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It was halftime of the Missouri game, and Nebraska had just laid a scoreboard egg. As NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson left the coaching press box, Tom Osborne wanted a word.

“Remember,” Osborne said, “You have that route.”

The “route” to which Osborne referred was actually a concept: A hook pattern by a slot receiver, with the primary receiver running a deep post behind it. Osborne – and Watson – had noticed in film study that Mizzou safeties would sit on certain short routes, exposing the corner to one-on-one coverage downfield.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Watson dialed up the play, and it opened up beautifully. The Missouri safety chased the short route. Niles Paul beat his corner inside. Zac Lee hit Paul in stride for a 54-yard touchdown.

“(Osborne's) box is up by ours,” Watson said. “Every so often, he'll offer advice.”

And you thought it was a rumor.

Turns out that, yes, Virginia, there is an Ozfather.

***

It's a role fit for Brando, were he taller, thinner and still alive. Maybe Clint Eastwood could fill in. You hate inject more saccharine than necessary, but – dadgummit! – if this isn't an interesting story.

We caught a sliver of the tale Saturday when Watson revealed that some of the plays in Nebraska's 31-17 win over Kansas – notably the 37-yard option pass – were from the Osborne vault. So, too, were some of the option runs and power plays in the 10-3 win over Oklahoma.

But it's the way Osborne did it, casually dropping off some film for Watson to peruse, that adds to the mystique of it.

“He left it for us to find,” Watson said. Which, of course, they did.

Could it really be that elegant? Can the spirit of one of the best offensive minds in college football history simply waft off a page of notes, twinkle like a speck of dust in the afternoon light?

Osborne makes no real attempt to hide himself. He's around, a fixture at practices of many sports. I sense he likes to watch coaches in their element – because that's his element. Practice is where teams are born. Practice is where Osborne built a venerable Varyag of a squad, complete with two scout units that prepared twice-as-many players for gameday.

After football practice these days, he smiles as he walks by reporters. Often says hello. Holds doors, waves and moseys out. Some days he's in his trademark red blazer. On Tuesday he was decked in winter wear – a coat and sweatpants. He'd been outside, obviously, on the practice field.

What is his true level of input? Watson and head coach Bo Pelini seem to suggest that Osborne's touch is so light that it barely makes an imprint.

“He has a unique way of doing things in such a way that believe me, he makes it real clear to me that, hey it’s your job, you have to run your team the way you have to run it,” Pelini said. “If anything I wish he would speak up more. He’s not overbearing about anything he does.”

And yet, in the next sentence, Pelini – fully aware of the implication of his statement - said: “He talks to me like my father used to talk to me.”

Supportive. But corrective.

“He’s willing to give his opinion and be real black and white, and say, 'Hey I think this is something you need to fix,' or 'I like how you did this, but this is something you should probably think about working on,'” Pelini said.

It goes without saying that there isn't one athletic director in college football anything like the Ozfather.

Like Somerset said at the end “Seven:” “Around. I'll be around.” And so Osborne is, popping his head into Bo's office when time allows.

“He’ll look at the game tape,” Pelini said. “There are always going to be some Xs and Os things that he thinks could help. I’ll just run some things by him - 'In this situation, what do you think? Punting the football or going for it on fourth down?' The dialogue kind of happens pretty continuously.”

Some Husker fans – a small faction, but vocal – bristle at the image. They think Osborne wields too much influence. They suggest he helped shape Bo's offensive coaching staff. That he pushes for Bo to offer scholarships to in-state kids who aren't worthy of them. That he wants to restore the walk-on program back to a level that no longer is useful.

The landscape has changed, they argue. A well-meaning Osborne is still inserting himself where Bo should assert his leadership. Instead of Osborne acting as paterfamilias, Bo should be the one with the vision for the offense, and he should make Watson adhere to it.

If only life were as simple as it looks, in these human equations we always tend to figure out in our heads.

The flip side is a more compelling argument. Pelini's not a finished product as a coach. He admits as much, of course, but he's better off, right now, growing into the role with Osborne as a net, especially in some of the intangible areas – media, community relations, cultivating a positive sideline image with referees, assistants and players.

One can argue, if they choose to wade into deep water, Osborne's methodology when it comes to winning football games. They can argue with some of his personnel decisions during his coaching tenure.

But the intangible stuff – what made Osborne so likable amongst his peers – probably won him the parting gift of a split national title in 1997.

And I don't see any Husker fans handing back that trophy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Such a jarring transition needed a steadier hand.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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It's a frequent debate I have with a friend: Is it harder to be the head coach in college football, or in the NFL?

He claims the NFL, where the expectations are higher, players act like primadonnas, the media is merciless and the owners can essentially say and do whatever they want. No job security.

It's not a bad case. But it's not modern college football.

One reason: Program-building, which requires being a head coach, a salesman, a general manager, an owner, an occasional warden, a sociologist and, at long last, a father figure. In this era, it's a little like nation-building in a third world country. (Mea culpa for, you know, comparing football to an outbreak of malaria and genocide in the subtropical steppe.)

Building a program is hard enough. Sustaining it in places not named Florida, California and Texas is even harder. Look at the Big 12 North.

Bill Snyder reached the mountaintop with his unique formula of 100-hour work weeks, JUCO imports and maniacally-driven assistants. Then he walked away in 2005, and it immediately fell to pieces under Greedy Grimace. Missouri is punch-drunk on its passing game, which falls apart, clockwork, in the second half. Colorado is an unmitigated disaster, the Buffaloes never fully recovering from Katie Hnida, recruiting violations, and thrice getting thunderstruck in the Big 12 Championship game.

It's a big, unruly white whale, consistent success. Try Kansas on for size.

Mark Mangino's size masks his skill to fans, but opposing coaches aren't sitting around telling fat jokes, I assure you. He's toiled at the ultimate basketball school west of the Mississippi by creating a Texas-based recruiting template, alighting on the right quarterback in Todd Reesing, and scheduling quite modestly in the non-conference season.

In 2007, his team was the story of that year. Nobody to somebody in three months. The 12-1 record. The Orange Bowl win. KU took a step back in 2008, but it was expected – new defense, young offensive line. Still – when Reesing hit receiver Kerry Meier on that magnificent fourth down pass to slay Missouri in the Big 12's best game of the year, the prevailing notion was this: 2009 could be special.

I never bought it. I had KU fourth in the North, behind Nebraska, Mizzou and KSU. Mangino had built up everything but his offensive and defensive lines. He'd recruited like a devil to the offensive skill positions and the defensive secondary and left out the most important part. Surprising, considering Mangino is an offensive line guy. But that's how hard the job is.

The defensive line stunk it up in the first half of 2009. The offensive line still does. KU started 5-0 and watched that record crumble into a four-game losing streak.

“I’m not naïve,” Mangino said Tuesday. “I’ve been down this road before. It’s not uncharted waters for me. Through the years when we’ve had a tough spell, we’ve stayed the steady course. We didn’t panic, we don’t blame players, we don’t blame anybody, and it’s our own fault that we didn’t win. We keep our same routine, we keep encouraging the players and we keep coaching them. I think that’s the best way. When you take drastic measures during a tough time, the kids wonder if the coach is panicking or if they don’t have confidence that they can pull out of it.”

Except, if you've been paying attention to KU during the last month – Mangino did panic. He pulled his best player, Reesing, from the Texas Tech game – while it was still within reach – out of “fear for his health.” That's a Ron Prince move, folks, blaming your best player for running around for the last 30 games because he gets no protection. It's not Reesing's fault.

And the benching backfired. Reesing was rattled by it, and pressed terribly in a 17-10 loss to Kansas State. Was it a reaction? Of course. When KU had to force a KSU punt late in the game – the only weapon the Wildcats have is running back Daniel Thomas – the Jayhawks couldn't do it. No clutch defense.

Kansas is a casualty, of sorts, of what the Big 12's become in 2009. It's trending toward the run, and defense. The Reesing-Meier-Dez Briscoe trio that looked so trendy before the year is now just a collection of yards and touchdowns. It's not translating into wins.

KU is staring right down the barrel of 5-7. That's how quickly it can change.

There's a lesson in that for Nebraska, of course.

Bo Pelini enjoys more advantages than Mangino does – tradition, history, better facilities, a real fan base – but NU's program remains in a fragile stage of its growth. Pelini said Tuesday, flatly, “I want to win now,” which is good. Wins, right now, is what NU needs. It needs a run to the Big 12 title game. It needs to knock Texas quarterback Colt McCoy on his rear end a dozen times. And it needs to run whatever ugly offense it takes to accomplish those goals.

The Huskers are going to get a ton of television exposure over the last month of the season. With every win comes a little more credibility, a little more exposure, a little more attention from recruits. NU's almost filled its 2010 class. But the 2011 class gets built next March. How valuable would it be for Nebraska to own a win over Oklahoma, and a strong performance vs. Texas in Dallas when that time rolls around?

So you get those Big 12 North wins any which way. Period. And then try to pitch a Bob Gibson shutout vs. Texas.

But Bo has to be mindful of the larger picture. There's something dreadfully wrong with the offense. The statistics prove it. A simple eye test proves it. That unit, as a whole, has not been coached or developed as well as the defense. And the offense does have the talent. Roy Helu is an NFL running back. Mike McNeill is a NFL tight end. Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton are mighty talented, too. Most of NU's offensive line has prototypical size and agility. Khiry Cooper, Brandon Kinnie and Niles Paul all have excellent athleticism and good personalities to boot.

It's not just a matter of experience. Folks, don't buy it. Jared Crick, Cameron Meredith, Alfonzo Dennard and Dejon Gomes are all key parts of NU's defensive success in 2009. Two of them didn't play a down last year. Crick and Dennard didn't play much.

Does the offense have similar success stories?

We've rapped fairly hard on offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and his staff, and clearly, they're troubled by the lack of production. Judging by his demeanor, by his willingness to make changes in scheme, personnel and how he calls plays, Watson probably hasn't had a tougher year. He's “all in” here. His gameplan to beat Oklahoma was painful – but perfect. I'm not kidding; had Zac Lee thrown, oh, five more passes, one of them would have been picked off. OU needed just one more turnover, but never got it.

"It takes a lot of guts to call that kind of game,” Watson said. “It really does. It's a hard game. It's easy in some respects, but it's hard in other respects because it's what we needed to do to win. You've got to get your ego out of it. Your ego's got to leave. You want to throw it, you want to do all that, but you've got to get rid of it.”
Watson's job, for the rest of this year, is to avoid grease fires. Some points would be nice, too.

But, after the season, he has to be on Bo's hook for what's happened. Bo and Watson need to take a hard look at why the offense went sour – lack of leadership, injuries, practice habits, coaching styles, inconsistent playcalling - and fix the bigger picture. Not merely react within the moment.

After a week of blaming the media and fans after the Texas Tech game, the loss to Iowa State woke Bo up. And, from there, we've seen a different coach. A smarter one. Better with the media. Open to more changes. More involved in the play-by-play details of the offense. I like NU's chances down the stretch here. And I like Nebraska to give Texas a very interesting game in Dallas, should it come to pass.

Just know this: Program-building is more – much more – than winning a handful of games. Sustaining it is even harder. Ask Mangino.

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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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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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now that offensive front five has to do their part.

Can it? Finally?

Maybe. We think. We hope. Sigh.

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And so we've ranted, raved and roared, shook down the house, nailed the Big Red in our personal report cards, and ate dinner in a gloomy silence.

Not even fantasy football – or your favorite NFL team – could rock you away from that long, cold sliver of disbelief that accompanied the morning rain or snow.

Well, that's some of you, anyway.

And so now, after we've tried to frame this season properly, as a litmus test for coaches and players – but most specifically for head coach Bo Pelini - we pour in the cream of common sense, to offset the acid of our pens, keystrokes, gestures and tongues.

Calm down, Husker nation. It's a blue, low mood today, but opportunity, yet again, awaits.

Nobody has run away with the Big 12 North title. And nobody is going to run away with it. But Nebraska can still get it, rescuing itself from a midseason slump. The Huskers' defense can play any offense, anywhere, anytime and hold its own. NU's offensive line does have some muscle, when given the chance to show it.

There should be no calls for Bo Pelini to make midseason staff changes. Wrong play, wrong level of football. Personnel and schematic changes? Absolutely. But the fatalistic stuff – come on, people.

No – the point is this: Bo's the head coach. He's not the “defensive expert,” while offensive coordinator Watson is the “offensive expert.” Colloquially, yeah, maybe they are, but Pelini – not Watson – is responsible for the entire product. Watson coaches quarterbacks and calls plays. But if it's fourth-and-one inside enemy territory – Pelini makes the executive decision. He's earned the right to make it.

A good head coach doesn't micromanage every little aspect of practices and games. That's a recipe for disaster, mistrust and player revolt. Not even the biggest control freaks pull that off with any kind of success. Bo's too smart to do that. Guys who have tried – fail. You can't just “change” everything.

But if he's got a hunch about the offense, he should play it. Maybe the Huskers really are just a few good practices away from hitting on all cylinders. Maybe not.

Five Players We Loved

Ndamukong Suh, defensive tackle: He blocked a field goal, an extra point, ran down a receiver 15 yards upfield and generally imposed his physical will on the Iowa State interior offensive line. Afterward, he called his play “average.” That's accountability.

Barry Turner, defensive end: The quiet man of Nebraska's defense – he hasn't done an interview since fall camp – is quietly having a pretty good season. Turner's work doesn't always show up in the stat sheet, but he's consistently collapsed the pocket toward Suh and Jared Crick. He did so again Saturday.

Alfonzo Dennard, cornerback: The man can jump! A very late addition to the 2008 recruiting class, Dennard is well on his way to becoming one of the gems of that bunch. Tough-minded, quick to the ball, and a competitor.

Phillip Dillard, linebacker: Never allowed ISU quarterback Jerome Tiller – who's a pretty good runner – to get loose for a 20-yard gain on the zone read. Dillard's making a late case for the NFL Draft. Good for him.

Alex Henery, punter: A return to form for the junior – at least in the punting department, where he downed two boots inside ISU's 6-yard line.

Three Concerns We Have

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers: Try a -10 margin in the last two games. Nebraska's mistakes handling the ball are bad enough, but the Huskers haven't forced any turnovers, either. Jared Crick had a fumble all to himself, but slightly overshot his recovery attempt. Dennard had his hands on a potential pick. Those are plays that have to be made.

An offensive system that doesn't fit the quarterback: Zac Lee does have some throwing skills,especially downfield. But he's not a natural runner. He just isn't. And that's OK. So stop trying to run a zone read play that doesn't command the respect of the defensive end, who crashes down, forcing Lee to the corner, where he isn't comfortable.

Roy Helu's health: Yes, we know Helu played with a bum shoulder last week and didn't fumble. That doesn't mean he wouldn't fumble this week. Helu's not the type of guy who will beg out of a game. NU coaches have to tread carefully with their best offensive commodity.

Reviewing the Five Keys

Playing Harder and Smarter: Iowa State won this category with a gameplan that didn't ask too much of Tiller and a defensive tenacity that forced the Huskers into eight turnovers. ISU hustled just a little more than Nebraska did.

Steep Incline: Nebraska's defense was indeed tougher on ISU in every area but one: Turnovers. Of course, the Cyclones were playing without Austen Arnaud and Alexander Robinson, which brings us to...

Wounded Clones: They'll tell stories in Ames about this game for generations, you know. How ISU went into to Lincoln missing 80 percent of its offense and Paul Rhoads coached em up? If Rhoads becomes a legend at Iowa State, this the game that spawns it.

Where's Mike? Nebraska tight end Mike McNeill made two catches for 22 yards, was the intended receiver on Zac Lee's first interception, and was overthrown by Lee on another third down play. NU tried locating him more often, but only connected twice.

The Specials: Iowa State ran a key fake punt to perfection as Nebraska showed its hand too quickly on a return play and vacated the area.

Three Questions We Still Have

Can Bo rally the boys from such a mind-boggling loss? All is not lost for Nebraska. NU has to win out from here, and hope Iowa State gets clipped one more time by someone, anyone. Missouri and Kansas are laying out a red carpet for the Big 12 North. The Huskers would be wise to remember that.

Is Traye Robinson ready for 15-20 carries per game? Talk about going 0-60 in one game, huh? Robinson may have fumbled and ran into the backs of some of his blockers, but he looked healthy – and tough. Nebraska has to use him, and hope he holds up.

Does a road trip do this team some good? We say yes. Not only can Nebraska beat Baylor in Waco, it can get out of town for a couple days. The Husker fans in and around Waco don't get to see the team that often; they'll be more appreciative of the product – whatever it looks like.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It. Happens.

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

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

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

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

Not at this level, the reporter responded.

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

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

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

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

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

That kind of spirit is infectious.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also: Cool Husker Hoops Photos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The best remedy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Our MVPs and Report Card after NU's 31-10 loss to Texas Tech:

OFFENSIVE MVP: Roy Helu, Jr. Playing with a bum shoulder, Helu mostly maximized gains on what few holes there were. His effort on the 27-yard screen pass was easily the best individual offensive play of the game. Should Helu sit vs. Iowa State? Maybe. He needs to be truly healthy for the stretch run.

DEFENSIVE MVP: Phillip Dillard. Arguably his best game. Dillard chased Tech's backs on passing plays, rendering them ineffective after the opening drive, and imposed his physical will on receivers and linemen. He's catching fire at just the right time in his career.

GRADES

QUARTERBACK: D Zac Lee played his worst game – because it was his most hesitant game. He didn't push the ball downfield. He ate two or three drive-killing sacks. And he didn't get deep enough on a couple of his drops. Playing to avoid mistakes is really no way to play quarterback unless you've got a top-grade running game. And Nebraska doesn't. And while Cody Green gave NU a spark, he could've easily thrown two or three more interceptions.

RUNNING BACKS: B Helu played bravely, but he's not 100 percent, and he's not much of a pass-blocking option when he isn't. Marcus Mendoza caught a few passes, and played aggressively. The coaches erred in not playing him before the Texas Tech game. We'll see more of Tray Robinson next week.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: D Drops, drops, drops. NU's receivers might have been open, and Lee should have found them, but who's to say they would have caught the ball? Niles Paul's blunder is elementary stuff. Cover the ball! Chris Brooks and Khiry Cooper at least catch the ball consistently. Cooper needs to block better. Not a good game for Ted Gilmore's unit, and he's running out of motivation tactics. The tight ends were mostly a non-factor.

OFFENSIVE LINE: D Marcel Jones and D.J. Jones get an F, while the rest of the unit gets, oh, a C or so. The Jones duo was awful, getting manhandled play after play, committing penalties, whiffing on blocks. Jacob Hickman and Keith Williams were fair, but not dominant. Ricky Henry played OK until his bonehead personal foul in the fourth quarter.

DEFENSIVE LINE: B+ The front four generated a terrific pass rush throughout the game, especially ends Pierre Allen and Barry Turner. But they got a little gashed late in the fourth quarter by Tech's quick running game.

LINEBACKERS: B Will Compton had a bad first drive and was replaced by Dillard, who played one of his best. At times, Dillard was mismatched against Tech's speedy receivers. In spot duty, Sean Fisher and Compton were fine against Tech's running formations.

SECONDARY: B- More than one of NU's sacks were thanks to the Huskers' coverage, but two pass interference penalties, plus a couple missed tackles by Prince Amukamara, bring the grade down. The good news: Only Kansas has better receivers, and no team has faster receivers.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C Alex Henery had a poor game, missing a 51-yarder and shanking a punt. Nebraska gave up a big kickoff return at wrong time. The punt coverage units were OK, and Alfonzo Dennard had a nice kickoff return of his own. The snaps by PJ Mangieri were much better.

GAME MANAGEMENT/PLAYCALLING: D Before we even get to Shawn Watson, let's start with Bo Pelini. Stop deferring every won coin toss. Stop calling blitzes on third-and-long on the opponent's first drive of the game. Stop wasting two timeouts per game on the defense. Now Watson, who has a lot of work to do. He wasn't given a lot of options, but he needs to use his tight ends better, and more of them. He needs to have a sense of urgency in the third quarter, down 21 points. He needs to stop giving his quarterback so many options at the line of scrimmage.

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I'm probably going to tick off some people by doing what must seem unthinkable right about now.

Defend Shawn Watson.

Don't worry. It's just a few words, and they're conditional on Watson taking some concrete steps this week – which I think he'll take – toward building an offense that can win a wide, wide open Big 12 North.

Sifting through the rubble of a 31-10 loss, it'd be easy to lay the blame on Watson, who is, after all, responsible for the whole offensive package. He's the one who gets the extra cash, who gets labeled a genius in the offseason, who gets the credit when things go right. He answers the tough questions when they don't.

Thing is: He did that Saturday. And unlike his boss, Bo Pelini, he didn't slough off questions with a trademark “What do you think?” which is quickly become Bo's least desirable media trait.

And Watson didn't call a bad game on Saturday. He didn't call a good one, either. He called the game his offense – and his boss - allowed him to call. Which is – not much of a game at all.

Watson can't control when Pelini defers every coin toss Nebraska wins, and prefers to gain momentum with a stop instead of a score. Texas Tech scored, of course, immediately putting NU in a match mode.

Watson can't control his offensive line being so leaky that NU can't even run its safest playaction plays – four yard passes to the tight ends. He can't control that the Huskers' running game, no matter how many running plays he would have called, was going nowhere. Read: nowhere. And, other than an inspired performance at Virginia Tech – more attributable to Roy Helu than anything else – it's been an issue from week one. Nobody's going to confuse the Huskers with Alabama or Florida's offensive line, is the point.

Watson can't control Niles Paul's bad hands.

Watson can't control that his quarterback, Zac Lee either didn't see open receivers or was afraid to throw the ball downfield. On this issue, after the game, Watson was clear: Lee didn't see it. NU was sending its receivers on deep posts to clear the safeties and bringing receivers into the vacated space. Lee wouldn't deliver the ball. He just wouldn't Chris Brooks and Menelik Holt were open on those crossing routes all day.

“Zac's got to squeeze the trigger,” Watson said. “My job is to help him learn from it. I just don't think he was seeing it well. Maybe over-analyzed it a little bit.”

Watson tried to compensate. He called some quick five-yard stops to get Lee in the rhythm; Lee hit a couple, but two others were knocked down. He tried the bubble screens, which were mostly a disaster. He tried a shovel pass – natch. Tried a reverse. Tried the zone read with Lee running it. Tried to go wide. Tried to slam it inside. None of it would go.

It was a far cry from Watson's masterpiece at Texas Tech last year. But NU's quarterback and wide receivers are a far cry from Joe Ganz, Nate Swift and Todd Peterson, too.

Yeah – color me surprised, too. But, even when Nebraska couldn't run the ball in 2008, they could always throw it. Ganz was just better than Lee is now. Ganz was canny, for one thing; he was a lot more accurate under 20 yards, for another.

Right now, the Huskers can't do either one. And while the entire performance falls under Watson's supervision, the specific ugliness of Saturday was, to some extent, beyond his control.

Of course, he can fix that.

He has start Cody Green next week. And the week after. Not simply because “it's time.” Because Green earned it by going into the game and taking the shots downfield that Lee wouldn't. Because his personality, a mixture of maturity and “aw heck” hominess works for the players. Because he runs with his head up. Because he's taller, even. And faster.

Let's not make Green out to “the answer.” He's not that guy, yet. Lee is, when his head's on straight, a better passer. Green slings it, which isn't conducive to throwing the deep ball. He threw into coverage, oh, 10 times on Saturday, was lucky to only toss one interception. But he's willing to fight downfield, and make plays. Lee, for whatever reason, shrunk from that challenge Saturday. And coaches can't abide by that.

Watson also has to develop a quicker running game. He doesn't have to ditch the shotgun zone game, but he could incorporate more pistol and more quick, simple counter plays to offset Nebraska's shoddy run blocking. These are in the West Coast Offense, so Watson doesn't have to dream them up.

Watson has to use Traye Robinson, pronto. NU burned his redshirt on kickoff returns Saturday for a reason. He didn't play at running back Saturday. But he will – and he needs to. Robinson can become the big back option for the last half of the season. Husker fans may be surprised by his talents.

Watson needs to get back to his bread and butter, playaction and tight ends. If Nebraska can't make every block, well, at least make the edge blocks, which will allow Green (or Lee) to get some breathing room outside of the pocket.

Watson needs to cut down on the number of allowable audibles. Run the play as called. Get the team in the habit of playing the hand they're dealt. Lee's more interested in shaking his hands dry than he is delivering the ball downfield. If Green's inexperienced, don't send him out there with a trunk full of options.

Watson, finally, has to go to his offensive line, if he didn't already on Saturday, and lay out a workable plan for improvement, play selection and snap counts. If they can't block it, don't run it.

"Shawn Watson's a good football coach," Pelini said. "He's stood the test over a long time...that hasn't changed and that won't change."

That's coachspeak, sure. But Watson dragged NU's defense through some ugly moments in 2008. He gets a shot here to turn it around.

See also: You're Shawn Watson...what do you do?

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Part of good coaching is knowing when, and how, to push player buttons to get the desired effect.

After Nebraska’s offense laid an egg in the first half of the Missouri game, wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore benched Niles Paul and Menelik Holt. He made them turn in their hand warmers and gloves. He stuck Antonio Bell and Brandon Kinnie out there, to no real avail other than it fired up Paul, who responded with two touchdown catches in the fourth quarter.

“It kind of let me get down on myself,” Paul said. “But then I kind of thought about it and was like ‘he’s doing this for the team.’ And he put us back in there.”

Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson told his quarterback, Zac Lee, point blank: We’re thinking about sitting you for a drive, and inserting true freshman Cody Green.

“He said, ‘We’re going to do it for a series,’” Lee said. “‘Keep your eyes open.’”

Watson didn’t bench Lee. One wonders if his mere consideration was a fire he was trying to light under the junior, who came alive and threw his best passes of the game in the fourth quarter. If Green had entered the game, and played remotely well, Watson would have opened a Pandora’s Box in Husker Nation. As it is, he cracked it opened a little bit,

“It is what it is,” Lee said. “I had to deal with it. I know Coach Wats has my back, I know Coach (Bo) Pelini has my back, so it kind of motivated me to have their back. It’s just part of the game.”

How often do those motivational techniques work? Once? Twice? Ideally, you don’t use them much.

But Nebraska’s offense, especially the running game, has been a little slipshod at times since the Arkansas State game, when Lee looked like the best quarterback in the Big 12. Roy Helu’s bailed out the offensive line with some terrific individual efforts – more than half of his yards this year are after early contact - and Lee’s fired up that great arm of his at just the right times.

Can NU really afford to hope the switch flips at the right time? To assume the offensive coordinator alights on just the right passing plays to beat the opposing defense?

Watson took considerable heat for his playcalling in Missouri. By Watson’s own actions and logic, he deserved some of the criticism.

Watson used the awful, rainy conditions to defend Lee, yet shrugged off those same conditions in defense of his playcalling because Missouri was “loading the box” against the run. But Watson didn’t exactly help his own case when he unveiled a quite successful quad-tight set at the end of the game that ground out 68 rushing yards in eight plays. The Tigers had ten guys hovering near the line of scrimmage – but the Huskers still ran the ball.

Now comes Texas Tech, a “vanilla” defense that doesn’t blitz much and relies on its front seven to stop the run. Will Watson impose NU’s size advantage? Or will the game, again, fall on Lee’s right arm?

The Huskers could, but should not, use the absence of Rex Burkhead as a built-in excuse for throwing the ball 40 times a game. Burkhead was valuable – he made several crucial plays in the Missouri game – but he was only averaging roughly 6-8 touches per game. If Helu has to carry it 30 times, so be it. He’s a great back, Nebraska’s best in a decade. If Helu’s shoulder is too banged up for the heavy load, Watson and Tim Beck need to trust their own coaching skills, and insert Burkhead’s replacement. It’s football, after all, not a North Korean nuclear treaty negotiation.

And defenses are going to start getting wise to Nebraska’s strategy. If it’s that easy to move NU away from the running game, they’ll take the chances with a quarterback and receivers who have been uneven at best over the last month.

Missouri was a handful of plays away from a shutout, frankly. If Burkhead doesn’t make a nifty move to gain four yards on a third-down play, Lee never gets to make that throw to Paul, and the Tigers shift into the “eating game clock” mode. And the bulk of this week is a real bear for Nebraska and its coaching staff, instead of a celebration of Ndamukong Suh’s many defensive talents.

“Bottom line is, we need to score points,” head coach Bo Pelini said. “You’re not going to shut (Texas Tech) out. You’d like to, but they’re a pretty good offensive football team and we need to match them. We need to put some points on the board.”

You wonder if Bo will have to push some his coaches’ buttons to make it happen.

See also: 50 Husker Fans, 50 States: Pittsburgh

See also: Defending Tech's...Running Game?

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Two of the prime architects in Nebraska’s 27-12 comeback victory at Missouri almost never got the chance.

But a little dose of trust, at the right moment, left quarterback Zac Lee laughing in joy as he left Faurot Field Thursday night. It left Niles Paul chatting happily on the phone next to reporters, a vintage vinyl Spider-Man backpack slung over one shoulder.

After an awful first half with a muffed punt and several dropped passes, Paul was benched to start the second half in favor of true freshman Antonio Bell.

“We needed to get his attention,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “Let him settle down a little bit.”

Watson considered doing the same to Lee, who looked worse than he did at Virginia Tech.

But Paul was sent back in two series later. And Watson never pulled the trigger on the QB change.

“All of our confidence was kind of wavering,” Paul said. “We kinda let ourselves down. We came out in the second half and Coach Watson and Coach(Ted) Gilmore challenged us to a man. We came out and showed how we play ball.”

One minute into the fourth quarter, to be exact, as Lee shuffled back in the pocket and lofted a pass to Paul, running a deep post. The ball cut through the rain, Paul caught it in long stride, and bounded into the end zone for a 56-yard touchdown. Missouri’s coverage, rather surprisingly, focused on the short curl route and Paul darted into the open space the safety had just vacated for the score.

“They played right into what we thought they were going to do,” Paul said.

Said Lee: “That play kinda sparked us. It kinda got us in a rhythm. It was a little weight off the shoulders.”

The two hooked up less than a minute later after an Ndamukong Suh interception on a 13-yard fade route. Lee threw the ball inside Missouri defenders instead of to the pylon, which was smart. Paul sliced through the coverage to grab it.

“The first man in the air wins the war,” Paul said. “I just went up and got it.”

Lee added one more touchdown to Mike McNeill after another interception.

What if Watson had yanked his starter for Green? Would Lee ever have returned? Doubtful. The line of demarcation seemed to be Lee’s lame attempt to cover a fumble after a bad snap, when he slid up to the ball, casually held it between his knees and allowed it to be taken away from him.

“Get on the ball!” head coach Bo Pelini barked at Lee.

But Lee seemed with it on the sidelines, Watson said. And there was no reason to necessarily believe Green would do much better in the rain, on the road, against a blitzing defense.

“Look at it out there,” Watson said, pointing to the empty Faurot Field, still getting pelted by a slow-moving storm. “It’s unbelievable. It’s sheets of rain. That’s hard if you’re a quarterback.”

So, instead, Watson wanted to talk to Lee. He told him persevere. Hang tough. Find a way to win it.

“It didn’t have to be pretty,” Watson said. “We just had to win it. And Zac did it.”

Watson was in a buoyant mood afterward, about ten notches higher on the exuberance scale than Pelini. Did Watson sense he’s just escaped eight days of criticism, and potentially eight days of quarterback controversy?

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The best player in college football walked down the ramp from Nebraska’s locker room shirtless, a shower towel draped around his neck. He had to go find a red shirt to put on for TV interviews, and as he headed out to the bus, seemingly in between the raindrops, fans, Mizzou and NU alike, just sort of stopped and stared.

Ndamukong Suh looks less like a typical defensive linemen than a guy who belongs in the movie “Troy.” He certainly played like a Spartan Thursday night.

The stats – a sack, an interception, a forced fumble, six tackles – are good enough. But they don’t tell the whole story of his impact in Nebraska’s 27-12 fourth-quarter bum rush of Missouri.

The whole story is the hurries, the Tiger holding penalties, the ridiculously quick, telegraphed throws made by Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who got as rude an awakening Thursday night as NU’s Zac Lee. The whole story is how Suh allows that front four to dominate, how that front four allowed the secondary to be aggressive, how that secondary allowed NU to even have a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter.

Suh’s presence and play sent shockwaves through this team. He’s the anchor. He’s the rock. He ought to be a Heisman candidate in a season where quarterbacks are getting hurt or having average seasons.

Will he get the notoriety? Only if voters get a clue and realize that 26 NFL scouts weren’t at the game Thursday to shine their shoes.

Another question: Can Nebraska’s offense get a clue before it’s too late? We’ll be wondering until next Saturday.

Frankly, I’ve never seen a game like this. Not the flu stuff that forced Nebraska to fly in a couple players this morning, not the power outage one hour beforehand, and not “The Twilight Zone” finish. Coupled together, it was wild, fun night the Huskers, one of relief as much as swagger. Nebraska’s offensive players wore pleasant grins that suggested they’d gotten away with one awful performance with the help of a big pass and two NU interceptions.

“The way the offense played, I don’t know if we really deserved it,” NU center Jacob Hickman said. He was one of those guys on the morning plane. “But the defense kept us in it and things ended up working out nice for us.”

Pass after pass after pass. Deep timing routes in the pouring rain. With a quarterback making his second career start on the road. Against a defense that has struggled to stop the run all year. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson called the rainy conditions “your worst nightmare.” But he still called 33 pass plays. Heck, Mizzou called 43. In this mist and muck.

Missouri loaded the box to stop NU’s run, yes. Watson will throw it under those circumstances. And finally – finally – the Tigers made one crucial defensive error that opened the door for the Big Red. But it was not Watson’s best night, as jubilant as he was afterward.

Yes, a strange game. Missouri should have had it wrapped up. But Suh and his crew just wouldn’t let it happen.

Nebraska needs to use this moment as a springboard. How high that board springs is up to the Huskers. Texas Tech presents many of the same challenges in eight days – the Red Raiders have a pretty good defense, better than it should be. Then, two games vs. Iowa State and Baylor. Then – well…you know what then.

The reality is this: It’s all on the table for NU right now. The nation’s best player, a defensive win that should galvanize this bunch, and an offense that, well, made it count in the fourth quarter. Ten wins are now within reach. A few other goals are, too.

Watson called the win a turning point for Nebraska.

“If we don’t let it, shame on us,” Watson said. “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. It’s a great win.”

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It’s after Nebraska’s football practice Wednesday, and running back Roy Helu stands in the south end zone of the Hawks Center, cracking jokes with a bunch of middle-schoolers who came to greet the Cornhuskers as they left the building.

They laugh and then huddle up, while one of the kids leading a chant. Helu, easily the biggest guy in the bunch, is right there saying it, too. And he’s practically the only NU player left in the practice facility.

The 6-foot, 215-pounder is the last guy you imagine will cop to an “inner struggle.” But, then, that’s Helu, a Christian who consistently deflects attention away from him successes and toward his weaknesses – or the strengths of his teammates.

“An inner struggle? Yeah,” Helu said. “Every morning when I wake up, I want to be selfish. I can’t though. And I do sometimes.”

Helu talks about “losing focus” and “mental toughness.” He talks about a vision he has for Nebraska’s offense, and how “we’re nowhere near it.” He is by turns funny and cryptic.

He is also – for this week, anyway – the leading rusher in the Big 12, with 464 yards for a 116-yard-per-game average.
Couple that with his 169-yard breakthrough game at Virginia Tech, and pundits are beginning to catch on to what defensive coordinator Carl Pelini, whose unit often faces Helu in practice, already believes.

“The best back in college football,” Pelini said at the Big Red Breakfast Friday. “…Roy will make you look like a bad tackler."

Naturally, Helu isn’t satisfied with his work so far. He labels it “average at best.”

“That’s Roy,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “He’s a perfectionist.”

Pass blocking has always one of his bugaboos, although running backs coach Tim Beck said recently Helu has improved (in part by necessity) in that area.

But Helu would also like to be more productive in the first quarter. And the junior from The Bay Area has a point there: In 22 first-quarter carries this year, Helu is only averaging 4.27 yards. Take away a 39-yard backwards swing pass from Zac Lee, and that number dwindles down to 2.6 yards per carry.

“The biggest part of my game I need to improve on is starting faster,” Helu said. “Finishing strong is great and everything, and because we have such a great offensive line, it’s easier as the game goes on.

“But I’d like to attack tackles and all that sort of stuff in the beginning of the game and take some of the load off the offensive line.”

Physically, he’s fine with the extra workload. After Quentin Castille was thrown off the team in August, Helu knew that was coming anyway. And he’s OK with the pressure of an eight-man box, too. He’ll likely see it through the Big 12 season, as defenses dare Zac Lee to beat them.

“I got that after the second game when (tight end) Mike McNeill told me their goal was to hold me under 100 yards,” Helu said. “That got me fired up.”

Now, Helu said, he’s focusing on mental aspect of his game. Being sharp on every play, every carry, for several drives in a row. For guy who was part of a committed three-man rotation last year –who hardly played against Mizzou in 2008 – it takes some getting used to.

“The kind of intensity we’re called to have for attention to detail on offense is constant,” Helu said. “It’s a progression, but it’s something I have to keep throughout the whole season.”

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Our offensive report card through the non-conference season, broken down by position and player:

OFFENSIVE MVP: Roy Helu
Helu’s been the steady force on the offense, and a playmaker to boot. One could argue he wasn’t used quite enough in the Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette games, but his fresh legs will be better served in the Big 12 season.
Special Mention: Zac Lee, Curenski Gilleylen, Jacob Hickman, Marcel Jones

GRADES

QUARTERBACK: B Zac Lee aced three out of four tests. He struggled at Virginia Tech, the only non-conference where he faced a big-league pass rush. Lee’s got a big-time arm. That we can see. It creates opportunities where Zac Taylor, Sam Keller and Joe Ganz could not. And Lee throws a better deep ball than any NU quarterback in recent memory. But his tendency to scramble forward and fire passes into the middle of the field will burn him in the Big 12 race if he isn’t more careful. Lee also has to manage the huddle a little better, and not waste timeouts or audible opportunies because he’s run out of time…in his brief mop-up appearances, Cody Green has flashed a lot of speed and a long stride that makes him particularly good as runner. His passing has been just fair. Green brings a fun, emotional component to the field. He looks, acts and talks like a quarterback, even at 19. LaTravis Washington has served mostly to hand off and take a knee.

Best game: Arkansas State. An array of dazzling passes.
Worst game: Virginia Tech. Lee “chased ghosts"

RUNNING BACK: B+ Very good things, thus far, out of Roy Helu, who’s running better – and tougher - than ever before. Helu’s not about to be the kind of guy who lets his level of play slip. He could polish up his pass blocking, but he’s been a credible receiver and tough runner. His back-up, Rex Burkhead, is shifty and elusive, similar to Helu, but possibly with better hands. Nebraska needs a hammer back, though, and apparently none is forthcoming to replace the departed Quentin Castille. Austin Jones and Lester Ward have been used sparingly, and Collins Okafor, who may possess the most natural talent, is fighting to learn the offense. Marcus Mendoza is back in the mix after an ill-advised move to wide receiver. Traye Robinson is a redshirt guy, and should be an interesting option next year.

Best Game: Virginia Tech. Helu = warrior. Burkhead had a nifty catch
Worst Game: Arkansas State. Helu missed some holes, blocks.

OFFENSIVE LINE: B Barney’s Cotton’s unit has battled injuries for a month and managed pretty well despite those problems. Aside from a couple breakdowns by D.J. Jones against excellent defensive ends, the pass blocking has been relatively solid, and Lee’s enjoyed plenty of time to throw. The run blocking has been better on first and second down than it has in short yardage. The Huskers pull and move with speed and aggression. They don’t maul as well as they could. Another weakness are dumb penalties – as evidenced by the Virginia Tech game – at bad times.

Individually, Jacob Hickman has been a steady force at center, aside from a few wayward snaps. Tackle Marcel Jones might well be MVP, swinging from left to right and winning more than his share of battles in the passing game. Guard Ricky Henry, aside from one costly holding penalty, has been surprisingly consistent and physical. Tackle Mike Smith had been a little dinged up, but solid. D.J. Jones still needs work on his pass blocking, but he could be NU’s best perimeter run blocker. Guard Derek Meyer filled in capably for an injured Keith Williams, who is now returning to form as Big 12 play begins. Andy Christensen and Mike Caputo offer useful depth.

Best Game: Lafayette. The big boys showed off all of their talents.
Worst Game: Virginia Tech. Several drive-killing penalties.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: B+ We expected this grade of the tight ends, but the receivers are a surprise unit, as Curenski Gilleylen and Chris Brooks had sidled up alongside Niles Paul, Menelik Holt and Mike McNeill to provide Lee five dependable receiving options. Gilleylen has been one of the MVPs of the offense thus far, consistently get open in zones and providing Lee a deep threat out of the slot. Brooks has also been sure-handed out of slot, raising questions as to why he wasn’t played earlier. Paul’s been dynamic, if a little underused, while Holt is Lee’s possession guy on quick slants and out patterns. At tight end, McNeill’s made a few highlight grabs, missed on a few others, and been so-so with his blocking. Defenses are paying more attention to him; he’ll work through it. Dreu Young and Ben Cotton are solid blockers, while Kyler Reed has been targeted quite a bit without quite cashing in yet. Khiry Cooper, Antonio Bell and Brandon Kinnie have flashed some talent in reserve roles. They’ll be the guys next year.

Best Game: Arkansas State. Everybody got some love.
Worst Game: Virginia Tech. Holt needed to make those two catches.

GAME MANAGEMENT/PENALTIES: C Nebraska continues to struggle with its huddle at times, even vs. Lafayette, when NU had to burn a timeout right after taking one. Lee’s a new quarterback, but this has to clean up going into Big 12 season. As for penalties, the third-quarter meltdown at Virginia Tech stands out right now, and one has to wonder whether Lee could make good on a two-minute drill – first half or second half – it he was forced to do it. This is still an offense that seems, just like the beginning of last year, a little unsure of itself.

Best Game: Arkansas State. Easily the cleanest in that area.
Worst Game: Florida Atlantic First-game jitters.

PLAYCALLING: A- We could quibble just a little with Shawn Watson’s red zone gameplan at Virginia Tech – but not that much, considering NU’s offensive line is struggling to open running holes near the goal line. Overall, Watson’s been terrific, even better than last year. He’s tailored the offense to Lee’s ability to throw the deep ball, he hasn’t been afraid to mix and match receiving personnel, and the running game has been more varied and efficient. We applaud the new shotgun running schemes that mirror some spread offenses, and like how Watson uses the toss play in a variety of formations and situations. Instead of screens, which are hard for Lee to throw given his height, Watson has incorporated more shovel passes. No wildcat yet, and not too many trick plays, but Watson, wisely, knows not to overdo them.

Best Game: Arkansas State. Especially the first quarter.
Worst Game: Virginia Tech. Trust the run game a little more.

See also: Non-Conference Report Card Defense

CHALK TALK: Mizzou’s Run Game Pt. 1 and 2

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