those traits have served him well.”


Good coaches tend to know – what’s best for each player is to fulfill their potential…through their own personality.


Also appreciated that Mangino admitted he likes to recruit “tough” players – read, guys a little rough around the edges – and that “sometimes we fail in that area, but we like kids that love to play this
game.”


***


Mr. Heisman and Big Game Bob was last to appear Tuesday, as Oklahoma took the podium.


The big questions for OU, of course, revolved around its offensive line. Everything else about the Sooners – QB Sam Bradford, the running backs, the extraordinary defense – is in place. But the line, which must replace three starters, remains a weakness.


“Mistakes they were making on day one, day two, they weren’t making on day 14 and day 15,” Bradford said. “I think we still need that progress once we’re in camp.”


Bradford also touched upon the “frustration” of never having won a bowl game. Especially when reporters, who have to find something negative about the kid, ask so often.


“It’s not something we like to do – “oh, we had a good season, let’s lose the last game,’” he said. “It’s starting to really to get to everyone.”



At one time, Bradford didn’t much care for the no-huddle offense, either.


“When we first switched to it, I didn’t it like it,” Bradford said. “It just seemed like chaos, it seemed like no one was on the same page. It sucked. If you would have seen us trying to run it the first couple days, you would have thought it was just a disaster.


“But the more time we spent on it, and the better we got, the more I fell love with it.”

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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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The season may not bear it out – water has, after all, been turned into wine a couple times – but one should expect the Big 12 Media Days, starting Monday in Dallas, to be a three-day tour and discussion of the Great Divide between the dominant South Division and relatively bedraggled North.

For it’s no longer just a question of Texas and Oklahoma rising above the other ten teams of the Big 12. It is, now, Texas Tech doing so in 2008. And Oklahoma State, poised to do so in 2009. And Baylor, the permanent member of the Big 12 basement, the Gregor Samsa of the bunch, hiring the right coach in Art Briles, who recruited the right quarterback in Robert Griffin, and has the right Texas high school connections. Suddenly, when you check offer lists and comments from the best players in Texas, some of them have Baylor right at the top. That’s how quickly lightning can strike.

Now, it’s not just Mack and “Big Game Bob,” but that West Texas pirate, Mike Leach, getting headlines. Childish or not, OSU coach Mike Gundy’s rant two years ago about a newspaper column won his team attention, and, somewhat surprisingly, praise from other corners of the media. Even Texas A&M, which stunk last year, is putting together a Callahan-style monster class for 2010 – already 18 verbal commitments, many of them top-line players.

The South has the money, the organization, the commitment, and the Mojo.

The North isn’t exactly floundering – Missouri and Kansas have gained a foothold of success, while Nebraska seems to have returned back to its core values, if not that classic option style.

But it is still recovering from its Dark Ages, that period between 2002-2006 when only one Big 12 North team – that 2003 Kansas State squad with Darren Sproles and Ell Roberson – could even manage to compete with the South. Colorado – a team rocked by recruiting allegations and the Katie Hnida scandal – still managed to win three league titles in that span. It then lost its three Big 12 title games by a combined score 141-13. Iowa State blew two North titles on the last day of the regular season, in overtime. Nebraska mostly played Humpty Dumpty during that time, while Missouri couldn’t shake its inconsistency, and KU was in the earliest, ugliest years of what’s become the quite successful Mark Mangino era.

Nebraska had moderate success during this period, but know this: That was more attributable the mediocrity of the competition than the excellence of the Cornhuskers.

Since that awful era, CU hasn’t really moved out of the fog, Kansas State went back to the old master, Bill Snyder, and Missouri and KU gamely filled the vacuum. But the Jayhawks were thumped thrice last year by UT, OU and Tech, while Missouri took its lumps from OSU, Texas and Oklahoma. A game that symbolized the chasm the best was probably Mizzou’s trip to Baylor, a game won, just barely, by the Tigers, 31-28. Here was the most potent team in Missouri history, playing the basement boys in their half-empty stadium. Baylor only had a handful of really good players – maybe eight – and that was nearly enough to win. The best team in the North. The second-worst in the South. Nearly even.

Telling.

So was this: On the Big 12 media’s all-conference squad, just five of the 26 members were from the Big 12 North. Not even 20 percent.

And for good reason: The South has most of the big-name talent in 2009. Certainly four of the five best quarterbacks in Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, Robert Griffin and Zac Robinson. Certainly the best offensive linemen. Certainly the best running backs (although I’d take Roy Helu over any one of them except Kendall Hunter).

This divide of talent and experience is big enough as to inform which team will win the Big 12 North. Kansas, presumably the strongest club with a crucial home game vs. Nebraska, has to face OU, Texas and Texas Tech in the same year. That alone may take the Jayhawks out of the race. Missouri probably has the best go of it, getting Texas and Baylor at home. Meanwhile, Iowa State harbors realistic hopes of a bowl season simply by avoiding UT, OU and Tech.

Do you see any pundits piecing together the Big 12 North games for Oklahoma, Texas and Oklahoma State?

So. How to fix it? We’ll look at both solutions both socialist – stuff the Big 12 can do to level the playing field - and free market-based – stuff the North teams can do to help themselves.

Close the Divide: An interesting argument, put forward most recently here, is to dissolve divisions and just go at it, much like the Big Ten and Pac 10 do. But, then, determining the contenders for a conference championship game becomes iffy, and some teams (you can bet it’ll be NU, OU and UT) will be penalized for being popular, and thus playing each other year in, year out. In turn some team – think Wisconsin in the Big Ten – will benefit from avoiding one or more of those teams. We’ll pass.

Better Revenue Sharing: The SEC recognized several years ago that in order to promote competition within the league – to spur schools to stay motivated – it had to make sure they all shared equally in the TV money pot, which, as many of you know, is getting sweeter for the SEC all the time. The Big 12’s structure effectively helps the stronger, more popular teams more.

Some capitalist-types cringe at this kind of socialism, but think of it more as a significant tax break to the Big 12’s smaller businesses, Iowa State, Colorado and Baylor. ISU, in particular, is inching toward morphing into the Big 12’s first MAC school. It doesn’t have the local fanfare in Iowa or the advertising opportunities to realistically get its name out there.

Do Something about Holding: Big 12 fans were confused when the high-powered offenses of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas Tech suddenly looked “less than” in their bowl games. With the refs no longer jamming their hands in their pockets, like they did during the Big 12 season, it suddenly became a lot harder to stave off blitzes. Holding isn’t called nearly enough, but it was an epidemic in 2008. And all it does is help the better team.

Build at Home: There’s nothing wrong with hiring an assistant coach with great ties in Texas. But, sooner or later, all you’re doing eating the leftovers Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and, yes, Baylor don’t want. The Texas pipeline will never be closed. But the entrance is a little narrower than it used to be.

Which is why Big 12 North programs have to do a better job of reaching into the high school levels to begin integrating their style of play and telling the coaches specifically: This is the kind of guy we want. And not just preferred walk-ons. Guys who are worth giving a scholarship to.

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One day after the media selected Nebraska to win the Big 12 North, it tabbed NU defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh its Preseeason Player of the Year in the league. Suh finished 76 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss and two defensive touchdowns.

No Blackshirt has won the award since Grant Wistrom in 1996 and 1997.

Suh is also on the Big 12's preseason first team.

He's joined there by kicker Alex Henery. Henery made 18-21 field goals last year, including a 57-yarder - The Kick Heard Round Nebraska - to help beat Colorado 40-31. Henery has a shot to be NU's punter in 2009, as well.

Sam Bradford beat out Colt McCoy for Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Baylor defensive tackle Phil Taylor - featured in our BU breakdown - won Newcomer of the Year.

On the entire first-team itself, there are only four players from the entire Big 12 North: Henery, Suh, Kansas receiver Dez Briscoe and KU defensive back Darrell Stuckey. Texas, surprisingly, only has four players. Oklahoma has twice as many, with eight. Oklahoma State boasts five.

Read the entire list here.

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Nebraska's not where he wants to be, maybe he's referring to stuff like this.

That's a listing of all major college football programs over the last five years. In that time, 2004-2008, NU was surpassed in record five Big 12 teams: Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Missouri and Kansas.

But most sobering is that record against AP top 25 teams during that span: 1-16. Or maybe it's the 39% winning percentage on the road. Or maybe it's the 13-24 record against teams that also have winning records.

Translation: Throughout the Callahan era and in the beginning of the Pelini era, Nebraska nearly struck out against the top quarter of college football and struggled mightily on the road.

Why did it happen? We've hashed and rehashed all of that. What's important now is doing something about it. Recruiting, winning big games on the road, and showing up vs. OU this fall...all of them will matter.

Other conclusions drawn from the stats list:

*We've said this before, but Texas has surpassed Oklahoma as the Big 12's premier program. In fundraising. In recruiting. And on the field. UT getting jobbed out of the national championship game in 2008 doesn't change that. The Longhorns are 13-4 against AP Top 25 in the last five years. OU is 12-11. The Horns win 86% of their road games. OU only wins 76%. UT is 32-7 against teams with winning records. Oklahoma is 29-12.

When does the media catch up to this reality? When does ESPN? Texas is the better program. About this there can be little debate.

*Mike Leach has built remarkably consistent program at Texas Tech in every area but one: Road wins.

*Virginia Tech is one of the nation's best programs, and has been since 1999. The Hokies come in fifth on the total list here, with numbers quite comparable to Oklahoma. Again, some Nebraska fans don't want to hear that - they hold up OU as some supernatural force when, in fact, the Huskers should have taken the Sooners in 2005 and arguably 2006 - but it's not hard to argue that Nebraska's best opponent in 2009 will be in Blackburg, not Norman.

*Oklahoma State may arrive this year, but, overall, not just yet. The Pokes lag behind Nebraska in overall wins and are just 3-16 vs. the top 25.

*Baylor just may surpass Iowa State in 2009, making the Cyclones the consistently worst program in the Big 12 over the last five years.

*Tyrone Willingham may have been unjustly fired from Notre Dame, but he turned Washington into one of the worst programs in America.

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