Be wary. Be plenty wary.

As Nebraska's football team floats into that final bend in the Big 12 river, it is, to borrow a Bo Pelini phrase, pretty obvious that just about anything can happen to the Huskers – that anything can happen to any team in the North division, for that matter.

It's the kind of league, right now, where Colorado, that collection of sunshine boys, has an outside chance at heading to Dallas (er, sorry Nat Geo types – Arlington) for the league title game.

We use the phrase “happen to” because, until a four-quarter defensive masterpiece vs. Oklahoma, NU hadn't fully seized its own destiny in the conference season. The offensive gameplan was geared toward a chess match with the opposing defense – not helping the Blackshirts. Running back Roy Helu either wasn't fully committed to playing hard or was sending mixed messages to the coaching staff about his relative health. Suddenly, of Helu's own volition, he toughened up and turned it around last week with a terrific performance vs. OU.

It seems now, finally, the Cornhuskers have found an identity for the whole, instead of the individual parts. Run big sets. Hope Helu busts a few. Throw playaction to offset the run. Let the defense do its thing.

And so – Kansas.

KU has the worst offensive line the Big 12. That's two years now, and that's on Kansas Coach Mark Mangino. Its defense is better, but still overmatched against stronger teams. But the Jayhawks have three skill players – quarterback Todd Reesing, wide receiver Dez Briscoe and wide receiver Kerry Meier – who can make plays off the board. The kind of guys who can take advantage of NU's momentary lapses in concentration.

It's senior day for Reesing and Meier, and it is might as well be for Briscoe, a junior who's gone, baby, gone to the NFL after this year, considering KU needed glue and chicken wire, so to speak, just to keep the kid academically eligible this year. They're going to put up a fight. As much as defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh would like to run over their collective dog, don't be surrprised if, entering the fourth quarter, you're wary. Plenty wary. On to the keys:

QB Shuffle: No easy answers for Nebraska's signal-caller, but we think the starter is Zac Lee, sprinkled with a dose of zone read from Cody Green. Bo Pelini hinted strongly that both quarterbacks might play in Lawrence. To what advantage? We've no beef with quarterbacks sharing time, so long as they're not out there doing the same thing. Use Green to run the spread game. Keep Lee in hand-off and playaction mode.

Reesing's Last Run: You get the sense that, despite a high degree of competitiveness, Reesing is about ready to move on with life. He's an international business guy, he's been running around behind an awful offensive line for two years, the crowds on Mt. Oread are indifferent, his coach is suddenly benching him for fumbles. Reesing has his magical year in 2007, he has win memorable win over Missouri, he has his place in the KU record book. Expect a loose, exciting effort from him on Saturday. Kansas has lost four in a row. There's not much else to lose.

Short Stuffed: Nebraska's secondary has been consistently excellent against the short pass. Bubble and tunnel screens, quick slants, rub-off routes, stops, curls, you name it. NU's cornerbacks are aggressive and confident 15 yards in. Kansas won't be immune to this treatment. So the Jayhawks have to gamble, and send their talented receivers deep. Reesing has to hit them. If they can't make plays downfield, the short-to-intermediate game will be closed for business, and KU is in for a lot of punts and potential interceptions.

Vengeance: Don't kid yourself. That 76-39 score from two years ago is in the hearts and minds of a lot of Husker players who lived through it – especially guys like Ndamukong Suh, Barry Turner, Roy Helu, Phillip Dillard, Larry Asante and Jacob Hickman. You think they've forgotten? Not a chance. You will see an emotional, hungry team Saturday. They won't give KU an inch. This is intended, after the OU win, as a statement game.

Keep It Together: NU's offensive line needs a half without penalties. Just a itty-bitty half of clean football. No false starts. No 15-yard hi-lo blocks. No personal fouls. No holding. No failing to place one's head at Hickman's torso. No illegal men downfield. A clean half. It would do wonders.

The Beck Advantage: Former Kansas assistant – now current NU assistant – Tim Beck knows the Jayhawks well. He recruited Reesing. He coached the wide receivers. He helped incorporate a spread running game at Nebraska. His knowledge of KU's scheme and personnel was invaluable last year – and it will be again this year. Kansas hasn't changed much since 2007, and the personnel is still similar.

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An unseasonably warm night game. Television cameras swarming around the field of play. A raucous Memorial Stadium crowd bubbling with noise and excitement. And most importantly, a big win over a name team – Oklahoma.

They don't happen often, but Nebraska enjoyed one of those perfect storms of football recruiting Saturday night, as three official visitors – defensive tackle Jay Guy, defensive end Tobi Okuyemi and defensive back Joshua Mitchell – committed directly following NU's 10-3 victory. Other visitors who didn't commit rated the experience highly.

“You have to live through that one,” said running backs coach Tim Beck, one of the Huskers' prime operators in Texas. “You can try, but it doesn't give it justice. Being here and experiencing that – and having those kids come here and experience that – it's once in a lifetime.”

The weekend commits made 14 overall pledges for the 2010 recruiting class. Then Lincoln Southeast offensive line Jake Cotton officially made 15, although he apparently committed weeks ago. Cotton, the son of offensive line coach Barney Cotton, is a 6-foot-7, 265-pound late bloomer whose only other offers were from UNO and Northwest Missouri State. He's an offensive lineman now, but may fit in on the defensive line in college.

“In this situation, I'm a coach,” Barney Cotton said of son's commitment. Ben Cotton already plays tight end for Nebraska. Coaches aren't allowed to talk players who haven't officially signed with a team. “I'm a dad in seeing him play and all that, but in this case I'm a coach.”

After a slow summer of few unofficial visits and two decommits – Anterio Sloan and Keeston Terry - that had message boards buzzing with concern and criticism, Nebraska has seemingly rebounded, filling most of its class. Recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore said NU's class should be in the “16 to 18 range” in terms of players, “unless something crazy happens.”

Gilmore said he's “satisfied” with NU's haul thus far.

“A lot of times people look at what other teams are doing – 'Oh, they've got this many commitments, why don't we have any commitments?' - but we're comfortable with our process and we're going to let it take its course,” Gilmore said. “It comes in spurts for us. And we're happy. We're only going to take a few more. We're right there.”

Nebraska already has a solid start on its 2011 class, as well, with commits from Crete defensive tackle Ryne Reeves and Florida offensive lineman Tyler Moore. A trip to the Big 12 Championship in Dallas – Beck's stomping ground – only improves NU's profile in the Lone Star State and elsewhere.

“Anytime you're playing in championship games, they help,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A quick glance at any recruiting site reveals that Texas’ football program has already landed a bumper crop of verbal commitments for the 2010 class before the ink has even dried on 2009 spring football camps.

According to Rivals and Scout recruiting services, UT has already received pledges from 21 players, and while verbal commitments aren’t remotely binding, it stands to reason that the Longhorns are nearly done with the recruiting process before most schools, like Nebraska, have even begun to put together a class.

“I know just in my area alone that I recruit in Texas, I’ve got like 35 guys committed already, and in the whole state of California there’s nine,” Tim Beck told the Daily Nebraskan in a solid story about NU’s efforts in the Lone Star State.

What’s Mack Brown’s secret? Pressure or culture? Brown said it’s the latter.

“The young guys who are committing for the 2010 class were 5 years old when we got here,” Brown said. “So this is what they know. This is Texas football.”

Obviously, UT’s in close proximity to beaucoup football talent. But Brown has scheduled UT’s spring football practices strategically to fall before “spring track season and spring baseball season.”

Brown also pointed to “continuity of staff.”

“Our guys know where players are, so we can identify them earlier,” Brown said. “Some coaches have been in the same area for 12 years, so they have a great relationship with high school coaches. They’ve been great to us.

“It’s the same with the players. They get to come in and know that coach, and get to know him over a five or six-year period.”

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It might have been a bye week for Nebraska’s football team. It was hardly that for most of NU’s coaching staff.

Tis the beginning of recruiting season in college football. Well, every month, in this modern era, is recruiting season. Let’s just say that, starting with mid-November through signing day in February, the fever gets a little hotter.

Six NU assistants hit the road for two days earlier this week. On Friday and Saturday, NU head coach Bo Pelini, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and linebackers coach Mike Ekeler will visit recruits. During the next two months, the Cornhuskers hope to hold on to their 16 known verbal commitments and finish out the class by addressing need areas, like wide receiver and safety.

So far, Pelini said, so good. The first-year coach is happy with the effort and Nebraska’s prospects with a few more prepsters.

“We’ve had good reception from people,” Pelini said after Thursday’s practice. “We’ve identified a lot of guys over the last couple days. I like where recruiting is right now. We’re going to have another staff meeting about it tomorrow to make sure everybody’s on the same page.”

College coaches can’t make in-home visits to recruits for another week, recruiting coordinator Ted Gilmore said, so the on-the-road chats are currently reserved to “evaluation” conversations with high school coaches.

Nebraska’s current 7-4 record has elicited positive feedback, Gilmore said, “particularly in Texas” where NU’s 37-31 overtime loss to current No. 2 Texas Tech turned some heads.

“They’re as hot as anybody and kids know you had a chance to beat them,” Gilmore said. “That creates enthusiasm, and they’ll give you a second look.”

Although NU is recruiting nationwide, it’s focused a good portion of its energy in the Lone Star State, long known for its “’Friday Night Lights’ mystique,” Gilmore and running backs coach Tim Beck said. Nebraska already has nine verbal commitments from the state and is pursuing several more players, including highly-touted running back Rex Burkhead out of Plano.

“They’re playing a lot of football,” Gilmore said. “They get coaching year round. There are some staffs down there that have more people than we do…although it’s important here, it’s on a whole different scale there. It’s a different animal. You can go into a one-horse town and it’s a serious thing. Those kids are brought up on it.”

Beck, who from 1999-2004 was a head high school coach in Texas, was partially responsible for Kansas making inroads in the state. He spent this week in Florida, but he’s helping Nebraska do the same in 2008.

One advantage Beck said NU has in Texas that it might not enjoy in talent centers like Florida and California is instant name recognition.

“It’s a Big 12 state,” Beck said “It doesn’t matter if it’s swimming, if it’s volleyball, soccer, whatever the sport may be, they cover the Big 12 Conference. So, every day, you can pick up a newspaper and the word Nebraska is probably in there somewhere.”

While it’s hardly the deciding factor, winning games helps, too. It’s a “here and now” world out there among high school football players.

“Who’s winning, who’s on TV, who’s in bowl games,” Gilmore said. “That’s what they’re paying attention to. That’s universal no matter where you go.”

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Almost 24 hours after Nebraska effectively used its three running backs in a 45-35 win over Kansas, I was watched the rebuttal to NU’s approach.



It came in the form of the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson, carrying his team to a 28-27 win over Green Bay. Did you catch it? Hope so. Thirty carries, 192 yards, a dramatic, 29-yard fourth-quarter touchdown that included a stiff arm at the goal line - when a man damn near kills himself to win a game, hopefully a football fan would pay attention.



Peterson, in short, was a beast: Angry, relentless, quick to the hole. What’s cooler in team sports than watching a great back paint a 60-minute masterpiece? Even when Peterson was stoned on a fourth down and he fumbled the ball, it was dramatic. If the musical embodiment of a quarterback’s two-minute would be The Rite of Spring, then Peterson’s day-long battle belongs to Lux Aeterna.



Watching it, you wondered: Why not Nebraska? And, yes, I’m aware that NU – and no other team, for that matter – has Adrian Peterson. Still, if you really want a guy to get the hot hand and wear down a foe, don’t you have to get him warmed up in the first place?




Then the New York Giants provided the flip side of the coin.




The Giants employ an “earth, wind and fire” trio of backs: Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw. They have roles. They’re good at them. And defenses have to prepare for all of them. And New York’s running game is just as good – if not quite as poetic - as Minnesota’s.




We’re not saying NU mirrors the Giants, although Castille is a big body like Jacobs. But, since the Texas Tech game, NU has shuffled its backs effectively. The production has been there, too; in the last five games, the running backs have averaged 157 rushing yards and 224 total yards. Out of that, Helu is the leading rusher and Lucky is the leading receiver, but Castille’s not out in the cold.




“The advantage of playing all the guys? One, they know they’re gonna play,” Nebraska running backs coach Tim Beck said. “So they constantly try to improve their game. It helps team chemistry and team morale when those guys know their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s a long season. At some point, you need them. You need them all.




Beck’s a good sport. He’s answered this question again and again throughout the year, never once asking to be vindicated, even if the evidence tilts toward his and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson’s approach. He does wonder why receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen can rotate without their position coaches having to receive constant questions.




“Nobody says anything about that,” Beck said.




True. But none of those positions are iconic as running back. Take Peterson’s game on Sunday. How many receivers - ever – have made that kind of impact in one game? Quick – tell me the last 200-yard receiving performance you saw in college football. Now tell me if you remember Darren McFadden’s one-man show against LSU in 2007. Heck, I still remember the game where Ohio State’s Keith Byars lost his shoe and kept running against Illinois.




It’s the romance of it.




“He’s also the best player in football,” Beck said of Peterson. “At any level. If we had the best player in football at any level, we’d want him to get as many carries as he can.”




At Nebraska, well, it isn’t quite like that. In any given game, Beck said, he wants to see which back best attacks a defense, or, in Lucky’s case, who’s best in pass protection. Helu’s been a liability in that arena at times, which would explain games like Baylor, when the Huskers had to pass more, and, as a result, turned away from the sophomore.




But the advantage to NU’s system, Beck said, is that all three running backs are learning – on the field, in some circumstances – every aspect of the role. Castille might be the big, short-yardage back, but he’s still standing next to Joe Ganz in the shotgun, taking option pitches, catching swing passes. Helu is still going to get his chances to pass block.




“The rocket back, the tailback, or I-back or fullback, they all know it,” Beck said. “If we ever need them, we can get in unique sets. The gameplan calls for that.”




It’s a key selling point for the Huskers on the recruiting trail. NU’s still in the game for a couple big-name backs, including Rex Burkhead from Plano, Texas and Al-Terek McBurse from Winter Springs, Fla.




“Guys realize if they come in here and do what we ask them to do and they practice hard and perform and get better, they will have their chance to show their stuff and play,” Beck said. “That’s got to be appealing to some guys. Some guys don’t get that opportunity. Some guys have to wait three years for that chance.”




Give Beck, Watson this much: At Nebraska, the waiting period is about three series.

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Saturday’s 35-7 win over Iowa State was arguably sophomore Quentin Castille’s most complete game at running back, as Castile gained 70 yards on 11 carries.



Castille also caught a pass out of five wide receiver formation, and was in the game on an a option play, although quarterback Joe Ganz kept the ball and was stoned for no gain.



Some pundits – this one included – have questioned Castille’s role in the offense, given his inconsistent blocking and running and his fumbling problems. Saturday was a solid retort to those criticisms that he’s little more than a short-yardage back.



“I tried to show it a little bit,” Castille said. “I can tell Coach (Tim) Beck and Coach (Shawn) Watson are getting more involved in not just me but the whole offense and letting us play in space.”



Beck said Castille, along with the rest of the running backs, are beginning to adjust to seeing the holes from the shotgun on zone read plays.



“He’s getting more patient as a runner,” Beck said. “Patience is something that’s really almost an oxymoron when you talk about running backs, but the good ones have patience…you’ve always got to keep defenses off balance. You can’t always put Marlon in there. Teams are starting to know that’s going to be the case.



“You don’t want to take those plays out of your playbook because teams are defending a player. And Marlon’s not going to be here forever.”


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Marlon Lucky was breathless from his after-practice running and his legs were tired enough that he slumped his body against the red padding that lines the north fence of Memorial Stadium. The padding, apparently off its mooring, slapped against the fence and left Lucky scrambling for his balance.

Yes, it’s been a bit of an interesting season for the senior from North Hollywood, Calif.

His touches are down. The offense has changed in subtle-but-meaningful ways. And running backs coach Tim Beck remains committed to a three-back rotation of Lucky and two sophomores, Roy Helu, Jr. and Quentin Castille. In 2007, Lucky averaged 145 all-purpose yards per game. In 2008, he’s at 80 yards.

But if it isn’t the senior campaign No. 5 had envisioned, he’s not saying; indeed Lucky, with the opportunity to sulk publicly or privately, hasn’t done so.

“I just hang in there,” he said Monday. “Every time I get the ball, I try to do what I can.”

While the offensive line and tight ends struggled to secure blocks in “heavy” formations, Lucky wasn’t able to do much until two weeks ago. That’s when Watson, watching his squad struggle with penalties and complex assignments, nudged the offense toward simplicity in the second half of a 52-17 loss to Missouri.

The result? More looks for Lucky, more points for NU, more time of possession and more energy for the Cornhuskers’ defense.

Lucky had 146 total yards against Texas Tech and 90 in a lopsided win over Iowa State – most of it in the first half.

In the ISU game, Lucky also had a starring role in the “Wildcat” set popularized by Arkansas’ Darren McFadden in college and now the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. On two plays, he took the direct snap from center, faked to Castille, and ran in the opposite direction. On a third, he took the snap and followed Castille’s lead block on a sweep around the left end, resulting in a touchdown.

“It’s football, we steal from everybody,” Lucky said. “You’ll see the same play from a different team. It’s all competitive to find ways to put the ball in playmakers hands.”

Lucky said the formation had a “special name” that could change week to week. Last week it was "Joker." Whatever it is - you probably haven’t seen the last of it.

While the set had modest beginnings in Ames, Beck said the concept is built around Lucky’s open-field talents and may include a play in which Lucky throws a pass – he’s thrown for three touchdowns so far in his career.

“It’s hard because it’s a one back set with two true backs,” Beck said. “How do you defend it?”

Head coach Bo Pelini sure had a hard time when Arkansas ran it against his LSU defense last year. The Razorbacks gained 385 rushing yards that day – 211 from McFadden alone – most of which came out of the same formation. McFadden even threw six passes, completing three for 34 yards and a touchdown in a 50-48, three-overtime win.

“Bo mentioned something about doing it,” Beck said. “You draw from his experience as a defensive coach. Anytime you come up with some ideas and you’ve got a mind like Bo’s, you go ‘hey, Bo what do you think of this?’”

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