So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

A trip to Dallas? (Arlington for our Nat Geo types.) A date with the biggest jumbotron this side of a Japanese arcade in JerryWorld? Two weeks of contemplating vengeance against Texas for 1996?

Then finish it Saturday, in a game that won't test Nebraska's talent as much it will its patience.

Let's be blunt: Kansas State, 6-5 and clawing for its postseason life, is a shade more talented than Iowa State. The Wildcats remain, 11 games into their season, a work in progress. It's Ron Prince's parting gift to leave behind an undersized-if-energetic defense. The offense has two key playmakers – Brandon Banks and Daniel Thomas – who have to account for the lion's share of KSU's yards and points. Quarterback Grant Gregory is a better story – sixth-year transfer from South Florida makes good – than he is player.

Bill Snyder's 2009 team is not terribly unlike his last one in 2005. Fairly stingy at home. Weaker on the road. Run-heavy. Patient. Opportunistic on the special teams. But not a great team - and not one that should, with everything that's at stake Saturday, beat Nebraska, on Senior Day.

A loss for the Cornhuskers on national TV – with a berth to the Big 12 Championship on the line – wouldn't be a casual thing. This is, again, one of those defining moments. Good coaches – good teams – find ways to close out these games. Pundits talk about comparing the 2009 defense to 1999. Well, that 1999 bunch stoned top 20 teams – Texas A&M (37-0) and Kansas State (41-15) – in back-to-back weeks to help secure a Big 12 crown. KSU was still undefeated, in fact, at the time of its game with NU.

All the 2009 version has to do to is overcome a thoroughly mediocre Snyder club.

Just a little perspective – before the pressure sets in.

On to the keys:

To the Banks: KSU receiver Brandon Banks is the Wildcats' one true home run hitter. He's the punt and kick returner, for one – and he's dangerous enough in that arena. But his speed makes him sneaky tough to cover on deep routes, and his shiftiness makes him a pain to tackle in the flat. Kansas State tries to get him five-ten touches per game in a variety of ways – screens, sweeps, deep shots, quick slants. Nebraska needs to know where he is, successfully mark him and then – tackle, tackle, tackle.

Power Play: Both teams will line up in heavy formations, try to put “hat on hat,” and grind out clock and yards. And both teams will try to use their playaction passing game off of the power game. And both teams will do so out of a variety of formations, motions and personnel groupings. In short, plan to see two offense with the same goals, equally good running backs, and equally iffy quarterback. The difference?

Front Four: We're about to find out just how good Nebraska's much-praised defensive line really is at accepting the challenge of a straight-ahead running game with a big, talented, physical running back in Daniel Thomas. This isn't going to be a “flash” game for Ndamukong Suh and Jared Crick so much as a test of guts, strength, pad level and sheer technique. Again – great defenses eat one-dimensional teams like KSU for lunch. Behind the front four, NU's linebackers – expect plenty of Phillip Dillard, Sean Fisher and Will Compton, and maybe even Eric Martin – need to wrap Thomas and drive with their legs.

Zac Attack: Nebraska fans better hope Zac Lee's strong play at Kansas wasn't a one-week wonder. Not only does Lee need to keep NU in down-positive situations with timely scrambles and smart throws, he needs to continue on an improvement curve toward that game in Dallas, where Texas promises its own brand of nasty.

The Snyder Factor: Snyder is a major storyline in the game. But his best strengths are, in truth, minor, understated touches on gameday.

The man prepares well and gets his assistants to do the same. His offenses usually take care of the ball and rely on field position for points. His defenses aren't flashy from a sacks/tackles for loss perspective, but they tend to have guys in the right place against the run, relying on the athleticism of the secondary against the pass. The special teams are across-the-board strong. KSU conservatively clings like a leech to a small lead.

The Wildcats aim to win the hidden details, all while giving up yards, sacks and style points. Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini and his staff may be tested by this mindset. Or, the Huskers could jump out in front and run away with a three-touchdown win.

It may depends on which team can taste Dallas the most.

Is Nebraska as good as we remember? Saturday night - two contenders become one.

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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.”

Win Two Free Tickets to NU's Last Home Game of the Year!

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LAWRENCE, Kan. - It was billed before the season as the game for the Big 12 North crown. In reality, there was very little at stake in Saturday's Nebraska-Kansas game.

It just felt like it, as Kansas took a 17-16 lead midway through the fourth quarter, juicing the chilly 51,525 fans at Memorial Stadium, which included a reporter-estimated 10,000 Cornhusker partisans.

But NU answered with a short-field touchdown of its own. And then, pressed with finishing off the game – Nebraska did it again, going 74 yards in ten plays, all on the ground, all out of power sets, as if the Huskers jumped in a time machine and exited the craft back in 1986.

Nebraska 31, Kansas 17. Bring on the real battle for the Big 12 North crown, next Saturday vs. Kansas State.

“We did what we needed to do in the fourth quarter,” head coach Bo Pelini said. “I'm proud of the way they hung in there. I'm proud of the way they finished the game...the offensive line, the tight ends, fullback – that's the way you finish. That's the way you come out with a drive.”

In total, NU (7-3 overall, 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference) amassed 404 total yards, its best output since the Lafayette game in late September.

“We got our mojo back,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “We've been nicked up. The kids have just been resilient. They've never questioned or doubted themselves at all.”

The Huskers got a huge boost from quarterback Zac Lee – seemingly wresting control of the starting job once again – who threw for 196 yards and surprisingly scrambled for 53. Lee's only glaring mistake – a fumble at the goal line – was masked by Roy Helu's recovery of that fumble for a touchdown.

Lee was entrusted with an opened-up, retooled offense that again included more option plays – including an option pass that went to Niles Paul for 37 yards – and a heavy dose of playaction, which Lee often executed with precision and accuracy.

“We just saw some things that we could take advantage of in the defense,” Lee said. “Get behind them a little. And really just let our receivers make big plays. Let them go up and get the ball.”

Paul did just that, catching four passes for 154 yards. All of his receptions were longer than 20 yards, and three of them were jump balls. His catches helped set up nine points.

But Paul's biggest play occurred right after KU quarterback Todd Reesing hit receiver Dez Briscoe for a 21-yard touchdown with 7:34 remaining in the game. Kansas tried a pooch kick – the Jayhawks were offsides in doing so – but Paul came up to catch it. Then he rattled off a 44-yard return to set up the Huskers at Kansas' 31-yard line.

“I knew by the way he coming at the ball how he was going to kick it,” Paul said. “The kicking team gave me a lane to make a play.”

Kansas (5-5, 1-5) stuffed Nebraska on three consecutive plays. But on the last of those plays, KU defensive back Justin Thornton yanked Khiry Cooper's earhole, drawing a 15-yard facemask.

“The ref made a good call,” Thornton said.

Said Cooper: “I've never had it grabbed like that. He went up and under.”

Nebraska got the ball at KU's 20. Roy Helu – who gained 156 yards on 28 carries – scored on the next play, a gallop around right end on a counter call. Lee converted the two-point play with a heady scramble and toss to Paul in the corner of end zone.

Kansas couldn't answer. After keeping Nebraska's Blackshirts off-balance for much of the game, KU called an odd series of plays. The last of them was a tunnel screen to 240-pound fullback Toben Opurum, who lost five yards. The Jayhawks punted.

And, much like a month ago at Missouri – that seems almost two seasons ago, doesn't it? - NU slammed the ball down KU's throat, converting a 3rd-and-10 with simple counter play by Helu, who bounced the play twice before hitting the corner. Helu looked like he could have scored a touchdown, but he veered back toward the middle of the field, where he fell down for a 30-yard gain.

“I did it because I was tired,” Helu said. “I didn't trust in where I was going. I didn't know the situation that well, so I just fell on the ground. Probably spoiled a good run there.”

Helu scored five plays later on a 14-yard run. Nebraska rushed for nearly 100 yards in the fourth quarter, better than one-third of its 233 total.

“Defenses get tired of tackling the same running back,” Helu said.

NU opened the game with a shot, literally and figuratively, as Lee hit Paul on a go route for 35 yards. Lee placed the ball perfectly on Paul's back shoulder. Five plays later, Nebraska got a crucial break that Kansas wouldn't get later in the game.

On third and goal from KU's 2, Lee veered around left end, cut back into a hole and was smacked at goal line. The ball rolled down his left arm, as if going down a chute, into the blue of Kansas' north end zone. For a second it sat there unattended to, until Helu, the pitch back on the play, pounced on it for a touchdown. NU led 7-0.

Kansas had a similar moment in the second half when Nebraska cornerback Dejon Gomes popped the ball from KU receiver Kerry Meier's clutch. But NU safety Matt O'Hanlon fell on the ball inside the Husker. It was the game's only turnover.

Back to the second quarter, Lee got busy again. He scrambled for 32 yards after a playaction fake. Then he perfectly executed an option pass to Paul for 37 yards down to KU's nine-yard line. The Huskers sputtered from there, and Alex Henery kicked a 25-yard field goal to pad the Huskers' lead to 10.

But Reesing, after a cold, inconsistent start, owned the rest of the half – with a little help from true freshman running back Opurum.

Reesing opened KU's touchdown drive following the Henery field goal with a 13-yard scramble; NU safety Larry Asante was flagged for a late hit personal foul. KU then ran the ball on eight of the next 12 plays – converting two fourth down plays on short runs by Opurum. Nebraska chose to keep its dime defense on the field for all of it, and corners Dejon Gomes and Eric Hagg were unable to make crucial tackles on Opurum and Reesing, who capped the touchdown drive with a five-yard, spinning scramble.

NU punted after three lackluster plays. Reesing then stormed down the field again. The crucial completion of the drive was his first, a 28-yard slant to Dez Briscoe on 3rd-and-14. Briscoe slipped by defensive end Barry Turner, who was in coverage while the Huskers sent a heavy corner blitz. Kansas burned Nebraska for the same play. KU had to settle for a field goal as time ran out.

Although Reesing only completed 19 of 41 passes, he made each completion count with 236 total yards. KU also used a delayed quarterback draw to stymie NU's front-four pass rush, which scaled back in the second half to take the play away.

“We have to credit Kansas,” linebacker Phillip Dillard said. “They came out with a good scheme and they came out with a lot of plays we hadn't seen before.”

The Jayhawks amassed 339 total yards.

“We had too many busts,” Pelini said. “We did not execute well consistently. Especially in a couple spots, which I'm not going to name. We gave them some things that there's no way should have happened.”

In the second half, KU's first drive was thwarted by Meier's fumble. NU put together two consecutive field goal drives to take a 16-10 lead early in the fourth quarter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Huge play,” Pelini said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Quarterbacks and boos and media and questions and turnovers and rankings and sound bytes and fans and -

Oh, yeah. Breakfast with Iowa State.

The Cyclones are playing with house money. Free as the bird that serves as their mascot. At 4-3, ISU doesn't have much to lose other than the health of its two best offensive skill players, quarterback Austen Arnaud and running back Alexander Robinson.

Iowa State can pull out the stops, or play it cool to keep it reasonably close.

Nebraska, meanwhile, needs to win, and look good doing it.

Head coach Bo Pelini preaches high standards. That's good. He's not satisfied with nine-win seasons. He asks for perfection because, in his words, “you get what you ask for.” He coaches a tenacious, active game in search of execution and mental toughness. And he's good after a loss - better, maybe, than after a win.

The man was in his element this week. He's got his team buying into an us-against-the-world mentality. Bo served as point guard on Monday with his “buck stops here” comments, and as bookend on Thursday with a similar statement. Fans may perceive Pelini as angry. Not precisely. He's trying to use a difficult loss – a stunning loss, really – as a rallying point to quickly reverse course.

Pelini doesn't believe in a panic button. It doesn't mean he isn't pushing some other buttons.

On to the keys.

Playing Harder and Smarter: Nebraska's offense has been a little too cute over the last two weeks. Power football out of a shotgun spread, four-wide set? Oh, sure, you can do it. But defenses have to respect the quarterback and the receivers. And, right now, that's not happening. Both Texas Tech and Missouri left linebackers on the field to cover NU's wideouts, confident that quarterback Zac Lee either couldn't or wouldn't find open guys.

That hunch was right. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson often talks about taking what a defense gives. But what Tech gave wasn't a schematic advantage. It was an athletic challenge. And the Huskers weren't up to it.

Watson's gameplan was in the right place. But the troops couldn't execute it. Which means – find something they can.

Maybe that's straight power stuff. Maybe that's the zone read with Cody Green. Nebraska can't stray too far from its original design, but it may need to shed a few play pounds to get to the core of its success.

And the offensive line? Well, you already know – don't you? So do they.

Steep incline: If Big 12 defenses were a treadmill, ISU is about to hit a massive elevation change. The Cyclones have not faced a defense as complete as Nebraska's since the Iowa game, and the Hawkeyes' front four is a notch below the Huskers. Throw in a motivated Memorial Stadium crowd – they'll be back Saturday, with a vengeance – and this is toughest game that Iowa State has had this year. If NU can pounce early, ISU won't put up too much of a fight.

Wounded Clones: Arnaud and Robinson won't be 100 percent on Saturday, and how the game progresses may determine the length of time they're in the game. Again – that's why the quick start is so important. ISU coach Paul Rhoads isn't going to worsen Robinson's groin injury by running him while down 21 points.

Arnaud will test that throwing hand early. He's not a great passer to begin with, and his backup, Jerome Tiller, is more of a big-play runner than he is passer.

Where's Mike? Nebraska tight end Mike McNeill has played roughly 50 percent of the snaps in each of the two previous games, and most of those were in the second half. McNeill wants to win more than anything – but he'll never turn down the ball.

“I've ran pretty good routes this year and I'm moving pretty well,” McNeill said. “I think I'm open sometimes. But I'm not always in the quarterback's progression, or maybe he's got another throw he's got to make. It's not like I'm running down the field and no one sees me.”

It's just that Lee hasn't been throwing him the ball very much.

Ditto for the rest of the tight ends. What's happened here over the last several weeks? NU tries to throw the ball to Kyler Reed two times a game, and calls it good. Ben Cotton, Dreu Young and Ryan Hill – all pretty capable receiving options – rarely get their names called. McNeill catches just about everything in the vicinity, but it's like he's one of the fallow parks on the edge of the Lincoln city limits. What gives?

The Specials: Iowa State has some return and kicking weapons that could account for field position and/or a touchdown. Nebraska has to find the vibe it had going before the Missouri game. Even punter/kicker Alex Henery's been a little off.

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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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Nebraska's quarterback job is back up for grabs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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The reverie lasted all of a quarter. All the fanfare and hoopla and warm feelings over No. 15 Nebraska and its potential run through the Big 12 have been put on hold. Indefinitely.

Sloppy, slow and uncertain. That's how NU played in a calamitous meltdown loss to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders looked speedier, smarter and definitely less rattled by one of the more incompetent group of officials I've seen.

Most of all, the seemed sure of themselves. Even before Niles Paul's boneheaded, casual drop of a backwards screen pass, which led to a 82-yard fumble return for a touchdown, the Red Raiders played and acted like the better, more confident team.

“If y'all would have seen the locker room before the game, you would have thought it was a bunch of animals running around,” Texas Tech quarterback Steven Sheffield said. “That's how our program is, just letting go and letting everybody be themselves and a lot of loud music.”

Understand that Tech's already been through a tumult of a season – two tough losses, suspensions, the typical Mike Leach chicanery. Maybe the boys from West Texas can give Bo Pelini some advice on how to handle the next two weeks. Loud music, apparently.

Get ready. It's going to be a bumpy, restless fortnight. Oh, Nebraska can probably handle defenseless Iowa State and toothless Baylor no matter who takes the field. But NU better have this figured out by Nov. 7, or the stretch run of the season could be a long, troubling slog.

What's wrong? Oh, quite a bit. We'll get there. Let's start with what's right.

Nebraska's front four plays like beasts. Every damn one of them. With attitude, toughness and fury. Phillip Dillard – remember, he's not as good as Colton Koehler for the first two games of this season – is suddenly realizing every ounce of potential he has. Can he please start the game next week and give Will Compton the sideline seasoning he needs? Alfonzo Dennard and Prince Amukamara, a few hiccups aside, bring their lunch pail every week. No cornerback – none – has a perfect record. Larry Asante plays a clean, hard-hitting game. And Pelini is starting to put some of those fancy blitzes back in the box – which is a good thing.

Now for the rest of it.

*Nebraska's offensive line is limping along. Something is missing, and the frustration on the face of Jacob Hickman and Barney Cotton make it clear that they don't quite know what it is. Part of it, I fear, is simple personality. The Huskers aren't nasty enough. Hickman, Mike Smith, Marcel Jones and Keith Williams are all, well, pretty nice guys. Analytical, thoughtful. Technicians. And right now, it's just not working. They're all getting beat at the point of attack. Ricky Henry, too, although he certainly brings a mean mug to the field.

You cannot – absolutely not – run a zone-blocking system without being quick, and tough. You don't have to be that big, and you don't have to pancake guys. But that first step has to be vicious. There can't be a hint of a leak. Roy Helu was flitting around all afternoon like a skier on a slalom course. He'd never admit it, but he got almost all of his yards on sheer improvisation.

*The line is forcing Shawn Watson to alter the game plan. Oh, we'll knock Watson when it's on him. And some of Saturday was on him. But not much of it. Sorry, but when NU runs two of its basic – and often successful – playaction passes, and a Tech defensive lineman is in the backfield before the fake is done, you're not going to have much luck with anything. Watson was relegated to calling two-second slant pattern (that Zac Lee can't throw) and bubble screens that were misadventures.

*Lee isn't trusting his game. His performance was painful, because it was the portrait of a quarterback second-guessing himself. Lee wants to go downfield. Something is stopping him. Because he's not Sam Keller, a professional bail-out artist, Lee sits back there, clutching, shuffling, worrying – until he's sacked, or he's left with a two-yard throw.

And he just won't scramble. This, I don't get. Watson doesn't get it, either. Nobody gets it. Lee is fast, he's tough – and he won't run. And when he does, he runs with his body pitched forward, and his head down.

*Bo still blows defensive timeouts. And two in the first half didn't make much sense.

The first of them was on the fourth down play that NU had stopped – until Pelini called the timeout at the last second. Was it to ice Mike Leach, who always does this? The result: A 21-yard gain on an end around that NU seemed utterly unprepared for.

The second occurred when Tech had the ball on the Huskers' four-yard line. Understandable – except that it was first down. What was Bo going to do – design three plays' worth of defense? As it was, Nebraska committed pass interference in the end zone, and Tech scored a few plays later.

*The penalties. Ugh. First of all, the officiating in the Big 12 – across the board – stinks. Bo can't say it. I'll say it. The zeebs on Saturday were confused, disorganized, out of position and generally perplexed. I give them credit for getting the fumble/touchdown right. Not a lot else.

But how does Bo help his cause by berating the line judge to the point where Memorial Stadium even takes notice, and it more or less delays the last kickoff of the game? How? NU clearly has a reputation at this point, and seems to nurture it with Bo's incredulous behavior.

Some of the penalties are earned, of course. The offensive line seems to pay its weekly toll of 30 yards. When does that stop? Can it stop?

*Most of all, it's just the vibe of this team. Tech obviously had a lot to be fired up about, but the Red Raiders seemed loose, active, ready to mix it up. Outside some of NU's defenders, the reticence – the sheer lack of fire - was glaring. The play of the game – Tech's 82-yard punt return – boiled down to a lack of concentration and mental toughness: Lee not getting a deep enough drop, Niles Paul futzing on a catchable ball, and the whole Husker offense just trotting back to the huddle. Folks, not every team does that. A lot of teams have a few guys, at least, with the sense to be safe about it, and cover the damn ball.

In key moments, Nebraska suffers a collective brain cramp. It happened last year. It's happening now. What's Bo and his capable crew going to do about it?

See also: Defending Shawn Watson - For Now

and

NU/Tech Report Card

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"People are going to draw conclusions. That's what this is here in Nebraska. The football world we live in."

Zac Lee said it with a smile, but he said it just so, too.

Credit Nebraska's starting quarterback for having tact and a sly sense of humor at the same time.

What the junior from San Francisco needs now is a big game at the right time. None better than a Saturday afternoon soiree with Texas Tech, which sports a better-than-expected defense, but a negative turnover margin that has to have those not-yet-Blackshirts salivating.

Lee, too. After all, he'd be the beneficiary of any short field the defense can produce. And he will take any love he can get.

The kid went through the critic's mill a little this week. So did his offensive coordinator, Shawn Watson. They handled like they do most everything else: With a smile and outward confidence. It takes a little self-worth, after all, to call a tight end hide route in the red zone rain. It takes even more moxie for Lee to sell it like he did, then float a lovely little pass to a wide-open Mike McNeill for a touchdown.

An uneven offensive line needs confidence like that. NU's beaten-up running back corps do, too. The Red Raiders may indeed force Lee to beat them by dropping down a safety and “loading the box.” Lee will, again, check into a play that works for him. From there, it'll be on his brain, and his right arm.

He's played well at home – exceedingly well vs. Arkansas State and Lafayette. Maybe it's the Memorial Stadium crowd. Maybe it was the defenses of the Sun Belt Three. But Tech's pass defense isn't much better, frankly. The Red Raiders have athletes, but they're thin at safety. It's the kind of unit that an upper-echelon Big 12 quarterback should be able to pick apart.

And there's little question that Lee has top-shelf skills in most of the pertinent areas: Arm strength, mobility, sixth sense, leadership. His accuracy, right now, is off on the short, timing routes. Lee throws a terrific deep ball, but that's only a small part of the West Coast Offense. You throw ten little darts to set up one cannon shot. Lee has to put a few more of those darts near the bullseye.

Still, he's an easy player to root for because he wears the pressure lightly, and because you sense his inner playmaker is straining to stay within the structure of Watson's offense.

Don't get me wrong: It's a good structure, especially for ball control, which is necessary vs. Texas Tech. But it was a comfier fit for a guy like Joe Ganz, who can't wing it 70 yards, but can cut a defense for six, seven yard gains at a time. He bled the Red Raiders dry doing just that last year.

Lee has to blaze his own trail. Through five games, he done a lot of things well. He's only thrown two interceptions that matter (his last pass at Virginia Tech could've just as easily been batted down) and, wayward snaps aside, he's not really a fumbler. He avoids bad sacks – Ganz didn't always do that – and he keeps plays alive with his feet. And he creates big plays. That you can't argue. He's not afraid to throw the deep routes, and he knows where to throw them.

It's simply a slightly different model than most WCO quarterbacks. It's a model that needs a good power running game to help set it up.

But if Lee doesn't get that on Saturday – and the Red Raiders will surely try to stuff Roy Helu and whoever else Nebraska trots out there – then he'll find himself in the middle of a dogfight, having to march, instead of bomb, the Huskers down the field.

Is he up to that challenge? Are Lee's receivers?

Hey – Missouri's over. In this space, too.

Now - opportunity knocks. Inside, a one-way ticket to the Oklahoma game, a 7-1 record, and more media buzz than you can shake a space balloon at.

Lee will have a home field, a fairly healthy offensive line and a vanilla defense to work against.

Good quarterbacks rise to this moment. The best ones own it.

Time for No. 5 to put the money where his moxie is.

See also: Guess The Score! NU vs. Tech! and Five Keys to Texas Tech

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The Husker media machine kicked into full gear this week. Nebraska's football team uneasily wore the crown.

You could sense the strain in some of the answers after a 27-12 win over Missouri. Here was NU, after the biggest program triumph in some time, getting peppered with questions about last year's Texas Tech game, handling success, the offensive playcalling, replacing Rex Burkhead, defending spread offenses, you name it. You could almost see the frustration churning inside players and coaches: Wait – didn't we win last week? Didn't we complete the best fourth-quarter rally in Husker history? Did everyone forget that?

Yes, yes and most certainly not. But here's the thing: With each big win head coach Bo Pelini collects, fans and writers can see the shoreline a little more clearly. With a beaten-up, overrated Big 12 out there for the taking in 2009, the vibe is now distinctly “carpe diem.” Thus, the armor chinks become more glaring with each ratchet-turn of expectation.

Nebraskans express hope with worry. It's the natural tendency, the bedrock of our modesty and insecurity. It couldn't really be this good this fast, could it? It just might. If the Huskers can hurdle one Mike Leach, that is.

On to the five keys:

Aggression: Nebraska returns to its home field, in front of a crowd ready to explode with chants of “We're back!” There ought to be enough energy in the joint to kick start three offensive lines, much less one. Needs to be, too. If the Huskers intend to score a first round knockdown, much less a first round knockout, they'll need every bit of anger, muscle and toughness the offensive line can muster. Running backs can only plow through holes that exist, after all.

“We need to play faster, we need to play more physical, and we need to execute better,” offensive line coach Barney Cotton said. We'll take that and a side of peanut cole slaw.

Turnovers: A typical, fallback key of any big game, but, in the case of NU v. Tech, it matters because the Red Raiders – specifically Taylor Potts – have struggled keeping the ball on the team with the right colored jersey. Tech is 99th in turnover margin – rare for a Big 12 school still in the early stages of conference play – at -.67 per game. Nebraska's 15th overall. Big advantage, right there, to the Huskers.

How does NU force them? In the secondary, breaking on poorly-thrown balls without giving up the farm elsewhere.

Pick up “Sticks:” Walk-on quarterback Steven “Sticks” Sheffield has enjoyed a nice couple of weeks, but those were minor rehearsals compared to Saturday. Sheffield can light as many fires as he wishes and scramble all over the house looking to wear out his own legs. But the kid's probably going to have to throw for three bills and two touches to give Tech a fighting chance.

As skinny and untested as Sheffield is, Nebraska needs to make a maniacal effort to pressure the living daylights out him. If Leach wants to install Potts into the game, hey – so be it. The more musical chairs Leach runs, the deeper the hole his team will dig.

Carter vs. Suh: Texas Tech has a quick rhythm passing game and wide linemen splits, and thus feels like it's fairly impervious to any consistent pass rush, even one led by Ndamukong Suh. So the Red Raiders will likely match guard Brandon Carter – the deposed captain who paints his face as if he's going to death metal concert, or readying for a night of carousing with Kym from “Rachel Getting Married” – against Suh, one on one.

Well, OK. It worked to some extent in 2008. But this ain't 2008.

“(Carter) is a really good lineman,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “They're a man protection team, but they've got five and we've got four rushing. It's the same way every week. We just try to do our thing.”

Pelini's right, of course, but interior pass blocking, against a player of Suh's caliber, is no trip to Cleveland. Can Suh and his mates force the Red Raiders to keep a running back in to block?

Resist the pirate spirit: Nebraska needs to be smart on Saturday not to let Leach's wild gambles rub off on Bo Pelini. When Leach goes for it on fourth down...NU better stuff it. If he tries a trick play, gets cute with his punt formation, or tries to go 80 yards in 38 seconds, you'll have a distinct example of Leach attempting to bait his opponent into bizarre situations. If Nebraska can keep its poker face while the Red Raiders flop about like a fish on dry land, it'll gain one or two extra possessions at least. Tech, which lives or dies by the number and efficiency of plays run, would in be the same spot it was last year. Except Nebraska's defense is more equipped to shut down TTU.

See also: Chalk Talk: Inside the Air Raid Offense and Guess The Score! NU vs. Tech! and Recruiting: All Dressed Up with No Position?

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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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Just in case you haven’t come out of that rain-fueled reverie from last Thursday, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach delivered a public service announcement Saturday. More like a warning, with that 66-14 drubbing his Red Raiders hung on Kansas State. KSU isn’t particularly good. But the Wildcats aren’t 52 points that bad either.

Yes – just like playing at Tech wasn’t as hard as it seemed last year, this year’s game won’t be as easy as it seems. In many ways, the “Air Raid” system is better than Missouri’s spread offense, especially in creating big plays for the running backs, which Mizzou’s system doesn’t do so well.

If NU thinks it can get chuffed and proud, the Huskers had better cleanse their system of that incredible comeback win before Leach and Co. head to town. Once thing about Leach: He simply doesn’t care. He’ll boot players, bluff his own athletic director and happily serve as a hypocrite when he chastises players for the seeking the publicity he hounds. He just doesn’t care. Leach is a football mercenary for hire – Texas Tech has him tied to long-term contract – whose measurement of success is racking up points and yards.

My wife and I were watching a YouTube clip on Leach. Some nonsense about dating advice and pirate obsessions.

“He’s kind of a clown,” my wife said. Molly’s a pretty polite girl; she prefers half-insults unless we’re on the subject of bad officiating.

“Well, maybe,” I said. “But he wins a lot of games.”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “He’s still a clown.”

As we await Leach’s circus on Saturday, we relive, one last time, the Mizzou win.

Five Players We Loved

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: You rarely get to see “legendary” defensive performances from a single player. On national TV, Suh delivered one. I’m not sure even he understood just what he’d done. In the coming weeks, if he makes a push for the Heisman, he will. The Missouri game was his launching pad.

Defensive back Dejon Gomes: He stuck to Mizzou receivers like glue all of Thursday night. Where’s he been? Doesn’t matter. Gomes needs to stay in the game, and off the bench.

Linebacker Philip Dillard: He’s re-established himself as Nebraska’s best linebacker. It took the coaches too long to realize it, but they’ve finally come around to Dillard’s brand of play and leadership.

Running back Rex Burkhead: Made a lot of little plays in the game, including a couple key third-down conversions. He’s excellent in open space, and getting better between the tackles.

Wide receiver Niles Paul: Oh, if only his confidence matched his raw talent. Maybe his fourth-quarter heroics vs. Missouri will clue Paul into the kind of player he can be – every game. He may want it a little too much. Paul needs to let the game come to him a little more often.

Three Concerns We Still Have

Depth and trust in the running game: It’s really hard to account for Nebraska’s deliberate choice to pass the ball, over and over, vs. the Tigers in the pouring rain. We keep hearing about all these guys in the box, but the Huskers pretty much abandoned the run until the game’s final drive and, then, embracing it with the heaviest of the heavy sets (four tight ends!), looked quite good. Where was that all game?

Punt snaps: Freshman P.J. Mangieri needs to figure this out. If Alex Henery wasn’t back there making incredible plays just to get the ball off, NU would have three or four blocked punts by now. Some were critical of Bo Pelini’s minor chew session of Mangieri, but the kid, young as he may be, is only on the team to do one thing. He needs to do it right.

A little too much offensive diversity: Nebraska flashed a ton of formations at Missouri Thursday night, and almost seemed to cross itself up. In big games, it’s not the chess match that wins, but the execution of your best stuff. What is Nebraska’s best stuff? We’re still waiting a little.

Reviewing The Five Keys

Mystery Ingredients: The weather definitely affected Nebraska (although offensive coordinator Shawn Watson called the game like it didn’t) and the flu bug kept five or six players under the weather. The power outage at Faurot Field threw another curveball the Huskers’ way, as the coaches were forced to conduct their locker room sessions by flashlight, essentially. For all that, for NU to still win the way it did – it’s character, plain and simple.

Zac Lee On the Road – Again: I wasn’t encouraged by Lee’s performance through three quarters, but he made some clutch throws in the fourth quarter to redeem the performance. Another plus: Lee put the ball in places where his offensive players could nab it. Unlike Blaine Gabbert, whose vision – not his ankle – was the real culprit Thursday night.

The First Impression: Nebraska’s defense sent a very different message in 2009; Suh and his front four mates made sure of it. Mizzou tried to run NU off the field on the first couple drives, but the Tigers slowed down out of necessity.

Stick or Quit: Missouri’s running game never really got shut down, but never got going, either. The Tigers threw too many passes, and too many of those passes were simply bad, telegraphed reads by Blaine Gabbert.

Pelini vs. Pinkel: Call it a draw, I suppose; both coaches failed to slow the game down with running attack, and both coaches made some gutsy decisions. Pinkel gambled and won on fourth down, while Pelini subbed out three starters – Anthpny West, Will Compton and Lance Thorell – to go with guys whom he thought would get the job done better. He was right.

Three Questions We Have

Is Nebraska ready for more, more, more? NU’s going to see one version or another of the spread from this point forward until Kansas State. Can it stick with the current gameplan used vs. Missouri, or must it alter the plan to fit the needs of each team and quarterback?

Time for Blackshirts? We think so. How about you?

Who’s the real Zac Lee? The kid who knocks em dead at home, or the head-scratcher on the road? Will we really learn anything this week? Maybe. Tech is easily the best home opponent Nebraska has faced this season.

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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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COLUMBIA, Mo. - Out of the darkness, and into the driver’s seat of the Big 12 North.

Faced with a 12-0 deficit at the beginning of the fourth quarter - having played some of the worst offensive football in recent memory - Nebraska’s football team turned on an unexpected switch, staging the largest final-quarter comeback in school history and taking an early – and crucial – lead in its league division.

NU scored three touchdowns in four minutes – assisted by two interceptions of Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert – to win 27-12 in front of Faurot Field’s 65,286 stunned, soaked fans, who sat through a 15-minute power outage one hour before the game and nearly three hours of the Tigers playing sloppy – but winning – football.

That changed one minute into the fourth, when quarterback Zac Lee – who almost yanked by offensive coordinator Shawn Watson – threw a 56-yard touchdown to wide receiver Niles Paul - who was yanked to start the second half – to cut Mizzou’s lead to 12-7.

“We caught them in a good coverage, and the safety played the middle hook route, and we got a post over the top,” Lee said. “That play really sparked us.”

Then defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh picked off the third pass of his career at the Tigers’ 18-yard line. Lee hit Paul again, seven seconds later, from 13 yards to give NU the lead for good.

“We just kept fighting,” head coach Bo Pelini said. “You can get down in situations like that, when things aren’t going your way and it’s pretty easy to feel sorry for yourself and let the game get away from you. We never let the game get away with us…I thought we showed a lot of character in every aspect.”

Once the Tigers fell behind, NU made sure not to give it back, either. Junior cornerback Dejon Gomes, who’d played sparingly until Thursday night, intercepted another Gabbert pass on Missouri’s next drive, returning it to the Tiger 10-yard line.

“The receiver broke out, I broke out with him, and I was in perfect position to look back at the quarterback,” Gomes said. “The ball was right there.”

Lee then threw his third touchdown pass of the night, an eight-yard floater to tight end Mike McNeill, who was wide open after blocking and pretending to stumble. Lee drew the defense to himself, then tossed into an open space, where McNeill ran under it.

“I just wanted to make sure I caught it,” McNeill said.

So Nebraska led 20-12, and forced a turnover on downs on Mizzou’s next drive, which briefly reached NU’s 22-yard line before a holding penalty – one of eight overall penalties – pushed the Tigers back to the 32. Gabbert threw four incomplete passes after that.

“There were a zillion penalties,” Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said.

NU ran the ball eight straight times for a final touchdown, highlighted by Roy Helu’s 41-yard sideline gallop. Helu, suffering from the flu, didn’t arrive in Columbia until Thursday morning.

By the end, Missouri fans were filing out, while a small, raucous contingency of Huskers waved them goodbye.

“It wasn’t the exact way we wanted to win,” Suh said. “But we’ll take it.”

Pelini said Suh – and the rest of the NU defense, which may be in line for a Blackshirt promotion after this – kept the Huskers in the game while the offense sputtered. Missouri gained just 225 yards, punted eight times and scored only ten points – and all of those came on a short field. Derrick Washington gained 80 yards on 20 carries, but never busted a long one until the game had been decided.

“They played their you-know-whats off,” Pelini said. “They played hard, they played well. And you can say that about everybody who lined up on defense. We played some pretty good football.”

The secondary repeatedly challenged Mizzou’s receivers – and won the battles. Gabbert, meanwhile, seemed out of sorts most of the night, and could have thrown more interceptions than the two he did – the Huskers had their hands on a number of his passes, which often looked telegraphed.

“He struggled a little bit,” Pinkel said of Gabbert, who completed just 17-of-43 passes for 134 yards and two interceptions.

Before the final quarter, Lee struggled a lot more than that. He’d lost a fumble, and completed just 9-of-27 passes heading into the final quarter.

“There was a time I was actually going to put Cody (Green) in and have him sit down and let him look at it a little bit,” Watson said. “But he’s just got great character. I thought about it for about a half-second and said ‘Nah.’

“He’s such a great competitor that he kept fighting through it.”

Said Lee: “The coaches trusted us. They have our back. We have their back.”

Nevertheless, Missouri forged a 12-0 lead with a big help from the offense and special teams. MU scored a safety when punter Alex Henery was forced to throw the ball out of his own end zone after a bad snap - one of several - from true freshman P.J. Mangieri. The Tigers' touchdown drive started on the NU 44-yard line. Its third-quarter field goal drive started at the NU 34.

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